New News -
June 9th, 2008 -
Despite the fact that my birthday is in May and no ETV happened in May, I decided to do one anyway... in August. Yes, your favorite improviser rock concert is happening on August 8th, 2008 at Kenny's Castaways (157 Bleeker Street, NYC) at 10pm. Now for the obligatory logo graphic:
Old News -
January 29th, 2008 -
I got a pair of kittens. 3 months old! Cute as can be. You can check out pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26200&l=29526&id=552392632
August 20th, 2007 -
Now you get my likeness on a t-shirt. The folks at ImprovEverywhere along with Neighborhoodies have made t-shirts depicting their best pranks. Now you can have me ("Asian Edge" from the U2 prank) on your undergarments.
June 24th, 2007 -
This is actually kind of old news, but I played guitar in Ernie Privetera's performance of The Wall (doing a poor man's David Gilmour) at the Magnet on March 23rd. There's are some photos available on his site, and I have some (poor quality) video as well.
May 17th, 2007 -
ETV went well. But don't take my word for it. Ernie Privetera posted some video on YouTube. Check it out:
May 3rd, 2007 -
Been a long time I posted here... and a long time since I truly "rock and roll"ed. Well, ETV is back again. (After much debate in my head about whether to do it again.) Here's the information:
Enormous Television 6
a rock and roll music revue
May 11th, 2007
starring:
Jessica Allen
Aaron Bergeron
Tony Carnevale
Kirk Damato
James Eason
Brian Fountain
Dan Goodman
Will Hines
Marc Liepis
Jen MacNeil
Maddy Mako
Shannon Manning
Doug Moe
Louie Pearlman
Ernie Privetera
Andrew Secunda
Jodi Skeris
Ptolemy Slocum
Shelly Stover
guest musicians:
Lynn Bixenspan (vocals)
Betsy Todd (vocals)
James Eason (saxophone)
Mark Lee (guitar and vocals)
Damon Ketron (guitar and vocals)
featuring the Enormous Television Band:
Dan Goodman (bass)
Ernie Privetera (keyboards)
Paul Marcley (drums
and
Terry Jinn (guitar)
when
Friday, May 11th, 2007
doors open at 7:00pm
(come early so as not to miss any singers!)
where
Galapagos Art Space
70 North 6th Street
between Kent and Wythe
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
FREE
February
4th, 2006 -
My friend Andy Secunda is creator and exec. producer of UPN sitcom "Love,
Inc." (Thursdays at 8:30pm ET on your local UPN affiliate.)
He sent me a picture from the set of Love, Inc. today:
Ridiculous.
His favorite pizza place in NYC, The Pizza Box in Greenwich Village (which
he has gone to since he was a child), is now jokingly referred to as "Terry's
Favorite Pizza Place", because of an silly argument I had with him
after I actually ate there without him (and pointed out to the other people
I ate with there that this was "Secunda's Favorite Pizza Place".)
Hence, the inside joke, to some degree, of making the pizza place on his
show "Terry Jinn's Pizza".
Apparently it can be seen on an upcoming episode featuring Charlie O'Connell
(of The Bachelor fame).
(I also make subs, too.)
February
1st, 2006 -
Added Kirk Damato & Rob Lathan's "Standing Tall", a 102
pilot I shot and edited (which made the 102 screening, but did not get
chosen for renewal.) It is available in the Video
Pieces section. Speaking of that... I've split the 102 and show video
pieces into their own section, apart from the Short
Films. I think it will make it easier to navigate.
December
24th, 2005 -
A Christmas gift to only me (and maybe another Cleveland Cavaliers fan
that was alive in the 70's)... I present the old Cavs
Theme Song! It's funky (and awesome!) From 1975.
December
17th, 2005 -
Now you can see an almost comprehensive history of ETV on the ETV
page. (Not that anyone was asking!)
December
14th, 2005 -
Doing an ETV Xmas Show this Friday, December 16th. (9pm at Magnet Theater...
for Free!) You can read more about it on the ETV
section of the website.
