So of course, we’re running behind schedule on the new short. What else is new, right? Hah! Actually, things are starting to come together pretty well and I’m pretty happy with it overall. Anyone who showed up to Phil’s live broadcast already has a sneek peek into what the new series is all about. With any luck, it should be all ready to go by the end of the week.

Thanks to everyone who came out all during the day and evening. Wow, I was on here way longer than I expected.

Cloverfield had a lot to prove to the public today. It needed to prove that it was what it claimed it was. It needed to prove that the monster was worth waiting for. It needed to prove that it could make monster movies cool again. It needed to prove that it was worth the hype. After just getting in from seeing the film, I can say that Cloverfield was indeed worth all the buzz.

The most important thing about this movie is that it knows what it is. With a brief run time that falls under 90 minutes, it’s clear that the movie knows it isn’t much more than a monster flick. We begin the movie with a party for a dude named Rob who apparently just got a sweet gig over in Japan (a nod to Godzilla obviously). At this point, the camera is being operated by Rob’s best friend named Hud, whom is likely named after HUD, or Head-Up Display. There couldn’t be a more fitting name, as the whole movie is basically shown from his point of view. Occasionally the camera will switch hands, but it remains with Hud for the duration of the film. Once we get a bit of back story on some of the characters, there’s a loud thud, and the shit hits the fan from there on out.

Being that the movie is filmed all handheld, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we’re going to get hit with some major shaky cam. It’s a little over whelming at first, and I would suggest that people who suffer from motion sickness do not watch this movie. I don’t normally get motion sickness, but the first few minutes were really tough, and I felt myself starting to get a little dizzy where I almost felt like I wouldn’t be able to watch the movie. However, your eyes will adjust in time, and aside from some deliberately shaky scenes, most people should be able to make it through.

So G4 has tried to make up for destroying their 24/7 Video game channel by revamping X-play into a nightly show that basically encompasses all the things that used fill the channel. News, Features, Reviews, Previews, Niche-gaming stuff, etc all crammed into one show.

I dont currently have G4, so i can’t vouch for the entire show. However, I have been downloading the daily video podcast segments from the show. From what I’ve seen, it looks like they’ve recaptured some of the spirit of the original channel. While nothing will make up for completely ruining G4 and filling it with bad UPN reruns, I am happy to see Sessler and Morgan Webb’s show evolving rather than being canceled. I mean, how many times in one day can you watch Cheaters?

Anyway, if you have G4 check out the show M-F @ 8:00 PM (EST). If you’re a cheapskate like me (ie; no cable tv), do a search for G4 on itunes and subscribe to the video podcasts they offer from the show.

A Monster Attack!!!
A bridesmaid, never a bride.
A bunch of money grubbers.
Those are the new release themes for this weekend in theaters.

Ghostbusters 3: Stay Puft’s Revenge

Cloverfield – a dude’s going away party turns into complete MAYHEM when they witness a monster attack on New York City. The movie is filmed from the point of view of a handheld camera being carried around by one of the dudes from the party. From producer JJ Abrams.

Looks like Cyclops told a funny.

So I FINALLY got around to giving Folklore for the PS3 a go. It was a birthday present and has been sitting in the shrink wrap for about two months.

Thirteen hours of game play later, I’ve captured the final Folk. Folklore is a strange blend between action and RPG with a really cool Pokemon-esque combat system. Its got some of the prettiest graphics I’ve seen in a while, and it sounds really good to boot. It was great ride, but not without a few hitches.

There have been complains on the net about the cut scenes. A large majority of them are done in a very comic-book-ish way with panels and word balloons. They use the character models from the game and pose them in interetsing ways to tell the story. There is little animation in these parts, but these cutscenes don’t bother me at all. I kind of like them. I dont need my video game talking to me nonstop. Additionally, there’s a semi large cast of characters you interact with. Actually reading their names helps cement them into your head as to who is who.

So here it is, the dawn of another new era for Shamoozal. Okay, not really… but you little babies can stop crying about having to log in twice comment on our crap articles. That’s a good thing right? Right below the article you’ll see a link to ‘Discuss this Article’. Give it a click and you’ll be wisked away to our newest forum: Shamoozal Nerdlog (suprise). There you’ll be in the warm familiar womb territory of the Smorgas Board where you can post comments, pictures of cats or just close your browser and don’t post anything at all.

Good Luck Chuck – Dane Cook is cursed when he is a young boy. Any woman he has sex with goes on to meet the man of her dreams right after leaving Dane. So then he meets Jessica Alba and falls in love so he must try his hardest not to give into temptation until he can get to the bottom of this curse business.

Mr. Woodcock – Seann William Scott was tortured as a young boy by his gym teacher, Billy Bob Thornton. Later in life, Scott becomes a self help writer but has to come to terms with his mother dating his former gym teacher.

He Was A Quiet Man – Christian Slater is an ignored 9-to-5er in a boring life. One day he saves the life of Elisha Cuthbert and everything changes. William H Macy stars as his boss who attempts to change him into a new man after this good fortune.

You’ve probably (maybe) noticed the forums are offline. I’m upgrading the system to the latest version of PHPBB, so to prevent anything new from being posted and lost, I’ve temporarily turned off the forums. They’ll be back on by 1am EST.

Update: The newly upgraded forums are online. They look terrible and need some tweaking. I will start working on it now, but I wanted to get them back online for your posting pleasure.

Hey all. i just wanted to make a quick update about what we’ve been up to lately. As you may already know, we are going to do our damndest to bring you a new short each month. Our first one is slated to be posted next weekend, January 19th. So far, things are on track. The characters are still being tweaked, new characters are being introduced, a bunch of new scripts are being worked on, and new backgrounds are being built. We currently have around five shorts in various stages in the works, so there’s plenty to look forward to (not to mention that the next podcast is around the bend, too).

A few weeks ago, we did the record for our first new short of the year at Joe’s studio. The storyboard and animatic are worked out, and its almost ready to be put into animation. The first episode will come in a little over a minute which is exactly the length we are shooting for. So far its all coming together nicely, and I think everyone will dig it. Or at least I hope they will hah!