Category: Events

Victorious Secrets from Dr. Grordbort’s

from Weta:

I say!

Are you one of those unfortunate Darwinian mishaps who find it nigh on impossible to gain acceptance in polite (worst case even impolite?) society?

Do you regularly find yourself at social functions on level footing only with the flock wallpaper or velvet draperie in the quest for the attention of the opposite gender?

Well, then you must keep reading, for Dr. Grordbort’s has the answer to your pathetic prayers:

Introducing — Victorious Secrets!
Save US$89!

For the approximate monetary equivalent of a good pipe and a tin of decent tobacco, you can now own a satchelful of Grordbortian goodies, 14 items straight from the hands of the lazy-arse artisans in the antipodean colonies! Thus rapidly elevating your social status beyond what has traditionally been possible. Even the actual satchel is included!

  • 1 Victorious Mongoose — Miniature Version
  • 1 Dr. Grordbort’s Satchel
  • 1 Spiral Bound Notebook for your plans, scribbles and brilliant ideas
  • 8 Postcards
  • 1 Unnatural Selector Pin
  • 1 Goliathon 83 Pin
  • 1 F.M.O.M. Keyring

WAS US$238 — NOW US$149 — SAVE US$89! (Offer expires 22 February 2010)

Take our survey — tell us what you think of Blast-a-Buffon
Before St. Nicholas, the porky crimson scoundrel, made the season too silly for words, we launched an anima-lectric amusement station named Blast-a-Buffoon. This was the first time a similar endeavour had been attempted by Grordbort Industries and we would like to solicit your views on the matter. Electric web Survey can be found here.

You’ll know when you’ve been hit by a Blunderbuss!
In the approximately 18 months since Lord Cockswain’s Unnatural Selector Ray Blunderbuss was unleashed on an unsuspecting Venusian fauna, all but a handful of the 50 made have been acquired by an international clientel of impeccable taste and breeding. If you have yet to join the illustrious elite that can call themselves Blunderbuss Owners, we suggest you don’t delay any further. They won’t last much longer and when they are gone, they’re vanished! Cast an eye on the Unnatural Selector. And then buy one!

Dr. Grordbort’s reclaims Hong Kong in the name of Her Majesty
Dr. Grordbort’s Exceptional Exhibition — Hazzaah — is taking its next step into the world by going to the once gloriously Imperial Crown Colony of Hong Kong. Hosted and presented by the wizardly Hong Kong based technological upstart Cyberport. Richard Taylor Esq. and Greg Broadmore will attend the official opening Pomp and Circumstance on March 24th. Read the original dispatch here.

Compartmentalised photolectric essay from the Colonies!
The thoroughly (and amusingly) reprehensible villain Count Nicholas Mazmaniac has furnished us with a thoroughly amusing retelling of a recent adventure. One of the lackeys in the pictorialisation department at Grordbort Industries (G Broadmore) was so taken by his tale (and partial to a bit of tail) that he instantly Grordbotomised one of the photos! Read the story and see the rest of the rather racy pictures!

Have you insulted any of the lunatics on the Forum yet? It’s not too late…

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Online Thriller, “Compulsions”, Wins Four Awards at the 1st Annual Indie Soap Awards

from Compulsions:

Compulsions, the episodic online thriller, won four awards at the 1st Annual Indie Soap Awards. The four awards tied acclaimed drama Anyone But Me with most total wins. The awards were announced in a ceremony on Monday night from Shelter Studios in New York City.

Full List of Winners can be found here.

Compulsions won the following awards:

Best Performance by a Lead Actor — Craig Frank as Mark Sandler
Best Performance by a Supporting Actress — Taryn O’Neill as Sara Flannery
Best Sound Design — Tom Boykin
Best Editing — Michael Darrow

Episode 4: “Solutions” showcases the talents of all four individual winners.

Craig Frank can be seen in the upcoming series A Good Night’s Quest for The Escapist magazine and in The Crew on Babelgum.com.

Taryn O’Neill was previously nominated for a Streamy Award in 2009 for her role in After Judgment and also appears in Hurtling Through Space at an Alarming Rate! on Babelgum.com.

