Just wanted to give a special thanks to Billy & Jay from the GameChasers for the amazing love for Cinemassacre, Cinevore, & OverAnalyzers in this vlog. We love you, too, guys! PS: That impromptu party *was* pretty cool. That’s why I love game conventions. Thanks for “playing along” with us crazy people.
I’m co-hosting this awesome fundraiser as my alternate persona, Susie Filmmaker, THIS TUESDAY to help 200 filmmakers receive education, exhibition & career-connections at Project Twenty1′s annual Philadelphia Film & Animation Festival! These programs help aspiring filmmakers develop their creative skills while also preparing them for the business realities of the entertainment industry.
Tuesday, September 13 · 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Triumph Brewing Company OLD CITY
117 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA
THIS IS A FREE EVENT & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Drink specials and light refreshments will be available.
Can’t attend? You can make tax-deductible donations at http://www.razoo.com/story/Helpartists2011
Discounted parking available, Please RSVP danielle@triumphbrew.com
You can also check out The Hype’s Notorious F.O.L.K. – Philly’s Finest Folk Artists and Singer Songwriters performing reinterpretations of classic Biggie Smalls tunes… proving music is truly the universal language.
Event Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159189560825319&ref=ts
Local businesses: Project Twenty1 is also currently seeking gift cards to raffle off for this cause at this event. Donations are tax-deductible, and it’s a great chance to get your company name out to local consumers. Contact danielle@triumphbrew.com
Remember how I was posting all sorts of vague messages on Twitter, Facebook & Google+ about coming to certain rooms at certain times at this year’s PAX? That’s because I was doing production coordination for this super-fun Board James Loopin’ Louie episode!
Thank you to all the fans on social media that met up with us at this event. Extra-special thanks to the fans wearing #APPOCALYPSE shirts that I pulled off the street with promises of a Board James “set”. I appreciate you trusting that I wasn’t leading you to some type of back room filled with coolers full of stolen kidneys. Just sayin’ – you shouldn’t talk to strangers. Extra-special-SUPER thanks to the folks at Geek Chiq, BioWare, and PAX Prime for not having us arrested.
Click here to watch the video first
Behind the Scenes Musings:
At first it was all good – sure, fudge and garlic tasted really nasty on pizza, but it was fun seeing our friends’ reactions. The yogurt looked gross, but tasted fine. The sardines smelled wretched, but were still tolerable. And then there was “Strawberry Surprise”.
Now, the turtles never quite explained what the surprise was, so Mrs. Nerd told us it was “dill”. TRICKERY! She failed to mention that Kyle (the guy with the long hair) hid the REAL surprise under the strawberries: a metric buttload of Ass Blaster hot sauce. They tell you to drink milk after really spicy food, but that’s not what your body wants to do. The editor of this episode was kind enough to cut the part where I drank straight of of a wine bottle because it was the first liquid substance I spotted. Classy – I’ll screencap that shot for my mom. And I’m pretty sure I actually elbowed poor Mike in the ribs when we both attempted to drink straight from the water faucet.
The editor also cut the part where the lovely blond lady started picking the marshmallow pepperoni pieces out of the trash and eating them. Before you call me out as a bad friend, she did give me permission to tell that secret because, in her words, “They were really good and still on top of the trash heap. What’s the problem?” The problem was that she – as well as several other people – got severely sick from this incident. Like “hurling-in-a-dumpster-behind-a-grocery-store-level” sick. Extra classy.
The next morning, I placed puke buckets all over my office in case anyone had any TMNT pizza-related stomach issues. Did I mention we shot EIGHT episodes of OverAnalyzers the day after shooting this video? Oh, and the food on the set that day? Leftover pizza. Yay. Luckily, nobody puked, but we went through an entire pack of Tums and there were a lot of pained expressions fromthe folks that had the Strawberry Surprise. Stupid Michelangelo. Stupid Ass Blaster. Stupid Kyle.
In the end (no pun intended), it was all worth it. Not only did we amuse the fans (I think it was one of the highest-shared videos of all time on CM), the video got featured on SciFi’s Channel’s Blastr, NY Magazine’s Vulture, and the Onion’s AV Club, which gave me the nerdgasm of my life.
So, thank you all for watching and subjecting your friends and family to our gross party. But do not try this at home. I’m serious.
