Friday, May 30, 2008

The NoHo Show Update

Functioneers!

Do you know what you will be doing Sunday night instead of surfing the internet and watching a re-run of Iron Chef America? Well, I know what you could be doing... You could be going to visit www.thenohoshow.com and checking out Episode 1. And if you have no idea if you want to, just check out the fun trailer below. Yours truly, wrote, directed and helped produce the series, and I think you should check it out! We posted a 'teaser' for the show on the website and on You Tube, but you can check it out here!

Friday, May 23, 2008

5 Million Legos Plus Reluctant Indy!


I know I've been posting a lot of videos as of late, but come on this one is just... great. I know that Indiana Jones came out this week, and judging by responses it will need a lot of help to sustain its opening weekend business, because many of the die hard Indy fans are not... how should we say... responding well to the latest installment. I of course blame George Lucas. This being said there are plenty die hard Indy fans out there, who also apparently have huge collections of legos as we can see by the following clip. It is called the Lego Boulder. My favorite quote from this video, "Oh My God, what have you done?"

Monday, May 19, 2008

Ghost Nets... Who Knew?

Okay, so some days you hear about things and go... crap this little spinning rock I live on has really taken a beating in the last 100 years. We all know that the world is getting greener. But what country is the greenest? I don't know, but it's safe to bet that Ireland should register into the discussion somewhere because of all the Leprechauns. (insert laugh track here). However, Ireland has started to take a more aggressive stance on environmental impact of industrial society on the old country. Recently they instituted the first Ghost Net Hunting Project to reduce some of the impact of commercial fishing.

Ghost nets are basically abandoned commercial fishing nets that are cut lose from boats and left to free float in the ocean. However, some of the nets can be as long as 100 meters square and it is estimated that in the North Atlantic waters almost 620 miles of nets are lost each year. These nets often can live free floating in the ocean to continue ensnaring wild life up to three years after they have been cut from their boat. It's a pretty big deal during the time they are floating, but even worse once they hit the bottom. It is estimated that some of the larger bottom feeding predators in the ocean have been hit the worst with numbers dropping nearly 20 percent.

Thank heavens the Irish are doing something about this! Just another reason to raise a pint on St. Patrick's Day!

Friday, May 16, 2008

The NoHo Show

Hello, Functioneers!

I have not been as religious with the posts as I have been in the past, I'm barely churning out one per week, but there is good reason! Yes, I am producing a webisodic or webTV show. It's called "The NoHo Show" and it will debut its first episode on June 1st, 2008. The show is about a group of people who struggle to keep a small theater open in North Hollywood, CA. It's a comedy and we pitch it as "The Office" meets "Waiting for Guffman". A new website for the show will be up by mid week, next week, so keep going over to visit www.thenohoshow.com to peek in and see what's what!

Monday, May 5, 2008

SLOW DOWN NERDS!

Okay,

So, if you know me personally, you know I live about 200 yards away from a large multi-plex theater. If you know me even better, you know I barely have time to go to movies, but I often times can pre-predict a successful run of a film, but how big the lines are at the theaters. This weekend, IRON MAN must have been successful, because traffic was way screwed up heading to my home. I have not had the chance to see the opus to red and gold iron, but I plan on it (at this printing apparently it grossed 90 million clams). However, Marvel has already announced a sequel... A SEQUEL! We have barely seen it, and there will be a sequel. Not only that, but Marvel also burped out about five other movie release dates including the much anticipated "Avengers" movie, "Captain America" and "Thor".

"Feature Film Slate Update:"

"Marvel today updated its feature film slate strategy and plans for the next three years, locking in key release windows for its character franchises. In order to focus its attention on maximizing the success of an Iron Man sequel and the launch of Thor in the summer of 2010 and because Marvel believes that the summer is the optimal time to launch a new property, the Company will not release a self produced film in 2009. Marvel plans to launch its 2010 film slate with the release of the sequel, Iron Man 2, on April 30, 2010, followed by the launch of Thor on June 4, 2010. Additionally, Marvel is planting its feature film stakes for summer 2011 with an Avengers-themed summer - a two-picture project which will debut on May 6, 2011 with The First Avenger: Captain America (working title), followed by The Avengers in July 2011.

Marvel's Chairman, Morton Handel, commented, "Adjusting for the strong year-ago contribution from the Spider-Man JV, Marvel's Q1 2008 operating results continued to demonstrate strong global demand for consumer products based on the Company's portfolio of characters. Marvel's self-produced feature film slate launched this past weekend with a performance that firmly establishes Iron Man as a major new film franchise, and the Company eagerly awaits the June premiere of The Incredible Hulk, Marvel's second self-produced film. In addition, Marvel has been investing in other important areas of growth such as the Internet where, to lead the Company's newly formed Global Digital Media Group, Marvel recently announced the hiring of Ira Rubenstein. Marvel has a strong foundation to build from, and the Company is adding infrastructure to maximize these opportunities."

Wow, ever since Hollywood gave the keys to the car to the hard core comic book fans, the pedal has been to the metal, but never to this ambitious extent. I find it odd, that only four years after the first HULK we will get a 're-invention'. But, I understand that the new movie, CAP and THOR movies are building to the big AVENGERS movie which will probably feature, HULK, IRON MAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR. Let's hope that the new Captain America movie can top the 1978 made for TV movie. If you don't know what I'm talking about, catch it below! I like the see through shield. Awesome for the sake of awesome!