Compulsions has already won the Clicker Award for Best Original Web Drama of 2009 for its eight episode Season 1. The series was written and created by Bernie Su, directed by Nathan Atkinson, and produced by Robert Grand and Michael Tohl.

Compulsions was initially distributed by Dailymotion.com, but can now be seen on Youtube.com.

VIZ Pictures to Release “20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope” on DVD

from VIZ Pictures:

VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, will release the science fiction feature 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope on DVD on February 16th in North America through its distributor, VIZ Media. 20th Century Boys will carry a MSRP of $24.92 US / $35.99 CAN.

The 20th Century Boys saga is based on Naoki Urasawa’s manga series, 20th Century Boys (published in the US by VIZ Media), which has become a national phenomenon in Japan, selling over 20 million copies of the 24 volumes. Urasawa is the creator of many famous works such as the hit manga series Monster and Pluto, also published in the US by VIZ Media.

The film is directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, who began directing commercials and music videos at Nihon Television. One of his most recent films includes Happily Ever After (2007), also released by VIZ Pictures and distributed by VIZ Media. Both Naoki Urasawa and music director Ryomei Shirai are fans of the 1970’s rock music scene and chose “20th Century Boys” by T.REX (Imperial Records) as the main theme song.

The story began in 1969 when a young boy named Kenji and his friends write “The Book of Prophecy” in which they write about a future where they fight against an evil organization trying to take over the world and bring about doomsday. Years later in 1997, a mysterious cult being led by a man only known as “Friend” emerges and begins to gain strong influence over society. A series of catastrophic events begin to occur mirroring the prophecies made up by the young Kenji and the greatest fear is the climax of “The Book” becoming a reality; December 31st, 2000, a terrifying giant virus-spreading robot will attack the entire city of Tokyo leading to the end of mankind. The only people who know about “The Book” are Kenji and his childhood friends. Who is “Friend”? Will Kenji and his friends be able to save mankind and live to see the 21st Century?

In 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope it is 2015, and “Friend” rules a disturbing new world. Kenji has been missing since the Bloody New Year’s Eve of 2000, and his niece Kanna is now in high school. Her history textbook contains a fabricated story about Kenji and his friends being the terrorists behind the horrific events of 2000. Kanna, knowing the truth, openly resents this, and as a result she is marked as a problem child by her teacher and sent to the Friend Land program because of her anti-Friend behavior. Friend Land is a facility where people with rebellious behavior are re-educated. As the program begins, Kanna and her classmate Kyoko Koizumi achieve high marks and are sent to the advanced program called the Bonus Stage, where they find themselves in a virtual reconstruction of 1971, when Kenji and his friends were kids. There, each of the girls learns crucial secrets about “Friend.”

The surviving secret base members have been separated since Bloody New Year’s Eve but each has spent the last 15 years in various activities opposing Friend and his regime. As Kenji’s friends all try to find out the truth about Friend, they discover the shocking existence of The New Book of Prophecy, the sequel to The Book of Prophecy. The New Book describes an event: In 2015, at a church in Shinjuku, a savior will rise to uphold justice but will be assassinated. Who is the savior? Once again, Doomsday looms near…

To celebrate this DVD release, VIZ Pictures will be holding a special screening event at VIZ Cinema in San Francisco on February 9th at 7:30 PM. Ticket for admission is $25.00, which will include a ticket for the screening, a copy of the 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope DVD, poster, and pin! Additionally, VIZ Pictures is raffling off 20th Century Boys T-shirts before the show so come watch the film for a chance to win! Tickets are available at the box office or online at vizcinema.com. For more information about this event, please visit vizcinema.com or viz-pictures.com.

“20th Century Boys has been a mega hit since it mesmerized audiences with its U.S. theatrical premiere of 20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End in the summer of 2009, and we are excited to announce the U.S. debut of 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope,” says Seiji Horibuchi, President and CEO of VIZ Pictures. “We also hope fans in the San Francisco Bay Area can join us for the one night only special screening at VIZ Cinema to experience 20th Century Boys on the Big Screen.”

