Monday, February 28, 2005

Politics and the Oscars

I promised myself that since everyone else and their mom write about the oscars, I was going to let this one go, but after watching the show last night with some of the raucous EA crew, I couldn't resist. This blog is supposed to be about politics, but what more appropriate focusing point of all things political then the Academy Awards, right? I have to say I actually enjoyed the show this year, maybe because we filled in the snooze parts with our own banter ripping apart whichever Hollywood figure they cut too, but nonetheless. Scotty and I tied on our picks sheet, so no bragging rights for anyone this year. I haven't been able to listen to the radio talk shows today, but I'm sure the waves are in a frenzy about the hated Hollywood and their spectacle. They have plenty of ammunition, Chris Rock slamming Dubya while propping Moore, and apparently the now pro-euthanasia Million Dollar Baby winning best picture while Passion got the snub, if Jesus can't win a gold statue, Hollywood must be the root of all evil. Anyways, here are my gold stars and middle fingers for the evening: *CHRIS ROCK: (gold star) I thought Rock did a great job, whether the whole "is he going drop f-bombs" hype was a marketing thing or the work of actual concerned groups, Rock is a professional comedian, who put on a great show, I thought. The line about Jeremy Irons being a comedic genius was classic! *COUNTING CROWS GUITARIST: (gold star) not for the lame song, but for the "I LOVE SCARLETT" t-shirt he was wearing. What a great pick up move, hope it worked out at the after parties. *HILARY SWANK: (middle finger) for not only beating out Kate Winslett, but also for reminding us again that she grew up in trailer. But (gold star) for making Scott laugh harder than I've ever seen him laugh with the trailer line, because minutes earlier we finally pinpointed her accent as being not "southern" so much as "trailer park". *SEAN PENN: (middle finger) for just plain being an asshole. God forbid Rock actually take some fun shots at some of those in the acting community, don't take it so personally next time, Jude Law will get over it, I'm sure. *OSCAR PRODUCERS: (middle fingers all around) for a number of things, one being terribly blatant cut aways the whole night, "the motorcyle diaries song is playing quick cut to some of the well known Hispanic actors". And why did I see more than one cutaway of Jay-Z and P. Diddy? Unacceptable. Also, hitting the three hour mark was nice I must say, but making every award that wasn't in the top 8 categories feel like the handing out of participation ribbons at the end of your sixth grade YMCA basketball league, not cool. It's only documentaries, who cares about those, we couldn't cut down the commercial times at all could we? *JAMIE FOXX: (gold star) yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, but come on that was good stuff. *SOUND MIXING AWARD: I don't know what to give this, because I almost would rather watch the technical achievement awards anyway, which is where this award belongs. Sound editing, okay, I understand, but I've done my share of sound mixing, it sucks, its hard, I know, but so is being a PA. When will they move this category where it belongs, and spend some more time on, oh I don't know, documentaries or something.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Webisode #2 Now Available

The second webisode of EvansAmerica was officially launched last night and is now available to download and watch. Just Click Here. Right click where is says to and do a "save target as" or something silmiliar depending on your browser, choose your desktop or a downloads folder and click "save" and the download will begin, usually takes about 15 minutes. You'll also need quicktime to watch and can get a free version here if needed. Free stuff all around, god bless the internet. Enjoy.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Blogs vs The Media (buy your tickets now)

