"The Stakes" will premiere on Thursday, July 12th!!

"The Stakes" has been officially selected to be a part of Cinema St. Louis' "2012 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase" on July 7-12th at The Tivoli Theatre in University City, MO. It will premiere on Thursday, July 12th before the closing night feature film, "Fatal Call" directed by Jack Snyder!

This is a HUGE accomplishment for everyone involved, especially being that over 120 films were submitted and we were one of the few who were chosen! Here is some info about the Festival:

"The Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase (SLFS), an annual presentation of the nonprofit Cinema St. Louis, serves as the area’s primary venue for films made by local artists. SLFS screens works that were written, directed, edited or produced by St. Louis natives or those with strong local ties. The 2012 Showcase programs will screen at the Tivoli from July 7-12. The programs range from full-length fiction features and documentaries to multi-film compilations of fiction and documentary shorts. Many programs include post-screening Q&As with filmmakers."

Showtimes and ticket sales will be announced shortly, so stay tuned and be prepared to get them fast!

For more info visit: Cinema St. Louis

Here's another look at "The Stakes," starring Joshua Thomas, Maurice Walters II, John Lewis, Keith Nussbaum and Aleh Neliubin.

-P

I just met you... And this is crazy, but here's Vice Vega... with "Call Me, Maybe"

These dudes call me last Monday night. They say "Hey, Perez Hilton is having a contest for this song 'Call Me Maybe' and it's due on June 3rd!"

It may not be the 48 Hour Film Project, but it was definitely gonna be a crunch, especially since the band hadn't even created their own version of Carly Rae Jepsen's monster hit track yet. Regardless, I accepted the challenge and two days later we were hard at work on a new cover video for Vice Vega.

Taking my suggestion to give the video some kind of gimmick to make it stand out in the contest, lead vocalist, Steve Neske, decided to record the enitre song on Apple's GarageBand for iPad and then perform the song as well on the tablet. Despite filming all four members of the band in separate locations, we still had four individual iPads for them to play on, mainly because we didn't decide til the last second that they would not be performing together. 

The video was submitted on Monday morning, just barely making the deadline for submissions on PerezHilton.com, if anything comes of it, you will here it FIRST here. 

Until then, keep watching

-P

Kyle Jordan Mueller returns from touring with "Both of Us"

Already clearing 1000 plays in less than 24 hours, Kyle Jordan Mueller's newest drum cover is his first since touring the world with The Dangerous Summer this spring. The cover is for the track "Both of Us" by Atlanta rapper B.o.B and country dreamboat, Taylor Swift.

This is now my SIXTH cover video with Kyle, and the first rap song since our enormous hit video for Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" almost exactly one year ago. In my mind, the B.o.B. cover is by far one of our best and really showcases Kyle's precise playing ability and his tireless attention to detail.

Watch it, tell your friends, make them watch it and leave me comments below!

-P  

The end of the world comes early... in "Oblivious"

Maybe you've heard about this, but the world is supposed to end this year. You know, December 21st?

Well, what if that day came early? (and I'm not talking John Cusack's floating arc, Woody Harrelson hippie style).

"Oblivious" is the first short film written and directed by "The Stakes'" Executive Producer, Joshua McNew. It tells the story of Charley, a normal guy who wakes up to the greatest day of his life, only it's actually the LAST day of his life.

Created as a short student film for the University of Missouri - St. Louis, the film reunited much of the crew from "The Stakes," except on a much more intimate scale. In lieu of having some who actually knew what they were doing, I served as Director of Photography, but also had the pleasure of cutting together the final draft of the film. My good friend Charlie Springhart plays the main role of "Charley" (Which was a total coincidence, and not written out of laziness). He was naturally the only person who could play this part after I first read the script, and without fail, nailed the part during the shoot, completely embodying the innocence and humor of Charley's "Best Day Ever."

Enjoy and make sure to leave your comments below!

-P

The Vice Vega boys are "Brokenhearted"

The age of the YouTube cover video has definitely come full circle.

As many young, up and coming artists have taken to the social video site to display their talents by filming cover versions of Top 40 pop songs, a select few have actually seen it pay off. One of which is the group Karmin, who's success as a "cover video artist" with videos for Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" and Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" (w/ The Roots) got them noticed by millions and signed to a major label record deal. Their debut album, "Hello" has turned out two singles so far, including the newly released "Brokenhearted."

So here is where we come back to square one, "Brokenhearted" has now stirred up its OWN batch of cover videos and taking a stab at it, are my boys VICE VEGA with their newest addition to The Suburb Sessions.

Enjoy it, let me know what you think below or on Twitter - @Pnasty1984

-P