For more information on 20th Century Boys or other VIZ Pictures titles, please visit viz-pictures.com.

Star Wars: New York City adidas Event

from StarWars.com:

If you’re in New York on February 4th, join adidas Originals and Foot Locker for an Imperial March to celebrate the launch of the adidas Originals Star Wars collection. Led by Darth Vader, the march will begin at Foot Locker (43-45 W. 34th St.) at 9:30 AM with a celebrity guest joining at the Times Square Foot Locker (1530 Broadway) at 10:00 AM.

The first 50 customers to purchase a shoe at each location will receive a special Star Wars gift. Everyone will have the opportunity to get their photo taken with Star Wars characters. The march will continue south and culminate at the SoHo adidas Originals store (136 Wooster) at 11:00 AM where the special celebrity guest will unveil the adidas Skywalker shoe which will be available for purchase for the first time in the US. DJ Neil Armstrong will be on hand spinning for the crowd.

From the “Star Wars” Archive: Reflections on “Empire”

from StarWars.com:

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. For the entire year, Lucasfilm is celebrating this landmark movie, including making Empire a central theme to this year’s Star Wars Celebration event in August. Look for retrospective features on StarWars.com throughout the year, as well as here, in the Homing Beacon.

Back in 1990, Empire celebrated its first major milestone at ten years old. Then, Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine asked director Irvin Kershner to recall how he came to be director of Episode V.

“I had a phone call from [producer] Gary Kurtz who asked me if I would be interested, and I said I would think about it. I talked about it with my agent and I said, ‘Oh, what a hard act to follow! Star Wars! I don’t know.’ I was kind of put off by the enormity of the job and having to not top it. I never believe in topping, I believe in just making something which stands on its own terms. I thought, ‘What a difficult job!’ I met with George Lucas at Universal over lunch and he began talking about what he wanted to do and how important the second film was, because if the second one worked, then he could make more. If the second one didn’t work, then that would be the end of Star Wars. So I thought about it and said, ‘Well, why do you want me? Of all the younger guys around, all the hot-shots, why me?’ And I remember he said to me, ‘Well, because you know everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know but you’re not Hollywood.’ I liked that.

“Of course, I’ve always liked George and respected him. I loved his little films and his stuff at USC. I had some seminars with him when I was teaching and he was making some little films. I remember THX 1138 and, in fact, did my best to make Warner release it. They were reluctant to release it. So I finally decided, ‘Why not direct this Star Wars film.’ However, I didn’t know it would take me almost three years! So, I went up to see George and he took me to his office and showed me these drawings of what would later be Skywalker Ranch. He said, ‘This is what this film will pay for.’ He showed me drawings of the buildings, etc. But he said, ‘This will only happen if Empire works.’ And that was something else I had to carry on my shoulders. I thought, ‘Wow, what a dream! That’s incredible!’ You know, it’s not like saying, ‘Look, we’re going to make a lot of money!’ It’s saying, ‘We’re going to build something.’ And that was the difference for me. That’s what hooks me every time. You know, money itself means nothing. It’s what’s done with it that matters.

“So, George convinced me. Actually, he didn’t have to try very hard.”

The Titans on Broadway!

from Cinematic Titanic:

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that tickets for our show at the Nokia Theatre Times Square April 17th go on PRE-SALE tomorrow (Thursday) at noon EST — HERE. The pre-sale code is MST3K. We’ll be riffing Danger on Tiki Island.

OTHER UPCOMING DATES:

2/2 — SAN FRANCISCO — SF Sketchfest — The Castro Theatre — 7pm — Tix: HERE (Danger on Tiki Island)

2/19 — ROYAL OAK, MI — Royal Oak Music Theatre — 7pm/11pm — Tix: HERE (7pm: War of the Insects, 11pm: Samson and the 7 Miracles)

2/20 — MILWAUKEE, WI — Turner Hall — 7pm (SOLD OUT)/10:30 pm — Tix: HERE (7pm: War of the Insects, 10:30pm: Samson and the 7 Miracles)

4/16 — PRINCETON, NJ — McCarter Center — 8pm — Tix: HERE (War of the Insects)

More dates are in the works, we’ll keep you posted.

