The Workbook Project and the New School will present the first ever DIY Days in New York on April 3. This roving conference of talks, presentations and workshops on all things DIY (co-founded by our Culture Hacker columnist Lance Weiler) has been free to the public since its inception over three years ago, but because of the sudden loss of a sponsor it’s looking for the support of the indie community to help raise $3,000. Learn more about DIY Days and the campaign they’re doing here (which includes some nice gifts for those who donate). And to get you started, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 11, 2010Mashable.com has compiled an unbelievable guide to how you can follow SXSW (in Austin or afar) through social media. The one we’re most intrigued by is Cliqset.com. Cliqset.com has created a real-time map that aggregates all of the geo-tagged activity in the festival area of Austin. Pulling in data from the major location-based social networks (Brightkite (), Flickr (), Foursquare, Gowalla (), Qik, and Twitter), the map will give you a bird’s eye view of who is at SXSW, where they are, and what they’re doing.
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 11, 2010Mark Hogencamp was an illustrator living in Kingston, NY, and one night in 2000, he walked out of a bar and was followed by a group of teenagers who beat him mercilessly and left him for dead. Hogencamp was in a coma for nine days, suffered massive brain damage, and lost most of his memory and ability to move and write. Unable to afford therapy, he came up with his own: Marwencol. A 1/6 scale World War II-era town set someplace in Belgium, Marwencol’s inhabitants are dolls painstakingly painted and clothed by Mark, most representing a person from his real […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 10, 2010For a filmmaker approaching L.A.’s Ambush Pictures with a new project, “greenlit” is the happiest word in the English language. For Ambush Entertainment co-founder Miranda Bailey, an executive producer of The Squid and the Whale and a producer of the upcoming Super, the word came to mean something very different as she made her directorial debut. Greenlit is its title, and it refers to Bailey’s commitment to “green” the company’s The River Why by hiring an environmental consultant during production. While there’s been much documentation about greening the motion picture business, Bailey brings a perspective that’s both practical and irreverently […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 10, 2010As part of their annual look at SXSW, The Austin Chronicle gets ready for the fest with this piece on iconic psychedelic comic book artist Gilbert Shelton, who’s best known for his Freak Brothers comics. He will also have an exhibit of his work in town during the fest as well as Harry Knowles conducting a conversation with Shelton on March 15 at the Austin Convention Center. Here’s an excerpt from the piece: Freewheelin’ Franklin, Phineas, and Fat Freddy symbolized the pot culture of the Sixties, their free-spirited lifestyle in pursuit of sex, drugs, and rock & roll the model […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 10, 2010Announced earlier today, the 9th annual Tribeca Film Festival announced their Competition roster and films in their Showcase category for this year’s fest, which takes place April 21 – May 2 in New York City. Some of the highlights include Alex Gibney‘s work-in-progress screening of his doc on Eliot Spitzer and (get this) Vincent Gallo lending his voice in the animated film, Metropia. Full list of films are below. World Narrative Feature Competition “Buried Land,” directed by Geoffrey Alan Rhodes and Steven Eastwood, written by Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, Steven Eastwood, and Dzenan Medanovic. (USA, UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina) – World […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 10, 2010If you’re craving the look and feel of an indie from the ’90s then Tao Ruspoli’s debut feature Fix may be the disc you’ll want to pop in. Chronicling a wild one day journey around Greater Los Angeles, we follow Bella (Olivia Wilde) and Milo (Ruspoli) as they shoot a documentary on Milo’s brother, Leo (Shawn Andrews), who they pick him up from jail and attempt to drop off at rehab before 8pm. The catch: they have to raise the $5,000 needed to get Leo in the clinic or it’s back to jail. With an impressive soundtrack leading the way, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 9, 2010This powerful adaptation of a 1994 book by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam of the same title exposes the inhuman practice of stoning women accused of adultery, which supposedly continues to this day. Jim Caviezel stars as Sahebjam, who after his car breaks down is towed to a small Iranian village where he’s approached by Soraya’s aunt (Shohreh Aghdashloo), who reveals to him the village’s dark secret. The film then is told in a flashback as we follow Soraya (Mozhan Marno) as she attempts to provide for her two sons and two daughters though she receives no support from her husband, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 9, 2010One of the most puzzling moments from last night’s Oscars came during the Best Documentary acceptance speech. When it came time for The Cove director Louie Psihoyos to speak he found himself in front of a dead mic. Here’s Psihoyos’s acceptance speech, which AJ Schnack at All These Wonderful Things (always on top of the doc news) posted. We made this film to give the oceans a voice. We told the story of The Cove because we witnessed a crime. Not just a crime against nature, but a crime against humanity. We made this movie because through plundering, pollution and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 8, 2010UPDATE#2: 17 minutes into the show Cablevision subscribers get back ABC. UPDATE: Sounds like there will be no 11th hour apologies. Nikki Finke at Deadline says Cablevision is giving its customers free On Demand tonight and will have someone tweeting and liveblogging at the Oscars. If you’re one of the 3 million Cablevision customers in New York’s tri-state area who awoke this morning to find their ABC affiliate blacked out you may be asking: “How the f*** do I watch the Oscars tonight?” Over at Moviefone, they have a list of sites where you can get updates throughout the […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 7, 2010