Download Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far
Think of The Story So Far as the version of Battlestar Galactica that keeps you up on the water cooler gossip or appeases your spouse so you can feign interest. Packing 30 hours of episodes into 44 minutes, The Story So Far covers everything you need to know about the first two seasons of BSG so that you'll sound like an dedicated fan without really being one. The special compilation traces everything you need to know about mankind's fight for survival back to Battlestar Galactica's rebirth, following those remaining few members of humanity trying to outrun an enemy that never gives up. That sci-fi obsessed nephew you see every holiday season has nothing on you after you've compressed the show down into this Cliffs Notes-style version. Best of all this is a free download from Amazon Unbox.
Director Wes Anderson of Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, and The Life Aquatic fame, offers a brilliant marketing piece for his new film The Darjeeling Limited. Hotel Chevalier is a 10 minute short film starring Jason Schwartzmann and Natalie Portman, setting the stage for the first act of The Darjeeling Limited. The marketing genius is Anderson and Fox Searchlight Pictures are giving away Hotel Chevalier free on iTunes. The short features Portman's character, the unnamed ex-girlfriend to Schwartzman's character Jack, coming to say goodbye on her way to the airport, which sets the stage for the events that take place in The Darjeeling Limited. 
I'm warning up front that this cartoon tends toward the offensive, but it fits with my Halloween theme for the past few days. If you're at work, steer clear. Animator Glen Kirkpatrick did a number of short films in the Spawn of Satan series a number of years back. The character never actually says anything. Instead, he goes around fuming and causing carnage in his wake. Maybe he just needs to be hugged. If your idea of Halloween slants more toward the Jason and Freddy set or if you're looking for some sophomoric dark humor, these animated shorts are just the ticket.
Oddtodd.com has been a source of off-kilter humor surrounding the world of a guy who was laid off for several holidays now. Some of my favorite cartoons from the series are the three Halloween specials, where we find our hero snacking on candy corn and waxing odd about Halloween horror. If you've never visited oddtodd.com before, you'll want to check out at least a few other episodes to get a feel for the characters. While the creators won't win any points for their Flash animation skills, the first-person storyline is witty, which makes it easy to overlook the simplicity of the character interactions. At worst, some of the humor may have a PG-13 rating, so if you are offended by network TV sitcoms, you'll want to skip this site.
In about two weeks, the final installment of the Johnny Cash American Recordings albums will be available from both online sources like URGE and iTunes, as well as through record stores. It includes the final song written by Johnny Cash, a sad and slow number with a blues feel called Like the 309, Gods Gonna Cut You Down and 10 other tracks recorded over the last four months of his life. You can hear both Gods Gonna Cut You Down and Like the 309 on MySpace via a Johnny Cash member profile created almost two years after his passing. While there's something entirely odd about Johnny Cash having a MySpace account, especially posthumously, having access to the music for playback is nice in whatever form it takes.
The Imaging Buffet is a new podcast for people who want to learn more about digital photography. The show features tips on both taking photos and working with digital images on your computer. Product recommendations and reviews help you make intelligent purchase decisions, movie reviews, and interviews. I already found the very cool 
Napster just made a genius move. You can listen to any of the 2,000,000 songs in the catalog without an financial cost. Granted, you can only listen to each song a maximum of 5 times before becoming a paying customer, but with the average song lasting about 3 minutes, that's 480 songs a day for the next ELEVEN YEARS if you only listen to each song once. I'm sure the fine print says something about cancelling the offer at any time and you might not like every song in the library, but in the meantime, there's music to be heard. Free 
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When I was in Nashville in November, I had a chance to check out some music at The Station House, where western swing band The Time Jumpers play a regular gig. The crowd was light due to the popularity of Monday Night Football, but the music was awesome and the cozy little room didn't need a large crowd to sound outstanding. One of the three fiddle players in the group was truly gifted and the lap slide player had some amazing chops. Of the featured vocalists in the group, Carolyn Martin really stood out with a timeless voice adapted for both country and jazz standards. I picked up a copy of her debut CD on the way out the door and didn't listen to it until I got back to Seattle. After a few more listens, this collection of standards, including title track, The Very Thought of You, Mean to Me and Something is the Matter with The Moon is among my favorite finds this year. It's a distinct departure from my typical listening preferences, which is part of what makes the album great for me. The album is like capturing a vintage voice from a lost era with modern recording gear. Cuppa Joe Records offers short clips of each track online and you can purchase the CD via 
I'm a fan of Kung Fu movies; even the bad ones. This online series falls somewhere between kung fu and comedy, with four episodes featuring a team of martial arts students and their mis(adventures). Fight scenes are well done, dialog is clear and picture quality is surprisingly good. I have a feeling that a slightly bigger budget could turn this into a series on Comedy Central (anything's better than Reno 911). Sophomoric humor and campy situations permeate the content, but you'll find yourself sucked in for about an hour of entertainment. Quicktime is required.