If you can’t make any of our live shows, but still want to know what it’s like, check out our latest DVD — Cinematic Titanic LIVE: “East Meets Watts” available at our store, HERE, or for Download, HERE. Quickly becoming the runaway favorite CT ep!

Hope to see you soon!
Best,
Cinematic Titanic

The Legend of Neil: 3 Days Left, 3 Votes

from The Legend of Neil:

Hey Legend of Neil-lovers,

So I really believe we’ve got a shot at winning some Streamy Awards this year, and it would really benefit the show if we could pull it off. There’s three days left that you can vote and you can vote once each day, the official ballot is below.

Please try and make it all the way through to the craft awards. I believe that out of every web series I’ve seen, our crew does the most with very little. The sets, the art, the lighting, the music (hell we had a musical!) are really so good because of these unsung heroes of the set, so let’s finally sing them. That’s not to say that the acting, writing, directing aren’t half bad either, so feel free to vote for those too. So, please take a few minutes and make it happen for the show you love, because it’s all in YOUR HANDS!

LEGEND OF NEIL — OFFICIAL BALLOT

Click the categories to get to the right page but BE SURE to choose the correct category from the drop down menu.

Best Comedy Webseries — The Legend of Neil (http://www.legendofneil.com/)

Best Ensemble Cast in a Webseries — The Legend of Neil (http://www.legendofneil.com/)

Best Directing for a Comedy — Sandeep Parikh

Best Writing for Comedy — Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh

Best Male Actor in a Comedy — Tony Janning / Mike Rose

Best Female Actor in a Comedy — Angie Hill / Felicia Day

Best Guest Star — Felicia Day / Brendan Bradley

Best Editing — Sandeep Parikh, Mat Greenleaf, Tony Orcena, Josh Schaffer, Todd Roy

Best Cinematography — Bry Thomas Sanders

Best Art Direction — Leah Mann

Best Sound Design — Houston Haynes, Steve Urban

Best Visual Effects — Sevan Najarian

Best Original Music — Elon Arbiture, Nigel Cordeiro, Robert Harrington

The Word on Cinematic Titanic’s “East Meets Watts”

from Cinematic Titanic:

Happy 2010 Everyone!

We had a great time spending our New Year’s Eve with the 1200 folks at the Keswick Theatre in Philadelphia. The folks in Philly can take pride in their attention spans and butt endurance, what a great crowd for our full 3 movie marathon.

We’re also really excited about the response to our latest DVD — Cinematic Titanic LIVE: “East Meets Watts”. The feedback to our first live release has been overwhelmingly positive from fans and critics alike:

John Scott Lewinski at AOL’s TV Squad:

“While Cinematic Titanic‘s earlier DVD releases all pack more than the U.N.-mandated share of laughs, the energy provided by the comics’ interactions with the crowd make this the comic troupe’s most successful DVD release so far.”

Brian Orndorf at DVD Talk:

“The live act amplifies the Cinematic Titanic energy to new heights of bellylaughs, helping to tackle and throttle a bell-bottomed, fist-clenched cinema stinker in the most three-dimensional manner allowed.”

Bryan White at Cinema Suicide:

“What we have here is something akin to MSTie classics like The Amazing Colossal Man and Manos: The Hands of Fate. Previous CT releases have warranted laughs but not one of them has had me wiping tears from my eyes as East Meets Watts did.”

Nick Lyons at DVD Corner:

“Summary: If you have some money leftover from holiday gift buying, I can’t think of a better thing to buy than Cinematic Titanic LIVE: East Meets Watts.”

If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you can buy the DVD HERE, at our STORE for $14.99 or download it for $9.99 at EZTakes.com and easily burn your own DVD.

Hope 2010 is a banner year for all of you.
Thanks for your support!

