As I was doing my daily internet trawl I came across a very puzzling gem over at /film.

It’s a video that popped up online a few days back, check it out then I’ll explain.



Good yes? The question is, what is it? Apparently it has a bunch of Half-Life related stuff but it also uses music from Lost and if I’m not mistaken around the 5:40 mark there is music from ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’.

Many people have suspected that it’s a viral marketing campaign for a new Half-Life game but I tend to doubt this because of the music. I don’t think a game publisher would go to the trouble of acquiring rights for this music when they could just use songs from the game.

There are a few things we know, the description on Youtube reads: “This is a early temp version. Will be deleted soon” that may explain the mixed music sources. Also according to /film this video was shot in the Netherlands.

There is also a website now: www.whatsinthebox.nl which is just about as helpful as the film it’s self. But your welcome to check it out.

So what is this? My theory: it’s a student film or something made by some people who really just like to mess with our heads. Whoever made it knew what they were doing the effects are really amazing considering what it is. Whoever made this spent a lot of time and effort on it including making a website. I doubt it’s a company effort because of the copyright music issues.

But whatever it is I eagerly await the next installment. If you find anything interesting let me know.

written by Travis \\ tags: demo, Half-Life, Lost, test film, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, viral video, What's in the Box?, What’s in the Box? - Test Film 2009

Disclaimer: the following post has massive spoilers about Heroes, Lost, and Fringe if you are not up to date on any of these and don’t want anything spoiled I suggest you read this or this or any of the other fine posts my blog has to offer. However if you are up to date on one or two of these shows but not all 3 I have made it easy for you with a little message before each paragraph telling you what the paragraph spoils.

Heroes and Fringe Spoilers here;
I follow 3 dramas that are currently on television, ‘Lost’, ‘Heroes’, and I just started watching ‘Fringe’. It was in a recent episode of Fringe where Olivia (Anna Torv) discovers that John (Mark Valley) is not actually dead (or it appears that way). This is when I realized that the three shows I watch all have something in common; (no it’s not that JJ Abrams co-created two of them), they all have dead people popping up going “surprise, we were part of a creepy lab experiment”, or “surprise I’m only a hallucination that you and a few others can see”. The latter of those two would be Linderman (Malcolm McDowell) from ‘Heroes’.

Keep in mind I am a big fan of all of these shows, and most of the time when somebody who was dead pops back for a visit it’s awesome. So I am not posting a hate rant, merely an observation that on television death is not what it once was. Gone are the days of ‘The Fugitive’ when Dr. Kimble’s wife died we knew she would not be coming back.

Heroes spoilers here;
Look at it, Heroes is, awesome. Yet pretty much in every episode this season they have brought back a character who is dead or as good as dead, Nathan, Linderman (yes hallucinations that more then one person can see do count), Adam, and Future Peter (but he can’t die so that doesn’t really count).

Fringe spoilers here;
Now look at Fringe, Agent Scott, died in the pilot came back in episode 4. Fringe is still young I’m sure we’ll see this again.

Lost spoilers here; 
Finally Lost, who knows what’s going on there? In season one Jack kept seeing his dad (yes it was a hallucination), however in season 4 when Hurly looks into Jacob’s cabin he sees Jack’s Dad (Christen Shepherd), looking alive and well.

You’re probity thinking I need to watch shows grounded in reality like ‘ER’ ‘Gray’s Anatomy’ and ‘House’ however I also discovered a theme with those shows, they all take place in hospitals!

So on TV today you can choose between a show that takes place in a hospital or a supernatural show and I choose supernatural.

(Over simplification yes I know, but whatever.)

written by Travis \\ tags: Death, Fringe, Gray's Anatomy, Heroes, House, Lost