Top 5 Web series and the like

The Internet is a weird and wonderful place, but it has some damn creative people on it, some funny some serious some a bit of both (*ahem*) but some stand above the rest obviously. I've decided to use today to make a list of my 5 favourite web released media, whether it be via personal websites, youtube etc, see if anyone wants to have a watch themselves:

5. 

30-second bunnies theatre

Source http://www.angryalien.com/ and youtube (abetoons)

Does exactly what it says on the tine really, animated bunnies perform popular movies in 30 seconds (or thereabouts) it's not a hit every time, but when it's good it's great (Grindhouse, Evil Dead 2, Rocky Horror). Your general enjoyment of the short is pretty much in line with your enjoyment of the film as a rule so if you pick your favourite films, you'll enjoy the shorts, appriciate the jokes, the touches of details, which can be outstanding at times. Much recommended!

Apparently there's a DVD available, but I wouldn't go that far...

I've stuck an example below!

4.

Dai Ling Ping

Source http://www.dailingping.co.uk/ and youtube (MrLBXv2)

There may be a fairr bit of local loyalty here but Dai does crack me up. He, along with some other users, play XBOX 360 online, particularly Call of Duty games and practise the art known as griefing. Generally being a dick to get a reaction out of the other players, and of course with people who take COD far far too seriously, he generally succeeds in getting a reaction, and as he's pretty quick witted to stay ahead of them, it's highly amusing.

Of course after a while this can become dull as fuck so Dai has branched out into older game reviews, playthroughs, prank calls and the like. Without spoiling too much, he appears to be gifted with accents and uses a voice changer, it's best to listen to him to be honest.

Oh and highly NSFW, strong language.

Here's a classic:

3.

The Guild

Source http://www.watchtheguild.com/ or XBOX live or Zune or youtube (theguild)

The guild was the brainchild of Felicia Day and is now the ripe old age of 5 series old (the series 5 finale due out tomorrow in fact!) and apparently was an inspiration to other titles on this list. It basically it a sit-com regarding the interactions of a guild from an unnamed online video game (actually only ever called 'The Game') not entirely dissimilar to World of Warcraft.

They start off having never met, and personal issues, eventually force them too and the series develops from there. Some of the acting is very good and the cast cameos can be superb on times (Star Trek, Big Bang Theory, Eurika and Stand By Me actor Wil Whedon is regular, Nathan Fillion, Brent Spiner, Colin Ferguson have all guested in series 5). 

Many people who play such online games (me) will identify with the situations and personalities and overall this is a top series. DVDs available again but only region 1 I believe.

I've attached the pilot!

2.

The Angry Video Game Nerd

Source 

http://cinemassacre.com/

 or youtube (JamesNintendoNerd)

This guy cracks me up, he also has a video game collection that I'm amazingly envious of. The guys name is James Rolfe and he makes videos reviewing retro games, typically pretty damn poor retro games, under the persona of The Angry Video Game Nerd.

He's typically foul mouthed and very very NSFW but delivers it with such venom that is comes across as funny. He also manages to make the reviews informative resisting the temptation to nit-pick.

Under different sections of the site (and app which I own, I also have Dai Ling Pings app, but this guys I actually paid for) he does movie reviews, plays board games (Bored James), and does short rants under the title 'YOU KNOW WHAT'S BULLSHIT'. It's all good and very funny. Plus I do wish I had 1/50th of his collection... Send donations too...

Here's a good example of his little reviews an an awful game to boot:

At this point I'll mention the ones who didn't make the top 5, and there are plenty of good ones out there, whether it be The Legend of Neil, Dragon Age (Day in both of them again), the Mortal Kombat trailer (ok rubbish, but somewhat interesting despite), the Various Star Trek series, Fallout, Red Vs Blue. There's loads more out there so go investigate!

So, on to...

1.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Source Various including iTunes, youtube etc

Yes I know it's not exactly the same kind of production values as some of the others. But this is awesome!

Joss Whedon used the writers strike to produce this, makes the strike worthwhile all on its own if you ask me! Starring in it were Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly), Felicia Day (again), and Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory) and each was excellent.

The script is as slick as you'd expect, the songs good and memorable and at 45 minutes, you'll wish it was longer. Apparently there is to be a sequel once Joss is finished working on The Avengers. I mean honestly where's the priorities!! 

I have the DVD and the commentary track (well one of them) is produced as an entirely different musical to compliment the one on screen with the actors (in varying degrees of character) interact and clash about the show and themselves.

This needs to be watched by all. Hate Musicals? Well see it as a superhero film? Not doing it for you, ok romantic comedy etc. Works on so many levels.

Here's the first bit from youtube: 

Once you've seen it all, 8-bit Dr Horrible is excellent too.

TTFN

100th Blog Post!

So, according to my dashboard thingy, this piece of text constitutes my 100th blog post. I think it's quite safe to assume everyone guessed that from the title. It's pretty certain I've written a few more than that, including some I've discarded as being rubbish (oh yes, even worse than some of the tripe I've clicked publish on, imagine how bad they were!), I distinctly remember one I wrote in borderline anger and then deleted before I accidentally clicked said publish button, but this is number 100 that is publicly viewable and at least, and possibly at most, 4 people will read.

I'll be honest, I expected nobody on this planet to read the crap that I decided to type in, typically on dodgy public transport (bus has only hit 1 curb this morning and slammed on breaks once, good day, but then again we're only half way there) or when I couldn't sleep at some god forsaken hour in the morning. (Just hit 2nd curb, a roundabout approach too!). But it hasn't been the view free zone I expected, I'm not going to pretend I get thousands of hits, as obviously I don't, it's a personal blog and a shoddily written one at that. But I've had a couple of thousand and I'm quite happy with that! (No, that doesn't include me looking at my own, it doesn't count that).

I've used it to air a couple of short stories I've written, I have more but lack the nuts to make them public, I also have a longer one I haven't finished, but let's be real, chances are it's crap and I'm pretty damn sure it'll never see the light of day. Actually thinking about it I doubt I'll ever actually finish it, probably for the best! If anyone wants to see a story so far version... tough.

I've used it to vent opinions, I've used it to rant (usually fair enough I'm sure most people will agree, I do enjoy a good 'go-off-on-one' but someone has to wind me up first), I've used it to try n be funny. For the next 100 posts, if I get that far, chances are I'll do exactly the same.

I will publish the script, along with a link to the video of a recent presentation myself and a colleague wrote in the style of star trek, it was highly classy. It's on youtube now (Star Trek - Revenge of the Tribbles) but It'll be better all in one place I feel. I'll get a copy later.

I'll leave you with a proper blast from the past, here be a link to the first thing I ever posted. I steal from Red Dwarf, Anchorman and have a dig at facebook (setting the pattern early then). Not exactly inspiring and the 2nd post was better and I've been much funnier since... on a relative scale (3rd curb and a sharp brake). But it brought a cheesy grin back to me face for a second:

http://andrewdrisc.blogspot.com/2010/09/end.html

You stay classy Internet.