The Hollyweird writer’s strike pits the wits of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) against the pens the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Well, online at least, the WGA pens have the AMPTP pinned. AMPTP.org never got around to registering AMPTP.com, but WGA did. Sez Deadline Hollywood Daily of this “satirisite”:

It looks almost identical, too, down to those Did You Know? factlets. (Example: Six out of 10 non-Judd Apatow movies never recoup their original investment… “Writer” comes from the Latin ritem meaning “unhygienic and doughy.”) This is what clearly happens when writers have way too much free time on their hands.

From the AMPTP.com home page:

We are heartbroken to report that despite our best efforts, including sending them a muffin basket, making them a mix CD, and standing outside their window with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel songs, our talks with the WGA have broken down.

While we’re not going to point fingers or assign blame, we do feel justified in saying that they are entirely at fault.

Why does the WGA hate freedom and democracy so much?

Animating water in watercolor, the beautiful short film “L’Eau Life” is at The Animated Life - Opinion - New York Times Blog. It’s by painter Jeff Scher: “I wanted to get the feel of water and the emotion of being in it, while capturing the water action moments that are the most fun to draw: jumping, swimming, falling in and climbing out.”

From Wholphin DVD mag comes a short (4:11) directed by Miguel Arteta, writ by Miranda July. John C Reilly asks several folk (including July) “Are You The Favorite Person Of Anybody?:”

via Puddles of Thought. Go Chasé.

From the IMAX documentary “Straight Up! Helicopters in Action:”

The Terminator calls Gateway (1:56 mp3):

Found at Some Assembly Required.

Funny how you can glean the plot from The Big Lebowski- F*cking Short Version:

Two very different videos, both with the same song, both beautiful in their own opposite ways. First, a TV ad for the video game Gears of War:

Next, the music video for the song:

The song’s a cover (improvement) of Tears for Fears “Mad World.” It was done for the Donnie Darko soundtrack (the music video is on the Director’s Cut) — a great flick w/ score by composer & pianist Michael Andrews. The singer is Gary Jules.

That’s Jules and Andrews are on the rooftop of the music vid, which was directed by filmmaker Michel Gondry (Endless Sunshine, Human Nature, Science of Sleep).

The other night, I walked into a liquor store in San Diego. I wanted a bag of chips. I walked over to the rack. I couldn’t buy the bag of chips. But I left with a new found respect for OCD.

It’s a behaviour that can produce aesthetically pleasing results.

I downloaded some audio (OCD Chips, the soundtrack mp3) from an experimental narrative film about OCD called “Closed In,” filmed by Nathan Heartman.

I like to imagine it’s what goes through the store owner’s head when he’s putting chips on the shelves. Listen here: