Game Dogs - the new web show by The Escapist!

The Escapist just posted the first episode of it’s new online animated series, Game Dogs, which stars the voice talent of my girlfriend Alena Koch.   

I’m so extremely excited for her and little jealous, because I always wanted to voice an animated character. I can now live vicariously through her.

The site blurb:
“A show about dogs – who make games. It features the voice talents of Jon Etheridge, Tony Schnur, Alena Koch and George Palmer. See a new episode every Thursday at Noon, ET, only at The Escapist.”

The first episode has them playing a version of D&D called Dungeons and Dogs. I think it’s a pretty funny start to the series. Check it out at the link below and pass it on to your friends.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/game-dogs/1396-Pilot-Episode-D-D-Kills

If you like it, please help my girlfriend out by Digg-ing the video here!

Thanks for checking it out!

That love for all things Twitter gave my girlfriend(@AlenaKoch) the cool idea of making a Twitter music video based on the old Happy Days tune “Rock Around the Clock.” She came up with the lyrics for the song, mapped out the storyboard with me and then we shot the video over several days.

I think i turned out pretty well. Please check out the video(linked below) and if you like it, give it 5 stars and please pass it on to your friends. If you want to be extremely helpful, you can RT the video link to your followers on Twitter.

Tweet Around the Clock

They can cheer you up, when you’re feeling down.  They can touch your heart to the point of making it a littly dusty in the theater. They can make you think.

Because of how films affect people, this is the reason I became a filmmaker. To make something that moves people in some way.  Whether that be a laugh or a tear or even fear. To create something that makes people feel the way I’ve felt everytime I enter a darkened theater or curled up in front of my television.

My biggest fear as a person is to be forgotten. I want to make an impression on people that lasts beyond the initial contact. As a filmmaker, I hope that one day my films will be noticed beyond my normal circle of friends and family. I don’t want to be famous per say, but it would be nice to at least be acknowledged.

Today I feel that acknowledgment. I feel like I’ve made a few baby steps towards being more noticed, because my film Hard Stapled now has a listing on IMDB.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1377166/

Sure, it’s probably silly. It’s just an online listing, but for me this is a big achievement in my life. The Internet Movie Database has acknowledged my film as being more than some silly little parody of a John Woo film. It’s now listed in the same database as some of my favorite films such as Star Wars and The Silence of the Lambs. My name is listed as director along with the likes of such directors as Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Speilberg.

I feel like I have more credibility as a director, because now I can say I’m listed in the IMDB. This makes me want to do more projects, so I can have a movie resume that rivals other directors.

Life seems so great right now, because I feel for the first time I can really call myself a “filmmaker.” The IMDB says so. The sky’s the limit at this point. Thanks to everyone who’s helped me get to this point.

Also, tonight, I’ll be at the Twestival starting at 7 pm to represent ComedyWorx and my improv teams as well as my own Twitter identity, www.twitter.com/ilikefilms. Plus, it’s for a good cause, a charity that brings water to those that need it.

These are a few updates for those who were interested!!

Sure, there’s things I’d like to change about it. With every project I wish had a real budget. I wish I could film in all the places I want to film. I wish I could visually create everything that pops into my head, but there’s always restraints and restrictions to working on your own. To not having the best camera in the world or the best lighting or the best editing computer. But you do the best you can with what you have.

Luckily, I’ve learned over the years to be flexible in my approach to filmmaking. Being an improvisor has been helpful as well. I still get stressed, when things don’t work out exactly the way I want it to, but I make myself move forward, striving to figure out a way to work through the problems and create something comparable through a little creativity and ingenuity.

I also like working with talented people.  I’ve worked with Brian Thacker on several films so far and he’s always been flexible to my way of filming. This recent movie has really allowed him to do something different and I’m excited about his performance. I think people will be surprised. 

This is the second film I’ve done with Alena Koch and it’s been a joy working with someone who’s very passionate about her art. Her energy is infectious and her collaboration on this film as well as my last film has been very helpful in how I go about fleshing out the story and characters. She’s been a good soundboard. I look forward to doing more projects with her in the future.

By what I’ve read in the rules for the YouTube contest I should find out tomorrow if I’ve made it as a top 10 finalist in the contest. If I do, then it’s up to the YouTube community to vote on the films. The top 3 voted films can have their movies given to people at the Sundance Film Festival. The top video will allow the director to go to the Sundance Film Festival. At this point it would be nice just to be a finalist, but it would be even nicer to have my film seen by people outside of the confines of NC. Especially, if I can get my foot in the door of Hollywood as a filmmaker.

I guess we’ll see, but all I know is, my passion has grown stronger with each film I’ve done and this most recent entry in my filmography is my favorite so far. It makes me want to make more. It makes me want to create more. It makes me want to dream more.

As long as I surround myself with talented and creative people, I know I can do cinematic wonders. Cross your fingers for me. 

