For Funsies: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Prequel Shorts

So DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES has become one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, edging out GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Given the fact that in the timeline of the movie, it's been 10 years since RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, there's a lot of important events that occurred in the meanwhile. Thankfully, there's been a series of prequel short films documenting the events of the world since the "simian flu." Thanks Motherboard  via Movies.com, you can check out these short films after the break

For Funsies: TRANSFORMERS: THE PREMAKE

With the impending release of TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION next week, I figured it'd be a good time to post about TRANSFORMERS: THE PREMAKE by director Kevin Lee. It's a 25 minute short film available on YouTube that chronicles the crazy amount of video and documentation that people have uploaded to the internet about the making of TF: AOE. Without narration, it manages to be a very compelling look at the politics behind making such a huge world-spanning movie and how its production affects those that are in whatever country or town that the movie happens to be filming in. Additionally, it's a great look at how the creation of media begets more media in the form of these candid videos of the crew filming stunts or the Autobot vehicles. For a very interesting read, you can also go to Slate to read the filmmaker's thoughts, which are very cool to read.  



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For Funsies: 30-FOR-30 SPACE JAM "Documentary"

SPACE JAM is a terrible. ESPN's 30-FOR-30 documentary series is not. It gets non-sportsball fans like myself actually care about the athletes and stories at the center of each entry. Today we have a clip of what would happen if 30-FOR-30 chose to cover the legendary human/cartoon animal/cartoon alien match. Thanks to the Wrap for the heads up, you can check it out after the break.

For Funsies: Breaking Bad- The Middle School Musical

In just four short episodes, Breaking Bad will be finished. It will be a tough, tough show to see end. Recently there have a been a crop of fun parodies popping up over the Internet, and here's one of my favorites. Created by Rhett and Link, it's a group of middle school students performing a spoilerific musical rendition complete with  singing blue meth.


Here's to the final episodes!



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For Funsies: Watch Dallas Band Air Review Busking Around Town!

It's not necessarily movie-related, but it is a pretty cool video featuring one of my favorite local bands, Air Review. It seems that the Dallas Observer has been doing a pretty cool "busking" series. It's a fun little video with a tour of Deep Ellum while playing some good music. Check out parts 1 and 2 below.

For Funsies: David Lynch/Nine Inch Nails Collab on Came Back Haunted Video

David Lynch and Trent Reznor are two of my favorite creative minds currently working out there. With the announcement that Reznor would be resurrecting his Nine Inch Nails project, I was ecstatic. The new songs so far have reminded me of Pretty Hate Machine-era NIN songs and I'm all about it. David Lynch has unfortunately been away from the camera for a while, but he has taken a break from recording his own album to shoot this video for the first single off the album Hesitation Marks, Come Back Haunted. check it out after the break.

For Funsies: Low's "Plastic Cup" Video

Low is one of my favorites bands currently  making music. Starting out as a "slo-core" band in the early part of this century, they have evolved through their sound through the years. They recently released a beautiful and haunting video directed by Ryley Fogg for the opener for their new album, THE INVISIBLE WAY.

For Funsies: WQXR Q2 Music Documentaries

So I've been a on a bit of a documentary kick lately and today I came across a cool series of documentaries that are all 3-5 minutes long. Q2 Music, the online station of New York's 105.9 WQXR, along with NPR Music are showcasing the practice studios of various musicians. I hadn't heard of this series before but one of my favorite musicians today, Dan Deacon was the first instalment while the newest one is about "1-bit composer" Tristan Perich. Check out both of them below and use the links to check out the rest of the series.

For Funsies: Amazing Beach House Music Video directed by Eric from Tim & Eric

Music videos have gotten into some pretty interesting territory since the MTV hayday. Given that bands don't really need to advertise the song through the video, most of the good bands (Grizzly Bear, for example) out there have made the music video a way to do tell a cool story or get a little crazy visually. I forgot to post about that awesome Tilda Swinton/David Bowie video, but one of my favorite bands, Beach House, just released a video for their new single, Wishes. Check out the video directed by Eric Wareheim (from Tim & Eric fame) after the break.

