A Scanner Darkly

I have to say, I think I'm one of many film buffs who admire Richard Linklater more than I actually enjoy his work. From Slacker & Dazed and Confused to Before Sunrise to School of Rock to the Bad News Bears remake, that's an interesting career to me. While I really enjoyed School and liked the faithful Bears, I'm excited to see his latest, a sort of live-action/animation hybrid called A Scanner Darkly.

Waking Life did absolutely nothing for me as a film. But of course, the animation style had real promise and was amazing to watch. I think I even muted the DVD and just watched it for a while.

Check out the trailer for Scanner HERE.

Then be sure to read the WIRED magazine article for the background HERE.

Podfading

This is a phenomenon of which I'm sadly a part and now it has a name. Podfading.
Check out this WIRED article: PODFADING TAKES ITS TOLL

As I've explained in this previous post, podcasting is great if you've got the time. Unfortunately I don't anymore.

Matthew Davis Townley

This is Matthew Davis Townley. You can see from the previous post the moment he was born on Valentine's Day. He's home now and doing well. He was 8lbs. 7.6 oz. at birth.

Here he is...

Mother and son are well. More soon.

Why My Wife Is Not An Olympian

"You know, I think if I won a gold medal, I'd wanna win a silver and a bronze too. You know, just so I could have all three, all different colors."

New Online Calendar

I've been waiting for Google to release a calendar that works well with gmail. I'm sure it'll happen at some point, but until then, I'm happy to tell you about 30 BOXES, a new online calendar that's very easy to use and allows sharing with friends & family. Best of all, it's free. I've set it up as a tab on FireFox, so whenever I launch it, I'm signed in and I can take a look at my calendar immediately.

I suggest you try out the sample calendar they've got HERE.
Then, sign up, HERE.

Google...Film Distributor

Before the Super Bowl, the "popular" selections on Google Video were largely homemade. Web-cam karaoke, an audio-enhanced Robert Tilton clip reel called "farting preacher", and matrix pong (see it) often placed in the top spots. Post-Super Bowl, it seems the split is currently about 50-50 between big-budget (Pizza Hut, Budweiser) / no-budget productions.

I imagine Google Video will eventually go the way of podcasting. More companies will realize they can freely advertise directly and easily to the public.

What will be really interesting though, is the young man or woman who creates a digital film (short or feature length) and decides Google Video is the ideal distributor. The day is coming when word of mouth will spread worldwide on a film that might cost a viewer $2 per download. If I'm told it's an amazing film, I'd gladly skip a night's rental at Blockbuster to spend a couple bucks to support a new distribution model. From there, the sky's the limit.

Track Jack

This is fun. If you're a fan of "24" and have been watching this season, you might enjoy checking out this Google Maps project featuring locations from the show.

JackTracker!

I'm back

Boy, it's been a while since I posted. I've been working a lot and trying to get the house ready for our new addition. He should be here anytime in the next couple of weeks, so we're excited and anxious for him to come.

A tip for you film lovers out there, go to Turner Classic Movies this month for their annual 31 Days of Oscar. I TiVo'd Shampoo the other day. Good film. I'd never seen it. I can't understand why Lee Grant won a best-supporting Oscar for it though. Sometimes it just depends on the other nominees in the category, I guess. Anyway, some of my favorites are coming up this month:
2001 (2/10 at 10pm) & Dr. Strangelove follows at 12:45am
The Graduate (2/11 at 8pm)
12 Angry Men (2/13 at 11:45pm)
Coal Miner's Daughter (2/21 at 10:15pm)

and one that I'm anxious to see for the first time,
The Conversation (2/28 at 8pm)

The Ricky Gervais Show podcast & the end of The Shaun Townley Podcast

Ricky Gervais is, in my opinion, one of the most naturally funny people on the planet. Now he's got a podcast. And it's a proper podcast too, not some short advertisement for something else. It's him, Stephen Merchant (co-creator of 'The Office') and Karl Pilkington. Each podcast is around a half hour. There have been 5 so far, and I am anxiously awaiting the next one. I understand there will be twelve all told. Be sure to check it out at iTunes or just go to the podcast page at Guardian Unlimited. And of course, for all things Ricky, check out rickygervais.com.

Oh yeah, by the way, you may have noticed that I've changed the name of this site to "The Shaun Townley Blog" from "The Shaun Townley Podcast". That's cuz I haven't done a podcast in a really long time and I'm tired of paying $5 per month for a podcast that I'm not doing. So, sorry to those of you who enjoyed it and were awaiting more. There were over 1600 downloads of the podcast during its run, so I can't feel too bad about that. It was a fun experiment and it's been cool to see how podcasting has evolved since I began nearly a year ago. If you're looking for a particular podcast, email me and I can send you the mp3 no problem. Fear not, the free, fun & easy blog will continue. And if you desperately need to hear my voice, skype me.

THE FEED

Do you have a Gmail account and a personalized Google home page? What about a My Yahoo! page? If you'd like the last few posts of this blog to pop up with your other content when you check your google home page or MyYahoo! page, you can use my feed to make this happen. It's pretty easy.

On Google, just sign into the personalized home page and click "ADD CONTENT".
In "Create A Section", just enter this URL: http://stownley.blogspot.com/atom.xml

In MyYahoo!, again, just click "ADD CONTENT", then, "ADD RSS BY URL". Enter the following URL to add the feed: http://stownley.blogspot.com/atom.xml

It's really pretty simple. That way you can check the titles, then click on the posts that sound interesting to you.

