A quick pass through Kickstarter will return any number of movie projects. We’ve featured some great ones right here on Geekadelphia. One thing you don’t see a ton of? Special effects and CG. The folks behind ARELLA are stepping in to fill that gap, creating a 5-7 minute sci-fi/fantasy film with some serious production value. ARELLA will feature an original score, CG, and a real sword created by the film’s art director. That’s serious commitment.

Although the team wants to keep the details of the plot under wraps to avoid spoilers, here’s what they’re willing to share:

Martin Neumann is concerned when he notices that his apartment is being watched by a tall powerfully built figure. In a bout of curiosity he tracks the figure into an alleyway and discovers not only that the strange man has special qualities but that the stranger’s interest in him may be due to his best friend Susan Beckford. For unknown to her she possess a hidden power that may be the key to humanity’s salvation.

Arella is a live action fantasy short film, written and directed by Chuks Oyem and produced by Chidi Ozieh. We have assembled a team of young, independent film making talent from Philadelphia and New York, to create the ultimate short film, portraying a city under siege from a Hollywood-scale biblical disaster. We are aiming to make a concise and energetic short film with an emphasis on intriguing storytelling.

The group is getting close to their funding goal; be sure to check out the video for a look at some of their previous work and some more hints about the film. Did I mention that the art director is a sword maker?

The Project: ARELLA

Creators: Chuks Oyem and Chidi Ozieh

The Sweet Spot: You can get a digital copy of the film and a “Thanks” credit by pledging as little as $1, and for only $20 you can get a hard copy DVD as well as a making of featurette.

Funding Deadline: September 22nd, 2011

More Info: Check out Rubic House’s other projects on their website, and get all the details on ARELLA itself straight from Kickstarter.

Every Monday (or Tuesday!) Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by local Philadelphians. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

Family Guy is one of the geekiest things on network television right now and is gearing up for its 11th season on Fox. Its hard to believe that the show would still be running this long after its tumultuous beginnings and getting canceled during its first run on Fox.

The 11th season of Family Guy premiers on September 25th, and we have some RSVPs to give away to an advance screening at 11:59pm Thursday, September 15th at the Rave.

Wanna go? Simply comment with your favorite episode and why by Wednesday at midnight, and the top answers will be on the guest list courtesy of Fox and Geekadelphia.

This week in the Comic Roundup, I look at the Spider-Island: The Avengers one-shot and the first issues of both Justice League Int. and the hotly anticipated new Batgirl series. Read on to get the lowdown!

Batgirl #1
By Gail Simone and Ardian Syaf

Of all the new series that are coming out of DC’s New 52, Batgirl has been one of the most anticipated and controversial. People seemed to have a real problem with Barbara Gordon getting the use of her legs back and returning to the persona and costume she made so famous. Me, I don’t really have a problem with it. I loved her as Oracle and while it’s a shame to see such a well (more…)

Attention history geeks! On September 13th, you’ll have the chance to own one of the few remaining original copies of Ben Franklin’s famous “Join, or Die” political cartoon. A copy of the May 9, 1754 Pennsylvania Gazette (Containing the Freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestic) featuring the cartoon and Franklin’s accompanying editorial is going on the auction block during the Beverly Hills Signature Historical Manuscripts Auction in Beverly Hills.

As we all remember from our history classes, Franklin’s editorial called for colonists to unify against the encroaching French and Indian nations. The iconic image’s desired effect wasn’t realized at that point, but true unity was finally achieved when the Brits started pushing the colonies around.

The starting bid is $50,000, but don’t let that dissuade you. After all, included in the Gazette at no extra charge are notices about newly arrived goods from Europe and India, as well as some text regarding the many wondrous usages of snuff.

Torrenting. That word has a bit of a negative connotation to it these days. Whether you’re thinking about The Pirate Bay, Suprnova, or any other number of torrenting websites, the first thing that comes to mind is “those are places I can steal music, software, movies, etc.”

Well, Hive 76 isn’t going to teach you how to do that. Sorry.