I love it when we find ourselves in the midst of an historical battle of some kind. And we find ourselves in the midst of a blogs vs media battle royale. In the 90s it was just figuring out that unknown frontier known as the world wide web. And I still swear behind that one late night in the library back in my early college days when I saw a tall bearded man, who looked an awful lot like Al Gore go running out the front doors from the dimly lit basement where I had seen the figure all semester, screaming, "I've done it, I've done it!" Anyways, I will admit that I had only been introduced to the blogosphere last summer, when co-creator Scotty C told me that we should incorporate the angle of blogs into our show. Now, it is pretty clear to see we are heading into a very new world of information and the internet. And the most entertaining part of it all, is to watch the newsmedia's coverage of blogs go from quaint story to "oh shit, Houston we have a problem." The media, especially the cable news channels have finally become so lame and lacking of any true integrity any more, that thousands, by the day are turning to blogs for real journalism. Conservatives, liberals, and moderates are fed up with 24/7 coverage of the Michael Jackson trial, and are showing that they are craving actual stories with substance. And bloggers are starting to beat actual journalists to the punch on many stories. CNN is more frequently reporting stories that were first broken on blogs. The popularity of the Howard Dean campaign last year wasn't even known to the media for a long time, because his poll numbers were not showing his growing support on the internet. The CBS National Guard memo debacle and the recent "Jeff Gannon" soap opera, which is unbelievably entertaining and the fall of Eason Jordan after he made controversial comments were stories broken solely by the blogosphere before being picked up by the "media". As you peruse through the various top blogs and compare their posts with the days stories of say the New York Times, which is a fine newspaper, don't get me wrong, there's no contest. The blog articles have more passion, more facts, deeper insight, more complexities, and the biggest asset, they cut through the bullshit. So the question is, will blogs become dangerous for various reasons, "yes". There's no two ways about it, there really is no accountability to the bloggers, except by other blogs, but then it turns into a he said/she said drama. And the mainstream media will think it is too beneath them to keep in check the blogs because then they'd be admitting they are second tier. And most blogs do have either a right or left slant to them and as blog traffic grows, it will undoubtedly be tempting to try sway opinion rather than stick to the facts. Not to mention the fact that if more of us start turning to blogs for our news, we will be getting less and less of the full story behind each issue. Our only hope is that this blog phenomenon scares the hell out of the mainstream media to where they pick themselves up from their path of complacency and try and regain the trust and intrigue of the public. There are a lot of good reporters out there and they know who they are and they are trying, but editors are not in tune with their reporters, because the editors job is always on a string being held by the corporation that owns the outlet. It's tough, but the free market when it comes to news, which is finally being pulled back by the people will persevere.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Smoke and Mirrors

Just a quick update, not a lot has been going on production-wise for EA, but here are a few nuggets that some people might find interesting.

1) Sunday night we grabbed a couple fill shots for episode 2, thus truly completing ep2 (my previous post was all hype). Parks portrayed Munson for the final time (in ep2, least mwa ha ha) as he confronted the front runner in the student government election. If you look closely, you'll see yours truly doing some bad ass acting (minus the "ass").

2) Took a run at a commentary for a potential DVD release, potentially available soon in the EA store (not to be a total capitalist, but the show doesn't make itself, folks). Cast and crew consisting of Givani, Joe Boro, Lara, Director Dan and myself hit record on the tape recorder and just started rambling. Now, I don't know how many people listen to commentaries out there (I love them, but I am a HUGE film geek), but the ones I really enjoy listening to are real loose, but still informative. I have a feeling our first run at a commentary will resemble not so much chaos. Maybe because of the beer, maybe because we were in an odd mood that night, maybe because we're bastard people. We'll let you decide. But the commentaries I like seem effortless and fun, but they're probably a bit more structured than "Hey let's watch our movie and talk about it. Oh yeah, and we'll drink a lot." I guess Hollywood has tricked me again into thinking things like this are easy. (You know, like in that movie about recording commentary tracks.)

Anyways, this is getting longer than I intended... there's a joke there somewhere, I swear, I'm just too lazy to look for it. Ep2 is premiering Friday, so go see it if you're able. I'll be at MJ Java in Omaha, so if you're a lonely, lovely lady, I'll be the one in the back. You'll know me by my excessive sweating, erratic pacing, and general unapproachableness (to think I spent Valentine's Day alone).

late,
sc.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Webisode 2 Launches on Feb. 18th

Special Announcement:

Webisode 2 of EvansAmerica is set to launch on Friday Night, FEB. 18th.

There will also be two simultaneous launch parties that night for Nebraska folks:

*Omaha Launch Party at MJ JAVA (13th & Farnam) @ 7pm

*Lincoln Launch Party at The Downtown Bar (15th & O) @ 7pm

Admission is free for each! If you are interested in setting up a launch party viewing in your city, contact us at evansamerica@hotmail.com

Monday, February 07, 2005

Photos from Webisode #1 Omaha Launch Party

We have a few pics from the pilot launch party to view click here.

There are more floating around out there somewhere and when we get them you will get them.

Webisode 2 Launch Announcement Tomorrow! Stay tuned.

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