Ben Godar.com

I'm Tony La Russa, Bitch!

2011-10-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

With this morning's announcement that Tony La Russa, vaunted manager, sunglass enthusiast, is retiring, I thought I'd share this piece I posted at Viva El Birdos. It's an imagined monologue I wrote when I got home from the bar the night they won the NLCS, combining my conflicted feelings about TLR's style with lots of swears. If you are not a regular follower of the St. Louis Cardinals, little of this will make sense. And even then...

I'm Tony La Russa, Bitch!

Whatup, haters? Remember me? I'm the guy who traded that hot, young prospect for a bunch of old-ass pitchers and three-month rentals. How'd that shit work out? What? I can't hear you over ALL THE CHAMPAGNE BEING POURED IN MY EARS.

That's right. I'm Tony La Russa - you better recognize. When I'm not rescuing baby animals I'm GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES. I know some of you read that Moneyball crap. Well tell me this, has "moneyball" ever pulled the kind of crazy shit that I just pulled? Tell me, seriously, because I have not read the book and only have a cursory understanding of its contents.

Yes, I told Colby Rasmus to take a hike. Didn't like the cut of his jib. You know where he is now? At a karaoke bar in Canada... probably with Scott Rolen and Anthony Reyes. You don't like it? I got news for you. I'm putting together the World Series roster right now, and I'm penciling in Aaron Miles and Cal Eldred. Believe it.

Did you see how I managed that bullpen? I managed the SHIT out of it. For the World Series: No more starting pitchers. Not enough for me to do. We will open the game out of the bullpen, and for each batter, I will choose a pitcher who best matches up and/or who has not pissed me off recently. Call me "The Puppetmaster." No, seriously, I really would like for that to be a thing that catches on.

If I can be real for just a moment: I know that a manager is always under scrutiny. There were some dark days for this team when it looked like my ego was driving us into the ground. So for all those true blue Cardinals fans who lost faith, I'd just like to say, from the bottom of my heart... WASH MY BALLS! I'M TONY LA RUSSA, BITCH!

Feed Magazine Lives!

2011-10-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Feed Magazine, a very early purveyor of original web content where I was privileged to write, is now back online. While no new material is being published, the archives, which had fallen into the Internet Graveyard, are now back.

And when I say I was "privileged to write" for Feed, what I mean is I was too young and stupid to realize what a great opportunity it was. 'Twas a time, in those heady days of the dot com bubble, when a young man could write on The Internets... and make a living at it!

The site features a new home page, detailing the history of Feed and notable careers of Feed writers who have gone on to be novelists, writers for The Daily Show, critics for The New Yorker, and other things which make me feel shitty about my career.

I only wrote two pieces for Feed before Pets.com sucked them into the vortex. At least I think that's how it went down. Anyway, you can read both of them here.

4 Questions Which Should be Asked About the Cy-Hawk

2011-08-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

I wrote this last weekend about the foolishness of dumping a Cy-Hawk trophy with 30-years of history, created by fans, for a corporate advertisement. The trophy revealed by the Iowa Corn Growers today is even worse than I imagined. It is nothing but an advertisement.

Here's 4 questions the local sports reporters SHOULD be asking:

1. Why create a new trophy in the first place?

Everyone seems to assume this was a response to the appearance of the old trophy. Was it?

2. Why not simply redesign/refresh the existing trophy?

If this was just a cosmetic issue, why not refresh the look while maintaining the 30-year history of the Cy-Hawk? Other rivalry trophies have been "updated" over the years.

3. Why did they choose a corporate sponsor and how much did Iowa Corn pay?

None of the major rivalry trophies in college football have corporate sponsorships. What made the Iowa and ISU Athletic Departments decide to seek one and how many pieces of silver did it take?

4. How long does the Iowa Corn sponsorship last?

This is a key question. Hy-Vee paid for certain naming rights in 2004 and renewed in 2007, whereby officials began referring to the "Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series." It's unlikely Iowa Corn's sponsorship is forever, and it's hard to imagine another sponsor embracing an image of a family gathered around corn. We must expect this trophy to be junked whenever their sponsorship ends.

This whole chain of events exemplifies the polluting effect of sponsorship. Many people thought the old trophy was ugly. But what is not in dispute is it was created by fans whose sole intention was to promote this then-fledgling rivalry. Even if Iowa Corn's trophy had looked better than it does, it was never intended purely as a celebration of the game, but always as a promotional tool for their industry.

The "retiring" of the Cy-Hawk Trophy

2011-08-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Update: 8/19/11 - The new trophy has been revealed and it is a disaster.

This piece, published in the Sunday Des Moines Register, sums up my feelings about the Iowa/ISU athletic departments decision to scrap the historic rivalry trophy in favor of a piece of corporate sponsorship. It will remain online at The Register for a few days.

Fans are left behind in athletics' quest for cash

When the Iowa and Iowa State athletic departments announced they were retiring the Cy-Hawk trophy for a new corporate-sponsored award, they also cast aside a significant piece of history.

The Iowa/Iowa State rivalry would never have been renewed were it not for the will of the fans. For 43 years, the schools refused to play, despite a growing public outcry and multiple resolutions from the Legislature. Between 1968, when the schools agreed to play, and 1977, when the first game took place, both schools tried to cancel the contracts and the series.

It’s fitting that the trophy also came not from the reluctant athletic departments but from the fans. Bob Uetz and a group of friends, branding themselves the “Greater Des Moines Athletic Club,” paid $500 to have a trophy made, and convinced Gov. Bob Ray to hand it out to the winning team.

The trophy helped cement the legitimacy of the series, which at the time wasn’t guaranteed to last more than a few years. For 33 years, the trophy has been the symbol of the rivalry.

As a symbol, some are critical of the trophy’s appearance. But what’s happening now is not a redesign of the trophy. The athletic departments are dumping the Cy-Hawk entirely, severing its long history and connection to the fans.

There was a hint of these intentions in 2004, when the schools announced the “Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series.” The Iowa Corn Growers are getting more than just naming rights — they are getting their own trophy. So when their sponsorship ends, will a new trophy be made?

We haven’t seen the new trophy yet. Maybe it will look great. But it won’t be a piece of history, born of the fans .

The greatest moment for fans comes from that feeling that we are part of the event . The Cy-Hawk was the best of that spirit. Moves like this make it clear the athletic departments view fans not as any kind of partner, but merely as consumers of their product.

— Ben Godar, Des Moines

When Harry Met Sally II

2011-04-06T13:39:00.001-07:00

Given the options of funny or die, I would rate this as "funny."

When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal & Helen Mirren from Billy Crystal

David Carr, Pay walls and "innovation"

2011-03-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

David Carr checked-in with another solid take on the New York Times new pay wall, and the technorati response. His best point, regarding the value of real journalism:

When I was in Austin, I would fall asleep each night to bad dreams, prompted by cable television ranting that the world was melting down, principally in Japan. And each morning I would wake up to reporting that described in very careful detail what was actually known, not feared, about the nuclear crisis in Japan.

It's also worth noting that one detractor he quotes drops the term "innovation" in his critique. This is a favorite term of the tech crowd. In tech, "innovative" and "good" are nearly synonymous. Not necessarily so with journalism. The process of journalism - especially the beat system at most major newspapers, embedding reporters in key areas where they can get to know the players, learn how things work and be on the lookout for stories which deserve the attention of the public at large - that is not an innovation. But it continues to yield great journalism.

The tech side of news agencies should be looking for innovative ways to deliver the news, and yes they've dropped the ball in the past. But the interface is not the content, and don't we seek out news for the content?

As I mentioned in some thoughts on the new doc Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times, Carr is one of the few effectively making the case that journalism and technology are not the same thing. Let me again recommend that film for a more in-depth look at how real journalism works and why it achieves something the aggregators never will.

Help Kickstart Julia

2011-03-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

Some good friends of mine are working to take Julia, an original play by Vince Melocchi, from the Pacific Resident Theater in Venice to the Off Broadway theater 59e59. I was lucky enough to see the show just before they opened in December, and it's absolutely a great piece of theater.

Check out the video for more information, and kick in a few bucks if you can over at their Kickstarter page. If you live in SoCal or NYC, check the play out.

Film Advocacy Day

2011-03-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

Sugar, filming in the QC

When the Iowa film tax credit program was suspended, the Iowa Film Office was also closed - effectively closing down all fimmaking in the state. Today, we are asking Gov. Branstad to reopen and staff the Film Office and allow this industry to thrive.

It's important to understand the Film Office and the tax credit program are not the same thing. The Film Office has existed since the 1980s as a resource for producers looking to film in Iowa. It connects those producers with crew, locations and other resources in Iowa. It was responsible for bringing high-profile features such as Field of Dreams and Bridges of Madison County to the state, along with countless commercials and other productions.

Essentially, the Film Office is there to let producers know Iowa is open for business. But now the office has no full-time staff, no clear contact information, and only a website full of outdated and misleading information. The message to producers is clear: Iowa is not open for business.

The Film Alliance of Iowa - a new organization made up of filmmakers and business leaders throughout the state - is asking for you to CONTACT GOV. BRANSTAD TODAY asking that the Iowa Film Office be re-opened and staffed.

Here's how you can contact the Governor:

Phone: 515-281-5211

E-mail: info@terrybranstad.com

Twitter: @terrybranstad

Facebook: Terry Branstad

Here's a suggested message, from the FAI: We respectfully request reinstating a sufficiently funded Iowa Film Office, staffed with adequate, qualified and experienced staffing. The sooner this happens, the sooner Iowa can best attract production companies to add jobs and economic development to our State's economy, especially through a new Iowa production guide establishing access to Iowa's crew, talent and resources, which will help create a strong film industry.

Also - please help spread the word about Film Advocacy Day. Post this information to Twitter or Facebook. Bask in the karma of doing a good deed.

To keep up to date, you can also follow the Film Alliance of Iowa on Facebook.

True/False 2011: Truth Harder

2011-03-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

This ain't Twilight. It's a friggin' documentary.

2011 was my third year in a row at the True/False Film Festival, and I can't imagine why I wouldn't go back again next year.

It's hard to describe just how great the vibe in the town is - thousands milling around and lining up around the blocks to watch documentaries. When I miss a film at the festival - and it's impossible to see them all - and watch them months later at home, I regret not seeing them in the Missouri Theater with 1,000 others. I missed WasteLand at last year's festival, and as the accolades and Oscar nomination have piled up, I haven't stopped kicking myself.

Probably my favorite film this year was Life in a Day - the doc culled from a day's worth of videos uploaded to YouTube. Given that pedigree, I had some reservations, as director Kevin MacDonald said he did. I'm a pretty hardcore cynic, but you'd have to be even more cynical than me to not be moved by the film MacDonald and crew put together. Life in a Day has elements of narrative, but it's more a symphony of tone, framing the highs and lows of human experience.

Sure, you could call it a gimmick. But it is a technical achievement that wouldn't even have been possible a few years ago. If someone offers to show you what is going on around the entire world on a single day, how could you say no?

The quality of the curation goes even deeper. The shorts program Landmarks & Monoliths featured five shorts which all revolved around the relationship between people and the environments they've built around them. Minka, directed by Davina Pardo, very delicately explored the lives of two longtime male companions around the story of how they rebuilt an ancient Japanese farm house as their home.

Let's be honest, shorts programs always center around a theme. But they rarely come together into much more than "here's a few films which kind of relate to each other."

To quote the Portlandia theme song, the spirit of the 90s is alive in (Columbia). I finally got a chance to eat an truly amazing breakfast at Cafe Berlin. Booches still dishes out the best hamburgers I've ever been served on wax paper.

I realize I come on like the Convention & Visitors Bureau, but such is my love for this festival and the people who put it on. If you Googled your way to this post and have read this far, you owe it to yourself to check out True/False for yourself.

Troll Hunter, The Arbor and blurring lines

2011-03-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

Troll!!!

