Jump to content

LoadingReadyRun

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 129.35.81.18 (talk) at 07:52, 20 November 2010 (→‎Cast). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

LoadingReadyRun
Type of site
Comedy
HeadquartersVictoria, BC
Created byGraham Stark and Paul Saunders
URLhttp://www.loadingreadyrun.com

LoadingReadyRun, often abbreviated to LRR, is a Canadian sketch comedy website, based in Victoria, British Columbia, founded by Graham Stark and Paul Saunders. Since its launch in October 2003, a new video has been posted to the site every week, without fail; all of them are written, performed and edited by members of the "LoadingReadyRun crew", which consists of Graham, Paul, six of their friends, and guests.

The theme of the website is based on the Commodore 64 and its humour is often video game related.[1] Some of their videos have been featured in film festivals such as the Comic-Con International Film Festival[2] in San Diego, and shown on major television networks, including G4 Canada [3] and CNN.[1][4] They are currently in their seventh season.

Cast

Crew Anchors

The core LRR crew consists of:[1]

  • Graham Stark (Founder)
  • Paul Saunders (Founder)
  • Kathleen de Vere
  • Jeremy "Jer" Petter
  • James Turner
  • Matt Wiggins

Supporting Players

In addition, others have been featured in a number of videos:

  • Andrew Cownden
  • Gibb, the site's mascot, a Yeti puppet
  • Natalia "Tally" Heilke
  • Brad Kirkland
  • Johnny_Lunchbox
  • Nathan Mosher
  • Kate Stark
  • Alex Steacy
  • Raymond Steacy
  • Morgan vanHumbeck
  • Ash Vickers
  • Bill Watt
  • Ben Wilkinson
  • Tim Sevenhuysen

Notable work

Pimp My Chair

A parody of MTV's Pimp My Ride.[5]

How to Talk like a Pirate

Part of a fictional 1970s-style language-learning series, this video teaches the nuances of pirate speech.[6] It was released for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, 2006.

Three PS3s

Posted around the release of the comparatively scarce and expensive PlayStation 3, this video features Paul brazenly claiming to own "three PS3s". The video spread quickly, and it caused controversy on YouTube because some viewers didn't realize it was a joke, and posted incensed comments. In truth, the entire crew owned zero PS3s; they borrowed two of them and the third was a hollow display model.[7]

Rejected WiiPlay Games

This computer-animated video suggested several minigames that "didn't make it" into Nintendo's WiiPlay.[8]

Halo: The Future of Gaming

A fond "look back" on the immense global impact of the Halo series of video games, set in the future.[9] The video was immensely popular online, and as of December 2009 is the most viewed video on LoadingReadyRun.[10]

Uwe Boll: Decision 2008

One in a series of videos poking fun at the public antics of German director Uwe Boll, which compares the then-recent Anti-Boll Petition to the US presidential election.[11]

An Interview with Uwe Boll

The final video to reference Uwe Boll. Graham interviewed Boll in person in May 2008, and edited the footage down to below twenty minutes. The crew were so surprised by Boll's candor and sanity in this interview that they chose to stop attacking Boll, focusing instead on Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.[12]

Desert Bus For Hope

Loading Ready Run is perhaps best known for their Annual "Desert Bus For Hope" event. On November 23, 2007, the group started a marathon game session of Desert Bus (a minigame from Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors) called Desert Bus for Hope to raise money for the charity Child's Play. The four-man team took turns playing the game continuously, with more hours added as more donations were made. The event was broadcast live via webcam, and garnered attention both from the media, and Penn & Teller, who called in, sent pizza, and made donations. By the end of the event, $22,805 had been raised, including donations from Penn and Teller themselves.[13][14][15]

On November 18, 2008, LoadingReadyRun officially announced that they planned a second marathon run of Desert Bus which on November 28.[16] The second Desert Bus lasted slightly more than five days and raised over $70,000.[17]

On August 25, 2009, the third marathon run was announced, set to start on November 20, 2009.[18] At 18:42 GMT-0 on November 26, 2009 the marathon completed, raising over $140,000 (after all e-cheques had cleared) for Child's Play.[19] One notable donor, going by the alias "Octopimp", donated nearly $10,000 alone, becoming a mascot of sorts in the event's live chatroom and in turn inspiring many other high-number donations and auction bids.