Cinematic Titanic

A Very Special Final Episode of “Safety Geeks: SVI” Season One

from Dave and Tom:

Yes, it is upon us… a Very Special FINAL Episode of Safety Geeks: SVI Season One , just in time for the holidays. It really has nothing to do with the holidays, but it is very special indeed. To go out with a bang, we’ve combined the final two episodes into one 13 minute episode. We hope you’ll enjoy it!

We’d love to take a moment and acknowledge all of the people who helped to create Safety Geeks: SVI, KoldCast.tv and you, our fans, who have followed it. As you probably know, we are in the process of being nominated for a couple of awards. If you would be so kind to vote for us, winning one of these would be invaluable as we seek funding and sponsorship for Season 2. Instructions on voting below.

AND NOW… Safety Geeks: SVI Season Finale: A Strange Sucking Sound

And may we suggest watching the entire season to get the full flow of the show? Finally, we wish you and yours the happiest of holidays and a wonderful New Year!

AWARDS:

Help us win a Streamy Award!

Between now and January 22nd, click on the badges below and vote. The series with the greatest number of Public Submissions will automatically become an Official Nominee. You are allowed one vote per day per category. Feel free to nominate us for more than one category such as Best New Comedy Series, Best New Series, Best Ensemble Cast and to nominate individuals (more below)…

Thank you for the support!

1. Go to: http://www.streamys.org/submit/public-submissions/

2. Use the drop down to choose the category (for example: “Best Comedy Web Series”).

3. Fill in Series Name: Safety Geeks: SVI. Series url: www.daveandtom.com

Rinse & Repeat under additional categories: Best New Web Series, Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series

4. Click on “Submit an individual”. Use the drop-down for the category and nominate as many of the following as you can or would like to:

For your consideration…

Safety Geeks: SVI

  • Special Effects — Thor Melsted, Mike Smith, Tom Konkle
  • Writing (comedy) — David Beeler, Tom Konkle
  • Best Actress (comedy) — Brittney Powell
  • Best Actor (comedy) — David Beeler, Tom Konkle
  • Director — Roger Tonry
  • Cinematography — Vince Delaney and Angie Pop
  • Editing — Tom Konkle
  • Music — The Whotles
  • Sound — Tom Konkle
  • Guest Star — Frank Payne, Mary Cseh, Benton Jennings, Ransford Doherty, Jim Woods, Steve Tom, Marie del Marco, March Teich, Laura Hayes
  • Best Comedy Series
  • Best New Series
  • Best Ensemble

Invention with Brian Forbes

  • Writing (comedy) — Tom Konkle, David Beeler
  • Camera/DP — Thor Melsted
  • Directing — Tom Konkle
  • Editing — Tom Konkle
  • Acting (comedy) — David Beeler, Tom Konkle

Vote daily! You are allowed one vote per day.

Clicker Award

Tis’ the Season to be jolly and — it would seem — tis the season for webseries award shows… Looks like we’re up for another possible award. This one is Clicker.

1. Go to: http://www.clicker.com/gallery/best-web-original-comedy-2009/

2. Scroll down to Geeks, hit “VOTE”. The page will refresh and next to the Geeks entry will say, “You Voted”.

3. Tweet about it or Facebook it (the little icons for this will be next to the “You Voted” tag).

As you’ll see, the field for Comedy is very crowded, so please do vote.

And finally, forward this to friends and family asking for their votes if you would be so kind — it really is a numbers game at this point.

Awesome.

Happy Crimble!

Dave & Tom

Submit to the Sect… er… I Mean, Nominate “Riese” for the Streamy Awards!

from Riese the Series:

On December 15th, the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards opened for submissions! The Streamys are awards that recognize the best of episodic web content in a variety of categories. In addition to their jury awards, there are also Audience Choice Awards. Viewers (that means you!) can submit their favorite web shows to be nominated for audience choice categories. You may vote for each category once per day.

To nominate Riese, visit the Public Submission Area. It’s very simple, and you can nominate it as many times you like, in a number of categories. There are SERIES nominations and INDIVIDUAL nominations. Relevant SERIES categories are:

Best Drama Web Series
Best New Web Series
Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series
Best Foreign Web Series (We’re Canadian, eh!)

