// Category Archive for: The Internets

I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) Of The Independent Record Store

By Less Lee Moore

I Need That Record! purports to be a “documentary feature examining why over 3,000 independent record stores have closed across the US in the past decade.” But it’s much more than that. In truth, the film does a splendid job of not only showing the causal links that led to this somewhat alarming situation, but also asking, answering, and ultimately, allowing its viewers to weigh in on what this really means.
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WhedonFest 2010: A “Can’t Stop The Serenity” Weekend Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact information:

Cynthia O’Malley, Chair
Cindy@whedonitesunited.com

Joe Jordan, Vice-chair
Joe@whedonitesunited.com

WHEDONFEST 2010: A “CAN’T STOP THE SERENITY” WEEKEND EVENT

Joss Whedon fans reunite in Kentucky to raise money for Can’t Stop the Serenity Charity.

Whedonites United present their second annual Whedonfest, a weekend-long convention, to be held August 6-8 at Barefoot Republic in Scottsville, KY. All proceeds will be donated to charities designated by the Can’t the Stop the Serenity Global organization or Whedonites United.

Joss Whedon fans have repeatedly done the unlikely: turning a failed movie into a long-running and much-loved TV series (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), turning a canceled series into a movie destined to become a cult classic (Serenity), and then turning repeat screenings of that movie into a series of worldwide popular fund-raising events to keep the fandom alive while promoting gender equality (Can’t Stop the Serenity).
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DEVO Song Study: Press The Red Button If You Feel We Must Repeat

By Matt Keeley

DEVO’s been proven right about everything, and now they’ve joined with Mother LA to focus group the future.

DEVO has long been one of my favorite bands. In fact, my original art collective, TODCRA, was almost killed in the womb when the co-founder and I discovered that DEVO’d been basically saying everything we were saying, but in a much better way and for longer. (But given the Devolutionary Oath, we kept on keeping’ on.) And, luckily, DEVO have also kept on keeping’ on, whereas TODCRA eventually sacrificed itself so Kittysneezes may live.

Finally, after initial studies about color and whether or not people would hold the new song, “Fresh” with their feet, we’ve come to the meat of it: the Song Study!
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Social Media: Bursting The Buzz Bubble

By Less Lee Moore

POP! by N1Nj4

It’s been almost a month since Google launched Buzz, its bid for competition in a post-social media world. The buzz about Buzz, however, is that it’s been more of a bust than a boon.

Although some have expressed their approval of Buzz, even “favoring it over Twitter or Facebook,” others seem like they drank the Buzz Kool-Aid, calling it “brilliant. . . like ground-breaking, game-changing brilliant,” within a mere 24 hours of its release.
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What a Fun Trick: A Great Noisemaker!

By Matt Keeley

Photo © Adam Cantor

The Apples in stereo are such a great band: shiny retropop that just makes you happy, even when the lyrics are depressing. It also seems that they’re nice folks.

At a show once, my best friend and I got to talk with Apples member Robert Schneider, and not only was he one of the happiest folks out there, he gave us a hug, one that HE initiated. That is really awesome.
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Three Frames

By Less Lee Moore

A few weeks ago, Popshifter contributor Millie De Chirico revealed to me the disturbing and compelling nature of Three Frames.

The site is pretty self-explanatory: three consecutive frames of a film are transformed into a looping, animated GIF. If you think that sounds boring, then you haven’t looked at the site.
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Attacking Non-Creativity With Creativity

By Less Lee Moore

Utne Reader recently discussed an ISO50 blog post on ways to get over creativity block. Not just writer’s block, mind you, but the inability to create.

This suggestion from Tom Muller caught my eye:

To be honest, I rarely get stuck in a creative rut, there’s more than enough ideas swirling around in my head, its [sic] just a matter of priorities and time.

And there’s the rub. How in the world do I choose from the zillion paths in front of me, all leading me towards creating something?
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When You’re In Trouble, Go Into Your Dance

By Less Lee Moore

Shortly before last Christmas, fellow pop culture enthusiast and Popshifter writer Chelsea Spear sent me a link to a YouTube video and referred to it as ” HOLY CRAP THIS IS THE MOST FACE-MELTINGLY AWESOME THING EVAR.” (This is a direct quote.)

Without even questioning her expert judgment, I clicked and found the oddly-named but utterly mesmerizing “Prisencolinensinainciusol.”
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Killing The Language Of Cinema?

By Less Lee Moore

The recent launch of Movieclips.com, a website featuring “over 12,000 movie clips” that one can “search, find, view, discuss and share scenes from” seems like a great idea. From a practical standpoint, trying to find YouTube movie clips can be challenging as they are often taken down due to copyright infringement issues. (Movieclips has the express permission of several of the major studios to showcase these clips.)

On the other hand, why would we need a site like Movieclips.com (or movie clips on YouTube, for that matter)?
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You Only Die Twice: Casey Johnson Died For Your Tweets

By Emily Carney

It’s only six days into 2010, and already we’ve been forced to endure the dumbest hype over a celebrity death ever. Casey Johnson, the openly gay Johnson & Johnson heiress who has recently gained headlines for committing grand theft and getting engaged to (of all people) Internet “celebrity” Tila Tequila, was found dead in her residence on the morning of January 4 due to (guess what?) “natural causes.”
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