5 Short Films to Watch... if you've never watched short films before!

Short films often evade me for a variety of reasons - I'm too lazy to sit and watch something for 15 whole minutes, my gods damn work computer is so slow that it can't actually process video (trufax! I've actually only seen every 8th frame of the Deathly Hallows trailer!), I don't have headphones and my flatmates are watching tv... the excuses pile up!

My newfound addiction to io9 and an empty living room this evening prompted me to sit down and make my way through some of the short films I had bookmarked - and woah was it worth it.

Whether you've never watched a short film in your life or you are a veritable connoisseur (in which case I suspect you will have seen all of these anyway), at least one of these films should definitely be for you. Give them a shot; I urge you.

1. Sintel tells the heartbreaking story of a lone warrior and her dragon. Originally born as a proof-of-concept for an open source 3D creation suite called Blender, Sintel was funded by internet donations and premièred at the Netherlands Film Festival in September. It has since, justifiably, become an online sensation.

2. Fallen - aka the brief story of the cutest meteorite that ever was - catalogues the brief life of a burning lump of space rock that realises its own existence shortly before coming to an abrupt halt. Yes, yes, we all know the sperm whale got there first - and more amusingly - but this is an adorable little short and coming in at 3:50, it's not too taxing.

Fallen from Sascha Geddert on Vimeo.

3. The Anachronism is simply gorgeous. Part steampunk, part children's adventure story, part love letter to British Columbia, this one is well worth 15 minutes of your time. Two would-be explorers document the flora and fauna in the woodland surrounding their home - until they stumble on an occupant that they couldn't possibly have expected. The worthy winner of 6 Leo awards.

The Anachronism (Full Film) from Anachronism Pictures on Vimeo.

4. Just about as different in tone as you can get from the previous offerings, When It Will Be Silent is the beautiful, stylised sophomore project of film student Dan Sachar. A post-apocalyptic vignette that will take your breath away.

When it Will Be Silent (כשיהיה דומם) from Dan Sachar on Vimeo.

5. I'm cheating this one a bit, as it's actually about two films and there are only trailers available. These two short films from Polish filmmaker Grzegorz Jonkajtys look truly remarkable. The Ark has won multiple awards and even won Best of Show at Cannes in 2007. The only remaining survivors of an unknown virus that has claimed most of mankind take to the sea in order to survive. Stunning and unusual animation.

The 3rd Letter shows a remarkable vision of a dystopian future in which mankind utterly depends on bio-mechanical alteration to withstand the declining climate. The only place worse than America to lose your health insurance - as Jeffrey Brief learns.

Please suggest any other short films you may have come across that you think are particularly remarkable - and please give some of these a chance; they are incredible stories, each in their own way.

Steampunk Thursday #10: Art and Artists

The last and final Steampunk Thursday! You can catch up with all of the previous posts here.

Steampunk being the creative community that it is, artists literally abound!

Jessica Van Hulle's beautiful collection of steampunk and dieselpunk pin-ups are just begging to be on your living room wall! These oil paintings are more than just a little bit different and have a fun, quirky style.

DeviantArt is awash with beautiful steampunk pieces - Steampunk by PReilly being just one such example. Look see what a steampunk search turns up!

io9 have collected an amazing gallery of Sam Van Olffen's work - very much steampunk meats surrealist, his art is very heard to categorise but I would select AWESOME.

Of course art doesn't just live on the screen/canvas and there are some even more fantastic art pieces/furniture/just about anything you can shake a Victorian walking stick at that have been thoroughly steampunked!

This beautiful steampunk book was made by none other than geek with curves' significant other Tim - who is not only a fantastic make up artist but also a skilled prop maker and sculptor - check out his DeviantArt for more quirky creations!

If you've ever Googled 'steampunk' you've probably seen some of Datamancer's custom steampunk computers. As he proclaims himself, he creates heirlooms - and I couldn't agree more!

I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to steampunk. Remember to go to Brass Goggles for friends, Steampunk Jewellery for... well, steampunk jewellery (!) and Livejournal for steamy fashion tips!

Let myself (@jesuisbienseule) or @amy_geek know if you have any thoughts, comments, feedback or suggestions on this blog series and don't forget to follow geek with curves for all the latest geeky awesome!

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with London Philharmonic Orchestra

Last week, just about the best thing that can happen to a fangirl (aside from maybe getting invited to dinner at Skywalker Ranch - still on my to=do list!) happened to me! A message popped up on the Lord of the Rings Livejournal community offering a single ticket to the sold-out screening of LotR:RotK at the Royal Albert Hall with the score performed live by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

My seat was amazing. The Lord of the Rings has been such a massive part of my life for so long that it was just so incredible to be there, listening to the orchestra that had actually recorded the original score for the movies. Howard Shore is a genius - the music is so stirring and powerful that by the time the Rohirrim arrived at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields I was totally prepared to stand up and punch the air and yell when they charged into the fray.

Not only did they have the complete orchestra and a full choir, but during the applause a vaguely familiar face came to take a bow with the conductor. I can't say that I had ever really contemplated how I would feel about seeing Howard Shore before that moment, but the answer is thrilled. He made the music that was the backdrop to my life for so many years.

But I digress... if you can ever go and see a movie, any movie, with an accompanying orchestra - do it! The Royal Albert Hall have done all three LotR movies now, but given the astounding success that they appear to have been, I have no doubt that they will do this or something similar again in the future.

