Father at Fifteen

Darren Thornton used to teach drama at a center for troubled youth, and - drawing from that experience - provides us with a challenging portrait of his short's title character, Frankie. Frankie is dedicated to the idea of being a good father, doting on his child-sized doll, but there are several scenes that underscore his immaturity. Thornton doesn't avoid indicting a cycle of fatherlessness. Apparent poverty doesn't help matters, but it isn't crammed down your throat as an excuse. "Frankie" simply lets Frankie talk to us about his world: ugly enough to be real, true enough to be beautiful.

The film has received a fair amount of recognition, and press for the European Film Awards grabbed an interview with Thornton last April.

Just Say No-No

James Blagden created this animated short about Doc Ellis' no-hitter (June 12, 1970) using audio from a Weekend America interview that aired on March 29, 2008. Doc describes himself as being "high as a Georgia pine" during the game, under the influence of LSD. In the wake of Major League Baseball's steroid scandal, it's almost encouraging to hear a story about a guy accomplishing one of baseball's rarest achievements while he was hallucinating.

GIF Talk

Evan Roth (of G.R.L. and F.A.T.) has created a 10-minute ode to the asinine antics of animated Graphics Interchange Format files. What better way to celebrate than setting this massive mashup to Girl Talk and marvelling at how obsessed we are with babies and cats and science fiction and...

Underneath it All

"Surface" is a great idea for a short, wondering what the view would be like from below the action. Fortunately, the experiment is well-executed under the guiding eye of Varathit Uthaisri (aka TU+), a Thai designer/director working out of New York. Varathit has also has a storyboard animatic for "Surface" available on his Vimeo account.

Lifeline

Animator and storyboard artist Andres Salaff won the Bronze Medal last month at the Student Academy Awards for his short film, Lifeline.

If you're interested in seeing more of Andres' animations, he has a handful of other videos available on his Vimeo account.

Primer

When Shane Carruth unleashed Primer on the world, he arguably gave us the greatest time travel film of all time. Now it's available on Vimeo.

If you enjoyed Primer and you're wondering what Shane is up to now, you're definitely not alone. Many have cited the comments of Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom): "to all who asked: Shane is alive and well and has a mind-blowing sci-fi script. Let's all pray to the movie-gods that he gets it made soon" (via Twitter). While those are encouraging words from one of new favorite directors, those comments were made almost a year ago.

Within the last month, however, a movie blog called The Playlist acquired a copy of the script for A Topiary. The Playlist bloggers seem to think Shane's new project will live up to the hype, so here's hoping it finds the funding it needs to hit theaters.

The Goon

Eric Powell's The Goon is apparently getting the silver screen treatment with David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac) producing and the voice talents of Clancy Brown (Highlander, The Shawshank Redemption, Carnivale) and Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Sideways, Cold Souls).

Apparently this zombie comic adaptation is still looking for a studio. It shouldn't be looking for long, but I'm hoping it won't slide into obscurity like The Amazing Screw-On Head (which also bears the voice of Giamatti). If The Goon can find an audience, perhaps we'll begin to see a wider variety of cult comics hit theaters, too.

Cloak & Cipher

"New song. Quarry Hymns. Not to be confused with Corey Haim."

Land of Talk has a new album and a new tour.

These sweet pilgrims of sound also played Some Are Lakes during their Take Away Show (presented by Black XS Live Sound and La Blogotheque). And if you want to hear Elizabeth explain the story behind Some Are Lakes, there's a great version of the song that was recorded during a Yours Truly session.

Reign of Death

Matthew Savage has offered up a compelling short, Reign of Death, featuring Noel Clarke of Doctor Who fame. Although Reign of Death features elements of both scifi and noir, I think it shares more in common with steampunk than tech noir in that the technological advancements serve better as anachronistic icing on a 1940s cake rather than indications of a possible future. In this regard, the film reminds me of Penny Arcade's Automata which also debuted last summer (continued in pages two, three, four, five, and six).

If you're interested in making your own short film, there are two great behind-the-scenes videos on Vimeo: Jonathan Dunn's Making of Reign of Death and Linus Hofmann's Reign Of Death VFX Breakdowns.

