From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V3 #370 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Monday, December 22 2003 Volume 03 : Number 370 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] Fwd: Re: Wacky timekiller ;) ["Fortissimo" ] [loud-fans] where's chat? [Phil Fleming ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 10:39:19 -0600 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Fwd: Re: Wacky timekiller ;) On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:02:00 -0500, "Jenny Grover" said: > 80.19324% - Hardcore Music Nerd This is at least 15 points higher than *anyone* else's score here or on the Robyn Hitchcock list - Jen's wearing the Music Nerd crown! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 14:22:37 -0600 From: Bill Silvers Subject: [loud-fans] CLIP-Firefly DVD and the future? Thought this article from today's NYT was pretty interesting, and not only for the Firefly content. -b.s. A DVD Face-Off Between the Official and the Homemade By EMILY NUSSBAUM A year ago, the television series "Firefly" was canceled, and promptly became a hit at least online. Created by Joss Whedon, who also created "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the show featured an oddball genre mix that might have doomed it from the beginning: it was a character-rich sci-fi western comedy-drama with existential underpinnings, a hard sell during a season dominated by "Joe Millionaire." For four anxious months, a devoted cadre of fans watched the series falter, its episodes broadcast out of order, plugged misleadingly as a fun-loving space romp, until it was axed last December by Fox (fast gaining a reputation as a serial killer of quality shows.) In the nostalgic memories of the Internet fan base, "Firefly" quickly became that sentimental fetish object: the brilliant series cut down before its time. A Web site called Fireflyfans.net continued to thrive; episodes were passed around via file-sharing programs. And this posthumous fan base waited expectantly for the show's vindication: what has become television's afterlife, the collectible DVD. Just in time for Christmas, that package finally arrives, a complete "Firefly" boxed set with all the goodies: three episodes never shown on network television, plenty of juicy extras, a melancholic mini-documentary on the show's production, and commentary tracks by the show's creators, its cast, even its costume designer a permanent record of a series that once would have dissolved into network history. But for the true completist, there's another option out there: a handmade DVD created by Philip B. Gaines, a graduate student in digital media at the University of Washington. On this small, white two-disc set, Mr. Gaines puts forth his own idiosyncratic take on "Firefly," scrolled over montages of stills and short excerpted scenes. His production includes episode summaries and visual mini-essays on subjects like "irony" and "violence." He timed his project to piggyback on the official "Firefly" DVD (released by 20th Century Fox Home Video), touting his production on the geek-news site Slashdot.com. His discs are a charmingly ungainly valentine to the show more experiment than true collectible. But they do offer a glimpse of a new possibility, the fan's-eye approach to the television DVD. Fan's-eye DVD's are a logical offshoot of the newly pushy online fan culture the participatory television community that takes an increasingly critical (sometimes downright cranky) approach to members' favorite shows. On sites like Television Without Pity, they gather to debate like snarky doctoral candidates, or propose alternate plots in the form of fan fiction. In such a world, democratizing DVD commentary makes a lot of sense: it offers viewers the opportunity to graft their analysis right onto the show itself, to whisper a new perspective into the ears of other fans. Think of the intrusively footnoting narrator of "Pale Fire," crossed with the robots of "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Movie geeks have already begun producing such tracks, ever since the film critic Roger Ebert's rabble-rousing column on the subject for the online magazine YahooLife.com in February 2002. "I'd love to hear a commentary track by someone who hates a movie, ripping it to shreds," Mr. Ebert wrote. "Or a track by an expert who disagrees with the facts in a film. Or a track by someone with a moral or philosophical argument to make. Or even a Wayne's World-style track from dudes down in the basement who think `The Mummy Returns' is way cool." Mr. Ebert suggested that interested fans simply record their own tracks on MP3's and post them on the Internet legally providing alternate soundtracks for existing DVD's. Online fans jumped to the task. On DVDTracks.com, contributors post links to MP3's on films from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "Mulholland Drive." Software like MovieMask (a controversial program best known for allowing censors to camouflage movies' naughty bits) allows viewers to add their own tracks by breaking the DVD code. As far as I can tell, Mr. Gaines's offering is the first disc to apply such techniques to a television show or, for that matter, to be produced in a DVD format, rather than as an MP3. Mr. Gaines says he intended his contribution as both an experiment and a bit of a risumi: the "ultimate portfolio," he jokes, in his search for a job in information technology. (He designed the disc to "withstand a lawsuit," he said, including only fair-use excerpts and offering the project via Slashdot and his own Web site, www.pbgaines.comonly for feedback, not for sale.) But if Mr. Gaines's project is still a bit of a rough draft his comments consist mostly of praise for the show, with fairly generic analysis it contains moments that hint at the form's potential, small revelations of bias or quirky interpretation. "When I watched this pilot episode for the first time, I got a bit mixed up, and I got the impression that Kaylee and Malcolm were brother and sister," he muses at one point, watching Capt. