mike browne's blog

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

To watch or not to watch?

Jul 03, 2008 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | Add comment
Here's the trailer for Hamlet 2 (beware of NSFW language):


I dunno. Could be fun. People getting hit in the head with flying garbage cans always makes me giggle. Ah, Schadenfreude.

Lolcat Connection

Jul 02, 2008 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Ryan from work captioned this Lolcat photo:



Vote for him. It's his birthday today.

Dimitri the Douchebag

Jul 01, 2008 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 2 Comments
Patrick, a co-worker here at MovieSet, just turned me on to this. Apparently a woman named Olga met a man named Dimitri and innocently enough gave him a business card. Here is the audio of the two ultra creepy and more than misogynistic phone messages he left her:



If you would rather read, here's full the text of the messages and an article at jezebel.com

Creepy right? Can't be real... But wait. There's more. He's real and he's Canadian. He has an official website: dimitrithelover.com

Be sure to listen to more of his rantings by clicking the radio interview with Ben Guyatt. Yikes.

This bit of dialog from American Psycho seems somehow appropriate:

Patrick Bateman: Ask me a question.
Daisy: What do you do?
Patrick Bateman: I'm into... well murders and executions mostly.
Daisy: Do you like it?
Patrick Bateman: It depends. Why?
Daisy: Because most guys I know who work with mergers and acquisitions really don't like it.

R.I.P. George Carlin

Jun 24, 2008 by Mike Browne in Downers | 2 Comments
Carlin on Cats:


I miss him already.

It's all new to me

Jun 24, 2008 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 2 Comments
It's been a long time coming but here's another blog post. First of all I'm alive. That's a good thing. It was a long tough winter with the movie biz in Vancouver being slow after the writers strike and the looming fears of a SAG strike as well. I mostly kept hidden in my office playing my World of Warcraft toon obsessively to level 70, growing my hair and generally feeling pretty disconnected from the real world wondering if things would eve pick up again.

Well they have but not in the way I had expected. I just started a new job with a company called MovieSet™ (Yes, the same company I blogged about below). My title is Film Industry Community Ambassador. I'll be liaising with producers and eventually studio officials espousing the benefits of the MovieSet™. Hopefully I'll get to travel and meet some mucky mucks. As well I'll be assisting with creative marketing ideas and doing some blogging. Cool huh? I think so.

As well, it's time to buy a new computer as my laptop is near death and my desktop is getting long in the tooth. Seeing as the government of BC saw fit to send $100 for some wacky, I'm sure pre-election, 'environmental' benefit I can think of no better time to do it. I've order myself this ASUS M51SN-B1 from NCIX. Here's a recent in depth review of the machine. Looks pretty decent to me.

I even got a haircut and am feeling like a new man.

New beginnings rock.

Really. How Much?

May 01, 2008 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 3 Comments
I had some thoughts regarding an age old quandry.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Seriously.

Perhaps thumb transplants would help us finally get to the bottom of this mystery. Big toes have been used to replace thumbs lost in accidents (ironically sometimes 'chucking' wood). However, I'm unsure of woodchucks having big toes to begin with, as I'm not versed in woodchuck-ology (or whatever the scientific term may be).

Even if they did have big toes to sacrifice, and the transplant were to be successful, they may not be able to stand properly as they were now big toe less thus lacking the balance necessary for an all out wood chucking experiment.

Regardless, forcing a big toe less woodchuck now sporting strangely fashioned thumbs to 'chuck wood' doesn't seem at all ethical.

My guess is that we will never be able to answer this question to anyone's satisfaction so I think it's time to stop asking it. It's just silly.

High Tech Noon

Apr 19, 2008 by Mike Browne in Video | Add comment

Check out the re-edit of the classic western High Noon by Darryl Gold now with killer cyborgs!

MIA from Playoffs

Apr 12, 2008 by Mike Browne in Downers | 2 Comments

Fail, originally uploaded by Retrocactus.

Enough said...

Happy Bunny Day

Mar 23, 2008 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment

Solo Bunny, originally uploaded by MikeBrowne.

