This is what Neil Gaiman signing 1200 books looks like

My hand cramped just watching this.

 

Don't have time for Lord of the Rings? Gotcha covered!

LilGirl shared this video with me so I thought I'd pass it on (aren't I nice?).

 

(I think she only watched it...oh, 500 times last weekend)

Check out this Zeppelin-themed apartment

This is a very interesting apartment:

Watch "The most unique apartment in all of New York City - OffBeat Spaces Video" on YouTube

When is it appropriate to dress as Stan Lee? [Video]

This cracked me up.


Video link

Watchin' and Sewin': The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

I like to have something on in the background while I work on a sewing project, whether it's a movie or the Doctor Who episodes I'm woefully behind on. Last weekend I decided to try out The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which I've meant to look into for months. I wish I'd done it earlier, because it took a few hours to watch all of these. Thankfully I had quite a bit of sewing to do. The only problem is, I sometimes found myself stopping to watch Lizzie instead of sewing.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries are a modern take on Pride and Prejudice. Lizzie and her friend Charlotte are college students producing Lizzie's video diary as a way to put their studies in film production and mass communication to use. Most of the book's characters find their way into Lizzie's videos, especially her sisters Jane and Lydia (I think this is my favorite portrayal of Lydia I've ever seen). Sadly, Kitty is an actual cat and Mary is now a cousin, but the story doesn't suffer for their relative absence. (For some time with Mary, check out Lydia's short series of videos.) Mr. Bingley is now Bing Lee, and he only has one sister, Caroline (Is it just me, or does Louisa, and therefore also her husband, get dropped out of 90% of the adaptations?). We haven't seen much of Mr. Darcy yet, and nothing of Wickham (though there has been texting!). The idea of Lady Catherine as a venture capitalist is a hoot.

I'll stop going on and on and let you watch.



In preparing this post, I discovered so much more to this story: Lizzie's site has a listing of all the videos with Twitter conversations inserted into their appropriate spots in the timeline. Tumblr is also listed at the top, but none of the random links I clicked showed me Tumblr posts.  Sadly, I haven't had time to work my way through all the links, but that will be a weekend spent in bliss when I do.

This is a really interesting way to tell a story. I'm certainly going to keep following (I think they're only about half way through the events of the book at the moment.)

Happy 100th Birthday, Julia Child!

Google celebrated Julia's 100th with a doodle

Julia Child would have been 100 years old today. Though I don't cook (well, I can do a bang-up breakfast: pancakes, eggs, omelettes...basically anything done in a single pan or on a griddle), I've always admired Julia Child and dreamed of cooking like her. And that admiration stems less from what she cooked than how at ease she always seemed in the kitchen - something I have never accomplished even during my best Saturday morning fry-up. I tend to resemble the most hapless contestant on "Hell's Kitchen" far more than I resemble Julia, even when I'm just frying an egg.

I think I enjoy watching Julia, and other chefs, the way many people enjoy the ballet. It's not something you ever think you'll be able to do yourself, but you like to bask in the beauty and grace of the truly skillful performance.

One of the best books I read last year was My Life in France. This was one of those books that makes you scold yourself with "Why have I never read this before. What took me so long to get to it?"  It even inspired me to try making crepes one day last summer. They turned out edible, if not beautiful. If you have any interest in Julia, food, or France, I highly recommend it.

Here's a great remix of Julia done by PBS. Bon appétit!



(By the way, PBS has done several cool remixes of their classic shows lately. I love the Bob Ross one.)

Friday Fun: Bonus Scene from "How The Avengers Should Have Ended"

Here's a bonus scene from "How The Avengers Should Have Ended."


Spoiler warning: Don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie!

The Dark Knight + Music From Vertigo = Woah!

I came across this video on Set Phasers to LOL last night. Plan 9 Pictures put music from Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo with the opening scene from The Dark Knight. The way the dramatic beats in the scene match up with the music is a little freaky. The longer I watched, the more drawn in I was. I'm wondering how much Hitchcock's work influenced Christopher Nolan, even subconsciously, for the timing to be so close. 

Another thought: This music also amps up the tension of the scene, I think, though I'm not sure if it's because it's this music or simply because it's different than the music I'm familiar with in the scene. I think the removal of all the dialogue adds to the tension, as well. 

Today's Google "doodle" honors drive-ins

Today's Google doodle is a short video honoring the 79th anniversary of the first drive-in theater. Like any good film, it has rewards for those who pay attention.

