Here at AC we’re in favor of obsessions. A life without passion is a life half-lived.

So huzzah for the dedication of The Bodycounters, who catalog the death counts of most of your favorite flicks following a strict set of self-imposed rules such as, “Dream sequences do NOT count, but flashbacks DO.”

The entries range from informative to richly descriptive. For instance, nouveau cult film Zombie Strippers killed off 43 people and a fly — pretty straightforward. However, the report for the spoof Kung Pow: Enter The Fist chronicles an intriguing hodgepodge of deaths: “43 people, a dog, 2 moths, a big toe, a stomach plug and one French alien UFO.”

Note well the 007 films, which specify how many of James Bond’s love interests get whacked, and also Samuel L. Jackson’s movies, which include a count of the number of times he utters his famed compound curse word.

They count, so you don’t have to … though now you may be inspired to play along at home.

Two days ago, the above video showed up in my RSS feed. Much to my surprise, the show reel of Ole Magnus Saxegard (a name previously unknown to me, despite the next paragraph) included one of my favorite short films/animations.

A few years back I was doing some research for an animation project that a client was interested in putting together. I came across “The History of Evil” (video below). The story was a little on the vague side as to how exactly the history of evil was passed down through the generations, but the animation itself was top shelf. Although the animation that we were working on had to be cut due to budget reasons, the inspiration remained.

So, here it is, one of my all-time favorite web released animation shorts: A History of Evil.

The plans are nearly complete…

This is a follow up to a previous post we had regarding fan-made clips of Star Wars, Ep. IV. {As you may remember} The entire movie was edited down into 15 second clips and then users signed up, and subsequently, recreated their own version of the movie action.

The Star Wars: Uncut trailer has been available for a little while, but things have been pretty busy around the digital office recently, so we’ve had no time to post. Here’s this clip of the trailer. For the full movie (in all it’s glory) you can visit the Star Wars Uncut website.

The animated .gif has been around as long as the internet, but for those of us that actually remember when they were all the rage threeframes.net/ has an answer.

The idea is to take three frames from any particular movie, animate, rinse, and repeat. The effects are crazy. I HIGHLY recommend that you check this one out.

This video appears as a single piece of a 472 part, user-generated recreation of the sci-fi epic, Star Wars.

With the entire movie split into 15 second clips, legions of Star Wars fans can now become a part of the legacy by contributing their own videos to make up the larger movie. The production process is already underway, and current and future video clips can be found at www.starwarsuncut.com.

When everyone’s clips have been completed the entire movie will be hemmed together to produce one gigantic piece of Star Wars lore.

Every now and again I stumble across something that makes me wish I had designed it. Something simply done, with a lot of style and clever use of photoshop. This is one of those times.

Presented clearly, these book covers are based on popular movies with a 60’s dime store literature thematic twist. Use of repetition, color and layouts are top notch, not to mention excellent choice in movies represented. Spacesick has some other great work on his portfolio site, but the full array of the “I Can Read Movie Series” can be seen on his Flickr account.

Rabid fans of the Coen Brother’s cult classic, The Big Lebowski have been gathering all over the US for years now, at a music and cinema festival simply known as “Lebowskifest.”

What the f&k is that, you may ask? Clearly, you’re not a golfer.

This year’s 9th annual Louisville festival has just taken place (July 10 – 11). If you missed it this time around don’t feel bad, you can catch one of the several national events coming to a US region near you. The Louisville event is the first of a dozen or so scheduled gatherings across the continental US over the course of the next few months, so you shouldn’t have a hard time finding a major metropolitan area to grab a few white russians.

In addition to the festivities, you can purchase a signed, definitive Lebowskifest manual from years past on their website. The book looks like it’s going to be great and I can’t wait to take a look. If any of the duders out there pick up a version, let us know if it’s worth writing a series of .97 cent checks…

To celebrate Lebowski season we thought we’d draw your attention to the wide range of Lebowski “Abide-ables” that are located on the organization’s main site. Below you will find a slew of some of our favorite posters; there are so many to choose from that I want to expand the ol’ bowling alley to accommodate, or abide, as the case may be.

The photographer (Stéfan) of this Flickr photo set decided to add one photo a day, 365 days in a row, of Storm Trooper action figures in all kinds of unique situations. Some of funny, others are heartwarming, while others just seem like a couple of action figures, you know, hanging out.

While this idea at first glance seems a little dry and without merit except to the uber Star Wars fan, upon closer examination the action figures really do seem to come to life.

Posed inquisitively when faced with a situation similar to above; hugging each other on the beach as manly, rebel fighting comrades sometimes will do; looking scared when faced with a wookie action figure; all emotions are conveyed without even seeing their faces. You can just tell that they’re thinking “How in the Force did I get into this mess?”

You can see the full photo set (and subscribe for updates) at Stéfan’s feed over on Flickr.

When working I often watch movies from such sites as Fancast, Hulu, Sidereel and other streaming video sites.

While most of the time this just amounts to listening to my favorite dialog from movies I’ve already seen, sometimes I can find movies that I never quite got around to viewing. One of the problems with catching up on cinema knowledge in this way is that the movies I really want to see are unavailable on the previously mentioned streaming video sites.

Yesterday I was pleased to find the Criterion Collection version of online movie watching. The Auteurs is a media hosting site with peer reviews, popular classics and the largest possible array of indie film selections. Currently they have quite an assortment of international, indie, animated, and experimental films available for purchase. The higher end – hollywood films (many of which appear on AFC’s top 100 films of all time list) are currently in the works for distribution approval.

The site is currently in beta release, which is probably why some of the high end movies are currently unavailable, but with any luck, The Auteurs will have a massive collection of top shelf movies by this time next year. Bookmark the site for the future, because I’m forecasting big things for film buffs trying to find online quality cinema.