Here’s the pictures from Protocon 2.0. If any one wants high res photos for printing, let me know.

Click here to view the picture gallery.

The Wicker Man II: Fowlpurgisnacht, completed during this year’s Proto-con 2.0, is the sequel to the 1973 classic The Wicker Man, directed by Robin Hardy. The Wicker Man II: Fowlpurgisnacht follows Pete, who while in search of duck, discovers more than he bargained for, namely the Wicker Man 2.

If you have trouble viewing the movie, please download the newest version of Quicktime.

In case anyone wanted the transcript of the closing remarks made by me during Protocon 2.0, I have posted them here. Thanks to those that attended, if we continue to have such a huge turnout, we will need to find a bigger venue next year!

Read the rest of this entry »

I know this is odd, but Live Update 2 is getting posted before Live Update 1. Yell at Pete and Mike. I did my part.

Anyway, we spent most of the day filming Wicker Man 2: Duck for Cover. Here’s a couple stills from it.

So Protocon is now well and truely under way.

Last night saw a screening of the cinematic classic “Manster”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Official Itinerary: Proto-Con 2.0 November 17th to 19th, 2006

Friday Night

6-9 PM          Arrivals
9-10 PM         Shopping for Food with Bob the Butler
9-12 PM         Movie: Vanishing Point (1971), dir. Richard C. Sarafian
12-?            Late Night Discussion

Saturday

8-9 AM          Breakfast: Beans and Toast
9-10:00 AM      Duck and Robot Shopping
10:00-1 PM      Wicker Duck Construction
1-2 PM          Hors d'oeuvres served by Bob the Butler
2-4 PM          Wicker Man II: Duck for Cover - Filming
4-5 PM          Food Sculpture
5-6 PM          Dinner: Food Sculpture & Wild Game
6-10 PM         Fiat (RPG)
10-12 AM        Movie Madness (Movies TBA)
12-? AM         The Nightwalkers Jaunt of Fear: The Snipe Hunt


Sunday

8-9 AM          Breakfast: Bagels and Lox
9-10 AM         Excelsior & Papers
10-12 AM        Project: Penning of the Proto-Con 2.0 Ballad
12-1 PM         Lunch: Funk and Junk - "That's pretty punk."
1 PM            Goodbye Speech: "Protozoic 2.0 vs Web 2.0" (To be given by Thom Webb)

If you need directions to Webb Manor, please leave a comment. See you fools there.

I’m interested in setting up a darkroom in my apt. Photo film equipment is dirt cheap nowadays, so I typed in “enlarger” on Ebay to see what I could find. I guess I didn’t think about my search phrase enough — I got a lot of results for penis and breast enlargers. On Ebay. I’ll ignore the obvious question of who would buy a penis enlarger, but I will raise another one. Who would be a (potentially used) penis enlarger on Ebay?

After weeks of sporadic tinkering the role-playing system I was hoping to run for Protozoicon is finally at a usable stage. Still not polished to the sleek and glossy shine I’d prefer but workable at least and including all the necessary components. Also, at six pages, it’s mercifully brief.

You can find it here in PDF format.

For those really interested there’s more commentary available here on the design philosophy behind it and such.

Gabe Weisert is the director and co-writer of the two classic independent films Fishing with Gandhi (1998) and Cow Monkey (2001). For anyone interested in film, both works are must-owns and for low-budget filmmakers, they are mandatory viewing. Shot in relatively short amounts of time (each film was shot in 9 days or less) and with limited locations, the films demonstrate just what one can do with zero-budget, inventive story telling, dedication and talent: make damn fine art.

Weisert’s directorial debut, Fishing with Gandhi, is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Fishing with Gandhi is one of those rare films that balances profundity with side-splitting laughs and presently remains criminally under-appreciated. Its story follows Danno, played by Dan Klein, who has just returned from the wedding of his mother and uncle. Now traveling to see his too-cool-for-school friends Stephen, played by Weisert, and Giles, played by William Birdthistle, Danno hitches a ride with brothers Roy and Gil, played by James Reichmuth and John Reichmuth respectively.

Weisert, the Reichmuth brothers and Klein followed Fishing with Gandhi with another film truly after my own heart, Cow Monkey. Cow Monkey returns to characters Roy and Gil as they go on a quest to avenge the murder of their dog, Wanda II, by Bigfoot, or the mythical ape-beast the “cow monkey”. When Roy and Gil arrive at the Bigfoot site, they meet the woodsy Grover, played by Klein, and an anthropological student named Sydney, played by Bridget Schwartz. What ensues is 88 minutes that, like Fishing with Gandhi, is as funny as it is philosophical.

For more information on Gabe Weisert, visit his photography site. For more information on John and James Reichmuth and Dan Klein, visit their website of their extremely funny comedy troupe, Kasper Hauser, and check out their new book Sky Maul.

To purchase and view the films, visit Film Baby, which currently offers a signed double DVD package of the films, both which have extremely illuminating commentaries and are full of great outakes, cartoons, and Kasper Hauser troupe standup.

In the following interview, Weisert talks about the two films.

Interview follows.

I’m shocked that Fishing with Gandhi isn’t a better known film. It’s well written, well acted, extremely funny and quite touching. When it was released, did it get a lot of attention?

Thanks for the kind words! When it came out in ’98, FWG [Fishing with Gandhi] bounced around some of the smaller film festivals then got picked up by Hollywood Video. We got a nice write-up in Variety, and some great local press, and good word of mouth around the hip indie film fest circles, but by no means was it on any kind of grand national Entertainment Weekly type scale. But honestly I was pleasantly surprised — it’s more of a student film than anything else, so I was happy to see the small but very favorable attention that it received.

John Reichmuth as Gil and James Reichmuth as Roy

Read the rest of this entry »

Basement Acid Dinosaur Album EP is short and sweet and doesn’t have a point. Recorded in 2000 (yay! Out of 1999!), it really doesn’t have much to say for itself.
Read the rest of this entry »