Check it out at the link below:

The Collection

I originally auditioned for the show on a whim and didn’t think I had a chance of getting into the competition. For the audition we had a only few minutes to do a talent and I decided I was going to sing a song. Of course, I thought it would be funny to only sing the very last word of the song(which happened to be “Balls!”) The tune was from the online hit “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog”, so the gimmick was I would be doing different things to pass the time waiting around to say the final word(such as read a book, draw a picture, eat a banana, breastfeed a baby, etc. Sadly, I did all of those in the audition.)  Well, the bit worked and I’ve been in the competition ever since.

Of course, the first week I almost quit. The first week we were challenged to sing a song. I picked the Steve Miller Band hit “Abracadabra” and added the extra difficulty of performing magic tricks to it. I was extremely stressed that week, because I always hate having to memorize stuff and having to choreograph magics tricks around it made it even more daunting. When the time came for the performance, I messed up one part of the lyrics and had my showstopper, streamers from the zipper trick, fail to perform as well. It made for a fun night for the audience and despite the messups, I had fun, too. Check out the first week video at this link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=37827083161&subj=515965492

The rest of the weeks I did all kinds of cool stuff. I got to do my version of the the well-known introduction of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lector scene from Silence of the Lambs for the acting week. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=38634463161&subj=515965492

I got to teach about Zombies and reanimate one as well as get attacked by one for the teaching week. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=39909033161&subj=515965492

Had a fun Judges Challenge that week, where I did lots of fun variations on one prop. Robin Williams would be proud. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=39914443161&subj=515965492

I got to tell a story about my love for movies and the power of imagination for the tell a story week. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=40658678161&subj=515965492

Then, this past week I had to perform a dance with a partner to the Lion King song “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”. We did a ballet performance that brought down the house and in return I got the highest judge points for the night as well as the fan vote and judge’s challenge. In one night I went from 2nd to last place to 2nd place overall.    http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=42054083161

It’s been a fun five weeks so far and this last week ending this Saturday has us all doing any talent that we want, but we just have to “Sparkle” while doing it. I’m not sure if my idea will top my Lion King performance, but I’m going to do my best to go out with a bang. If you’re not doing anything this coming Saturday, November 8th, then you should come check out the show. You won’t be disappointed. I’m just glad to be a part of it.

The second film, “The Mummy Returns,” I didn’t like too much. Same film, same Mummy, same story wrapping but adding the 8 year-old son element. Not all the camera mugging in the world by Brendan Fraser could help this film be anything other than a recycled mishmash of the elements they thought worked in the first but with less punch, fun or humor.

Which brings us to this third entry in the “Mummy” franchise, “Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.” A bloated mess of a film that is as lifeless as the mummified corpses that fight on-screen. It’s literally a bandaged up mess of xeroxed scenes from all of your favorite Indiana Jones moments with no heart, no soul or no weight to what’s happening. You don’t care about any of the characters. There’s enough plot holes to fit the Great Wall of China through it. Mario Bello(who replaced Rachel Weisz from the first two films) pulls a Kevin Costner with her accent that drifts in and out of British consciousness at certain times. Plus, maybe, it’s due to Fraser’s ageless looks, but his son looks like he’s only 5 years younger than him. Kinda weird.

As much as I hoped this film would be the Indiana Jones film that “Indy 4″ wasn’t, it’s not even in the realm of a good “Mummy” film. I thought Rob Cohen, director of “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” could infuse some new scarab beetles of talent into this production, but he’s made it too clean, slick and predictable for its own good. Of course, he’s also the man who brought us “The Fast and the Furious,” “Stealth” and “XXX.”

Even the special effects are hit and miss in parts. The very first major effects scene set the tone deafness of this production with Jet Li’s Emperor Han transforming into a clay terra cotta warrior that looked more like a chocolate metamorphosis of Willy Wonka proportions. Even his terra cotta army counterparts are less than genuine when they show up, because it’s obvious(at least to me) that it’s people in fake clay suits. I can understand trying to save some money on special effects, but this looked like something Roger Corman would throw together to come under budget. Even the CGI mummies came off looking like the undead relatives of the battle droids from Phantom Menace. Missing body part slapstick choreography included.

And again I can’t harp enough on all the Indiana Jones influences found in this film which show the less creative ways to pull off those scenes, characters or items. From people crawling underneath moving vehicles to having to save kidnapped girls in tents to the O’Connells wearing matching brown fedora-type hats, the poorly-executed references are there to show us that we’re watching a movie that can’t have it’s own identity or separate ideas.

Overall, “The Mummy 3″ is a amalgam of recycled ideas with bad dialogue, a scattered story and lackluster acting across the board. If they know what’s good for the franchise, they’ll nail this sarcophagus shut for good before they make another film that’s even more lifeless and boring.

Tonight my musical improv team Hotel Principality will be gracing the stage of ComedyWorx a week before our big trip to New York City for the Del Close Marathon.  It’s amazing how far we’ve come in over the year and a half we’ve been performing as a group on stage. It’s also interesting how much we’ve changed over that period of time.

