Amazon has recently declared that tomorrow is
Price Check day. If you go into a brick and mortar retail store with Amazon’s new
Price Check App on your smart phone, and scan a barcode with the location settings active, and then report back to Amazon on the price of that product, Amazon will deduct $5 from your online purchase of that product. Amazon claims it’s trying to keep prices low for consumers, but others attribute the move to
a less innocuous agenda.
[more inside]
posted by Toekneesan
on Dec 9, 2011 -
143 comments
As a historical document the book is exhaustive and valuable. But I did not come away feeling that I knew or understood Hüsker Dü — the musicians themselves, their music, or any of the people around them — any more intimately than I already did. Earles’ writing is at once densely opinionated and emotionless. He expertly follows the chronology of the band’s tours and releases, but he never makes it understandable why some of us look back on this band so reverently, or why it would be worth somebody’s time to discover Hüsker Dü today. (previously)
posted by Trurl
on Dec 3, 2011 -
52 comments
cactus (aka Jonatan Söderström) is a prolific independent videogame developer. His games are known for playing against genre expectations and their surreal storytelling qualities (as in David Lynch surreal). His latest effort (a collaboration with
his brother and
FUCKING WEREWOLF ASSO) is called
KEYBOARD DRUMSET FUCKING WEREWOLF. It's about an eskimo that that turns into a werewolf and the events that follow. Sound weird? It is. Available in pc and mac flavours.
posted by pancreas
on Nov 5, 2011 -
22 comments
The Observer ran a series of columns by Richard Geefe, a writer whose work was interrupted by his promise to himself and his editors that he would kill himself before the end of November 1999.
First,
second,
third,
fourth,
fifth,
sixth,
seventh,
eighth,
ninth,
tenth,
eleventh, and the posthumous
twelfth.
Reaction in The Independent. [more inside]
posted by Sticherbeast
on Sep 16, 2011 -
14 comments
Intruded is an atmospheric 3D flash game where you play a mysterious character caught in a labyrinth of traps under the surveillance of an unknown observer.
posted by codacorolla
on Sep 6, 2011 -
18 comments
World of Goo, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru and Penumbra Overture are all included in this package. The best thing about the bundle? You can pay whatever you want (above 0 ofcourse), which you can choose to split between the developers and charity at any percentage you'd like. The bundle lasts for another five days and seven hours. All of the games work on Mac, Windows, and Linux so this is a great way to check out any of these popular indie titles if you haven't had a chance to play them yet.
posted by pancreas
on May 6, 2010 -
40 comments
Pitchfork TV presents
I Need That Record! (one week only),
Brendan Toller's
documentary feature examining the plight of independent record stores in the U.S. Featuring Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Ian Mackaye (Fugazi/Minor Threat), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group) Chris Franz (Talking Heads), Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), Pat Carney (The Black Keys), Bryan Poole (Of Montreal), and many more figures of the indie record making/selling scene. Plus the wild animations of
Matthew Newman-Long! (
previously mentioned)
posted by shoesfullofdust
on Apr 24, 2010 -
19 comments
"What are you f**king playing at?” Mr Murdoch asked Mr Kelner in a loud voice and in front of dozens of bemused journalists."
This week, 300,000 copies of the UK's
Independent newspaper were distributed for free advertising the paper's claim to editorial independence stating, "Rupert Murdoch won’t decide this election – you will".
According to the Financial Times, Murdoch's son James subsequently stormed
into the Independent's newsroom brandishing a copy of the edition, protesting it besmirched his father’s reputation. "
Lively times," the
Guardian observes.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Apr 22, 2010 -
62 comments
Miramax Films (named after founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein's parents Miriam and Max)
has been closed. The company was founded in 1979, but found massive success in the 90s with films like The Piano, Pulp Fiction, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Clerks, and The English Patient, and many others. Owned by Disney, the production company still has six movies unreleased. More at
The Wrap.
