The Raven

Ricardo de Montreuil has made a splash with his $5,000 scifi short, The Raven. The film has already drawn comparisons to Alive in Joburg which later became District 9. Who knows... perhaps we'll be seeing a 2-hour version of this in the years to come.

Gingercide

The gingerism on display in M.I.A.'s new video for "Born Free" feels like South Park meets Children of Men on steroids. And while satire and exploitation serve their purposes, I have to consider them little more than stepping stones to a sad truth: our capacity for arbitrary hate will never die.

Please, for the good of humanity, don't be an idiot.

Go F*ck Yourselves Now

You've probably heard about Muhammad being represented in a South Park episode. You've probably heard about it being censored by Comedy Central because some assholes (ie. Revolution Islam) said that Matt Stone and Trey Parker would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show". You may have even heard that the website for Revolution Islam now bears several images "offensive" to Islam, including one of the famous Jyllands-Posten cartoons drawn by Kurt Westergaard. But now you've seen what must be considered the best response to the whole mess: Jon Stewart's Go F*ck Yourselves Choir.

In summary, I'll leave you with the immortal words of Camus:

"Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."

Death of a Meme

I first saw Downfall (Der Untergang) a number of years ago... probably 2006 or 2007. Without the internet, the bunker scene is bereft of humor; it is simply an interpretation of Hitler taking bad news badly, albeit a powerful one thanks to the ranting skills of Bruno Ganz. But on YouTube, Hitler found the time to bitch about everybody's problems. And he was often funny, unless you actually speak German. Despite trying to blitzkrieg the world in the name of lebensraum, and that whole Holocaust thing, Hitler finally found a way to become the everyman he'd always wanted to be. I'll bet there are even some Jews out there who will miss him, or at least his internet incarnation. Time may well heal all wounds, but don't be surprised if your suture scars are making a funny face at you.

Head over to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) if you're interested in reading more about copyright law and fair use.

Spawn of Grindhouse

Remember Machete? You know... one of the fake trailers from Grindhouse? Well it's due out later this year (September 3). I'm guessing Robert Rodriguez has been un castor ocupado between this and producing Predators.



As if that wasn't awesome enough, Hobo With a Shotgun - AKA faux trailer that won the SXSW 2007 Grindhouse Competition - is currently being filmed as a full-blown feature. Playing the title character? Rutger MFing Hauer. Get pumped.

Will Eli Roth bring us Thanksgiving? Will we ever get to see Nic Cage play Fu Manchu in Werewolf Women of the SS? One can hope.

Stephen Fry, Nanoscience Guy

Stephen Fry narrates this video about nanoscience from the University of Cambridge. Cambridge has a decent science playlist on their YouTube channel and an AV page on the university website called Cambridge Ideas.

The Pale Blue Dot

"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love." ~ Carl Sagan

When Video Games Attack

If you've ever played a video game made in the 80s, Patrick Jean is your new hero. Jean directed Pixels for the French visual effects company, One More Production.

Liars "Scissor"

Liars "Scissor" from A Bruntel on Vimeo.

If you're seeking something surreal and steeped in futility, well... you've come to the right place. Check out the Liars website, Sisterworld, and/or their MySpace page.

Ridley Scott Hearts Unicorns

Philips has commissioned a series of short films, Parallel Lines, to air on April 8th at their website. The kicker? The films all use the same unifying theme, and since the filmmakers are all from Ridley Scott Associates, that theme has something to do with unicorns.

Anyway, you can read more about the individual shorts and their creators over at /Film.

*UPDATE*

My favorite short, "The Gift":