It's only been two weeks since I last sang the praises of an Australian web series, and yet another creation from Down Under has caught my attention. This Is Desmondo Ray, a unique, must-see series funded by the government initiative Screen Australia, has launched a full season of quiet, compelling episodes.
The title character in This Is Desmondo Ray is a man, age 33-and-three-quarters, who possesses an unusual personality and a round physical appearance. After experiencing a personal tragedy, Desmondo is looking to get into the dating game, but his odd look and strange mannerisms make him a hard sell. In a prologue, we meet our hero and hear his pitch to potential suitors. Then, in episode one, creator Steve Baker begins to unfurl his hero's mysterious backstory.
This Is Desmondo Ray's artful visual style, which mixes animation with live action, places it among the most gorgeous shows on the web.
The title character in This Is Desmondo Ray is a man, age 33-and-three-quarters, who possesses an unusual personality and a round physical appearance. After experiencing a personal tragedy, Desmondo is looking to get into the dating game, but his odd look and strange mannerisms make him a hard sell. In a prologue, we meet our hero and hear his pitch to potential suitors. Then, in episode one, creator Steve Baker begins to unfurl his hero's mysterious backstory.
This Is Desmondo Ray's artful visual style, which mixes animation with live action, places it among the most gorgeous shows on the web.
- 9/1/2017
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
Russell Crowe-Directed Movie Up for Australian Film Award; Crowe Shortlisted Only in Acting Category
Director Russell Crowe Movie up for Best Film: Australian Academy Awards 2015 nominations (photo: Actor-director Russell Crowe in 'The Water Diviner') Aacta Awards: Feature Film Categories Best Film The Babadook Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere Charlie's Country Nils Erik Nielsen, Peter Djigirr and Rolf de Heer Predestination Paddy McDonald, Tim McGahan, Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig The Railway Man Chris Brown, Andy Paterson and Bill Curbishley Tracks Emile Sherman and Iain Canning The Water Diviner Andrew Mason, Keith Rodger and Troy Lum Best Director The Babadook Jennifer Kent Charlie's Country Rolf de Heer Predestination Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig The Rover David Michôd Best Actress Kate Box The Little Death Essie Davis The Babadook Sarah Snook Predestination Mia Wasikowska Tracks Best Actor Russell Crowe The Water Diviner David Gulpilil Charlie's Country Damon Herriman The Little Death Guy Pearce The Rover Best Supporting Actor Patrick Brammall The Little Death Yilmaz Erdogan...
- 12/3/2014
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
The nominees for the two short film categories at the 4th annual Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aatca) Awards were announced today.
The contenders for best short animation are God Squad (Nicholas Kempt, Troy Zafer), Grace Under Water (Anthony Lawrence), Love In The Time Of March Madness (Robertino Zambrano, Melissa Johnston) and The Video Dating Tape of Desmondo Ray, Aged 33 & 3/4. (Steve Baker).
In the running for best short fiction are Florence Has Left The Building (Mirrah Foulkes, Alex White), Grey Bull (Khoby Rowe, Eddy Bell), The iMom (Ariel Martin, Anna Fawcett) and Welcome To Iron Knob (Dave Wade, Alexandra Blue).
The feature films in competition and the nominees for the Aacta Award for best feature length documentary will be revealed in the coming weeks. All feature film, TV and the remaining documentary nominees will be announced later in 2014. The awards will be presented in Sydney in January.
Director...
The contenders for best short animation are God Squad (Nicholas Kempt, Troy Zafer), Grace Under Water (Anthony Lawrence), Love In The Time Of March Madness (Robertino Zambrano, Melissa Johnston) and The Video Dating Tape of Desmondo Ray, Aged 33 & 3/4. (Steve Baker).
In the running for best short fiction are Florence Has Left The Building (Mirrah Foulkes, Alex White), Grey Bull (Khoby Rowe, Eddy Bell), The iMom (Ariel Martin, Anna Fawcett) and Welcome To Iron Knob (Dave Wade, Alexandra Blue).
