Web Series: Pioneer One
Pioneer One is a web series that is gaining a lot of momentum with the drama and sci-fi fanbases alike. The creators initially raised $6000 for the pilot through the funding site Kickstarter.com. Within the first week the pilot episode had been downloaded 420,000 times, 170,000 more downloads than predicted. Distributed through vodo, bit-torrent and Vimeo, the pilot was featured at the New York Television Festival and won Best Dramatic Series. They are gearing up to release episodes 3 and 4. And I have to say it's a must watch. the production is impressive given the low budget and the story itself as with the acting are on par with a larger flick.
From the website:
A mysterious spaceship enters Earth's atmosphere, spreading radiation over hundreds of miles of rural Montana. Officials are quick to bring up the possibility of a terrorist attack, specifically the detonation of a dirty bomb, but an investigation of the debris in Canada uncovers a live human being in a Soviet space suit in an unstable condition. A note handwritten in Russian found at the crash site says that the man is the child of cosmonauts living at a base on Mars.
Check them out at: http://www.pioneerone.tv/
I'd also highly recommend sending some cash their way after you buy me a beer for telling you about such a great series.
Help Mom, There are liberals under the bed!
Kids Book???
In case you missed this monstrosity, I present to you Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! Kill me now....
From the description on Amazon.com:
This full-color illustrated book is a fun way for parents to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland.
From the Publisher
Would you let your child read blatantly liberal stories with titles such as "King & King;" "No, George, No;" or "It's Just a Plant?" Unless you live in Haight-Ashbury or write for the New York Times, probably not. But with the nation's libraries and classrooms filled with overtly liberal children's books advocating everything from gay marriage to marijuana use, kids everywhere are being deluged with left-wing propaganda. "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed" is the book conservative parents have been seeking. This illustrated book -- the first in the "Help! Mom!" series from Kids Ahead -- is perfect for parents who seek to share their traditional values with their children, as well as adults who wish to give a humorous gift to a friend. Praised by Rush Limbaugh and hailed as "the answer to a baseball mom's prayers" by talk radio host Melanie Morgan, this book has already been the subject of coverage in The Wall Street Journal and Harper's magazine. Written by a self-proclaimed "Security Mom for Bush" and featuring hilarious full-color illustrations by a Reuben Award winning artist, it is certain to be one of the most talked about children's books of the year.
--- UnSnip ---
Be sure to click to have a look inside the cover and read a few pages. Anyone else think this is supposed to be a joke, or seriously for kids?
Katherine Debrecht has more recently graced us with another fine literary work called Help Mom, Radicals Are Ruining My Country.. The description reads:
"A hilarious and entertaining way for parents to sit down with their children and teach them the origins of the new Tea Party movement and the importance of standing up for liberty and the American Dream.Follow Tommy and Lou as they struggle to keep their swing set business afloat despite 246 czars, onerous regulations and sky-high taxes in these troubling times. Will Tommy and Lou finally decide to join the other kids on the corner in standing up for freedom or will they continue to fear being vilified by the press and demeaned by Marxus Obundus (“the One”)? "
Unfortunately even the publisher has pulled this one from their website making it difficult to make fun of.
Yahoo Branding Fail

The brand managers at Yahoo are genius... (sarcasm). I just got an email from Yahoo that started out like this:
Dear Yahoo! Calendar and Yahoo! Notepad Customer,
Yahoo! Calendar Beta will soon be renamed "All-New Yahoo! Calendar," and Yahoo! Notepad Beta will soon be renamed "All-New Yahoo! Notepad."....
Seems worthy of a mass email, don't ya think?
TweetWeb Series: Arc
Television hasn't been making my Sci-Fi fix lately, and being a fan of web series in general I was happy to stumble across Arc. The last great sci-fi web series I stumbled across was Afterworld. This is a few steps above.
With a $50k budget, and some bigger names in it. This really makes the cut for great sci-fi. Starring Renee O' Connor of Xena fame and directed by Trey Stokes, Stokes has an extensive resume of involvement in sci-fi series and film. He played a Tellarite Delegate in two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and worked in motion capture and/or puppeteering on notable films such as The Abyss, RoboCop 2, Batman Returns, Species, Starship Troopers, and The Blob.
The first season runs 9 episodes clocking in at about 4-6 minutes each, and frankly, I couldn't stop watching -- I ended up watching all 9 episodes in one sitting. I highly recommend this one.
The bad news is that 60Frames the production company that produced the series is now defunct due to "hard economic times" leaving season 2 in a questionable status.
Watch all 9 episodes here on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/ark
TweetAwesome Web Series Afterworld
Gotten through about 10 of these, animated yet a very compelling and well done story. Well over 100 episodes this looks worth watching all of.
AFTERWORLD is about a man - Russell Shoemaker - who awakens to discover that more than 99.9% of the population has disappeared, and that all technology has mysteriously shut down. As clues surface of a larger conspiracy afoot, Russ is determined to make it home to Seattle in the hopes that his family is still alive. He embarks on a journey that will change his life - and the fate of the world's - forever.
Here is the trailer:
The website is here:
http://www.afterworld.tv
The player on the website really sucks, I recommend going straight to their youtube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AfterworldTV





