Happy Halloween 2009!
Here's a spooky thing that we put together to celebrate Halloween, the time of year for spooky things. We hope it adds to your enjoyment of the season.
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This post might be a bit of a spoiler, but I'm going to go ahead because I think it'd be wrong if I didn't explain the deeply personal, monumentally important nature of this month's video update. It doesn't have the usual Misplaced Planet polish, but that's because it was created entirely outside of our production schedule. It got hammered together, for love alone, despite an overwhelming schedule of producing episodes of our upcoming web-series, HELL FROZE OVER. I could argue that we did it for the fun of filming from the hip, since it was produced at home, with a crew of two, and a cast of two, and a crossover between those two groups of one. It could be argued that it was done for the pleasure of working with two of my favorite people. It could be argued that it was intended to test the camera-rig I'd designed and constructed for no conceivable reason. But none of those reasons capture the passion I've always felt for this project. The truth is, this movie happened for one simple reason. I love vibrators. I think they represent a rare example of our world with its heart in the right place. The inventive design and manufacture of a vibrator. The calculated and yet instinctive selection and purchase of a vibrator. The use and diligent maintenance of a vibrator. The cherished place is takes in a loving relationship, and the comfort it offers when all else seems lost. It is an object that admits the hard realities of human existence, but also transcends them through our power to create. Yes, this short film was born of the same kind of warm, good-natured affection that must have motivated the writing of The Brave Little Toaster. And now that I've written that sentence, I really wish it were more like The Brave Little Toaster. Perhaps with a vibrator named Nine Inch Neil singing "Turn On Your Heartlight." Ah well. This version, staring a sexy woman and an increasingly fat-faced dude, is gonna have to suffice, at least until I can get the budget together on that one. So... Enjoy! And click right here, watch it, rate it, and send it to your friends.When you say, "It could not have happened to a nicer guy," you'd rather not be referring to a brain tumor. Unfortunately, in the case of our good friend Paul, that's exactly what you'd be talking about. And it's true: something this awful could not have happened to a nicer guy.
As you may know, I lived in New York City for a year or so. (Stay with me, this is actually about Paul). While I lived there, I spent my holiday season with the dog and some Chinese food. It was really good Chinese food and a pretty good dog, but that's really all that can be said for it.
I really can't recommend the experience.
When I moved to Los Angeles, I was fortunate enough to make some wonderful friends. Actually, I'm ridiculously shy, or at least wisely reluctant to impose the misfortune of my company on anyone, so it's really more honest to say that some wonderful people made me their friend. And when those year-end holidays came around again, Paul was amongst those wonderful people who were good enough to welcome me into their home.
So, I spent last Christmas on the floor in Paul's living room, under his Christmas tree, playing with the children and feeling nothing less than welcome. It seems that kind and warm people gravitate to Paul and his family. Perhaps it's because they're kind and warm. I'm unaware of any bribery involved, so I can't imagine what else it could be. No, it must be that they're kind and warm, and not in an annoying way to boot.
I highly recommend the experience.
Yes, kindness attracts itself to itself, and in times like these, I'm glad it does. Paul's friends and family have come together to form Paul's Brain Trust.
They have a website. Go there.
You back? Okay. Let me add this: the events being held now on Paul's behalf are only the beginning. They're starting off with a screening of Blade Runner. Paul worked on the recent boxed set for it. Ridley Scott is involved and everything. Ridley isn't as cool as Paul or anything, but it's still pretty cool. If you hurry, you can probably still grab some tickets to the screening. If you don't hurry, there will be other events to follow.
That's no reason to be lazy, of course.
Cancer is awful. On top of being awful, it's suprisingly expensive. Seriously, you'd be surprised. I know you think you know how staggeringly expensive it is, but you'd still be surprised. It's more expensive than that. No, more. Higher. More expensive. Higher. Not even close. Higher. Forget it, you don't want to know how expensive it is.
That being said -- why not attract a little kindness to yourself? Feed off the energy and get in on the ground floor of a positive karma empire. Help us pay to help Paul. Give what you can.
And from now on, when we say, "Could not have happened to a nicer guy," we'll be referring to the outpouring of generosity that started here.
The biggest news, of course, is the official completion of Momentary Engineering. With additional music provided by Stirling McLaughlin, and a final sound-mix by Michael Benni Pierce, the film has completed its long journey. We are very proud of it, and cast and crew should contact Wilder by clicking here to receive a link to a compressed online version. Meanwhile, don't forget to check out the new website by clicking here.
This film, along with Antebellum, Just Us League, Signal Decay, Brains!!!, and Home Team, will be featured on disc one the upcoming Misplaced Planet Productions DVD set, titled Transmission from Sedna.
Disc two will feature J Wilder Konschak's newly re-edited and scored Anniversary Dinner, along with Shaun Boyle's documentary, Home Front, and a heap of bonus materials, commentaries, and behind the scenes documentaries, including two newly produced Misplaced Planet Commercials, both of which will be making their online premiere before the end of the month. More information will be available in coming days.
And, speaking of behind the scenes documentaries, head over to the Just Us League site, where the monthly update continues. September's Behind the Scenes Documentary Segment features The Bombinatrix, Keely Flynn, and some talk about make-up and stand-ins. The full Behind the Scenes documentary will be featured along with the film on the upcoming DVD. Click here to check it out.
And through it all, Gabe Mckee's Self-Amusement Park continues to make us wonder what's wrong with that guy. Enjoy the mystery by clicking here.
Misplaced Planet's newest short-film, Just-Us League, also known as J.U.L., has its own website. It is the pulse-pounding fable of a father who tries to heal the hearts o his children by pretending they're a family of super-heroes. It is also a movie where a half-naked woman beats the hell out of a dumb jerk.
View the movie, meet the heroes, and check in regularly, because there will be monthy updates to the Behind the Scenes featurettes, and the newest segment, Part 2, was posted today. You can access it in the Productions Section, or you can click right here.
In the very near future, particularly in a cosmological sense, there will be many exciting updates, including news for the recently completed Antebellum, the nearly completed Momentary Engineering, and even some projects you thought were forgotten, such as Anniversary Dinner. We'll also be starting pre-production on our next major short-film, Small Talker, written and directed by J Wilder Konschak.
Furthermore, you'll have a chance to own many of the features you've sampled here on Misplaced Planet, when we release our first DVD since the last DVD. But that's still on the hush, hush, so don't let anyone know I told you.
Until then, enjoy Self-Amusement Park, where Gabe Mckee demonstrates the horrible majesty of his warrior spirit.