But as it has tried to become all things to all people on the enormous web, it has become the dumping ground for all of the garbage as well as the stuff we want to see, and like MySpace, now gunky.

I find myself wanting to surf the web and sitting on a blank Google page wondering what to search for (yes, I know, hot nights at my house). But I’m interested in too many different things so I don’t know where to start. I need my trusted friends, so I go to sites I know of, but I was looking for something new, not the same sites I go to all the time. Grrr, the scene repeats over and over…

Tonight I found an article totally worth reading–alternate search engines and what are the innovative things going on in search software? It never occurred to me that anything innovative might be going on at Microsoft, but this article cleared up what that annoying banner on NY Times is–Bing, a Microsoft search engine masquerading as the new thing in search. No, I need my internet reality to be really different again and that never came from MS. I’m getting bored!

Want to see a concert to celebrate your new job? Pick up a ticket using meta-search eninges FanSnap.com or ZebraTickets.com.

Some search innovators are tackling interface design to help take some of the guesswork out of search links. If you’re looking for something visual — say Michael Jackson moon walking — try Searchme.com, which shows entire web pages in its results as if they were album art in iTunes.

For music, try Fizy.com or head to video search engine Blinkx.com to navigate your way to streaming songs you can’t find anywhere else. Read the whole article >>

Oh, and that is just one option out of many creative and dang useful-sounding search engines. I’m going to start experimenting again. Thanks Wired, I should have known to come ot you for a good idea.

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My panel is Getting the Most Out of SXSW Film at the Interactive conference. Some of you may know that I started this blog because I was hanging out with the fellas of Rain City Studios some years back and was really impressed by the work they were (and still are) doing. I could see how beneficial it was to be among folks who were not in the film world but were creating communities online, finding clients among the attendees of SXSW and in general, crossing the boundaries that tend to divide the Interactive, Film and Music programs of SXSW. I pitched new fest producer Janet Pierson (@JanetPierson – she’s still figuring Twitter out, so cut her some slack!) on finding more ways to create spaces within the fest environment where crossover between attendees could happen (as opposed to randomly meeting cool people while sharing a table). Long story short, Janet and her team have put together a steller line up of just such events, including the panel that I will be moderating.

Panelists include Kevin Kelly (@gadgetguy, Spout.com, Joystiq and former Austinite), Amy Dotson (@Adotson780, IFP New York and producer of Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo), PJ Raval (cinematographer of The 2 Bobs and Austin local), and Michael Lerman (The Film Sales Company and producer of SXSW ‘08 fave Natural Causes). The panel is on Friday, March 13 at 2 PM. Each of the panelists have been to SXSW many a time and will share their tips and tricks on how to navigate the Film fest to maximum advantage. Bottom line is that there are lots of ways Interactive and Film folks can and should connect and collaborate – we’ll have some ideas for you. Here are some links to get you going in your schedule planning.

Where to go & How to get there

• Slackerwood’s SXSW 2009 Guide to Film Festival Venues
  Austin local and movie blogger Jette Kernion has a guide to the movie theaters that are part of the fest, including when to arrive, whether they have beer or not and general tips like where to park. Also, new this year, shuttle buses to help you get to the far flung theaters.
• SXSW Film FAQs
  The folks at SXSW have put together FAQs about the Film Fest.
• Film Parties & Lounges
  I know, it’s tough to network at a party where you don’t know anyone, so I understand the difficulty in crossing into Film via parties and lounges, but some are totally geek-ready, like “Get in the Game” with Voodoo Cowboy (the last Voodoo Cowboy party I went to had a tattoo artist giving tats), PBS’ Interactive Social Media & Online Video Studio and new this year, the SXSW Block Party for Film and Interactive.
• Happy Hour
  In year’s past, we’ve gotten a drink card for a tent outside the Convention Center where between 4 and 6 PM or so each day, we could go grab a free beer or water. It’s laid back and can be a nice transition from a days worth of panels and screenings into an evening of BBQ, more screenings, parties and music. The card gets punched each day, so put it in your badge pouch and head on over to the watering hole.
• A new party added: SXSW Interactive / Film Fusion Party Hosted by Whrrl and JavaFX – 8 pm – 10 pm, Red Eyed Fly (715 Red River) Whrrl and JavaFX invite you to join us for an evening of food, drinks and world-class entertainment at the official SXSW Film & Interactive “Fusion” party! Hosted bar and appetizers, the launch of Whrrl v2.0, and world premiere of Sparhusen, featuring actress Illeana Douglas.

While you are putting your sked together, here is an outline of some events that should be on there:

SXSW Interactive at the Movies

Don’t have a Gold badge? Want a taste of the SXSW Film Festival? Each year Interactive badgeholders can attend a few select SXSW Film screenings for FREE! Below is a generous list of geek-related films that will be open to all Interactive badgeholders. Please note that only the screenings listed below are free to SXSW Interactive badgeholders. In addition to upgrading your Interactive badge to Gold, individual tickets may be purchased for many films at the SXSW Film Festival (pending availability and theater capacity). Full festival schedule here.

The Dungeon Masters
Director: Keven McAlester
11:30 AM – Monday, March 16 @ Austin Convention Ctr
Against the backdrop of crumbling middle-class America, two men and one woman devote their lives to Dungeons and Dragons, the storied role-playing game, and its various descendants. As their baroque fantasies clash with mundane real lives, the characters find it increasingly difficult to allay their fear, loneliness, and disappointment with the game’s imaginary triumphs. (U.S. Premiere)

RiP: A Remix Manifesto
Director: Brett Gaylor
9:30 PM – Sunday, March 15 @ Austin Convention Ctr
A documentary feature exploring issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers. (U.S. Premiere)

We Live in Public
Director: Ondi Timoner
2:30 PM – Tuesday, March 17 @ Austin Convention Ctr
The story of the Internet’s revolutionary impact on human interaction as told through the eyes of Internet pioneer and visionary, Josh Harris.

The 2 Bobs
Director/Writer: Tim McCanlies
6:45 PM – Friday, March 13 @ Austin Convention Ctr & 6:30 PM, Monday March 16th @ Paramount
Just as they finish their groundbreaking violent video-game masterpiece, the two gaming legends known as “The Two Bobs” discover that their precious game-software has been stolen… and with it, their livelihoods, genius reputations, everything they own. Cast: Tyler Francavilla, Devin Ratray, Mika Boorem, Cody Kasch, Leonardo Nam (World Premiere)

Objectified
Director: Gary Hustwit
5:00 PM – Saturday, March 14th @ Paramount
A glimpse into our relationship to manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. (World Premiere)

The Yes Men Fix the World
Director: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno and Kurt Engfehr
1:30 PM – Monday, March 16th @ Paramount
A pair of notorious troublemakers sneaks into corporate events disguised as captains of industry, then use their momentary authority to expose the biggest criminals on the planet. Cast: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno

Four Boxes
Director/Writer: Wyatt McDill
4:00 PM – Tuesday March 17th @ Paramount
A snarky social thriller about three suburban nobodies watching a creep named Havoc on a website called fourboxes.tv — Rear Window on the internet. Cast: Justin Kirk, Terryn Westbrook, Sam Rosen (World Premiere)

SXSW Interactive/Film Panels
Each year, there are panels that both Interactive and Film badgeholders can attend (as well as Gold and Platinum badgeholders). Panels, more so than screenings, are a great spot to engage in conversation. Do you already know enough about the subject of the panel? Cool, but there are probably filmmakers there who could use your help. Clients, folks. Work the fest to generate new business. They might find you at the Trade Show, but why not be more proactive – go to a panel, make yourself known by making a comment or asking a question, or go up to folks who asked questions you can answer afterwards.

Here are a list of the panels (including mine!):

• Get the Most out of SXSW Film Friday, March 13th 2:00 PM
• IM Video Journalism Saturday, March 14th 10:00 AM
• Crash the Server — How to Market your Movie by Achieving Webisode Awesomeness Saturday, March 14th 11:30 AM
• Soapbox Spielbergs: Making Hollywood FX on Indie Budgets Saturday, March 14th 3:30 PM
• Comedy on Television and the Web Saturday, March 14th 5:00 PM
• No Budget to Low Budget Sunday, March 15th 10:00 AM
• Branded Entertainment: Brands Driving Content Sunday, March 15th 11:30 AM
• Marketing Meets New Media: Building Your Audience Online Sunday, March 15th 3:30 PM
• We Have Been Objectified: Identity, Consumerism, and the Future of Designed Objects Sunday, March 15th 3:30 PM
• “Hey – You Got Your p2 In My Redcode!” Monday, March 16th 10:00 AM
• The Future of the DVD and Digital Distribution Monday, March 16th 11:30 AM
• A Conversation with Col Needham (Founder of IMDB.com) Monday, March 16th 3:30 PM
• You’re Living in Your Own Private Branded Entertainment Experience Monday, March 16th 5:00 PM
• Smoke and Mirrors – The Art of Visual FX Tuesday, March 17th 10:00 AM
• The Future of Visual Storytelling is Interactive — Or Is It? Tuesday, March 17th 11:30 AM
• From HEROES to HELLBOY: Inside Transmedia Storytelling Tuesday, March 17th 3:30 PM
• From Framing Shots to Pushing Pixels: Crossing Between Film and Video Games Tuesday, March 17th 5:00 PM

