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HAPPY NEW YEAR
We're headed to Chicago for the final Guided By Voices show. It should be an incredible New Years Eve with my favorite people and favorite band. I raise my glass to you, good people of planet blog.
(Of course I'll be moblogging via Flickr.)
Ways to fix your life: Quit your job
"Quitting is extremely liberating," says Doyle, now 35. "It allows you to open up, listen to yourself closely, and hear things that you couldn't hear before."
December 30, 2004 at 11:51 PM in Personal Crap | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
ABC NEWS PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: BLOGGERS
Dylan was featured on ABC News!
ABC News "People of the Year": Bloggers Video [Quicktime, 5 MB]
Also check out:
Bloggers, Citizen Media and Rather's Fall -- Little People Rise Up in 2004 by OJR's Mark Glaser.
[ via Kaye Trammell ]
December 30, 2004 at 10:46 PM in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
SEPARATED AT BIRTH
Wow. This is the best dollar I ever spented. Sharyn's hair history, and by extension (you never had those did you?) - life history. What the hell happened between 1983 and 1986? One moment you're cute nerdy girl, then suddenly you're trying out for a Wham! video. Well, I should talk. I had both a mullet and a perm in my senior picture. I'll need a lot more than a dollar to post that.
But check out the incredible resemblance between toddler Sharyn and the Little Man. Holy gene pool!
December 30, 2004 at 09:44 PM in Dandy Foppery | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
COLOUR ME KUBRICK TRAILER
[via Sharyn]
Sin City trailer looks pretty freakin' cool too, in spite of Bruce Willis.
Tenacious D interviewed about their upcoming movie, and scrum-diddly-icious possum rugs, and how they could've saved the election if they rocked Ohio.
More Online Viewing Enjoyment:
Gentle Asian fellow rocks the crap out of a percussion keyboard [Quicktime, 15 MB]
Jesus Christ Action Figure (cross not included) [Quicktime, 4.5 MB]
December 30, 2004 at 02:49 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MY ARTIST OF THE YEAR: JEHANE NOUJAIM
Disclaimer: I have a teensy bit of guilt for not choosing a blogger or vlogger as my Artist of the Year. I actually had to choose a long time ago. But, I swallow that teensy bit of guilt and it dissolves quickly. Control Room had a huge impact on me, as a documentary filmmaker. I'm proud of my choice and stand by it. Besides, how could I only choose ONE vlogger or blogger? You are all artists of the year in my book. (Pretty smooth copout, eh?)
City Pages 12/29/04
by Chuck Olsen
I'm one of those geeks who gets most of his news from the internet, which bestows upon me a mystical power over mainstream media's trite conventions and obvious biases. Our government puts up a smoke screen, our media reports it: Indeed, there appears to be hot vapor emanating from the White House. I like to think I can see through all that and ask, Where's the fire?
But I have an embarrassing admission: I got duped. If anyone was reporting on the real fire--the unpleasant consequences of our actions in Iraq--it was Al Jazeera. Donald Rumsfeld called Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden's mouthpiece." I tend to distrust anything that sputters out of Rumsfeld's wiry mouth, but somehow this idea penetrated my critical radar. Enemy propaganda. Not to be trusted.
Arab American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim presents a far more complex reality in her documentary Control Room. Noujaim gained access to both Al Jazeera headquarters and the U.S. military's Central Command offices in Qatar. Though only 20 miles separate the two, their perceptions of the U.S. presence in Iraq are light years apart. Noujaim (unlike you-know-who) wisely avoids pandering to either worldview, instead placing her loyalty with her captivating characters, including burly and genial Al Jazeera reporter Hassan Ibrahim and Lt. Josh Rushing, the disarmingly honest and charming press officer from CENTCOM. Rushing starts out parroting administration talking points, but his sincere and candid conversations with Ibrahim give rise to cognitive dissonance; you can almost see the bridge of understanding being forged in their eyes.
Noujaim's camera shows us perhaps the most important conversation of our time. Different channels, different truths--and these days, we need all the truths we can get.
Chuck Olsen is a Minneapolis-based blogger and the director of Blogumentary.
More artists that resonate strongly: 12 Rods, Daniel Bergin, Jon Stewart, Lawrence Lessig, John Cassavetes, Brian Wilson, Jonathan Caouette
December 29, 2004 at 06:24 PM in Art/Design, Film, Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PUNK ROCK GIRL
See, now that I'm unemployed, I can stay up all night blogging. And not be late for work. So fire up your Quicktime player and grok Dylan's new vlog post: "Record Player"
And if you missed it, for the love of anarchy go watch her first video which rocketboomed to bona-fide internet phenom status. Oh yeah, her dad's pretty cool too.
I think a bit of Blogumentary video is going to be in today's Rocketboom. Probably those Power Line dudes. Have I not blogged your ass about Rocketboom yet? OMG. Rocketboom all the way.
