Like every other podcast on the internet, we led off with discussion on Steve Jobs resignation from Apple, then branched off into whether Apple can stay “Apple,” as well as discussing the oft-rumoured Apple television set that may or may not happen. Speaking of TV, Google told the television industry to go to hell (except it didn’t). We also looked at the new Mozilla WebAPI, an awesome gaming laptop from Razer, and much, much more.
Following up on my previous Portal posts, here’s Escape from City 17 part 2, a Half Life which boasts a city in ruins, striders, zombies, headcrabs and more. THe creators of this film claim they spent less than $1,000, which sounds doubtful given what’s on screen.
Portal is a fantastic series of games, and it’s built up such an interesting world that several fan films have sprung up to expand upon its themes of imprisonment, quantum physics and puzzle solving.
Dan Trachtenberg of Totally Rad Show fame has upped the bar with his Portal fan film, entitled “The Escape,” which you can see below:
Others have also put together Portal fan films. My favorite is this one, which eschews action for something a little more moody and introspective:
I’m sure there are more fine fan films out there, but these, in my opinion, are the true standouts.
Chip gets a TouchPad, HP gives up on PCs (and TouchPads), Robert Scoble doesn’t love Twitter anymore, Chrome extensions can be riddled with malware, and Apple might be making its own chipsets for Macbooks after all.
Jim Munroe is the multimedia genius behind No Media Kings, which started as a way for him to self-publish his work but has since morphed into a DIY mini-empire featuring comics, games, film and books.
A few years ago he and several collaborators made “Infest Wisely“, a lo-fi sci-fi film that they broke into chapters and filmed separately with a overarching story written by Munroe. You could watch it online in segments or as a feature.
Jump to several years later and Munroe and friends have created
“Ghosts with Shit Jobs,” a near-future extrapolation of what happens when North America goes bankrupt and China outsources all the jobs they don’t want to us. It’s being done with the same low-fi ethos as Infest Wisely but with better equipment and a little more money ($4,000 this time as opposed to the $700 they spent on the previous film.)
I’m looking forward to seeing what Munroe hss in store with this latest film…it looks like they’ve upped their game visually while hewing to the same approach of ideas over pointless spectacle. Keep watching here and nomediakings.org for further news on the film.
Google buys Motorola Mobile, SETI gets Kickstartered, EA throws its weight around, and Cinemaware is going iOS. Whee!
Nintendo’s woes, Apple’s secret and subtle plans for social, GTA is the root cause of the London riots (or possibly not) iOS 5′s hidden voice controls, and high praise for the under appreciated Bioshock 2.
Lately I’ve been looking into the web series phenomenon, given my proclivities towards sticking it to the man and/or making cool things with video and computers. Here’s a few good ones to whet your appetite.
First of, here’s the Guild, the gold standard by which all other web series are judged….
and here’s Standard Action, which is filmed right here in Vancouver…
and for something a little less fantasy-oriented, here’s Andy and Chaz Bugger Off to America, a sort of Guy Ritchie meets Entourage tale of two hapless and murderous criminals from the UK who cause trouble in LA…
And finally here’s some sci-fi goodness in the form of the Mercury Men. Unfortunately, you can’t watch the series unless you’re in the US or have a proxy, so here’s the trailer.
Got any more favourites? Tell me about them in the comments!
The iCloud rises! As does the Apple TV, wifi and Canadian politicians, MTV supplanted by Youtube, and much, much more!