Troll Hunter and The Arbor may only have two things in common. Both screened at this year's True/False Film Festival, and both blur the lines between documentary and narrative fiction. I liked The Arbor better.

I was looking forward to Troll Hunter as a fan of comedy, bizarro subject matter and Norwegians. I knew going in that the film was largely invented, with CGI trolls and all. I guess I thought the filmmakers extrapolated from some kernel of truth - perhaps playing out some crazy guy's stories. But the film is 100% invention, much in the vein of Blair Witch or Cloverfield.

There are some genuinely funny moments, and the filmmakers get a lot of mileage from just a little bit of troll footage. Unlike many mockumentaries, they stay completely true to documentary style found footage. But once it's clear the film is all invention, I wanted the pacing and beats of a narrative arc. If you don't have the storytelling of narrative and you don't have the "reality" of documentary, what do you have?

Worth shooting with actors just for a bitchin' shot like this.

Whereas Troll Hunter is a fiction narrative trying to look like a documentary, The Arbor is a documentary made to look like fiction. The film consists of audio interviews with its subjects, with actors on screen lip-synching to their words.

It's the story of British playwright Andrea Dunbar, whose teenage accounts of life in The Estate (the projects) brought her some prominence in the 80s. Dunbar's hard drinking and hard living led to three children from three fathers and her death at just 29. Her children, especially the oldest, struggled to get on without falling down the same path as their mother.

The lip-synching technique is a bit jarring at first, but often you forget it's even there. But Director Clio Barnard wants the audience to remain aware that there is a level of manipulation and storytelling in what they are watching. (I asked her.) What really made the technique connect is that, in the same way Andrea's plays were a dramatic recreation of her life's events, the documentary is a sort-of recreation based on the stories the people in her life have told.

Coming on the heels of a year when Catfish and Exit Through the Gift Shop sparked a lot of debate about the blending of truth and fiction in docs, The Arbor and Troll Hunter illustrate that the blending of styles hinges on which elements you hold onto.

Page One: Journalism vs. Technology

2011-03-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

A key moment in Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times comes subtly, in footage from one of many panels on "the death of newspapers." Someone from the news aggregator Newser makes the blanket claim that media companies are in the technology business.

It's hardly new to kick newspapers around for being slow or inept at embracing new technologies. But Page One makes a much needed counterargument - these technology companies are also in the journalism business. Or at least they should be.

Times Reporter David Carr - the real star of the film - responds by showing the Newser front page with every piece of content gathered from a traditional news agency cut-out, leaving just a page full of holes. In another clip, David Simon points out he's never seen a reporter from the Huffington Post at a Baltimore Zoning Board meeting.

But the real argument for the relevance of the journalist comes from watching the entire machine of the New York Times. Editors stay long into the night debating the relevance of a story, is the angle right, is it even a story at all? These are conversations I recognize from my days in newspaper, but it's a side of the job not often seen.

Contrasting this is the office of aggregator Gawker, where writers gather around the "big board" - a screen which constantly updates with the top ten stories readers are viewing. The implication is to serve the audience by scrambling to give them what they want, to grab clicks with headlines that play into common search terms, etc.

In a Q&A after the screening at True/False, David Carr said that the Times is becoming more like Gawker, and Gawker is becoming more like the Times. Perhaps modern news reporting is one part journalism and one part technology. But the technology side has taken a lot of credit in recent years, and reveled in kicking the journalists while they're down. Score this one for the journalists.

Premium Pricing; Premium Experience?

2011-03-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

We know about the premium price tag on 3-D movies. This morning, I learned my local Cinemark theater is now also charging a premium for 2-D movies in something they call "XD." What is XD? I'll let them explain:

Cinemark XD is an Extreme Digital Experience where viewers get face-to-face with the action and experience cinema like never before! Extra large, extreme entertainment for the senses. Mega-sized ceiling-to-floor screens, wrap-around custom sound and a maximum comfort entertainment environment ensure that every seat is an intense sensory experience.

Huh the huh? Is it me, or does that description sound like a Mountain Dew commercial? I could barely get through the paragraph without jumping out of a plane on a snowboard.

But if we cut out the EXTREME jargon, I think we're left with:

Bigger screen
Better sound system
Comfier chairs

Those are all nice. And for the matinees I was looking at today, the XD experience will set you back $12, whereas the traditional showings are $6.50.

Now I've been in the XD theater at my local multiplex, for a 3-D showing of Despicable Me. I guess it was a somewhat larger screen than other auditoriums. I don't remember being wowed by the sound or my ass feeling especially well-cushioned. So I'll probably keep that extra $5.50 in my pocket.

The exhibition business is rough, so I hold no ill-will toward even the mega-chains for getting creative to make ends meet. But there are things that can be done to make movie going a truly "premium" experience.

In LA, I often go to the Arclight Hollywood. Premium pricing gets you an actual reserved seat, an usher to monitor the auditorium and quality of the projection/sound, and access to a snack bar with higher-quality eats and alcohol. Whether that's worth the extra bump in price is up for debate, but for me it is, and at least you can point to some tangible "premium" features.

It's tricky to create tiers based on "quality," as Cinemark is doing. Does this mean the showings in the other auditoriums are shit? Shouldn't the projection and sound be excellent in all your auditoriums?

The cynical reaction - and I'm not sure it's wrong here - is that Cinemark XD is just a way to charge a higher rate for a few showings even when there's not a 3-D film in that auditorium. At the least, it seems likely the vaguery of the perks will make movie-goers skeptical of premium pricing in general.

The MPAA & Parenthood

2011-01-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

If you read or listen to much movie industry news, no doubt you've heard another recent bout questioning the ratings of the MPAA. Blue Valentine and The King's Speech are among the latest films whose rating has garnered a collective "WTF?"

As in this episode of KCRW's The Business, it's often MPAA Chair Joan Graves who appears defending the system. And the defense cited time and time again is that the MPAA ratings are decided by parents - not film experts, or psychologists, but honest-to-goodness, salt-of-the-earth, God fearing parents.

It was probably the 20th time I heard this argument that I was reminded of this nugget of wisdom, spoken by Keanu Reeves in Parenthood. It does well to summarize the wisdom, reliability and exclusivity of "parents" as a group.

"You need a license to buy a dog, or drive a car. Hell, you need a license to catch a fish. But they'll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father."

Community Organizers

2010-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

"I will kick ass and take names" is not exactly a direct quote.

We're longtime members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, a group which helps people organize on a variety of political issues - often when facing large, well-funded, corporate lobbyists. I got the chance recently to volunteer some video editing skill during a meeting here in Des Moines with Attorney General Tom Miller and an action at Bank of America, both in response to the misdeeds of big banks regarding home loans and foreclosures.

CCI worked with organizers from groups across the country on the event. We relayed photos and video to the Showdown in America website, where they were online in less than an hour. By the end of the day, Mother Jones, the Huffington Post and dozens of other news organizations were running with the story. The next night, video from the event aired on this segment of Countdown With Keith Olbermann (without Keith Olbermann).

Coming from the world of film, where it takes forever to get something from idea to screen, it was a real thrill to see something go from raw footage to national media story in a matter of hours. It was also a thrill to work even briefly with so many dedicated community organizers from across the country. If you live in Iowa, I encourage you to donate and become a member of CCI. If you live elsewhere, plug into a local group working to give you a stronger voice.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How you can... and cannot read screenplays on a Kindle

2010-12-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

I read a lot of screenplays, so I'd been eyeing a Kindle for years. Every time I print 110 pages to read once - and maybe not even finish - I imagine a single tear rolling down Capt. Planet's cheek. But there are some quirks to be aware of when it comes to displaying a screenplay on the Kindle.

It all comes down to screen size. Books converted into Kindle format display less than a page on each Kindle page. But with screenplay formatting, and given that you're typically working off a PDF file, displaying a full page on the Kindle screen makes the print pretty small.

Getting a PDF screenplay to display well on a Kindle is the holy grail of cheap-ass screenwriters and producers. Start Googling and scouring message boards and you'll find dozens of your brethren on this quest. I know because I have. If you can afford to drop $300 plus on the bigger Kindle DX, you're golden. Otherwise, you'll have some choices to make.

Convert the PDF to text

A script converted to text

There are several free web services and programs which will convert a PDF into a text document. I've become partial to PDF to Word. Once you've got the script into a text format, you can use a program like Calibre to convert the text to a format your Kindle can read, like MOBI, and send it to your Kindle.

This has become my preferred method for reading scripts. The text winds up at a very comfortable size for reading. As for formatting, it kinda works. Line breaks are maintained, so Dialogue and Action stays separate. Often, the indentation is maintained, but not always. You will get some wonky bits where action is indented, and every now and then, a character name jumps behind the character's dialogue. But here's the thing: If you've read a lot of scripts, you will hardly notice. You know when you're reading action or dialogue, even if the formatting cues aren't perfect.

There are a few steps involved in the conversion, but it goes very fast. I usually process a few scripts at a time. There is a delay before PDF to Word delivers its conversion via e-mail, but the dragging and dropping only takes a couple minutes.

The one catch: This only works from a PDF which was created electronically from the script file. It will not work with a script that was scanned into PDF form.

Rotate the Screen

Flipping the Kindle into Landscape mode boosts the size of the text to something more readable. This requires no reformatting. You can just send the PDF straight to your Kindle and flip it.

Again, the catch: In Landscape mode, your Kindle will display about 2/3 of a page at a time. So you read through to the bottom, advance the page, and now you're looking at the bottom 2/3 of that page. The top portion will repeat text that was on the previous page, so every time you flip, you'll have to scan a little bit to find the place you left off. It's not awful. And if you're reading from a scanned PDF, it's probably your best option. But I find it more distracting than the wonky formatting from the conversion method.

There's got to be a program that crops the margins

This script had all the white
space cropped, but the Kindle
has added back margin space.

Maybe someday there will be. But I've tried quite a few and not found anything that really does what you want this to do. Programs like Preview on the Mac and Adobe Acrobat have margin cropping options - but they don't actually crop the PDF, they just tell the viewer not to display the margins. When you send the "cropped" file to your Kindle, the margins will still be there.

I spent a lot of time working with a program called Briss which actually does crop PDF pages. It took several tries to get the program working, though the developer was very helpful and responsive. Eventually though, I was able to crop out nearly all the white margin space from screenplay PDFs.

But here's the problem: The Kindle seems to buffer anything with margin space. Comparing my cropped and uncropped files, once sent to my Kindle, there was very little difference. This may be due, in part, do a difference in the proportions of the cropped box and Kindle screen. For my money, the small gains in readability weren't worth the effort.

Given the intense interest from the too-cheap-to-buy-a-DX crowd, maybe someone will write a program which better addresses this. For now, I'm pretty sure these are our best options. Even though it's a bit of a hassle to read scripts on that little Kindle, I've never thought "I'd rather just print 110 pages."

Friends, I have joined the Tweet Elite

2010-11-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

...at least according to Matthew Shwery (@mshwery), coffee master at Mars Cafe and all-around Guy Who Has Good Taste in Stuff.

You can follow me @bengodar, where I will try to live up to this Elite status. Or possibly spam you with some magazine subscriptions.

Tweet Elite: Fresh-brewed insights :: dmJuice.com

Kindle Sleeve with free Northern Exposure DVD

2010-10-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

With the price on the latest generation Kindle dropping all the way down to $139, I couldn't pass it up. I often read a few PDF screenplays a week, and have been eying the Kindle just for the savings in printing costs.

But I can't imagine carrying this around in my bag without some kind of protective case. There are all kinds of Kindle cases on the market, including some very cool ones made from re-purposed book covers. If you're willing to drop $20 or $30, you can get something really nice.

On the other hand...

The Kindle is almost exactly the size of a DVD. So if you've got any kind of extraneous DVD packaging - and really, what Special Edition packaging isn't extraneous? - you may already have a totally viable case.

