Michael Davis

When I was a kid I thought Michael Davis was one of the funniest performers I'd ever seen.

There's another comic in this first video, skip ahead to 3:30 if you want just see Davis.


This video shows a great trick with a pingpong ball. (If Chris Teague is reading this, don't get excited Chris, it's not the trick you usually pay to see done with a pingpong ball.)


This clip features a crappy framing device for the comedy and uses some of the same gags from the previous videos but still contains some other funny lines.

Trailer

Okay, let's try embedding the We Fade to Grey trailer.

We Fade to Grey trailer

Just discovered a trailer for We Fade to Grey at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWa_Gr6wu8I

As my oh so wonderful blog is still refusing to let me post links to Youtube I'll just mention that the trailer conatins a new cover quote from Stephen Gallagher -- "As solid a collection of horror tales as I've read in a long time."

Chuckle

Speaking of people who write long books ...

Dark Knight

Dark Knight teaser trailer.

John Connolly on Youtube

Quick interview with John Connolly chatting about signings, violence in thrillers and deep themes vs. entertainment value in novels.

Robot Chicken

Stumbled across the Robot Chicken Star Wars spoofs on Youtube. Some are funnier than others but this is probably my favourite.

Flash Point

Hong Kong legend Donnie Yen's new film FLASH POINT features UFC style grappling amongst his usual chop socky stuff. Although he still manages to make it incredibly acrobatic.

Trailer 1
Trailer 2
Shooting Diary

Hi, I'm a Marvel ... and I'm a DC

I keep forgetting to post about this. Hilarious spoof of the Mac/PC ads with Marvel and DC characters comparing their various film projects. To make it funnier the superheroes are played by their action figures. To make it even funnier they actually give better performances than the actors in the real films.

I think there's about eight of them available now. Keep an eye out for new ones.

Cagney

I've got fond memories of watching old James Cagney films when I was a kid. Channel 4 did a season of his films and it was a revelation. He played heroes and he played villains. He did comedy and he did drama. And he did it all wonderfully.

Here's a quick selection of scenes from his films:

Cagney acting hard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqt1kGRsbt0&mode=related&search=

Cagney pioneering martial arts fight scenes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMJixq-LbgI&mode=related&search=

Cagney in dance mode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6RrnsZjoYw&mode=related&search=

Funky Moves

A martial arts black belt I used to know named Alex Turnbull has got a trailer for a short film he directed up at www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhj8igPl2Oc. Alex used to be a music producer (actually, maybe he still is) and the gym where he now trains has a dance class as well as classes in pencak silat, a dance-like Indonesian martial art. Consequently this trailer ends up looking like Jamiroquai competing in combat breakdancing.

Btw, I didn't spot Alex in the actual trailer -- the chap doing all the twirly hands stuff is Steven Benitez, Alex's instructor.

Hang on, just found a short bio of Alex's music credits: "...founding member of legendary 23 Skidoo, whose early work inspired groups such as The Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream and The Future Sound of London. Alex also set up and ran Ronin Records, one of the UK’s longest running and best established independent hip hop labels. He has also under his belt an extensive CV of music remixing work which includes remixes for among others Seal, Ice T, Stevie Wonder, Massive Attack, Da Brat, Nenah Cherry and Kylie Minogue."

Benny the Jet

Found some video clips of Benny "the Jet" Urquidez. Legendary kickboxer who was about the only US fighter of his era who was small enough to go up against Japanese and Thai opponents instead of just beating up on other Yanks. Edited highlights of his kickboxing career here. Pity it doesn't show his trademark victory backflip but the soundtrack almost makes up for it.

He later went into films and twice fought Jackie Chan onscreen -- Wheels on Meals and Dragons Forever. But most of you are more likely to remember him duking it out with John Cusack in Grosse Point Blank.

I'm ready for my close up

I'm probably going to regret posting this but there's a video of my acceptance speech for Best Novella at FantasyCon online at http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1829814201

You might not be able to catch everything I say but trust me, you're not missing much.

Thanks to Martin Roberts for recording my embarrassment for posterity.