Film Folks on Twitter
Besides the Twitter accounts for the panelists and moi (@Aavarnum), there are also some other very cool film folks you might want to follow. If they are headed somewhere, it’s probably awesome. If you are a film geek that isn’t on this list but you should be, or an awesome geek who can show the film folks a thing or two, just leave your Twitter in comments.

Former SXSW producer Matt Dentler @MattSXSW
Rooftop Films programmer & blogger Mark Elijah Rosenberg @markelijah
Filmmaker Garret Savage @GarretSavage
SXSW Film Fest coordinator Claudette Godfrey @claudasaur
SXSW staffer Stephanie Noone @stefunnynoone
SXSW Film Press liaison Rebecca Feferman @rebfef
SXSW Conference Producer and taco expert Jarod Neece @jneece
Author of Film Festival Secrets Christopher Holland @stomptokyo
Filmmaker and blogger David Lowery @davidlowery
Austin Film Festival programmer Kelly Williams @KellyWilliams
Austin American-Statesman Social Columnist Michael Barnes @outandabout
Game developer and Austinite Rodney Gibbs @rgibbs
Slackerwood author and Austinite Jette Kernion @jettek
Shooting People and part of the totally fun British contingent Ingrid Kopp @fromthehip
The Rabbi Report’s Mark Rabinowitz @RabbiReport
Spout.com’s unstoppable Karina Longworth @KarinaLongworth
Official SXSW Twitter @sxsw

Do you have a suggestion for more SXSW geek fabulous-ness? Leave it in the comments. I’m going to display this page at our panel, so get your submissions in by Friday, March 13. See you in Austin!

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It’s with mixed feelings that I tell you this will be my last post here at Resources for the time being. I had a great time doing this blog. Reading other people’s thoughts and ideas and putting my own spin on it, alerting folks to new grants, programs and studies they may not have heard of, and on occasion, thinking about the art of filmmaking, are all pursuits I enjoy. But it was also a frustrating experience because talking about policy and technology issues to filmmakers is a little like banging one’s head against a wall. It was Ted Hope’s rant about NY film credits that reminded me of my frustration and why closing my chapter on this blog has been bitter sweet. Read the rest>>

Thanks to all who supported my endeavor there, and especially Brian Newman for giving me the platform to do something I love to do!

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Crawford: a documentary from Crawford: The Movie on Vimeo.

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- The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose is now available on DVD. If you haven’t seen it, do. It’s about a band of quirky musicians who seem to have learned a lot about life in their decades of playing together.

- This week on P.O.V., a very important film by a wonderful filmmaker, Roger Weisberg’s Critical Condition. “Critical Condition puts a human face on the nation’s growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, and even their lives.”

- Byron Hurt, the maker of the wonderful Beyond Beats and Rhymes, is working on a new project about black masculinity. In anticipation of the release of his new short called Barack & Curtis, a comparison of two well-known black men (Curtis is Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent, and I presume you know who Barack is?), Hurt has been posting clips of material that didn’t make it into the short as a lead-up. Good sh*t!

- I like weird stuff like this: “V2 Cinema presents the short documentary feature BACK TO ROOM 666 (aka DE VOLTA AO QUARTO 666), starring director Wim Wenders, on www.v2cinema.com. Directed by Gustavo Spolidoro, the movie updates the scenary of Wenders’ Room 666 (1982), now with the German filmmaker as the interviewee. The video is the third of five shorts from online series Boundaries of Thought: THINK TANK(AKA Fronteiras do Pensamento: ENSAIOS VISUAIS).”

- My friends Robert and Almudena (pictured above) won an Emmy! Big hugs and congrats to you both on such a fine job. It is well-deserved. If you haven’t seen Made in L.A., now is the time.