For me, the choice was clear: Northern Exposure Complete First Season DVD. The little zip-up outer cover provides some needed padding for bouncing around in my laptop bag, and the Kindle slides right in. Now I've got a no-cost sleeve to protect the screen, and when I pull my Kindle out in public, everyone thinks "wow, that guy really likes Northern Exposure."

See Manhattan Short Fest this week

2010-10-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Two kids and the Polish Chris Cooper in Echo.

This week, the Manhattan Short Film Festival is screening at venues all over the world. If you have a chance to check it out, I would certainly recommend it. The program includes ten shorts from ten different countries. At the end of the two-hour program, attendees are given ballots to vote for their favorite.

The quality of the ten films is very high. Nine are narrative, two animated (including the one non-narrative). Most all fit into that classic short film structure: A character at a turning point moment.

The opening short, Watching, was very reminiscent of Chris Nolan's Following. But it creates a taut little thriller with just a meeting of two characters in a diner. It reminded me of the classic 3-2-1 assignment at Chapman film school - 3 pages, 2 characters, 1 location. Beauty in economy.

I was transfixed by Helene Florent's A Little Inconvenience, about a man who wakes up to find himself floating off the ground. Some I talked to at the screening were thrown by the ending, but I found something ethereal and beautiful in the images of the man gently floating off the ground.

Echo from Magnus Van Horn felt like a splice out of a feature, with a cunning detective slowly pulling the details of a horrible crime out of two teenage boys. War, from Paolo Sassanelli, considers young boys playing war while their fathers still argue about the real thing in 1946 Italy. The tone was balanced perfectly, never getting too cloying or too heavy-handed.

The acting and production values were professional quality across the board, with several of the films financed by government film boards. At the same time, most came from a distinct enough voice to avoid that "auditioning for a feature" feel that can infect shorts. And most revealed at least one endearing flaw - an actor who wasn't quite right, a location a little too "dressed." There is still a handmade feel.

For those without access to a major film festival, traveling events like Manhattan Shorts and The Black Maria are a great opportunity to see a variety of burgeoning work from across the world.

Wherein I Come Clean About Radiohead

2010-08-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

This morning I bought Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on her Magical Ukulele, among other reasons, because it transported me back to a time when Radiohead was what I wanted them to be.

I had a pretty intense relationship with The Bends and OK Computer, which came out the summer after my freshman year of college. What always drew me to Radiohead was the fragile, human voice struggling to be heard under this electro-symphonic crush.

Is there any vocal and lyric more naked than Creep? When I was 16, that rawness punched me in the gut. There are no barriers, no twee, no irony. You're so fucking special. I wish I was special.

But it's a little obvious. The Bends made me work harder to find that emotion. There would be the dense cacauphony of My Iron Lung before the plaintive yearning of a song like Black Star. And even then, Thom seemed quick to shrug the questions off to some cosmic forces conspiring against him. Blame it on the Black Star. Blame it on the Satellite that brings me home.

I should have seen what was coming, but it didn't really hit me until about the 500th time I listened to OK Computer. I think every song on that album has been my favorite at one time or another. On that afternoon, I was deeply into Let Down, and listening closely. The album was all about humanity lost in a digital age - that was obvious - so I knew I had to listen harder than ever before.

And there in the middle of the song was a line that told me something important: Don't get sentimental; it always ends up drivel.

How could I hear a line like that and not think back to Creep? To that moment Thom stood in the slow of that grunge, slow-fast-slow and told us he wanted a perfect body. He wanted a perfect soul. Now I could hear the struggle against that sentiment, right there in the song. He goes on to say that one day he is going to grow wings, but then dismisses it as just a chemical reaction, hysterical and useless.

It's a beautiful, complex song. It was also a real turning point away from something about Radiohead I'd always loved, from Creep and Fake Plastic Trees and High & Dry and Subterranean Homesick Alien. I kept waiting for Radiohead to turn back, just a bit, but the chaos and noise kept growing louder, the human voice growing fainter. It was still there, and that umpteenth listen when I found it could still be transcendent. But there was something self-conscious about burying it so far. I missed The Bends.

I no longer sit with the cool kids. The band went down a rabbit hole I was reluctant to follow, so I'm the old guy at the concert waiting for them to break out some of the old tunes. Oh well, it happens.

But it's nice to think someone as hip and interesting as Amanda Palmer might share my feelings. All but one of the tunes on her record are from OK Computer or before. And she plays Creep twice.

Or maybe the older tunes were just easier to arrange for ukulele.

Welcome to My Documentary

2010-07-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

After several months of work, I'm proud to announce that the website and trailer for Welcome to Daytrotter are live. The film is currently in production, but when complete, will be a feature length look at the recording studio / website Daytrotter. The story of how this group of people built this thing in the Quad Cities caught my attention the first time I heard it, and I believe it resonates with anyone who has ever built any kind of arts project in an unexpected place.

The film is my first foray into documentary, but given my background in filmmaking and journalism, I feel like it's going pretty smoothly. We hope to finish shooting this summer/fall, then move into post-production. At the moment, we're targeting January of 2012 to premiere the film.

That said, we need help to tell this story. Non-fiction films don't have much profit potential, so we, like many films, have adopted a nonprofit model. We have partnered with NY Arts Group Fractured Atlas so that donations to our film are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. You can donate online and get some pretty sweet Thank You gifts through our partnership with IndieGoGo.

You can also help us show there is an audience for the film by becoming our fan on Facebook.

The site's been up for less than 24 hours as I write this, and we've got more than 200 fans on Facebook and the trailer is about to go over 1,000 views. It's a gratifying response.

Eleven Bulls, LLC

2010-07-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

As we began to manage money for Welcome to Daytrotter, it became clear I needed a production company to filter the money through, as well as provide a legal buffer for my gross negligence and defamation of character.

And so it was that on the Nineteenth Day of July, Two Thousand and Ten, Eleven Bulls, LLC was created. It's been a bit exciting to setup a business, especially if you're into such things as filling out forms and paying fees. But now, here we are.

As for the name, it is an allusion to this series of lithographs by Picasso, which I've always found to be a potent metaphor for abstraction, art as a process, etc. Or, if that's too highfalutin, I chose it because Bulls kick ass, and we turn it up to eleven!

If you or anyone you know are a logo designer who enjoy working for extremely low pay, please contact me.

My Bacon Number

2010-07-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

A friend pointed out today that The Oracle of Bacon now lists me with a Bacon Number of 3. If only the Oracle of Bacon counted instances where Kevin Bacon was a director, I could cut my number down to 2.

I will not rest until I have a Bacon Number of Zero, at which point I WILL BE KEVIN BACON.

A Weekend of (filming) Music

2010-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

So it took me a little longer than expected to recap the weekend. It was a great weekend of music and we got some great footage for the documentary. The only downside was that working to get that footage left me little time to just sit and listen.

The third 80/35 felt like it really hit a groove. It's big enough to draw A-list bands but still feels like a neighborhood festival. We shot a great interview with William Elliot Whitmore, and after negotiating level after level of handlers, and with the help of the amazing Jill Haverkamp, we were able to shoot an interview with Spoon's Britt Daniel.

Mr. Daniel, or Britt as I've decided he'd like me to call him, was very cool and had a real perspective on Daytrotter. I'm so glad we were able to sit down with him for the film.

After watching Spoon's headlining set on the main stage, Naura and I were both feeling too tired to head to The Mews to catch the always amazing Poison Control Center. But I must admit my head exploded a little the next morning when I saw this picture from the friends we would have gone to the show with:

Sunday morning, we rolled east to the Codfish Hollow Barn just outside of Maquoketa for the Daytrotter Barn on the 4th Show. We went in with a few interviews in mind, a few performances we wanted shoot, but aware we wouldn't be able to get everything. We got everything.

We shot performances and interviews with The Walkmen, Dawes and Justin Townes Earle, as well as performance from Jonny Corndawg with Dawes as his backup band. We got great interviews and footage of the Daytrotter crew making the whole thing happen.

But what made the footage so killer was the atmosphere of the event itself. I've never seen musicians and fans so charged to be with each other. The Walkmen and Dawes both played afternoon sets in Des Moines and then drove through the rain to play a second show because they wanted the experience of playing a Daytrotter barn show.

We wish we could just throw all our material into the social media stream. But aspiring to put together a feature as we are, and in the interests of only putting out what we've had the chance to polish, we'll be sitting on it for now.

Once we're happy with the cut of our trailer, we'll be launching our website and Facebook pages, and then we will be posting shorter bits of video and pictures from these amazing shoots.

Several people approached us while we were shooting the barn show with enthusiasm and curiosity about the film. We look forward to staying engaged.

Dick Prall in a Backyard

2010-07-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Last night, we joined about 50 friends in a backyard for a "house concert" from Dick Prall.

After more than a decade of touring, often with a full band, Dick's put together a tour "from Portland, Maine to the Napa Valley" playing in people's homes. It's an innovative idea, and it makes for a hell of a show.

Dick played without amplification, but his percussive guitar and booming voice didn't need it. The pop of a beer can or the rattle of a lawn chair sometimes caused a moment of distraction, but it was all in the spirit. And it sure beat the cracking pool balls and TV sports chatter of even the most intimate club shows.

He build his set entirely on requests, with someone in the crowd occasionally helping remember a lyric for the more obscure numbers. Brief gusts of wind and other surprises from the natural world highlighted the organic feel.

And after the show: Drinking.

Today we'll be rolling out to Day 1 of 80/35 and hopefully have enough left in the tank for Poison Control Center tonight.

Rock & Roll Weekend

2010-07-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'm on the verge of an exciting and diverse weekend of music, and it feels like there's only one thing to do about it - blog. That's right, blog - as a verb.

The four shows/events range from a multi-day festival to a backyard concert. All are happening in Iowa, three just in Des Moines.

Tonight I'll be at a small, backyard performance by singer/songwriter Dick Prall. Dick's doing a nationwide tour exclusively of house parties - a cool concept and an exciting, intimate way to see a show.

Saturday and Sunday bring the ever-awesome 80/35 Music Festival back to Des Moines, with a really killer lineup this year.

If I'm not face-down from exhaustion or otherwise Saturday night, I plan to get over to the Vaudeville Mews to catch a free show from Poison Control Center - great guys who just put out an amazing record.

Then Sunday night I'll be rolling across the state to a barn outside Maquoketa for a 4th of July Barn Show being put on by Daytrotter. Another unbelievable lineup in an unlikely location. This will be more of a working event, however, as I'm currently producing and directing a documentary film about Daytrotter. It's an exciting project we've been working on for some time, but keeping mostly under wraps. We expect to launch a more public face for the film in the coming weeks.

I'll work to post updates on the shows here throughout the weekend, and will absolutely post more on the documentary as soon as I can.

Black Maria 2010

2010-03-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend the Black Maria Film Festival rolled through town, and I made my annual trek to catch one of its two programs.

I enjoy the grab bag nature of shorts programs, and Black Maria always feels like it contains even more variety. So many shorts feel like an audition for a feature - be they narrative, documentary, animation. Black Maria always features some work that lies outside those parameters.

A notable example in the program I caught was Neil Needleman's film Corporate Art Policy, which was essentially a video essay. I've heard work like this derided at festivals as better suited to a blog or You Tube. But despite it's low technical aspirations, it tells a story, it's got a point-of-view. Plenty of more glossy films don't manage to do that.

On the high end of the production scale was the PBS-ready documentary Worlds of Sound: Ballad of Folkways, telling the story of Folkways founder Moe Asch, and narrated by Pete Seeger. If this hasn't been picked-up for broadcast, I'm sure it will be. It's a solid, informative doc.

