Make Sure It Is Fun For Your Fans to Be Your Fans

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Michael Brandvold

Angels and Airwaves Love I tell many people one of my strengths is I am a fan, I’m not a musician. I love music, I love bands, I love concerts. I am your customer.

Last night I went to the one night only showing of the Angels and Airwaves movie Love. I had been waiting to see this indie sci-fi movie that the band produced for many months. Angels and Airwaves (AVA) have made it so much fun to be a fan and I love it. They gave away their last album LOVE for free. They released a live/behind the scenes DVD. They released a great selection of t-shirts and merchandise. They provided sound check and VIP access that their shows. Now they spent their own money (reported to be $500,000) and five years to produce a full length feature movie for which they provided the soundtrack. They will be releasing the movie and a double album this coming November. They just didn’t show the movie last night. They also did a live three song show, did a fan Q&A and debuted the video for their brand new single Anxiety. I spent over two hours with my favorite band and got a tidal wave of new stuff from them. As a fan, I loved it!

Musicians and bands need to always remember this; make sure it is fun for your fans to be your fans. When they are having fun they are supporting you, they are buying your product.

How was the Angels and Airwaves movie Love? Great film for a low budget, indie production. The movie is a 2001 Space Odyssey type of sci-fi flick. During the civil war a alien ship is discovered in Crater Lake. Fast forward to a lone astronaut on the International Space Station. He looses contact with earth. You then see how he changes as he looses contact with other people. The astronaut comes to learn he is the last human being in existence and has a encounter with the alien intelligence. Not a simple story line I know. It is a thinker. I think you would need to watch it a couple times to put the pieces together. I admire AVA for not making a AVA movie, but a movie with a interesting story that they only provided the soundtrack. You will not see the band in the film, they are not performing in the movie, they are not singing in the movie… just instrumental soundtrack. It really is a art movie made with passion.

Trailer for Angels & Airwaves Movie LOVE, Showing at Santa Barbara Film Festival

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Michael Brandvold

Shown Santa Barbara Film Festival – Feb 2nd, 4th and 5th 2011
DVD Release with deluxe album – March 22nd 2011
Writer, Director – William Eubank

Synopsis – After losing contact with Earth, Astronaut LEE MILLER becomes stranded in orbit alone aboard the International Space Station. As time passes and life support systems dwindle, Lee battles to maintain his sanity – and simply stay alive. His world is a claustrophobic and lonely existence, until he makes a strange discovery aboard the ship. Driven by the powerful music of ANGELS & AIRWAVES, LOVE explores the fundamental human need for connection and the limitless power of hope A high-impact visual adventure, that resonates a common truth, that everyone has a story to tell and something even greater to leave behind.

Writer, Director – William Eubank
Executive Producer – Tom DeLonge
Executive Producer – Mark Eaton
Executive Producers – Angels & Airwaves
Music By – Angels & Airwaves
Producer – Dan Figur
Producer – Vertel Scott
Producer – Nate Kolbeck
Associate Producer – Chase Rudolph
Director Of Photography – William Eubank
Editor – Brian Berdan, A.C.E.
Editor – Scott Chestnut
Production Designer – William Eubank
Sound Designer – Bob Kellough
Sound Mixer – Andy Koyama
Music Co-Producer & Engineer – Critter
©ANGELS&AIRWAVES 2011

http://angelsandairwaves.com
http://markeaton.tv
http://williameubank.com

TRON: Legacy – Six Things that Bothered Me and My Review

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Michael Brandvold

I’m not sure. It wasn’t a bad movie, but I also didn’t go WOW! when it was over. The visuals were amazing. The 3D was great. The soundtrack was incredible. The story, well it’s Tron and nobody should be expecting a great story that pulls you in.