For Funsies: AFOL - A Blocumentary

If you look at my Instagram feed, you know I've been into those Lego minifigs. They're so much fun, and they're amazing for taking goofy pictures for strangers on the Internet to appreciate. It just so happens that I came across a cool little documentary from the official Lego YouTube page.

It's about AFOLs, who are Adult Fan of Legos. My good friend, Deefuzz, tweeted about the first of four parts of the documentary on Twitter. Unfortunately, the documentary is not embeddable so check out the whole thing by following these four links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 . (EDIT: Thanks to my best friend, Damon, I have the link for the full documentary over at Vimeo.)

Now that you're done watching the short. I have to say I  really enjoyed it as a small snapshot of the sociological aspects of being an adult toy collector. If you notice, a lot of the guys that are interviewed in the doc are always a little defensive of their hobby. They seem to need to justify it to themselves that they're doing this for themselves and not anyone else. I don't see why they would even need to justify it.

I personally find these people fascinating in the sheer creativity they have with this hobby. I can only imagine what would happen if they were engineers and architects. To say that the See people are committed and enthusiastic is an understatement and it's amazing to see that in this cynical Internet of ours

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For Funsies: Kid's Reenact Oscar Nominees!

We're almost out of Oscar season folks. We've made it. Then on Monday we can all take to the Internet to complain about how annoyed we are that this movie or that movie didn't win.

Well to get you ready, if you missed ZERO DARK THIRTY, DJANGO, ARGO, LINCOLN or BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, don't you worry because this video will help fill in the gaps to get you ready for your Oscar poll. Oh yeah, the reenactments of the films are performed by children, who are all quite adorable.

Enjoy!




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For Funsies: Join the Cobra Special Forces Team!

Guys. In less than two months, the greatest sequel of last year will finally be released... G.I. JOE: RETALIATION. We've seen multiple trailers over the past year and half, and now in the final months leading up to the release, it seems the marketing department has started a viral campaign.

Up first is a recruiting video to join the evil Cobra Special Forces.






So which side will you choose? Are you a Joe? or a Cobra?

G.I. JOE: RETALIATION will be released March 29, 2013, is directed by John Chu, and stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki, Byung-hun Lee, and Channing Tatum

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For Funsies: Rob Coddry and the best interview to come out of Sundance for HELL BABY

Real talk, guys. One of the things that have always freaked me out a bit is doing interviews at movie festivals. That's why probably the ones that I have done have not been published. I'm always a little scared out that they're going to sound really generic or I'm not going to know enough about the subject matter to carry on a good conversation. Anyway, all of this is just an excuse for me to talk about this awesome interview I found at EW here. The video and the article are about Rob Coddry and how much of a "jerk" he is while doing press for his upcoming movie, HELL BABY.

Now, I'm not familiar with EW or their style, but to me this video seems to have been done on purpose and the author of the post seems to totally miss that point. I could be wrong, Coddry might be a complete jerk, but considering the actor is called "Robert Coddry" (no one calls him that) and is supposed to be "62"(he's 42), I hope that the writer is just trolling us and is along with the joke. The video is exclusive to EW, so go here to check out the video and have a laugh.

If it is a joke, I bet it's just because the actors are bored as hell from answering the same questions over and over again or maybe it's a way to get publicity for their movie. I know I'm a little bit more intrigued to see the movie now!
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For Funsies: ADVENTURE TIME creator Pendelton Ward goes to outer space with the BRAVEST WARRIORS

If you guys follow me on Twitter, (and why wouldn't you?) you'd know I'm a huuuuuuuge fan of Adventure Time, the weird cartoon about a kid and his talking dog in a magical land of anthropomorphic candy. It's a truly special cartoon that needs to be seen by all nerds. It's already gotten pretty big on the Internet. And by the Internet, I mean my Twitter feed and close friends.

Anyway, Pendelton Ward the creator of Adventure Time has a YouTube show on the Cartoon Hangover channel from Channel Frederator studios called Bravest Warriors. It's about "4 teenage heroes-for-hire as they warp through galaxies to save adorable aliens and their worlds using the power of their emotions."