Pickles for Nickels was a unique, hand-crafted piece of animation. It was so well-done, I wasn't surprised to see CalArts scroll across the credits. There was a bit of narrative to the film, but also plenty of non-linear elements more associated with art film. The filmmaker, Danielle Ash's voice comes through very strong and makes the film something more than an audition for Pixar, as animated shorts so often are.

Sebastian's Voodoo by Joaquin Baldwin is more Pixar-like in its computer animation and its storytelling - but in a good way. The simple story of individual sacrifice elicited an audible gasp when it ended.

As always, this Black Maria program delivered a variety that made it well worth making time for.

Final Thoughts on True/False 10

2010-03-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

I was more prepared for the rhythms of True/False in my second year, but no less impressed by event and its films.

I enjoyed every film I saw, which makes it harder to distinguish between them. Restrepo has stayed with me the most, but given its life-and-death nature, perhaps that's to be expected. But I largely devoted my time to my favorite kind of doc - focused on a single, eccentric personality.

Smash His Camera and The Invention of Dr. Nakamats both fit well into this niche, and took distinctly different approaches. Smash His Camera broadens its perspective on Paparazzo Ron Galella to include wildly differing critical views of him and his work. Nakamats never steps back from the portrait the subject paints of himself. It creates a more unified POV, but made me long for the context of Smash His Camera.

One of the richest experiences when attending a festival is drawing connections between the films - something you simply can't or wouldn't do when watching them separately. My buddy Travis pointed out as we left Waking Sleeping Beauty that the events it chronicles ended 14 years ago, exactly as had the life of the comedian we saw documented in one of the Secret Screenings the night before. Is 14 years some kind of magical gestation age for a certain historical perspective? Maybe, but I never would have wondered if I hadn't seen the two films within hours of each other.

If there was one disappointment from the films I saw, it was that they didn't open up to me more. The experience I most enjoy when watching a doc is that moment the film goes beyond that quirky hook of its subject and becomes "about" something different. Smash His Camera had moments of this - questions of the nature of art and celebrity. Probably more than any other film I saw, Restrepo left much to be discovered between the images and the rationalizations of the soldiers involved.

One day after leaving the festival, I wonder about the films I didn't see. Two of this year's Best Picture nominees screened at last year's fest - but I only saw one of them. Critic Karina Longworth Tweeted several films she was impressed with last night. I had seen none of them.

It's a credit to the festival that it can't be fully digested, even spread over four days. I spoke to filmmakers and attendees alike whose reaction was the same as mine last year - "how did I not know about this?"

Four Film Saturday at True/False

2010-03-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

We planned to see It Felt Like a Kiss first thing in the morning, but some schedule confusion led us into the queue for Waking Sleeping Beauty instead.

The doc follows a renaissance in Disney animation and the overhaul in management that took place between 1984 and 1994. It feels hard not to damn the film with faint praise. It is essentially a history, and for anyone interested in Disney or the business of Hollywood, and I count myself as one, it's an interesting history. One interesting choice, noted before the screening by producer and former Disney Exec. Peter Schneider - the filmmakers chose to only use footage from the era itself. In Schneider's words, there are no "shots of old men talking." It's a subtle choice, but keeps the film grounded in the moments it documents.

Disney luminaries like Eisner and Katzenberg appear more or less as expected, but I was surprised and even moved by the creative contributions of lyricist Howard Ashman to the production of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.

After a couple beers and a couple sliders at Booches, we began our afternoon at the Blue Note venue with The Red Chapel. The film follows a Danish filmmaker and two Danish/Korean performers he recruits to travel into North Korea under the guise of a cross-cultural performance. The ruse of the filmmaker's crew is manipulative and even crass, but it pales in comparison to the group performance of the entire population of Pyongyang.

Every action the crew encounters is choreographed to display an image of perfect unity and loyalty to the Great Leader(s). The crew plays along, even as their North Korean handlers edit their performance entirely into something more appropriate for North Korean audiences. But the strain on the faces of the people are clear. Filmmaker Mads Brugger attributes their every action to fear, and it would be hard to disagree with his assessment.

Some of Brugger's actions set my ethical spider-sense tingling, but the film is worthwhile even if just as a window into this hidden society. It's an often hilarious piece of absurdism, but the fear and tragedy of North Korea lend weight to the humor.

The Invention of Dr. Nakamats brings humor with much less baggage, as it documents the Japanese inventor with the most registered patents in history. The Doctor's inventions include legitimate technological breakthroughs such as the floppy disk, but it appears from the film far more oddities, including an underwater pencil/notebook and products to stimulate female arousal.

As the title suggests, Nakamats is also meticulous about sculpting his image and orchestrating the events around him, down to a moment he orders his children to redo a presentation of a birthday gift to him. It's a funny film about a truly eccentric character, but by the end I wished it could have taken me to some deeper level of understanding of Nakamats.

Restrepo was our final film in the standing-room only Blue Note. The winner of the Grand Jury Doc prize at Sundance did not disappoint. It's being sold as a true story version of The Hurt Locker, and that's not an inaccurate description - especially in the opening moments when the camera is inside a vehicle as it is exploded by a land mine.

The bulk of the film follows a team of soldiers as they man the most remote outpost in Afghanistan, under near-constant attack from the remnants of the Taliban.

I heard several people dismiss the film as "good, but nothing I haven't seen before." Sure, the war doc isn't a new thing - but I don't remember feeling as much a feeling of actually being there as I did watching Restrepo. The camera is there with the soldiers as they are taking fire, and in the most harrowing sequence, with them on patrol as fellow soldiers are being killed just a few yards away.

Interviews with the surviving soldiers frame and add poignancy to the footage. It feels like the filmmakers have been true to the words and intentions of those soldiers as they tell their story, but the end result left me feeling that all their sacrifice was done in tragic futility.

We ended our night, as we did last year, with pizza and pitchers of beer at Shakespeare's Pizza - a classic college town pizza parlor, filled with a vibrant young crowd that makes me feel every one of my 31 years.

Friday Night at True/False

2010-02-27T07:08:00.000-08:00

Last night kicked off the 10th True/False Film Festival (at least for us). It's my second year at what I'm already planning to make an annual event.

After gathering our passes and applying some social lubricant, we got into the packed Missouri Theater to see Smash His Camera - a doc which premiered at Sundance and was just picked up by HBO this week for distribution.

The film documents the life's work of Ron Galella, a lifelong paparazzo who was sued by Jackie O. and punched in the face by Marlon Brando. Galella and a cadre of supporters and detractors narrate the story, from his first work in the late '60s up to today.

Director Leon Gast also directed the stellar When We Were Kings. While Galella doesn't have the charisma of a figure like Ali (and then again who does?), both films focus on a singular personality whose actions ultimately, and perhaps surprisingly, resonate into the culture at large.

Beyond just the character story of the eccentric photographer, the film raises interesting questions about what constitutes art - particularly in photography. Galella's work has recently been exhibited at museums, and it's hard to argue that he hasn't taken some beautiful photographs. His shots are snapshots, often with a prominent flash bulb glare, but the candid, vulnerable moments he captures can be fascinating. His critics argue that anyone who takes that many shots is bound to wind up with a few good shots, and also point out that it's always the subject that makes the photo interesting.

Galella comes across warmly, though seeing he has applied his techniques to subjects including children can be stomach-churning. I was particularly struck by his string of photos of Angelina Jolie, going back to when she appeared to be only eight or nine years old. He argues in several archival interviews that his intention is to show celebrities at their most human.

That argument felt rather thin to me, but there is a fascinating moment late in the film when a young girl, probably in her teens, wanders through an exhibition of Galella's work. She tries to identify the subjects of the photos - the likes of Onasis, Steve McQueen, Bridget Bardot, etc. She recognizes almost none of them. It's subtle but striking evidence of the fleeting nature of fame, and perhaps lends credence to Galella's claim that in the end, he's just capturing images of humanity.

After Smash His Camera, we caught and enjoyed the Secret Screening Black. But by the request of the programmers, I'll leave my thoughts on that a secret.

Support River Will Take You

2010-02-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

My friend, the talented filmmaker Andy Brodie, is preparing to shoot River Will Take You, a short film starring Iowa music icons Greg and Pieta Brown. And he could use your help.

Andy's looking for patrons to help finance the production costs. In addition to just helping get a truly independent film made, patrons will receive a really nice package of incentives including an invitation to the premiere event, DVD, and more.

Having been lucky enough to read the script and talk to Andy during the development process, I am excited about the film. Filming will take place around the historic Sutliff Bridge near Iowa City. The great Iowa blues guitarist Bo Ramsey will create a soundtrack for the film. It's an impressive collection of elements which should make for a great film.

More details about the film and how to donate can be found here. You can also listen to John Pemble's piece with Andy as it aired today on Iowa Public Radio:

Short Movie to use Damaged Sutliff Bridge

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Roll Out the Barrel...

2010-02-16T08:18:00.000-08:00

Here's some video from our good friend's 1st Annual Backyard Bock Fest. Inspired by the event at Schell's Brewery in New Ulm, MN., it featured kegs of Bock (Shiner), bratwurst, saurkraut, polka music, drunkenness, etc. If you've never had your Bock poked, you're really missing out.

They're also maintaining a Tumblr page documenting the glory of the Backyard Bock Fest. In the midst of a dreary winter such as we've had, it's a hell of a way to spend an afternoon.

End of the Sawdust Trail

2009-11-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

End of the Sawdust Trail, a great modern silent film by my good friend, and talented filmmaker Andy Brodie, is now available on DVD. It's funny, thoughtful, and only $5.

The short was shot in black & white on Super 8mm, giving it a very distinctive look. The original score was composed and performed by Jason Webley, who also appears in the film.

In addition to the film itself, the DVD contains several bonus features, including a sound-only track of the film score and a performance from clown Ron "Toto" Johnson, who also appears in the film.

But don't believe me, believe the great Neil Gaiman, who described the film as a "haunting clown-noir."

The Effenheimer

2009-10-23T11:36:00.001-07:00

In the hot summer of 1999, I co-founded an online satire mag which took a shot at becoming The Onion of college newspapers. We called it The Effenheimer.

Our crew was mostly staff from the Iowa State Daily or cast members of Grandma Mojo's sketch comedy troupe, and some of us were both - Greg Jerrett, Ben Gran, Dave Roepke, Cartoonist Carmen Cerra and Web Dude Cory Schmitz. We pushed out a new issue every two weeks for about eight months, then the site sat there until the domain expired. None of us thought much about archiving such things, so the whole deal was considered lost ... until we realized a few days ago that a fractured version was still accessible through the magic of the Web Archive.

So it was with equal parts excitement and fear that I browsed the archive last night. We built The Effenheimer from the ground up on a bed of enthusiasm, creativity, modestly priced draft beer and Cafe Beaudelaire's Pommes Frites. It was also something I did when I was 21 years old.

I found some sharp satire, plenty of bad taste and quite a few funny ideas that could have used more revision. It's a fine line between homage and rip-off, and we stood proudly on that line when it came to The Onion. We copped several of their go-to setups, like the straight and gag article written together - Iowans Enthralled by Politics, Barbecued Beef.

Several articles remind me instantly of the experiences they grew out of, like Freshman Coed Confident her High School Relationship Will Stand the Test of Time and Local Band Completely Sucks. I'm pretty sure I wrote both of those, but I have a hard time remembering for sure who did what, and we opted for no bylines for some reason. But I do have to give Ben Gran credit for the still transcendent Conspicuous Consumption for Christ article.

I love the polls, like "Who is your least favorite apostle or Beatle?", or little bits of absurdism like Standings for Effenheimer 9-pin No Tap Bowling League.

There were at least two other college satire startups at the same time, including the fledgling CollegeHumor.com. Greg and I even met some of our "competitors" at a journalism conference in NYC. We were funnier, but they were better organized. Guess who came out ahead?

Of course, it was soon after The Effenheimer I was asked to contribute to the legitimate (paying) satire site Suck.com, and only a few years after that I traded in a fairly successful career as a newspaper and online journalist for the quiet desperation of a screenwriter.