Relevant INDIVIDUAL categories are:

Best Director for a Dramatic Web Series — Kaleena Kiff
Best Writer for a Dramatic Web Series — Ryan Copple, Miguel Valdez Lopez, Kaleena Kiff
Best Male Actor in a Dramatic Web Series — Ben Cotton, Patrick Gilmore
Best Female Actor in a Dramatic Web Series — Christine Chatelain, Sharon Taylor
Best Editing in a Web Series — Matthew Lyons
Best Cinematography in a Web Series — Christopher Charles Kempinski
Best Art Direction in a Web Series — Chad Krowchuk
Best Sound Design in a Web Series — Kevin Belen, Bill Mellow
Best Visual Effects in a Web Series — Adam de Bosch Kemper, Brett Keyes
Best Original Music in a Web Series — Richard Walters

Again, we greatly appreciate your support, and taking the time to do this! Thank you so much!

Vote for “The Guild” for the 2010 Streamy Awards

from The Guild:

The Streamy Awards are here again and we would love for you to submit/vote for The Guild. Your votes for Best Comedy Webseries are particularly important because the Public Submission voting determines the TEN semi-finalists for the Audience Choice award for Best Web Series of the Year. You may vote once per day.

There are series submissions and individual ones. Here are the SERIES submission categories (and link to the page):

Best Comedy Webseries — The Guild, http://www.watchtheguild.com/
Best Ensemble Cast in a Webseries — The Guild, http://www.watchtheguild.com/

Please vote for The Guild in these categories.

And here are the INDIVIDUAL submission categories (and link to the page):

Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series — Sean Becker
Best Writing for Comedy Web Series — Felicia Day
Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series — Vincent Caso / Jeff Lewis / Sandeep Parikh
Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series — Felicia Day / Amy Okuda / Robin Thorsen
Best Guest Star in a Web Series — Wil Wheaton / Michelle Boyd / Brett Sheridan
Best Editing in a Web Series — Sean Becker
Best Cinematography — John Schmidt
Best Art Direction — Tyler Robinson
Best Original Music — Eanan Patterson, Don Schiff

Please vote for The Guild cast and crew in these categories.

Thank you so much for taking time to do this, and for your continued support of The Guild!

Merry Christmas from your friends at Weta!

from Weta:

What a year we’ve had!

District 9, Avatar, Under the Mountain and The Lovely Bones all saw the flicker of projector lights in 2009.

A new website. We can’t thank you enough for making this a success and for being so patient with us while we iron out the kinks.

Weta started design on The Hobbit and welcomed Guillermo del Toro, John Howe, Alan Lee and many other old friends back in the workshop.

A new forum, run so professionally and enthusiastically by Charles and our great friends at the Shadow and Flame.

Greg Broadmore wrote and published his second book, VICTORY!

The Weta Cave will at the end of the year have seen over 100,000 visitors.

Reepicheep and the other Prince Caspian statues saw the light of day.

The Exceptional Exhibition reached Chengdu and helped support Sichuan Earthquake victims.

We returned to Middle-earth with a bang. Peter Lyon swords, environments, Gollum.

Weta’s Mermaid Tail sparked imagination all over the world.

The WotWots took the world’s pre-school children by storm.

Dr. Grordbort’s travelled to Oamaru.

John Howe chose Weta to sculpt and release his Middle-earth sculpture range.

Grorbort Industries released 3 miniatures, one light-weight, one NEW full size gun (today) and 13 one-of-a-kind custom rayguns. And the first Venusian insect specimen! Today!

Our Doctor Who statues and helmets arrived in the warehouses and have been enjoyed by fans the world over.

To summarise — We have all had a blast and we’re looking forward to 2010 like you wouldn’t believe. There will be exciting announcements, new licenses, new products and much much more! Until then, we will be taking a break. There will be people here for urgent queries and web orders, but please bear with us for the next few weeks.

Season’s Greetings from the Weta team

Anna, Susan, Darren, Tim, Magnus, Greg, Dave, Daniel, Steve, Carlos, Emily, Sophie and Mark + Richard and the whole crew at Weta Workshop!