Need to get 4GB worth of files to 12 different people all at once? Struggling with huge files that you can’t dish out over Sendspace? Swing by the Hive tomorrow for a special torrenting class led by eagleapex. He’ll teach you how to safely and legally send large files over a bittorrent network.

The source kicks off at 6pm at Hive 76′s headquarters at 9th and Spring Garden. The course is free, but go RSVP on Hive 76′s website to let ‘em know you’re coming.

Torrenting Course @ Hive 76
Tuesday, September 13th, 6PM
www.hive76.org/workshop-how-to-torrent

Already planning to hit up National Mechanics tonight? Great! Because the popular geek haven is hosting a special food-centric Science on Tap this evening.

Entitled Chile Peppers: Heat and History, this session will be led by Joseph Rucker, Ph.D., Director of Research and Development at Integral Molecular, Inc. Here’s the details from the Academy’s press release.

In this spicy illustrated talk, biochemist Joseph Rucker will share his personal interest in the history and science of chile peppers.

Chile peppers are one of the most notable gifts of the New World to the Old. The global spread of chile peppers altered world cuisine, giving us everything from moles to masalas. Just as important, the “heat” of chile peppers provides a window for understanding the sensations of pain and temperature.

This month’s Science on Tap is being presented by the APS museum. I’ll see you there, geeks!

Science on Tap @ National Mechanics
Monday, September 12th at 6 pm
www.nationalmechanics.com

Hayley J. Williams is the next British rising star. HeR craft is tightly woven in Sci-Fi and Horror. Recently, Hayley was featured in the BBC Radio Drama Torchwood: The Lost Files. Hayley co-starred as Sian Pearce. In her episode, The Devil and Miss Carew, Hayley had the pleasure of working alongside Torchwood cast members John Barrowman and Eve Myles.

A self-described Horror Junkie, her love of horror led her to aspire to be the next Scream Queen—a title she would wear proudly! I jumped at the chance to interview Hayley. It’s always great to see a rising female horror star! So I got to ask her a few questions about her experiences working with Torchwood, and her horror movie dreams.

What is it about the horror and Sci-Fi genre that draws you in as an actress?

I love being scared! Halloween is my favorite holiday. I’ve been interested in the paranormal since I was about 10, and anything ghostly, weird or wonderful fascinates me and I have this urge to find out more!

I watched Nightmare on Elm Street on my 13th birthday during a girlie sleepover and I remember my friend Carol and I were the only ones who managed to make it through the whole thing. All of the other girls hid behind the sofa, and it was then that I realized how powerful the genre was! I became a junkie and rented every horror video I could find, and since then it was always my dream to be in a horror movie.

I got my dream role playing the lead in the spooky ghost story The Shadow Within. I didn’t get to do much screaming, but I did get a great fight scene, an underwater scene, and I got to work with special effects for the first time! I think that’s what I like most about making films in general… all the cool things you get to do! It brings out my inner child…especially when you get to play with blood and gore. How much fun is that? (more…)

If you’re an active reader of Geekadelphia (or just friends with any of us IRL), you’ve likely heard us talking about Britt Miller. Whether its here on the website, on our Twitter feeds or Facebook, we try to shout out this talented gal whenever we can.

Over the past few years, her Philadelphia-inspired art has become a staple of the city’s First Friday scene, regularly appearing in just about every gallery you can imagine in Old City. One of her pieces was even featured on a Teuscher’s chocolate box. Delicious.

Sadly, this brilliant talent (and close friend) is leaving Philadelphia to study abroad, traveling to Paris and across Europe in pursuit of her MBA. While we are all rather proud of her, it’s always sad to see a gifted Philadelphian leave the city.

In the tradition of Technically Philly’s Exit Interviews, we sat down with Britt Miller to talk about her leaving Philadelphia. Unfortunately, due to a surprise power outage and WordPress malfunction, that interview was lost forever. What follows is a JPG and GIF interpretation of the conversation that took place.

Good luck Britt!

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You’ve probably already seen this site making the rounds, what with its major local appeal. It was all started internally at Neiman Group. They’ve got something called Neiman Labs.