Star Wars in Concert don't have any tour dates listed at the moment, but keep checking the site.

The Proms did a Dr. Who night this year, too!

What They Didn't Tell You About The Zombie Apocalypse...

Surprise, surprise - yet another conversation at work inspired this. I may inadvertently end up writing Zombie Mondays!

So; you're all set for the zombie apocalypse. Holed up in your own doubly reinforced bunker with a year's supply of food. Axe and a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide in hand...

An eerie moaning sound comes from the corner. Kids; asleep. Partner; asleep. Dad; asleep. Mom; not looking her best. Fairly certain she didn't always ooze like that. Or gnaw on her own forearm...

Come to think of it; she did make that trip to the 7-Eleven while you were boarding up the windows... on her own...

Books, blogs and movies the world over prepare you for almost every possible outcome of the rise of the undead. You're prepared for the worst; food shortages, decapitating the undead with a shovel, many months barricaded in a basement with that uncle you've always found a bit creepy... you've even learned some farming skills and resigned yourself to the fact that the Earth may need to be repopulated.

But... could you kill your zombie mom?

Why I'm excited about... Sucker Punch!

Sucker Punch (March 2011) is the latest offering from Zack Snyder - and the only feathers in sight this time are those on the fans of the burlesque dancers.

Opening in the 1950's, the movie has Babydoll (Emily Browning) imprisoned in a mental institution by her stepfather and due to be lobotomised in five days. Retreating into her own mind to escape, Babydoll finds herself in an alternate world in which she must plan her escape by stealing five objects. From what I can make out; Sucker Punch has several layers of 'reality' - the real world, Babydoll's alternate reality, and another dream world within that reality. Reminding you of anything?

What's so special?

Bordello, World War I, samurai, dieselpunk, machine guns, katanas - Sucker Punch goes in every direction at once. It's highly stylised, high action that will most likely kick you five ways to Sunday.

With an almost exclusively female cast, Snyder himself has joked about about doing the opposite of 300 with this movie. To be honest, I think they're not all that dissimilar; Sucker Punch looks like every man's wet dream - bestockinged women wielding machine guns. Robots. Dragons. Swordfights. It ticks practically every box except zombies. Oh wait - they're in there too! Not that I'm complaining about any of this, mind...

It could easily go the way of The Spirit - but Sucker Punch has been generating a lot of excitement online and I think that that alone will earn it a strong opening weekend. What it may eventually lack in coherent plot, it will potentially make up for in style and (yes, I am going to say it) scantily clad women.

Pretty, pretty, pretty tiems...

On a basic level - this movie is GORGEOUS. I've seen a lot of artwork and stills from the production and it looks stunning. The costumes and set pieces are absolutely first rate - I was genuinely surprised that Weta weren't involved! All credit to Quantum Creation FX - even though I had never heard of them before!

If you like...

Well, I am reliably informed that this move even has a kitchen sink in it, so my advice would be that if you can handle style over story (although this may not end up being the case) in any way, then this is worth a view. Even at his very worst, Snyder delivers stunning visuals and I have no reason to believe that Sucker Punch won't be worth the price of a theater ticket.

Trailer with more frak me visuals here.

The six character posters (which some of you will have seen at SDCC) are available here.

Popcorn Bowl 10/2

The Hobbit Union Debacle:

7 unions instructed their members not to work on The Hobbit, claiming that the production refused to negotiate with actors on union contracts. Peter Jackson, being justifiably both hurt and frustrated, responded with remarkable clarity. Both the studios (obviously) and the New Zealand government backed Jackson's stance. Actors seem to be in support of the unions, but it's difficult to tell how much of this whole thing is political. I agree that NZ actors should have working conditions equal to those in the UK and US, but I also believe that if this issue chases The Hobbit production out of NZ, it will spell doom for the country's ability to attract big budget productions. Peter Jackson has done so much for the NZ film industry - I don't think he is out to actively disenfranchise the country or its actors.

Things in 3D:

So, if you haven't heard about this then welcome back - how was your holiday under a rock on Mars?

Star Wars is coming to theatres in 3D! Starting with The Phantom Menace in 2012... I am, at best, meh about the 3D bandwagon... but if they're properly rendered then I'm not going to say no to getting to see the saga on the silver screen!

In worse news - The Hobbit is going to be in 3D. I am 85 different kinds of pissed off. The Hobbit is an intimate little story and I did not want this.

The teaser trailer for I Am Number Four went online this week. This was released as a book a few weeks ago, but I read an early proof in June. I'm less than confident about the casting, but everything that made this a rubbish book makes it a strong script, so I will be interested to see this movie when it comes out. If you like kids that are aliens, being a teenager and buildings occasionally and unexpectedly being demolished; this is the movie for you!

I know how much you love casting rumours - the list for the female lead in the Spider-Man reboot is growing impressively.

Sherlock Holmes 2 has added Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother) and Mad Men's Jared Harris as Moriarty.

Darren Aronofsky is reportedly in the running to direct the Superman reboot. I'm not sure I can visualise that, but colour me intrigued!

Tony Curtis passed away this week at the age of 85.

Comic-Con to stay in San Diego for at least the next 5 years! I intend to be at it for at least one of them!

New Deathly Hallows posters!

Now if you haven't booked a ticket to go and see one of the 25th anniversary screenings of Back to the Future, then why the hell are you still reading this? Go!