Bizarre card question taken from the party game “Would You Rather.”
Michael McVey
Skiffleboom.com
Latest
Walter Sobchak Motivational Poster – Over the Line [Skiffleboom.com]
Walter Sobchak "Over the Line" - The Big Lebowski Motivational Poster
The line. You’re over it.
Michael McVey
Skiffleboom.com
Explosions in the Sky – Your Hand in Mine. San Francisco, 1906 [Skiffleboom.com]
By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
Market Street, San Francisco. Filmed just four days before the Great Earthquake leveled the city in 1906. Music by Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine Michael McVey Skiffleboom.com
Stop Motion Word Animation [Skiffleboom.com]
By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
I find these refrigerator word magnets incredibly addicting:
I thought this up one early April evening, after playing with the magnets for hours. I enlisted HARDCORE AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER Seth Wood to shoot the magnet animation, using a trusty Canon 5D Mark II. We used individual photographs shot over three separate nights — over 2,880 photos in total. I edited in Final Cut Pro at 24 frames per second.
We wanted to keep the lighting consistent during the shoot, to get the smoothest motion. Since my kitchen has many windows, a daytime kitchen takeover to set up cameras and lighting would have been too much effort. It was easier for us to shoot at night, from 10PM to 4:30AM (followed by 3 hours sleep… and then our day jobs!).
Music by Chris Thomas King and Colin Linden - ”John Law Burned Down the Liquor Sto’.”
Michael McVey
Skiffleboom.com
BELLA FIGURA at the Boston Ballet [Skiffleboom.com]
By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
Boston is a wonderful city with an amazing cultural heart. Here is my edit of the beautifully danced Bella Figura from the Boston Ballet, May 7, 2011 at the Boston Opera House (BostonBallet.org). The performance ran from April 28 — May 8, 2011 and received excellent notices. The evening program also featured The Second Detail, choreographed by William Forsythe, and Part I, II, III, choreographed by Helen Pickett.
This video features the opening of Bella Figura, a one act ballet by Choreographer Jiří Kylián.
Dance Talent: Rie Ichikawa, Kathleen Breen Combes, Erica Cornejo, Sarah Wroth, Rachel Cossar, Altan Dugaraa, Yury Yanowsky, James Whiteside, Sabi Varga.
Music: Lukas Foss, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Alessasndro Marcello, Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Torelli
Bella Figura‘s world premiere was October 12, 1995 at the Dans Theater, The Hague, Netherlands.
Boston Ballet is the first American company to present this work. The program also includes a Company premiere of William Forsythe’s The Second Detail and three works by Helen Pickett. Bella Figura showcases the world’s finest contemporary ballet on stage at The Boston Opera House, April 28 — May 8, 2011.
Boston Ballet
Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director
BostonBallet.org
MYSTERIOUS ALIEN ORGANISM LOVES SYNTHPOP! [Skiffleboom.com]
Michael McVey
Dancing magnetics by artist David Durlach of TechnoFrolics, featured at 11 Miller Street during Somerville Open Studios, April 30, 2011, Somerville, MA.
Music: “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat.
Michael McVey
Skiffleboom.com
Torrid Love Affair with the Somerville Open Studios, from TheInfamousDance.com
Secrets of the Boston Map Revealed!!! from Skiffleboom.com
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By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
I draw and maintain illustrated walking maps throughout New York and Massachusetts.
This Boston Map was completed in 2010. Most of the tourists don’t pick up on it, but there are some hidden secrets scattered all over the map! You can pick up your own copy on the Boston Common, and take the Tour of the Freedom Trail at www.UnofficialTours.com
“The Combover: How to Buy Beer” - Skiffleboom.com
Here is the Full Version of The Combover. Enjoy!
— The Year 2000 —
Two under-age teens from upstate New York devise a radical new way to buy beer…
in
The Combover – by Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
“The Combover” is a short documentary by and about two underage teenagers who discover a crack in the system – they discover a way to buy beer. I made this with my friend Justin in the year 2000. We were both 19 at the time, bored out of our minds. There wasn’t much for us to do in our hometown of Warwick, New York. Warwick is a beautiful, rural place. It is the Shire to New York City’s Gondor, and <insert New Jersey city here>’s Mordor. But we were restless teenagers trying hard to get beer. We concocted the combover idea one night in Justin’s basement.
