Blue Glow

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2010-05-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

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Ciao, Blogger

2010-04-28T13:11:00.001-07:00

Looking for the latest entries on Blue Glow? They're here: http://www.stomptokyo.com/blueglow

Google announced recently that they will cease support for publishing from blogger to web hosts via FTP. Unfortunately that's exactly how Blue Glow is published (as well as a number of other projects I've set up over the years), so it's time to say goodby to Blogger and hello (again) to WordPress. I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of having to keep up with (and harden against hacking) yet more WordPress installs but it is by far the best solution at this time, so the posts on this blog have been migrated to a new home.

Ciao, Blogger. It's been fun.

This blog has moved

2010-04-28T12:48:00.001-07:00

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B-Side acquired by Stella Artois

2010-04-01T16:00:00.001-07:00

If you're reading this it's almost certainly because you're interested in the film industry – in particular film festivals – and you clicked on a Twitter link with the headline above. I'm not even going to pretend that it's anything but a lame April Fool's Day gag, and one that I thought of in the evening hours of the day in question, so you may even be reading this on April 2nd.

However, if you do know anything about film festivals, you probably also know about the ridiculously ubiquitous alcohol sponsorship that Stella provides to film festivals large and small. Heck, they're even sending some lucky schmuck to Cannes. So you probably appreciate the inside-baseball nature of the joke, and you probably recognized it instantly as a put-on – though you might have hesitated just a second. If Stella really wanted to own the film festival market, wouldn't taking over Festival Genius be a pretty good way to start?

I'm sorry I don't have any actual news regarding the future of Festival Genius just yet, but be patient. There should be something soon. Until then, please enjoy being Rickrolled.

Sarah Silverman Program season 3 highlights

2010-01-29T11:15:00.001-08:00

Holy crap! When did someone give this show a budget? Can't wait to see the new season.

The Sarah Silverman Program

Season Three Highlights

www.comedycentral.com

Joke of the Day

Stand-Up Comedy

Free Online Games

Conan's Last Words on the Tonight Show

2010-01-27T08:38:00.001-08:00

"Please do not be cynical . . . . Nobody in this life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen."

Taiwan's NMA News breaks down the Conan/Leno drama

2010-01-19T18:12:00.001-08:00

Even though it's in a language I don't speak, this is the best explanation of the NBC situation I've yet to see.

(tip o' the hat to @hyams and @jmerriman)

Al Yankovic. Once again my hero.

2010-01-12T07:57:00.001-08:00

Grammar, people!

Lego Universe trailer - first MMORPG I've ever wanted to play.

2010-01-10T15:12:00.001-08:00

via joystiq.com

OK, I'm judging entirely by the trailer but this looks like crazy amounts of fun. Fortunately I'd never have enough time to play something like this seriously. However, if ever I were to turn into a cheeto-eating, headset-wearing massive-multiplayer-role-playing-game keyboard monkey, this would be the game at fault. You know, until World of Starcraft came out.

Posted via web from Film Festival Secrets

Good news for indies from - the cineplex?

2010-01-05T16:09:00.001-08:00

Special-events programming isn't the only change digital technology may be ushering into your local cineplex. It also makes film distribution cheaper and easier, thus potentially opening up more opportunities for independent filmmakers to get their work screened. "It's like a big iPod," explains Cinedigm CEO Bud Mayo. Movies are shipped on hard drives or downloaded from a satellite, without the cost or inconvenience of transporting heavy film canisters, and the theater can cue them up with the click of a mouse. That means theater owners can set up their schedules by "trial and error," says Lauren Goffio, manager of the Pavilion Park Slope theater in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The trend toward digital could also mean a move away from blockbusters. Hollywood has been offering mass-market products while most industries are directing specialized products to smaller groups, says Rashi Glazer, professor of marketing at the University of California, Berkeley: "The one-size-fits-all approach is the past, it's not the future." And digital lowers "the barrier of entry," since distribution is no longer an expense to be reckoned with, says Corcoran.

via finance.yahoo.com

The traditional theater biz is in a bit of a shakeup right now so it doesn't surprise me to hear that cineplexes are open to anything that might lead them to new customers. I've never heard of Cinedigm but I like the message.

In the meantime, this article makes me glad I live in Austin, home of the world's best theater chain.

Posted via web from Film Festival Secrets

Isn't it time you hired a professional to mow your lawn?

2010-01-05T12:02:00.001-08:00

via youtube.com

From the upcoming S&M Lawn Care by Mark Potts and Cole Seelix. The official web site is here and the production site is here.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

Pee Wee Herman - he's back.

2010-01-04T08:14:00.001-08:00

via hulu.com

Not like he ever really left in our hearts, but Pee Wee Herman has a new stage show in L.A. starting on January 12th so he's spending the winter doing the talk shows to promote it. (Plus, you can watch the Pee-Wee Christmas Special for free on the Pee-Wee web site.) Visit peewee.com for all the info.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

In which a good thing comes to an end. Sort of.

2010-01-01T09:33:00.001-08:00

It's been five years to the day since I moved from St. Petersburg, Florida to Austin, Texas. In that time I started a family, changed careers, wrote a book, and (to my enduring delight) traveled the continent to attend a wide range of film festivals. In the last half-decade I discovered many new favorite films and had the pleasure of meeting some of their creators.

What I failed, to do, however, was to write about those movies. 2005, though we didn't realize it at the time, was the year that Scott and I began our slow crawl into retirement at Stomp Tokyo. As of today I'm acknowledging that retirement. We only managed to write one new review in 2009 (Sting of Death, for a B-Masters roundtable), so it seems silly to think of the site as merely "on hiatus" any longer. With the glut of movie review sites out there, it feels even more foolish to try and prod this one back to life when our hearts just aren't in it.

