Category Archives: THE INTERWEBS

Brandon Bird and Jim’ll Paint It Reimagines Nostalgia In Their Own Surreal Way

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The internet is a great thing for creative minds. Sure the criticism an artist can receive is a heck of a lot harsher than what a face to face confrontation would be and you need to be ever vigilant of the dreaded trolls who are lurking at every dark corner of the web ready to rip your work apart. However, it does offer numerous benefits such as getting your work out to numerous people on a global scale and having the freedom to do what you like. This freedom has given us some superb pieces of work which when successful, can spread like wild-fire with pop culture fans and internet users alike. There is also freedom to interact with your audience in an instant way which just might not have been possible before. It is these elements of artist freedom that both Brandon Bird and Jim’ll Paint It excel in but they both use this freedom in very different ways.

Brandon Bird may not be a name that you know but his work is instantly recognizable. In fact one image in particular sent the internet into free fall when it came out. It is the image below that most internet users will recognize and it has popped up on numerous message boards and memes and has been embraced by the pop culture universe.

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Brandon comes from California and has worked in some degree in numerous projects, most interestingly helping out the punk rock group the Aqauabats with their merchandise and show designs. The thing that is so great about Brandon’s work is the sheer creativity in his mashups (Peter Dinklage as Wolverine is incredible) but also the childlike innocence behind them. They embrace childhood whether it be the rejection of children you want to play with (Harrison Ford suffers from this in one painting), or the sheer excitement as an adult we get of seeing our childhood icons mixed up in interesting yet somewhat natural feeling ways. They always gel together so well no matter what is getting mashed up or how surreal the outcome. His merchandise enforces this notion with coloring books and adventure kits available that harkens back to a simpler time when we made our own entertainment. It is ironic then that the internet has embraced his artwork so much. Maybe we all just want to remember that feeling of childhood one more time?

 

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Jim’ll Paint It also has close connection to the internet, more accurately it is his audience he relies on for part of his inspiration. Little is known about Jim (other than we think he is called Jim) but it’s what he does that is important. He takes requests from internet users on what to paint, with the more extreme and bizarre  the concept, the better. The love of retro and childhood shows that Brandon has embraced with his art is seen here because Jim’s (mostly) UK audience have looked back into their past for inspiration and got Jim to incorporate these memories into the pop culture icons of the present. So you have Jim Bowen from UK show Bullseye doing his best Thelma and Louis impression while the band TRex and Jurassic Park combine together to form a stunning visual piece. But it is not just retro stuff Jim excels in; his audience throw anything at him from Christian Bale watching over Ben Affleck’s version of Batman to Voldemort becoming happy he found a can of coke with his name on it. The great thing is though the audience give him the idea it is Jim’s incredible mind that puts it all together and gives his own unique spin on it. It is always an incredible experience to read what the person has requested and then see Jim’s surrealist version of it.

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Both Jim and Brandon have their own websites where you can buy their products and also look for Jim’s Facebook page where you can check out more of his fans requests. If you want to see your favourite pop culture icons engaged in ways you never imagined possible, then keep checking out these guys work as they continue to create incredible pieces every week or so.

The Doctor’s Adventures with the BBC – A GB Doctor Who Special

The Time Lord is fast approaching his 50th Anniversary special so what better time to look at some of his more unusual appearances on his home station, the BBC, than now. Having a time machine does have its advantages and it makes the Doctor able to appear in some of the strangest places. Here is a very small sampling of some of his adventures in time and space.

Continue reading The Doctor’s Adventures with the BBC – A GB Doctor Who Special

Welcome to Medieval Land Fun-Time World! A Bad Lip Reading: Game of Thrones

Who thought Game of Thrones could be possible be improved on? Well Bad Lip Reading has somehow managed to do it with their brand new YouTube video. If you have never heard of this comedy musical group before then now is a perfect time to do so.

They do exactly what their name suggests. They look at a some video and replace the audio track with their own dialogue. This often results in hilarious outcomes. This one though, well it has to be their best video so far. Re-imagining the Game of Thrones series as a cheeky comedy where Eddie Stark needs to get his staff in tip-top shape for the opening of the new theme park: Medieval Fun-Time World.

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Below is the video which you will definitely be watching twice:

As you can see this video is quite simply amazing to watch. Not only does it seem to have every Joffrey slapping scene from the series, it also manages to give all the characters new personalities which are just brilliant. My favorites have to be Tyrion Lannister re-imagined as a hardcore pimp like character, and Joffrey as a self titled love god.

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The new storyline of a theme park works surprisingly well, as does the re-edited interactions between the new characters. Absolutely incredible, you can watch this countless times and find new jokes in it. Who can resist jokes that involve prolonged flatulence and kitten burgers? There is a mix of Waiting and National Lampoons Animal House here, yet it still retains a unique charm. Check out the Bad Lip Readings YouTube channel for more videos covering all kinds of topics.

