Last night, Melissa and I attended the 4th annual Virginville Film Festival at Eckerton Hill Farms in Hamburg, PA.

Taking place above a pond on a grassy hill, the festival displays "10 minute tops" films and videos from area Berks County artists and beyond. For a submission fee of $10, practically anyone with a film / video to present can let it shine that night in the dark serene farm sky.

With the videos / films projected on a large screen, people gather on the hillside to watch the fun unravel all night long, with this year’s total footage easily reaching four hours!

A free keg of Legacy Midnight Wit, free desserts, and a variety of Lara Bars were on hand for chowing on, along with excellent authentically made tacos for sale.

Also for sale were very cool Virginville Film Festival t-shirts, buttons, as well as a DVD of the entire night for just $5.

If you like homemade, DYI, non-pretentious videos made by amateurs and professionals alike, you should definitely check it out next year. It’s like a high-definition YouTube in a rural sky.

The bathrooms of the Virginville Film Festival await you!

Melissa forgot her glasses, so we had to walk alllllll the way back to the parking lot. She thinks it’s funny.

Plenty of custom hand made signs were everywhere to let people know that they were on the right track.

Philadelphia’s Magic Garden at 1020-1022 South Street is a site to behold. I recently went there for the Summer Solstice Reverie event which featured improvisational dance and music. As you walk through the pathways, you never knew what you’d bump into performance-wise.

The best part about the Magic Garden is that you can actually rent out the mosaic of beautiful madness that it is for weddings, parties, events, etc. Very cool.

Check out some video and photos below:

There happened to be a Street Performers Festival going on in Boston while Melissa and I were visiting. Below is a clip of some great breakdancers that had the crowd mesmerized.

This girl from Dublin, Ireland knows how to make one kickass dance video. Very cool!

Melissa and I ended up getting chosen for the Illadates contest! We had a blast roaming around West Philly with Mark and Audrey, checking out some new places as well as tapping into some old faves. Check out the Illadates video here.

Illadates (formerly Cheap Dates) is a great video blog starring a Philly couple that takes neighborhood-based dates all throughout this great city of brotherly love. As a web designer and marketing professional, I really love how these videos are tightly branded with their logo, cool font, intro music, with new episodes consistently being added almost weekly. What’s really great is that they go to practically EVERY neighborhood. Got an idea for a great date in Philly? Illadates wants to take you and a friend on a date with them for their Season 2 finale. Learn more about the Illadates contest here! Melissa and I are submitting our "University City" based Illadate idea tomorrow and it goes like this: 1. The El What?! The El Train? Although dirty at times, it’s a great way to show how quickly you can get from Spring Garden Station to University City waaaaay over there. 2. Institute of Contemporary Art Admission to the ICA is only $6 per adult and currently features 4 new exhibitions. 3. Bubble House A stop in the Bubble House for tea or possibly a cocktail and some food. 4. Black Cat Gift Shop Practically next to the Bubble House, the Black Cat Gift Shop offers some great gift ideas for the holiday season. 5. Pattaya Grill A nice meal at the Pattaya Grill…I’ve never been there but I hear good things. 6. The Rotunda On this particular night, December 8th, the Rotunda is having it’s 8th Annual Year-End Cabaret and Cheap Art Bazaar. FREE TO GET IN! Artists will be offering all kinds of work, sold at reasonable rates ($10 and under is common).

Below are a couple clips from Perpetual Mvmt <> Snd’s performance of "Gasp" on 9/11/07 at the Mascher Space Coop. "Gasp" was one of six performances for "Fresh Juice: An Evening of Dance" during week two of Philly Fringe.

Testing out an alternative to YouTube and MySpaceTV for video hosting. Below is a song performed by Gemini Wolf at Johnny Brenda’s on 6/25/07. This happened to be the first time I used my new Canon HV20, and the footage turned out to be quite impressive.

Although, the butchering after video hosts encode it leave it looking as if it was shot under water. Of course, these dark venues don’t make it easier on things!

I recently finished a stop-motion animation starring an Ewok. This was debuted at the 3rd Annual Virginville Film Festival held in Virginville, PA.

You can also watch EWOK! on FunnyOrDie.com as well as on Vimeo.com.