LTV21

From the creative brain of Adam Pesapane (aka PES) comes a culinary visual feast of inedible delight.  Western Spaghetti is heading to Sundance 2009 and has been featured as Time Magazine’s #2 Viral Video of 2008.  Be sure to check out his site for some of his other videos.  You may recognize some of his commercial work like “Human Skateboard”.   Best of luck at Sundance, Adam!

YouTube

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM[/youtube]

From the YouTube description:

*2009 Sundance Official Selection *

Written and Directed by PES
*see more stop-motion shorts by PES at http://www.eatpes.com
*to see behind-the-scenes stills and video from Western Spaghetti and other PES films, find PES on Facebook
*want a t-shirt designed by PES? or a PES Yule Log for your TV? visit the PES Store

“Twelve Dangers of Skydiving” was a cute little five part serial from season 2, episode 6.  I only have two of the dangers in video form, but the first includes the full Liquid TV opening sequence, which always brings back happy memories.

They were created by Dominic Polcino and Scott Tygett and produced by Michael Polcino.  Dominic and Michael (brothers) have gone on to work on The Simpons, Mission Hill, King of the Hill and Family Guy including the wildy popular Blue Harvest Star Wars spoof.

In addition, it looks like you can find Dominic’s comic work here and his blog on Blogspot here.

First Danger (show opener): Ripcord = baby doll sayings

YouTube

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-IdMTyTTJU[/youtube]

Second Danger: Parachute takes head and spine with it when deployed.

Third Danger: Parachuting in near full body cast and not being able to pull ripcord.

Fourth Danger: Umm.. having a psychedelic hallucination then falling past the Earth?

YouTube

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RM6lWHzDVg[/youtube]

Fifth Danger: Getting shot down by Men In Black?  hah.. really not sure.

And I guess we’ll never know what the sixth through twelth dangers were.

Dominic Polcino (wikipedia imdb)

Michael Polcino (wikipedia imdb)

Scott Tygett (imdb)

A fantastic “stop motion” (* see last note below) animation piece that recreates major military battles.. with food.  It’s fantastic and grotesque.. perfect for your typical LTV fan.

YouTube

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yldqNkGfo[/youtube]

YouTube description:

Posted by: TouristPictures (youtube user) for TouristPictures (official website)

“An abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict.”

For a breakdown of the actual battles portrayed in the film, click here.

For the official cheat sheet (breakdown of the foodstuffs), click here.

Now, to answer some FAQs…
- The food in this film was consumed either by myself or my dog after shooting. None of the cast went to waste.
- The software used was photoshop and after effects.
- The film took me 3 months to do.
- Although it seems like stop motion, most of it was stop motion created within After effects, using keyframe animation. I am basically moving the food around within the the program, frame by frame, which is the same as traditional stop motion, only it’s digital.

Seasons 1 and 2 of Liquid Television featured the fantastic and always entertaining, Stick Figure Theater.  Such a simple idea, but executed with great humor and quirikiness.  The formula was simple, take classic film clips, recreate the video in “stick figure” format and have a little fun with the topic matter.

The director, Robin Steele, seems to have taken this idea further with a series called “Stickin’ Around” which added color, but had the same silly stick figure animation style. (Click for “Stickin’ Around” intro)

SFT compilation #1 (ZappVid1)
YouTube

• Mr. Jimi Hendrix performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” (Woodstock, 1969) (alternate video: YouTube from zappazombie) (season 2)
• Mister Alfred Hitchcock (trailer for “Psycho”) (season 1)
• Jack Nicholson and Boris Karloff in “The Terror” (season 2)
• John Wayne in “Angel and the Bad Man” (season 1)
• Edmund O’Brien in “D.O.A.” (season 1)
• Madonna in “Express Yourself” (alternate video: YouTube from viralguru) (season 1)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj7WnDVGU24[/youtube]

SFT compilation #2 (ZappVid1)

YouTube

• “Night of the Living Dead” (season 2)
• The Crash of the Hindenburg May 6, 1937 (season 2)
• Sergei Eisenstein’s silent classic “The Battleship Potemkin (USSR, 1925)” (season 2)
• José Ferrer in “Cyrano de Bergerac” (season 1)
• Miss Bette Davis in “Of Human Bondage” (season 2)
• William Shakespeare’s “Henry V” (season 2)
• Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life” (season 1)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5QRGqy04w8[/youtube]

And from Season 3, we have an extended run as Stick Figure Theater delves into the 1961 Gary Cooper flick, “The Naked Edge”. (wikipedia, imdb)

The Naked Edge compilation #1 (ZappVid1)

YouTube

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7FTxSIw1qk[/youtube]

The Naked Edge compilation #2 (ZappVid1)

YouTube

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXgTns_-oy4[/youtube]

The Naked Edge compilation #3 (ZappVid1)

YouTube

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC0W7rw2vUY[/youtube]

Thanks to ZappVid, viralguru, zappazombie and krw703 for posting the LTV videos and all the others for posting the originals.