Author: ÜberSciFiGeek

the Familiar to play at the 2009 Screamfest L.A. Film Festival in October

from Kody Zimmermann:

Hey Everyone!

Great news over here. My short film — the Familiar — has been accepted to the 2009 Screamfest L.A. Film Festival in October. Everyone who knows me, knows me as a HUGE horror fan and this is known as “The Sundance of Horror.” I’m ecstatic!

What’s best, the film will be playing at the Famous Grauman’s Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood, in a venue that is supported by Wes “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Craven, Clive “Hellraiser” Barker, Eli “Cabin Fever” Roth, Tobe “Poltergeist” Hooper, and John “American Werewolf in London” Landis.

This is like Christmas for me…!

Thanks everyone for your continued support — it has been a hell of a ride this far, and to get this news makes it all worthwhile!

The website — www.theFAMILIARmovie.com — should be up soon, but in the meantime, if you’re on Facebook, you can become a fan of the film at this incredible clunky address: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Familiar/143250262526.

Thanks again!

About Screamfest LA:

The Screamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the “Sundance of Horror.” The festival is now held annually at the prestigious Grauman’s Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood. Screamfest premieres and showcases new work from American and international independent horror filmmakers. Film entries are accepted in the categories of Best Feature, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Special Effects and Musical Score. In addition, there are special categories for Best Animation, Best Short, Best Documentary and Best Student Film.

The largest film festival held in Los Angeles, Screamfest is an internationally recognized showcase for independent filmmakers and writers of the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres.

Screamfest was formed in August 2001 to give filmmakers and writers in the horror/sci-fi genres a venue to have their work showcased to people in the industry. The majority of the films showcased in the past now have distribution.

The festival has hosted many famous filmmakers and actors as guests, including Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, Eli Roth, James Wan, Rob Zombie, Mike Mendez, Clive Barker, Lin Shaye, Robert Englund, Tobe Hooper, James Gunn, Zack Snyder, Stan Winston, Sean Cunningham and John Landis.

Screamfest has also introduced some major horror films onto the world, including Hatchet, Behind the Mask, Wolf Creek, The Lost, 28 Days Later, Dog Soldiers, Wrong Turn and many more.

While the horror boom continues to show no signs of slowing down, Screamfest continues to grow at an alarming rate. Annually Screamfest holds a private party at the Sundance Film Festival and has many exclusive engagements in Los Angeles and Hollywood throughout the year. The festival has been featured on Craig Ferguson and Entertainment Tonight and in Variety, Time magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, NY Times and other major online and print publications.

Legend of Neil Episode 4 is Live

from The Legend of Neil:

We are very proud of the brand new episode of Neil that features much drinking, references to Cheers, and an 80s montage. Yes, we were on crack the entire time while writing the ep. Actually funnily enough (is funnily a word?), this episode was written to be the actual 6th episode of season 1. But due to budgetary reasons for season 1 we couldn’t pull it off and had to instead do 3 episodes in the dungeon of level 1. So we’ve been saving this one up for a while. We’ve always really loved this episode so I’m so glad that almost 2 years after writing it we’re finally able to show it to you. Here’s hoping you like it!

If you missed our previous musical episode please chiggity check it here. If you do not currently own a Legend of Neil t-shirt then you are not cool. Become cool here.

They Might Be Giants: “Meet the Elements”

Boing Boing Video proudly debuts “Meet The Elements,” a new animated music video from They Might Be Giants. This animated, upbeat ode to the periodic table of elements and how they form our world, appears on the new TMBG kids’ album Here Comes Science. Video directed by Feel Good Anyway.

Check out the new Hello Kitty x MIMOBOT flash drive

from Mimoco:

The NEW Hello Kitty x MIMOBOT USB is here! She’s friendly, she’s cute, and she’s celebrating her 35th anniversary! Order Now!

It all starts with Hello Kitty’s 35th Anniversary celebration, which is right around the corner with the “Three Apples” exhibit in October.

Don’t miss out on the rest of the Hello Kitty x MIMOBOT Series! Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know when the next character drops!

