Special Jury Prize Dramatic and the Spirit of Independence Award: Chusy Haney-Jardine, for Anywhere USA, easily the funniest movie of the festival that skewers NASCAR and pistachio nuts with oddball aplomb.
Press release and movie descriptions here.
...UNC Asheville’s Amnesty International Student Chapter will hold its fourth annual Human Rights Film Festival from January 28-February 2. Some 11 films will be screened; audience discussion led by a number of the University’s most distinguished faculty will follow each screening. The festival, which has become the largest of its kind in the Southeast, is free and open to the public.
Two films will be screened each week day. Matinee showings will be held at 4:30 p.m. in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union room 224. Evening presentations will be at 7 p.m. in the Highsmith University Union Grotto.
Healthy Concepts
"Ideas, Recipes and Encouragement to help you achieve our optimal health potential."
Girl Talks Kitchen
"A Southern Girl Talks About Food, Wine and Everything In Between!"
A Girl Named Boo
"Extroverted to the point of other people's embarrassment."
Patreecia Spaulding’s Blog
"Green Real Estate Consultant in Asheville"
Outside Clyde
"Living the life of gardening in the low spot on a North Carolina mountaintop."
Paint Outside the Frame
"Art Talk"
What to Expect When Your Electing
"Two moms talk politics and more from Asheville, North Carolina"
Cozy Blue
"what goes on, in and around our cozy blue house... "
Mr. Bagby comes as close to holding hundreds of people in a spell as ever a man has... That is much too rare an experience in theater.
Check out his website here.
Save The Internet: "Internet service providers like Comcast have claimed that the only way to manage their networks is to either disconnect customers that exceed undisclosed bandwidth limitations or secretly block applications like BitTorrent and Gnutella."
"The threat to our civil liberties from the growing corporate control of the Internet -- enabled by the FCC and US Supreme Court -- is real. This control also threatens to stifle the kind of technological innovation and economic growth enabled by the Internet over the last 15 years or so.
As one of the few surviving nonprofit Internet service providers (ISPs) in the nation, MAIN is in the forefront of this nationwide and global struggle to preserve an open, non-discriminatory Internet.
I believe the outcome of this struggle will shape the future of our democracy for decades to come, as did a similar struggle for control of the public airwaves in the 1928-1934 period."
You can catch Wally Bowen and UNCA Professor Mark Ward Wednesday night at 6pm on David Hurand's show, "Conversations", on WCQS, 88.1 FM. They're going to explain net neutrality and discuss the option available to preserve an innovative, democratic internet.
So those of you who don't want to have anything to do with all that organized whatnot, 8pm - late we'll do away with any sort of attempt at organization and just hang out Community Media/Rocket Club style. If Rocket Club ends up being too loud or too crowded, we may bail over to The Admiral, which is right across the street."When MAIN was launched in 1996, only two counties in western North Carolina were being served by commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs). As a non-profit ISP working with many local partners, MAIN now provides reliable, low-cost Internet service both in western North Carolina and nationwide."
[...]
"...projects include the Blue Ridge Web Market, which provides a free, customizable Internet presence to hundreds of small businesses throughout the region. The ReBoot Coalition, spearheaded by MAIN, places recycled computers in the homes of economically disadvantaged WNC residents, and our Latino Digital Literacy Project is helping one of our area's growing populations access the Internet through hands-on training and online classes.MAIN is also the driving force behind WPVM, WNC's low power FM radio station broadcasting local news, views and music over-the-air in the Asheville area and throughout the region (and the world) via webcast. The station shares MAIN's goal of providing access to voices that are overlooked by the mainstream media. WPVM is on the air now at 103.5 FM.
As a full-service ISP, MAIN is able to provide free or reduced-cost web hosting services to businesses and non-profit organizations throughout our service area. As part of our mission to extend Internet access beyond the middle-class and wealthy, we also offer reduced-fee dial-up accounts to people in need of such help."
Yes, dear reader: the Bloggers Guild of America may be on its way. The dispute between screen and television writers and media conglomerates has its roots, after all, in the Web. The sweeping changes it has impelled in the media over the past decade or so have made film and TV writers feel less in control of the products of their labor. The current strike is the culmination of that: the writers are fighting for additional compensation when a product they’ve created for film or TV is distributed in some form over the Internet. Their current compensation? Nothing.Bloggers often earn that same salary. There are exceptions, of course, those fortunate few who have become quasi-celebrities in their own right and found themselves, and their sites, snatched up by major media companies (which in some cases are owned by the same large conglomerates that the Hollywood writers are, as of this writing, striking against). These big media outlets are making money from the Web traffic that bloggers bring, via the online advertisements that that traffic helps to sell.
As top-tier blogs, in particular, become increasingly profitable, it will be fair to ask just how much of their proceeds are going to the writers who, ultimately, make it all possible.In short, it’s a Wild West out there for bloggers—even though, without them, the Internet’s frontier would not have expanded so broadly or so rapidly. And even though, without them, the Web-derived profits many of these blog sites are starting to rake in simply wouldn’t exist.
