Connecticut: The Latest Filmmaking Hot Spot

I never knew Connecticut was so hip, but recently there has been a surge in movie news involving the Nutmeg State. What is it about the place that is attracting so many Hollywood types? Its idyllic fall foliage? The quaint colonial towns? The stately architecture of Yale? The many Dunkin' Donuts?

Most exciting — for those living in the greater New Haven area, that is — is today's post on SpielbergFilms about the open casting call for extras to star in the upcoming Indiana Jones 4 movie. The website post says:

The production is holding an open casting call for extras to appear in a sequence where Indy tears through campus on a motorcycle (along Chapel Street in New Haven). The call, organized by Billy Dowd Casting, will be held on Monday, June 11 and Tuesday, June 12 at the Omni Hotel at Yale between 1 p.m.-9 p.m. both days.

So hop to it, citizens of Connecticut! You could be in an Indiana Jones movie!

What else is going on in quaint little CT? Check it out:

• The marriage drama Revolutionary Road, based on the 1961 Richard Yates novel and starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, takes place in the peaceful-yet-suffocating Connecticut suburbia in the 1950s. According to IMDB, the movie is filming in three separate CT locations.

More Connecticutlicious goings-on if you

• The very similarly titled Reservation Road, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo & Jennifer Connolly and based on the excellent book by John Burnham Schwartz, also takes place in CT. The movie centers around the aftermath of a hit-and-run which kills a child and was filmed in both Stamford and Bristol. Hopefully the makers of both Revolutionary and Reservations Roads will be able to do their respective books justice.
• Virginia Madsen has been cast in the spooky-sounding supernatural thriller A Haunting in Connecticut, which "tells the true story of a family forced to relocate near a clinic where their teenage son is being treated for cancer. There, they discover that the home they have rented is a former mortuary with a dark history that might account for the extraordinary manifestations of the boy's illness and the supernatural events that threaten the family." True story: Yipes!
• Laws of Motion, an indie comedy now starring Ginnifer Goodwin in addition to Hilary Swank, Matthew Perry and Ben Foster, will film in Connecticut. The story "centers on a husband (Perry) struggling with life in a repressive career and community and enduring headaches caused by his free-spirited brother (Foster) and sister (Goodwin). Swank will play a supporting role as the all-too-perfect neighbor of Perry's harried character."

Game Developer Start-up Brash Entertainment Raises $400 Million

Los Angeles - Brash Entertainment, a start-up game developer that plans to focus on games based on licensed film, TV and music properties, announced on Monday that it has raised $400 million in its first round of financing, led by ABRY Partners.

New York Life Capital Partners III, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance and PPM America Private Equity Fund II also participated.

The Los Angeles-based company was co-founded by chairman and CEO Mitch Davis and COO Nicholas Longano, who previously developed the Massive Incorporated in-game ad network, and Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures.

The company's management team also includes former Activision CFO Bill Chardavoyne, and chief creative officer Larry Shapiro, formerly with talent agency CAA.

Brash currently has more than 40 licenses through partnerships with five major film studios, and twelve games in production, including multiple titles based on Lionsgate's "Saw" horror film franchise.

The company has partnered with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group to distribute its titles.

Brash's development team includes members who have worked on titles such as "God of War," "Silent Hill" and "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butchers Bay."

Where’s the Action at SXSW?

GETV was in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW), the annual geek summer camp. It was all about the panels, hallways and parties. So what's the score on who hangs out where? That's what Irina finds out.

Twitterdildonic Stimulation

While at SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, Roving RoboReporter Violet Blue caught up with a unique hacker by the name of Kyle Machulis. Kyle isn’t your ordinary teledildonic hardware hacker. No, Kyle created the ultimate real-time sex device mashup by linking public Twitter updates to a Rez Trance Vibrator allowing users to FEEL Twitter messages. Kyle demonstrates and explains how it all works. You will never regard Twitter the same way again. (This video is safe for work, no matter what your industry).

I Want My Justin.tv

Justin.tv is the mobile Internet lifecasting phenomenon that’s blowing up the new and old mediasphere. Justin Kan invited us over to his messy ass dorm style apartment which doubles as his startup company. Irina gets the scoop on Justin’s vow of 24×7 public existence long before Jay Leno. Has anyone called Leno yet?

Inside Onomy Labs

Onomy Labs like to make fun interactive devices that are engaging, intuitive and cutting edge. Onomist and GETV R&D reporter Julia Yacenda prods principle Onomists and former Xerox PARC researchers Dale MacDonald and Scott Minneman into showing off a couple of their signature interactive pieces. Fresh out of the lab is the GeoConnectTable, an amazingly intuitive interactive interface to satellite maps and geo-data. Another popular piece is RED, the Reading Eye Dog. Watch and listen as RED sings a popular dog song in his robotic canine synthesized voice.

Yuri’s Night at NASA

NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California opened up her vast hangar to celebrate the anniversary of the first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Oh what a long way we've come since the Cold War. This night was a mix of space geeks, Burning Man freaks and tons of fun.

Double Vision Dances in the Technology Age

We were recently invited to check out Double Vision’s “To Futurism and Back Again” dance performance. Irina checks in with Double Vision’s artistic directors Pauline Jennings and Sean Clute to find out what ‘intermedia’ means and how dance relates to technology.

KITT is Alive and Gay

It was 25 years ago when Michael Knight began prowling the mean streets with his trusty molecular bonded chatty partner KITT. Michael was last seen in Germany while KITT waits on a lonely used car lot in Dublin, California for a new owner flush with the correct configuration of Benjamins. Irina gets inside KITT and has a little heart-to-heart with the hardened turbo powered crime fighter.

Yahoo!, She’s a Brickhouse

Yahoo! opened her new San Francisco research lab to an unsuspecting public lucky enough to sample her fresh warez. Irina hits the Pipes, samples the del.icio.us DNA, gets mixd and finds a very happy Messenger.

A Day at the Maker Faire

The Maker Faire came to town and it was chock full of brilliant, freaky gadget makers and inventors from around the world. GETV’s Roving RoboReporter Violet Blue wanders the fairgrounds to see how things are going in the Make Play Day room, explores vintage pinball machines and checks in with the Power Tool Drag Races.

More Maker Faire Madness

There was so much goodness at the Maker Faire this year, we couldn’t just do one episode. Violet Blue goes deep and talks to makers Kimric Smythe and Shannon O’Hare of the Neverwas Haul project, Katie London and Kate Hartman of Botanicalls and Ron Sears, who with his son Nick Sears, created the ultraORB.