Finally we will leave you with another of their videos showing all the deleted and expanded scenes they could not squeeze in. Enjoy.

[Ed. Note – The iPhone gag in the 2nd video is priceless]

I really want to go to Medieval Land Fun-Time World…

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Venom Fan Film – Eddie Brock: Truth In Journalism

Welcome to another installment of Unknown Fan Films where we delve deep into the World Wide Web and select for you some of the best and most interesting fan films that you might have missed.

This week we look at Truth In Journalism, a film which focuses on one of Spider-Man’s most ferocious enemies – Venom. Or to be more precise, it focuses on his alter ego, the disgraced journalist Eddie Brock.

Eddie has become further corrupted since his days at the Bugle, and the saddest thing is he doesn’t even know it. The only truth to be found here is in Eddie’s real personality change, or what Eddie perceives to be true journalism. Certainly Truth In Journalism focuses on a type of reporting, whether this is considered to be the best kind of journalism is left up to the viewer to decide. Here is what director Joe Lynch and producer Adi Shankar has to say about his project.

[quote] “This was 200% pure “passion project”, a dream come true for a comics ‘n cult-film loving fan to work within two distinct worlds I grew up loving. As a lover of mixing pop culture into storytelling, in a Warholian way, TRUTH IN JOURNALISM is pure ‘Pop Art’. I’ve rarely been as proud of something I’ve created as much as I had with this project and thrilled the TRUTH has been unleashed to the world. To CineMAAA!”  – Joe Lynch

“I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that as a feature film producer I shouldn’t dabble in television, web content, or even comic books … that thinking perpetuates the consumerist mosh pit we are now desperately trying to dig ourselves out of. I have a burning desire to entertain and different mediums allow me to do this in different ways. These shorts are as much a part of my filmography as the movies are. I’m here now, I’m inevitably going to die at some point, and as an artist I feel an ardent urge to constantly be creating. ”  – Adi Shankar. [/quote]

Like Man Bites Dog director Joe Lynch takes the documentary approach with a French crew following Eddie around the streets of New York. The black and white gives the film a crisp, realness to it that makes it thoroughly engaging (the scratches on the film add another element of realism to it). There are some nice little touches to – Eddie working out (which happened quite a few times in the comics), talking about the events after the Bugle (when he became Venom), talks to Venom in the bathroom and instantly gets changed, ties up villains and the shocking ending.

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Actor Ryan Kwanten (from True Blood) really brings to life the character of Eddie, more so than attempt in Spider-Man 3. Not that his attempt was bad, it’s just has more time to get engrossed in the character and bring him to life for us. And he certainly does that, with his black attired clothing and common man attitude he does come off as a likable guy but there are scenes that pop up that show the menace underneath (a key scene involving a stab victim begin one of the shocker scenes). This sense of underlining menace builds up to a truly sinister and quite disturbing ending where Eddies true self comes out. This scene alone is incredible, using the shock techniques seen in  many a homemade horror flick, but used correctly (and very similar to the ending of REC). Not to give to many spoilers away but this is handled perfectly and for once it actually makes Venom seem alien, like something not of this Earth and most important it makes Venom scary. Director kind of knows the darkness of this scene because he gives us a nice (and very funny) cameo from one of Marvel comics most well-known killers.

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A stunning short to watch and in just 15 minutes manages to tell a story that Spider-Man 3 with his compilation of characters really struggled to tell correctly. This version of Eddie is dirty, gritty and more importantly shocking. A must see for all Spider-Man fans but fans of good quality movies should also check this out to.

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Unknown Fan Films – Marvel Zombies

It is Halloween again and what better way to celebrate than talking about zombies. We all love zombies (articles on the shuffling undead flesh bags include a look at George Romero zombies and how zombies prepare us for terrorist attacks) but what makes a zombie that little bit better? Fighting a shark? Wielding a scythe? Eating their mother’s boob? These are all valid and fun zombie activities to watch but how about if we take some of our favorite heroes from the Marvel Universe and turn them into zombies? The result was the great Marvel Zombies comic. Today, we have come across a fan trailer based on this comic concept and included is the description below to best illustrate how much of a buzz it created amongst the YouTube community and even TV.

[quote]Film movie trailer based on Marvel Zombies popular comic book series. This video was taken down for quite a while after causing quite a stir when it first premiered garnering over 650,000 hits in less than 2 weeks! Shown as #1 greatest video online by G4’s Attack of the Show![/quote]

Below is the fan film (written, produced and directed by Scott Fields and Jim Ojala) but be warned it is quite gruesome and may not be suitable for children or people under the age of 17. Like that has stopped people before.