[youtube]Nr1ABz65hXI[/youtube]

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Many filmmakers, distributors and archives can’t afford the high conversion cost to the digital format, and have been reluctant to invest in digitizing “niche” content. Reframe converts all content to high-quality digital files; Works in video formats will be digitized for free, and film formats will be digitized “at-cost.” In a unique arrangement, Reframe returns a digital copy to the rights-holder for free, and allows them to make their content available to others in a nonexclusive arrangement. Reframe then makes these works available for sale to the public, sold at prices based on the suggested retail price set by the rights-holder. All content is made available for sale on DVD on Demand at Amazon.com as well as digital download to own or rent through Amazon’s Unbox service. More About Reframe>>

Part of the community building portion of the site is curated lists. Here is a link to my previously mentioned Hybrid Documentary list. We were limited to films that are currently available on Amazon, so this is by no means meant to be all-inclusive. I did send a long a few titles that aren’t available on Amazon, which I’ve been told will help Reframe staff when reaching out to content holders to get them on the site. I’d love to hear your additions to my list, or if you make your own, please let me know!

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The paper owners claim poverty and in the age of instant syndication, why can’t they make it work with a handful of national critics? After all, your 21s, Drillbit Taylors and Leatherheads are the same no matter where you see them, right? Welcome to the Clear Channel phenomena where local voices are purged in favor of corporate homogenization in the name of profits.

Carr’s article claims that, what David Poland and S.T. VanAirsdale call “serious films,” which seems to mean independent and foreign films from the context of the article, will suffer at the box office for lack of print film critic champions. It seems to me that there are a lot of issues wrapped up in this discussion and unfortunaly Carr’s article barely scratches the surface. Eugene Hernandez opened another discussion forum on his blog, rightly, particularly since indiewire is cited as one of the spots where folks can go online to find movie news.

Should we only take film writing that appears in print seriously? To be honest, I get a bit tired of reading the same critics all the time. I enjoy the diversity of writing on the net. Why should online critique of a film should be taken less seriously than print? Maybe because the print critics mentioned in Carr’s article have been around a long time? The up and coming critics couldn’t get full-time gigs because paper revenues have been falling for a long time. They took up the DIY spirit so prevalent today and started self-publishing so they could do what they love, and hopefully find an audience. Why does that make them less serious? It’s a question of economics over talent in at least some cases.

Glossed over in Carr’s article is the number of releases in a year. They keep coming from all sides, not even Karina Longworth (obliquely cited in the article by her outlet – Spout) can keep up with everything that comes out. And hell, if she can’t, who could? It’s up to editors to decide what is of interest to their audience and focus their coverage. This helps movies find their niche audience, which is all there can really be when there are so many movies. Hollywood dominates the multiplexes, so folks interested in film beyond that limited scope are finding other ways to see their films and if they type a title into Google, chances are they will find a lot of information about it. If you have trouble distiguishing between good writing and bad, that’s another issue.

The last thing I’ll say about this is about laziness. In the hay days of print media, Studios could control who was writing, when they would release coverage and they had (and still have) a lot of sway to ensure their material is covered. There are so many blogs and no centralized way of reaching them, which requires a whole new PR strategy. What is the genre? Which websites are most popular for that genre? Where is the writer located and how will s/he see the film? Do we deign to send an email via a contact form on a website? It’s hard to put together press lists these days and even harder to discern who the key people are that will tip your publicity effort. Not easy, but like the example in Carr’s article–The Lives of Others–if a film is good, the low murmur will continue until it blows up. If the film is no good, yeah, you don’t get your flash-in-a-pan day-of-opening national coverage to bank a few million and then pull the film.

I think I’ve ranted about this before and I’m not sure that it’s productive. I write about films; I know that through this blog and the other outlets I write for, I’ve been able to meet a lot of great people I might not otherwise have met so I whole-heartedly believe in this method of communicating. It helps me connect to my community and no one, yet, has told me they think I’m a hack, so I’m going to keep doing it. I guess the article ruffled my feathers because I don’t think that writing online should be taken less seriously than print; nor do I believe that there is any film that at the end of the day should be labeled as so serious, it needs a full-time newspaper employee to review it. Art is art. It helps us understand our world in new ways (hopefully) but it’s not millions of people dead through war, disease and famine each year; it’s not suffering daily life with ALS or MS; it’s not the heat and drought that are coming in a generation or two as a result of our blase attitudes toward the world we live in–that’s serious, at least in my book. Move online and be happy that we can still watch and write about movies and get paid for it.

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