"DE is a way of doing. It is a way of doing everything you do. DE simply means doing whatever you do in the easiest most relaxed way you can manage which is also the quickest and most efficient way, as you will find as you advance in DE." -- William Burroughs

You might already be a fan of the fabulous William Burroughs essay/short story Do Easy, but did you know that Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk) adapted the essay for the screen in the form of a short film called The Discipline of DE (which also happened to be the director's first project wayyy back in 1982). The short, while on YouTube, is also part of the new Wholphin DVD, which is a quarterly DVD magazine from McSweeney's that showcases -- what they like to call -- "unique and ponderable films designed to make you feel the way we felt when we learned that dolphins and whales sometimes, you know, do it." Not only is this a really quirky and fun film to watch (read the essay too!), but it's message is a timely one -- what with the new year and all. So check it out below and enjoy.

It was only a matter of time before this sort of thing popped up on YouTube, and I'm kinda diggin' it. First we have a short called The Time Machine, which lets you choose which path Chad, Matt and Rob take -- so long as they make it to their 12 o'clock meeting without dying. Yes, you actually have to pay attention and make decisions while watching this short (I know, bonkers!), but it's kinda fun and the leads are dopey and likable. Check it out below.



Next up we have a short created by SpecBox that looks to be part of a larger series as they've launched with Episode One: Baby, It's Been A Long Day. Here, this dude's girlfriend is pissed off at her man for loving his computer more than her, and so she steals the thing. Once he arrives home, the viewer then has a few options as to which course he takes next ... though I will say they could've been a bit more creative here since it appears there's really no way to change the outcome of the story. Check it out below.



Do you like the whole Choose Your Own Adventure short film, or is it too bothersome?

What says the holidays more than apocalypses and killing conspiracies?

First up, there's Shane Acker's 9 -- the feature adaptation of his short film -- which you can check out over at Apple.com. The film, which got cooking back in March of 2007, explores a post-apocalyptic world similar to our own where rag dolls fight to survive. Elijah Wood voices the lead rag, 9, while other voices include the likes of Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Martin Landau, and Christopher Plummer.

The film looks stunning, but I can't help wishing that these players were all face-to-face and live action. You don't get a mix like this every day. Glover with Plummer? Can you imagine the possibilities?! Nevertheless, I'll take what I can get. The film opens, appropriately, on 9/9/09.

Second, you can travel over to Yahoo and see the HD trailer for State of Play. The film stars Russell Crowe as a reporter investigating the murder of a congressman's (Ben Affleck, believe it or not) mistress. This might sound familiar -- it's based on the UK series of the same name.

State of Play looks like your standard "journalist on a mission" drama, and has a decent cast to boot -- Crowe and Affleck are joined by the likes of Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman. But the big question is whether it will all be worth it. You might remember that Brad Pitt backed out of the project because he wasn't happy with the script, and now there are rumors floating around that Crowe is in hot water for not losing his State of Play weight in time for Nottingham. This ones hitting screens much sooner -- April 17, 2009.

Warning: This might be PG, but it might also be NSFW with its sex faces and raunchy treatment of cartoon characters.

Yes, it's time for Troma icon James Gunn's latest PG Porn, and this time he asks a question I'm sure we all wonder: What would've happened to the Peanuts gang if they grew up? However, rather than just adult content, we get the Peanuts "Peanus"-style, with Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum as Charlie and Belladonna as Lucy Van Pelt.

As per usual, there is no sex, but there is the classic Lucy viciousness. Charlie invites Lucy in, things start to get frisky while Schroeder plays the piano, and then Lucy reverts to her classic jerky self. Seeing Belladonna in action, I'm thinking that Carla Gugino is playing the wrong porn star. But wait -- there's more. If you'd rather have your Peanus in special Christmas doses, Gunn's blog says that A Very Peanus Special will air on IGN sometime today.

This episode has got me thinking -- instead of all the damn remakes lately, maybe someone can focus on some smart and biting twists on where our icons are now -- kids grown up, heroes after they retire, etc. -- a Galaxy Quest to stretch beyond the sci-fi crowd!

In today's technology-obsessed entertainment world, most of the animated fare is done with computers. That's not to say it's any less legit than hand-drawn animation -- because if you're working on a CG feature, you BETTER know how to animate in "traditional" fashion -- but I'm just explaining why the sweat behind the Wallace & Gromit films is just a little extra-special. Plus, with three award-winning shorts and a fantastic feature behind them, W & G have more than proven their worth by now.

So YAY! Aardman Animation has a new one to show us! A Matter of Loaf and Death will premiere on BBC1 come Christmas Day, so I might have to wait a few extra weeks, but boy am I psyched to see it. (I've watched The Wrong Trousers, A Grand Day Out, and A Close Shave more times than I care to mention -- and I say The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is just awesome.) According to the official site, the 30-minute Loaf and Death is a mystery about missing bakers -- but you can (can't) check out the trailer right here!