The Guild: Season 3 Episode 2 is Posted

from The Guild:

We’re excited to link you Season 3 Episode 2 “Anarchy”!
Download on Xbox and Zune
Stream on MSN
Discuss on our Forums and Chat community!

To clarify, we don’t get the episodes from the new season in our player immediately, so enjoy on MS platforms for a few weeks!

New original fiction: Mary Robinette Kowal’s “First Flight”

First Flight

from Tor.com:

Tor.com is thrilled to present “First Flight,” an original story from Mary Robinette Kowal. Kowal is the 2008 recipient of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Cosmos, and Asimov’s. Her first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, will be published by Tor in 2010.

Kowal is also a professional puppeteer and voice actor, and she lives in New York City with her husband Rob and nine manual typewriters.

The amazing oil-on-canvas illustration was done by Pascal Milelli, whose work has been seen in the picture books Rainbow Bay by Stephen Eaton Hume and The Art Room by Susan Vande Griek. This fall, Sleeping Bear Press will release his third book, Waiting for the Owl’s Call by Gloria Whelan.

Bibliophibian

Bibliophibian Shirt

Bibliophibian Shirt

You’ve got too many books. They crowd the shelves two or three deep, sideways or stacked any way they’ll fit; they pile on tables waiting to be read, re-read, or simply kept forever. It’s gotten to the point where they’ve started to multiply when you’re not watching — there’s definitely more today than yesterday. And it’ll keep on like this, until there’s nothing at all left but books, books, and more books. How glorious.

Others don’t understand, but you — you breathe the stuff. You inhale paper and exhale ink; you live between pages, and your habitat is the written word. For you are a bibliophibian.

Based on this popular Wondermark comic.

Order directly through the TopatoCo website.

Near-Space Launch from Vulcan, Alberta

SPOC-1 (Space Payload Onboard Camera) launched into the stratosphere from Vulcan, Alberta.

“We tethered a camera, an arduino, and plenty of tracking equipment to a weather balloon that ascended deep into the stratosphere above Vulcan, Alberta. This is a short compilation of a few videos and photos we took.”

John Gordon’s Photos — Space Launch from Vulcan — the Photos

The Legend of Neil PAX Schedule

from The Legend of Neil:

All here is the OFFICIAL Legend of Neil PAX schedule (and yes I realize that this is coming in the middle of PAX, my bad, busy editing new episodes and one day is blending into the next).

PANEL:

Saturday at 9pm at The Unicorn Theatre: Legend of Neil Screening of Episode 3 and a SNEAK PREVIEW of Episode 4. Q&A with Tony and Sandeep

Saturday at 5:30pm at the Raven Theatre: The Making of a Hit Webseries with Tony, Sandeep, Kim Evey (producer of The Guild), Jeff Lewis (Vork in The Guild)

SIGNINGS:

at the Guild Booth in Bandland across from the Main Theatre:

Friday

3pm-5pm (Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis)

Saturday

11am-1pm (Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis)

3pm-5pm (Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis)

*Also note, that we may be at the booth at other times, and if this schedule changes it will be noted at the booth.

T-shirts, posters and photos will be on sale at the Guild booth at all times!

DRINKING TIMES:

If you find us at a bar, come drink with us. Happy hunting!

Loveyameanit!

RiffTrax Live: Plan 9 encore broadcast in theaters October 8th

from RiffTrax:

The Riff Masters are back by popular demand!

Come see the Encore screening of RiffTrax: Plan 9 From Outer Space! The original evening of live riffing captured on August 20th will be rebroadcast on Thursday October 8th in movie theatres nationwide!

Tickets are only $10 each and go on sale Tuesday September 15th.

Join Mike, Kevin, Bill and guests again for a hilarious night of entertainment and riffing on the worst movie ever made!!!

All event attendees will receive FREE digital goodies including the Flying Stewardess downloadable short, an autographed digital photo of the guys, three songs by the RiffTones and an animated short of the failed Plans 1-8!

For more information (and a Widget for your website) go to NCM Fathom.