November
4th, 2005 -
Added Rob Lathan's "Tame Your Crazy Legs" and "The Chuck
D and Jawnee Show", both 102 pilots I shot and edited. They are available
in the Films section.
October
23rd, 2005 -
The Improv Everywhere U2 Prank made it to #23 on VH1's "40 Greatest
Pranks of All Time" list! You can see the clip of that VH1
television special here.
September
24th, 2005 -
Added "Writer's Block", a 102 pilot I shot and edited (which
was directed by Eliza Skinner & Margot Leitman.) That is available
in the Films section.
I'm in the current (October 6th) issue of Rolling Stone magazine! The 2005 Hot List features Improv Everywhere as "Hot Pranksters", and all the photos are of the U2 prank. Take a look:
Click
the image for a larger version.
August
15th, 2005 -
Added some new links in the Links section to
sites I frequent. (Especially sites that contain friends blogs, etc.)
July
13th, 2005 -
The band that pulled off the U2 ImprovEverywhere prank is doing a live
U2 covers show at Magnet Theater this Friday, July 15th, at 9:30pm!
Come check it out. Here is a description:
Even
Better than the Real Thing
An Evening of U2 Music
One night only! All of your favorite U2 songs performed live by the band
that fooled New York City in Improv Everywhere's latest prank! Featuring
all your favorite Bonos: Jessica Allen, John Gemberling, Curtis Gwinn,
Eliza Skinner, Damon Ketron, Marc Liepis, Shannon O'Neill, Eliza Skinner,
Ptolemy Slocum, with help from Dan Goodman as Adam Clayton, Terry Jinn
as The Edge, and Chris Kula as Larry Mullen, Jr. Part of the donations
raised by this concert will go to Amnesty International.
June
28th, 2005 -
I'm slowly re-encoding all the movies and videos on this site with the
H.264 codec. It should result in higher image quality while reducing the
overall size of each file. Each re-encoded file will have a "Quicktime
7 required" banner in its description.
June
27th, 2005 -
A new Will Hines crafted Channel 102 pilot called "Kerry On"
is now online in the "Films" section.
I shot the show and edited the credit sequence. Although it was rejected
for the 102 screening by the "Prime Time Panel", I think there
is still some enjoyable stuff in it. Also, this was my first test of Apple
Quicktime 7's implimentation of the H.264 codec. It makes high quality
(better than Sorensen 3) video at half the size. Quite cool. (You have
to download Quicktime 7 to watch it.)
June
22nd, 2005 -
Case... dismissed!
The U2 pranksters (all 8 of us) went to court yesterday morning.
(Manhattan Community Court, to be exact.) I think we were wholly expecting
to, at least, pay a fine, however we ended up getting our "violations"
dismissed completely. No payment given, no community service, no watching
of a "quality of life" video. Ptolemy did request one day of
community service, actually, but it was ignored by our (court appointed)
lawyer.
In any case, you can see new details on the Improv Everywhere site, as well as Chris Kula's journal.
Here are some photos:
May
29th, 2005 -
I did an amusing thing last weekend. I played guitar as "The Edge"
in a fake-U2 prank concert put together by Improv
Everywhere. It was an amazing thing to be a part of. Here is an account
of it on the IE website.
Also, the New York Times Sunday 5/29/05 edition has an article about it in print and on their website.
And... Chris Kula edited together a snippet of video from the event.
May 9th,
2005 -
The annual rock concert to celebrate another year of living has come and
gone, but the MP3s are available at etv.whimsicalfilm.com.
Enjoy!
March
28th, 2005 -
Yes... another episode of "Fun Squad" (the third episode, to
be exact) has been posted for Channel
102. Available now in the "Films"
section.
March
4th, 2005 -
I've posted the latest project, which was shooting and editing episode
2 of "Fun Squad" for Channel
102. It was voted second place! Available now in the "Films"
section.