This is not the end. The site will continue to see updates, including the reposting of old reviews into our new format. Dr. Freex still posts new reviews to Attack of the 50 Foot DVD and Scott is in the middle of another "season" of his "100 Days, 100 Movies" series. Various arms of the Stomp Tokyo octopus twitch even now. For my part, I will make an effort here on Blue Glow to highlight new discoveries as I see them. You can always find me at Film Festival Secrets if that interests you, or you can just keep up with me on Twitter.

And then there's that half-finished book on giant monster movies. Who knows what the next five years will bring?

Stomp Tokyo Review: Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984)

2010-01-01T06:18:00.001-08:00

via stomptokyo.com

One from the vaults. Enjoy.

Read Don't Open Till Christmas now.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

Jimmy Fallon and The Muppets Sing "12 Days of Christmas"

2009-12-23T18:36:00.001-08:00

via latenightwithjimmyfallon.com

OK - so I'm warming up to Jimmy Fallon as a late night host. Anyone with this much love for the Muppets is OK in my book.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

#1 Party School episode of This American Life

2009-12-22T17:09:00.001-08:00

This year, The Princeton Review named Penn State the #1 Party School in America. It's a rotating crown—last year it was University of Florida, before that it was West Virginia University. So we wondered: what's it like to be at the country's top party school? Note, Act Three was not in the broadcast version of the show. That's a web bonus.

via thisamericanlife.org

Episodes like these are what drive me to donate a few bucks to this radio show every year. I listen on my iPhone in the car so it's not technically radio, but you know what i mean. Good listening, I very much recommend you check it out.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

Iron Man vs Bruce Lee!

2009-12-22T06:16:00.001-08:00

via vimeo.com

Bad. Ass.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

Twitter Literacy

2009-12-22T06:00:00.001-08:00

Nielsen, the same people who do TV ratings, recently noted that more than 60% of new Twitter users fail to return the following month. To me, this represents a perfect example of a media literacy issue: Twitter is one of a growing breed of part-technological, part-social communication media that require some skills to use productively. Sure, Twitter is banal and trivial, full of self-promotion and outright spam. So is the Internet. The difference between seeing Twitter as a waste of time or as a powerful new community amplifier depends entirely on how you look at it - on knowing how to look at it.

via sfgate.com

Posted via web from Film Festival Secrets

Have A Sexy Ponceman Xmas - Pop Up Edition

2009-12-17T07:57:00.001-08:00

via youtube.com

Everything's better with pop-up notes.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

Ihnatko's handy tips for solar panels for peanuts.

2009-12-12T10:49:00.001-08:00

It reminds me of those "Get rich quick with your own home business!" things that used to be advertised in magazines. You'd send in your $10 and get a sheet of paper saying "Take out an ad in a magazine advertising a get-rich-quick home business. Fill incoming orders with photocopies of this same sheet of paper.

via blogs.suntimes.com

Andy Ihnatko (by way of Roger Ebert) expresses his outrage at overpriced instructions for solar-powering your home. I need to think up one of these get-rich-quick schemes. Anyone wanna buy instructions on how to make a cult movie?

Posted via web from Blue Glow

Using Twitter For Promos Without Being a D-bag

2009-12-11T13:35:00.001-08:00

via mailchimp.com

Mailchimp is my favorite email marketing tool ever - I use it for the Film Festival Secrets newsletter. Their marketing blog is almost as good as their service – as evidenced by this article, which gives a great example of how to run a promotional campaign on Twitter & Facebook without, well -- you know.

Posted via web from Film Festival Secrets

Happy Holidays from Stingray Sam

2009-12-11T08:25:00.001-08:00

via Cory McAbee

If you're not yet a fan of Cory McAbee's Stingray Sam, become one. You can watch the first two episodes of the serial musical space western on the web site.

Posted via web from Blue Glow

Lots of choices for Slamdance

2009-12-10T09:53:00.001-08:00

Slamdance’s 2010 feature competition will serve up 10 narrative and eight documentary feature films, programmed in the spirit of the fest’s motto “by filmmakers, for filmmakers.”
As in years past, competing films are by first-time feature directors working with limited budgets and without domestic theatrical distribution in place. Among the 18 titles, 11 are world premieres.
This year’s slate was selected from a record 5,000-plus submissions. “The quality of indie filmmaking is getting higher while productions costs are getting lower,” said Slamdance prexy and co-founder Peter Baxter. “Far apart from the apparent industry downturn, there appears a great sense of what is possible rather than impossible with our submi

via variety.com

Posted via web from Film Festival Secrets

So you didn't get into Sundance

2009-12-10T09:32:00.001-08:00

Good advice from Scott Macaulay at Filmmaker Magazine.

In short, after you get over the Sundance rejection, know that there are many more gatekeepers to approach. But if you learn one thing from the Park City pass, it’s that you can’t rely on these gatekeepers. You need to have a pro-active strategy that doesn’t depend on them for your film’s greater exposure. Ultimately, you are responsible for your film’s success, not a festival programmer, and, once you’ve taken that break, it’s time to get back to work.

via filmmakermagazine.com

Posted via web from Film Festival Secrets

Post-it Note Marketing

2009-12-08T01:04:00.001-08:00

A smart idea: your logo etc stamped on Post-It Notes for temporary lo-fi marketing power and it doesn't irritate the property owner the same way that stickers do. Tip o' the hat to Dan Brawley at Cucalorus film fest.

Posted via email from Film Festival Secrets