Last weekend, I watched Marvel's The Avengers at the cinema and it got me into a superhero mood. That's why I would like to present to you Held Up today.
It's a 16-part comedy web series starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Kaitlin Olson, The Wire's Cyrus Farmer, Jon Dore from The Jon Dore Show and writer-producers Randy and Jason Sklar.
Set in a bank branch, the outlandish series centers around a bored
teller named Ray (Dore) whose life changes dramatically after his bank is held up by two
teams of dim-witted robbers dressed as Rocky I (Farmer), Rocky II (Olson) and Batman and Robin
(the Sklar brothers). Over the course of
the series, the hostages fall victim to a comedic version of the
Stockholm Syndrome and begin sympathizing with their captors.
Here is the trailer:
It’s a character piece, and one
of things the Sklar brothers are most proud of is the love story that develops
between Ray and Rocky II. You can watch Held Up on http://www.crackle.com/c/Held_Up
Most of the web series I write about are scripted, but of course there are also unscripted web series out there. One I find particularly interesting and inspirational is called 350 South: an American journey. It's produced by international production company beActive Entertainment and is described as a “fully participatory documentary
experience” following Irish and American environmentalists on their
year-long journey from Alaska to Argentina.
How did they come up with this idea? On their website http://350south.org/ you can read that Irish guy Ian Lacey moved to Denver, Colorado in 2010 to work for an environmental non-profit
organisation called The Wilderness Society. There, he was recommended a book by Swedish adventurer Goran
Kropp – a man who cycled from Stockholm to Mt. Everest in Nepal,
climbed it without the aid of bottled oxygen, came back down and cycled
home again. Ian just knew he had
to take on a similar human powered journey. And within minutes, after
looking at the National Geographic map on his bedroom wall, it seemed
that cycling down the Americas could be a pretty nice way to spend a
year. Ian had recently met Lee, a friend who worked in a coffee shop
during the week and went rock climbing and snowboarding in the Rocky
Mountains on the weekends. After chatting about the idea, they both
realised it was about time they did something that matched their
adventurous spirits. There and then, they decided to cycle the length of
the Americas in 350 days.
They will cycle through 15 countries in total – USA, Canada, Mexico,
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. And you can follow Ian and Lee on Facebook, Twitter and watch their video diaries on YouTube or their website. Extended versions of the diaries are now also showing on Setanta Sports
Ireland.
Here is Episode 1 of their video diary:
And of couse, they are not doing it just for fun. They want to raise €100,000 for the Carer's Association of Ireland. So, if you wanna support them, please donate
here http://www.mycharity.ie/event/350south
Have you ever dreamt of becoming an actor? I have a lot of friends who studied at the drama school, but end up doing commercials instead of feature films for cinema release. I think that's a reason why a lot of actors create, write and star in web series lately. Some of them even share their experiences in their web series. One of these series is Downstage Confessions.
Peter Stray, creator,writer and director, of Downstage Confessions trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London before marrying an American and moving to the States. He went to an audition for a Shakespear play in Washington. He had prepared his native British intonations, but the director wanted an American accent....
Such experiences inspired his 17-part comedy web series about the
fictionalized lives of struggling stage actors in Washington DC’s regional
theatre scene.
Stray’s character, Max Templeton, is a clueless actor, who,
late in the series, is taken hostage by a theater groupie played by his
real-life wife, Alexandra London-Thompson. Max’s roommate and
halfbrother in “Downstage Confessions” is Stephen Wunder (Eric Messner). Check out Episode 1: "Dumpage"
You can watch Downstage Confessions every Monday at noon (EST) on It’s
viewable on vimeo.com
and funnyordie.com.
The final episode will go up July 3, at which point all installments,
most of them four to seven minutes long, will be available for viewing.
This post is not about a web series. But before you read any further you have to promise me that you won't
tell anyone about this! Promise? OK.
I want to let you in a
secret. It's called Secret Cinema
and is a monthly gathering of all
that love challenging and groundbreaking cinema, screening mystery films
in extraordinary locations. They screen well-known movies at exceptional places and turn
the cinema experience into a theatrical experience by letting viewers
participate. Watch this video about the screening of One Flew over
the Cuckoo's Nest in an asylum to get an idea:
Secret audience. Secret locations. Secret worlds. If you want to find out more about it, visit: http://www.secretcinema.org/
But whisper only amongst yourselves. Keep
the motion. Tell-no one!
Oh, and Secret Cinema has just
announced a mysterious new theatrical food
experience: Secret Restaurant. Diners will find themselves in a
theatrical world of food, music and mystery. The menu will be kept
secret until the final moment. Somewhere in the city, you will find
Secret Restaurant... If you find
it before me, please do let me know. Discretely of course!
Growing up in the 90s was all about grunge fashion, techno raves, and Tamagotchis. Do you miss the 90s? Orange Juice in Bishops Garden is Melrose Place meets Beverly Hills and is not only worth a look when you have grown up in the 90s.
Season 1 (Summer of '94), Episode 1. See where it all begins...
It's
the start of the summer of 1994, and Kris prods best friend Sarah to
finally make a move on her long-time crush Jake (before Maggie does it
instead). Meanwhile Beth finds herself in a different love triangle with
her best friend Rox and the older bike messenger: Adrian. After a trip
to the liquor store (where the owner couple puts their 8 y.o. behind the
counter), the gang all meets up in Bishop's Garden, where the fun
really starts. But more fun means more drama...
The show has been viewed in over 136 countries, with
creator Otessa Ghadar winning a number of awards during its short
two-year run. The show even garnered a strong lesbian and gay following
thanks to its open-minded character