Things I Like, Things I Don't Like

Before Jean-Pierre Jeunet gave us Amélie, he had already perfected the style of his character introductions many years before in Foutaises (known as "Things I Like, Things I Don't Like" in the UK and "Small Talk" elsewhere in Europe). While Jeunet's developing talent is the main attraction, it's also clear to see why Dominique Pinon continues to appear in all of the director's films.

Go see Jeunet's latest, Micmacs, if you can find it... And yes, Pinon's in there somewhere.

Coma

Coma, by Thomas Brush (aka wittyhobos), is today's featured game on Newgrounds.com. The art reminds me a little of new indie classics like Braid and Machinarium, but what really shines is the shareware engine written by Sophie Houlden (aka GirlFlash).

If you liked playing Coma, take Nevermore 3 (by Adam Westerman) for a spin; it uses the same engine. And if you're interested in making your own flash game, check out Sophie's latest engine, Edward.

Out w/ the Old

When the news industry had no enemy but itself, the hubris of Citizen Kane seemed the perfect metaphor. But then that whole internet thing happened, Hollywood became obsessed with rebooting everything shortly thereafter, and suddenly a vigilante-tycoon-with-a-fetish-for-print-media doesn't sound so crazy. Throw some action movie kebab on the fire, suggest it will debut in 3D, and well... "now you're playing with power." If the Coen brothers can inject their existential goo into True Grit, I don't see why the universe would have a problem with it.

BP Spills Coffee

As a show of faith in the ability of BP (or anyone for that matter) to clean up the oil spill, Upright Citizens Brigade presents you with some acerbic salve for the soul. After a long day of cleaning globs of petroleum off of whatever livelihood you've lost, what better way to unwind than laughing until you cry into your beer. Please, just be careful not to spill.

Love in the Time of Zombies

This Spencer Susser short features Mia Wasikowska (aka. Tim Burton's Alice) as the teenage crush of a young man recently orphaned during the zombie apocalypse. The tone lies somewhere between Shaun of the Dead and Gummo. But whether you're facing undead hordes or mere societal decay, who doesn't want a girl that can dispatch swift shovel-swinging justice?

In addition to shorts, Susser also does ads and he unveiled the feature-length Hesher (featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman) at Sundance earlier this year.

Motivation

According to Dan Pink, money just complicates things. All we really want in life is autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

RSA "Animates" play like a perfect storm of Common Craft (In Plain English) and TED talks. I'm hooked.

Still Lost

I have mixed feelings about the ending of Lost. On one hand, I'm glad the show isn't going to limp along aimlessly. On the other hand, I've hated the Jacob storyline for a while now. For a show that spent so much time trying to raise the world's consciousness of electromagnetism (and time travel, and alternate universes), this heart-of-the-island fairy light bullshit doesn't fly with me. But then why would I give credence to a silly-ass smoke monster? I digress.

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse clearly didn't heed the advice of Brian Cox's character in Adaptation: "I'll tell you a secret. The last act makes a film. Wow them in the end, and you got a hit. You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end, and you've got a hit. Find an ending, but don't cheat, and don't you dare bring in a deus ex machina. Your characters must change, and the change must come from them. Do that, and you'll be fine."

The characters changed and I found that interesting enough. I thought the addition of long-dead characters into the alternate universe was a nice touch, if blatantly sentimental. I just don't feel like the writers found a real ending. Maybe that's what happens when people demand answers to questions you created simply for an air of mystery. Maybe that means I'd like a hyper-convoluted version of Gilligan's Island. Meh.

So what's my point? If the endings of Battlestar Galactica and Lost are any indication: you'll be interested in the fates of characters on any show you spend time watching, but the likelihood that the end of your show will suck the big one increases exponentially if some big damn mystery is at the center of it all. Kind of like a run-on sentence.

Unless you're Joss Whedon. Because Joss Whedon doesn't suck.

P.S. I think Fringe is pretty awesome right now, but the head writers (Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci) are hit-or-miss. Transformers AND Star Trek? I'm torn. Don't even get me started on Akiva Goldsman. That guy thinks he's cool, but he's not.

