Knights of The Guild 2nd Anniversary Party - we are all invited!

UPDATE: There is still time to send your questions in to the cast and crew ready for the party tomorrow - send them to Knightsoftheguild@gmail.com


Saturday February 5th at 6:00 PM PST - BE THERE!
How time flies! It only seems like a few weeks ago since the Kenny hosted the KOTG 1st Anniversary party at his new house. What a blast that was as Kenny and Jenni served up a delicious show full of fun, laughter and tons of special guests - live from the KOTG studio! Streaming it live via Ustream meant that everyone could take part and Guildies from all over the globe joined in the fun.

Celebrate this great podcast!
KOTG give Guild fans so much. They are the #1 resource for ALL the news on The Guild and a sure way to cope with Guild Deficiency Syndrome. With on-set interviews, the special guests they have on each show and reports from Cons, book signings and more, even the most obsessive fans will find out more about how The Guild is made and the people behind it by listening. So I hope you will be raising a glass to Kenny and Jenni tomorrow because they deserve it. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

And don't forget that you can keep up with KOTG all over the 'Net:

The Podcast: http://knightsoftheguild.podbean.com/
The Blog: http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/
The Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/knightsofguild
The Kenny: http://twitter.com/#!/geekyfanboy
The Jenni: http://twitter.com/#!/jennipowell
The Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68587228491&ref=ts
The WatchTheGuild.com: http://community.watchtheguild.com/group/knightsoftheguildpodcast
The Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/knights-of-the-guild (Password: KOTG)

Special Guests Galore
Kenny has posted all the details for the live streaming on WatchTheGuild.com forums. There will be whole host of cast and crew attending including Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, Vince Caso, Teal Sherer and Sean Becker. And speaking of Sean Becker, looked what popped up in a search that I don't have set up:

Frontpage of the new seanbecker.com (not shown: a wiener) 

What is this all about?? I've requested further information from Sean but so far he has refused to answer, so we can only SPECULATE IN A SCIENTIFIC MANNER.

Urkel + 2(chicken sammich) + wiener + hollow boasting* =  THE BECKPOCALYPSE!

*Sean has put "Best. In Town" at the bottom of the page. And the page title is "Director and other stuff". So Sean is boasting that he is the best "Director and other stuff" in town. Do you think Felicia is going to take that kind of smack talking lying down? She's fired him once, what will she do to him this time? WE'LL FIND OUT TOMORROW LIVE ON USTREAM!!

And the Streamy Nominations are....

Dr Horrible screenshot from Streamy Awards Nominations live webcast this morning

Online excitement this morning!

The highly anticipated announcements for the 2010 Streamy Awards came this morning in a live broadcast on uStream (with a simultaneous broadcast on Justin.tv). The show started with a montage from last year's award ceremony and the acceptance speeches from Felicia Day and Joss Whedon. By that time the chat was raring to hear the nominations and what a lot of categories!

Calendars cleared for April 11th 2010
The Award ceremony is on April 11th and you can find a full list of the nominees on streamys.org but here's some noms of interest:

The Guild
SEVEN nominations this year:

• Best Comedy Web Series
• Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series: Sean Becker
• Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series: Felicia Day
• Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series: Sandeep Parikh
• Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series: Felicia Day
• Best Ensemble Cast in a Comedy Web Series: Vincent Caso, Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Any Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen
• Best Guest Star in a Web Series: Wil Wheaton

Legend of Neil

THREE nominations this year:

• Best Comedy Web Series
• Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series: Sandeep Parikh
• Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series: Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh

...and Nathan Fillion is up for Best Guest Star in a Web Series for PG Porn (against Wil Wheaton, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Courteney Cox and Chris Hardwick).

The Crew, Epic Fu, How It Should Have Ended, Happy Tree Friends, Buck Hollywood, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Auto-tune The News and many others were also nominated, so check out the complete list and see if your favourite is up for an award!

People's Choice - coming soon...

It's not all down to the International Academy of Web Television. WE get to vote in the People's Choice Award - and that will be announced shortly. I tweeted @MarcHustvedt asking him when we'll find out and this was his reply:

Lots to look forward to in the coming weeks!

'A' is for Avatar, 'X' is for Xbox and 'N' is for Neil: Monday's Legendary Guild!

WUT?!?

Okay, maybe 'Z' is for titles so enigmatic Google won't know what to do with it. Nevermind. If I wanted this blog to be in top 100 I would...do the opposite of what I do (apparently). What I mean is tomorrow is going to be a great day if you have an internet connection and an Xbox.

Let's start with the 'A'. And the 'X'.

Tomorrow the 'Do You Want To Date My Avatar' video is released on Xbox live. You won't need a code anymore, just go to the marketplace and click...easy! And if you don't know what 'Do You Want To Date My Avatar' is then:

1) Where have you been?!?

