Hi there…

There are some truly inspired web-based programs out there these days. I enjoyed Spellfury, though I seem to be in the minority… I enjoyed NBC.com’s Ctrl starring Arrested Development‘s Tony Hale… And now I’ve found Goon.

What is Goon? That’s a good question. And I wish I knew. But that’s part of what keeps me watching… It seems to be one part Lost and one part Twin Peaks, but there are definitely some odd things going on with the story and characters.

Brian (Ryan Schwartzman) seems to be a gun for hire, but may be more than that. Laura (Jennica Schwartzman) is a grad student off for the summer who encounters Brian living at her grandmother’s home and chooses to keep him around for entertainment. Then there are the weird characters played by Josh Gregory, Ben Bandelau, Paul Pesnell, and Vanessa Rose Parker… In one scene, Gregory is tied to a chair with duct tape. In another, Bandelau seems more than a little upset. And in yet another scene we see that Pesnell and Parker have one heck of an odd relationship that seems to end badly for her…

How do all these threads come together? I haven’t the foggiest. But the quality of the production and the deliberate pacing of the mystery has got me hooked. And the use of various camera styles, washed out (almost black and white) backgrounds, and camera angles that bring you into the action.

Writer/director Marc Hampson summarizes it like this: “Following a smoothly executed job, small time crook Brian discovers the real heist has just begun. Eight goons. One score. No honor among thieves.” Goon is an 18-part series that shows some serious promise, not only in the production values but in the storytelling and acting. And you can tell it is a labor of love.

Shot in 8 months (July 2008 to February 2009) in 720 HD by the guys at Brotherhood Pictures (BrotherhoodPictures.com), you’d think this was produced by one of the bigger companies. But it’s a small studio doing an amazing job on almost no budget. And from the behind the scenes clips “From Shelved to Series” you can tell they had a great time putting it together.

I had an opportunity to ask producer Aaron Fairley a couple of questions about Goon and how such a small group of people could produce such a great quality show on the web.

Q: First, since this was such a small production, how did all of you make look like it wasn’t? The production values are amazing!

A: At risk of sounding completely egotistical … talent and determination. I believe we have one of the most talented group of undiscovered talent out there. We don’t let things stop us, if things don’t work out how we planned then we adjust and adapt, sometimes we fall flat on our face, but we keep pushing and get what we want or something even better. I believe Goon looks better than it’s dollar sign for that very reason.

Q: Second, what were the biggest challenges you faced during shooting? And now that you’re presenting the series to the world on the Internet, what have been the challenges in getting the word out?

A: Between major locations that were four hours away, trying to make a schedule taking into account everyones full time job and family obligations, and constantly running out of what’s that stuff??? … Oh yeah, money! There were no challenges. Exept when we had to change some shots that took place in a corn field that we scouted but unknown to us had been harvested the week before.

A big thank you goes to Aaron for answering my questions and Jennica for coordinating that effort.

This is a truly amazing show and one of the best quality online shows I’ve encountered so far that hasn’t been produced by a big company like SyFy, NBC, Ikea, and so on. If you’re interested, be sure to check it out online at GoonTheSeries.com and catch up on all the action. I’m five episodes in and happily confused!

This article originally appeared at BlogCritics.org here.

–Fitz

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Hi there…

Yes, I’m a sci-fi geek. I loved the original Alien and Predator movies. But I’ve been kind of lukewarm to the Alien vs. Predator movies of late. They’re ok, but not great. (I have some hope for the upcoming film Predators however.)

When I stumbled upon AVP: Redemption and learned that it was made by fans, I knew I had to check it out. And honestly, it’s better than some big budget flicks I’ve caught on the big screen.

Check it out at Vimeo and see what you think:

AVP Redemption from Alex Popov on Vimeo.

Two years and $500. What are the studios doing with all THEIR money I wonder?

Awesome job!

–Fitz

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Hi all!

Caught this the other day… A short film by Keith Kowalczyk and Martin Ott about a slush pile that eats Hollywood. Yes, that’s right. You heard me. It eats Hollywood!

Don’t believe me? Check this out! Pretty original premise for a parody… Makes me want to clean up that pile of scrap paper beside my desk though…

–Fitz

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Hi everyone…

Sometimes the Internet blows my mind. Have you ever heard of a live action fantasy web series called Spellfury? Until recently, neither had I. And though it’s a bit odd watching episodes less than 5 minutes long, it’s actually not bad for a series produced entirely for the web on a meager budget. The season is split into 12 episodes that are independently written and directed by Travis Gordon, an Ottawa-based filmmaker, and his crew. Every 45 days a new episode is released and the team, made up of Gordon, Julie O’Halloran (Actress/Production Manager), Rob Drebitt (Actor/Computer Animator), and Penu Chalykoff (Actor/Lighting/Sound Operator), is hard at work on episode 9.

Spellfury focuses on a half-elf named Druinia (O’Halloran) who’s trying to avenge her father’s murder. Since the show is set in a fantasy world, 75% of the scenes are shot in front of a green screen and filled in later in post-production. In addition to the computer animation and backgrounds, the show also uses puppets that are created and brought to life by Matt Ficner, a puppeteer based in Ottawa who recently worked on Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium starring Dustin Hoffman.

