alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

June 18, 2006

The New Media: Bloggers and Indie Filmmakers

by AltHippo @ 5:03 pm. Filed under tba2006

I saw Barbara O’Brien’s post about the Take Back America conference, and wanted to offer my own thoughts.

On Monday night I had the chance to hang out a bit with Barbara, Taylor Marsh, Glenn Greenwald, Jennifer Nix of Working Assets, and the always delightful Roxanne Cooper. This was one of the reasons I was there at the conference. To meet people with whose writing I had found a certain sympatico. To witness a meeting of the minds.

I gather from Barbara’s post, that she found Take Back America dissappointing when compared with Yearly Kos. Well, of course there was a good reason that Yearly Kos was scheduled days ahead of TBA. I’ve spent enough time in showbiz to know when someone’s being upstaged. And, that is going to steal some energy from the later conference. That’s showbiz, folks.

One of her points is that TBA was not as blog-centric as YK. True, enough. Bloggers were not the stars of the show, by any means. Which motivates the question: who or what was the star of the show for TBA? What was it about? There’s not a short answer to that, and I hope you bear with me as I review recordings and notes I made over the last week.

While I didn’t go to Yearly Kos, I did go to Silver Docs, the documentary film festival held this week at the AFI. There are some bloggers I’ve met who have feet in both worlds, and may have a take similar to mine: bloggers are to the main stream media what indie film makers are to the Hollywood system. They are there to challenge it, make it more accountable to the public, and to define the bleeding edge.

I think bloggers and indie film makers would find there is a commonality of view between the two communities. While the bloggers who were at TBA knew that they were an essential part of taking back America, the film makers at Silver Docs knew they are essential to taking back the visual arts.

Challenging the system does not necessarily make for overnight success, however. Anyone who seeks fundamental change must have the patience of a tortoise. Or, more to the point, the patience of a blogger or indie filmmaker.

Let me offer an example. At Silver Docs last night, I saw a beautifully filmed documentary about the life of a beaurocrat/businesswoman turned sheep farmer living on her own island in Scandanavia. Both the filmmaker and the star of the documentary were there last night, and they discussed the process of making the film. The filmmaker met the star when she turned 50, and began to wonder what she should do with the rest of her life. She had decided to make the ultimate film about sheep. What she made instead was a wonderful documentary about finding your place in life. Making the film took years, and it’s no exaggeration that lives changed in the process.

My point is that the creative process is a slow one. It’s a process of concept, observation, inspiration, analysis, synthesis, more inspiration, and gut-wrenching dedication to creating a final product.

Since an example is worth a thousand blog posts, I’m starting to document my experiences of the TBA conference with a panel I believe goes to the meat of what taking back America is about: Kevin Phillips comments on the dark side of our economy. More on this soon.

Bookmark on del.icio.us

3 Responses to “The New Media: Bloggers and Indie Filmmakers”

  1. eRobin Says:
    June 19th, 2006 at 9:28 am

    There’s not a short answer to that, and I hope you bear with me as I review recordings and notes I made over the last week.

    I can’t wait!!

  2. Kristiws Kinista Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 10:19 am

    Woman like big dicks

    The New Media: Blogger…

  3. Gerhast Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 10:29 am

    Chubby girls naked

    The New Media: Blogger…

« Orwell’s Ghost Winces
Kevin Phillips Remarks at Take Back America »

[powered by WordPress.]

hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

contact

TBA 2008

The Alternative Hypothesis

the elephants of anwr

issues and insight

capitolists

alt media

sounds

critical resources

flora and fauna

law & order

events

cinema

literati

propaganda

use with extreme caution

internal links:

categories:

search blog:

archives:

June 2006
M T W T F S S
« May   Jul »
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  

other:

95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

comments

Recent Comments

HippoWire

  • Recent Trackbacks:

    • 27 queries. 0.567 seconds