An AMAZING short film you all need to see!

This morning I awoke to that wonderful chill in the air that gets the creative juices squirting around in my mind.

It's a tell tale sign that my sinisterly spooky favorite time of year is just around the corner! I'm actually going to be starting to do Halloweenesqe activities later this evening when I take a Gothic Ghost Tour of the downtown area of Milwaukee.

I'll let you know how it goes once this blog ramps up it's annual celebration of Halloween in the coming weeks.

But, for right now I want to direct your attention to a magnificent little treat that someone drew my attention to recently.  It will take a mere 34 minutes of time to view this wonderful piece of work, but it will be well worth it.

The genre of Steampunk is a mashing up of an alternate history with fantasy and Sci-Fi thrown into the mix.  It revolves around a historical world that usually focuses on Victorian times where the machinations of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne actually exist and work.  Rather than progressing on into a full blown electrical future, society has advanced on the power of steam.  Usually there's great pulp adventure waiting to be had in the stories of Steampunk.

With the rise of the internet in our own time, we can go on-line and see fan made films as well as smaller independent movies that are available for mass consumption without being bogged down or stiffed by the corporate monsters that movie companies and the media can be.  Some people in Australia took advantage of this and came up with the little wonder you are hopefully going to take time to view.

 I could jibber jab on and on about this short film, but I think I'll just let you view it and soak it in.  I present to you, Aurora - A Steampunk Short Film....

Fan-fracking-tastic, wasn't it!  This is what you get when you have people with a creative and imaginative vision, who may not have the money that Hollywood does, but have the dream to make something happen.

Bravo.

I'll have a few more posts with other excellent fan films coming up on later dates.  We also have to look forward to the Halloween make over this blog usually gets during the Season of Screams!

So keep your eyes out for that.  And until next time, as a very wise sage once told me, Stay Vertical!

Zangz.

The Geekification of YouTube

It was bound to happen.  Digital media has become a constant in geek and genre entertainment.  Look at any social social interaction on the web, like Facebook and Google+, and you'll find a abundance of fantasy, horror, sci-fi groups and clubs that offer all sorts of material to allow ourselves to fall into the wonders of Geek Culture.

The "post it yourself" social media web page, YouTube is no different.  Since it's inception, fan boys and girls have been flooding the page with oodles of content.  From Fan-films to video blogging to documentary shorts on comic conventions, you can find yourself lost for day's going through an endless treasure trove of cool as heck content.

YouTube has yet to be completely corporatized or censored by doo-gooding parental groups of purificationists.  YouTube realizes that geeks are made up of mostly mature adults where our minds won't melt if there's a bit of mature language used.  So now is the time to jump in and have a looksie if you haven't yet.

Let me help you get started.  I've picked out of few of my favorite YouTube content providers (or YouTube Channels as they're referred to).  Now, before you start viewing, there's something you need to keep in mind.  As I just mentioned, these channels are geared for adults, so if you have little ears and eyes close by......... for crissakes, put them back in the shoebox in the crawlspace!!!  But, seriously folks.  These channels are for adults.

That being said, here we go.  I'll give you a link to the channel, a review of it and then a little sampler plate of a couple of video's they provide.


The Nerdist Channel

Founded by stand up comedian / actor, Chris Hardwick, the Nerdist YouTube channel is the perfect compliment to his already established network of Podcasts, which I blogged about quite a while ago.  One of the great things about anything Nerdist related is that it doesn't restrict itself to just the genres of nerdom.  Sure there's a good dose of a love for Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but it also aims itself at pop culture in general.  Some of my favorite shows are posted below.

How much cooler is bowling with the cast and creator of The Walking Dead?  Not very frackin' much!

If you love the fan based, movie review website, Ain't-It-Cool-News, here's it's founder's own web show.  God this kid loves movies.

Here's a wonderful round table discussion of all things geeky with a special guest star every week. 

There's also shows with Weird Al Yankovic and one that specializes in Cos-Play at conventions.  Apparently they are also planning a Fangoria show with Anthrax's Scott Ian  Definitely a channel to keep you eyes on.

Next up is a channel that I tripped upon when I was looking for reviews on the video game, Red Dead Redemption.

3KB

This import from Canada features three fans of video games and movies who review them on an ongoing basis.  I enjoy their humor and camaraderie and their creativity to put something like this together.

My introduction to 3KB.

Their review of the best movie this summer so far.

Here's one where they have the main voice actor from the video game actually play the game with them.  Cool concept.

Geek and Sundry

Geek icon, Felicia Day, has been a pioneer in online geek content with her on-line show The Guild for some time now.  At YouTube she has her own channel where many a wondrous, geekesque related show can be viewed.

A show where they feature guest stars playing famous, geeky table top games hosted by Wil Wheaton? YES, PLEASE!  This episode features one of the greatest TV scriptwriters of our time!  Jane Espenson.

Miss Day's own personal video blog.  Is it kinda lame for me to post the episode where she poses in cute Steampunk outfits?  Methinks not!

A YouTube, online Fantasy book club where there are book reviews and interviews with the authors themselves.  If I were more of a literary genre geek, I'd be all over it like a bad rash.

I may let you know of a few more in another post coming up.  Right now I have to partake in a Memorial Day cookout.  So until next time, stay vertical!

Zangz.