Ideas, Money & Art

Unfortunate placement

Sometimes things are just meant to go together

Link (slightly NSFW)

Jing

Jing is a cool new way to create screen grabs and videos and easily modify and share them. I've been using it this week and liking it.

Jing also shines the light of the sun on you.

Jing Website

The mix tape re-mixed

So you met that new, special someone. Your heart flutters. You wake in the morning thinking about them. You want to show them that you are special too. You want to show them your heart and soul. You want to make them a mix tape.

But mix TAPE? Tape is dead. Mix CD worked for a while but CD's are, ya know, dead too. Email them an iTunes playlist? I don't think so. No, what you want to make them is a mix tape and now you can all over again like it's 1987 and you're leading off with Where the Streets Have No Name.

The digital mixtape, just for you and your romantic heart.

Make a Mixa

Neon Bible Video

IMA has recently decided to look into producing music videos. In doing a little research I came across this video by Arcade Fire. This is certainly not your father's music video. Check it out and, if you don't have the album, I highly recommend it.

Arcade Fire Video

p.s. If you know of a great band that needs a video let us know

Some Things Just Make You Smile

Just like this:

RED

After all of that talk about films this last week I thought this would be a good way to segue into the future. The future of digital cinema, in fact.

The RED camera is officially out of the gate. Various productions of all sizes are using this new, groundbreaking camera. If you never believed film was on its way out you should see this camera. From the initial reports it isn't perfect yet but it will get there.

Check out some examples of what the RED can do for you.

See ya,
Jeff Conlon

Mill Valley Film Fest Rundown

The fortnight is complete. The Mill Valley Film Festival is over. The town is back to normal and all of the women's boutiques can get back to business as usual. The cyclists in the fancy outfits can re-take the streets and the Range Rovers with the No Blood For Oil bumper stickers can go back to double parking in front of Peets. Ah, the 94941.

But it was a lot of fun.

Here are some of the highlights:

The best film I saw was I'm Not There. Click the link to read more about what I had to say about Todd Haynes' triumph.

The funniest film I saw was Kenny. Taking place in my favorite Australian city, Kenny tells the tale of a simple guy who cleans porta-potties. That's really about it. But it was hilarious.

Thursday saw Starting Out in the Evening starring Frank Langella, Lily Taylor and the redheaded girl from Six Feet Under. It was a good film, not great, and made by InDigEnt, who by all appearances have up-res'd their filmmakers to HD. This is no grainy Tape, a previous InDiGent flick that I really liked despite the way it looked.

Friday night I entered Anton Corbijn's entry into cinematic storytelling and was not surpised to find the opeing frames played out in his signature black and white. Considering the mood and subject matter of his film,Control, the choice was wonderful. I didn't love the film though. It was good, not great. No shame in that per se, just so few greats and so many goods can lead to the kind of joy when someone steps outside the lines of convention. But Control was a good film. I liked it and revisited Joy Divisions music when I got home. It's worth checking out. Samantha Morton and Joe Anderson from Across the Universe, which I loved, were great.

Saturday there wasn't too much I wanted to see and it was beautiful so I went surfiing.

Then last night we had the second screening of PARK(ing) Day and the closing night party. What a great week. It was very inspiring and there will be more to come from the film side of IMA. We'll keep you posted.

See ya,
Jeff Conlon

I'm Not There

You know those types of films that people use as a baromoter to find their mate? You know, like Harold and Maude or Network or Apacolypse Now. Movies that test a person's level of "understanding". Can I clean up after this person in 40 years if they don't see they humor in Harold's suicides? Can I walk down the aisle with someone who left when the cow was slaughtered? When I say Paddy Chayefsky, why isn't there a glint of recognition? I think this new Todd Haynes film is going to be one of those.

It is abstract and lucid. It's a biopic and a mystery. It is brilliant. I walked in with doubts after having read this piece in the NY Times. I walked out smiling, stepping into the rain without a jacket and feeling giddy. He pulled it off! What gall.

Go see this movie when it comes out. Support this level of conviction. So few films take chances and it is my belief that we should reward the ones that do. Even when they fail they burn in so many more colors than the typical safe fare (hollywood or indie). Go!

Did I mention Cate Blanchett is the most convincing Bob Dylan I have ever seen. Maybe more so than the real man himself (yes, that is her above).

Mill Valley Film Fest Review

The Guarantee

This short film is playing as part of the same shorts program as PARK(ing) Day. The Guarantee is a very funny and well conceived short about a male ballet dancer who is unsubtly pressured into getting a nose job so that he doesn't distract from all the swans. The coolest part is that the entire film is shot in a timelapse, over the shoulder shot of a storyboard artist as he illustrates the tale. The timing they worked out between the beats of the VO and the drawings are perfect and hilarious. It always feels good when a movie really makes you laugh.

Here is a link to an interview with the director. Chances of this coming to a theater near you are zero but I'm sure it will turn up online.

Tonight, "I'm Not There", the non-biopic biopic of Bob Dylan from Todd Haynes and starring Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan.

Give me Free

So what does the Subject of this post and the calendar image above have in common? Well, as Djimon Honsou so eloquently said in Amistad, "Give me free". Now parts of the music business are responding. In particular, Radiohead and Prince. I guess I should really correct the part about the music business responding. Music artists are actually the ones responding. The music business is on fire and falling quickly to the earth in a flat spin.

On October 10th Radiohead will release their highly anticipated new album. They will release it primarily in a digital format. They will only release it on their own website (no iTunes, no Amazon, etc). The will release it for free. Yes free. Or, if you really appreciate their offer, you can pay them "something" for it. As their website says, "It's up to you". Cool, huh?

Recently the singer/songwriter Jill Sobule did the same thing. What she found was that her average sale price per song was actually higher than the 99 cents Apple charges. Her fans WANTED to pay her even though they didn't have to. Interesting.

Prince also did something similar in England recently. He bundled his new CD for free in one of the major newspapers. Everyone said he was nuts. Then, after the CD was distributed, he sold out 21 consecutive concerts in London. I bet he sold a couple of t-shirts at those shows in adddition to the ticket price. And guess what, no record companies get a penny from artists touring revenue. You see where this is headed.

An artist gives away his album (not CD, which are going the way of the 8 track), the artists tours aggresively behind the album which lots of people have because, hey it was free, and the artist takes all of the money. Which leaves the record company "high and dry".

Granted it helps if you are Prince or Radiohead and have sold millions of records. But who really knows Jill Sobule? And the way record companies used to build interest in a band was to send them on tour for years at a time. Sounds like a good idea. And now you don't need the record company.