SubmarineChannel.com

Eternal youth! War-mongering wizards! Sexual potency at the click of a mouse! We’re talking about virtual worlds. You know, Second Life, World of Warcraft, Sally’s Spa? Over 70 million people now spend time in a virtual world each and every day. 70 million! would rather hang out with avatars in a darkened room, than with you. This calls for a documentary! Submarine just dropped Another Perfect World, which looks into the changing nature of social relationships, the possibilities and parameters of the booming virtual economy, and the blurring boundaries between real and virtual life (as per the pixellated predictions of Lawnmower Man, circa 1992). What do these seemingly irresistible new utopias mean for humanity at large? Fascinating key characters like plumber-turned-virtual-erotica-entrepreneur Kevin Alderman (a.k.a Stroker Serpentine), and the clever variegation of real and animated footage, make this film a visually spectacular must-see. A 30-minute preview is now HD-watchable on Youtube.  For feature-length broadcast and DVD details, please check the site.

Check our sister-site United Vloggers (highly selective picks from the vlogosphere), just updated with 2 new posts of very differing flavors. One celebrates the Post-It Note wizardry of a very patient boy they call Bang-yao, while the other salutes the bravery of Iran’s citizen journalists in telling the world what’s up with their twisted system.

Paedo rumors, painkiller injections, and a melting face - or Heaven? We know which one we’d rather have… One of the first tragic products of our smutty society’s vicious child-celebrity machine, Michael Jackson paid the price with a life dominated by tabloid ridicule and all-round weirdness. But as this YouTube video, shot last night in Harlem, New York testifies, that tunage of his – you just can’t Beat It! Let’s spend the day enjoying the greatness of Jacko (there's enough to last all day – nay all week!), and being glad he’s escaped that godawful life of his. Incidentally, we’re pretty sure he said he slept in an oxygen tank and wouldn’t die – like, ever. And who’s going to look after Bubbles? 

Kyle Cooper designed the title sequence for Wimbledon - a romantic comedy with Kirsten Dunst - back in 2004. Not his most spectacular work, not the most discussed, but a clever, entertaining, and, dare we say, perfectly executed title sequence. “It doesn't always have to be about blood and eyeballs”.

Get heaps talent, add a unique hybrid of skills, and a sprinkling of inherent splendidness, and what have you got: the visual delicacy that is this mini-trailer for work-in-progress interactive web documentary Boomtown Babylon. The art-tech heroes at Champagne Valentine and Mulato repurposed a heap of timelapsed chaos footage with a whole lotta 3D Studio Max to create this darkly apocalyptic taster of what our urban future might look/feel like. I'm scared! Watch this space for Boomtown Babylon updates.

When creatives of the commercial kind make something just for the hell of it, we get a warm, glowing feeling inside. “You made this beautiful oeuvre just for us?”, we say (while checking said oeuvre for clandestine logo placement). Well, Doug Purver sure did, with his charming short Omar and His Skyhook. A fantastical tale of a little boy who’s grandpa stands him up for this first fishing trip, and the sub-aquatic sky-swimming adventures that follow. According to the production blog, two short days of shooting plus a long year of post, animation and compositing made this captivating, dreamy animation the mini-masterpiece it is today.