DECEMBER 31st, 2007 MONDAY 5:15PM

THANKS FOR MAKING 2007 PROBOT'S BEST YEAR YET!

This has been an incredible year for Probot! Our stats are up... WAY UP, from previous years. Our videos were watched over 337,000 times on YouTube this year! This website had over 65,000 unique visitors, over 3 million pageviews and over 4,570,000 HITS IN '07!!! This month we have had more visitors (over 15,000) and moved more data than ever before, about 150 GIGABYTES, bringing our '07 bandwidth total to over a TETRABYTE!!! That's a whole lotta 0s and 1s!

But it's not just numbers i'm celebrating tonite, it's been a memorable year in so many ways:

First, and most significant, Probot is making our first Feature Film and i still can't believe it! On Sept 11th 2007 we completed 18 months of preproduction and started rolling cameras for THE GIBBON. (expected release in 2009)

Two of our movies played at a film festival in ISRAEL, another first for us!

We produced a NEW MINISERIES, The CellBlock Life, with 6 episodes in 4 months, the fastest series we've ever produced!

I also made a lot of new friends who have helped Probot grow so much this year! Each of these people believed in us, and lent their talents and time to make our movies better or helped them reach an audience. So I'd like to thank all those people who made this year so special.
(Listed in reverse-alphabetical order, which, as a "W" was always my favorite;)

Jessy Schwartz
Kat Shuchter
Mike Sakamoto
Margo Quattrocchi
Neil Posis
James Parker
Dan Milano
Rupinder Malhotra
Beth Maki
Mike Leavitt
Allan Holt
Josh Fadem
Guy Eilam
Douglass Dunning
Rich Dufrense
Joel DeRiguer
Eric Coburn
Kira Carella
Juaquin Cambron
Hadrian Belove
Phil Anderson
Noor Ahmed

2008 looks like it's going to be an eventful year for PROBOT. In February, we will be attending the 2nd Annual RadCon Fan Film Festival, in Pasco, WA, for the first ever US screening of ALIEN 5²! Probot will be competing with other nerds for the Best Fan Film Award! We will also be participating in panel discussions and show clips of our upcoming feature film.

MARCH 8TH is Probot's 10th anniversary! Yup, it was almost 10 years ago that we started our first ToyCinema Project, ALIEN 5.

... and in July we hope to make a splash at COMIC-CON in San Diego, where we will be debuting the trailer for the film. Meanwhile, we'll be very very busy making the film, which is really the most fun part for me!

So have a safe and roudy New Year and i'll see you in 2008!!!!!!!!!!

-DAMON

DECEMBER 25th, 2007 TUESDAY 9:15PM

HAPPY LIFE-DAY EVERYONE!

XMAS EVE FIRE IN HOLLYWOOD

I want to be serious for a moment and take time to pay tribute to the people who are working hard today to make sure all of the rest of us have a safe Holiday. I'm talking about the Police, Firefighters, EMTs, and of course our soldiers serving away from home this Holiday.

Why the sudden sappy expression of patriotism? Well, last night i witnessed our local public servants in action and i wanted to share what I saw...

READ MORE

Click to see all the photos.

Been so busy I haven't had time to update in a while.

The biggest news of the day is another first for ProbotNews. Our first report covering CAMPAIGN 2008 is a ProbotNews EXCLUSIVE. MITT ROMNEY made a surprise announcement and ProbotNews was there to break the story:

In other news...

MIKE LEAVITT'S ART ARMY
"YOUNG GUNS"
ON DISPLAY UNTIL DECEMBER 29
Copro/Nason Gallery
Bergamot Station, building T5
2525 Michigan Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-829-2156

Artist and sculptor Mike Leavitt was in Santa Monica this past weekend exhibiting his latest Art Army creations. It was incredible to see it in person because his work is only getting better! Mike designed and sculpted the main character for Probot's upcoming feature film, THE GIBBON, currently in production. I wish I could show you that, but it's still a big secret. But you can see the images below as examples of his many talents. The concept of Mike's Art Army is that he sculpts poseable action figures of famous artists, living and historical, but does each in the artist's own style. The result is a legion of artist action figures ready to take on the world! Each of these amazing artists deserves our attention so i put together this page as a lesson in modern art's "low-brow superstars"!

Audrey Kawasaki action figure by Mike Leavitt	http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/
CRAOLA a.k.a. Greg Simkins action figure by Mike Leavitt	http://www.imscared.com/
Amy Sol action figure by Mike Leavitt	http://www.amysol.com/
Luke Chueh action figure by Mike Leavitt	http://www.lukechueh.com/
Lola action figure by Mike Leavitt
Sam Flores action figure by Mike Leavitt	http://www.samflores.com/
Travis Louie action figure by Mike Leavitt	http://www.travislouie.com/
Ron English action figure by Mike Leavitt Collaboration of Mike Leavitt and Ron English	http://popaganda.com/
Mike poses with his sculpture of Mark Ryden.	http://www.markryden.com/

Can you believe Mike made ALL these action figures and a few more SINCE OCTOBER?!

Mike explains his techniques to Allan Holt, another
sculptor on Probot's feature film, The Gibbon.

Thanks, Mike, for a great show!

I will be posting a few more photos from the show soon...

One last bit of news for my fellow Star Wars Collectors...