10 bucks for a bunch of Bob

Happy 2006 folks, have I got a deal for YOU?!
You may have one or more of these three great records, but if you don't, you can't pass up the chance to get them all for $10!

iTunes is selling three classic Bob Dylan albums Blonde on Blonde, Blood on The Tracks, and Time Out of Mind, together for $9.99!!

Click HERE

KONG

I saw Kong later than most, I suppose, nearly two weeks after the initial opening. Box office wasn't what the studio hoped for, as I understand it. But I think it has a chance to hold on to the top spot for another week or two at least because the word of mouth on the film has to be this: incredible. Long? Sure. Go to the nicest theater in your area, the one with the most comfortable seats & the best sound.

Peter Jackson has again proven that he's today's undisputed master at using special effects to astound us, the frighten us, and to move us. Kong is a character, in fact, a misunderstood hero, caught without expression in a world where communication is king.

Some thoughts about podcasting

Well, I've done it. I've removed the last "independent" podcast from my iTunes subscription list. I was hanging on to The Dawn and Drew Show but I hadn't listened to an episode in a long time and I was getting tired of watching my PC work to find new episodes of a show that I knew I wouldn't listen to. Now I have subscriptions to KCRW's The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell, the New West Records podcast, ABC's LOST podcast, and the long-delayed Shaun Townley Podcast. Oh, and the Ricky Gervais podcast which I haven't been able to listen to on my iPod for some reason. It shows up, but skips to the next track. Weird.

Anyway, podcasting started out as a way for anyone to put their stuff out there to find a small but dedicated audience and I'm sure it will continue in that way for the foreseable future. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you see it, the cream has risen to the top. I think I've finally given in to the truth, that despite the fact that Dawn & Drew are pretty funny, I'd rather listen to Elvis Mitchell interview Peter Guralnick about the new Sam Cooke bio. That's just me. And it could be a phase, I don't know.

That's not to say that I think all independent podcasters should hang it up. There's lots of great niche stuff out there that you can't find anywhere else, the long tail, & all that. I hope people stay subscribed to my little podcast, because I hope to do some more stuff in the future, but unless this is your job, it's really hard to devote the time & energy necessary to make it great. It's been a fun experiement and I love the fact that it's only $5 a month for me to continue it. We'll see where it goes.

SNL / NYT

Okay, remember two posts ago, when I mentioned that the Lazy Sunday video was everywhere on the web? Well, the New York Times picked up on that too. This is actually a pretty good article.

READ IT HERE

"Feb. 14" for Dec. 25

A Christmas gift from Drive-By Truckers! They're releasing a completely free, no strings attached song from their upcoming record, A Blessing And A Curse. Go to www.blessingandacurse.com to download "Feb. 14" in a number of formats. The email I got from Jenn, their webmaster, said "No one will be chasing after ya for trading it, so share freely - Limewire, Gnutella, and MP3 blogs should feel free to pass this around." So spread the love & let everyone know that the new record's out in April. If you love what you hear, go to http://drivebytruckers.com for more on the band.

Don't forget, DBT will be playing a couple of shows at the 40 Watt in Athens on Jan. 20th & 21st, so all of you in the area, check it out.

Merry Christmas!

Crazy Delicious

Okay, it's everywhere now. If you didn't see the "Lazy Sunday" music video on SNL last weekend, you've probably seen it online by now. YouTube streams it HERE. iTunes Music Store has released it as a FREE download for the iPod. The bit's popularity on the web makes sense though. Andy Samberg, new addition to the SNL cast, came from Lonely Island, a web comedy troupe. In fact, I think the other two fellas from Lonely Island were involved in the production of "Lazy" behind the camera. All their stuff's available under a Creative Commons license which is a legal agreement between content producer and consumer, less restrictive than your standard, old-fashioned copyright. My blog & podcast are produced under a similar license. Read more about Creative Commons HERE.

Some Thoughts on Mobile Access to Content

I've been thinking about the progress we've made in mobile technology over the last few years. These days music and video content are often available freely online as "streaming" media, essentially allowing you to sample a song but not to "own" it, that is, not to have complete control over when and how you listen to it.

Record companies say you're allowed to listen to this song on your PC but you can't burn it to a disc and listen to it in your car and you're not able to download it for free and listen to it on your ipod whenever you want to unless you buy the CD or download the track for a buck at iTunes.

BUT...what happens when the promise of mobile technology is fulfilled? Content will be available for consumers to stream from their internet-ready devices, and in some cases it already is. Consider a blanket broadband connection covering a city. Consider a wireless device that can access streaming content in the car, on the street...anywhere. The line between access to streaming media and essential ownership of that media is blurred. Puts the content folks in quite a pickle. Why would I buy a copy of a song when it's constantly available for streaming?

XBOX 360 LINE AT BEST BUY

I was at the Best Buy on Route 10 in East Hanover, New Jersey tonight around 8pm and snapped this with my phone's camera. There was a sign on the door saying they'll have 45 of the deluxe 360s and 2 of the core systems at 8am Sunday morning. First come, first serve. As I type this it's 28 degrees outside in East Hanover. These folks really want their XBOX.

"Heard 'Em Say"

Did you like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"?
What about "Gold Digger" & "Jesus Walks"? What about Maroon Five? Do you like them?
And Macy's? Who doesn't like Macy's? They usually have great sales, right?

Well, if you said yes to all of these questions, you might enjoy the latest Kanye West video directed by video maverick Michel Gondry.

CLICK HERE to find out.