Rock Massacres, Vol. 1: Led Zeppelin

My video shorts are beginning to make less sense as the days progress. Anyway, this one may become a series if you're not careful. VH1 is craving something just like this, I can feel it.

Enjoy. Click on the image to view it.

The Sky Is Shining

Well, another day, another rotoscope. Hey, I could go back to doing covers of Bee Gees songs if you don't like it! Yeah, I thought so.

Anyway, this one is from the interview scene in The Shining. This was always a favorite of mine and my friends in Philadelphia. In fact, this is pretty much inspired by an old buddy, Harry Arnold. We knew this movie inside and out to the point where we could perform a Burroughs-esque cut-up version of the film from memory. This vignette, I think, was one of them.

Incidentally, Harry now owns Darling's Coffeehouse & Cheesecake in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Figured I'd give him a plug, though I doubt he has the time to read this (he sells a lot of cheesecake).

Anyway, hope you enjoy the silly short. Click on the image to view it.

Whatsamatta U?

Maybe I should find something more constructive to do with my life, but in the meantime, here's another rotoscope video, based loosely on the number of times Robert DeNiro asks the question "What's the matter with you?" in the film Goodfellas.

The video seems more than a bit excessive, and it's making me question my sanity that I would spend my entire day doing this. Oh well, either I'm a budding genius, or, in the words of my analyst, "the merry-go-round broke down".

Either way, you probably shouldn't play this too loud at work as there is a bit of profanity involved.

Enjoy. Click on the image to view it.

Yeah, Jimi!

Since it's the Humpday of "Annoy Your Cubicle Neighbor Week," I decided to help you guys out a bit. This is another rotoscope that I did. It's a clip of Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop festival. I put this Banana Splits-type background behind him, slowed him down and looped him for maximum annoyance potential. All you have to do is, after downloading this, play it back on Quicktime with the "loop" function turned on. This way, it will play FOREVER! I guarantee it will drive everyone around you totally insane. Just make sure your cubicle is bulletproof.

Have fun!

Click on the image to view it.

Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales: "The Little Train That Died"

For those of you who had trouble sleeping without the latest Least-Loved Bedtime Tale, here's another one. It's my personal favorite: The Little Train That Died. It features a very young Jodie Foster essentially as the straight man. It seems it would no longer do to have Mr. Mike tell his tale directly to the audience; he now had to have an avid listener visibly present. The visual element would gradually increase as time went on.

I should point out that all of the Least-Loved Bedtime Tales posted here are available on the DVD of Saturday Night Live - The Complete Second Season.

"The Little Train That Died" originally aired on November 27, 1976.

Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales: "The Blind Chicken"

Here's the second installment of Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales, "The Blind Chicken." Story aside, this one has a particularly creepy aura to it, mostly due to the lighting which gives Mr. Mike's eyes an almost three-dimensional effect. Creepier still is the audience's decidedly hesitant response to this one, as though they're reluctant to condone this sort of thing, lest it encourage Mr. Mike to create more Least-Loved Bedtime Tales. In spite of the audience's reaction, there would be many more tales to come.

Enjoy. Click on the image to watch the video.

Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales: "The Enchanted Thermos"

Michael O'Donoghue, for those of you not familiar with this site, is a personal hero of mine: first as a writer for the National Lampoon (1970-1973), and then as a writer and performer on the first three seasons of Saturday Night Live.

During SNL's second and third seasons, O'Donoghue was featured in "Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales," in which, as his evil alter-ego, Mr. Mike (though he uses his full name for the first installment), he goes a few steps beyond the Brothers Grimm, to say the least. These bedtime tales have no moral (and, some would argue, no point), but I think they're all timeless classics.

"The Enchanted Thermos" was the very first in the series. Hope you enjoy it.

Click on the image to view it.