Aliens in 60 Seconds

For those of you not culturally hip enough to get this clever animated short, this is a humorously animated and foreshortened interpretation of the 1986 sci-fi/action blockbuster Aliens.

The Great Martian War (1913-1917)

Yesterday and today, I executed my second consecutive and second-ever fully original lesson plan created by me for all six 85-minute block periods of standard tenth grade world history that I and my co-operating teacher split this quarter. He is gone this week due to a family health emergency so instead of doing what I did the first two weeks of the quarter and of my student teaching career which was follow the general game plan of my co-teacher with my own spin on it, this week I created wholly original and organic lesson plans. In the just-ending today lesson plan, I used THIS World War One - War of the Worlds mash-up video as an anticipatory set in our current World War One unit. You might notice I posted that blog piece back in 2014. While researching it, I found this longer clip (below) from whence its footage was derived which is a faux preview of a full-length "mockumentary" for which I have heard conflicting reports as to if its existence is fictional or real, such as that would be.

La La Land's Architectural Rememberer in Miniature

I can't explain why I find this documentary short so compelling and perhaps even a bit haunting. Perhaps it is the skill of the documentarian Matthew Arnold-Ladensack and the score by Rhian Sheehan or perhaps it is the history being discussed or perhaps is the story of the miniature-maker-turned-amateur-historian Gerald William Cox. Probably it is a bit of each. Watch and enjoy!

LA // 1:87 from Humanity Pictures on Vimeo.

Pillar of Light's Pattern of Darkness

A friend of mine cued me into this rather haunting Star Wars video tribute to Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and its tragic path of destruction wending through the lives of so many people over the course of three generations and several wars.

How The Force Awakens

Yesterday, I found this rather compelling short film showing off but some of the special effects in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It is accompanied by an extremely beautiful, compelling, and haunting score. Crank up the speakers and go full screen with the vid! Note: the haunting accompanying track is "I Love You" by Josko but it is a remix and I know not who remixed it.

AVP Without People

The Alien movie franchise and movie universe is my favorite of all fictional mileaus. I love the Predator movie franchise, as well, but to a much lesser extent. I HATED with a passion the Alien vs. Predator (AVP) movie franchise albeit only watching the first one in its entirety and only a small part of the second one. There were so many problems with the first movie (apparently it is the best of the two that were made) I don't even wish to get into it here now. Some clever bloke figured out this concept would be immediately improved upon by removing the human element of the storyline. Enjoy!

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem - RE-EDITED from Rafael Hernán Gamboa on Vimeo.

A Tale Of Momentum & Inertia

The Martian War To End All Wars

My father in Christ, Ted Weber, sent me the link to this today to watch AFTER I finished the rough draft of an important Big Paper whose rough draft is due on Monday in one of my Cal Poly classes. Funny guy, I have been bedeviled (quite literally I believe) by a mental-emotional-psychological crisis and mental block which has prevented me from starting it until tomorrow morning. Anywho, I watched this short film tonight although I was supposed to watch it AFTER I finished the paper. T\his short film really rocks and is so up my alley it confirms that Ted understands me! Thanks Ted, but sorry for not following directions!

Triple Uma Shot Of Jameson First Shot

A short time ago I encountered the short film "The Gift" and was blown away by it's beauty and power, simplicity and brevity. I am struggling to learn the art of saying more with less... economy of words. Perhaps this explains my life-long interest with short stories... the authors of such can do so very well that to which I struggle so much. Twitter has been a useful training tool for me to my surprise. Probably for this same reason I also thoroughly enjoy short films provided they are well-done. Below are three amazing Jameson Irish Whiskey-promoting short films from the Jameson First Shot short film contest featuring the lovely and incomparable Uma Thurman, each done by a different director of no small talent and ability. I have them ranked in descending order of my personal preference.

Note: this Jameson promotion reminds me non-artistically but rather commercially of Smirnoff's 2006 Tea Partay rap videos. I wish more corporations supported such artistic endeavors regardless of the self-serving nature they serve for the corporation itself.

A Rather Haunting Sintel

I came across this animated short film "Sintel" tonight quite by accident. I was checking out a Tiesto music video made by a fan and it featured what I thought was a video game at first until I saw it named in the associated peanut gallery. I love how it was written and animated alike. This is a rather haunting story that will make you think a little bit more than you'd expect from something in this medium.

The Fire Line

I came across this on Twitter this morning and was quite impressed by it. Although it is about the deteriorating Colorado fire situation of recent years it equally applies to the rest of the West including California.

The Impossible Shot(s)

This is one of the most inspirational things I have watched in quite some time. This is both beautiful and heartwarming with maybe just a tad bittersweetness. This old vet puts on an awe shucks performance that wows the young wippersnappers. For more on this story go HERE.
*UPDATE: Gundy passed away in 2015. *NOTE: Updated 4/19/2017.

Star Wars Bohemian Rhapsody

My friend "Beachgoat" found this and despite not liking Star Wars or much else in modern science fiction nonetheless liked this enough to share it on my Facebook wall. It marries the movie franchise with Queen's iconic and defining masterpiece "Bohemian Rhapsody" the very first song to have what could be considered a genuine music video in the MTV sense of the term. Now I share it with you because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Stormtroopers - A Post-9/11 Parody

I came across this clever and funny spoof of both Star Wars and 9/11 in the pop cultural context of how the attacks were remembered and discussed subsequently. In case you missed it I posted a similar-themed spoof a couple of years ago entitled "Stormtroopers - A 'Cops' Parody".

Death of a Tank

I found this the other night while looking up something else on Youtube. You know full well how one can easily get distracted and lost on Youtube following one interesting link after another. This is a very haunting short film showing the immediate aftermath of a USMC M4 Sherman Tank flipped over and on fire after driving over a Japanese tank-killing landmine on Okinawa on the morning of May 14, 1945. You see fellow marines try to put the fire out and dig out their trapped and endangered comrades but it is to no avail and they (and you) must watch the crew get "brewed" alive as the British called it when a tank crew got burned in their rig.

The Angst of Dogs

"Leg vagina" is a new expression to me as is "pre-pooping ritual" "circles" and I shall not soon forget them.

The Existentialist Angst Of Henri

Last night at my church home group our hostess showed some of us this video whom one of her friends had recently shared with her in like manner. This is wonderful stuff and so captures the feline attitudinal essence.

Porcelain Unicorn

I saw this for the first time a few years ago and was blown away by its power and ability to succinctly tell a tale covering the period of two people's lifetimes in the span of a handful of minutes.

Legend of the Urban Ninja

For those of you familiar with the legend of the Urban Ninja no further explanation is necessary but you are certainly invited to it enjoy again. For the uninitiated let me simply say this is a clever and hilarious spoof of ninjas as they have appeared in the popular culture, particularly films and television and is conducted in mini-mockumentary form. It is the brainchild of Robert Hoffman III. There are two short films shown in order below. The world waits with baited breath for the third installment of Urban Ninja. 

Update: I added the third installment in the series on the night of September 2, 2013.

Stormtroopers - A "Cops" Parody

If you have seen neither the movie Star Wars nor the television series Cops then this short film will not make any sense to you and its humor and cleverness will be lost on you. If you have seen both then I urge you to check this out. If you have seen it before I'm fairly certain you'll enjoy seeing it again.