A few fun things I spotted:

• A Google doodle within the Google doodle
• The ubiquitous Wilhelm scream
• A little Android guy in a grass skirt on a dashboard

Were there any other interesting things you noticed? Share in the comments!

Finally: How The Avengers Should Have Ended

One of my favorite sites on the web is How It Should Have Ended. They create alternate endings for popular movies (and occasionally video games) and often their ending makes more sense than the original movie's did. At the very least HISHE's is funnier than the original. I've been waiting (not so) patiently for them to do The Avengers, and they finally released it yesterday.

Here ya go:



If you're confused by the appearance of Superman & Batman, watching a few of the HISHE videos (you want to anyway, don't you?) will show you that they tend to pop up in these videos, usually to hilarious effect. This is one of my favorites:

This video made me cry such happy tears

Yes, I'm a big ol' sap, but it's so sweet I dare you to not be moved by this:

Loki'd!

The Avengers-itis continues: 

 Tom Hiddleston possibly takes his role as Loki a little too seriously...

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

via MTV

And after watching that, I just love this:

via julinspiredgirl

Happy Pi Day!

Via www.piday.org

Did you notice the video is 3:14 long? I love it when there's such attention to detail.

Via www.piday.org

Happy Buffyversary!

Fifteen years ago today, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" premiered on TV. 

And I don't think I watched it. 

Even though "Buffy" eventually became my favorite show, when it first aired I was just appalled that anyone would take one of my favorite funny movies and try to turn it into a teen drama. The horror! But, as it turns out, it was awesome. I have since learned to trust in the wisdom of Joss Whedon and he's never steered me wrong.

Here's a fan-made "trailer" of season one:

Thanks to the Buffy Facebook page for the heads up!

Cut! Costume Exhibit, or Encountering Fantasy in Reality

My daughter and I visited the Cut! Costume and the Cinema exhibit at the Durham Museum during her Christmas break. It broke my heart that we weren't allowed to take photos, but I came across this video last night which lets you get an idea of how amazing some of the costumes are:

 


I have to admit the costume that took my breath away wasn't the most spectacular or elaborate. I've always loved the movie Howard's End - E.M. Forster is one of my favorite authors, I've had a long-standing obsession with Merchant Ivory films and I just lurve Emma Thompson - so encountering a dress Emma Thompson wore in that film (below) made me tear up just a little bit. That emotional response was surprising. I think it was a result of encountering such a familiar item from fantasy unexpectedly in reality. I even considered snapping a clandestine picture of the dress, but didn't feel confident in my sneakiness, so I didn't. Maybe I'll have to go back before the exhibit leaves, just to visit Margaret's dress one more time (and to check out Captain Jack Sparrow's outfit, as well. You know, as long as I'm there).

via  Enchanted Serenity of Period Films: Howard's End (1992)

If you can't get to the exhibit, but would like to see some of the costumes in more detail than what is in the video, I just found a Flickr set by annesstuff  which shows many of them when the exhibit was in another venue.

Cool student-produced steampunk short

This is a fun short film created by students at Media Design School in New Zealand.

(via Set Phasers to LOL)

And some of the students talk about making the film:

Mal vs. Hammer, Indy vs. Han...

By Gina Biggs

A friend shared this cartoon on Facebook, and I love it. I have to say, that IS what would happen should Captain Mal meet Captain Hammer. (Just in case you're not familiar with Firefly or Dr. Horrible, I'll let you in on the joke: Nathan Fillion played both characters).

So, that got me thinking, and reminded me of this picture I saw on Flickr awhile ago as part of JD Hancock's "Duel 365" series:

By JD Hancock

What would happen if Indiana Jones met Han Solo? I mean there is this scene:

but, as we all know, Han shot first:

So, how do you think it would go down?

Life moves pretty fast...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off  is one of my favorite movies, so I was super excited to see this commercial. Part of me wishes it was a whole movie, but in a way, this is enough and having more might ruin it.

Come to the bark side...we have biscuits.

After last year's Super Bowl commercial, Volkswagen apparently thought they'd keep going with the Star Wars theme. I'm not complaining.

(Best commercial that had nothing to do with the product ever)

Lady Grantham's Greatest Hits + White Feathers

A friend posted this on Facebook earlier today. If you like Downton Abbey, you'll get a kick out of this. I just love the Dowager Countess of Grantham, and I don't think anyone but Maggie Smith could have played her.



I watched the first episode of Season Two last night and loved it! If you'd like to read more about the symbolism of the white feathers involved in one scene, check out this post at Jane Austen's World. I was kind of glad I'd read it ahead of time.