February
3rd, 2005 -
I've posted the latest project, which was the video I edited for Will
Hines' entry to Channel
102 called "The Fun Squad". It was actually voted the winner
and, along with 4 other entries, it got "picked up" as a series.
Available now in the "Films" section.
January
25th, 2005 -
I've posted the latest project, which was video interstitials for the
latest Chuck D and Jawnee sketch show ("The Chuck D and Jawnee Anthology".)
Available now in the "Films" section.
December
22nd, 2004 -
I have a new improv idea that has finally taken form as an actual show,
entitled "The
Project". It's a team-based longform improv comedy show...
4 teams a night, and a short improv competition show at the end. There
are a lot of great people involved, including Armando
Diaz, who is co-producing. The show debuts January 8th, 2005 at Juvie
Hall in New York City. Please attend!
October
14th, 2004 -
Dropped the camera off at the repair place. It's gonna be at least $400
bucks to fix. Oh well. Gotta do it.
September
29th, 2004 -
Dang! I blew my deadline! (was bound to happen at some point.)
I'm having some technical problems which is not allowing me to digitize
footage into my computer. I plan on finding a fix or workaround soon.
September
22nd, 2004 -
The next
film suggestion has been received. Thanks to Sarah Nowak for
the word "Anthem". "Sarah Nowak" will be
the main character. Chris Kula ("Stealthy Peppermint") will
be a character, as will Justin Purnell ("Fortuitous").
Thanks to everyone else who suggested ideas:
Madalyn Mako - "Sausage Fingers" & "Vienna Sausage"
Eliza Skinner - "Thorny"
Kate Spencer - "Cleo Sleeps with Me" & "The Rotten Pillow"
Pat Baer - "Silence"
Eden Gauteron - "Whistle"
Curtis Gwinn - "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil."
Shannon O'Neill - "Gracious"
September
21st, 2004 -
And again
and again...
Back from a "hiatus" of sorts, now is the time to try making another film.
The next suggestion will be taken at Noon on Wednesday, September 22nd. The film will (hopefully) be completed Wednesday, September 29th.
Send your (one word or phrase) suggestion via email and include your full name. The email address is info@whimsicalfilm.com
(Don't send anything until noon on Wednesday!)
September
14th, 2004 -
Just shot a short film for Andy Rocco. Will be editing this soon.
September
2nd, 2004 -
Off to Cleveland for the labor day weekend. New film to be set into motion
soon.
August
25th, 2004 -
Here are some pictures from Edinburgh:
August
12th, 2004 -
Added a "new" (old) film, "Terrible Criminals", to
the films section. It was the first
DV short I made. (It was made in 2000.) This black and white/silent film
is too long, and some of the jokes fall flat, but you can see what Doug
Moe looked like 4 years ago. (He looks essentially the same.)
August
12th, 2004 -
Because I'll be heading over to Edinburgh, Scotland to help out Neutrino
with their Fringe
Festival shows, and then heading to Cleveland, Ohio after that, I'll
be getting the next film suggestion (and making the next film) after Labor
Day weekend.
August
11th, 2004 -
I've added a simple web forum. You can use it to talk about the films
on the site, films in general, or really anything you want to talk about.
You'll find the forum here.
August
10th, 2004 -
The latest film is complete. Check out "Weekend Visit" in the
films section.
August
4th, 2004 -
Congrats to the winner, Jen MacNeil, with the suggestion "Riboflavin"
(hmm...which reminds me of a t-shirt I saw recently...) As before, her
name will be the name of the main character.
Other character
name winners are:
Amanda Allan - "contest winner"
Madalyn Mako (AGAIN!) - "Nusiance"
Thanks to Brandon Calhoun (a couple minutes too late), Jeff Scherer (20 minutes too late), Kelly Buttermore (who was a couple minutes too early), and Dan Goldstein (who was one whole day early), for sending their suggestions.
The movie should be completed before Wednesday, August 11th at noon. (Ideally.)