The entire goal of the group is to explore the new developments that have come about with the adoption of tech and social media, Philly SteakOut is a product of that exploration. I had a chance to chat briefly with Chris Reif (a Tony Luke’s guy but admitted Steak ‘Em Up is his dark horse) and George Ward (cut from the same cheesesteak wrap as I, being a fan of the steaks from John’s Roast Pork) from Neiman to learn a bit more.
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Have you seen them? Strange tiles embedded in the asphalt throughout Philadelphia that read “TOYNBEE IDEA IN KUBRICK’S 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER.”

Where did these things come from? What do they mean? Who is responsible for putting them there? Such questions vexed Philadelphians Jon Foy, Justin Duerr, Colin Smith and Steve Weinik so much that their shared obsession resulted in Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. Like Eraserhead and 12 Monkeys before it, the film perfectly captures the sense of weirdness that seems to permeate life in our city.

Yet it is also a surprisingly moving experience that offers insights on topics ranging from the oft-ignored magic of daily life to the nature of obsession. At the heart of the film is Duerr, a charismatic and intelligent staple on Philly’s art/music scene whose fascination with the tiles and their creator gives the film much of its emotional resonance. He is joined on his quest by Smith and Weinik, artists in their own right, and together the men embark on a shared journey that leads to a suitably strange and wonderful resolution of the central mystery.

Premiering at Sundance earlier this year, the movie earned first-time director Jon Foy the prestigious Directing Award in the film festival’s documentary category. After an ambitious rollout onto various VOD platforms last month, the film will make its hometown debut at International House for nightly screenings this Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday that will be followed by Q&A sessions featuring all four of the men (each of whom are artists in their own right) as well as executive producer Doug Block. As a longtime tile devotee myself, I jumped at the chance to meet with Foy, Duerr, Smith and Weinik at Old City’s Café Ole for a roundtable discussion about everything from the tiles themelves to Philly’s indie film scene.

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There may be other areas better known for the film industry, mainly Hollywood, but as many of you may know there is a history of great filmmaking in Philadelphia. The most well-known, of course, being Rocky. The film was a massive success and made several of the city’s landmarks famous around the world. Other films like World War Z are based on the city, but are in fact filmed elsewhere. Whether the city is the inspiration or the location, it doesn’t matter; Philadelphia is an ideal film location.

I know that it hasn’t been released yet but World War Z promises to be one of the most exciting films of 2012, so it needed to be in the list. This film will almost definitely come to life when played on a 3D Blu ray player, bringing the pretend Philadelphia to your living room. (more…)

Tony DiGerolamo has been on the comics scene for years now in print (Jersey Devil and The Simpsons comic among others) but is now more widely known for his webcomic projects.

As co-creator of comic strip Super Frat and writer and co-founder of the a href=”http://www.thewebcomicfactory.com/”>Webcomic Factory web site, Tony has embraced the digital age of comics. Residing just minutes outside Philly, I was able to talk to Tony about his work, Philadelphia and he geek tendencies.

You have a full boat so to speak, with many projects going on simultaneously. Let’s start with Super Frat – how did that get started?

I actually wrote the script as a pitch for a print comic in 1999. Chris Moreno did some pin ups and I pitched it to some companies. Most of them said it was too dirty and vulgar and that no one wanted to read about superheroes that didn’t have costumes or use their powers very often. Then I was at a convention with Chris Moreno promoting the Travelers and we saw the guys from Penny Arcade selling $20 t-shirts all day. When I complimented them on their amazing sales, they said something like, “This was the worst show we’ve ever done. We’re never coming back.” I was just floored. I turned to Chris and said, “We have to do a webcomic. Now.”

Christian Beranek, who was still running Silent Devil with his brother, was very supportive. We started webcomics on the Silent Devil site and got some great hits.

And to follow the webcomic phenomenon, what about Webcomic Factory?

After working for a few years trying to get the Super Frat movie rolling in Hollywood, Christian Beranek, who had been working with me back since the Silent Devil days, left L.A. for greener pastures. I had been pushing the webcomic angle at Silent Devil for years, but he hadn’t quite been sold. Now, with a potential for a whole new project, he embraced the idea of The Webcomic Factory. (more…)