Still, it's with a heavy dose of nostalgia, a bit of pride and just a little embarrassment that I add these remaining traces of The Effenheimer to my archive.

Daytrotter Barnstormer II

2009-10-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

I recently was lucky enough to catch the last show of the Daytrotter Barnstormer II Tour, which true to its name, was held in a barn just north of Des Moines.

The five bands/performers each had a strong, unique voice. The whole show felt curated, not just one band after another.

What stuck with me the most - the songwriting of Dawes, the frenetic arrangements of Suckers and the "Nashville Skyline" croon of Christopher Denny. All have sessions free to listen to and download at Daytrotter.

There's a nice recap of the tour at Crawdaddy.

Jewish Eye for the Gentile Guy

2009-06-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Fatherland will be touching another international base when it plays in Israel as part of the Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.

Puzzle Films

2009-03-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind on this, but I recently learned Warren Buckland, my ol' film studies prof., has edited a new book, Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema.

I've already read and enjoyed the chapter on frustrated time in the films of Charlie Kaufman, and look forward to reading the chapter by my fellow Chapman alum Yunda Eddie Feng, among others.

My third ride on the Black Maria

2009-03-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

The Black Maria Film Festival made its annual stop in the Capital City this weekend. As has become my tradition, I only made it to one of the two programs.

This year's event was different for a couple reasons. John Columbus, founder and director of the festival, was in town to introduce the program and conduct a Q&A with Arthur C. Smith, director of the doc Ice Bears of the Beaufort.

The program I caught also had much less narrative than past programs. Five of the nine films were docs, one was experimental and the last three were animated. None were what you would call a traditional narrative. I imagine this was more the luck of my draw than a trend throughout the festival.

My favorite was Yours Truly from director Osbert Parker, a noir story animated with photo cut-outs and real objects in a miniature 3D environment. The mix of media is unique and surreal, and while the occasional jumps into impressionism were a little jarring, I enjoyed every moment of it. You can watch it online here.

I was grateful for the chance to talk briefly with John Columbus after the program and thank him for the traveling festival. There's more on him and the fest in this NPR story.

Food Inc. | Big River Man

2009-03-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

I'm back home after a five-hour night drive - one of many things to file under "not as easy as it used to be." Sunday, I made it to three more screenings and had a delicious Cuban pork sandwich at the Ragtag.

Food, Inc. is going to be huge. It's a catch-all overview of industrialized food and a strong call for action some of the big offenders. Despite being an episodic advocacy piece, slick graphics, animation and visual panache give it momentum. Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser feature prominently, and if you've read their books don't expect a lot of new ground to be broken.

Playing to a doc film fest audience in a college down, Food, Inc. elicited applause and cheers throughout. Director Robert Kenner said he will be screening the doc for Tom Vilsack, and Kenner, Schlosser and Pollan are all optimistic that the new farm bill will go in a new direction. The film is scheduled to open in LA/NY in June, then expand.

Big River Man is my favorite kind of doc - a profile of a truly bizarre individual. In this case it is the story of Martin Strel, who director John Maringouin described as "an overweight drunk who just happens to be the greatest distance swimmer in the world." The film follows Strel and his media hungry son as Strel attempts to swim the entire Amazon river. What follows is very funny and utterly bizarre.

I also caught O'er the Land, a non-narrative film with some fascinating moments, though also many of the characteristics that turn me off from these type of films. It screened with Bitch Academy, a Russian short about a school in St. Petersburg where women, many of them educated and successful, learn to dress sexy and behave in ways that will make men give them money. It moves from funny to sickening and back, crossing many lines of sexuality, dignity, identity, etc. But by never showing the women or the egomaniacal male instructor outside the classroom environment, it also lacks a certain context.

Bitch Academy has apparently also screened under the English title "Vixen Academy," making it this year's winner of the Indie Doc Which Most Sounds Like a Russ Meyer Film Award.

No Impact Man | Secret Screenings

2009-03-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

I went into No Impact Man expecting the story of a man moving completely off the grid, but was more interested to learn Colin Beaven and family's year-long experiment would take place in their NYC apartment. Their year of using less suggests many "necessities" are really no more than "habits." Part of the experiment is clearly publicity stunt, and the family and the film acknowledge that.

As with so many good docs, an even more compelling story emerges underneath the premise. Beaven's wife Michelle is much more reluctant about the experiment, while also trying to convince Beaven to have a second child. Their quiet battles are a poignant picture of the compromises, concessions and gamesmanship in a marriage.

The look of the film seems geared towards television viewing, the focus on clarifying the information. Though, at the Q&A, directors Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein said they used no artificial lighting, in an effort to subscribe to the No Impact ethos themselves.

I also caught two of the festival's "secret screenings."

Secret Screening Silver is a gorgeous looking film. The director's camera exposes and contextualizes things his subjects may not even realize themselves.

As with No Impact Man, the premise (following three elderly greeters of returning soldiers) is more of a framing device for an exploration of aging and loneliness. When greeter Bill confesses his life doesn't mean anything to him, so he tries to make it meaningful for someone else, the note of despair rings as loud as the note of service. As moving as the majority of the film is, by the end it feels like the filmmakers are wallowing in this matter-of-fact melancholy.

A few things about Secret Screening Green kept me from fully investing in the film or its characters. It is a stark look at two Brazillian boys and their families' lives of poverty. The compositions are rich and cinematic, particularly in framing this simultaneously agrarian and industrial world.

But long atmospheric sequences are punctuated with stagey dialogue between characters. These scenes often begin with pre-set camera moves to both characters in perfect frame, engaging in dialogue with self-conscious exposition. I have no categorical problem with a director staging, coaching or otherwise manipulating a scene. But in a film which seems so intent on exposing the reality of these boy's lives, it didn't feel right to me.

That said, many people at my screening, including a good friend of high cinematic standards, were quite moved by the film.

Saturday at True/False

2009-02-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

I'm back in my hotel room after three docs and the Gimme Some Truth gameshow. This festival is something else. Throngs of people march the streets, from venue to venue, crowding into restaurants and coffee shops along the way. And for what? To catch a glimpse of Tom Cruise, or see a young starlet get arty/naked? No - these crowds are pumped up to see the true face of war and poverty.

This festival is so much about exhibition done right. I've never seen such challenging films greeted with midnight Star Wars premiere enthusiasm before. I will walk away not thinking "I saw this, this and this," but rather "I experienced this festival." I also experienced Shakespeare's Pizza and several Newcastles, and will now slink into bed.

True/False

2009-02-28T12:49:00.001-08:00

I'm sitting at the bar at The Ragtag, waiting for my 2nd screening of
the day.

I'm blown away by the coordination & enthusiasm around this event.
Like the much smaller Siouxland Fest, it's driven more by audiences.
Screenings are full & energetic, not just showcases for other
filmmakers.

I'll post more later in the weekend.

New Toy

2009-02-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

Through the miracle of Craigslist (and with thanks to Patrick for the tip), I am now the proud owner of this cherry little Bolex 8mm camera. I bought it from a very nice old gentlemen who bought it new in 1961. He had also made a leather case for it, had extra lenses and some other bells and whistles.

I don't have any immediate plans for what to do with it, but couldn't pass it up. I predict any future short films will include a "flashback" in grainy 8mm.

Who votes for these things?

2009-02-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

I jumped into a discussion at Nikki Finke's blog about whether or not the Independent Spirit Awards are too dominated by higher-profile, specialty division films. My take:

The question of who votes gets to the core of why the ISAs drift to the mainstream - access.
Eligible voters are members of LA Film Independent or NY, Chi, MN IFP. These people are filmmakers, though in many cases that may be more aspirational. Fact is, all one needs to be a member is to pay a fee of around $100.

I was a member the last two years, though I let mine lapse this year. I would get the occasional screener DVD, and they’ve tried to arrange others via Neflix and online streaming, plus some screenings in LA and maybe NY.

So it’s up to a membership with fringe connections to see a slate of nominees that are often difficult to find. If you didn’t catch the smaller films during their one-week run at your local art house, and they haven’t been released on DVD, good luck finding them - even if you’re an ISA voter.

The ISAs consistently nominate a stronger crop than the Oscars, and I give them credit for considering some ultra-low budget fare alongside specialty material. But given their voting body, the winners will tend to be the most widely distributed.

The same line of reasoning should be applied to Academy voters - film professionals, but not necessarily experts in a given category and less likely to have seen smaller films, shorts, etc. Critics Associations probably offer the most valid evaluation of a year's films, but their press releases will never be as sexy as the events at the Kodak Theater or on the Santa Monica beach.

Damn right this opinion is sound

2009-02-19T12:55:00.000-08:00

So, you know those people who comment at the end of episodes of Sound Opinions? Well, last week I was one of those people. And you thought they were all mumbly hermits, calling from the bowels of their ... wait a minute, that's hitting a little close to home.

Now anyone who's always wanted a recording of me rambling on about Buddy Holly can have it. You know, for posterity.

Seriously though, Sound Opinions is a great show I've been podcasting for years, which now airs on IPR as well.

Romance in Durango

2009-01-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

Just when you (and I) thought Fatherland was done on the festival circuit, I've learned it may have a few screenings left. One will be in March at the Durango Film Festival in Colorado. I believe this is the 22nd festival to screen the film.

For those who haven't been able to attend a festival screening, we will hopefully have some other distribution channels open soon. Whether it be DVD, downloads, whatever - I will post details here.

And seriously, "Romance in Durango" as the title for this post? Put a lot of thought into that one, didn't I? If I were still working at a newspaper, I'd slap myself for that.

Fatherland Distribution / O' Canada

2009-01-11T12:25:00.000-08:00

Canadian short film distributor Ouat! Media has acquired the rights to Fatherland, and will be seeking outlets for the film. Ouat! specializes in broadcast and Internet distribution.

You can check back to Fatherland's page at Ouat! Media for details in the future. I'll update here as well, particularly if and when the film is available for purchase or download.

Farewell to the Varsity Theater

2009-01-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

Last night was the final screening at the Varsity Theater in Ames. Coupled with the closing of the Ames Theater more than 10 years back, this leaves Campustown with no theater and the City of My Birth with only two multiplexes.

The Varsity was built in 1938 by local theater owner Joe Gerbracht, and had been remodeled into two smaller screens in the mid '90s.

Even when the theater was bought by Cinemark, management of the Varsity fought to bring art house fare to the screen. When "family-friendly" Cinemark refused to show American Beauty (of all films) on their major corporate screens, it was the Varsity that convinced their overlords to let them show the film, resulting in the theater's best-ever box office returns.

I moved away from Ames in 2002, and hadn't been back to the Varsity since. But I developed a special bond with the theater while I was film critic at the Ames Trib, and did what I could to promote the joint.

The Varsity was by no means the perfect cinematic experience. The 1990s renovation gave the historic interior a generic feel, and the theaters were split into long and narrow, short and wide, respectively. Many nights the operation was a one-man show, leaving nobody to sell you a ticket or popcorn while the reels were being changed.

But whatever the flaws of the theater, it's where I saw some of the films that I still think about today. L.A. Confidential, Fight Club, Pulp Fiction, Monster's Ball, Gosford Park, a packed midnight screening of the MST3K movie - these just off the top of my head.

More importantly, the theater was in Campustown - a part of the community. I could walk there, maybe stop for a beer or a cup of coffee along the way. That kind of experience was already rare when I was growing up. For my son, it may well be non-existent.

Back in the day, I would have railed against the corporate swine who shut the theater down. Don't they understand that art can't be reduced simply to commerce? Where is their sense of duty to the community? But I've worked enough in the industry to understand the thin margins at all levels, including exhibition. And we true believers can't close our eyes clap our hands enough to bring the local theater back to life.

