Machinima Roundup and Top Five of 2006

Well, work has been so busy lately that I have not had a lot of time for regular postings. Unfortunately that means I need to ram a lot of information down everyone's throat. However, this presents a problem in that I myself cannot stand long blog posts. Therefore, in the interests of brevity and knowing that the average person spends 20 seconds on a web page, I present the following 20 second roundup (lol).

1. Creative Movies has just announced a machinima contest. The submission deadline is Feb 7, 2007, and there will be two categories, counterstrike, and open games (everything else?).
2. Speaking of contests, Planet Half-Life is hosting a contest for short Half Life videos. The "Gordie" prizes will be announced after all submissions are are judged (April 2007).
3. The guys who made Illegal Danish: Super Snacks are putting ad content into their films, or so says Vox (with a link to the full report that requires registration, so I cannot verify this).
4. There was a post on if:book about an essay from Walter Ong on the difference between a reader of a book and an audience member listening to an oral presentation (entited The Writer's Audience Is Always a Fiction - PDF link). Interesting when you consider this idea in the age of user-created content and with respect to film/machinima and the recent surge in websites such as YouTube. What is the audience for machinima? Do creative types produce content with the audience in mind or do they simply make what they want with no regard for how it might be viewed or scrutinized? What happens when everyone in the audience is a content creator as well?
5. More4 has a video report on machinima.
6. Britannica Dreams has a holiday-themed machinima, Visiting Scrooge.
7. Variety had an article on how some recent machinimators have been picked up by a few companies (mostly game dev companies).
8. LA Interactiva has a short article on political machinima (reminiscent of the "machinima with issues" panel at the film festival).
9. LuluTV has a best of 2006 post, including some machinima.
10. Overman's Overcast episode 12 includes a retrospective (and possibly a lot of eggnog?).

Speaking of the best of 2006, this is my list for the best machinima of 2006 (from what I've seen of course).

1. The Days After (my favorite of the year).
2. The Snow Witch (this is defnitely growing on me).
3. Male Restroom Etiquette (hilarious - note that number 1 and 3 in my list have something in common).
4. Silver Bells and Golden Spurs (always a sucker for a good western).
5. The Adventures of Bill and John (extremely well done).

Hmmm...none of these were made using a Valve Source game...!?

Happy New Year and may 2007 be better than 2006!

UPDATE! Creative Movies announces that the machinima contest has been extended to Feb. 20th, with an increase in maximum film length and size.