A long time ago, in computers far, far away, people used small plastic squares to run their computers (aww… how quaint). Apparently, these “floppy discs” only serve one purpose now - they are being used as truly hideous musical instruments.

The song, of course, is The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme) from Star Wars. The instrument is a 3.5″ floppy drive. Why? Because there apparently isn’t enough nerdity on the Internet.

– [via Neatorama]

World (or at least, the three of you who haven’t seen this yet), let me introduce you to the trailer for the upcoming TV show, Dollhouse:

Sorry, can’t embed. Click picture to see video.

For those of you not as rabid a TV fan as I, let me explain. Dollhouse is the next TV project from Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly) and stars Eliza Dushku (who is also executive producer) and Tahmoh Penikett (of Battlestar Galactica).

As is perhaps apparent, I’m a huge fan of everything Whedon, and am immensely excited for this show. Unfortunately, it won’t begin airing until early 2009 on Fox in the US, and who-knows-when here on Channel Ten (who have apparently picked it up).

Regardless of the wait (and the near-inevitable Internet piracy that will have to occur to actually see it), the trailer and this short “sneak peek” of the pilot have me embarrassingly excited.

Unless you’ve been chewing through your blubber reserves whilst hibernating on the distant ex-planet Pluto for the last few months, you probably know that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike, and that negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have not been particularly successful.

I’m not going to rant about the strike just yet, but I will show you this video which fairly accurately sums up the situation the WGA is in with regards to negotiations:

Links:

• Video @ Funny Or Die [found via Digg]
• Writers Guild of America

Hello World.

Do you remember the Sony Bravia ads that have been playing on TV for a while?  The first was made up of thousands of bouncy balls launched down the streets of San Francisco, and the second consisted of a building showering itself in coloured paint.  Well, those ads are not made using CGI or fancy effects, but are actually painstakingly put together by hand and filmed on location, by advertising agency Fallon London.  They’ve just released the next ad in the campaign, and this one is by far the most impressive:

The above ad used 2.5 tons of plasticine, took forty animators three weeks to put together, and is made up of 100,000 images.

It is truly an amazing achievement, but the real question is: Is it worth it?

This kind of effort and expense could produce a fantastic short film, or an art piece of some kind.  There is the argument that an ad like this is a form of artwork, or could be considered a short film in its own right, but the fact of the matter is that it’s still an ad.  A great ad, but an ad nonetheless.

Personally, I feel that these types of advertisements are great when considered within their context - I would much rather watch a few minutes worth of these between shows than the slapped-together, mindless and repetitive stuff that I end up fast-forwarding through at the moment - but in the broader context, should we really be celebrating what is essentially a tool to make us spend money on stuff we don’t really need?

I think I’m split on this issue.  I love creative advertising, and interesting visual works like this in any form should be celebrated and encouraged.  But when I see things like Channel 9’s current “Commercial Breakdown” program, I have to think twice.  This show, for those who haven’t seen it, is one of those clip deals showcasing funny and clever television ads from around the world.  Yes, some of them are very creative, funny, well made etc.  But when you think about it, you’re watching an hour of advertisements, occasionally interrupted by advertisements.

It seems a sad state of affairs when the most creative people are creating things like this.  There is more money (and jobs) in advertising than there ever will be in film or television, and this is nothing new.  But it still feels like a waste.  A pretty waste, with adorable little bunnies.

– [via Gothamist, via Photojojo]

Hello World.

A very funny (and extremely well made, I might add) advertisement for Cadbury Chocolate:

Hello World.

This is a clip of a talk by Kevin Smith, wherein he tells the story of his doomed Superman movie.  The clip is nearly 20 mins, but well worth the time.

I’m pretty sure this is from either the An Evening With Kevin Smith or An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder DVDs, but I’m not sure which.

This particular story has become so well known, that it was even used as a joke in the recent animated movie Superman: Doomsday (voiced by Kevin Smith himself, no less).

Hello World.

Below is the teaser trailer for the upcoming Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight.

This trailer has been online for a while, but is still the most recent one available.  The Dark Knight is the sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins, arguably one of the best comic-to-film adaptations ever produced.

One of the most talked-about aspects of this film has been the casting of Heath Ledger as Batman’s (Christian Bale) nemesis “The Joker”.  Many of the comments have been of the “will he be as good as Jack?” variety (Jack Nicholson famously played The Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, Batman, to much critical and popular acclaim).

I’m of the opinion that it kind of doesn’t matter.  The primary requirements for The Joker should be ”is he psychopathically creepy?”.  From the voice in this trailer, it feels like Ledger might be pulling of it off quite well.

Hello World.

What if business meetings were like Internet comment threads?

– [via CollegeHumor, via Neatorama.  How meta.]

Hello World.

One of my favourite video podcasts (I hate the word “vodcast” and refuse to use it) is Ask a Ninja.  Every episode is hilarious, and often very intelligent.  None more so, however, than the episode regarding Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End.

Let me just say that I agree with the Ninja completely.  I really just don’t get these movies.  I’ll freely admit there is a certain charm about the first one - it has pirates and zombies and a monkey that is both a pirate and a zombie.  But that concept, however cool it may be, does not a trilogy make.  These latest two are just confusing as all hell and far, far too long.  Granted, the special effects are amazing - but so were they in Fantastic Four and no one confuses that for a good movie.  When the best thing about your film is Keith Richards doing an impersonation of Johnny Depp doing and impersonation of Keith Richards, something needs to change.

Shot best your with me hit.

Hello World.

What do you get when you mix The Beatles, Zombies and “Screaming Girls!”?  Why, A Hard Day’s Night of the Living Dead, of course.

– [via Brad Sucks]