I Wanna Be The Guy is an insanely addictive and sadistically difficult independently developed video game that takes you on a wacky romp through some truly brilliantly designed stages. Along the way you have to best gaming history's most perilous adversaries, like a Giant Radioactive Zangief.
posted on Mar 11, 2008 - View this thread

Housing, preserving, and providing access to these small-scale, homemade rags that document some corner of [often do-it-yourself and punk rock] culture, zine archives can be found via independently operated centers in Georgia (physical library in construction), New Orleans (myspace link, www address out-of-commission), Florida, Minneapolis, Denver, Cambridge, Olympia, Chicago, Seattle and...
posted on Jan 19, 2008 - View this thread

Shameless Magazine. An independent magazine for teenage girls.
posted on Jan 9, 2008 - View this thread

Bloomberg running for prez as an independent? You'd almost have to give it low odds but, as an outside possibility, I find it intriguing.
posted on Jun 20, 2007 - View this thread

McSweeney's is holding a big sale and auction to make up for $130,000 lost in a distributor bankruptcy. Soon we'll be adding one-of-a-kind pieces from Michael Chabon, Sarah Vowell, and Marcel Dzama—and every single thing we've got is on sale, cheap.
posted on Jun 14, 2007 - View this thread

In 2008 Elect “Independent” Don Cordell For President, of the “United States of America” our, “America the Beautiful” OR, You “will be” “Citizens” of The: UNITED NATION’S, “NEW WORLD ORDER”
posted on Jun 13, 2007 - View this thread

Each week, David Warsh publishes a new essay about the principals of economics. Previous topics have included rock 'n' roll economics, print journalism, and game theory. He sets his task and carries it out, and he's been at it for more than five years now.
posted on Mar 29, 2007 - View this thread

Hearing Voices is the largest collective of independent radio producers this side of the semi-planet Pluto. Take a look at the specials or maybe some of the slideshows. Or just browse by producer (maybe Scott Carrier?), or subject (perhaps comedy or science or maybe just Rock!).
posted on Mar 13, 2007 - View this thread

The Independent Press Association is officially dead. It's demise was a long time coming. The future of small magazines looks pretty bleak.
posted on Mar 6, 2007 - View this thread

The Indie Band Survival Guide: A fantastic, free, 101 pages collection of useful information for musicians - covers topics such as recording, copyright, major label contracts, commercial radio, promoting your music, band websites, distribution, filesharing and live shows.
posted on Feb 25, 2007 - View this thread

2007 Independent Games Festival Finalists. Most have downloadable demo and full versions (on the PC, anyway). Share and enjoy.
posted on Jan 29, 2007 - View this thread

Make an independent sitcom? These guys did. On a shoestring budget, a collection of very funny folk have created a 22-minute-long pilot episode of Break a Leg. Heavily influenced by Arrested Development, I found it funnier than most sitcoms I see on TV. The next episode is apparently a few months away.
posted on Dec 1, 2006 - View this thread

Blue Pill Red Pill This site just launched recently, by the looks of it. It bills itself as a "national database of all news critical, independent, and investigative this side of the galaxy." Seems to be a way of introducing people to verified and rated independent media sources, rather than aggregating content or providing articles itself. I haven't seen much like it out there.
posted on Aug 11, 2006 - View this thread

PM of Malaysia: Those who spread untruths on the Net will be detained Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia, warned all bloggers that "if information in blogs, websites and online portals were incorrect, bordered on slander, caused disturbance or compelled the public to lose faith in the nation’s economic policies, their authors would be detained for investigation". The Malaysian government is even considering adjusting the Printing Presses and Publications Act^ to include blogs and online media.

This comes hot on the heels of a government-ordered media blackout on Article 11, a coalition of NGOs dedicated to upholding the principles of Article 11 of the Malaysian constitution, about freedom of religion, after several protests claiming Article 11 to be anti-Muslim and confusing it with the now-defunct Interfaith Comission Initiative, which aimed to be a body of people of different faiths raising awareness about diversity of religion and working together on religious issues.

Minister of Energy, Water, and Communications Dr Lim Keng Yaik said that they will not censor the Internet (as promised when the Multimedia Super Corridor was launched), but after events such as prominent Malaysian political blogger Jeff Ooi being investigated over a supposedly offensive comment on his blog entry about Islam in 2005, and alternative news source MalaysiaKini's office raided after carrying a letter critical of the ruling party's policies in 2003, no one is really quite sure.
posted on Aug 3, 2006 - View this thread

