Entomology: from io9: “Photographer Yume Cyan has been recasting the fireflies around Nagoya City, Japan, as fairy lights in a series of long-exposure photos. The momentary flashing of each bug becomes part of a bioluminescent trail it winds through the trees.”
More short films from my backlog! Today’s unifying idea is robots, though, in fairness, robots are incidental in the first film, and I might be stretching the idea of robots by including it (I’m assuming the walker machines we see are driven by humans).
The Raven (2010) was made by Peruvian director Ricardo de Montreuil (the screenplay was co-written by de Montreuil and Antonio Perez) on a budget of $5,000! I think that’s pretty impressive. Apparently, The Raven is now being made into a feature film in Hollywood. Universal and Closest to the Hole Productions, Mark Walhberg’s company, are producing it, and looks like Gerard Butler may play the lead. Here’s the official description:
Chris Black possesses a power that could lead to the destruction of the current regime, and they will stop at nothing to destroy him. The chase is on as Chris runs for his life in this sci-fi thriller set in an alternate and futuristic Los Angeles.
This next short film has also been picked up by Hollywood (Fox). Directed by Aaron Sims and written by Zachary Parris, Archetype focuses on a robot:
RL7 is an eight-foot tall combat robot that goes on the run after malfunctioning with vivid memories of once being human. As its creators and the military close in, RL7 battles its way to uncovering the shocking truth behind its mysterious visions and past.
The last film today hasn’t been picked up by a Hollywood studio (at least as far as I know), but I do think it’s the most charming of the three—which is perhaps a little disingenuous because of the three it’s the only one that could possibly be described as “charming,” but there you go. (“One of these things is not like the other….”) Gumdrop has a great pedigree: written by Kerry Conran (director of the stunning Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) and co-directed by Conran and Stephen Lawes (visual effects editor on The Avengers and Iron Man 2). The official description is to the point: “A robot’s life story emerges during a casting session.”
So much interesting stuff lately I need (yet again) another day to share it all. That’s just how I roll, yo.
◊ LET’S GET HISTORICAL.
Women in the 19th Century, John Green’s sixteenth Crash Course U.S. History, is pretty entertaining and educational. Granted, it’s a super-condensed history lesson, but is it still a useful lesson? Historians, weigh in!
Check out this lovely magpie painting by Frank Gonzales!
I’ll have another Magpie Monday on Wednesday post this week, so do stop back by to have a look!
♦ VIEWERS’ PARADISE.
People, I am really excited that the third series of Luther is right around the corner. Just look at this trailer! Promises some good watching. Just go ask Alice: “Seems to me your conscience has killed more people than I have.”
"How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, trans. M.D. Herter Norton