It started as a simple idea. When ComedyWorx started teaching longform classes, a few of us talked about forming a musical longform team. A group that would improvise a musical from beginning to end, right there on the spot. Nothing pre-planned. No musical safety net of lyrics or tunes. Just us out there winging it and at any time we might break out in a musical number that might be part of the story or flesh out characters in the story.

It was a very daunting idea. Much more complicated by the fact that you had to improvise with another performer playing the piano. If you both weren’t on the same page, the end result could be disastrous in the realm of a Bjork song gone bad.

But we were committed to the idea and through trial and error we started to click as a group and felt more comfortable with musical improvisation. We worked on our vocal exercises to strengthen our singing voices. We researched improvised song forms with other groups and took musical workshops with the likes of such musical improv teams as I Eat Pandas. All of a sudden, making up songs in front of an audience didn’t seem as daunting anymore.

Our next milestone as a team was being accepted into the 2007 Del Close Marathon in New York City. As one of the more well-known improv festivals in the nation it was an honor to be the first ComedyWorx team to ever be accepted there. Nothing could have prepared us for the adrenalin rush of being able to perform onstage in the heart of the Big Apple. It was an amazing experience that broadened our horizon as a team and made us feel like we were no different than other improv teams across the nation.

Which brings us to today. We’ve been pared down from the original 8 or more people(which included piano and bass guitar) to just 4 performers and a piano player. Our playing style has changed with the loss of some talented performers, but in our current iteration we continue to strive and learn the craft of musical improv. We have plans to do some new things outside of the normal musical story format and we’re extremely excited about it.

We’re scheduled to perform again on August 10th at the 2008 Del Close Marathon this year and it’s going to be just as much fun the second time a round. We’ll hopefully bump into all kinds of famous improvisors you might recognize from Saturday Night Live, Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show, Comedy Central or the Colbert Report. If we do, I’ll make sure to post the spotting here on my site.

As a warm-up to this festival in NY we perform at ComedyWorx tonight at 10:30 pm. It costs only $5 and it’s just a hop and a skip from the bars downtown. If you’re looking for something fun and cheap to do tonight, come on out and see us perform before we hit the stage next week in the city that never sleeps. I promise you won’t regret it.

My favorite DVD purchase this year so far is my copy of the BBC TV Show “Spaced.” This show has been out for many years overseas and has never been released in the States until now(mainly due to music rights issues.) Created by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes and directed by Edgar Wright, this show is chock-full of all kinds of pop culture references and has a visual style all it’s own.  A style that carried over into Simon Pegg’s and Edgar Wright’s later efforts, “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.”

Although the universe of “Spaced” is inhabited by a great number of quirky characters and has an exaggerative sense to what’s happening, there is a lot of real groundedness to many of the relationships and how the characters react to certain situations. You can relate to many of the scenarios, because Jessica and Edgar based much of the show on many of their own experiences. Of course, the show also has homages to everything from “The Matrix” to “Evil Dead” to “Pulp Fiction” to “The Shining” to “Star Wars” to “Wolfen.” Lots of filmic references that show their love for movies in general.

Which brings me to the special features of this new DVD set. For the American release they asked several celebrities to sit in with Edgar, Jessica and Simon and contribute audio commentary. You would assume that the reason they were there was because they were such big fans of the show and wanted to talk about all the references and scenes that make “Spaced” a pleasure to watch. So far I’ve listened to commentaries for a few of the first episodes that have Kevin Smith(director of “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy”) and Diablo Cody(writer of “Juno”) and I’m a little disappointed. As much as I enjoy listening to Smith’s “SModcast” podcast, I wanted to hear more of his passion for all the pop culture references but it mainly ended up being him interviewing the other cast members and having them talk about things that were already explained in the feature length documentary.

The same goes for Diablo, because much of the early commentary involves Jessica asking her about how she came up with the story of “Juno.” This is the “Spaced” commentary, right?

I guess this is a minor grievance, because they do have the original British commentary by the actors on the show on a separate audio track, but I hoped that these new American commentaries would add to the DVD as opposed to detract from it. Of course, I haven’t listened to the rest of the commentaries by Tarantino and Patton Oswalt just yet and I have a feeling that those will be actual commentaries and not disjointed conversations. Once I make it through the rest of the commentaries, I’ll let everyone know what I think overall. I guess I should just be glad I can watch “Spaced” in the comfort of my own American home, because it is one of my favorite TV shows of all time.

I’m revamping my site www.ilikefilms.com to now include a blog, so it can be more current with my projects, thoughts, opinions and news in general. I’ve put off working on this site for so long, but with my recent film festival entries and other film opportunities, I felt like it was time I got off my rear end and did something about it.

So this is a new start of sorts. The opening credits for something bigger and better. A Star Wars text crawl that has yet to be written. It’s still in the early stages of development, but I’m ready for the cinematic journey and looking forward to sharing it with the masses.