The feature films in competition and the nominees for the Aacta Award for best feature length documentary will be revealed in the coming weeks. All feature film, TV and the remaining documentary nominees will be announced later in 2014. The awards will be presented in Sydney in January.
Director...
- 9/2/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Multi-platform projects from Ludo Studio and Hoodlum were among nine to receive funding from Screen Australia this week.
Fresh from winning a Digital Emmy® for #7 Days Later, Ludo Studio is producing Doodles, an animated comedy series which takes drawings sourced via social media and turns them into micro-movies with a touch of insanity. Daley Pearson is the director and the producers are Nick Boshier and Charlie Aspinwall. Another digital Emmy winner, Hoodlum (Secrets & Lies, The Stranger Calls) is collaborating with filmmakers Michael Cox and Paul Mayze on Illusion Five Sweeper Squad, a sci-fi comedy series about a dysfunctional team of cleaners tasked with mopping up after the super heroes.
Multiplattform comedy series Four Quarters tells the fictional story of a group of footy fans during the current, real-time Afl season, produced by Wbmc.s Aidan O.Bryan and Janelle Landers.
Katering is a parody of popular cooking shows written and...
Fresh from winning a Digital Emmy® for #7 Days Later, Ludo Studio is producing Doodles, an animated comedy series which takes drawings sourced via social media and turns them into micro-movies with a touch of insanity. Daley Pearson is the director and the producers are Nick Boshier and Charlie Aspinwall. Another digital Emmy winner, Hoodlum (Secrets & Lies, The Stranger Calls) is collaborating with filmmakers Michael Cox and Paul Mayze on Illusion Five Sweeper Squad, a sci-fi comedy series about a dysfunctional team of cleaners tasked with mopping up after the super heroes.
Multiplattform comedy series Four Quarters tells the fictional story of a group of footy fans during the current, real-time Afl season, produced by Wbmc.s Aidan O.Bryan and Janelle Landers.
Katering is a parody of popular cooking shows written and...
- 5/29/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Apparently, Bar Mitzvahs are a team sport in New York City ... because NY Giants star Prince Amukamara was with a bunch of other G-Men when he turnt up with the Hebrews ... TMZ Sports has learned. Prince -- along with fellow Giants players Walter Thurmond (Cb), Henry Hynoski (Fb) Michael Cox (Rb) ... and former Giants stars Ahmad Bradshaw, Ottis Anderson (Rb) and Stephen Baker (Wr) -- helped a kid named A.J. celebrate his journey into manhood this past weekend.
- 5/27/2014
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Peter Farrelly Says 'Dumb & Dumber 2' Will Shoot In September; 'Movie 43' Pushed To January 25, 2013
In the works for a while now, and most recently kicking back to life last summer when it was reported that Jim Carrey was eyeballing a sequel to "Dumb & Dumber" as a potential next project, it looks like everything is coalescing for the return of Harry and Lloyd.
Talking with ComingSoon, co-director Peter Farrelly revealed that "Dumb & Dumber 2" will go in front of cameras this fall. "We're getting set to shoot 'Dumb and Dumber 2' in September," he says. "It's the first sequel we've ever done and we've got Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels back." Hooray? There was a time we would've been a bit more excited about this as "Dumb & Dumber" is kind of great in its own way, but the Farrellys have long lost the touch that first made them a comic force to be reckoned with. Thanks to "The Heartbreak Kid," last year's "Hall Pass" and the...
Talking with ComingSoon, co-director Peter Farrelly revealed that "Dumb & Dumber 2" will go in front of cameras this fall. "We're getting set to shoot 'Dumb and Dumber 2' in September," he says. "It's the first sequel we've ever done and we've got Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels back." Hooray? There was a time we would've been a bit more excited about this as "Dumb & Dumber" is kind of great in its own way, but the Farrellys have long lost the touch that first made them a comic force to be reckoned with. Thanks to "The Heartbreak Kid," last year's "Hall Pass" and the...
