related: People Who Missed their Calling the WWE
Showing posts with label Orson Welles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orson Welles. Show all posts
5/20/10
TOP 5 RUMORS ABOUT THE END OF KEVIN GEEKS OUT
Here are five internet rumors about why the show is ending:
1. Kevin suddenly realized he hates low-budget cult movies from the 70’s.
2. Kevin only started the show to impress a cool girl in “nerd” glasses, but has since learned she has a boyfriend.
3. Kevin needs more time to write horrible science-fiction novels under the pen name “William Shatner”
4. Kevin wants to spend more time with his family, specifically: telling his wife and children some long, anecdotes about the critical reception to “Krull”
5. Kevin developed a rare form of Terminal Diarrhea.
2/17/10
Kevin Geeks Out About Visions of the Future: Show Recap
Each month I host a theme night at the 92Y Tribeca in New York City, the show is called KEVIN GEEKS OUT.
January's sold-out show celebrated the year 2010 with a collection of speculative visions of tomorrow. (In honor of this occasion, I dressed as Orson Welles when he hosted the sensationalist Nostradamus documentary: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, more on that later...) We started off with a grab-bag of video footage from a variety of films (and TV shows) that showcased: a police state that enforced mandatory dancing (The Apple), a fully-realized 3-D chess game aboard a spaceship (Futureworld), the most popular cable channel of the 22nd century (Idiocracy), and a time-travelling spaceman who taught the people of the future all about funk (Buck Rogers).
After that KGO super-producer Jay Stern shared an edited-down video of the 1930 talkie JUST IMAGINE. This science-fiction musical showed what life would be like 50 years in the future. (Warning: The film features lots of prohabition jokes.)
Daily Show writer Elliott Kalan shared a photo-essay on the 1939 World's Fair. Elliott featured surprising details and photos of the world's largest cash register -- but he also got at the heart of the World's Fair's sorrow. (Elliott's piece will be making its way to the internet soon.)
Continuing with the 1930's promise of tomorrow, KGO Super-producer M. Sweeney Lawless gave us the ultimate profile of ELEKTRO the Moto-Man.
Elektro was the star-attraction of the '39 Fair, but after the Fair ran out of money and shut down, Elektro became the world's first has-been robot.
READ MEG'S COMPLETE ESSAY HERE.
We moved onto the 1950's with the promise of exciting advances in automobiles, highways, homes and luxury devices. Special thanks to Matt Novak (editor of the incredible Paleofuture.com) for suggesting some of these clips...
Continuing with the march of progress, we featured a slide-show by Seth Porges (technology editor for Popular Mechanics.) Seth shared some of the more outrageous predictions made by his employer over the years. (Video of this presentation will be coming soon to an internet near you.)
After that we welcomed a very special guest to the show: Psychic Jane Doherty.
Before the show started, we asked audience members to submit questions about life in the future, and Jane would tell us what we could expect. The segment revealed that we would see a woman president in the United States, a vegetarian fast-food chain will be established by 2015 (it will start in New York or California), within this decade a lot of questions will be answered about finding a cure for cancer (we will find a cure!) And finally, Jane answered a question about whether there's any truth to the prophecy that 2012 will bring the end of the world. Jane has communicated with Mayan Elders and explained that they do not believe 2012 is the end, rather there will be a shift in consciousness.
We turned our attention to another psychic, the infamous Nostradamus. Sure there are dozens of Nostradamus shows on the History channel, but none of those specials could be more distrurbing and over-the-top than the documentary The Man Who Saw Tomorrow. This 1981 movie was hosted by Orson Welles, not only did it include re-enactments of past events, but dramatizations of things that hadn't happened yet. Needless to say this movie freaked me out as a kid:
After that traumatic bit of video, we needed a snack break!
Each month we provide a thematic treat, and what could be better than a heaping helping of DIPPIN' DOTS -- the ice cream of the future! The good people of Dippin' Dots donated enough cryogenically frozen ice cream for each and every member of our audience. Thanks again Dippin' Dots gang!
Moving into more recent visions of the future, I looked at five futures predicted by Saturday Morning Cartoons, including Thundarr the Barbarian, The Partridge Family 2200 A.D. and the worst Bugs Bunny cartoon I've ever seen.
SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF CARTOON VISIONS OF THE FUTURE (with video clips) BY CLICKING HERE.
At this point we delved into the darker possibilities of tomorrow. The amazing Kriota Wilberg (aka The Cinematologist) addressed the topic of Mutants in the future. Kriota dealt with the overthrow of the human population, viral vampirism, genetic engineering, hypertrichosis (aka Wolfman disease) and more! I cannot do justice to her dizzying analysis of mutation, so instead here's a photo of a Martian prostitute with multiple breasts: (below)
Note: during the show we re-visited this slide, observing that the image, which had been pulled from the internet, was stamped by a someone calling himself "Sauron_2000"(!)
Now that I have your attention (or did I lose just you?) you can read Kriota's lecture here.
Our penultimate guest was a favorite, Tenebrous Kate, who edited together this very special video about lessons learned from the 1982 Italian post-nuke favorite The New Barbarians (aka Warriors of the Wasteland). Watch and learn:
Our final guest was the first person we thought to book for this event: Scott Christian Carr, a writer/filmmaker/and author of post-apocalyptic fiction.