I finally got the live performance from Steven Page's in store posted over at PMC Movies. He performs a great combination of BNL and The Vanity Project tunes for a surprisingly long free set. I inserted some still title images in the places where my hand got too shaky and made viewing painful. The audio from the video camera actually turned out far better than the audio I grabbed using my Edirol R-1. I forgot the settings on the R-1 get reset when the battery gets changed and consequently ended up with some nasty clipping in places. Fortunately the DV audio track turned out great. If you're a BNL fan, I'm sure this live performance will be a welcome addition to your collection. If not, check it out, Steven Page performed a great set.
David Bowie wrote a number of songs during the late 1960's and early 1970's with a sound that's just as fresh today as it was at the time. Space Oddity was his first hit and for me, the first track that I consider part of the collection of timeless tracks that are a signature of much of his glam period that is best remembered with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Earlier this month, Flash animation site Newgrounds featured a college project by someone who created a sort of music video set to Space Oddity. The animation is simplistic but effective in translating the story of the song to a modern medium. I have my doubts about anyone clearing the rights with Bowie, so I don't imagine it will be long before a cease and desist is issued, but it's definitely worth watching at least one. Be cautioned that some areas of Newgrounds are definitely not family friendly.
The Star Wars galaxy as remade by the uber-fans who created Revelations falls somewhere between the original worlds created in episodes IV, V and VI and the purly digital realm of the introductory trio. In a way, it's a fitting placement since the Revelations falls between episodes III and IV in the chronology. The movie is a fully endorsed addition to the Star Wars universe, with the stipulation that it be non-profit. The visuals, while not on par with ILM material are far better than most low-budget affairs on SciFi. According to the site, "Revelations takes place between Episodes 3 and 4 of the Star Wars Saga. Emperor Palpatine's power has spread throughout the galaxy. Darth Vader is a feared figure. The Jedi are hunted fugitives. Anyone suspected of harboring Jedi or having any information about them is taken into Imperial custody. I'd take this story line over either Episodes I and II, but that may be a matter of personal taste. Be prepared for slow download times as this is a fresh release and was only made available just recently. Even the torrents seem to be taking their sweet time.
The tag line at the end of this animated short, "Life is difficult, but it is easier to bare in videogames" leaves me wondering if the animators made a critical homonym substitution error or are attempting philosophical idealism suggesting life can be stripped down when presented as 8-bit heroes. Either way, this is one of the more entertaining animated shorts I've seen in ages, complete with a mystic nod to kung fu theater, Eighties arcade action and a hit list of animation styles all meshed into an entertaining fight sequence between two characters that might be more at home inside Pixar's Monsters, Inc. The background music swings between arcade MIDI to more compositional electronica for a background fitting the animation style every step of the way. The animators are obviously talented with a flare for self-deprication making the short simultaneously humorous and a serious exercise in animation skill. The download sizes are quite large but well worth the resulting playback.