Weta News: September 2009

from Weta:

Hey Weta fans,
There are more and more trailers coming out for the movies we have worked on over the last few years. Weta is very proud of our work on District 9, Neill Blomkamp’s first feature-length film, where Weta designed as well as created creatures, vehicles, weapons and props. This movie has been in theatres for a couple of weeks now. We have also been heavily involved in James Cameron’s Avatar — his first feature film since Titanic. This movie premieres in December world wide. Enjoy!

T-shirt clearance — all shirts under US$20! Save 20%!
As spring officially commences (although still very tentatively) here in the southern hemisphere, we thought we’d celebrate with a special offer. All adult T-shirts are now US$19.95 and kids’ shirts US$17.50. Offer ends 20 September. We have new colours in some styles and for the big-boned among us, a couple of styles now also come in 3XL. Check out the range!

In the News:
It’s been a busy and tumultuous time here at the Workshop. We’re getting used to being back in Middle-earth on many levels, not least in terms of our new range of collectibles. The first sword in our Master Swordsmith’s Collection — Andúril — has sold out. The Miniature Shields have been very popular. We are also incredibly proud that John Howe’s sculptures from Middle-earth have received such wide-spread accolade. It is especially pleasing for us to be able to offer these in faux bronze, to make them more accessible to our loyal friends and collectors.

Other stories from the last month:
Mess with the Mouse at Your Peril!
The Weta Halo Warthog takes a trip to Australia
Postcards from Venus — here are the winners

Have you ever tuned in to the Weta Cast?
We’ve had a lot of good feedback for our “online radio show”, the Weta Cast. Daniel Falconer and Magnus Hjert interview Weta Workshop crew as well as visiting celebrities and give you the inside scoop on the work that goes on inside Weta, reports from the shows we go to as well as friendly banter between your two fanboy hosts. It’s easy to tune in — if you can hear sound on your PC, you can listen to the Weta Cast. Go check it out! Listen to the Weta Cast, Episode XII with District 9 lead designer Greg Broadmore.

Just in — Two GREAT Interviews with Greg Broadmore
Greg has been a busy man – check out these two great interviews:
Indy Mogul interview Greg Broadmore about District 9, Rayguns and catfood
The Arms Channel interview Greg at Comic-Con about Rayguns

The Second Dr Grordbort’s book is near!
In a few weeks we’ll be starting to take pre-orders for Greg Broadmore’s second book: Victory! Scientific Adventure Violence for Young Men and Literate Women. As politically correct as ever, Greg has this time written an Adventure Annual, designed to teach the younger generation all about conquering the Universe and those who inhabit it. It follows the style of Dr. Grordbort’s Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory that was released last year. We let a few of our friends have a preview — this is what one of them says:

“I utterly love this universe Greg has created. Join Lord Cockswain as he selflessly ventures out into our solar system in the name of science, and discovery. Watch in awe as he uses his fantastic guns to research all of the wondrous life he encounters! And while he’s at it, teach those filthy savages a thing or two. This satirical take on the colonial era and the astonishing and fully complete world that Greg has created leaves the reader engulfed in an overload of creatures, weapons, locations and characters that are truly fantastic. Drawing from both twenties and thirties fiction, while simultaneously mocking it, the end result is pure gold. Propaganda posters, ray guns and tanks, what more could you ask for?”
Neill Blomkamp, Director — District 9

Customers who buy the book directly from Weta’s website or at the Weta Cave, get an exclusive Art Card, signed by Greg Broadmore. Check out a preview of some of the pages in the book.

Have you checked out Weta’s NEW FAN FORUMS?
Charles Song and our friends at The Shadow & Flame have kindly agreed to host the official Weta forums. These only opened last week but have instantly become a hit. There are two — one for Weta stuff in general and one especially dedicated to Dr. Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators — The Infallible Forum! Go check it out! These are very friendly online forums and we highly recommend you go have a banter with other Weta fans.

Weta Dollars Reminder:
Don’t forget — if you hold Weta Dollars that were earned on our OLD website, these expire 31 December 2009, so make sure you spend them before then!

This is how you find us online!
http://fans.wetaNZ.com/Magnus/ | Twitter: @wetaworkshop | Facebook: Weta Workshop