2) It's the stunning new music video by The Guild starring all the cast: Felicia Day (Codex), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), Amy Okuda (Tink), Jeff Lewis (Vork), Robin Thorsen (Clara) and Vincent Caso (Bladezz). And they are all in FULL AVATAR COSTUME!

I reviewed the video last week and I can tell you - you will absolutely love it! And if you haven't got access to Xbox live you only have to wait until a week tomorrow to see it. If you can't wait to get your Sandeep and Felicia hit then this will please you mightily:

Season 2 of Legend of Neil has started!

Episode 7 (which is S2, Ep 1) was released on 27th of July (warning: NSFW!):

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

sucked into the world of video game, Zelda (yeah, you don't want to know how...that won't stop you from finding out, though). People lucky enough to be at the LoN panel at SD Comic Con were treated to the first 3 episodes. And the word is - OMG it's awesome! (Yes, that's 3 words. Sue me). To read a first-hand account you would do well to visit Dani Figueiredo's Comic Con reports on the Guildies Posterous blog. There are reports from other Guildies, there, too. They capture all the excitement, wonder and sheer joy of CC. She talks about the LoN panel in Part 5, but I recommend reading all of them. They are long but well worth it.

Episode 8 of LoN is released tomorrow and then every 2 weeks. I can't wait to see what going to happen!

Coping with GDS (Guild Deficiency Syndrome)

The Guild end of Season 2 uStream appearance

EDIT: The Guild Season 5 is NOW GO!

Are you feeling too tired/too hot/too bored/too meh?

If the answer to any of these (or any other affliction currently assailing you) is yes then the problem is most likely to be GDS (Guild Deficiency Syndrome). It's sweeping the globe faster than swine flu and is almost as potent. Read on to find out more about this debilitating condition and what you can do to protect yourself against its onslaught.

Symptoms

These include fatigue, loss of interest, restlessness,  waning enthusiasm for everything (even the Internet!), weight gain, weight loss, spots, freckles, shouting "Vorktanimo" at strangers....These are just a few of the many, many symptoms of GDS.

A Doctor testing something. 

Causes

First documented last year, scientists believe that these disparate symptoms are all part of a single condition, GDS. After baffling the lab geeks for a several weeks, an alpha geek realised that he, too, was suffering from the same symptoms. After stringent self-testing and cross referencing with available data Dr H, as we will call him, came to the unshakeable conclusion that it was directly caused by the lack of new episodes of The Guild. The data showed that between the end of Season 1 and the beginning of filming of Season 2 there was a massive increase in the number of geeks calling the 1-800-ihavetoomuchtimeonmyhandsandhavesearchedallthemedicalwebsitesandthinkimreallyillforsure

 nerdline. 

Diagnosis.....GDS

Doctor H developed a simple test to confirm whether a patient is suffering from GDS. Subjects were wired up to brain scans and shown a series of images. All those subjects reporting GDS symptoms showed massive brain activity when exposed to images from The Guild - yet failed to show any noticeable brain activity at any other time. Proof, Dr H concludes, that The Guild, or more accurately the lack of The Guild, is to blame.

The Guild Season 2 DVD cover

Cure

While there is no actual cure, Dr H did suggest some ways to relieve the symptoms. These steps will give temporary relief and should be repeated as many times as necessary to enable the sufferer to have some semblance of a normal life.

• Watch Season 1 and Season 2 of The Guild on rising in the morning
• After breakfast watch the End of Season 2 uStream 
• Before lunch watch Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh's uStream appearance
• Search in vain for video from The Streamy Awards 2009
• @kimevey to see if Felicia has finished writing Season 3 yet
• Content yourself with official pics from The Streamys instead (or my unofficial ones)
• Watch Season 1 of Legend of Neil (NSFW) for a Sandeep and Felicia fix
• Get annoyed that the Dr Horrible Paley panel is not available in your country
• @feliciaday directly to see if she's finished writing Season 3
• Soothe yourself with Felicia Day's new photoshoot
• Listen to "The Knights of the Guild" podcast
• Watch Season 1 and Season 2 of The Guild on DVD while eating dinner
• Delete your @feliciaday tweet for fear of annoying her
• Watch all the special features and work out if there are Easter Eggs or not
• Watch Felicia Day at E3 (so proud of her!)
• Check up on all the Guildies on Twitter and Facebook to see if there is any word of Season 3 yet
• Watch Jared live the GDS life on video
• Retire to watch Season 1 and 2 as you fall asleep
• Dream about how cool it would be to appear in Season 3
• On rising, start process again.

Caution Required!

Dr H is at pains to point out that reducing your exposure to The Guild to the levels prescribed above might be too little, too soon. He recommends that if, for whatever awful reason, you have to be away from your computer or DVD player that wearing a Guild teeshirt and holding a bobble-headed Edgar can relieve some symptoms temporarily.