From the angriest rabbit on the planet.

"Stay away from my lettuce dammit!"

Film Marketing and Web 2.0

Mar 19, 2008 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | Add comment
Last weekend I went to a course put on by the DGC. It was called Introduction to Internet Marketing for DGC Members and was facilitated by Film and TV Director, Creative Consultant, TV Producer and 1st A.D. Peter D. Marshall. You can subscribe to Peter's excellent filmmaking newsletter over at his site actioncutprint.com.

Peter talked about everything from the more technical such as meta tags and SEO to utilizing web 2.0 sites like faceook and LinkedIn

Basically what I have is all the weapons to market both myself and any of my films or other media products already in my arsenal, but have yet to focus them. It's like having the best power drill on the planet and drilling at thin air. I'll be making some changes to my online presence, not the least of which will be to this blog.

Colleen Nystedt came in to speak to us about her site, movieset.com. I was extremely impressed with Coleen and her pitch. Movieset.com is going to revolutionize film marketing and the back-end tools bringing productions truly online (and for free) are of huge interest to me as a filmmaker. I had ideas about doing what movieset.com is doing myself, so it's a very easy product to get behind.

Here's Colleen on In the Lab with Leo Laporte:

Go behind-the-scenes with MovieSet™
Colleen Nystedt, Founder & CEO, MovieSet™


  1. MovieSet™ represents a paradigm shift that advances the marketing of movies to the beginning of the production process.

  2. Every movie has a core audience and the internet is the most sophisticated tool for identifying, targeting and engaging those fans.

  3. MovieSet’s toolkit brings film production online creating efficiencies in scheduling and communications, and as a by-product allows fans a abbreviated view of the process.

  4. As an aggregator, MovieSet™ enables producers to earn advertising and other ecommerce revenue creating new business models.

  5. MovieSet™ is also developing its utilities for television, documentaries and games.

www.movieset.com

[source In the Lab with Leo: episode 79]


As well we hear from Trilby Jeeves who spoke about her experience with marketing film related services on the web, specifically her site buffooneryworkshops.com. I'm kind of a buffoon already, but I'm considering taking Trilby's next course:

"The Buffoonery Acting Workshop" will be two fun-filled days of discovering how to find authentic, believable and committed performances. It's going to be held in Vancouver, on April 26 & 27, 2008 at the Tooba Physical Theatre.

This workshop is available to no more than 10 actors. Registrations will be on a first come basis. As soon as 10 spots have been taken, this link will be closed.

Register Now.

Coming from the background and experience in this area that I already have I wasn't sure how much I'd learn, but I'm glad I went. I learned a lot in only a few hours. Thanks again Peter.

Wanted - the movie

Mar 10, 2008 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | 1 Comment

Download and watch the HD trailer at Yahoo! Movies. This movie, due to be released on March 28, 2008, is going to look amazing.

I want to see Wanted, not just because it's an action movie and definitely not because of any of the actors or actresses in the film. Those things aren't really of much interest at all. In fact the dialog seems cliché, the storyline seems lame and the eye make up looks raccoonesque.

So why the post?

I want to see it because some of it, mostly the effects shots, were shot on RED cameras. No film, just super high definition video. Those big effects are going to look awesome being that clear.


Kodak and Fuji, you're going to have to rethink your business model. There are a few filmmakers (will that even be the correct word in a year?) who are taking full advantage of this new technology. These movies are stunning. As Hollywood directors play with this format and realize the versatility of it we're sure to see less film and more digital movies in our theatres. Jumper, already in theatres and doing well, used a RED One as its second unit camera and looks phenomenal.

Always up for an experiment Steven Soderbergh shot his movies The Argentine and Guerrilla both due out in 2008 and, The Informant, due in 2009 using only RED One cameras and lenses.

It's the wave of the future.

I'd love to get my grubby little paws on two full RED packages. Oh what a guy could do with a couple of those babies! All in all $17,500 isn't bad for a camera body. But, gear-head that I am we'd have to have all the lenses and accessories to go along with them.

Hey brother, can you spare $75,000?