press release –Media Advisory: Ehlers schedules hearing on Smithsonian Institution Business VenturesWASHINGTON – Chairman Vernon J. Ehlers, R-Mich., announced today that the Committee on House Administration will conduct a hearing on the operations and investments of Smithsonian Business Ventures, including Smithsonian on Demand, at 12 noon, Thursday, May 25, 2006, in room 1310 of the […]
Continue readingFilm Festival News: 4th Annual Silver Docs at AFI in Silver Spring
June 13-18. The keynote address at this year’s festival will be given by Al Gore. The festival includes awards, screenings, workshops, and networking opportunities for documentary filmmakers. Among this year’s gala events is an evening with Martin Scorsese (Thursday, June 15, 7pm) who will be joined by Robbie Robertson, the leader of The Band, the […]
Continue readingObit: Elma Gardner Farnsworth, 98, wife of Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television
We all owe a great debt to Philo T. Farnsworth. He’s known to many, but not most, as the true inventor of what became television. Married in 1926, Elma was at the side of Philo when he first tested the invention he had conceived seven years earlier while going back and forth plowing a field […]
Continue readingFrom the screen to the streets – life imitates art: A day without a Mexican (DVD 1008)
From the ALADIN record –“California awakens one day to discover that one third of its population has vanished. A peculiar pink fog surrounds the state and communication outside its boundaries has completely shut down. As the day progresses, it becomes apparent the sole characteristic linking the missing 14 million is their Hispanic heritage. Based on […]
Continue readingMust-see video: In the Realms of the Unreal
This documentary provides probably as much of the story of outsider artist Henry Darger as you are ever likely to learn. Darger was a recluse who avoided all but a few people during his relatively long life. Upon being admitted to a hospital late in life, his life’s work, an enormous and truly unique trove […]
Continue readingStrictly Film School
A pretty amazing site given that its authored by a single person. This site is devoted to serious and usually esoteric cinema much of which is difficult if not imposssible to find on video. In a nutshell, it teaches the average joe, myself included, just how little he/she really knows about film. The author is […]
Continue readingUpcoming event from the Center for Social Media – May 3
The Center for Social Media at AU and Women in Film and Video will be holding a session “Getting the Rights Right” on Wednesday, May 3. Everything filmmakers should know about copyright, public domain, creative commons and fair use. Panelists include: Pat Aufderheide, Director of the Center for Social Media, School of Communications, AU; Lauren […]
Continue readingTV-Turnoff Week is this week, April 24-30
Can’t say I support this cause. I mean, really, does it make sense to categorically denounce all television? But in case you are more sympathetic, here’s the mission statement of the TV Turnoff Network. Speaking of cultural literacy, this image is from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (VHS 1942).
Continue reading‘nother list: This time it’s Roger Ebert’s 101 Movies you must see before …
The criterion is different from his list of the greatest films in that he chose titles for their cultural significance. Included are lesser films that nevertheless attained iconic status including Carrie, The Crying Game, Easy Rider, The Exorcist, and Fight Club. Most major directors are represented by no more than a single film, intentionally. My […]
Continue readingAU Library Website Goes Mobile
The AU Library has created a version of the website optimized for browsing on your PDA. Imagine it’s a sunny spring day; you walk across the quad headed for the library. As you pass Hurst, you search for that book your professor told you to look at. You pause in front of SIS. The book […]
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