Shorts, 7/13.

Online viewing tips are usually tacked onto the end of a string of shorts, but today, they warrant top billing.

Starting with a new preview for Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (Haur no Ugoku Shiro; more and more). That's via Neil Gaiman. Related: A Miyazaki-Moebius exhibition in France.

Via Movie City News, a lovely and unique music video: "Sad Song" (or click here to launch it immediately). It's comprised entirely of those 15 seconds of 15fps silent jpeg movies you can make on most digital cameras, and if that weren't ingenious enough, there's the aspect ratio. Fredo, the creator of the song and video, is also pleased to announce that 35 seconds of his music will be heard in Jonathan Demme's forthcoming remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

And then Kate Stables has eight online viewing tips for you over at the Guardian. Also: Gerard Seenan reports that terrorist groups are earning more pushing pirated DVDs than they are with drugs; and tidbits: Baz Luhrmann wants to "spend more time with his family" (read: His Alexander won't be going up against Oliver Stone's); and here come a third Ten Commandments and a second Basic Instinct. The cinetrix has more on that one.

Filmmaker magazine has a fresh batch of articles online:

• Jeremy Kipp interviews Douglas Buck, who's written and directed three shorts which will be released on DVD collectively as Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America.
• Matthew Ross engages in an online chat with Chris Smith and Andy Bichlbaum, co-director and co-star, respectively, of The Yes Men and The Corporation’s Joel Bakan, Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott.
• Ray Pride catches a few docs from the "Images of the Twenty-first Century" series at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and checks in on the all-Canadian fest, Winnipeg FilmExchange.

Minute history lessons: Doug Cummings on Jacques Tourneur and the Cinecultist on Henri Langlois.

Filmbrain's wondering what in the world's going on with Jonathan Rosenbaum. Fair enough.

The Arts Journal has launched a new blog, Serious Popcorn.

Two book reviews at kamera.co.uk: Andy Murray on Lez Cooke's British Television Drama: A History and Thessa Mooij on Pat Silver-Lasky's Screenwriting for the 21st Century.

No J Hoberman in the Voice this week, but still:

• Ed Park's take on Planet Earth: Dreams makes it sound like a trip to the Pioneer is either just the slap we all need to wake from the summer blahs or the final dose that has us slipping into deep hibernation until October's rumored surprise. Or you could just go see The Door in the Floor.
• Fests: David Ng on the Asian American International Film Festival (see also the cinetrix's recs) and Ed Halter (who also reviews Let's Get Frank) on the New York Video Festival.
• Maria Full of Grace: Marc Holcomb reviews it and Anthony Kaufman interviews director Joshua Marston.
• Edward Crouse meets Tadanobu Asano.
• Shorts: Jennifer Snow on A Cinderella Story, Jorge Morales on Touch of Pink, David Blaylock on Zhou Yu's Train, Hua Hsu on Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme and Kris Wilton on Sleepover.

Nielson has confirmed what just about everyone suspected, reports Sharon Waxman in the New York Times: "The top theaters for Fahrenheit have been in urban, traditionally Democratic strongholds, including Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Bay Area, Chicago and Boston. The highest grossing theaters for Passion were typically more suburban and far more widely dispersed, from Texas and New Mexico to Ohio, Florida and Orange County, Calif." There's even an accompanying graph.

"'What Friendster is doing with these movie-character profiles is actually a brand-new paradigm in media promotion,' Friendster spokeswoman Lisa Kopp said." Via Ditherati, Daniel Terdiman's story in Wired News. Also: John Gartner on the new portable video players.

Via Greg Gilpatrick, Matt Silverman's thorough introduction to rotoscoping.

Via Tagline, the DVD Times report on the 10-disc "Matrix Ultimate Collection Box Set." Whoa.

Posted by dwhudson at July 13, 2004 2:16 PM