Support groups

Watchtheguild.com has updates, all the episodes and some bonus videos online. You will be able to find support from fellow Guildies (as sufferers call themselves) on The Guild Community website. Here you can set up your own account and chat with like-minded individuals on weighty matters of the day: is Sandeep a zombie, does Felicia really turn up on set swearing and drunk, and will there be a DDR dance-off between Codex and Stupid Tall Hot Girl...

Hope for a cure?

Dr H was optimistic that once Season 3 starts shooting sufferers will find their symptoms lifting: "We found that last year, when Season 2 started production, calls to the helpline lessened as people started to anticipate the coming season. And I - and I mean they - felt more able to sleep at night without worrying about when I - they - would get a new fix."

Felicia Day - all her fault?

While it would be all too easy to lay the blame squarely at the young multi-talented, award-winning writer/creator/actor/producer surely we can't blame her completely? Dr H, disagrees: "No - it's completely all down to her. Sure - Kim, Sandeep, Jeff, Amy, Robin, Vincent, Edgar, Dani - all played their parts, but really it's all down to her. She never knew what depths I had, what a glorious future we could have..." At this point the Dr appeared to remember he'd left a bunsen on somewhere and hurried away. With all the work he's been up to recently, helping the victims, working on a cure, it's not surprising he's a  little distracted. It has obviously been a huge strain because when he left the offices and saw a large, dark horse that happened to be intently watching the building for no apparent reason, he started violently and ran away shouting obscenities. Poor guy. GDS must really have a hold on him.

UPDATE:

Fellow sufferers unite! We now have a new group on http://community.watchtheguild.com. Join us and share the pain :) [And kudos to Soma for the spiffy logo:

The Guild Season 2 DVD: Pre-order now!

Don't fret - Felicia and Kim have delegated at last!

Last summer, after The Guild Season 1 swept up awards and garnered praise and fans in vast amounts, thoughts turned to a DVD release. Amazingly as it might seem, all the posting, shipping and handling for the Season 1 DVDs was done by Felicia, Kim Evey and anyone else Felicia could rope into helping. This was a massive undertaking and Felicia posted an impassioned blog entry about the horrors of businessing (yes, it must be a proper word - Felicia used it!).

This year, Amazon.com is taking the strain

But there is no need to worry about Felicia and the Post Office 'assistant' this year because all the orders are being handled by Amazon.com. Season 2 is available for pre-order with a release date of 19th May. There is also a special offer on at the moment:

Amazon Exclusive DVD + Digital Bundle

Pre-order The Guild - Season Two from Amazon.com and watch it for free on release day from Amazon Video On Demand. Here's how (restrictions apply). And find out how it all started: pre-order your copy of The Guild - Season One today. 

You can also order Season 1 - well worth it to see how it all began! 

Amazon.com Associate

You might notice that there is a new widget at the side of my blog today - one advertising The Guild Season 2 DVD as an Amazon Associate. I took the plunge to do this just to see how it might work out. The returns are small (especially as my bank is not in the US!) so this is an experiment. If you click on it an purchase during that 'session' I get 4% back as a voucher for Amazon.com. 

Win Signed Photo of The Guild - and Support Kids Need to Read

Talk about a Win-Win! 

There's a new auction up on the Kids Need to Read website today, and you could win a signed photo of the award-winning webseries The Guild featuring the all six cast members and their signatures: Felicia Day (Codex), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), Vincent Caso (Bladezz), Amy Okuda (Tink), Jeff Lewis (Vork) and Robin Thorsen (Clara). You can bid for this item on eBay now!

About The Guild

The Guild webseries follows a group of online gamers and who meet in real life - with hilarious and sometimes heart-aching results - has won many awards, most recently three Streamy Awards. The Streamy Awards celebrate the best in Web Television and the live feed was a huge success - I blogged about it last week. The Guild is written by and starring the gorgeous and versatile Felicia Day, whom Joss Whedon has credited as his mentor for getting Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog webseries off the ground. And yes, Felicia starred as Penny in Dr Horrible, too.

About Kids Need To Read

KNTR is a literacy foundation set up my award-winning author P J Haarsma (The Softwire books and creator of the Dr Horrible Remote) and actor Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer in Dr Horrible, Mal in Firefly & Serenity and currently starring as Castle in, er, Castle!). 

Their mission is clear:

    *  To purchase books by raising funds through auctions, sales of merchandise and other available means

    * To provide books to libraries, schools and other institutions in need

    * To provide books to children through established institutions

    * To foster a love of reading in all children

    * To encourage reading among reluctant readers

These are great goals and any support you can give them will be gratefully received. You can check out where they have made donations and read the inspiring donation stories on their website.

The Streamy Awards 2009 - oh what a night!