The Tarantino Code

The secrets of Quentin Tarantino come under scrutiny in a diner scene that could be ripped straight from one of his own movies. Except, y'know, in Portuguese. This short film, starring Selton Melo and Seu Jorge (of Life Aquatic fame), analyzes QT with a fanatic's eye for details. Check out Hungry Man TV for a variety of short films and web series.



Are they all crafty clues or are some just coincidences? You be the judge. Either way, it's more fun than trying to spot Alfred Hitchcock cameos.

"Federer is the tennis player version of Tarantino..."

Wait... what?

Liquid Mountaineering

The simple rule of the internet is don't believe your eyes, or - at the very least - take a second look. If you work for a media company, that goes double. But, just like Oprah got trolled about 9000 penises ("Oprah 9000" YouTube search), occasionally something plausible is taken as proof of something outlandish. Who doesn't want to believe some mild-mannered euro-dudes discovered they could run on water with special shoes and hard work?

That's exactly the moment when you have to stop and think about the amazing catch that ball girl made or people cooking things with their cellphones.

And remember... nobody fucks with the Jesus.

TED Thyself

I love TED Talks; everybody should. Experts giving lectures in their fields, streamed online for free... what's not to love? I've posted some TED stuff before, so when I saw Dr. Sebastian Wernicke eviscerate the polarities of TED Talk popularity, it was begging to be shared.

"... If you came here to talk about how French coffee will spread happiness in our brains, that's a go!"

Dr. Wernicke illustrates his points so well that you can't help but giggle at all the silly humans, or be inspired to apply his methods. For instance, TED user Claudio Furet commented on the video with a guide to getting "really high votes" on your TED comments.

Get your own tedPAD and start being an expert today.

May The Fourth Be With You

Merry Unofficial Star Wars Day!



A long time ago, before Star Wars according to a three year old, before Star Wars retold by someone who hasn't seen it, there was Evan Mather. I first saw Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars and Godzilla Versus Disco Lando during my freshman year of college... ten years ago now. While they might seem unremarkable in the YouTube storm of action-figure opuses, nobody makes better use of Meco.

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":

Scientific Morality

Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation, presented a TED talk called "Science can answer moral questions" earlier this month. While Harris' disdain for religion is evident and may consequently offend some people, I think his examination of the common themes in human values reaches an important conclusion:

"Values are a certain kind of fact. They are facts about the well-being of conscious creatures. Why is it that we don't have ethical obligations toward rocks? Why don't we feel compassion for rocks? It's because we don't think rocks can suffer. And if we're more concerned about our fellow primates than we are about insects, as indeed we are, it's because we think they're exposed to a greater range of potential happiness and suffering. Now, the crucial thing to notice here is that this is a factual claim. This is something we could be right or wrong about. If we've misconstrued the relationship between biological complexity and the possibilities of experience, well then we could be wrong about the inner lives of insects."

Predators

Forget all your frustration and/or disinterest with the AvP movies. Robert Rodriguez is the producer for the new Predators, due out later this year.

If that doesn't persuade you by itself, check out an interview with Rodriguez at SXSW's Horror Panel.

Yours Tru.ly

Holly Miranda "Lover You Should've Come Over" (Jeff Buckley cover) from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

I have two new favorite things in the whole wide wild world:
1) YoursTru.ly, a magical music blog. Dive into YT's Vimeo Channel.
2) Holly Miranda playing Jeff Buckley's Lover, You Should've Come Over.

Reduce, Reuse, Retract

Battle of Ideas: Recycling is a Waste of Time! from The Institute of Ideas on FORA.tv

Regardless of what happens with recycling, we definitely need to reduce our collective production and consumption of products composed of or packaged in plastic. Look no further than The Great Pacific Garbage Patch for evidence of that.

See the whole program here.

Something Original?