Now there's this Vloggercon going down in NYC Jan 22 2005. I think I need to be there. Depends on how this whole "not having a job" thing works out. I could hand-deliver a couple DVDs. Hey y'all wanna have a Blogumentary screening? It's short, and we could drink and decompress. Either way, I really need to interview you guys and put you in the freaking thing.
UPDATE:
In case you didn't already feel the heat of the videoblogging explosion...My head is spinning.
December 29, 2004 at 05:45 AM in Videoblogging | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack
BLOGGING THE TSUNAMI
I can't grasp the magnitude of the Asian tsunami disaster. More than anything I feel insanely, absurdly privileged. While I fret over my favorite music of the year and update my post-Christmas Amazon wishlist, hundreds of dead children are washed ashore in Thailand. But I applaud Amazon for placing a huge button on their home page: American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Over $14 million raised.
Blogs are having a great impact on the relief effort:
On a more terrifying note, Waxy posted several camcorder video clips of the tsunami [more video], and BoingBoing has several first-person accounts. Many of the tsunami videos are combined into a single download at Rocketboom.
UPDATE: Even more donation and information opportunities at Google's Tsunami Relief page.
UPDATE 2: Cyberjournliast.net's quake/tsunami blogger roundup
December 29, 2004 at 03:29 AM in Current Affairs, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
MUSICS I LIKED IN 2004
I promise to recap our busy Xmas holiday as soon as we locate our camera. Buried in presents? In the trunk? At "Friend Xmas Sleepover HQ"? Only Psychic Santa knows.
Meanwhile, it's high time I make The List. No, it's not my top films, or top blogs, or top dickweeds. Those are coming. No, since the early 90's The List compiles the vibrations that gave my life meaning – or at least made me go, "Fuck yeah!"
THE LIST
Air Talkie Walkie
Askeleton Angry Album-Or-Psychic
Arcade Fire, The Funeral
Beta Band Heroes to Zeroes
David Byrne Grown backwards
Franz Ferdinand s/t
Guided by Voices Half Smiles of the Decomposed
Hold Steady, The Almost Killed Me
King of France, The (unreleased)
Modest Mouse Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Of Montreal Satanic Panic In The Attic
Polyphonic Spree, The Together We're Heavy
Ponys, The Laced With Romance
Snow Patrol Final Straw
Stereolab Margerine Eclipse
Streets, The A Grand Don't Come for Free
They Might Be Giants The Spine
A BIT DISAPPOINTING:
Komeda Kokomemedada
Bjork Medulla
DIDN'T HEAR THE WHOLE ALBUM, BUT LIKE WHAT I'VE HEARD:
A.C. Newman, Animal Collective, Deerhoof , Har Mar Superstar, Katastrophy Wife,
The Magnetic Fields, Ted Leo + the Pharmacists, Scissor Sisters, The
Soviettes, Tegan & Sara, TV on the Radio, The Unicorns,
MUSIC I NEED TO HEAR:
Blonde Redhead, Loretta Lynn, Los Amigos Invisibles, Le Tigre, Sigur Ros, lots of things on Jonathan's list and Lane's list and Rex's list.
JUST GOT FOR CHRISTMAS:
Brian Wilson, Smile
The Fall, 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong
HONOURABLE MENTION: The Grey Album
SEE ALSO: Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2004
December 28, 2004 at 08:02 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND STUFF
Good Lord, Oh Mighty Lord of the Universe - how in the living hell did it get to be Christmas already? Both Lorika and I want to make our blogs all xxmassy and pretty for you, but alas, we haven't even started wrapping yet. Lori did put up some pictures of her yummy sugar cookies though.
Today was my last day of work. It was totally deserted, but I still kinda avoided people because I hate awkward goodbyes. And besides, I'll be back soon enough freelancing. I've accumulated vast piles of toys and other crap in my office. Not to mention a ginormous archive of the computer files. It's like moving out of an apartment you've been in too long - where'd all this junk come from?
Anyway, I haven't really had time to enjoy (or prepare for) the holidaze. And now it's stressful trying to get everything together. I'm most looking forward to spending Christmas night with my friends. And a lotta booze, and cats, and DVDs, and sleeping bags, and breakfast. Yaaaaaay!
P.S. - I lied about getting Blogumentary DVDs out before Christmas. Sorry. I'll try New Years. They're all burninated and I have msot of the labels ready.
December 23, 2004 at 11:23 PM in Personal Crap | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
BLOGUMENTARY REVIEW IN MOTHER JONES!
From the Jan/Feb 2005 issue of Mother Jones magazine: "This playful jaunt through the blogosphere is aptly shot in an informal, first-person, all-access style..."
Thank you, Oh Thank You Rob Nelson - patron saint to the documentary filmmaker! My coworkers were truly excited to see my little film in such a renowned national magazine as Mother Jones. I took it as a sign that I'm going in the right direction.
P.S. - all you first time callers, why not check out this Blogumentary trailer since I haven't added it to my sidebar yet.
December 22, 2004 at 06:08 AM in Blogumentary | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack
