Damsels & Dragons - A Web Series

One of the blog's best friends is America Young. Last year she gave us the web series Groupidity which I still think is great and a second season is coming. This year she had the idea to do a web series based on Live Action role playing. Oh, and everyone look for America in one of the SuperBowl Budweiser commercials. I can't really explain LARP. I have seen the movie Role Models so that is my point of reference. I primarily think of it as a guy thing, but the writer of the series explains that women play it also. Here is what he had to say.

Yes Girls RP
By Eric Campbell writer of Damsels and Dragons.

Yes. Girls RP. It’s a long standing joke in every gaming group I have ever played in. A conversation might start like this:
“We have a new player showing up tonight.”
“Oh sweet, what’s he playing?”
“SHE’S playing a druid.”
“Uh, she?”

Sometimes it’s hard for us fellas to imagine that members of the opposite sex indulge in fantastic adventures like we males do. Another excellent example of disbelief would be when April Wade and America Young approached me to write a web series based on an all girl LARP group (my response sounded less like a verbal double take and more like “stop playing with my emotions”)! They wanted something different, something they hadn’t tried before, something empowering. At first I thought they might just be humoring me.

So much time cloistered away in the ranks of the proud “Nerd” elite, it’s easy to forget that “play” doesn’t differentiate between sexes or species. We’re born with it: an excitement for life, for being alive. The kids out side playing hide and go seek are no different than the cat viciously attacking a deadly roll of toilet paper. Still, was this request for a project for real?

Lo, it was true and thus Damsels and Dragons was born. And being an avid gamer since I was a young kid I had no problems throwing myself into the script. I got to be Joss Whedon “for a day”, writing nerdy stuff for pretty girls (FTW)! And what started out as an experimental concept thingy, has now become a full blown web series project that has a humble yet very supportive fan base that is demanding more. And more they shall get.
So check it out. Come play.

America Young & I Talk About Brittany Murphy

Yesterday kind of sucked. Actually it really sucked. When I heard Brittany Murphy died I immediately wanted to kick her husband's ass. I really dislike the guy and in my opinion, and mine alone, I think she could have righted herself long ago if not for him.

The things that sucks about Brittany dying is that unlike some other people who have hit drugs hard in Hollywood and are still alive, Brittany actually had talent. She could actually act. Watch 8 Mile then watch Uptown Girls and then watch Spun and you can see the range she had. And for good measure listen to a few hundred episodes of King Of The Hill or watch Ramen Girl.

It sucks when anyone dies. It sucks even more when you know they had promise and a future and you were excited about them being clean and more big things from them. Brittany seemed to be trying to get straight. She would be fine for one movie and then lose it for the next. But, she was making progress. It used to be she couldn't get it together at all. One of the times she managed to pull it together in the past year was when she made the movie Abandoned which stars Brittany and Dean Cain.

Also in the movie is our very own America Young. America and I spoke about Brittany's death and her interactions with Brittany on the set. Here is what she had to say.

On the first day of shooting, Brittany took the time to walk around and introduce herself to everyone on the set. No one does that anymore. Right away it made everyone like her. This was the movie that Brittany had arranged for her husband to also be her makeup artist and so he was constantly there. Brittany loved this guy and he was always there for her and she treated him like her rock and her support. She never said anything bad about him and they never argued.

She showed up for work on time almost every day. She always knew all her lines and when she was performing everyone watched her. She was amazing. Everyone would always talk about her presence. Mimi Rogers raved over her and Dean Cain loved her. You could tell that when she was on she was very, very good.

She never threw one diva fit. This was a small budget movie but she never complained and never asked for anything unreasonable. There is one scene in the movie where an actor got really rough with her and threw her to the ground. It was way more than what was called for but, Brittany just got up from the ground and explained to the actor her boundaries in a calm manner and everything was fine.

She was one of the best actresses I have seen get to work in person and was incredibly nice to everyone and didn't just hide in her trailer when she wasn't shooting.

America Young - Funny Or Die

America Young has a brand new video and it is playing on Funny Or Die. In it she confronts the tabloids as they take the shape of individuals mugging a couple. Surreal? Yes. Funny? Absolutely.