We were mulling about, and Justin asked me to shave his head bald. I suggested we mess around with it first, since we’re going to shave it all off anyway. There were lot of possibilities with long hair. Mohawk? Mullet? The “Krusty the Klown” look? ”A COMBOVER!” We laughed so damn hard our sides hurt. The combover has got to be the most RIDICULOUS hairstyle of all time, we had to do it. It dawned on us that the combover is the perfect misdirection for buying beer. The question became this: Would a cashier believe a kid-trying-to-look-older-trying-to-look-younger as a man-trying-to-look-younger? Would pity blind the gawkers?
I’ve always been a filmmaker, and I wanted to make it a movie. I got the camcorder my parents gave me in high school, a SONY Handycam Video 8 XR with 180x Digital Zoom. Battle plan ready, I proceeded to cut Justin’s hair, giving birth to a healthy 7 1/2 lb. combover in his parent’s bathroom. I’ll never forget how Mrs. Kipp freaked when she saw what I had done to her son’s head, or how hard we laughed afterwards. It is an All-Time Top Five Laugh for me.
After finding the appropriate wardrobe and accessories (superfluous pipe, check, Mike’s glasses, check), we worked on getting into character. How would a 38-year-old man with a comb-over behave? Naturally, he would be a somewhat pathetic, trying to hold onto his fading youth. He would certainly not like being denied his only comfort in an otherwise lonely existence – that sweet, numbing booze. Whether we got it or not became irrelevant. We were buzzed from the adrenaline of making a film.
What up Korea!
Towards the end of the night, we decided that one more denial would send Uncle Earl into a rage. We already had all the beer we needed, and we didn’t want our video to become redundant. We needed some drama. And when that denial came, Justin snapped in a spectacularly hilarious fashion. Dick move? Sure. Funny? You bet. But I suppose it’s a rorschach blot. Places where drinking laws are similarly Draconian will get the joke. America: the country where a teenager can be sent to war to kill and be killed, but doesn’t have the right to drink until three years after enlisting. Yeah, that makes sense. I withheld this video from public view for years; only a handful of people ever saw it. Now that a decade has past, “The Combover” is finally ready to see the light of day, thanks to New York Statute of Limitations Laws.
I love New York.
This video remains unchanged from the original in-camera edit 10 years ago. When I shot this back in 2000, I really didn’t know any way to edit VHS tapes. I edited simultaneously with shooting, all in-camera. I could review the footage and rewind the tape to find the right cue, or exit point. It was definitely fun to shoot. I particularly love the music in the car. It made us bolder, and gave the shoot a sense of rhythm and time. The album: Pee Wee Ellis’ “Twelve and More Blues,” with Bruce Cox on drums and Dwayne Dolphin on bass. A great album but hard to find, recorded in Köln, Germany – Minor Records, 1993. And again for all you knuckleheads out there, please don’t drink and drive – this is a documentary, not a mandate.
Secrets of the Harvard Map Revealed!!! from Skiffleboom.com
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By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
I draw and maintain illustrated walking maps throughout New York and Massachusetts.
This Harvard Map was completed in 2009. Most of the tourists don’t pick up on it, but there are some hidden secrets scattered all over the map!
You can pick up your own copy at Harvard Square, watch tour videos here, and take the Hahvahd Tour at www.UnofficialTours.com
Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), from the Album “The Suburbs”
By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
This is a video edit I made of the Arcade Fire’s Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), from their album “The Suburbs.”
I came home from work late last night, caught a new episode of Mad Men at midnight, then stayed up til morning making this. I don’t know what it is about that show that gets me going. The whole things took about nine hours from start to upload, plus a little nap.
A youtube user named StocktoSong loves this album too – StocktoSong also made an Arcade Fire video from the original 1957 Suburba Prelinger footage. It’s interesting to compare and contrast how we both used the footage. We are reworking digitally something edited by hand half a century ago.
The original ephemeral film:
1957′s “In the Suburbs” is a thoughtfully made advertising sales promo film extolling 1950s suburbanites as citizens and consumers. It was produced by On Film, Inc., and sponsored by Redbook Magazine. It can be viewed at http://www.archive.org/details/IntheSub1957
Visit Arcade Fire
88 Questions with Ellen Page [Skiffleboom.com]
“88 Questions with Ariadne” By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
Audience surrogate ELLEN PAGE asks a lot of questions in INCEPTION… Here’s a video of all 88.