For an obviously low budget fan film, the effects are fantastic. Both the Hulk zombie and Spider-Man zombie look exactly as they do in the comic book series and even with the slightly plastic look of the Hulk’s face, it still makes for quite a horrific scene stealer when these two meet up. It would be interesting to see if the filmmakers would be able to expand the idea because effects-wise, they have this spot on. They also have a good grasp on the characters, specifically with Peter’s sudden guilt trip while eating Mary Jane. That was a huge part of his story arc in the comic and it was great to see it play a factor here too.

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This Marvel Zombies fan flick, if expanded, could have been similar to the Romero cut munchers of the 90s. However, this short trailer in my eyes looked more like the cannibal and zombie films coming out from Italy in the 80s such as Zombie Flesh Eaters. The use of quite explicit entrails eating and the emphasis on the blood and gore was a staple of those movies and they were blooming good fun all around. All in all, the film is short, somewhat slap dash in places (definitely needed to be slightly longer) but its well shot and it has that gross out appeal that some of the PG-13 (15 certificate in the UK) rated horror flicks of today don’t seem to have anymore. It’s Marvel Zombies man! Who does not want to see Spider-Man knee deep in entrails while a miffed Hulk looks on? This reviewer sure does and he is glad for seeing this short which has helped to fulfill the dream of seeing Marvel Zombies on our screens. On a scale of one to 5 we are looking at a 3 and a half which is pretty good going for a short that lasts only about 2 minutes. This is a perfect little appetizer on Halloween night before you move onto your main course of scary movies. Maybe you will find some through our other Grizzly Bomb Halloween articles, so don’t forget to check them out!

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Wonder Woman Lets Loose In This New Fan Film

You have to feel sorry for Wonder Woman. Aside from a great TV run in the ’70s, she really has struggled to make it back onto the screen. Films pitches have resulted in zero success, and TV pilots have come and gone without so much as a whimper.

So, we turn to the fans to make Wonder Woman come to life, and thus far we’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much better they are than the big budget attempts. This must be because of the heart and soul that goes into these projects. In August we talked about First Impressions, which had to be the most emasculating first date ever.

Now we’ve got another interpretation of the character, starring Team Unicorn’s Rileah Vanderbilt as the Princess herself. With an obvious passion for the product,  just read what director Sam Balcomb has to say about this new release.

[quote] Firstly, thanks for watching. Whether you like, or dislike, our live action interpretation of Diana of Themyscira, Wonder Woman, born of clay, I think (quite a few of) you will agree she is a character just as vital and crucial to our understanding of humanity as any other superhero… if not more so.

We spent the majority of 2013 working on this — the look, the feel, the aspects we most wanted to portray. It’s a scant two and half minutes, but in the end, it’s one hundred and fifty seconds of pure fantasy, where I get to consider the two sides of my favorite warrior: a crusader in man’s world, and a paragon of virtue told through Greek mythology.

It’s a fun world to hang out in. I hope you enjoy it. [/quote]

Here is the finished product and it looks incredible

Wonder Woman certainly looks the part; in fact I don’t think she has ever looked better. They managed to make a suit that conforms to the comic book ideals of the character, looks practical and also showcases her sexuality all in one go. The narrative is fantastical, constructed jumping from Paradise Island with her fellow Amazons, then straight to the down and dirty streets where some thugs get their just deserts. It shows how Wonder Woman (like Superman) is a child of two lands. It is also great to watch her kick some serious backside.

The effects are great, and the CGI Minotaur monsters look particularly stunning. In fact the only downside to this is that it’s so short it leaves you craving more of this Wonder Woman. Hopefully the group responsible for this short will give us more exploits of the Amazonian Princess very soon.

[box_dark]Starring: Rileah Vanderbilt, Clare Grant, Alicia Marie, America Young, Kimi Hughes, Christy Hauptman
Director of Photography: Andrew Finch
Key Grip: Duy Nguyen
1st AC: Nick Roney
Gaffer: Ryan Walton
Stunt Coordinator: Surawit Sae Kang
Stunt Team: Surawit Sae Kang, Joe Perez, Billy Bussey, Jason Brillantes, Kerry Wong
Costume Designer: Heather Greene
Costumer: Sarah Skinner
Consultant: GoldenLasso.net
Hair & Makeup: Anissa Salazar Assistant: Yulitzin Alvarez
Music & Sound Design: Jeff Dodson Vocalist: Raya Yarbrough Sound Mastered at: Runsilent
Editor: Jesse Soff
Visual Effects Supervisor: Sam Balcomb
Compositors: Jason Schaefer & Nick Viola
Producer: Jesse Soff
Directed by: Sam Balcomb [/box_dark]

Wonder Woman

Also be sure to read Unknown Fan Films for even more information on rare and up coming features like this.