Mugging - watch more funny videos

America Young - Catherine & Annie

America has a new web series that she has created and directed. Each episode is less than 3 minutes and follows Catherine & Annie who are two small town girls and their exciting, secret life. At least it is exciting in their minds. Below is the first episode, but all of them are already completed and posted so you don't have to wait a week for each new episode.

All of them are available in HD. All you have to do is click the little HD button in the lower right of the video screen.

America Young - Groupidity - Outtakes

Here are some outtakes from the first season of Groupidity.

How Was Your Weekend? - Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Bad Flirt And Tommy Wiseau

On Thursday I broached the subject of inviting the band Bad Flirt over to the house for kind of a going away dinner for the group on Saturday night. They had spent a week in Los Angeles and mom loves them and so I thought for sure she would want to have a little party. Ummm. Wrong. Not that she doesn't love them, but it was her turn to host her monthly Bunco game. As soon as she said the word Bunco, I knew it was a no go. The woman keeps three dice in her pocket at all times just in case she runs into anyone who wants to play at some given moment in time.

Forced out of the house, I was looking for things to do, when America Young suggested The Room. Apparently I was not the all knowing sophisticate I thought I was because I thought it was some new club. Nope. Turns out it is the worst movie ever made, and a must see if you live in Los Angeles. On the last Saturday of every month there is a screening of the movie and the director shows up and takes a bow and fields questions from the audience before the 100 minute masterpiece is shown.

At that point, I was like what the hell, and decided to ask the band if they would be interested in going. Well, it turns out that what I don't know, is something that four French Canadians know all about. One of them even started shaking like a 10 year olds going to a Jonas Brothers concert at the thought of actually getting to meet the director of the movie, Tommy Wiseau.

I envisioned one theatre half filled with mostly drunk patrons like myself. What it turned out to be was three screens jammed full with another 500 or so people left to wait until next month after they couldn't get tickets.

America had told me that Judd Apatow or one of his bunch was usually in attendance every month and Kristen Bell has apparently been 20 times, but I still had no clue. Well, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long had a clue, because right in the middle of the line, waiting patiently just like "everyday people" were the couple. For the record though they didn't really act like a couple. They acted like two friends in a group of three or four other friends. No hand holding or kissing or anything remotely romantic. They spent the entire time in line repeating their favorite parts of the movie. I guess this was not their first time either.

Promptly at midnight, the director came in and answered questions amidst the applause and squeals of the audience. Tommy may have spent $6M on a movie that looks like it cost 40 dollars, but you would never have known it by the way people treated him at the screening.

For those of you who have not seen the movie, it really is awful. I think the plot is man has girlfriend who cheats a lot. That is pretty much it. It is supposed to be a drama, but you just can't stop laughing. The audience treats the movie as one big Mystery Science 3000 kind of situation. For a first timer, you really have no choice but to just listen as the audience yells at the screen, notes flaws in the script, and on occasion run en masse to the front of the theatre to participate in a scene.

The whole thing is overwhelming when you have not seen the movie before. I think you really need to go several times before you get the true feel of what everyone in the audience is saying and why. You can't rent the movie, but it is for sale on Amazon. Someone told me over the weekend that tomorrow night it will be premiered on Adult Swim which will probably spawn screenings of it all over the place. I know there are some in many cities, but showing it nationally will probably make it much more likely that you too can see Tommy Wiseau in all of his acting, writing and directing glory.

The first clip below is from a screening a few years ago, and the quality is terrible, but will give you an idea of how the audience participates. The second clip is one of my favorite scenes and gives you an idea of how disjointed this whole movie is.

America Young - Groupidity - Season Finale

This is it! The Season Finale! It makes me sad that the season is over. But the stuff we have brewing for next season is so great! Julie falls in love. Vanessa's nerd guy joins the group. David continues his crush. Kelli meets her match, and more but I can't tell you since it'll give away the end of this episode! Greg Aronowitz joins the Groupidity family!

Thank you so much for watching! For those of you who'd like to check out the cast, click here.



GROUPIDITY Ep 11 _ Buddha Would Do It from Groupidity on Vimeo.

America Young - Groupidity Part 10

So this is my favorite episode. Eric Campbell the writer makes another appearance, but Vanessa and David really get a chance to shine! In it I give a shout to my friend's movie, Labou, that comes out in DVD in May. See if you can find it!


GROUPIDITY Ep 10 - W.O.W.!! from Groupidity on Vimeo.