So it's more in mourning than anger that I raise a glass to The Varsity Theater - a noble venture whose time has sadly passed.

Audience Approval

2009-01-09T09:27:00.001-08:00

While Fatherland has likely wrapped its festival run, we learned this week that it was the third-highest rated film by the audience at the Port Townsend Film Festival in September.

Audience awards are notorious for Chicago Machine style ballot stuffing, so this is especially encouraging as nobody affiliated with Fatherland was able to attend this festival. They liked us. They really, really, etc.

There has also been a major development on the distribution front, which I hope to post sometime this weekend.

ISFF Award

2008-11-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

Fatherland was named Best Foreign Language Period Piece at this year's International Student Film Festival. The festival ran this weekend in Hollywood. Fellow Chapman film The Vaudevillian took home the Grand Jury Award.

The final scheduled festival screening of Fatherland will be this weekend at the Red Rock Film Festival. In the last year, it has played at more than 20 festivals on three continents. Though I was only able to attend a few of the festivals, it's been gratifying to know that on a given weekend the film is playing in some corner of the world.

As Fatherland winds down its run on the festival circuit, the producers are considering distribution options. We hope to soon be able to announce where the film will be available on DVD and the web.

The Princess of Nebraska

2008-10-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Wayne Wang's feature film The Princess of Nebraska was posted on YouTube. If not the first time a full-length feature has been distributed this way, it's certainly the first from a director of this caliber.

So while I had nothing to do with the making of this film, it's a notable moment in film distribution. Plus, I thought it would be cool to embed an entire Wayne Wang film on my website. That said, if you're going to watch the whole thing, do yourself a favor and click over to YouTube to watch the Hi-Res version.

Red Rock Film Fest

2008-09-11T14:51:00.001-07:00

Fatherland will screen in competition at the Red Rock Film Festival, Nov. 13-16. Also screening will be The Vaudevillian, an excellent film from another Chapman grad, Bryan Nest, which I was able to see at the Siouxland Film Festival.

Macedonia, Hollywood and nearly Greece

2008-09-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Fatherland will be screening at the International Cinematographers Film Festival in Macedonia at the end of Sept., as well as the International Student Film Festival Hollywood in November.

The film was also selected for the Short Film Festival in Drama in Greece, but won't be screening due to some logistical issues. But hey, it's always nice to be invited.

Kevin Bacon Gamesmanship

2008-08-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

My friend, the talented Alex Fernandez appears on this week's episode of The Closer, titled Sudden Death. The episode was directed by Kevin Bacon.

This got me thinking that Alex is now only one move away in the Kevin Bacon game. As often happens, my thoughts soon drifted to myself, and I realized that having directed Alex in Personal, I am now a mere two moves from Mr. Bacon.

I'm coming for you, Bacon.

Big Bear Film Festival

2008-08-12T12:26:00.001-07:00

In honor of Fatherland's upcoming screening at the Big Bear Film Festival, here's a picture of a big bear.

Port Townsend Film Festival

2008-08-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

Fatherland continues its festival crawl, staking its first claim to the Pacific Northwest at the Port Townsend Film Festival.

Temecula and Europe

2008-08-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

A few new bits of Fatherland news: Fatherland will be screening at the Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival in September. Also, programmers for several European festivals who saw the film at Cannes have expressed interest, so we anticipate more screenings on The Continent in the coming months.

Cow and Boy

2008-07-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like learning someone who's immensely talented has garnered the success they richly deserve. Mark Leiknes, a fellow alum of Grandma Mojo's Moonshine Revival, is now writing a brilliant comic titled Cow and Boy. Sure, you could read it online, but why not buy the collection from Amazon.com?

Given the continued success of former Mojo's, I am reassured that we were the funniest Wednesday night sketch comedy group at Iowa State in our day. Believe it, friends.

Ira Glass on Creative Work

2008-07-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

I don't normally post this kind of thing, but this clip from an interview with Ira Glass is so on-the-nose when it comes to struggling to make great creative work when you don't yet have the tools. And I raise my glass to Mr. Glass for playing some of his own less accomplished work. I know there's stuff in my bottom drawer that I don't ever want to see the light of day.

Fatherland dances with Dances With Films

2008-07-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Fatherland will screen July 29 at the Dances With Films festival, at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles.

And with this news comes a flood of memories, as the Laemmle Sunset was our go-to spot for independent films and a few painful Q&A's. (Is there any other kind?)

Walking up from the parking lot, we'd have to pass this gym that was always being used by at least a few really exaggerated "LA types." Think skin tanned like leather and 60-year-old men and women with closets full of spandex.

I can only hope a few of them will step off their elipticals and walk upstairs to watch Fatherland.

80/35 Festival

2008-07-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Naura, Henry and I were able to check out the inaugural 80/35 Festival in Des Moines this weekend and had a great time.

With a great lineup, perfect weather, reasonable prices and manageable crowd (for a festival), it was without a doubt the best music event I've been to in Des Moines.

I caught the Flaming Lips and a bit of Andrew Bird on Friday night, then Frank Black, Drive-by Truckers and Jacob Dylan on Saturday. If I'd have had the time, I'd also have enjoyed seeing The Roots, Pieta Brown, Poison Control Center and The Envy Corps.

For more photos of the Flaming Lips spectacle, as well as the rest of the festival, there's a great Flickr feed.

Interrobang Film Festival in Des Moines

2008-06-24T07:25:00.001-07:00

Fatherland will screen Friday and Saturday at the Interrobang Film Festival. We were also awarded an honorable mention in the Pro/Pro-Am Short category.

Screenings will be Friday at 4pm and Saturday at 5:15pm in the Pappajohn Center. Fatherland will be part of a 1 hour block of other professional shorts. Other films screen throughout the three days of the Des Moines Arts Festival, including Andy Brodie's End of the Sawdust Trail. All screenings are free.

As of right now, I plan to attend the Saturday night screening. If you see me, say hello.

George Carlin

2008-06-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

NIN Ghosts Video

2008-06-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

Nine Inch Nails recently released a collection of instrumentals titled Ghosts, along with a call for filmmakers to create videos to accompany the songs. My friend (and Fatherland director) Robert Warzecha blended one of the tracks with some beautiful footage, gentle Obama advocacy, and created this film.

If you click through to YouTube, you can also watch it in a striking high resolution format.

My own private radio station

2008-06-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have taken up arms in the social music revolution and joined the irregulars of Last.FM. In other words, if you scroll down the right hand side of this page, you can now listen to a radio station based on my musical tastes.

For those of us who are no longer young, I'll explain that the service works by tracking the music I play on my home computer. So the music you'll hear is not necessarily the high-brow, arty stuff I say I listen to. No friends, this is the stuff I actually listen to. Stephen King recently pondered this gulf in his Entertainment Weekly column, reckoning his "Best of '07" list with what iTunes told him he really listened to.

But please feel free to publicly shame me if you are subjected to something really trivial and awful on "bgodar radio." I, in turn, will counter that it must have been something Naura listened to.

11 Minutes Ago

2008-05-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

I worked with Bob Gebert shortly after he shot 11 Minutes Ago, a feature which was filmed in a single day. Despite the notable quirk of its production, the story is smart sci-fi and I'm glad to see its out in the world and getting attention.

Now playing in Jacksonville and Cannes

2008-05-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Fatherland continues its reign over the state of Florida with yet another festival screening - tonight at the Jacksonville Film Festival. I think this marks the fifth festival appearance in The Sunshine State.

This week also begins Fatherland's screening at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. Helpful tip for anyone flipping through the Cannes website - if you click the Union Jack at the top of the page, it will translate itself into English. This would have saved a lot of time while I was filling out my contact info, trying to figure out if Godar was my nom or my prenom.

My switch from PC (past Parallels) to VMware Fusion

2008-05-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

When I switched from a PC to a Mac, I switched to VMware Fusion to keep all my Windows apps running happily inside my Mac. I've been so happy with the results, I put together the video below as part of a contest promoting VMware Fusion.

Newport Beach Recap

2008-04-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

Fatherland played to a good sized house at the Newport Beach Film Fest on Friday night, less than half of whom were family, crew or friends of the production. The 8:15pm slot was pretty cherry, though there were other notable films screening at the same time.

We were part of a program of four war-related shorts that the programmers titled "Full Metal Jacket." I was kind of hoping there would be a least a few walk-outs who came expecting the Kubrick film. It was a cohesive program but man, watching that much war is a bit of a downer. I think we could have used a quirky romance somewhere in the middle. As the program ended, everyone dried their eyes and Rob and I participated in a brief Q&A. The filmmakers were all relatively brief and humble, which may be a first in Q&A history.

The festival continues through this week, but I really enjoyed the bit I was able to attend. My favorite film also happened to be the first I saw - a sensitive and suspenseful short from South Africa called Small Killing.

I spent the last part of my time in SoCal visiting good friends that we see far too little of. It was a real thrill to be back in the area, and I was reminded of many of the great and some of the not-so-great things about that place. But as a visitor, it's much easier to just relax and enjoy the things that make Los Angeles unique.

Fatherland at Cannes

2008-04-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

I recently learned Fatherland will be screening at next month's Cannes Film Festival, as part of the Short Film Corner. In addition to any scheduled screenings, films in the Short Film Corner are available for viewing on-demand by festival goers.

I just created an online profile with the festival and don't know too many more details at this point.

Ben's new French phrase of the week: Etas Unis - which means United States!

Next week, learn how to say: Your visual flourishes can't hide the complete absence of narrative.

Newport Screening Info

2008-04-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

A week from tonight, I'll be in Newport Beach for the Fatherland screening, along with Director Robert Warzecha. For those friends still in the area, we'd love to see you there.

Fatherland screens at 8:15pm, Friday Apr. 25 at the Edwards Two Theater. It's part of a program of five shorts titled Full Metal Jacket, and it appears each is war related. More info, as well as audience reviews, etc. are/will be available through B-Side. You can also buy tickets online.

If you do see the film, please feel free to write a review. In fact, if you've already seen it, or haven't seen it but feel so-inclined, please flood the site with positive reviews - particularly those which focus on the screenwriting.

More South Florida Screenings

2008-04-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Fatherland will be making its third appearance in the Miami area, May 6-11 at the Delray Beach Film Festival. It previously screened at the Miami and Palm Beach International fests.

Eddy Award

2008-04-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

Fatherland screened to a great crowd at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival and was awarded the Silver Eddy in the Pro-Am Short category.

I was able to introduce and watch the screening on Friday night, which looked and sounded great. Sincere thanks to those who stopped by to watch. There seemed to be many at the festival to see the films, and not just to support a film they were involved in. That made the screening much more gratifying as a filmmaker.

I regret that I wasn't able to stick around for Saturday and see more of the films, which sound varied and interesting. I hope to go back next year.

More Southern California Screenings

2008-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Fatherland will be screening at the Riverside International Film Festival on April 20th.

Also, I've learned the screening at Newport Beach will be at 8:15pm on Friday, April 25th. I'll be at the screening, as will Robert, and would love to see any familiar faces from the Left Coast.

Viva Siouxland

2008-03-31T08:15:00.001-07:00

At the last minute, I made it up to Sioux City Saturday for Fatherland's premiere screening in the great state of Iowa.

The Siouxland Film Festival is a great exhibition of work by regional filmmakers and grad students from across the country. Unlike most festivals, it's really more about providing an enjoyable screening for the public. There's no workshops, Q & A's, nor even introductions of the filmmakers. Instead, the films are just screened back to back in the beautiful setting of the Orpheum Theater. I'd estimate the crowd at at least 300, and unlike many festivals, most of those were NOT friends and family of the filmmakers.

I was very happy with how Fatherland looked and was received by the audience. It was the first time I've seen in on the big screen, and I couldn't have hoped for nicer venue. I was also really impressed with the two other films from Chapman University - Making a Killing and especially The Vaudevillian.

Sioux City! Tomorrow Night!