Scott started his segment by asking the audience a thought-provoking question "If you survive the end of the world, who do you want by your side?" Scott answered that the one person you'd want more than anyone is your brother -- and then he shared a scene from his original film The Nuke Brothers. (CLIP COMING SOON.)
Following a brief Q&A about his movie, we watched a montage Scott edited (with his brother Jeremy) looking at the theme of "Loneliness in the Future". (CLIP COMING SOON)
Oh, it was a splendid evening of oddball entertainment, super-cold ice cream, and fantastical futures. What's in store for the future of Kevin Geeks Out? Here's the trailer for February's event, KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT MONKEYS. (Click here for tickets)
note: all photos (except for the Dippin' Dots) by Matthew Glasson.
Additional artwork courtesy of Sauron_2000
After that KGO super-producer Jay Stern shared an edited-down video of the 1930 talkie JUST IMAGINE. This science-fiction musical showed what life would be like 50 years in the future. (Warning: The film features lots of prohabition jokes.)
Daily Show writer Elliott Kalan shared a photo-essay on the 1939 World's Fair. Elliott featured surprising details and photos of the world's largest cash register -- but he also got at the heart of the World's Fair's sorrow. (Elliott's piece will be making its way to the internet soon.)
READ MEG'S COMPLETE ESSAY HERE.
We moved onto the 1950's with the promise of exciting advances in automobiles, highways, homes and luxury devices. Special thanks to Matt Novak (editor of the incredible Paleofuture.com) for suggesting some of these clips...
Continuing with the march of progress, we featured a slide-show by Seth Porges (technology editor for Popular Mechanics.) Seth shared some of the more outrageous predictions made by his employer over the years. (Video of this presentation will be coming soon to an internet near you.)
We turned our attention to another psychic, the infamous Nostradamus. Sure there are dozens of Nostradamus shows on the History channel, but none of those specials could be more distrurbing and over-the-top than the documentary The Man Who Saw Tomorrow. This 1981 movie was hosted by Orson Welles, not only did it include re-enactments of past events, but dramatizations of things that hadn't happened yet. Needless to say this movie freaked me out as a kid:
After that traumatic bit of video, we needed a snack break!
Each month we provide a thematic treat, and what could be better than a heaping helping of DIPPIN' DOTS -- the ice cream of the future! The good people of Dippin' Dots donated enough cryogenically frozen ice cream for each and every member of our audience. Thanks again Dippin' Dots gang!
Moving into more recent visions of the future, I looked at five futures predicted by Saturday Morning Cartoons, including Thundarr the Barbarian, The Partridge Family 2200 A.D. and the worst Bugs Bunny cartoon I've ever seen.
Now that I have your attention (or did I lose just you?) you can read Kriota's lecture here.
Our penultimate guest was a favorite, Tenebrous Kate, who edited together this very special video about lessons learned from the 1982 Italian post-nuke favorite The New Barbarians (aka Warriors of the Wasteland). Watch and learn:
Our final guest was the first person we thought to book for this event: Scott Christian Carr, a writer/filmmaker/and author of post-apocalyptic fiction.
Following a brief Q&A about his movie, we watched a montage Scott edited (with his brother Jeremy) looking at the theme of "Loneliness in the Future". (CLIP COMING SOON)
Oh, it was a splendid evening of oddball entertainment, super-cold ice cream, and fantastical futures. What's in store for the future of Kevin Geeks Out? Here's the trailer for February's event, KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT MONKEYS. (Click here for tickets)
note: all photos (except for the Dippin' Dots) by Matthew Glasson.
Additional artwork courtesy of Sauron_2000
8/19/09
Puppet Rodeo
My new Comedy Central/Atom web-pilot is up. PUPPET RODEO is the story of brave, misunderstood puppets who risk their lives riding dogs. Competitively. We shot this in November, but it's just going online now to cash-in on the popularity of Rodeo Season (no joke!)
Puppet Rodeo
It was a challenging shoot, since dogs don't take direction. But I got to work with some awesome animals -- and some very talented humans, including DP Jeremy Carr, Shooter Ryan Fidrick, Voice-Actors Mark Douglas and Karen Sneider, and Eric Hendricks who served as editor, co-producer and puppeteer. And the dudes at Charged who made the puppets and sets.
Ryan, Eric and Jeremy also worked on OLD PEOPLE NEWS.
Old People News
OLD PEOPLE NEWS was supposed to become a web-series, but then the economy tanked. Too bad, I loved writing for those characters and continue to come up with jokes for them.
Behind the Scenes: OLD PEOPLE NEWS
Behind-the-scenes photos from that hilarious, award-winning short OLD PEOPLE NEWS.
We had a phenomenal cast, including Arthur Anderson who is one of the last surviving members of Orson Welles' Mercury Players.
Old People News won the audience favorite award at the Iron Mule Film Festival in January, 2009.
We had a phenomenal cast, including Arthur Anderson who is one of the last surviving members of Orson Welles' Mercury Players.
Old People News won the audience favorite award at the Iron Mule Film Festival in January, 2009.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)