August
2nd, 2004 -
The next suggestion will be taken at Noon on Wednesday, August 4th. The
film will (hopefully) be completed Wednesday, August 11th.
Send your (one word or phrase) suggestion via email and include your full name.
(Don't send anything until noon on Wednesday!)
July
30th, 2004 -
The first "experiment" film is complete! You can go see it ("Compilation")
on the "films" section of the
site!
July
28th, 2004 -
"Principal Photography" has been completed on the film. (It
is fun to say it that way.) Now it's time for the editing. I think I will
be able to complete this on time.
July
26th, 2004 -
The movie has been written and cast. Shooting begins today! (We'll see
how it turns out!)
July
23rd, 2004 -
The winner is Alex Marino with the suggestion of "compilation".
The main character will be named Alex Marino.
The runners up, who will have characters named after them, are Madalyn Mako ("too late") and Lynn Bixenspan ("Fontanelle").
Thanks to Tony Carnevale, Benjamin Jones, Amanda Allan, Will Hines and Tiffany Morningstar for their tardy suggestions. (Amanda's was actually "tardy".)
Time to make the movie!
July
22nd, 2004 -
I
think my output has been best when given a deadline, so... I'm going to
try a new experiment to help motivate me to make more films. Based somewhat
on the Leche Magica collective idea, and also inspired by improv shows,
I will ask for a suggestion (a word or a phrase) and write, shoot, and
edit a short film based on that suggestion within one week. To make it
a little more fun, the name of the person who supplies the suggestion
would be the main character in this film. Also, to make it even more fun,
I'd take the next two names of people who offered suggestions (but weren't
first) as characters, too.
This may be a manufactured deadline, but I think the involvement of a particular person giving the suggestion would be enough outside pressure and expectation to motivate me to finish on time.
I would probably aim for the film to be around 5 minutes in length, although I won't set any rules on that. I plan on continuing this process again and again, although it would depend on how busy I was that particular week. (Meaning, this might not happen every week.) I'd get a new suggestion at the completion of the previous film.
I'll be getting the first suggestion starting at noon, Friday, July 23nd.
Send your (one word or phrase) suggestion via email and include your full name.
I will take the first suggestion time dated immediately after noon (on July 23rd.) So don't send anything until then!
The film should be completed at noon Friday, July 30th. (And be posted.)
This should be interesting. And fun.
July
9th, 2004 -
If anyone
is up around Poughkeepsie, NY this coming weekend, I will be playing guitar
in a new musical called
"Nerds" at Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater Festival, July
15th - 18th. You can buy tickets and see it. You really can.
July
6th, 2004 -
Added some
links to the links section. My recommendation is to click on a few!
July
1st, 2004 -
I've added
a couple more films to the site. Also reconverted everything so that it
has "fast start" (which allows the user to watch the film while
it is still downloading.) It makes each file quite a bit bigger, but it
will make watching the films a whole lot easier.
June
30th, 2004 -
Still experimenting
with various codecs, sizes, compression and whatnot... and I'm still unsatisfied
with the picture quality. I feel like the quality of the Best Friend quicktime
(using the Sorensen Video 3 codec) is really good, but the file is still
huge. I might just end up putting only huge, high quality versions of
the films on the site. I can't stand the small, crappy ones. Of course,
if I do that, I might have to get more disk space on the hosting server,
which means more money. And people get annoyed having to download huge
files and waiting several minutes or more to watch the films. I think
many might just give up instead of waiting.
The site is
live. I have been IMing some people the links to navigation and graphics,
and I think they might be annoyed, as I keep IMing them every minute or
two (as I add things.) I just wanted to show someone what I was
working on!
Finally got a film ("Best Friend") converted into Quicktime (mov) format, and on the site. It's large, but it looks really good on the desktop. I am trying to figure out smaller versions that aren't so large (filesize-wise), but still have good picture quality. It's hard (because the process takes a long time.)
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