I've seen all of the episodes, and I have to say I love the hell out of the really dark type of humor. You see hints of it here and there during Adventure Time but since it is a kid's show, you can only show so much. Check out the first episode below and check out the other shows that Cartoon Hangover has to offer here.

For Funsies: Consider MU for Your HIgher Education!

The new year always brings resolutions and big dreams. It's also the time of year where seniors begin narrowing down their college searches, go on visits, and finalize where they're continuing their education.

In college you makes lifelong friends and memories, so you want to find the best possible fit to spend those four years of your life. Here's a video of a hidden gem of a university where you can be extraordinary and create history as a unique individual.




I totally dig this viral marketing for MONSTERS UNIVERSITY from Pixar. Very creative. I'm filling out my application as we speak! Hope they accept me!


MONSTERS UNIVERSITY will be released June 21st, 2013 starring Billy Crystal and John Goodman.



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For Funsies: Joss Whedon on Romney

When it comes to politics, I'm the more political one of the duo here. I can't help it; I sort of majored in it. So, this time of year can be really fun for me. Now, we typically stray from leaning to the right or left on this site, but this little video by Joss Whedon was too much fun to pass up. 

While celebrities are endorsing the President or the Governor left and right in the final countdown to election Tuesday, Whedon is here to tell you why he endorses Romney...for the zombie apocalypse. 

Enjoy.



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For Funsies: Epic Tea Time with Alan Rickman

I heard of this video from a podcast I was listening to and just had to check it out. I'm usually skeptical of any video with the word "epic" in the title, but this one lives up to the title. If you have seven minutes to kill, here is Alan Rickman, in all his glory, drinking tea...epically.




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For Funsies: Watch Melisandre totally murder Norman Osborn in a music video.

As a fan of both art forms, I am always ecstatic when movies and music collide in a very gorgeous way like they do in today's video for Antony and the Johnson's song, "Cut The World." It is so gorgeous and hearing the song live is great as well.  Thanks to the AVClub for posting the music video which stars Willem Dafoe and Carice Van Houten, who is better know as Melisandre from GAME OF THRONES. Check out the video below.

For Funsies: GAME OF THRONES Season 2 as a 16-Bit RPG.

So, it's been a couple of months since GAME OF THRONES' second season ended. Thankfully, I've still BREAKING BAD to watch so that lessened the fact that we have to wait another year for the next season. But those that still need their Westoros fix can check out this great video from College Humor. Check it out below:



Very much like the BOYS trailer that I posted the other day, I like this video because you can tell the people behind it are into the show. They also lovingly poke fun at some of the issues that have plagued the show in its second season. I imagine Littlefinger Dance Parties might become the rage with the nerdier hipsters out there.

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For Funsies: Trailer for BOYS, a Parody of GIRLS

Lena Dunham seems to inspire some crazy internet rage wherever she goes. It's started ever since her debut film, TINY FURNITURE made it to the Criterion collection. Her portrayal of the (reductively speaking) lazy, privileged 20 something struck a nerve with so many people that she's been keeping the comments sections on movie sites ablaze whenever any posts about her are posted. Now that she has a great new show on HBO, GIRLS, which deals with a quartet of ladies in New York trying to figure something out, the discussions have become more numerous.

I am a pretty big fan of GIRLS. It's got some of the strongest writing I've seen on a show not called COMMUNITY or GAME OF THRONES. Even if I hate the characters, I can appreciate that they're very well written and have lots of layers. That is why I'm happy to share this "trailer" for BOYS, the male counterpart of GIRLS. Thanks to The Wrap for posting this:



What I love about the video is that you have to have seen the entire first season to really get a lot of the jokes. For example, one of the guys is constantly naked to an uncomfortable degree, much like Dunham herself. And for fans of the show, it will be coming back for a 10 episode season in January 2013 according to friend of the blog, @ReelVixen who is at the TV Critic's Association and was covering the HBO panel live on Twitter. Hope you guys enjoyed the video, you guys!

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