Some little things that bothered me:

The CGI was too good. Things looked too real, too lifelike in the grid. I wanted it to be more computer graphics looking. The flat graphics look on the original was missing for me.
The costumes. They often times really looked like clothes with neon strips sewed on, rather than what appeared to computer enhanced clothing like the first movie.
The copy of many scenes from the first movie. How does Sam get pulled into the grid, he sits down at a desk that just happens to have giant laser pointing at it, and the laser turns on and sucks him in. Original! Tron and Clu are the replacements for MCP and Sark. Good guys become evil guys. I guess that would be like MacWrite and MacPaint ruling all software on your MacBook.
The Tron character is revealed at the end of the movie. All of a sudden near the very end Flynn asks Tron what has he become and Tron just like that chooses good or evil and is then killed. He is Tron, he could have been much more than the evil ninja warrior sidekick to the evil villain.
The overall lighting in the movie seemed dark. Colors were not as vibrant as what I would have liked.
The hockey helmets were replaced with high tech motorcycle helmets and face shields.

The CGI that creates the younger Flynn is also very well done. It was 3/4 of the way through the movie that I reminded myself that the young Flynn is played by Jeff Bridges, it looked so well done I didn’t question it wasn’t a young Jeff Bridges.

Good or bad, I also picked up a one line homage to WarGames…. the only way to win the game is to not play at all.

I guess really many of these are just very minor complaints. I am watching the original Tron as I type this and I think items #1 and #2 are probably the things that stopped me really loving the movie. The first movie was all WOW!, it had never been done before. I suppose it is hard to compete with a movie that had that level of impact. I think there are times when computer graphics can be too lifelike, too real. I suppose if you think about it, just like graphics have improved over the years, they would have improved in the grid as well.

Will I see it again, of course. And I will buy the DVD. But it didn’t leave the impression on me that the first movie did, and maybe that is impossible as the first movie really was groundbreaking. TRON: Legacy doesn’t break any ground.

Farrah Fawcett Barbie Doll to be Released in 2011

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Michael Brandvold

As someone who had the famous Farrah Fawcett poster on his wall as a kid I might just have to buy the Farrah Fawcett Barbie Doll when it is released in 2011.

We have seen the popularity of Barbie throughout our various Hubs. We have seen the popularity of bikinis and how Farrah Fawcett stole the attention of the world in a one piece bathing suit.

Finally decades later, a prototype doll of the much loved blond actress from Charlie Angels, named Farrah Fawcett in her memorable red one piece swimming suit is going up for sale.

The prototype Barbie doll is clothed in the red one piece swim suit that launched a thousand dreams.

This is the poster every one wanted. This is the poster every one lusted after.

Of all the photos of bikinis and scantily clad women, this is the single most provocative photo of our lifetime. Amazingly, the poster is a blond girl in a bikini. It is Farrah Fawcett in a red one piece swim suit.

This prototype Barbie doll (shown below) is a one and only Barbie Doll – “a one of one”. It is the prototype that was created for the upcoming launch of the Farrah Fawcett doll which will be available in the stores in the Fall of 2011. While the cost of the doll was $1500, the auction price is expected to be much higher. Additionally, the popularity of this new collectible is expected to be very high especially among aging female and male baby boomers in the United States! Will this Barbie spur the very first gift of a Barbie doll trend to male baby boomers? I think so!

The Barbie doll is a stunning recreation of the iconic pin-up poster. I think Farrah would be very proud.

via $1500 Prototype Barbie Doll – of the Actress Who Launched a Thousand Dreams.

Tron-Inspired “My Other Ride Is a Light Cycle” T-Shirt and Hoody

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Michael Brandvold

Time to start thinking about your wardrobe for the Tron: Legacy premiere next month and personally I think this hoody would be perfect! Order here!

Back in 2008, I posted about a Tron-inspired hoody design which was submitted to Threadless. That design, sadly, never made it to sale. I had always assumed that either it was too geeky, or maybe the design was too much like the one in the film.

Two years later, that design has finally been made into a threadless t-shirt, possibly fueled by the buzz and excitement for Tron Legacy. The tee, designed by Rolf Nelson, and titled My Other Ride is a Light Cycle, is printed “all over” a light blue Jersey tee (also available in a zip-up Mermaid Green American Apparel hoody). And yes, it does glow-in-the-dark! Head on over to Threadless to buy it now. More photos after the jump.

via Cool Stuff: Tron-Inspired “My Other Ride Is a Light Cycle” T-Shirt and Hoody | /Film.