The Room: The Movie. Triple-threat (actor/writer/director) Tommy Wiseau made his cinematic debut in 2003 with the The Room (see trailer and various scenes), "a blend between a softcore porn flick and a Tennessee Williams stageplay." Wiseau ("who's not just one of the most unusual looking and sounding-with an unidentifiable Eastern European accent-leading men ever to grace the screen, but a narcissist nonpareil whose movie makes Vincent Gallo's "The Brown Bunny" seem the apotheosis of cinematic self-restraint...may be something of a first: A movie that prompts most of its viewers to ask for their money back-before even 30 minutes have passed." - Variety), allegedly raised $6 million outside Hollywood to cover production and marketing costs of the self-described "black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies" (see various rough dress rehersals). Audience members, including comedian David Cross, have been "marveling at the bizarre editing, bad bluescreen, uncomfortably explicit sex scenes and, of course, the enigma of Wiseau himself" as the film played monthly for years in Los Angeles. Available on DVD, diehard "roomies" swear by the theatrical experience, shout out their own commentary, hurl spoons at the screen and singalong to the soundtrack. Some call it "The Rocky Horror of the New Millenium" and stage "Room" parties. If you look at the marketing campaign or survived a screening you might see The Room as "a seminar on how NOT to make a movie." [Inspired by Boing Boing]
posted on Jun 1, 2006 - View this thread

Bonofilter: Yesterday, May 16, U2 front-man Bono was a guest "editor" for the UK newspaper The Independent. Called the "RED Edition," half of this issue's proceeds went "to help fight HIV and AIDS among women and children in Africa." Highlights included US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice offering her take on "The Ten Best Musical Works" and an interview with Eddie Izzard on immigration in Europe. Is there a downside to celebrity editing, or is it a win-win-win for Bono, The Independent, and some people in need?
posted on May 17, 2006 - View this thread

The strange story of Billy Yeager aka Jimmy Story the lost son of Jimi Hendrix aka independent film-maker extraordinaire.
I was wearing wigs and disguising myself as different kinds of people or sons of dead rock stars since 7th grade. I ran away at 13 years old. I lived in a tree house. I lost my virginity to a big fat girl who raped me on a hit of acid when I was 14 while her parents were in the living room watching All in the Family.

He's casting for a new film - albeit in a strange manner [swearing, violence, threats - maybe NSFW].
posted on Feb 11, 2006 - View this thread

What you get when a Cars Salesman is your Ambassador Do you get the idea that this whole administration is new to this whole diplomacy thing It seems the only way the truth is admitted is under glaring pressure by our allies.
posted on Dec 27, 2005 - View this thread

Publishers must die, claims Greg Costikyan, industry insider. But can he win out in the end, or is his princess in another castle? It seems that Mr. Costikyan is putting his money where his mouth is. I'm pulling the trigger. At this point, I have no funding, other than a little money myself; nothing ready to launch, either. But I do have a partner, the offered support of some other companies, a clear sense of what I need to accomplish in the next few months, and a draft (not a final one) of a business plan and financials. This is, of course, terrifying. Mr. Costikyan mentioned previously here and here. [via] [personal opinion inside]
posted on Sep 28, 2005 - View this thread

I don't know what "independent film" means. At a time when the Weinsteins are trying to extricate themselves from Disney, it seems an appropriate question to ask. There are Indie films (non-industry money) that are supposed to imitate fancy hollywood films, there are new studios being opened outside of LA by Wealthy Christians in Denver hoping to convert through CS Lewis movies and there are Garden State, Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine etc. which are like other Hollywood films: have stars, and studio money but are marketed as "Independent Films." What makes these independent? Finally, and seemingly too infrequently, there are privately financed and self-distributed unusual films like Assisted Living which despite their obvious merits and the critic's adoration are presumably ignored by the studios, blasted by the brain-numbing EW and distributed instead by the two young first-time filmmakers Why can't we see more non-hollywood and non-hollywood espousing independent ART on the screen? Why do we let every other multi-million dollar romantic comedy be sold to us as "indy" just because it has a quirky soundtrack or aesthetic sensibility. What can we do about it? I'm going to the movies. You?
posted on Apr 15, 2005 - View this thread

The mission of delocator.net is to assist the public in finding and supporting independently owned cafés. There's a thinly-veiled stance against a certain coffee company, but the site's a great community-driven toolkit for finding yourself a good cup of joe anywhere in the US.
posted on Apr 5, 2005 - View this thread

Copy Shop   is a 12-minute dialogue-free film by director Virgil Widrich about a guy inadvertently duplicating himself over and over (320 x 240 streaming Real format download link). The most interesting aspect of the short, however, is that it was made frame-by-frame of photocopies, manipulated for jarring visual effects and then shot with a camera to put together the final cut. (Mentioned previously by film aficionado pxe2000.) Also see Widrich's photocopied short Fast Film with even more calamitous, unraveling effects. Get this guy toner refills for his birthday.
posted on Mar 21, 2005 - View this thread

In those days, he could do no wrong. In the Sixties, he was the man who published Catch-22, Portnoy's Complaint and Hemingway's A Moveable Feast; he put John Lennon's doodles into cold print, launched the careers of John Fowles and Gabriel García Márquez, looked after Thomas Pynchon and Kurt Vonnegut and later, in the early 1980s, was the godfatherly mentor of Amis fils, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie. He was equally adept at commissioning inspired non-fictions such as The Naked Ape, Desmond Morris's zoological inspection of human behaviour.
The Independent profiles Tom Maschler, publisher, founder of the Booker Prize. (via Bookslut)
posted on Mar 17, 2005 - View this thread