- 4/2/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The Movie Network Channel has announced the finalists for its Movie Extra Webfest 2.0 competition.
The competition called for entrants to produce a 60 second trailer for a web series idea and post it on to the Movie Extra’s Facebook page.
The winner will receive $100,000 budget to produce a seven part series to premiere on Movie Extra’s Youtube site.
Last year’s winner was Henry and Aaron’s seven steps to Superstardom
With 15 finalists announced, the winner will be selected by a panel of judges including Marc Fennell (Triple J film critic and Hungry Beast presenter, Bradley Eldridge (creative director, Soap Creative), Mike Cowap (Screen Australia), Emma Moroney (supervising producer Mnc) and Christopher Berry (Movie Extra Webfest executive producer).
Over 80 entries were received.
The finalists are:
Irresponsible Service of Alcohol
Rob Innes
South Melbourne, Vic
Idiot Cops
Kacey Baker
Caringbah, Nsw
Orpheus
Alex Alexander
Surry Hills, Nsw
Betty and Frank...
The competition called for entrants to produce a 60 second trailer for a web series idea and post it on to the Movie Extra’s Facebook page.
The winner will receive $100,000 budget to produce a seven part series to premiere on Movie Extra’s Youtube site.
Last year’s winner was Henry and Aaron’s seven steps to Superstardom
With 15 finalists announced, the winner will be selected by a panel of judges including Marc Fennell (Triple J film critic and Hungry Beast presenter, Bradley Eldridge (creative director, Soap Creative), Mike Cowap (Screen Australia), Emma Moroney (supervising producer Mnc) and Christopher Berry (Movie Extra Webfest executive producer).
Over 80 entries were received.
The finalists are:
Irresponsible Service of Alcohol
Rob Innes
South Melbourne, Vic
Idiot Cops
Kacey Baker
Caringbah, Nsw
Orpheus
Alex Alexander
Surry Hills, Nsw
Betty and Frank...
- 12/2/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Tonight is the opening match in what constitutes the Nerd Super Bowl--Ken Jennings (winner of 74 consecutive Jeopardy! episodes) versus Brad Rutter (winner of several tournaments of Jeopardy! champions) versus Ibm’s natural-language processing prodigy, Watson. The last time an Ibm supercomputer challenged a human opponent to a televised duel, chess champion Garry Kasparov resigned his final match in tears.
But Watson can be beaten--i know, because I’ve done it, thrashing him three times in top-secret sparring rounds against former Jeopardy! champions held a year ago, emerging with an unbeaten record. In doing so, I also created a blueprint for Jennings and Rutter to follow, one described by Stephen Baker in his new book Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything, and followed by Baker himself when he finally battled Watson … and lost. My strategy was simply to take Watson’s strengths away from him.
But Watson can be beaten--i know, because I’ve done it, thrashing him three times in top-secret sparring rounds against former Jeopardy! champions held a year ago, emerging with an unbeaten record. In doing so, I also created a blueprint for Jennings and Rutter to follow, one described by Stephen Baker in his new book Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything, and followed by Baker himself when he finally battled Watson … and lost. My strategy was simply to take Watson’s strengths away from him.
- 2/15/2011
- by Greg Lindsay
- Fast Company
Best Buy is offering a profitable solution for electronics hoarders with its just-announced Buy Back program, which allows customers to give back old electronics in exchange for significant amounts of cash. Here's how it works.
Starting this month, customers can opt into the buyback program whenever they buy a laptop, netbook, tablets, post-paid cell phones, or television. A customer buying a new laptop, for example, can purchase the Buy Back program for $69.99. Best Buy will then guarantee that it will buy back the laptop within two years, with customers able to get up to 50% of the purchase price back as long as the device is in good working condition.
Once Best Buy has repurchased a device, it will be resold, refurbished, or recycled. It won't go into a landfill, unlike the countless other electronics tossed into the trash by consumers.
"A program like Best Buy’s Buy Back should encourage...