Dear Mr. Burton,

When was the last time you went for broke on untrodden ground? When was the last time you weren't adapting something (Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) or essentially rehashing old ideas (Corpse Bride)? 2003... Big Fish. Before that? Not counting the underwhelming Stainboy shorts, 1996... Mars Attacks!. And, for as much as I personally enjoy the movie, Martian invaders aren't exactly revolutionary. I adore Ed Wood (1994), but the only truly original part of that movie is that Eddie never met Orson Welles in real life. I'm obviously not going to count either of the Batman movies, so what does that leave us? Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Beetlejuice (1988). All I'm saying is that you've been riding a wave of popularity for being so 'bizarre' when you really haven't been since the 90's.

Maybe a little fresh blood would help. When was the last time you didn't cast Johnny Depp? Big Fish. Or your wife, Helena Bonham Carter? Sleepy Hollow (1999). On top of that, the only films of yours Danny Elfman hasn't scored are Sweeney Todd (which, of course, came with its own music) and Ed Wood. It's not that Johnny or Helena aren't laden with an overabundance of talent, because they clearly are; it's not that I don't enjoy Danny Elfman's music. I guess I just see other directors using other actors and getting along just fine.

Maybe taking a little extra time to develop truly new ideas would give us a whole new set of reasons to hail you as the King of Weird Shit. In the meantime, I'm giving pieces of that crown to Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) , Neil Gaiman (Coraline and MirrorMask), Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Tideland), Richard Kelly (Southland Tales and Donnie Darko), Tarsem Singh (The Fall), and Jhonen Vasquez (Invader Zim).

It's not that I don't look forward to seeing your latest projects, Tim. I enjoy being able to recognize that something's got the Burton touch, not unlike gratuitous shots of women's feet in a Tarantino film. What I'm trying to say is that you haven't challenged me as a viewer for quite some time.

Zumbakamera

Behold! I have experienced the strangest animation on the internet. Jossie Malis ( aka Zumbakamera) has not only given us The Fantastic World of Fantástico Morales, but also Bendito Machine and Memento Mori.

And! If you enjoyed all of that, I encourage to peruse the bizarre world of artist Tim Molloy.

War for Cybertron

This is for anyone who loved Transformers as a kid and wishes Michael Bay was a speck in Unicron's waste disposal.

We Are The Machine

Today was the first day I heard the term "Semantic Web" even though people have been talking about it - as far as I can tell - shortly after the creation and implementation of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) in web development (officially recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, in 1998). Semantic Web, often referred to as Web 3.0, is driven by metadata, simply defined as "data about data." If you're having trouble understanding, I found a simplified explanation on YouTube.

The most interesting thing about Semantic Web, for me, is that language is at the heart of it. Definitions and organizations of words will ultimately determine how efficiently the internet works for everyone based on their respective searches. It's not that words aren't at the heart of search engines already, but there is a logic being built in metadata that will allow more specific returns (reactions) to queries. Each of us will contribute to a global meta-consciousness through our actions on the Semantic Web. In short, we are collectively paving the way for artificial intelligence: programs with the wealth of the world's prepackaged data at their disposal.

Index This

For a YouTube channel whose most popular - and largely humorless - series of videos is called Make a Hot Girl Laugh, the satire in Google Threatens To Kill Users is surprisingly well-written. Like we needed any more proof that the phrase "XXX,000,000 (insert here) Fans Can't Be Wrong" is complete f***ing bull****.

Google, where's my gTeleport already?

Centurion

Neil Marshall returns with his version of the Ninth Legion massacre, starring Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), Dominic West (The Wire), and Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace). The film is set to debut in the UK on April 23, and it'll hopefully hit American theaters by summertime. Also, fans of Marshall's The Descent should be able to find The Descent: Part 2 (which Marshall produced but did not direct) on DVD by the end of April.

Codehunters

Codehunters looks like the Gorillaz got crossed with Final Fantasy VII characters and shat out into Borderlands.

Cheese-A-Thon

Some make you cringe, some make you laugh, some get repeated constantly, and others have turned into memes (speaking of which... where's "You're the man now, dog."?). There are a few inclusions that I don't find cheesy enough and a few that just aren't cheesy at all, especially in context. But with those caveats aside, this is a pretty accurate and pretty fun list. I was glad to see that special attention was paid to the Governator, Keanu, Batman & Robin, The Wicker Man, and the Star Wars prequels. Personally, I would have loved to see "Holey rusted metal, Batman!" And there has to be something from a Star Trek movie worth including. Come on, there's eleven of them; throw a rock.