Independent coders remake Origin's Privateer. Once upon a time, Wing Commander and Free Enterprise had a beautiful baby. Then the dastardly Electronic Arts killed Origin Systems, the maker of the Wing Commander and Privateer series. The townspeople trembled in fear. From where would come their salvation? Sure, they had Freelancer, but you couldn't even use a joystick with that game! For a long time, it looked like the decent HOTAS and Sci Fi loving populace would be doomed to wander stickless through the desert of action oriented Space Simulation games, when Lo! from the far away land of Independent Game Makers came the 1.0 release of the Privateer remake for Linux, Windows and OS X simultaneously. And the people played it, and it was good. [via /.] [more inside]
posted on Mar 7, 2005 - View this thread

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter
posted on Sep 9, 2004 - View this thread

A new newspaper for London. The first edition of The Line comes out today - apparently, despite its size, the UK capitol lacked an independent paper until now (please feel free to correct this if it is wrong). It's still thin, but does provide an interesting alternative look at issues both local and global.
posted on Sep 1, 2004 - View this thread

"Now we know that no other President of the United States has ever lied so baldly and so often and so demonstrably... The presumption now has to be that he's lying any time that he's saying anything." So says Ray McGovern, who worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years. Now, who still believes the P(L)OTUS?
posted on Nov 10, 2003 - View this thread

Third parties spoil elections for some guys trying to run for office. It seems that from reading CNN election results, some people were able to get votes while not running with a D or R. Some of the notables (not including Bernie Sanders (I-VT)) include Gary Richardson (I-OK) who might have cost Steve Largent the election, Tim Penny (I-MN) couldn't replace Jesse, Tom Golisano (I-NY) will need to try again in 2006, Jim Mahoney (I-AZ) fared well, Ed Thompson (Libertarian-WI) got over 10%, not bad for being Tommy Thompson's brother, the MT Senate results were (in order) Baucus/Teddy Roosevelt Look-a-like/Blue Guy/Green Guy and in the most dubious of all good news for Third Parties, Jim Traficant loses from behind bars but he got 15%, showing some people like their politicans imprisoned

Three cheers to the third parties!
posted on Nov 6, 2002 - View this thread

The Son of God and Mexican wrestler El Santos team up to fight evil in Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter!
posted on Sep 19, 2002 - View this thread

Xenophobia at its best! " The British and the North Americans are often said to be divided by a common language. Now it seems this linguistic split may apply to the natural world too. [¶] A pair of Canadian otters brought to Britain a year ago are under 24-hour guard at the National Sea-life Sanctuary, near Oban in Scotland, because of fears they will be attacked by indigenous cousins unable to understand their "foreign accents". "
YES!!11 GO CANADIAN OTTERS!!!
posted on Jul 4, 2002 - View this thread

J.K. Galbraith shocked at scale of corporate failures. "I can only say I hadn't expected to see this problem on anything like the magnitude of the last few months – the separation of ownership from management, the monopolisation of control by irresponsible personal money-makers." Myself and chrispy came to the same conclusion on the drive home from the resolutely un- (rather than anti-) corporate Glastonbury Festival today. Profit is valued and rewarded by the vast majority of corporations above all else. As a consquence, people with the same values dominate executive positions, to the exclusion of those with more 'humanitarian' or longer-term outlooks. Where is the balance? Should we make hippie non-exec directors compulsory? Or should I just go back to bed and let the drugs wear off???
posted on Jul 1, 2002 - View this thread

Red Cross attacks exile of Palestinians Mr Fisk (in occupied Lebanon) notes that the Red Cross believes it cruel to separate known terrorists from their families. Neglects to note that all international law opposes the targeting of civilians no matter what the reason or rationalization used. Perhaps a lawsuit for "cruel and unusual" punishment might allow the terrorists to have family reunions and be compensated for emotional damages and deprivation of marital privileges.
posted on May 24, 2002 - View this thread

projet MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE projet is a collection of independently-produced books and zines traveling and exhibiting across North America in a vintage Airstream trailer. The project is accepting submissions for the 2002 tour.
posted on Jan 16, 2002 - View this thread

US Right-Wing Cranks are behind the anthrax the UK Independant 10/21/01 features this article
posted on Oct 21, 2001 - View this thread

The war of words over Israel continued this week as CNN instructed its journalists to refer to "settlements" as "Jewish neighborhoods." Last month the BBC agreed to stop using the term "assassination" in favor of "targeted killings."
posted on Sep 4, 2001 - View this thread

Like the rest of Europe, Germany is going through a histrionic BSE scare. So Germans switched to sausage and pork. And then they were told pork contains anabolic steroids. So they switched to venison. And then they were told it might have BSE too. So the Germans, who hate veggies, are starting to "starve." And raid zoos for meat. Hey, where'd all this paté come from?
posted on Jan 27, 2001 - View this thread

"I am concerned about the world's silence and co-operation with this massacre. Maybe if people at grassroots act, governments will follow." Neta Golan, 29, Israeli ctizen and voluntary human shield.
posted on Nov 19, 2000 - View this thread