At the same time, though, there’s sense in diversity when it comes to compensation: not all bloggers should be treated equally with respect to remuneration. Most bloggers, after all, don’t draw very much traffic; neither are they part of a blogging conglomerate that is making real money selling advertisements. Were bloggers to organize, a threshold would have to be established between blogging “for fun” and blogging in a way that should be considered “labor”—between amateurs and professionals, if you will.Such distinctions are hardly unprecedented—the Writers Guild of America, after all, does not include everyone with a screenplay squirreled away in his sock drawer. That’s why it’s a guild—you have to be a professional to be a member and reap the benefits. Something similar could happen for the blogosphere. As Nancy Lynn Schwartz relates in her history of the writers guild, The Hollywood Writers’ Wars, initial organizing was undertaken by an already successful group of writers—the Andrew Sullivans, as it were, of Hollywood in the 1930s.
It’s possible and even desirable, I think, that the same may eventually happen for blogging, perhaps under the auspices of the existing National Writers Union, which recently voted to make organizing bloggers a priority. I imagine it something like this: the most successful writers take the initiative to organize, because they’re the ones who will actually be listened to by employers. Then, they’ll set up a structure that separates the workhorse bloggers (those who make large collective sites like Daily Kos and The Huffington Post possible) from the pure “hobbyists.” Whatever these distinctions may be, they should have nothing to do with whether or not the blogger in question has another salary from another job. (Not all writers in the guild work full-time on TV and screen writing, but all are equally protected.)
A bloggers guild could also, of course, work to protect bloggers’ intellectual property and help ensure they’re compensated for it. In 2001, the Supreme Court heard The New York Times Co. v. Tasini, in which six freelance writers took on publications that had run their work in print, paying them for the copyright, and then republished that work in online databases. In a 7-2 vote, the Court found in favor of the freelancers, ruling that writers should be compensated for work published online in addition to their print compensation. It takes only the tiniest of logical leaps to apply this ruling to the work of bloggers.
The paradigm shifts we’re in the midst of—in media usage and, then, in standards of intellectual property—demand that we rethink not just what writers contribute to the media marketplace, but also how they should be compensated for their contributions. Individual blogs, and Web sites hosting large numbers of bloggers, are profiting—not just culturally and intellectually, but economically—from bloggers’ work. Organizing, in that sense, seems not only inevitable, but necessary; “professional” bloggers need to be compensated for their work. It’s only fair.
"The good news is: We have sold our house and the new owner wants to take possession very, very soon. The bad news is: We have sold our house and the new owner wants to take possession very, very soon."
"At minimum we are going to see many current and former law enforcement officials called as witnesses during the March trial, but it seems all but impossible that the arrests are complete."
"But the baliff either didn't notice or didn't care that I was reading for two hours while we all sat, quiet and glum in the fluorescent bleakness of the courtroom"
"The new name of the blog is Pokey Sticks and Politics.
Ian came up with the name, but the web address isn’t going to change. Our other new news here at Pokey Sticks and Politics is that we have a new guest columnist. Jessamyn Weis has agreed to be a co-columnist or whatever you want to call it. Welcome aboard Jessamyn, we look forward to your first post."
"Maybe the CIA could look into using these ads as a new and effective form of torture - making detainees watch these on an endless loop for a few hours would likely cause anyone to crack, like Chinese water torture. "
"Just a quick note to let you know that The Asheville Music Scene website will have an information table set up at this weekends POPAsheville festival. We'll be at the Grey Eagle on Saturday and Sunday nights and would love for you to stop by and say hello. In addition to handing out information about our website, we will also be helping promote the upcoming Music Video Asheville event.
The Asheville Music Scene table will have a listening station set up where we will be encouraging visitors to listen to some sample tracks of many of our talented Asheville musicians. Those who stop by for a listen, will receive free Asheville Music Cards with images of local musicians. It'll be a great way to discover some new Asheville musicians you might not be familiar with yet.
[...]
The new website is finally up and we are getting a really good response. Those of you who have visited the site recently, are well aware that the site has a broad set of features and we're adding content on a daily basis. It's an ambitous undertaking and t here is still lots to be done on the site, but it's gratifying to receive such positive comments in response to what's up on the site thus far. I hope you'll visit the site often to watch the progress.
In a matter of weeks, we will begin a promotional/publicty effort to get the word out to a larger base of folks who enjoy the music of Asheville. I'm currently working on the promotional materials and Media Releases ; but I'm attaching a draft of the Asheville Music Scene Mission Statement to give you an idea of what our purpose and goals for the Asheville Music Scene website are.
And now a couple of eyewitness accounts of the Asheville Ingles Winter Hoarding Phenomenon:
"Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade.
Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.
Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice:
Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade."
randallt
"Occasional information on Politics, Science, Art & Carolina Panthers Football"
The Mills River Progressive
"A reality-based blog featuring views, news, and dialogue that the corporate media refuses to present. Operating from the Mountains of Western North Carolina, Mills River is a community in Henderson County, about 20 minutes from Asheville."
my life in cake
random thoughts about me, cake, making cake, other people making cake, cupcakes, asheville, child rearing, urban homesteading, and whatever else I (or you) feel like talking about.