A list of the films is in the info box on YouTube, but maybe you want to see how many you can name first. Oh, and please please please pleeeease check out The Other 100 Best Movie Quotes of All Time.

The Life Arachnid

I think Wes Anderson's penchant for ensemble casting would make him go whole hog for the entire Avengers team. Personally, though, I think he'd have more fun with Runaways.

While I'm dreaming, Quentin Tarantino will reboot X-Men, J.J. Abrams will reclaim Star Wars, Joss Whedon will do Y: The Last Man justice, Guillermo del Toro will bring The Walking Dead to life, Peter Jackson will dazzle us with Fables, Zack Snyder will use his 300 magic on Northlanders, Paul Greengrass will unleash DMZ, Martin Scorsese will find the darkest parts of Scalped, and Christopher Nolan will take the WildStorm universe seriously enough to create a trilogy featuring characters from Team 7, Stormwatch, and The Authority.

Did I miss anybody?

Homeless Creep

That guy played these songs on this show. And the Flying Spaghetti Monster saw that it was good.

"If there’s any homeless person who deserves a moment in the spotlight, a huge royalty check, or even just a warm place to sleep, it’s Mustard, the homeless guy who came onto Opie and Anthony’s Sirius XM radio show to blow the minds of everyone in the building with a unique and extremely soulful rendition of Radiohead’s Creep." ~ BiH

How To Report The News

Just two weeks ago I was singing the praises of Dead Set, the British zombie mini-series. Turns out that Charlie Brooker, the brilliant writer of the show, is also responsible for this scathing skewering of news reporting convention. One might say he's got them 'dead to rights'.

"And this is a lighthouse keeper being beheaded by a laser beam..."

Green Zone

Paul Greengrass has steadily been making a name for himself with The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum (not to mention United 93). Matt Damon is no small part of that, and (it should go without saying) I'm excited to see this when it comes out in May.

Keep It Covered

Things people love: sex, cartoons, and not getting diseases. Unless you're the Pope; I hear he loves diseases.

Troops

This is an old favorite. Kinda makes me wish they'd made TESB and ROTJ episodes of Troops, too.

I wonder how a Star Wars version of The Wire would play out... instead of dealing drugs maybe they could smuggle Bacta or something like that.

Noah and the Whale

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Spring.

Big Brother Blood Bath

It's easy for me to hate most "reality" tv shows, but especially one that trivializes the work of George Orwell. What better way to bring the wankers down than plop them into a chapter of World War Z? It warms my heart.

America, the Hypocrite

From Wikipedia: "According to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), there are 1,138 statutory provisions in which marital status is a factor in determining benefits, rights, and privileges."

The U.S. government's definition of marriage is not inherently the same as that of any religious institution, nor should it be. Voting to deprive same-sex couples equal rights under the law simply because you disagree with their lifestyle is against the quintessential idea of America: freedom. Keep your churches separated from my states.

Highest Heights

One of my favorite films of 2008 was Man on Wire. While this BASE jump is perhaps less complicated to execute than the world's craziest tightrope walk, I'm no less impressed by the dedication, the disregard for authority, and the symbiotic obsession of being first and highest.

Also, check out last April's entry on wingsuits and the Ueli Gegenschatz lecture on TED. You won't be disappointed.

Keep on Shining

In some ways, Kevin McCullough's Electropolis reminds me of Mark Osborne's More, but it's clearly the more optimistic of the two. I believe the message is the same in both, however... stay true to yourself and what you love. Don't take the road less traveled just 'cause Robert Frost said so; make up your own damn mind.



P.S. Thanks to aithnea for the shout-out on reddit.

Universal Perspective

Or, as shitmydadsays would say: "Universe is 14 billion years old. Seems silly to celebrate one year. Be like having a fucking parade every time i take a piss."