posted by zardoz
on Jan 28, 2010 -
47 comments
Oxfam, the 67-year-old Oxford-based confederation of multinational organizations, spends more than $600 million a year around the world fighting poverty, famine, climate change and discrimination. $32 million of that budget comes from book sales at its
130 second-hand bookshops in the UK, making them the second largest retailer of second-hand books in Europe. Now, independent booksellers are beginning to speak out about the competition. On
the BBC, in the
Telegraph, the
Guardian, and the
New York Times, some British booksellers are questioning the wisdom of charities using chain stores to raise funds. Are they “destroying lives here to save them elsewhere” as they’ve been accused of by one former UK bookseller, or is this the logical economic result of “the English town with the secondhand bookshop everybody loves but most people never actually go into.” as David McCullough, director of trading for Oxfam recently speculated?
posted by Toekneesan
on Sep 9, 2009 -
40 comments
People have been trying to make the appearance of three-dimensional movement
almost as far back as
the first movie cameras. The very first efforts used
stereoscopy (
more pre-
vious-
ly), which wasn't functional for theater-settings.
In 1915, the first public test of 3D film was deemed unsuccessful, as images presented with
green/red lenses detracted from the plot, but that didn't stop people from trying to make 3D films.
Polarized glasses are another inexpensive method of simulated 3D, while
shutterglasses are a more costly method. Up to 1998 or so, there were
approximately 187 3D movies made, not counting porn, cartoons and shorts (which bring the 1998 total to 263). 2009 is supposedly
the year that 3D movies really take off, as it has been reported that 3D films are expected to gross over $1bn (£700m) at the box office next year, a five-fold increase on their $200m haul in 2008.
There are some really big titles coming, including
the "3D drug trip" that is Avatar, and
all of the announced future Pixar releases will get the Digital Disney 3-D treatment. But 3D isn't limited to the big screen and big companies. The next format war
could be over 3D TV. And now the independent production company
MeniThings has released the feature-length movie,
Battle for Terra. [via
mefi projects, and a bit more on the movie after the jump]
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on May 8, 2009 -
56 comments
The novlist Julie Myerson has written a book, The Lost Child, about her son's addiction to cannabis, the violent behaviour she says this caused and her tough love policy.
Extract. Her son is
angry that she's published it, and says his parents over-reacted: "I wasn't doing anything that most other teenagers do, but such was their naive terror of drugs they were acting like six-year-olds". It comes out through
MumsNet that Julie Myerson was the anonymous author of a Guardian column, "Living with Teenagers," which described her children's behaviour candidly without their knowledge.
Extract. Myerson first
denied this. The Guardian discusses whether it was
right to publish the columns. Myerson is
interviewed about whether she was right to publish The Lost Child. Her partner, and son's father, Jonathan Myerson supports her:
This is an emergency. Her son says she's
addicted to writing.
[more inside]
posted by paduasoy
on Mar 15, 2009 -
160 comments
Metro Collective is an international coalition of independent photographers. This website is an ongoing compilation of
features and portfolios that represent the individual visions of Metro photographers and their commitment to particular subjects. Their
weblog features Metro news and single images, plus interesting outtake images, tearsheets, and behind the image commentary.
posted by netbros
on Jan 31, 2009 -
2 comments
Here's to
Ray Dennis Steckler, the independent filmmaker who
wrote, starred (as Cash Flagg) and directed influential films including
The Thrill Killers,
Rat Pfink a Boo Boo, and his masterpice
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. A visionary artist whose influnce is clearly seen in contemporary cinema, Steckler was prolific (producing movies from 1963 until last year), economical (his films were self-produced, shot on 16mm film and later Hi-8 video), and brilliant (as clearly evidenced in this
dance sequence from Creatures, "The First Monster Musical"). It hasn't been widely reported yet, but fans are mourning his passing. He died in his sleep yesterday, January 7th, aged 70.
[more inside]
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot
on Jan 8, 2009 -
26 comments
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.
[more inside]
posted by aftermarketradio
on Mar 11, 2008 -
20 comments
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...
[more inside]
posted by ethel
on Jan 19, 2008 -
21 comments
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 by brett
on Jun 13, 2007 -
57 comments
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 by Ira.metafilter
on Feb 25, 2007 -
9 comments
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 by Wataki
on Dec 1, 2006 -
35 comments
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 by tb0n3
on Aug 11, 2006 -
26 comments
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 by divabat
on Aug 3, 2006 -
16 comments
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 by boost ventilator
on Jun 1, 2006 -
28 comments
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 by bardic
on May 17, 2006 -
33 comments
