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Watch the video at pitchpage.com

I laughed really hard at this. Probably because it's true! Zack is 100% correct.

Just an aside. Roz McNulty, the President and founder of pitchpage.com (a place for film industry professionals to showcase their demo reels via streaming video) helped me to get my very first paying gig in the movies. Thanks Roz! You rock.

After a difficult day a struggling actor returns to his neighborhood and is shocked to find a cadre of police and fire trucks surrounding the smoldering remains of his house.

Explaining who he was he asks "What happened?"

"Well," one of the officer's says, "It seems that your agent came by your house earlier today and while he was here he attacked your wife, assaulted your children, beat your dog and burned your house to the ground."

The actor is struck speechless, his jaw hanging open in disbelief... "My agent came to my house?"

Thanks to Gregrrr, 1st A.D. extraordinaire for this little film industry giggle. I needed that.

Now back to some humour:


That's what you get when a bunch of bored 12 year olds in 1978 have nothing but time on their hands, cardboard, shitty costumes, a love of the film Jaws, a Super8 camera and tons of imagination. The music and effects were very recently added and no doubt it has been recut as well, but overall a great online video experience. Well done!

I'm a sucker for the shark movie so anything Jaws related immediately gets my thumbs up. It is one of my all time favourite films. It was the very first DVD I ever bought and we've watched it again and again. I think we'll watch it again this weekend.

Speaking of funny Jaws parodies, do you remember the 1975 novelty song Mr Jaws by Dickie Goodman? Whether you do or not, here it is:

You can buy it and more novelty songs like it here.

Okay, now that we've seen something nerdy and sort of dumb lets tak a trip to the other end of the spectrum. While surfing I was introduced to an amazing video via Pistol Wimp. Check it out:

In a rare public appearance, photographer Gregory Colbert shares an astounding film from his exhibit, Ashes and Snow, and announces his new initiative, the Animal Copyright Foundation, which aims to collect royalties from companies using images of nature in their ad campaigns. For more than a decade, Gregory Colbert has traveled the world and collaborated with 40+ species to create "Ashes and Snow," a ground-breaking exhibition of more than 100 photographs and three films, housed in the Nomadic Museum. Colbert's extraordinary sepia-toned images reveal a rarely seen poetic beauty in man's relationship to the animal kingdom. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. at TED Talks Duration: 18:42)

More on Gregory Colbert and the Animal Copyright Foundation on Ethan Zuckerman's blog.

Hopefully there will be a way we can see the rest of this exhibit. Perhaps somehow Carol and I will find enough cash to travel to Tokyo to see the entire exhibit. It's not looking that way right now, but you never know.

Meet a sheepdog who's afraid of sheep, but has a definite affinity for cows. Guiness may not be the hardest working farm dog, but her family loves her just the same. You can watch here video here:
Atom Films: Useless Dog

I'd have posted the whole video on my site but they only allow a preview with pop ups, so no thanks. The video is fantastic anyway. Anyone who has ever had any kind of relation ship with a dog will love this short film.

Shadow Company is a timely documentary about mercenaries by Canadian filmmakers Nick Bicanic, Jason Bourque and Remy Kozak. Jason and Remy spoke to me about this when we were working together on Daingerfield. As well as the traditional one on one interview, cameras were given to mercenaries themselves in various global hot spots. Also featured is a favourite of mine, the fearless Robert Young Pelton of the World's Most Dangerous Places books and TV series.

Not unexpectedly, the film appears to be getting some buzz from high places.

Here are a few quotes:

"Takes a thorough and balanced look at the use of private security forces in Iraq and raises serious policy questions,"
U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA)

"Shadow Company is a must-see film for anyone who is concerned about our military and our security being privatized."
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

”In addition to being extremely well-executed, I thought its even-handed tone was particularly sophisticated - encouraging an audience to consider the complexity of the issue, rather than the more exploitative depictions with which the subject is usually treated”
Edward Zwick - Director of "Blood Diamond", Glory, Legends of the Fall

There's also a review of the doc by writer John Defore in The Hollywood Reporter.

Way to go guys! I can't wait to see it myself.

There are a few more clips after the jump.

In September of 2005 I went to the Vancouver International Film Centre theatre to hear Ray Liotta, star of Goodfellas, talk about acting and the movie business at The Film and Television Trade Forum. I took some photos, one of which I posted, and video there and pretty much forgot about it until now. Flash video, YouTube in particular, were still the wave of the future and not nearly as ubiquitous as they are now so I had no real practical way of sharing what I saw. Well here it is. A clip of Ray Liotta speaking candidly about his experience with the casting process of the iconic mobster film, Goodfellas. Enjoy:


Although small, it looks and sounds okay considering I shot it on my digital camera and not a video camera. Editing was an experience but it turned out acceptably. Not everyone can say they've done a film starring Ray Liotta. I should put it on my résumé.

UPDATE: I popped the video up on YouTube as well. It should get a few views.