2008-03-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Iowa premiere of Fatherland won't be next Friday in Cedar Rapids - it will be tomorrow (Saturday) night in Sioux City, at the historic Orpheum Theater for the Siouxland Film Festival.

In addition to Fatherland, the program includes End of the Sawdust Trail from the talented Andy Brodie, and several films by fellow Chapman Alums. Take that, AFI! That's how we roll, OC style!

Fallbrook Film Festival

2008-03-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Fatherland will be screening twice in Southern California at the end of April. In addition to the Newport Beach Film Festival, it will now be screening at the Fallbrook Film Festival, north of San Diego.

I will be at the CR Film Fest next Friday night (April 4) for the 7:52 screening. I won't be able to make the Saturday screening, unfortunately. I'm also still hoping to make the Newport Beach Festival, but I'm in a holding pattern until the screening schedule is announced.

I just got back from a recreational trip to Cooperstown, NY and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Growing up in Iowa, I thought I'd seen the middle of nowhere. But Cooperstown truly is the middle of nowhere. Still, it was well worth it to drool over dozens of bats, balls, gloves, pants, etc.

Oh, and I also had a drink with Manute Bol at the Detroit Airport. I recommended the Murphy's Irish Stout and he seemed pleased with it.

CR Screening

2008-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Screenings of Fatherland at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival have been scheduled.

It will be shown Friday night, April 4, at 7:52 pm in Theater C, and Saturday afternoon at 2:46pm in Theater A. Further details are on the festival's website.

I'll be there, so if you come out to the screening please say hello. I'll be the guy introducing the film and then evaluating everyone's reaction.

Black Maria Film Festival

2008-03-07T21:18:00.001-08:00

I had a chance to see a program of films from the Black Maria Film Festival again this year, and caught a few really exceptional works. Films accepted to the festival tour the country in short programs, playing in classy joints like the Des Moines Art Center.

The Heart is a Hidden Camera is a beautifully shot, moving film in a sort of magical realist style. Not the type of thing I usually go for, but this was really well done.

Phoenix Dance is a documentary about Homer Avila, who continued his career as a professional dancer after losing an entire leg to cancer. It's an 11-minute film smart enough to know that its subject is moving without need for a lot of embellishment. Some of the movements he does are just amazing.

And, if you're looking for a quick laugh that also gives you that warm socially conscious feeling, you could always watch Bodega, available in its entirety at YouTube.

Newport Beach, Palm Beach, Cedar Rapids, Oxford...

2008-03-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

It's been a good week for Fatherland, which I've just learned will be screening at several more festivals in the coming months, including Newport Beach and Palm Beach. The schedules aren't available yet, but Fatherland will be screening at:

Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival: April 4-5
Palm Beach International Film Festival: April 10-17
Oxford International Film Festival: April 11-13
Newport Beach Film Festival: April 24-May 1

As of right now, I plan to attend the Cedar Rapids festival and hope to make it to Newport Beach as well. Hope to see you there.

Fatherland in Miami

2008-03-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

Fatherland screened this past week at the Miami International Film Festival in Shorts Program 1: Human Behavior. Also among the seven films in the program were Academy Award Nominee Madame Tutli-Putli, and Soft, winner of an International Jury Prize at this year's Sundance festival. It's gratifying to see my work screened alongside such acclaimed films.

I've also just gotten wind of a couple more festival screenings; I'll be posting the details as soon as I can.

Independent Spirit Awards

2008-03-02T19:42:00.000-08:00

As a card carrying member of the Independent Film Project, I voted in this year's Independent Spirit Awards. So, if anyone's interested, my selections included:

Best Feature: The Diving Bell & the Butterfly
Best Director: Julian Schnabel (Diving Bell)
Best Screenplay: Tammra Jenkins (The Savages)
Best Male Lead: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Savages)
Best Female Lead: Ellen Page (Juno)

For the record, I was not able to see every film in every category in which I voted. After many moments of soul searching, debating the fairness of casting a vote without consideration of all nominees, I decided it would be much more fun to just vote anyway. Besides, it's not like this is a world changing election, like the presidential race or Best Week Ever.

Among the less commercial indies, I enjoyed Great World of Sound, a first-feature about two wannabe record producers sucked into a pyramid scheme. It pulls a bit of a Borat, by shooting some of its scenes with unsuspecting musicians in the "real world."

Festival Screenings

2008-01-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

Fatherland screened Jan. 14 in Pune, India as part of the Pune International Film Festival.

It will also screen Feb. 1-3 in the Treasure Coast International Film Festival, and Feb. 28-March 9 in the Miami International Film Festival.

Fatherland (2008)

2007-10-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the closing days of World War II, a son returns home to his estranged father. Old tensions boil to the surface when the son learns the father's secret, as the Russian front approaches. (German and Russian with English subtitles)

Directed by Robert Warzecha

Written by Ben Godar

Starring FJ Zentner and Olev Aleksander

Official Site
IMDB
All Fatherland Posts

Since its release, Fatherland has screened in dozens of festivals, including the Miami Film Festival, Newport Beach and at the Cannes Short Film Corner. For information on other festival screenings, check All Fatherland Posts above.

For information on Fatherland distribution, visit Ouat Media.

Trailer and Showcase

2007-10-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

I just learned that Fatherland will be screening at the Director's Guild of America on Oct. 16 as part of Chapman University's First Cut Screening. You may reserve a seat for the screening by contacting the Chapman film dept.

Also, the trailer for Fatherland is now online.

Fatherland Premiere Screening

2007-05-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

There will be a free Fatherland premiere screening Saturday, May 19 at 2:30pm in the Folino Family Theater at Marion Knott Studios in Orange, CA.

The film technically debuted as part of a showcase of short films on May 4, but the May 19 showing is more of an official premiere for cast, crew, etc. I am unable to be there, but wanted to encourage anybody in the area to stop by and check it out.

Fatherland is a short film I wrote which was directed by Rob Warzecha. It's set on a farm in Eastern Germany in the closing days of WWII, and centers on the strained relationship between a father and son. It is in German and Russian with English subtitles.

Following the May 19 screening, the film will likely hit the festival circuit. For more details on any upcoming screenings, check out the official Fatherland Web site.

Fatherland online

2007-03-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

The official Web site is now online for Fatherland, a short film I wrote which was directed by Robert Warzecha.

My script is based on an existing story, set in Eastern Germany in the closing days of World War II. The script was written in English and then translated to be performed by a German and Russian speaking cast. It was filmed in the fall of 2006 and is currently in post production.

The Web site already contains stills and other information about the film. It will be updated with a trailer and screening dates in the near future.

Wild Rose Film Festival

2006-10-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

My short film Personal will be making its world premiere (outside of Chapman University) at the 2006 Wild Rose Film Festival in Des Moines. Personal stars TV's Alex Fernandez as a lonely man who places personal ads, but then must take action when a woman literally appears on his doorstep.

I've also been nominated for Best Director of a Mini-Pic for Personal. The festival defines "Mini-Pic" as any film less than 10 minutes in length.

But wait ... there's more. My short film The Persecution of Al Kida will also be screening at the festival. Having previously screened at the Cedar Rapids Film Festival and on TV as part of the Iowa Independent Filmmaker Showcase, this should cement the film's star, TV's Dan Cole, as a household name in the state of Iowa.

The festival runs Wednesday, Oct. 18 through Sunday, Oct. 22. Both Personal and Al Kida will screen during a series of short films on Friday, Oct. 20, beginning at 5:15pm. Tickets are available for individual screenings or for the entire festival, with more info at: http://www.ariesworks.com/schedule.html All screenings take place at The Fleur Cinema & Cafe.

New York Short Short Film Festival

2006-05-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Persecution of Al Kida is an Official Selection for the New York Short Short Film Festival. It will screen at 3:45pm at the Anthology Film Archive Theater in Manhattan.

The festival showcases films of less than five minutes in length. Categories include Music Video, Documentary and Animation. My film will be competing in the Narrative category.

So, if you're in the Lower East Side of Manhattan this Saturday, May 20, why not check it out? Then afterwards, you can mill around the lobby and talk loudly about how great my film was.

TV Script Quarter Finalist

2006-02-14T11:08:00.000-08:00

This morning I learned I was a quarter finalist for the Scriptapalooza TV writing competition. My script was a half-hour spec for Scrubs titled "My Grown-up Pants." It's the first television script I've ever entered into a competition, so I'm very happy with the result.

Iowa Independent Filmmaker Showcase

2006-02-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

My short film The Persecution of Al Kida is screening on television throughout Iowa as part of the Iowa Independent Filmmaker Showcase. It is featured in Episode 1 of the series, which is airing on the Mediacom Connections channel. The series premeired in January and continues to air in February. Dates and times vary by market, so I suggest checking your local listings.

I also reccomend checking out 'Round Midnight, a short documentary by my friend and fellow filmmaker Andy Brodie, which is featured in the same episode.

A walking tune

2006-02-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

I just got aboard the MP3 player bandwagon, and my little white jukebox is taking me back to my college days. And not just because I downloaded a bunch of Guided By Voices.

What’s really taking me back is the fact that I can take my player with me. Walking across campus, running an afternoon trip to the Post Office – I’ve always got music. And that makes listening a completely different experience.

I used to be a Walkman junkie. In fact, my relationship with handheld music boxes goes all the way back to around the third grade, when my parents bought me a little red FM radio. I had a habit of waking up very early in the morning, and the radio and headset were a great companion.

A few years later I entered the workforce as a paperboy, and soon after got my first Walkman. Walking the same route and lugging a sack of newspaper is a dull way to spend an afternoon, but it’s a much more tolerable experience with music. Those were some formative years, and I’m not proud of the playlist. Bon Jovi, NWA, maybe even a little Paula Abdul thrown in. Then there were the three months or so when I listened to nothing but Appetite for Destruction. I still know every lyric and believe Nighttrain is one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

Through high school and into college, my Walkman stayed on my hip just about anywhere I walked. Whenever I remember the long hike between campus and my dorm, the soundtrack is crunching snow and indie rock.

My walking soundtrack ended soon after, thanks to the compact disc. Sure, I bought a Discman. Didn’t you? Not only did I buy one, I bought into the witch doctoring called "skip protection." At least until I walked out the door and my music started stuttering like a teenage boy in front of a pretty girl.

I didn’t go cold turkey, but my music collection migrated to CD and the only way to listen to a CD was to stand completely still. So it’s been a good seven years or so since I’ve carried my tunes around with me.

It’s not just that a well-picked album hits the spot – that’s true on foot, in the car or in the living room. When I’m walking, there’s nothing else to focus on but the music. That leads to those discoveries that make good music a necessity for good living. Ever since I started listening to my MP3 player, I’m reminded of all the discoveries that came while I was walking.

The first dozen or so times I heard "Desolation Row," it seemed like just a series of clever observations. Then one day, I was passing Alumni Hall at Iowa State when I really heard that last verse. I could try to tell you what it means, but I think it’s better if you just listen to the song. And I suggest you listen while you’re taking a walk.

Outside Baseball

2006-01-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to announce my affiliation with a new baseball blog, Outside Baseball. We aim to give The Lord's Game the consideration and scrutiny it deserves, but so rarely recieves from the barking dogs of talk radio. I hope you will make it a regular destination.

Tragic Communication

2006-01-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

Like many people, I went to sleep last night believing twelve of the thirteen West Virginia miners survived the mine explosion, only to learn this morning they had not. But as I watch network news correspondents asking mine officials what went wrong, I for one want to ask these news agencies the same thing.

It’s obvious there was a tragic miscommunication between rescue crews and the families of the miners. But what about the miscommunication between network news and millions of viewers?