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) banter with the engineer (Jewel Staite). The second disc includes a pithy filmic analysis of nearly every character's relationship with every other character, a kind of capsule guide to unexplored interpersonal subtext. Mr. Whedon himself seems bemused by the project, recognizing that he's the strangest possible viewer for such a disc. "I find it kind of fascinating," he said. "It starts out with bunches of praise, which, you know, works for me." Mr. Whedon can imagine the appeal of such commentaries to fans, although he wonders how consumers would sort out thoughtful options from mere chatter. And he's aware of the potential for harsh commentary: "It's because of the feeling of intimacy and privilege of being in this community; people feel as though they're almost friends with the creator, and they can say such personal stuff." (Not that Mr. Whedon is immune to such fantasies himself: he considered creating his own angry commentary track for the film "Alien Resurrection" which he helped write, only to have his work mangled in production but declined, for fear of being sued.) As for Mr. Gaines, he imagines his small "Firefly" set as a kind of first entry in an enormous future library a future, he speculates, in which fans will act more like scholars. True enthusiasts will collect a whole library of DVD's, he suggests: the official version, one or two commentary tracks by critics, and a selection by a particularly entertaining set of fans. How would such projects support themselves? Here, Mr. Gaines begins to verge into science fiction territory: someday, he suggests, interested patrons might offer to finance particularly excellent DVD commentators. "I worship art, almost literally," he explained cheerfully. "You know, I want to sit there and talk about it. A great show like `Firefly' just seemed like a perfect match to me: it deserves this kind of treatment." "A colonel in Baghdad told me just after I arrived that senior Army officers feel every order they receive is delivered with next November's election in mind, so there is little doubt at and near the top about who is really being used for what over here. The resentment in the ranks toward the civilian leadership in Baghdad and back in Washington is palpable." - -Lucian Truscott IV, in the 12/7/03 New York Times ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:33:00 -0800 From: "me" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] CLIP-Firefly DVD and the future? there are at least a few groups who do something similar - they hold an internet radio broadcast during and after their show of choice. some friends of mine have been doing this for quite a while - they're at showtalkers.com. i thought this was a strange phenomenon that was siolated to these guys, but apparently there are a number of groups out there doing this. i guess it's just one more aspect of the i-have-something-to-say-too interent community. brianna - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Silvers" To: Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2003 12:22 PM Subject: [loud-fans] CLIP-Firefly DVD and the future? > Thought this article from today's NYT was pretty interesting, and not only > for the Firefly content. -b.s. > > > A DVD Face-Off Between the Official and the Homemade > > By EMILY NUSSBAUM > > A year ago, the television series "Firefly" was canceled, and promptly > became a hit at least online. Created by Joss Whedon, who also created > "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the show featured an oddball genre mix that > might have doomed it from the beginning: it was a character-rich sci-fi > western comedy-drama with existential underpinnings, a hard sell during a > season dominated by "Joe Millionaire." For four anxious months, a devoted > cadre of fans watched the series falter, its episodes broadcast out of > order, plugged misleadingly as a fun-loving space romp, until it was axed > last December by Fox (fast gaining a reputation as a serial killer of > quality shows.) > > In the nostalgic memories of the Internet fan base, "Firefly" quickly > became that sentimental fetish object: the brilliant series cut down before > its time. A Web site called Fireflyfans.net > continued to thrive; episodes were passed around via file-sharing programs. > And this posthumous fan base waited expectantly for the show's vindication: > what has become television's afterlife, the collectible DVD. Just in time > for Christmas, that package finally arrives, a complete "Firefly" boxed set > with all the goodies: three episodes never shown on network television, > plenty of juicy extras, a melancholic mini-documentary on the show's > production, and commentary tracks by the show's creators, its cast, even > its costume designer a permanent record of a series that once would have > dissolved into network history. > > But for the true completist, there's another option out there: a handmade > DVD created by Philip B. Gaines, a graduate student in digital media at the > University of Washington. On this small, white two-disc set, Mr. Gaines > puts forth his own idiosyncratic take on "Firefly," scrolled over montages > of stills and short excerpted scenes. His production includes episode > summaries and visual mini-essays on subjects like "irony" and "violence." > He timed his project to piggyback on the official "Firefly" DVD (released > by 20th Century Fox Home Video), touting his production on the geek-news > site Slashdot.com. His discs are a charmingly > ungainly valentine to the show more experiment than true collectible. But > they do offer a glimpse of a new possibility, the fan's-eye approach to the > television DVD. > > Fan's-eye DVD's are a logical offshoot of the newly pushy online fan > culture the participatory television community that takes an increasingly > critical (sometimes downright cranky) approach to members' favorite shows. > On sites like Television Without > Pity, they gather to debate like snarky doctoral candidates, or propose > alternate plots in the form of fan fiction. In such a world, democratizing > DVD commentary makes a lot of sense: it offers viewers the opportunity to > graft their analysis right onto the show itself, to whisper a new > perspective into the ears of other fans. Think of the intrusively > footnoting narrator of "Pale Fire," crossed with the robots of "Mystery > Science Theater 3000." > > Movie geeks have already begun producing such tracks, ever since the film > critic Roger Ebert's rabble-rousing column on the subject for the online > magazine YahooLife.com in February 2002. "I'd love to hear a commentary > track by someone who hates a movie, ripping it to shreds," Mr. Ebert wrote. > "Or a track by an expert who disagrees with the facts in a film. Or a track > by someone with a moral or philosophical argument to make. Or even a > Wayne's World-style track from dudes down in the basement who think `The > Mummy Returns' is way cool." Mr. Ebert suggested that interested fans > simply record their own tracks on MP3's and post them on the Internet > legally providing alternate soundtracks for existing DVD's. > > Online fans jumped to the task. On DVDTracks.com, > contributors post links to MP3's on films from "The Texas Chainsaw > Massacre" to "Mulholland Drive." Software like MovieMask (a controversial > program best known for allowing censors to camouflage movies' naughty bits) > allows viewers to add their own tracks by breaking the DVD code. > > As far as I can tell, Mr. Gaines's offering is the first disc to apply such > techniques to a television show or, for that matter, to be produced in a > DVD format, rather than as an MP3. Mr. Gaines says he intended his > contribution as both an experiment and a bit of a risumi: the "ultimate > portfolio," he jokes, in his search for a job in information technology. > (He designed the disc to "withstand a lawsuit," he said, including only > fair-use excerpts and offering the project via Slashdot and his own Web > site, > www.pbgaines.comonly > for feedback, not for sale.) > > But if Mr. Gaines's project is still a bit of a rough draft his comments > consist mostly of praise for the show, with fairly generic analysis it > contains moments that hint at the form's potential, small revelations of > bias or quirky interpretation. "When I watched this pilot episode for the > first time, I got a bit mixed up, and I got the impression that Kaylee and > Malcolm were brother and sister," he muses at one point, watching Capt. > Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) banter with the engineer (Jewel Staite). > The second disc includes a pithy filmic analysis of nearly every > character's relationship with every other character, a kind of capsule > guide to unexplored interpersonal subtext. > > Mr. Whedon himself seems bemused by the project, recognizing that he's the > strangest possible viewer for such a disc. "I find it kind of fascinating," > he said. "It starts out with bunches of praise, which, you know, works for > me." Mr. Whedon can imagine the appeal of such commentaries to fans, > although he wonders how consumers would sort out thoughtful options from > mere chatter. And he's aware of the potential for harsh commentary: "It's > because of the feeling of intimacy and privilege of being in this > community; people feel as though they're almost friends with the creator, > and they can say such personal stuff." (Not that Mr. Whedon is immune to > such fantasies himself: he considered creating his own angry commentary > track for the film "Alien Resurrection" which he helped write, only to have > his work mangled in production but declined, for fear of being sued.) > > As for Mr. Gaines, he imagines his small "Firefly" set as a kind of first > entry in an enormous future library a future, he speculates, in which fans > will act more like scholars. True enthusiasts will collect a whole library > of DVD's, he suggests: the official version, one or two commentary tracks > by critics, and a selection by a particularly entertaining set of fans. How > would such projects support themselves? Here, Mr. Gaines begins to verge > into science fiction territory: someday, he suggests, interested patrons > might offer to finance particularly excellent DVD commentators. "I worship > art, almost literally," he explained cheerfully. "You know, I want to sit > there and talk about it. A great show like `Firefly' just seemed like a > perfect match to me: it deserves this kind of treatment." > > > > "A colonel in Baghdad told me just after I arrived that senior Army > officers feel every order they receive is delivered with next November's > election in mind, so there is little doubt at and near the top about who is > really being used for what over here. The resentment in the ranks toward > the civilian leadership in Baghdad and back in Washington is palpable." > -Lucian Truscott IV, in the 12/7/03 New York Times ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 15:26:58 -0600 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] CLIP-Firefly DVD and the future? On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:33:00 -0800, "me" said: > there are at least a few groups who do something similar - they hold an > internet radio