The fourth marathon run was announced on May 4, 2010, and will begin on Nov. 19, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. PST.[20]

Unskippable

In December 2008 Graham and Paul tied for first place in The Escapist's Second Annual Film Festival with Unskippable, a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 style take of the introduction cinematic to Lost Planet.[21] For winning the contest they were rewarded with a contract to produce a weekly video for The Escapist. The series airs every Monday and has satirized cinematics to games like Eternal Sonata, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and The Darkness. It has received heavy promotion on the site, including crossovers with Zero Punctuation where Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw joined the Star Ocean: The Last Hope episode and Graham produced a ZP-style review of X-Blades, which soon switched over to Yahtzee's review of Halo Wars. The ending credits included the message "People confused about Graham Stark's appearance at the start of this video obviously don't watch Unskippable and for that I pity them." They have also broadcast a one of live special of Unskippable on The Escapist where they played through a few hours of Legaia 2 in the humorous and critical style of the show. The two also appeared in episode 21 of Doomsday Arcade as themselves.

Escapist News Network

In September 2009 the LoadingReadyRun crew began a second series for The Escapist the Escapist News Network, a parody newscast about video games similar to This Hour Has 22 Minutes. ENN is Written and produced by Kathleen De Vere, Jeremy Petter, Paul Saunders, and Graham Stark, who also form the backbone of its cast.

Daily Drop

Daily Drop is a new feature on The Escapist, made by the LoadingReadyRun crew. It is filmed in a "test area" basement. It consists of approximately 2-minute long clips of objects falling in slow motion, as recorded by a high-speed camera, and impacting the test area floor. A new instalment is released every weekday.

Selected Awards

Selected Awards
Video Organisation Award
The Secret of the Sauce Vancouver Island Short Film Festival 2010 Best writing [22]
Right to the Source Vancouver Island Short Film Festival 2009 Best writing [22]
Eyewitness Accounts Vancouver Island Short Film Festival 2008 Best writing [22]
How to Talk Like a Pirate Vancouver Island Short Film Festival 2007 Best writing [22]
Suspend Your Disbelief Vancouver Island Short Film Festival 2006 Audience Choice [22]
Best Male Performance (Andrew Cownden) [22]
University of Victoria Student Film Festival 2005 Audience Choice [23]
30 Minutes or Less Vancouver Island Short Film Festival 2006 Best writing [22]

References

  1. ^ a b c LoadingReadyRun. "About". Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  2. ^ "Friday, July 27 – Humor/Parody (How to talk like a pirate)". CCI:IFF 2007 Film Schedule. Comic-con.org. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  3. ^ Torrent TV. "Episode One - Video 3 (Loading Ready Run)". G4Tech TV. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  4. ^ joeparedes. "LRR in the News". Youtube. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  5. ^ LoadingReadyRun. "Pimp My Chair". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  6. ^ LoadingReadyRun. "How to Talk Like a Pirate". Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  7. ^ LoadingReadyWiki. "Three PS3s on LoadingReadyWiki". Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  8. ^ LoadingReadyRun. "Rejected WiiPlay Games". Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  9. ^ LoadingReadyRun. "Halo: The Future of Gaming". Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  10. ^ LoadingReadyRun. "List of videos by number of views". Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  11. ^ LoadingReadyRun. "Uwe Boll: Decision 2008". Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  12. ^ LoadingReadyRun. "An Interview with Uwe Boll". Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  13. ^ Graham Stark (28 November 2007). "The Finale". Desertbus.org. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  14. ^ Rob Shaw (25 November 2007). "Magicians conjure up cash for deadly fundraiser". Victoria Times Colonist.
  15. ^ Graham Stark (28 November 2007). "Twenty Thousand Dollars". Desertbus.org. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  16. ^ Matt Wiggins (18 November 2008). "Desert Bus for Hope 2: Bus Harder". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  17. ^ Graham Stark (8 December 2008). "We did it! $70,000!". Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  18. ^ [1] 2009 Desert Bus announcement
  19. ^ [2]
  20. ^ Paul Saunders (4 May 2010). "Mark your calendars!". Retrieved 2010-11-17.
  21. ^ Susan Arendt (19 November 2008). "Announcing The Escapist Film Festival Winners!". Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g "Vancouver Island Short Film Festival Award Winners". Vancouver Island Short Film Festival. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
  23. ^ "University of Victoria Short Film Festival Awards". University of Victoria Student Film Festival. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
Wikiquote has quotations related to LoadingReadyRun.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LoadingReadyRun&oldid=397827261"