First Anniversary

BRUCE'S ANGELS FIRST ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

The First Year of Bruce’s Angels: What We've Accomplished and Where We're Going

We can hardly believe that a whole year has gone by since we launched Bruce’s Angels on May 1, 2004! It seems like only yesterday we were scanning pictures off our video slip cases…Now we have over 3000 photos in our library (thanks to angel Qamiel and his video capture equipment and Israfel’s diligent efforts). While some of the pics are deliciously obvious choices, many other equally delicious pics appear nowhere else. And don’t think we haven’t enjoyed looking at each and every one!

We love AGWLBP and think it is one of the most fabulous fan sites on the Internet. (Bruce Payne is a lucky man to have such a site.) So when we started out, we didn’t want to be a clone. We wanted to do something different that would add to and complement other fan sites. We went off in our own direction to do our own thing.

Our special thing is writing and humor. We started with just a few essays and commentaries written by Ariel, now we have 20. Some of the commentaries are serious (e.g., Silence Like Glass, Sweepers). Some are tongue-in-cheek (e.g., Passenger 57, Warlock III, Highlander:Endgame). Then we branched out into parodies, starting with the "12 Days of Christmas Bruce Style" and the Christmas parody songs. Next we tackled Valentine's Day with parody songs based on Bruce characters, along with wacked out mental disorder diagnoses of these characters. Gotta tell you, it was lots of fun! Then "April Foolery" with what we hope is drollery.

Our piece de resistance is our Angel Food Cookbook, designed just in time for our first anniversary celebration. Oh, how delicious in more ways than one. Sprinkled throughout all this merry mayhem are, of course, lots of those Bruce pics. We know what the “customers” want.

We’ve also enjoyed putting together all kinds of goodies for Bruce fans (to say nothing of using them ourselves!). On July 9, 2004 we posted our first Bruce Calendar (a whole year’s worth in color), thanks to Ariel and Sofia. We are planning the next year’s calendar already. Then came the screensavers. Oh, did we enjoy that! On June 27, 2004, we launched our first wallpaper and screensavers. We now have 12 screensavers covering many different Bruce roles and themes. Israfel’s clever double-exposures have given us five unique wallpapers to grace the computer screens of Bruce fans, including one at brucepaynerules.com and one at koolbrucepayne.com that she helped develop.

Then from time to time, we’ve done little pictorial “essayettes” on topics that we find interesting, including the Great Profiles (comparing Bruce to Barrymore) on August 5, 2004, Westerns (we’d love to see Bruce in a western) on March 9, 2005, a two-part Halloween Bruce (so many fun scary films to choose from…) last Halloween time, a three-part decade by decade photo essay retrospective on November 13, Damodar and Yul (a comparison of the two sexiest bald guys in show biz) March 31, 2005, the Alternative Bond (along with our essay on “Bruce as Bond Bad Bloke” done in 2003), and on April 9, Secret Agent Man (inspired of course by Jurgen in LFN).

We’ve done several theme photo galleries to draw attention to various aspects of Bruce’s talents, including “Steamheat” and “The Eyes Have It” done on August 24 2004. These were the first theme galleries of this kind. We have three more already planned. We have divided Bruce’s films into theme categories also, providing both photos and commentaries for Bruce the Hero, the Villain, and the Comic Actor, again, highlighting Bruce’s diverse acting talents. Though we love Bruce as a villain, we have especially emphasized Bruce the Hero, with a continuing essay on “The Return of the Hero” that suggests new roles we’d love to see Bruce play. We will add to that essay from time to time.

Then earlier this year, we branched out with two new web sites, giving some of the other Bruce’s Angels a chance to do their own thing. On January 15, Qamiel started “Kool Bruce Payne.” It includes some photos that are not on the other sites, plus a listing of “what’s kool” and what’s not, with Qamiel’s perspective as well as other fans. He’s got a kool and unique wallpaper too. Then on January 27, the Byzy Angels (Byzantina, Sofia, and Gabriel) started “Bruce Payne Rules.” Those Jurgen and Nikita pics they posted are really hot and so is that Jurgen wallpaper! Jurgen really does rule! Their list of other people who rule (besides Bruce of course) is a fascinating lesson in mavericks who “think outside the box.”

We’ve also tried our hand at fan fiction. Last October 17, inspired by AGWLBP’s Jurgen Lives web site, Ariel, Sofia and Merlin started "Jurgen:The Saga Continues." Jurgen is currently recuperating from a blow on the head (from jumping off a train to escape from Harker from Section) in a Roma gypsy camp in Hungary. We hope to get him to his scheduled appointment on the Greek island of Kea soon. This year, on April 23, Israfel and Ariel launched a new story: “A Knight to Remember” featuring every Bruce fan’s favorite professor, Marshall Kane and an unusual student Meara Kilpatrick. Ah yes, school days, school daze.

And last but by no means, least, our Bruce’s Angels Forum, well into its second year, where fans can discuss Bruce, Bruce films, suggestions for possible Bruce films, and whatever else strikes their fancy (as long as it’s tasteful

).

We are now listed at Clago.com, celebrity-exchange.com, starbuzz.com, starpages.net, celebritylink.com, fansites.com

Throughout this wonderful year, we’ve had a lot of fun doing creating new projects, expanding old ones, posting Bruce pics, thinking up parodies, and posting Bruce pics (oh, did we say that already

) We have more ideas we want to implement in the following months, including a Sizzling Summer Sendoff (including a new calendar), a Frolicking Fall Fling and a Winter Wonderland, all full of pics, goodies, pics (can’t be too many of these!), fan fiction, and out-of-the-box (and maybe off-the-wall) ideas. We hope you’ll stay tuned.

In closing, most of all, we want to thank the inspiration for all of this: Bruce Payne. We have enjoyed doing what we can to honor, celebrate and pay tribute to this fine actor. We hope that if he has seen all this, he is not too embarrassed at the lavish praise we have heaped upon him. Bruce fans know he deserves it.

Bruce’s Angels

April 30, 2005

Ariel Israfel
Qamiel Merlin
Byzantina Sofia Gabriel
Two Wings

Our honorary angels:
Devecia
Ezechiel