(Face)ets: Pakistan and Yemen – Photography by Michelle Weitzel
By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
I would say that one of the most interesting jobs I got at my sign shop, Sign-A-Rama Cambridge, was from Harvard University student Michelle Wietzel. She and her husband Billy traveled extensively throughout Pakistan and Yemen, and Michelle brought her camera. Throughout their journeys, Michelle took some fantastic pictures. In 2010, the Harvard Neighbors Gallery (Loeb House) exhibited a selection of Michelle’s photography, which I was asked to print.
It was a very fun job, and a welcome break from the monotony of corporate branding. At the show, Michelle and Billy gave me a running commentary on the images, sharing stories from their travels. Since I always carry my trusty camera with me, I got quite a bit of it on video. Flash forward to late February 2011, when I had a spare weekend for a quick edit and… voilà! A brief little video scraped together (more like salvaged) from the ever growing backlog!
Hopefully this diverts/informs a few dozen internet viewers, Harvard Neighbors Gallery gets some free PR, Michelle and Billy Weitzel get a video keepsake, and Sign-A-Rama Cambridge gets to show off their printing capabilities. Everybody wins! Except for my carpal tunnel. Maybe some Qat will help.
Mike McVey’s Sign-A-Rama Commercials PART I [Skiffleboom.com]
By Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
The Sign-A-Rama Cambridge Video Collection, Sept 2010 – April 2011 (Michelle Weitzel’s photography exhibit can be found in a previous post).
Buzz Lightyear: How to Make a Sign
That’s right, Space Rangers. Buzz shows you how to make the Greatest Sign of All Time. Filmed on location at Sign-A-Rama Cambridge in front of a live studio audience. www.Signarama-Cambridge.com (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Miss Massachusetts 2010: Loren Galler Rabinowitz
The beautiful and brilliant Loren Rabinowitz gives her TOTALLY UNBIASED OPINION of Sign-A-Rama Cambridge’s signs and banners before heading off to the 2011 Miss America Pagent. www.Signarama-Cambridge.com (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Neal “Lightning” Cutler Installs a Wall Sign
Sign expert Neal “Lightning” Cutler installs a wall sign. Neal Cutler is the owner of Sign-A-Rama Cambridge. www.Signarama-Cambridge.com (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Deluxe Pop-Up Banners
Deluxe Pop-Up Banners are handy little things, great for travel, showrooms, tradeshows. www.Signarama-Cambridge.com (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Q: How long can this dog chase a sprinkler? [Skiffleboom.com]
A: All afternoon.
Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
Mike McVey’s Sign-A-Rama Commercials PART II [Skiffleboom.com]
by Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
Big thick juicy dimensional signs by Sign-A-Rama Cambridge — Cambridge, MA.
Sign GENIUS Neal Cutler demonstrates what a sucker you are for not owning a Sign-A-Rama Cambridge A-FRAME.
Edited + soundtrack music. Shot with HD Flip + FCP. You can order an A-Frame and other badass signage at SignARama-Cambridge.com
Michael McVey
Skiffleboom.com
Fleet Foxes “Mykonos” at the Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA – 2011 [Skiffleboom.com]
by Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
A trip to see some Fleet Foxes with Mortimer Duckbrella + friends. Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA – May 17, 2011, HD FLIP + FCP. I stitched this video later that night.
The official Mykonos video is OUTSTANDING:
Such beautiful animation.
The door slammed loud and rose up a cloud of dust on us
Footsteps follow, down through the hollow sound, torn up.
And you will go to Mykonos
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you made
Pallid animals in the snow-tipped pines I find
hatching from the seed of your orphaned mind, all night
And you will go to Mykonos
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you made
Brother you don’t need to turn me away
I was waiting down at the ancient gate
You’ll go
Wherever you go today
You’ll go today
I remember how they took you down
As the winter turned the meadow brown
You’ll go
Wherever you go today
You’ll go today
When I’m walking brother don’t you forget
It ain’t often that you’ll ever find a friend
You’ll go
Wherever you go today…
Austra – “Lose It” [Skiffleboom.com]
by Michael McVey, Skiffleboom.com
http://vimeo.com/23945506
Austra’s “Lost It” + some home movies. Off their debut album “Feel It Break”.
Austra will be playing Brighton Music Hall on May 25, 2011 (Boston MA).
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