SHATNERPALOOZA kicks off a 48-hour Shatner marathon with the world television premiere of William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet, an award winning EPIX Pictures original that takes an inside look at the staging of famed choreographer Margo Sappington’s ballet set to the music and spoken word of Shatner’s 2004 album, Has Been. Shatner produced and stars in the documentary which includes appearances by composer Ben Folds and actor/musician Henry Rollins.

The film was made by Special Entertainment and Big Screen Entertainment Group in association with Shatner’s Melis Productions.

SHATNERPALOOZA is a celebration of William Shatner’s film and television work running on the EPIX linear channel, EPIX SVOD service, and EpixHD.com from July 21 through July 30.

For more information go to the official William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet page on EPIX here.

Click here to return to William Shanter’s Gonzo Ballet main page .

In their creative partnership Bobby Ciraldo and Andrew Swant pursue this goal at, appropriately, both the
macro and micro levels. Ciraldo has spoken of “treating the IMDb [Internet Movie Database] as a medium,”
and the production model that he and Swant are constructing is indeed aggressively protean. The duo
has created YouTube music videos that have drawn over twenty million viewers. They’ve co-directed two
documentaries—one of a post-modern ballet danced to William Shatner’s sprech-singing, the other an
“industrial,” commissioned, about prison life. They’ve co-produced a comical exploitation flick filmed in
Super 8. For the past five years they’ve toiled away at a version of Hamlet shot entirely before a green screen.
They contribute to a late night experimental television program broadcast monthly to the Milwaukee market.
(Their decision to work from Milwaukee—a city where a creative mind can advance without concern for
the approval of powerful cultural gatekeepers—promotes their production model’s flexibility.) Each project
delivers as business stratagem and self-amusement. Ciraldo & Swant do not participate in the romantic
tradition of the tortured artist; they measure success in the populist terms of showbiz and the Internet.
Granted, in those projects over which they’ve exerted complete creative control their stuff does display
a consistent look (a stripped down, Internet-friendly artifice derived from video games and cartoons)
and method (they identify formal and thematic conventions of popular TV and film product, then modify
or warp these to deliver something smarter, wilder and more transparent), yet we shouldn’t locate their real
innovation in these; ultimately the subject of their videos and films might have been any subject, the style
of them any style. Their real interest—their real medium—is, as Ciraldo’s remark indicates, neither film nor
video but, rather, the vast, globe-encircling media-scape that these popular formats engage (and of which the
Internet is most emblematic). They aspire to be players without sacrificing the spirit of play.

Are they artists? They appear ambivalent. Ciraldo, who brings a computer programming background, resists
the art world’s elitist bent. Swant, although more comfortable with art’s aims, shares his partner’s preference
for using cultural languages that can reach as many people as possible. Still, calling them “entertainers”
is too simple. Their attitude toward entertainment product is too conceptual, detached and ironic. If they
are artists, they arrive at their version of artistry by manipulating entertainment’s texts and tones to create
smarter entertainment—a paradox, and one arising from the new conditions of the Internet, within which
context it seems altogether at home.

-David Robbins, Artist/Writer

“Modus Operandi” revitalizes exploitation film with a kick of flavor. Frankie Latina gracefully praises art-house film of the 1970s through his theatrical collision of mystery, sex, spies, bondage, betrayal, camaraderie, revenge, and lethal weapons – it’s just cinematically fascinating,” said Grey.

The film makes it way to IFC after playing at several film festivals including AFI and Cinevegas, and tells the story of a desperate but dangerous C.I.A. agent seeking revenge on the man who murdered his wife. It marks the feature film debut of Latina, who was named as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2009.

Click here to return to Modus Operandi.

Samwell's Butt and Daniel Tosh

Samwell will be appearing on the June 16th episode of Tosh.0, a hit Comedy Central series about viral videos. The segment will tell the story of how the “What What” video was created, followed by an acoustic version of the song by Samwell and a rock star!

Check out this excerpt from a June 2nd Comedy  Examiner interview:

Comedy Examiner: Who’s been the best and worst guests you’ve had on the show thus far?

Daniel Tosh: That’s a good question.  I’ll tell you who I loved.  The “What What In The Butt” guy. Couldn’t have been more of a delight … he really was nice and I had a good time hanging out with him.

Daniel Tosh recently posted a photo on twitter of himself giving a “thumbs up” to Samwell’s butt!  Beneath the photo he wrote, “What what?? yep yep!! he will be on this summer.”

Tune in Wednesday night!

The App is similar to the Magic 8 Ball toy and features the one and only Samwell (of What What In the Butt) offering advice to your Yes or No questions. Shake your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch to see and hear over 30 video answers from Samwell himself!

“If you’re a Samwell fan, this is the app for you.”
– Paul Hughes, CNET

“Silly and fun!”
– DJ Hostettler, Third Coast Digest

Click here to buy the App from iTunes for only 99 cents!

Or just search for “Samwell” at the App Store on your phone!

Life is full of questions and sometimes you need a little advice along the way.

Should you ask your crush out on a date?
Will you get that promotion at work?
Should you buy that house?
Is your team going to win?
Should you eat pizza for lunch?

You’re sure to get tons of laughs out of this App! Show your family and friends! You’ll be amazed by how much fun Shaky Advice can be!

COMING SOON: Shaky Advice from NEIL HAMBURGER!