Conspirituality

Unfortunately, like many people, I've lost some friends to the current political climate. A surprising number of those are people I never would have even argued with before. They were seemingly open minded, peaceful, even reasonable. Did I share all their beliefs in crystals and energy healing and past lives? No.

But we found common ground. That seems to have all but slipped away. Why did some of the most live and let live people become attached to such a toxic movement like QAnon?

This article gives some possible answers.

Drury Lane

About 10 years ago we started production on a film called Drury Lane. It was written and directed by my friend and mentor, Lynne Van Dam.

I was one of the cinematographers, one of the editors, as well as one of the actors in the movie. We were a small film that dreamed big and everybody wore multiple hats.

Working on Drury Lane was a long, sometimes difficult journey but I feel lucky for the experience and to work with so many super talented people: our wonderful actors, including our star, Kristen Murphy, our awesome camera people, our fabulous crew, my co-editor (as well as our music composer!), Alex Harris, and of course, our amazing writer, producer and director, Lynne.

Because of a music licensing hiccup, it looked like the release of this film would be limited to festivals only. Thankfully this has been resolved, and Drury Lane is now available to rent or buy on Vimeo.

Drury Lane is a Feature Length film Written, Produced, and Directed by Lynne Van Dam. Synopsis: A private eye on a routine case discovers there is a much deeper evil lurking below the surface. Former maverick cop Frankie O'Malley finds one of her street informants dead on a park bench, being investigated by the man who moved out of her life, and into her job. Frankie is pulled inexorably into the case as she discovers the connection between her routine case and the deaths of her street informants. As the threads of the mystery evolve, her father becomes entwined. She reconnects with her former partner, but finds that her past holds the key to uncovering the truth. Visit our Website: www.drurylanethemovie.com Drury Lane. Mystery. 110 min. Shot & Edited in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Blood Machines

I remember first coming across Seth Ickerman’s “Turbo Killer” a while back and being totally blown away. This grindhouse-style music video is for the French synthwave artist Carpenter Brut, whose tracks are a mix of heavy metal horror and 80’s-style synths, and it is absolutely beautiful. Seth Ickerman is actually a pseudonym for the filmmaker duo Raphaël Hernandez and Savitri Joly Gonfard. So I was a bit disappointed that I completely missed their Kickstarter campaign to create a feature(ish)-length film based in the Turbo Killer universe. That film, Blood Machines, looks to be near completion, and just dropped a new trailer. Holy eyegasm. These guys know how to paint the cinematic canvas. I will gladly give these French madmen my money if they ever decide to go the crowdfunding route again.

Uploaded by Carpenter Brut on 2019-09-13.

Age of Resistance

If you have any nostalgia or good feelings for the 1982 film that this series is based on; I urge you to check out Age of Resistance. It is still a puppet show, so if you can't get past that, this is not for you. But if you can suspend your disbelief, this show will amaze you. I feel like it's one of the few recent projects based on Jim Henson's ideas that he would be truly proud of. So good.

It's time to return to Thra. Watch the cast and creators discuss returning to Jim Henson's creation almost 40 years later and getting the chance to expand and enrich this already beloved world. From the Jim Henson Company and visionary director Louis Leterrier, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance premieres August 30.

Trusted Sources

The people who complain the most about the mainstream media would make the world's worst journalists. Good grief... Does anybody fact check before sharing on Facebook anymore? To put it bluntly, most people's "trusted sources" suck. At best, they are serial memers playing a game of telephone and at worst they destroying the importance of facts. Remember that whole glass houses metaphor? If you are peddler of lies on social media, intentional or not, you have no authority to talk about the mainstream media.

But if you’re interested in actually doing some fact checking before you share that FB post, here is a site that may be helpful:

Media Bias/Fact Check

The News Hasn't Happened Yet

David Firth of Salad Fingers fame is still making the stuff of nightmares. It's just a little bit closer to reality now. I think this is some of the best work.

 

I put my face on the news. - Episode 3: UP! PATREON ► https://www.patreon.com/davidfirth - The Patrons keep this channel alive. No end to my thanks. Please become one too. Summary of headlines: 3 new species of birds on moon. Maths is wrong. UP is banned. People are happier than they have ever been.

Blue Moonlight

I thought this was an interesting article about a common color grading convention: making night scenes look blue.  It's more about how we as humans perceive light than it is about accuracy.

The Purkinje effect (sometimes called the Purkinje shift or dark adaptation) is the tendency for the peak luminance sensitivity of the human eye to shift toward the blue end of the color spectrum at low illumination levels.

Hot Wheels

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This Hot Wheels stunt video turned me into a giddy schoolboy.  The track design is impressive enough but then throw in some sweet slow motion footage as well as a very cool GoPro POV shot and now I'm just a little sorry I gave away my collection so long ago.

A slow motion compilation of toy car flips, twists and jumps. The tricks featured are the Long Jump, the Falling Roll, the 360 Flip Spin, the Double Roll, the Halfpipe, the Falling Front Flip, the Double Jump through Hoops, and the Splash Dive. Song "Lucky Charms" by Emcee https://soundcloud.com/e_m_c_e_e/lucky-charms-master Buy the song on Bandcamp!