To celebrate 4th Estate Publishing's 25th anniversary, Apt Studio was asked to create "something stunning" that would help honor their history in the literary world. So, what they came up with was this fantastic stop-motion short film called This Is Where We Live, which was pieced together over the course of three weeks this past fall using a still camera and a lot of home-made supplies. I just loved how the books became the landscape, and how the words became the citizens -- pretty trippy little project, and amazing to know that this was completed in only three weeks (on very little sleep, I imagine). Check out the film below, then we've placed some very cool production stills in the gallery beneath that. For more on This Is Where We Live, head on over to their official site.


This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

OK, this topic might only interest a few movie nerds, but that includes me, so I'm writing it.

Most people know that to be eligible for Academy Award consideration, a film must play theatrically for at least a week somewhere in Los Angeles County within the calendar year. But what about short films? There are categories for those at the Oscars (usually announced coincidental with the viewing audience's bathroom breaks), but surely those little live-action and animated flicks didn't play theatrically somewhere. I mean, when do you ever see short films in a theater other than in front of the new Pixar movie?

The answer, which you can read for yourself in the Academy's rules, is that for short films, they either have to play theatrically (for three consecutive days, at least twice a day), OR win a best-in-category award at an Academy-approved film festival. And that makes a lot of sense -- the only way most of us ever see shorts at all is at film festivals.

So which festivals "count" for Academy purposes? I'm glad you asked, because it brings us to the reason for this post. The current list of approved festivals is here, and it has the usual suspects -- Toronto, Sundance, Venice, Cannes, Berlin, etc. -- plus about 60 others all over the world. And the news that's a semi-big-deal for our friends in Austin is that our beloved South By Southwest Film Festival has just been approved as an addition to that list. From now on, any short film winning the top prize at SXSW is eligible for Oscar consideration. SXSW is legit now!

This is kind of an old short, but it's one I stumbled across the other day for the first time and absolutely loved. Super Powers, directed by John Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker, tells of a young married couple who turn to dressing up as super heroes (specifically Batman and Wonder Woman) to spice up life in the bedroom. However, when a situation forces them out of their apartment and onto the streets, these two may just wind up saving a lot more than their sex life. Super Powers won Best Narrative Short Film at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, and trust me when I say watching this short will totally make your Monday. Check it out below and let us know what you think ...

Note: Film does contain mild foul language (two F-bombs, to be exact), so beware.

The guy is busy making his first romantic comedy, but that didn't stop Hatchet / Spiral director Adam Green from calling a few friends up and delivering his tenth Halloween short in as many years. (You may remember previous entries like King in the Box or The Tiffany Problem.) Green's latest is a brief horror satire called The TiVo, which shows what happens when a young man (Parry Shen) allows a TiVo into his life. The short also features a gorgeous brunette and an awesome kitty cat.

If that sounds a little odd, it should be noted that Green was once a stand-up comedian, and he has a knack for comedy to match his passion for horror. (I never knew that the TiVo's sound effects could be funny!) Click right here to wander around Adam's newly-redesigned arieScope website, and then click on "view the short films" to pick through Adam's shorts. (Ewww.)

And if that doesn't satisfy your craving for silly short films with a horror slant, then you definitely have to check out this series of geek-tastic clips that Green and joltin' Joe Lynch put togther for UK FrightFest. Funny stuff. And you guys thought slasher directors were creepy freaks, didn't you?

(Thanks to Dread Central for letting me steal their pic without permission.)

For a while now, Glamour has been pulling various actresses into the directorial fold with their Reel Moments series. Last year brought the likes of Kirsten Dunst and Jennifer Aniston, and this year, Demi Moore. Now Demi's short is online, along with shorts from Courteney Cox and Kirsten Smith (writer of films like Legally Blonde and The House Bunny).

This has been a pretty kickass project, one that will hopefully get more women behind the camera and making names for themselves. As for the latest bash of shorts -- one is uplifting, one is plain wacky, and the last is a good kick in the shins to the overly weight-conscious. Check them out here for yourself, and keep reading for a rundown of the latest three.

The Monday Before Thanksgiving -- Courteney Cox's short casts her alongside Laura Dern and Rosemary Harris in the story of a woman who loses her mother right before Thanksgiving. But rather than focus on grief and loss, the short focuses on the the insistance to be coupled and being happy single.

The Spleenectomy -- In a role that only Anna Faris could pull off, Smith's short follows a terrible aspiring actress who gets mistaken for her doctor twin sister at the hospital and has to pull off an emergency spleenectomy. Oh, only in the movies.

Streak -- Demi's short, which features daughter Rumer, focuses on comfort zones and college girls strapped and tied down to the worries of weight, fat, and (omg) calories and cankles -- until it's time to streak.