Tiny Green House
"from a life in Suburbia to 3 years of Permaculture Sustainability in the Georgia woods, and now to an Urban setting, follow the adventures of me, Isabel, and my "Permaculture on the Cheap" farmer/partner, Bob as we try to have fun while creating a lifestyle with a light footprint in the city of Asheville, NC"
Christine Kane's Blog
"Be Creative. Be Conscious. Be Courageous."
eatbees blog
"Marcel Côté is the author of thousands of pages of unpublished treasures, some of which are collected at Radiant Days. He has been a pizza delivery driver, political activist, radio news reporter, student of philosophy, Wall Street executive secretary, photographer, vagabond in Paris, Visual Basic programmer and web designer."
Boston Dreams and Michelin Stars
"Welcome. Today's prix fixe menu has three courses: Mouth-watering food writing, mind-numbing running diaries, and, for dessert, the occasionally humorous essay.
Don't miss Scapegoat Theatre Collective's latest production, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, by Jose Rivera. This evocative script follows a woman who is forced into isolation by her husband while he's away fighting in Operation Desert Storm. Surreal things happen to her in her dreamy solitude, and their separateness is painfully revealed during his visits home. Come and be a part of this sexy, bold, thrilling, and artistically beautiful production. Showtimes are 7:30pm, Thursday-Saturday Jan. 10-12 and 17-19 at NC Stage Company, across from Zambra's on Walnut. Tickets are $15. You can reserve tickets by calling the NC Stage Box office at 350-9090, try online, or you can try your luck by coming early to buy tickets the nights of the show.
It should please us to announce the following...
Mount Dungeon presents: The Local Music Television Smorgasboard
January 17th, 9:30 PM. At Asheville Pizza, 675 merrimon ave. In the theater.
Being a collection of exquisite and swingin' tunes by some of your favoritelocal bands set to video. Or if you want to get all technical about it, a 'best of' show on the bigscreen.
Mount Dungeon is a music public access television show that airs everythursday at 11:00 PM on URTV channel 20 in Asheville.mountdungeon.commyspace.com/mountdungeon
"Please email snakeskinjacketproductions@gmail.com (with CUTTER CASTING in the memo line) with electronic resume and headshot for consideration. This project will be paid for actors. This is a non-union project. Actors will receive screen credit as well as digital copy of finished project within six months of completion of principal photography. Project destination will be on the film festival circuits of North America and Europe (2009) for distribution.
Modern day story of four carefree college girls travel through the Blue Ridge Mountains for a seemingly peaceful and innocent weekend adventure. When they happen upon the last remaining family of Col. Oswald Burke, a radical military guerrilla leader of the Confederate Army, their lives change forever. All the Burke family knows how to do is take care of their own kind, by any means necessary. This is a tale of struggle and survival for the girls, a drifter and others they meet along their way. Their fate lay in their own hands... and in Cutter's.
January and February Casting Sessions: Atlanta, GA, Knoxville, TN, Asheville, NC and Charlotte, NC. (Dates, times and locations TBD.)
Apply to: Kerran S Dunst, Snakeskin Jacket Productions, 1623 Old Fort Road, FAIRVIEW, NC 28730"
"Virtual Ambush is a whole new gaming experience. Located in West Asheville, North Carolina at 339 New Leicester Highway, Suite 110, Virtual Ambush is a gaming lounge featuring 13 Xbox 360s, 2 Xboxes, 2 PS3s, 3 PS2s, 2 Nintendo Wiis, 15 top of the line gaming PCs, and over 230 game titles to choose from! Featuring comfortable couches, high-speed T1 internet (including Wi-Fi) and 19 51" High-Definition TVs... we're what you call a gamer's paradise. We also have a pool table and several board games. Virtual Ambush is what is called a "gaming lounge" because, well... you can come in and game all you want, in a comfortable, social lounge enviroment. You pay for game time either by the hour, or with several of our other pricing options. Virtual Ambush could also be called a "LAN Center." LAN is short for "local area network," meaning that all of our gaming PCs and Xbox 360s are networked directly together, as well as to the internet. This allows you to not only play online against other gamers, but against anyone sitting at another system in Virtual Ambush."
"Parents
At Virtual Ambush Gaming Lounge, we believe that video games are the perfect medium to bring together gamers from all backgrounds in a exciting, safe, and fun enviroment.
We take very seriously that certain video games may not be appropriate for everyone. We require parental consent for minors to play games which are not specified appropriate for their age group by the ESRB. If desired, our computer software will only allow your child to play slated for their age bracket. If you wish to allow your child(ren) to play games outside of their age group, please and come with them inside on their first visit to Virtual Ambush, and fill out our parental consent form. This will kept on file, and will only need to be once.
We also pride ourselves in the fact that our establishment is run under the rules of "No fighting, No cussing, No drugs or tobacco, and No alcohol." We will make every effort to keep Virtual Ambush a family friendly environment.
Pricing
You can view our detailed pricing chart by clicking here."