broadcast during and after their show of choice. some > friends of mine have been doing this for quite a while - they're at > showtalkers.com. i thought this was a strange phenomenon that was > siolated > to these guys, but apparently there are a number of groups out there > doing this. As fascinating as this is, I think it'd be even better if it were after-the-fact, real-time commentary: that is, schedule a time a few days after the broadcast, synchronize, and comment while re-watching, having had some time to think through whatever the show presented to them. The trouble with real-time stuff is while you're talking/typing, you're missing whatever happens *after* whatever you're commenting on - and of course, you may have one of those "doh!" moments later, realizing some obvious connection that at the time you'd missed. np: Elvis Costello _North_ - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: Solipsism is its own reward :: :: --Crow T. Robot ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 17:57:34 -0500 From: Jenny Grover Subject: [loud-fans] Elliott Smith Tribute show at TT's From the Boston Globe A public tribute Elliott Smith fans and local musicians take the stage to honor the late seminal songwriter By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff, 12/19/2003 Tribute concerts tend to be insider affairs, an opportunity for professional musicians to pay homage to one of their own: Sheryl Crow does Johnny Cash, Tom Petty plays George Harrison. All of which are well and good, but Mary Lou Lord had something different in mind when she began organizing a show to honor the late Elliott Smith, her good friend and an eloquent indie-pop songwriter who took his own life in October at the age of 34. "I had so many feelings that I needed to put somewhere, in a positive direction, instead of just being miserable," says Lord, who toured with Smith as her opening act in the mid-'90s. "I thought there were probably a lot of people who felt the same way, who needed closure, because his music meant so much to so many people. I didn't want it to be a big-name show. I really wanted it to be for the fans." So Lord posted a message at Smith's website, sweetadeline.net, offering stage time for anyone who wanted to participate. Seventeen fans are scheduled to perform Elliott Smith songs during an afternoon all-ages show at T.T. the Bear's on Sunday, along with a handful of local musicians including Jason Hatfield, Apollo Sunshine, and Phil Aiken. Lord will also be showing rare video footage shot on her and Smith's 1995 club tour, as well as screening "Strange Parallel," an experimental documentary about Smith directed by Steve Hanft, and carving out time -- she hopes -- for spontaneous words and music. Michael Ledoux, a 46-year-old software engineer from Natick, is going to sing "Can't Make a Sound," from Smith's 2000 album, "Figure 8." "That song has a lot of meaning for me," says Ledoux, an amateur guitarist who first saw Smith perform in a Seattle nightclub in 1996. "I was mesmerized. He reflected something in all of us, the way we feel about things when we're down. No other musician has affected my life the way Elliott has. I became like a disciple, spreading the word to my close friends over the years. I'm looking forward to the chance to come together with other people who found themselves in tune with Elliott." One of them is Aiken, a Boston singer-songwriter and a former keyboardist with the band Buffalo Tom. "Coming out of the '90s post-grunge thing, this lo-fi guy singing his songs without a lot of production was a breath of fresh air," says Aiken. "He wasn't a classic rock frontman. I met him once when he was on a bill with Buffalo Tom, and I'd love to say we hit it off and spent the night talking at the bar. But he was shy, and I'm a pretty reserved guy, too. We shook hands and that was it." Aiken will perform two songs: "Between the Bars" and "Miss Misery." The latter is Smith's best-known song, written for the "Good Will Hunting" soundtrack and nominated for an Academy Award in 1998. "I chose `Between the Bars' because one of the lines in the first verse - -- `The potential you'll be but you'll never see/The promises you'll only make' -- spoke to me in light of what happened to him," says Aiken. "Plus I love the song." There have already been tributes in Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, and other cities; Lord's Boston tribute, a popular topic of discussion on Smith's website, has generated interest around the country. A couple from LA plans to attend. Another fan is trying to track down long-lost relatives in Boston to see if she can stay with them. One woman from New Jersey writes: "My boyfriend is planning to buy me a ring for Christmas. Next time I see him I'm going to request that he forget the ring and instead take me to Boston for the memorial tribute. It would mean so much more to me than any piece of jewelry, no matter how precious." Proceeds from the concert will go to the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund, established by Smith's family to provide financial support for abused children. It's a cause Smith was passionate about, according to Lord; Smith's sister Ashley Welsh is continuing the work on her late brother's behalf. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:22:11 -0800 From: dc Subject: [loud-fans] Searay anyone familiar with Searay? i met the cellist's mom at a cocktail party this evening. she thinks they're cool; i'm wondering if anyone agrees dc vicinity of seattle ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 21:52:59 -0800 (PST) From: Phil Fleming Subject: [loud-fans] where's chat? if any... Phil F. NP: Quick Fix - THE PUSH __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V3 #370 *******************************