I have seen the future

But at first I could only hear it. The Streamys Red Carpet started at 6:00 PM (Pacific) and I duly tuned in to the Streamys' website but there was no feed. A quick check on Twitter confirmed that I wasn't the only one in the dark. After some delays, though, the live streaming started in time for the Awards. And what a ceremony it was!

The Felicia and Joss show

No long after it had started I realised that I take screen grabs, which sent me into a frenzy. The picture - live streaming on my 15" Macbook screen - was brilliant. So I was there, trying to follow Twitter, The Guild chat, the Streamys, making comments and taking screen grabs. Next year I will deploy more screens! 

And the first hosts are - Sandeep and Felicia!

It opened with two very familiar faces. Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh were the first presenters and set the tone for the whole night - funny, snappy, professional and awesome. Sandeep hammed it up magnificently and it was great to see the obvious chemistry between these two friends.

It gets a bit blurry

As I said, I was approaching systems overload with the monitoring so many things at once while coping with the emotions of seeing people I have been following not just receiving the recognition they deserve, but showing why it is deserved. If you were following my Twitter stream last night I apologise for the disjointed nature of the posts!

Some highlights

• Neil Patrick Harris' speech where he dissed Nathan Fillion and asserts that he "...pads his junk..." 
  
• Felicia's speech where she thanked everyone who had ever rejected her and forced her to do it for herself. And the way she thanked her boyfriend. And Kim Evey (who was sadly absent). And all the fans....it was a great speech
  
• Joss' speech where he thanked Felicia for being his mentor
  
• Jeff Lewis' speech where he thanked the fans. Over and over again. In hilarious fashion. Also, he was nervous (Jeff we love you!) and Vince looking fab (I just wish Robin Thorsen and Amy Okuda had taken the stage too)
  
• Cameos from Felicia and Kim Evey (as Kiko) in the 'How to make a web video' short - hilarious!
• Maurissa Tancharoen receiving the Dr Horrible award 
• Jane Espenson's speeches and how much effort they put into making sure the BSG webisodes were complete pieces of art and not just tacked on for the sake of it (she put it so much better!)
  
• Lisa Kudrow - I'm not sure what was going on but it amused me!
  
• Felicia almost not getting onto the stage for the Best Comedy award because she was behind scenes having a drink
  

There were many other great moments. For better and more complete coverage please see these:

Official Streamys lists from http://12seconds.tv/streamys

Post from LG15 - great rundown of the event awards and some fun pictures

Post from Storygas - interesting mix of tweets!

Live tweeting from the event - @KnightsofGood (Jenni Powell) and @Tabz

More pictures on Flickr

I've put up the screen grabs up on my Flickr account - there's 46 of them. There are probably more, so I'll check later and upload them. And tag the ones that are there.

Summary

The future is here. And it's web television! The Streamy Award ceremony was awesome. I need at least a day to recover, and I wasn't even there!

The Guild: Season 2, News and Felicia Interview

How excited are you?

However you answered that question it was NOT ENOUGH! There are so many things to tell today that I can barely type.  But I will try.

The Guild Sponsorship Unveiled

After lots of speculation it was revealed last night that the sponsors for Season 2 are Microsoft. In a ground-breaking deal The Guild Season 2 will be available only through Microsoft channels, but it as The Hollywood Reporter states, won’t leave anyone behind:

"The tech giant has an exclusive lock on the long-awaited second season of the cult favorite Internet series, which will be the first to be distributed worldwide simultaneously across Microsoft's triple platform of Xbox 360's Live Marketplace, MSN and Zune."

So anyone with an Internet connection will be able to view the season on MSN instead of YouTube.

Season 2 starts tomorrow

And the new season starts tomorrow, 25^th November! I’m not clear at what time it’ll be online but there will be notifications on WatchTheGuild.com.

Season 2 trailers out now

Trailers are out and they look so good! There is a very noticeable difference in picture quality and we get another glimpse of the great new titles that Matthew Brackney has created. I think it’s fair to say that the dynamic between Codex and Zaboo remains as unresolved as ever! They are funny and they set us up for the new season really well.

New look for The Guild website

Edgar Garcia, webmaster extraordinaire, has been working his socks off supporting people all over the place.  After getting the new retardidpoliceman.com site off the ground last week he has woven his magic over the new-look WatchTheGuild.com website. I think the new look is great!

Felicia Day video interview – have you got a question you want to ask her?

There was something else happening this week that was mildly exciting. Now what was it? Could it be that I am going to be doing a video interview with Felicia Day, someone I’ve been following for a good while now and whom I hold in very high regard? Heck yes! I have already interviewed Vincent Caso (who stars as Bladezz) and Kim Evey (Producer for The Guild) for Whedonage.com. Several people have posted questions for Felicia and if you have one, please add a comment and ask. I’ll get through as many as I can so Felicia could be answering your question! I can’t say exactly when it will be but you need to hurry up on this one.