The special effects and premise of this short film didn't all come together until the end when everything is revealed. According to the lead 3D animator and compositor, Jonathan Ridge, the short was created by "Irish Commercials Director, Stephen St. Leger and talented Director of Photography, James Mather. The film was called Prey Alone and was entirely shot green-screen with 3D Computer Animation and Graphics in all of the backgrounds. We believe it is the first short film in history to be done this way. This was by far and away the most grueling and demanding project I have ever worked on, especially when you take into account the massively limited budget there was for computer hardware and software - a true testament to human endeavour I can tell you!" The effects are most definitely Hollywood caliber, which should have the big studios either lined up to hire this team or shaking with fear as they recognize the possibilities of feature length movies created outside of Hollywood, distributed on the Internet and bypassing the traditional channels while still delivering an immersive experience. Even the soundtrack sounds like it came straight out of a building in Burbank. Currently available only in 320x240 letterboxed widescreen, Prey Alone is a true testament to what can be done on a shoestring budget by skilled CGI experts.
The High Dials deliver a high energy dose of 50's and 60's guitar rock mixed effectively with ambient tones and drum loops fitting of a modern dance tune. While I won't go so far as to compare the band to The Beatles directly, I can certainly hear the influence while at the same time recognizing the modern evolution of the sound. I first heard this band on Rocket Slide Radio and have been playing all the tracks they have available online in frequent rotation on my portable player. I have no idea whether this band named themselves for the style of culinary scale designed to weigh food products with a strain gauge and display the weight on a large clock style interface above the scale platform, but they certainly deliver a precision sound that brings swirling visions of the Cleaver family kitchen, complete with June in heels and an apron preparing the evening meal.
Back when the Web was a smaller place, I wasted many hours watching the offerings on iFilm. Over time, the site morphed from an interesting source of indie film to a site so overrun with advertising I have a hard time suffering through all the propaganda for the payoff of a high quality short. Every so often, I venture back to iFilm to see what's new. One of my recent viewings, Mantis, is a CGI tale of a robot going dumpster diving for the parts to create a friend. The result is a little Bride of Frankenstein, with a considerably more abrupt conclusion. The CGI work is definitely cool and director Grzegorz Jonkajtys has a unique vision as evidenced by other creations available through his site. If you like inventive CGI with a touch of the grotesque, Jonkajtys delivers.
We may never learn if androids truly dream of electric sheep, but this cartoon short advocates the possibility of penguins dreaming of flight. Billed as, "A story of a penguin hoping for intergalactic voyages," this animated short demonstrates a boy's willingness to sacrifice to help his aquatic avian friend achieve his dream. Originally appearing on the CBC's Zed Open Source Television, which I assume is Canada's answer to public access the imagery and backing soundtrack are both quite talented from the second offering by director Wojtek Wawszczyk. His other work, 
I can't help liking well crafted public service advertising. Lace it with all the propaganda you want, but if you make it entertaining, I'll watch. There's something about the creativity behind the message delivery that fascinates me. Teenage Mum fits all my criteria and even comes off like an advertisement for some SIMS game spin-off. Originally created for Belgium Public Health, the movie is voiced in English over a frantically paced animation sequence of "24 exciting levels" of parenting skills. 
Rarely am I so incredibly disappointed with a movie. The premise for Dream of a Warrior seemed interesting. Guy transports through time to an alternate reality to save his love trapped in the other dimension should be a recipe for something great, if done well. The setup finds a terrorist destroying the time travel device shortly after the inventor sends his daughter on a test run. The sets looked like something out of the early Star Trek movies, with slightly better special effects, which offered potential for a very cool feel. When the rescuer arrives in the other dimension, he's no longer the nerdy lab technician he was in the present; he's a heroic swordfighter raised who overcame his common upbringing to become the best in the kingdom. And of course, his love is the General's daughter, who is betrothed to a jealous general. The whole thing seems horribly contrived and the grammatically lousy subtitles didn't help me overcome the cultural barrier of this Korean sci-fantasy love story. The plot moved incredibly slowly, the dialog seemed to be on par with low budget cable adventures, and to top it off, even the fight scenes didn't capture my attention. Dream of a Warrior is the only title attributed to director Hee-joon Park, which isn't horrible as a directorial debut, but certainly doesn't show the promise that early efforts by other young directors deliver. Rent Dream of a Warrior at your own risk, but I certainly wouldn't buy it.