Matt Conant & I document the AVGN Panel at PAX. I really like the style in which this panel was edited, but I can’t take credit – that was all Matt!
Click here for 2011 PAX Prime Behind-the-Scenes Musings
Click here for 2011 PAX Prime Photos
Behind the Scenes Musings
Some friends and I were out one night, discussing the famous Board James Mr. Bucket Episode.
“I wish there was a way to make Mr. Bucket radio controlled,” I said, “It would be hilarious to chase James around at conventions and whatnot.”
Ryan, the webmaster behind Cinemassacre.com and founder of Screenwave Media, opened his eyes wide. “Yeaaaaah…”
Usually, Ryan says, “Yeaaaah,” when I make stupid suggestions (of which I have many), so we just moved onto the next topic.
But a few days later, I received this SMS:
No way! It can’t be. It’s not possible. It’s…it’s….
IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!
Jeeze, I need to be careful what I say around Ryan – he makes shit happen. “Gee, Ryan, I sure would like a Doomsday Device, wouldn’t that be grand?”
Also, I just noticed – is that a baby seat behind him in the above photo? I can’t imagine what Mr. Bucket would do to an innocent child – that’s Pedobear-level frightening.
So, after making the epitome of evil mobile, Ryan wasn’t sure how the heck to get Mr. Bucket through TSA (“I swear, sir, it’s just a hollowed out toy, not a nuclear device! Stop anally probing me!”) Thankfully, Mr. Bucket made it to Seattle in one piece, just in time for the PAX AVGN panel (click here if you didn’t see the video).
I figured that Mr. Bucket would get an audience reaction, but I was not expecting fans to actually try to *trip* Mr. Bucket and throw stuff at him in an attempt to rescue James from his ball-sucking clutches. Awww, that’s actually really sweet. You’re my hero:
After the panel, we had some fun scaring PAX people and the general residents of Seattle with Mr. Bucket. Towards the end of the day, people started actually tossing change into him. Hilarious, but probably a violation of some panhandling laws.
Mr Bucket nearly burned out his motor trying to get up all of those Seattle hills, so we captured him and whisked him back to Philadelphia in his reinforced Mr. Bucket Containment Unit.
Last week, Mr. Bucket was spotted in the kitchen of a residential home. Could this be a sign of a Mr. Bucket army uprising? We can’t be sure, but it it does happen, we’ll be ready for it.
Run along little ball-sucker. Run along.
Photos from the 2011 Penny Arcade Expo and some general shenanigans in Seattle (thanks, Lee!)
I helped Cinemassacre with production coordination on this epic documentary, tracking down locations, booking interviews, getting permission to shoot, and general behind-the-scenes help.
Behind the Scenes Musings
I think the most interesting part of this experience was learning that my friend Kyle’s stepfather, Wes Shank, is the caretaker of the Blob. For years, I had heard about Wes’ crazy collection of film stuff, but I never imagined that he would be the owner of the crown jewel of the documentary! Just goes to show you, it’s a small world (and even a smaller Blob. Unless it gets out).
Speaking of the Blob getting out, funny story. When visiting Wes and his wife Judy at Blobfest for an interview, and I couldn’t help but noticed that the Blob was on ice. “If the Blob is made out of silicone, why do you have to refrigerate it?” I asked.
“That’s to prevent hysteria,” Wes calmly replied. I raised an eyebrow. “You see, a local news station recently covered Blobfest and the anchorperson stated that ‘the National Guard would standing by in case the Blob accidentally defrosted.’ We had a good laugh about it until people started telling me that I was being irresponsible for keeping the Blob lukewarm and unguarded like this.”
“You’re joking…”
His wife, Judy, nodded gravely. “I thought they were joking, too, until mothers started pulling their children away from it and leaving the area. People were getting really upset, so we needed to make a rig for future conventions to prevent any sort of incident.”
Wes smiled mischievously, “So even after all of these years and all of these big-budget Hollywood pictures, the Blob still evokes terror in the hearts of people that dare to dream.”
Eat your heart out, Saw.
If you’re as big of a Blob fan as I am, make sure you check out Wes’ book, From Silicone to the Silver Screen: Memoirs of the Blob.
Photo courtesy of Wes Shank & Barry Taglieber