What’s amazing to me is that the quality is quite high for such a production. O’Halloran has been acting in independent films for the last 8 years and Spellfury is her first lead in a web series. But her acting and swordplay is better than most of what I’ve seen of the bigger budget show Legend of the Seeker, which I wanted to like but couldn’t get past the poor writing and acting. There’s a good deal of humor woven into the Spellfury stories as well, which makes it very apparent that the creators understand that without humor, the whole series would grow tiresome quickly.

Over a million people worldwide have seen Spellfury so far and Gordon is already planning a second season and has already started shooting. I’m guessing that the roleplaying gamers in the audience quickly picked up on the fantasy roleplaying aspects from games such as Dungeons and Dragons. All I have to say is that it’s amazing what a thief will do for 5 gold pieces and a magic sword.

I can’t say that Spellfury is at the level of something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies, but it’s going to be a guilty pleasure of mine for the indefinite future. Puppets, humor, and all…

For more information and to watch all the episodes so far, check out their website – Spellfury.com!

–Fitz

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Hey there!

Last week I was pinged by the great folks over at Redux.com who were curious if I’d be interested in helping test out their conversation engine that’s currently in closed beta. That’s right… The Lair was invited to a closed beta. How cool is that?

What does it mean for you? The Lair devotee? It means you can join in and start a conversation or <gasp> comment on some of the posts in real time. Does this mean you’re off the hook for commenting? Only if you don’t feel like commenting.

Just playing around with the site yesterday, I have to say I was impressed. It’s VERY responsive and the folks who are on it are quite active, leaving posts and comments throughout the day on a variety of topics and links.

You’ll notice a new image:

I’ll be sticking this button on my sidebar, so any time you feel like checking out the current chat, feel free to drop on by! If you do, you’ll be among the proud, the few, the special invited to join in the conversation on Redux!

Be sure to check it out!

–Fitz

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Hey all…

This is too good not to share. I saw this on Very Short List today. (If you don’t know about VSL, be sure to check out their site. You get cool new things to think about, see, and listen to every day in your e-mail.)

YouTube is this amazing conglomeration of videos from all over the world of all types, sizes, styles, talents, and so on… So some folks have taken it upon themselves to create these amazing mashups of videos to create whole new compositions…

Kutiman, an Israeli musician, has done this to amazing effect.

Check out his stuff here. If you like music and are fascinated by the new media storming the world as I am, this is for you.

Thanks VSL!

–Fitz

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Hey all…

Saw this today on TechCrunch and thought it was worth noting. A new site called ClerkDogs.com is taking a Pandora-like approach to making movie recommendations.

ClerkDogs.com "Batman Begins" Recommendation

This cool tool is just coming out of beta tomorrow but you can already sign up. Like Pandora, the ClerkDogs guys have a way of classifying movies that allows you to see how one movie is related to others.

In the example I’ve included here, I put in “Batman Begins” to see what came up. Some of them I was expecting (pretty much all the superheroes), but I was surprised to see Casino Royale and Dark City (both excellent flicks) in the list.

The service is just getting going, so don’t be surprised if there aren’t a ton of recommendations for everything you’re looking for. But I have a feeling that as it continues to operate, we’re going to see this grow and grow with better and better recommendations.

So if you’re looking for some interesting movies and like the Pandora approach to recommendations, be sure to check out ClerkDogs! (Keep in mind as it leaves beta tomorrow, it’ll be a madhouse to sign up for.)

–Fitz

p.s. Pick up Casino Royale, Dark City, The Dark Knight, or Batman Begins at Amazon if you’re interested:

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Hey all…

This week I saw that MTV has decided to return to its roots. When I watched MTV (yes, I’m old) back in the 1980s, music videos were still young. Each video director and artist had an opportunity to put a unique spin on the new media and share it with the world relativey quickly.

Image via Wikipedia

Since then, MTV doesn’t really seem to show good videos any more (sorry, but I don’t like most of modern pop or R&B). Instead, they play tawdry teenage and college shows that are more fluff than substance. Oh well, it’s the end of an era I guess.

Then this e-mail shows up stating that MTV was putting it’s library of classic music videos online! What a concept. All these cool videos you can only see late at night on VH1 now you can share with a whole new generation of internet-savvy folks!

So be sure to check it out at MTVMusic.com.

I’ve already warped my children with a-ha’s “Take on Me”, Peter Gabriel‘s “Sledgehammer”, and Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller”.

What are YOUR favorite music videos of this by-gone era? Leave me a comment and a link. I’d love to check ‘em out!

–Fitz

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Hey all!

For the first time ever, I was invited and participated on an internet radio program for the Blogger News Network (BNN) called “The Week in Reviews.” Hosted by Simon Barrett, the leader of BNN, I participated in a panel of reviewers that also included Matt Mungle (who’s a writer for BlogCritics.org, BNN, and other venues) and Andrew Dodge (who also writes for BNN and other venues).

We basically introduced ourselves and shot the breeze for 30 minutes. It was a very interesting conversation about how these other folks got into reviewing, what they consider a good review, what they do when they have to write a bad review of a product, and so on. I hope the radio program continues far into the future and more reviewers get a chance to share their “wisdom” (my wisdom wasn’t all that great compared to these guys who had been reviewing since the 1980s!) with other reviewers and listeners!

You can listen to the radio show here on Blog Talk Radio at your leisure. There should be a new episode next week, though at this point I’ve not been invited to participate. (I’d be happy to if the opportunity came up again!)

Be sure to check it out online!

–Fitz

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Hi all…

I have to thank WildClips for bringing this one to my attention. It made me laugh just about as hard as the first one!

–Fitz

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