Starting this month, customers can opt into the buyback program whenever they buy a laptop, netbook, tablets, post-paid cell phones, or television. A customer buying a new laptop, for example, can purchase the Buy Back program for $69.99. Best Buy will then guarantee that it will buy back the laptop within two years, with customers able to get up to 50% of the purchase price back as long as the device is in good working condition.
Once Best Buy has repurchased a device, it will be resold, refurbished, or recycled. It won't go into a landfill, unlike the countless other electronics tossed into the trash by consumers.
"A program like Best Buy’s Buy Back should encourage...
- 1/12/2011
- by Ariel Schwartz
- Fast Company
Adolescence is tough enough without discovering you are—probably?—predestined to act as the time-traveling hand of God. Whether Donnie is a mentally-ill schizo-depressive who mythopoetically justifies his own nullification as a righteous sacrifice to save the lives of those he loves or One genuinely blessed with rare supernatural insight into usually cryptic truths of our universe, Richard Kelly's deployment of the divinely mystical "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Steve Baker and Carmen Daye into a movie already stacked with instantly recognizable pop hits (not to mention its own excellent original score) complicates the soundscape noticeably and in so doing provides one of the movie's greatest emotional moments. Equally at home behind a Halloween ghost story or in an Easter mass, the track is a chillingly appropriate soundtrack for Donnie's attendance to the local cinema's Evil Dead / Last Temptation of Christ double-feature, yet the remarkable cue was never...
- 10/31/2010
- MUBI
The iPad is a potential savior for so many moribund industries -- from newspapers to 8-bit gaming -- but a disruptive threat to others, such as tiny PC laptops (Aka netbooks). New survey data, however, seems to suggest that netbook sales aren't being cannibalized by Apple's tablet. In the future, your mileage may vary.
The key figure in the survey, which Npd released today, is that 87% of iPads were bought as "incremental purchases." In other words they bought them because they wanted them as an extra device, not because they wanted to replace an existing computer. Which could also prove the average U.S. consumer has at least $500 more to spend on gadgets than they did a few years back.
Npd's VP of industry analysis Stephen Baker says the iPad has nothing to do with the oft-quoted slowdown in netbook sales that manufacturers are seeing in 2010, since the slowdown began before the iPad arrived.
The key figure in the survey, which Npd released today, is that 87% of iPads were bought as "incremental purchases." In other words they bought them because they wanted them as an extra device, not because they wanted to replace an existing computer. Which could also prove the average U.S. consumer has at least $500 more to spend on gadgets than they did a few years back.
Npd's VP of industry analysis Stephen Baker says the iPad has nothing to do with the oft-quoted slowdown in netbook sales that manufacturers are seeing in 2010, since the slowdown began before the iPad arrived.
- 10/1/2010
- by Kit Eaton
- Fast Company
A number of talented Australians - including Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts and 2007 Tropfest winner Steve Baker - have been recruited by long-time collaborators writer/director Peter Farrelly and producer Charles B. Wessler for their latest project, a comedy featuring seventeen short films from seventeen innovative filmmakers. The as-yet-untitled film is an unabashedly R-rated omnibus from the team responsible for comedy blockbusters Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary. "It's a throwback to seventies comedies [and] sexploitation films," Steve Baker tells Filmink. "In particular, there's a film called Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), which was a feature made up of all sorts of vignettes and shorts and stuff.
- 4/22/2010
- FilmInk.com.au
Stephen Baker at BusinessWeek has a recounting of his experience with Amazon and Barnes & Noble throwing him wildly different recommendations in relation to his new book, The Numerati. He suggests, in his attempts to explain the variations, that B&N's suggestions are based on associated keywords and tags whereas Amazon's are thematically related books that presumably sell well and are likely to be popular with the same crowd that's looking for his book. In some manner, though I'm not sure as to the extent, both of these are also probably driven by human behavior such as purchasing patterns. While algorithms play a role in what movies are recommended to you by Spout, it's also largely driven by the intelligence and movie tastes of the community that's writing reviews, rating movies and assig ...
- 8/30/2008
- by Chris Thilk
- Spout
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