Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Adopt A Monster

Maybe we are bringing the bowl a little late to the party, but we finally stumbled over Moshi Monsters. We’ve always been more fond of odd beasts over here than stay those monochromatic ground-bound birds (aka Penguins). That said this playground does remind us of the Penguin’s club, only still different. And it does get our “hey, I wish I thought of that” star of the day.

Check it out. We do call it fun.
Categories
Truly Free Film

Good-looking* Films Shot On The Red Camera

Of course, not being on this list does not mean, the film is not good-looking. The only criteria here was that I harvested the suggestions from my twitter and facebook feeds, and I knew of the movie (*not actually that I saw the movie).

I needed this list and really appreciate everyone putting it together (so damn quickly too). I place it here assuming others too will need it.

Antichrist
Bronson
Butterfly Effect 3
Che
Crooked Lane
District 9
Easier With Practice
The Exploding Girl
The Girlfriend Experience
The Informant!
The Knowing
Life During Wartime
The Red Riding Trilogy 1983*
The Social Network
Van Diemen’s Land
It’s sort of interesting how widely diverse the films are both in terms of content and in terms of budget.
Categories
These Are Those Things

In A World Of My Own Design, Buskers Would Be Superstars

A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of this video from a friend’s Facebook posting. I wrote about this video awhile back; the video successfully went viral (14.5M views!) and I love how social media keeps the good things coming back.


In a world of my own design Buskers would be Superstars. Along with: Pranksters, Benevolent Conspirators, Babysitters, Curators, Public Artists, Teachers, Puppeteers, Community Organizers, and Stop Motion Animators. One day, one day….

I really appreciate how that friend’s FB posting lead me on a tour through several covers of “Stand By Me”. I didn’t discover this song via Ben E. King, which will always be my definitive version. But it was John Lennon — who still has taught me more through his music than any other pop star. And will always rank as one of the great rock vocalists in my book. But I am sucker for this tune when anyone sings it. I have posted it other incarnations, and suspect I will well into the future.
Categories
Truly Free Film

Ten* Filmmakers I Would Crowd Fund*

In celebration of Arin Crumley & Keiran Masterton‘s success using Kickstarter to fund development of OpenIndie.com, I thought I would launch my annual grants. Or rather my annual promise of grants. Money! $ For Films! Free!*

If any of the following filmmakers had a crowd funding page for their next film (provided the film was $300K neg.cost or less), I would donate some money to get it made. And I would encourage others to do so.

Who would you fund?
I know there are more than ten* I could have listed, but I thought this was a good start, and you have to draw the line somewhere. Plus, being an indie film producer in a land that does not demonstrate that it values what I do, I don’t have enough cash to go beyond this list! And even still, my contribution would not be significant financially; it would be more of a vote of support in hopes that others would be encourage to support the culture they want. I would give in order to become part of their team, to hear what they are up to, to get updates.
I listed artists who have are all early in their careers — but have already directed a feature. I listed filmmakers whom I was confident could deliver a whole lot for a little. I listed filmmakers whom I am not already involved with.
Yet before I gave to any of these filmmakers, I would want to see a commitment to building audiences PRIOR to filming — say a pledge to not commence until they had collected 5000 unique fans. I would want to know that they had a plan to market and release their film that went beyond bringing it to festivals and hoping for the best. I would want to know that they would set up an e-commerce site on their websites — and that they had a website (which they refreshed with regular content). And of course I wouldn’t transfer the money until they had reached their goal in pledges. Then I would gladly give money to them to get that next film made (and not ask for anything in return other than the satisfaction of having helped).
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

The Amazing Adventures of Madebonne and Henry

The Amazing Adventures of Madebonne and Henry, written by Linda Perkins with the help of her friend Madeleine (who is now 8 years old) is a story told in chapters.


At the end of each chapter Madeleine answers a question which determines the direction of the story. This adventure will be posted chapter by chapter as it was written. And perhaps the story will continue with your help. So far they have posted 8 chapters. Chapter One begins…
Once upon a time there was a girl named Maddy who lived in Brooklyn with her mom, her dad and her cat Henry. Their apartment was on the twelfth floor of a tall, skinny building and when Maddy went to bed she felt like she was sleeping in the clouds.

Maddy’s mom was an Olympic swimmer. She loved the water and could swim faster than a cat chasing his tail.Their apartment had a giant tub so that her mom could practice swimming every day. When she wasn’t swimming, Maddy’s mom was drinking water or juggling ice cubes or doing a rain dance or playing in puddles.

Maddy’s dad was a circus acrobat. He could bend himself into a pretzel, stretch from the couch all the way to the television to change the channel without having to use the remote. One time when the building elevator was broken, he dove out the living room window and swung from branch to branch until he landed on Cortelyou street and hopped on the bus to work.

One day after her dad left for work, Maddy’s mom put on her bathing suit and her cap and her goggles and hopped in the tub. Maddy was feeling particularly fast that day, so she decided to race her mom as she did her laps. She and Henry went to her room to get ready. She put on her red sneakers, the fastest shoes she owned, and her favorite racing dress and Henry put on his green racing collar and they headed back to the bathroom. Maddy and Henry crouched by the edge of the tub and looked down into the water. As her mom pushed off under water, Maddy sprinted as fast as her red shoes could carry her to the other side of the giant tub and Henry started chasing his tail. When she looked up, panting, her mom was already back at the other side. Maddy took a deep breath and tried again. But try as she might, Maddy just couldn’t run as fast as her mom could swim. She and Henry decided to take a break. Maddy curled up on the bath mat and using Henry as a pillow they fell fast asleep.

Continue it here. Have fun on this adventure on the other side of the drain. Join the blog and become an Adventurer!
Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Robo Roundup: Creepy Crawly

Thanks BoingBoing!
Categories
Truly Free Film

The State Of The Media World Right NOW

Brian Newman tells it like it is. Listen up.

Okay, so image quality is crap, but just let it play and go look at something on Flickr.