I heard from Dan Milano this week, and he sent me this photo of one of his SW dioramas. Thought Probot fans might enjoy it as well. Among his many talents, Dan makes KICK ASS dioramas... Behold, ENDOR!

click to enlarge... a LOT!

To see more of Dan's awe inspiring dioramas watch this video:

Dan Milano is the co-creator, puppeteer and voice of Greg the Bunny.
You will also hear Dan's voice in Probot Production's upcoming feature film, THE GIBBON!

By the looks of this video, it seems that Greg has quite an impressive collection too...

I was fortunate enough to interview Dan, Greg, and Warren the Ape too, last year at Comic Con '06.
See the interviews here.

Do YOU make dioramas? Please send me photos of any dioramas you have made and i will soon make a page for them! This goes for toycinema videos too!
Send to nomad@probotproductions.com

OCTOBER 19th, 2007 FRIDAY 11:30am

THE CELLBLOCK LIFE - NEW EPISODE

Episode Six, "GR8 XCAPE" is now online. This is a special 9 minute double-episode!

In this episode: Paris is suffering from shopping withdrawl, so Nicole and Lindsay plan a jailbreak shopping spree!

AUGUST 28th, 2007 MONDAY 12:15am

PROBOT SCREENINGS AT ICON SCI-FI FILM FESTIVAL IN ISRAEL NEXT MONTH

ALIEN 5² ©2004

STAR WARS A New Hope in 3 minutes ©2001

We just got word that not 1 but 2 Probot shorts are going to be screened at The ICon International Film Festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, 28 September - 4 October 2007!!! Both ALIEN 5² and STAR WARS in 3 minutes will be part of the festival.

We are THRILLED to be included in this festival and would like to thank Guy Eilam for making it happen! We only wish we could go to the Festival in person, but it's just too far away. But we send our best wishes to everyone there!

JULY 29th, 2007 SUNDAY 12:00pm

After a 3 week hiatus... The latest episode of The CellBlock Life is FINALLY finished...

Episode FIVE (of 8): "Rub-A-Dub-Dub" The fifth episode chronicling the story of Paris Hilton and friends in Jail! See what happens when Paris and Nicole take a group shower...AND they get a NEW CELLMATE!

Much more to come! The "real" Paris may have been released, but we've got 3 more episodes to go! Next Episode: "Gr8 Xcape"...

JULY 22nd, 2007 SUNDAY 12:25pm

Lots of BIG news to report today...

ALIEN 5² SCREENING @ RADCON 5

©2004

For the first time ever, there will be a public screening of ALIEN 5²!!! We've been invited up to the 2nd Annual RadCon Fan Film Festival, February 2008 in Pasco, WA, where they will screen the movie! Probot will be competing with other nerds for the Best Fan Film Award! This is the first time we've been entered in any competition, so cross your fingers for us! Or better yet, come on up to beautiful Washington state, attend RADCON 5 and vote for us! Probot Productions will have a booth and we plan to sell Probot merchandise. Damon and Sebastian will both be attending and participating in panels and everything!

Radcon 5 – Fan Run Sci-Fi/Fantasy Convention
Red Lion Hotel – Pasco, WA
February 15 – 16th, 2008
Website: http://www.radcon.org

We are looking to enter more of these competitions, so if you know of one in your area, contact us!

As excited as i am about all of that, there is some even BIGGER news...

DAN MILANO CO-STARS IN PROBOT FEATURE FILM

I've kept this secret for as long as I can. Dan Milano, co-creator of my favorite show, Greg The Bunny (IFC, Fox) and voice to the main characters, also writer and voice talent on my other favorite show, Robot Chicken, has lent his voice talent to our feature film, The Gibbon, currently in production.

Dan plays Mayor Wilson, who runs the city in which our story is set.

I wish i could tell you more, but we have to keep The Gibbon storyline a secret until its release.

I'll just say that Mayor Wilson is possibly the funniest role in the film.

I couldn't release this news until we actually recorded the tracks, which we did yesterday. It was such a fun recording session, and incredible experience for me watching Dan bring the character to life.

All of this leaves me wondering if perhaps I died at some point a while back and now exist only in binary form in some sort of Vanilla Sky pre-paid digital afterlife...

If so, i hope i don't run out of minutes any time soon!

JULY 13th, 2007 FRIDAY 10:15pm

R.I.P. MR. BUTCH!

BOSTON'S LEGENDARY KING OF KENMORE DIES IN SCOOTER CRASH

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/07/12/street_icon_mr_butch_dies_at_56/?p1=MEWell_Pos2

Anyone who has lived in Boston in the past 30 years or so knows Mr. Butch, the happy homless man who was a permanent fixture in Kenmore Sqare for the years i lived there. Always imparting wisdom on Boston's rocking youth in exchange for a little money for weed, or offering cash to those who needed it more. Anyone who ever met him would never forget him, and he remains one of my fondest memories of those years, because every random encounter left you appreciating life a little more. I know it sounds stupid to say his smile was contagious, but if you ever met him you'd know i'm not exaggerating.

Bostonians around the world are feeling the loss of a dear friend.
So tonight, smoke one for Harold Madison Jr...
R.I.P. Mr. Butch!

Me and Mr. Butch in Kenmore (of course)
November 1996