Late last night, NBC (and I’m sure their peers as well) ran a ticker announcing that twelve of the miners were alive. Did that mean they were alive and out of the mine, or alive and still trapped? It was all a bit vague. So I swallowed my better judgment and flipped to CNN for details. Handsome Anderson Cooper stood right beside the mine, but he didn’t know anything else either. Of course, that didn’t stop these news whores from reporting obviously sketchy information as fact and bringing out their resident "experts" for even more speculation.

I shouldn’t be surprised. The transition from "get it right" to "get it first" has been in motion for years, but even at this low ebb of news reporting last night’s events seem pretty egregious.

The Writing Archive

2006-01-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

Suck.com
From 2000 to 2001, I was a regular contributor to Suck, one of the first editorial content sites online, under the pseudonym Alice The Camel. My Contributor Page links to my full-length features. I also wrote a number of the brief Hit & Run pieces that ran during that time.

Ames Tribune
You can read any of my columns for the Ames Tribune here. I also wrote movie reviews, arts features and covered the education beat. Those articles are searchable through the Tribune Archive.

Los Angeles Times Community Editions
I covered the police beat in Burbank & Glendale. Those hard news stories have been moved around as the paper has rebranded its local coverage over the years, but can currently be found in this archive.

Iowa State Daily
My weekly column was syndicated by U-Wire. I also served as Arts & Entertainment Editor and covered a variety of beats. You can read any of it in the archive.

The Effenheimer
The online site I co-founded which aimed to be The Onion of college newspapers. Long since vanished from the interwebs, most pieces remain through the Web Archive. I also wrote a remembrance of our little baby and times past.

Other Freelance Pieces
They Love the 60's for Film Threat
Unfortunately, pieces for Feed Magazine, Television Week, MLB.com and others are no longer available online.

Bio

2006-01-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

Ben spent most of his youth on the mean streets of Ames, Iowa, surviving only by his wits and the support of various positive adult role models. As a young man, he learned (and almost immediately forgot) the value of a hard day's work.

At Iowa State University, Ben began writing a weekly column which was read in bathroom stalls all around campus. The column was eventually syndicated by U-Wire, allowing it to be published and read in bathroom stalls across the nation. Ben continued to work as a columnist and reporter at the Ames Tribune, then for the LA Times Community Editions, where he covered shootings and Quinceaneras, and occasionally shootings at Quinceaneras.

He also wrote freelance essays for outlets including Feed Magazine and Film Threat, and was a regular contributor to Suck.com under the pseudonym Alice The Camel. It was in this capacity that he earned his greatest honor - a mention on Wikipedia.

Ben fled the crumbling palace of print journalism and studied screenwriting at Chapman University. While earning his MFA, he won the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Best Screenplay and twice placed on the school's "Killer Script List." (No one was actually killed). Ben wrote and directed two short films, Personal and The Persecution of Al Kida, both of which have screened at various festivals.

Ben then wrote the short Fatherland for director Robert Warzecha, which has screened at festivals including Cannes. He also worked as a story analyst for Dreamworks and Daniel Paulson Productions, and for a short time had a job transcribing pornography.

Ben continues to write feature scripts, essays and other projects while teaching creative writing at several colleges.

My Political Beliefs

2005-12-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

These were my results from an online test of political beliefs. I was in the same box as Ghandi, so I figure that's a good thing. But I was also pretty close to Bono, so I can't rule out the possibility that I am a giant tool.

You are a

Social Liberal

and an...
Economic Liberal

You are best described as a:

Socialist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

The Stock Racist

2005-12-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

Few things sink a film as fast as a two-dimensional stock character, be it the gay best friend, the renegade cop or the hooker with the heart of gold. But in the last few months I've discovered a new stock character who’s soiling the screen. I’m talking about The Racist.

I’ve known some fairly racist individuals, but I’ve never met anyone like The Racist of modern cinema, who struts around with guns blazing and a racial slur tattooed on his forehead.

It started when I finally saw Paul Haggis’ film Crash. It’s a film about race, and it certainly had some powerful moments, but several characters seemed to be speaking the subtext of bigotry rather than anything I could believe as dialogue. I believe that many white people feel intimidated when they’re approached by young black men; I don’t believe they turn to their companions and say, "these young black men are probably criminals."

Crash isn’t that over-the-top, but at times it veered pretty close. In one particular scene, Don Cheadle’s character meets with a white political operative who throws out black stereotypes like he’s talking about the Knicks game. It’s so brazen that the scene feels like an indictment of bigots rather than a portrayal of one.

It’s that indictment quality that really makes these Racist characters so insufferable. Not that racism shouldn’t be indicted, but most actors or writers worth a damn will tell you that if you judge a character while you’re creating them all you’ll get is cardboard.

Another film long on my to-see list, A Day Without a Mexican, tried to construct an entire film around the stock Racist. The ingenious plot, that one morning all Mexicans living in America suddenly vanish, is spoiled by the banal honkeys left in the wake. It’s a world where uber-ignorant millionaires spew vitriol about Mexicans while their Mexican housekeeper serves them breakfast.

The Racist character has apparently never been to a mandatory staff meeting on multiculturalism, or for that matter ever been told that "wet back" isn’t a term one should shout at the mall food court. It just doesn’t reflect anything I’ve seen in the real world.

There are plenty of racists – don’t get me wrong. But racism tends to be right below the surface. The manager at Denny’s may not hire the black kid, but he’s not so likely to announce to the wait staff "I’m not hiring this kid because he’s black." The Racist character on the other hand is more than happy to make such a proclamation, then go back to shining his belt buckle.

It’s not just that the covert racist is more real, from a writing standpoint he’s a hell of a lot more interesting. Show me a character who says exactly what they feel and I’ll show you a boring ass film. Unfortunately, that’s what I’ve been seeing.

Must See TV

2005-12-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Have you seen R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" music video, "urban opera," or whatever the hell it is? If not, you make damn sure that you do.

I realize this thing was released over the summer, so please excuse my belated awe. But if, like me, your finger's not on the hip-hop pulse, you are in for a treat. "Trapped in the Closet" is like a movie serial mixed with the worst song you've ever heard in your life.

In twelve parts, R. Kelly narrates a story by singing everything that's happening on screen exactly as it's happening. As in: "I'm standing in the closet, now I'm opening the door..." Meanwhile, on screen, R. Kelly's character stands in a closet and opens a door. It's not so much storytelling as it is narrative for the blind.

The DVD goes even one step further, with interviews with the actors as their characters. So you can actually watch R. Kelly, with "Sylvester" on the bottom of the screen, say "yeah, I was standing in the closet. Then I opened the door."

As bad as the concept is, the story is worse. The epic serial seems to be about a group of people linked only by the fact that they're all cheating on their spouses with each other. After what Kelly obviously thinks is the gritty truth about love and human nature, the story reaches a moving climax when a midget shits himself. Seriously. But I guess it's the type of romantic advice you should expect from a guy who likes to pee on teenagers.

It's impossible to really describe "Trapped in the Closet." If you were to pause it at any point, and imagine the most ridiculous thing that could possibly happen, you would be surprised to resume and watch something even more absurd. It is so shockingly bad, only the wannabes at Rolling Stone could love it.

I've already said too much. If you want to watch a piece of pop culture trash so sad that you'll laugh, so funny that you'll cry, I cannot reccomend "Trapped in the Closet" highly enough.

A kidnapping by any other name...

2005-12-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

I understand that journalists, like the rest of us, are often saddled with the bullshit terminology invented by the Government, particularly the Bush administration. It’s why this disaster in Iraq, titanic federal incompetence and human rights violations are called "Operation Enduring Freedom." But we’ve got to draw the line somewhere, and I think it’s got to be at "rendition."

"Rendition" is the word those heroes at the CIA have employed to describe their policy of pulling people off the street in Baghdad, Kabul (and probably Chicago) and flying them to secret bases around the world to interrogate them. That’s kidnapping, plain and simple. There’s just no other way to call it.

Not to get all high school graduation, but Webster’s dictionary defines "rendition" as … well, a lot of things – and none of them have to do with kidnapping. The closest definition seems to be "a surrender." Is that really what’s happening here? I suppose when you put a black bag over some guy’s head and throw them into the back of an unmarked van, the victim does "surrender." But to label that entire chain of events "rendition" is missing the forest for the giant pile of steaming bullshit.

Why not just rename assassination "happy love hugs." Is that any less ridiculous?

Fearless Leader has responded to questions about kidnapping by re-iterating that the United States does not torture, as if by the force of his declaration all photographic evidence to the contrary will disappear into the ether. But even if we give Dubya the benefit of the doubt, does that make things any better? Kidnapping people without even formal charges and flying them to secret prisons seems pretty damn reprehensible to me whether their nuts are hooked up to car batteries or not.

But as reprehensible as government officials have been in this whole affair, we don’t exactly come out smelling like a rose, either. We aren’t bound by royal decree to adopt the doublespeak of the Bush administration. Just because their corporate masters don’t like additional taxation of multi-millionaires doesn’t mean we all have to call it the "death tax."

And no matter what their internal memos and slippery press officers say, we sure as hell shouldn’t start calling kidnapping "rendition."

The not-so-awful Truth about Home Theaters

2005-11-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

I can remain silent no longer. This will no doubt cost me whatever street cred I now have as a film aficionado and general person of taste. More and more people are shunning the Movie Theater to watch films on there ever more powerful home theater systems.

And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Patrick Goldstein’s article in today’s LA Times is only the latest to prophesy the end of the Movie Theater. For his part, Goldstein focuses on the impact on the business side of the equation, which I don’t doubt will be revolutionary. The Talent (writers, actors, etc.) get a ridiculously small cut of DVD revenue, so the move toward home exhibition will no doubt lead to some bloody contract negotiations.

But leave the business models to the suits. What I’m interested in is if going from the multiplex to the home theater is a bad thing for we the filmgoers.

Your local cinephile would have you believe this is catastrophic. They’re fond of pointing out that movie going has historically been a collective experience, something that can only truly be experienced in that idyllic darkened room where a hundred other people hold their breaths at the same moment. It’s a beautiful ideal, but I’m not so sure that it’s true, or that it has much to do with the experience of watching a movie.

First, the obvious: A lot of things about going to the movie theater suck. Cell phones, commercials, $7 popcorn – you know the litany of complaints. I think a lot of this gets overblown, and I’m not so sure that going to a movie is any more annoying than it ever was. But the point is that the ideal world of the darkened cinema rarely manifests itself.

Beyond quibbles over the moviegoing experience, I question the whole notion that the big dark roomful of strangers is essential to enjoying a film. I’ve been moved by films I saw in a theater, absolutely. But I’ve been moved at least as often by films I watched on a television set. The first time I saw Taxi Driver was on a 13" TV with the sound turned down low so as not to wake my friend’s parents. And it was amazing. To this day it’s one of the most powerful, striking films I’ve ever seen. And I’ve never watched it in a movie theater.

So if a film retains its impact outside a cinema, what’s the importance of that roomful of strangers? A movie may be more fun with a big group of people, but that’s true of most things – sports, drinking, sex. The cinephile’s love for the Movie Theater is as much about liking to hang out in crowds as it is about the experience of watching a film.

The one thing the theater has going for it is immersion. The whole thing about the darkness, a really big screen (if you can find one) – that is a great way to experience the film as intensely as possible. And that’s where home exhibition can fall short. Watching a movie with all the lights on, talking on the phone and balancing your checkbook. That’s a sub-par experience if ever there was one. And what’s this business of watching TV (and maybe movies) on an IPod? I’m not sure it’s possible to immerse yourself in a screen the size of my Visa card.

But the Home Theater Movement, if that’s what you want to call it, is actually working to correct many of the problems with watching a film NOT in a theater. A big screen television with a solid surround sound system can create an experience at least as intense as the AMC 16.

I don’t want to see theatrical exhibition disappear. There is something unique about that experience. But is it superior? Is it the ultimate, definitive way to enjoy a film? I don’t think so. I prefer to focus more on the film than on the room I watch it in.