Just a quick note to mention the upcoming Women and Silent Screen VI conference coming up next week in Italy. I am very excited that I will be able to attend this year as this is truly my favorite academic event. There are wonderful presentations, great scholarship, amazing screenings featuring beautiful prints of rare films, and collegial, lively participants. Here’s a link to the conference site and the conference program

I will be presenting on Mabel Normand and focusing on the discourse in the latter part of her career, the obituaries discussing Norman’s death, and situating the discussion within the context of the “New Woman” in the 1920s. My paper is part of a panel on Hollywood’s creation and critique of the New Woman and includes also: Hilary Anne Hallett (Columbia University) “Re-reading Hollywood’s First Sexual Scandal: Virginia Rappe, New Western Women, and the Bohemian Movie Colony”; Shelley Stamp (University of California, Santa Cruz) “Exit Flapper, or Lois Weber’s Critique of Jazz Age Hollywood”; and Anne Morey (Texas A&M University) “School of Scandal: Alice Duer Miller, Scandal, and the New Woman.” I know I will learn a lot from this group, especially with Jennifer Bean (University of Washington) leading the discussion as panel Chair.

I will try to post or tweet as time permits, although it is usually an action packed time.

A note from Rob Farr, “Oh, Oh! Guess what! The Library of Congress Motion Picture Reading Room has a new microfilm reader that will let you scan images to your thumb drive. Yes, you still have to scroll the pages slowly to find what you’re looking for, but the pdfs are clean and hi-rez (about 400-500 kb). Just think, you walk in with nothing but a thumb drive and … walk out with hundreds of pages on that drive. Even if you just think something might be interesting, hit “scan” and read it a home. Oh, Oh! I’m geekin’ out!”

A couple of cross postings here on the recent Brain/Boob quake “face-off” that just went spinning through the social media orbit this past Monday, April 26. First, Lina Srivastava, my colleague from transmedia activism sets the stage for us and the following blog entry are post “quake” thoughts from the Brainquake organizer, the always amazing and inspiring Negar Mottahedeh.

Strategy for Social Change Initiatives: Shirts and Boobs

Crossing the Wild River: R.I.P. Robin Wood (1931-2009)

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Wayne State University Press – Reclaiming the Archive: Feminism and Film History – Edited by Vicki Callahan

From our friends at The Workbook Project a wonderful resource for all things media in digital age, comes the announcement of DIY DAYS in Philadephia, August 1, 2009. I will be attending the event and very excited to see the line-up of speakers engaging with issues around new forms of creativity, distribution, funding, technology, across an array of areas (film, music, gaming, design).

As part of DIY Days, Lina Srivastava and I will co-presenting a workshop at the conference on “transmedia activism” — using cross-platform strategies for social change.

For more info on the conference see below. Hope to see you there!

DIY DAYS COMES TO PHILADELPHIA ON AUGUST 1ST
FREE CONFERENCE FOR THOSE WHO CREATE
WITH A DAY OF SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS & NETWORKING

(Philadelphia, PA – 07/13/09) The WorkBook Project and PIFVA present DIY DAYS Philadelphia on Saturday, August 1st at UArts on the 17th floor of the Terra Building. DIY DAYS is a FREE day of talks and networking centered on how to fund, create, distribute and sustain from your creative work. After a successful first year that included stops in LA, San Francisco, Boston, NYC and London, DIY DAYS returns with a series of day long conferences for creatives that enable the sharing of work and ideas while providing an important networking outlet with industry innovators.

Many of those working in film, music, design, gaming and software development wonder how to sustain themselves in challenging economic times. How does one monetize their creative work and get the word out? DIY DAYS aims to answer these questions with a day of speakers, panels, case studies, roundtable discussions and workshops presented by an impressive list of innovative thinkers and doers.

Acclaimed author and filmmaker, Douglas Rushkoff (Life Inc., Get back in the box: innovation from the inside out) will open the conference with a keynote on storytelling. Other speakers include Scott Kirsner (Friends, Fans and Followers), Dan Goldman (Shooting War), Lance Weiler (Head Trauma, The Last Broadcast). Michael Monello (co-founder of Campfire Media & Blair Witch Project producer), Brian Clark (GMD Studios) Esther B. Robinson (ArtHome), Ana Domb (MIT) Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters), Scott Macaulay (Producer Gumo, Raising Victor Vargas, editor Filmmaker Mag), Don Argott (Rock School), Eugene Martin (Diary of a City Priest), Alex Johnson (WBP Labs), Anita Ondine (STM) Brian McTear (record producer Miner Street Studios), Geoff DiMasi (founder of P’unk Avenue),and many more.

Lance Weiler, a resident of the greater Philadelphia area and founder of the WorkBook Project and DIY DAYS explains the genesis for the project. “DIY DAYS is an attempt to pull back the curtain on a once closed industry – to share the process of what it takes to make work and sustain from one’s creative efforts. Philadelphia has so many talented people working in different areas, and our hope is that DIY DAYS can help to bring some of them together and, maybe in the process, spark some new collaborations.”

The conference runs from 8:30am to 6:30pm on Saturday, August 1st and will be followed directly by an after party/ mixer to be held at the Brandywine Workshop located at 730 S. Broad Street.

Registration is now open http://diydaysphilly.eventbrite.com but space is limited.

For more information and a full program visit http://www.diydays.com. For more on the WorkBook Project visit http://workbookproject.com.

Lance Weller is available for interviews.

Press Contact:

Julia Pontecorvo, Conference Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
201-693-3210

The National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, NAMAC, will be holding their conference August 26-29, 2009 in Boston. The organization holds these events every other year and they are not to be missed bringing together a diverse array of media makers, activists, scholars, and policy makers. I attended the 2007 conference in Austin and really had my eyes opened about the changing media landscape as well as met amazing people. You should check out NAMAC’s website as the conference program is still unfolding. The NAMAC site is a great resource for all those interested in media arts and policy.

Just wanted to let everyone know about the interview with Joan Myers in our podcast area of the feminism 3.0 site. I think folks will find Joan’s commentary on the Fatty Arbuckle/Virginia Rappe scandal quite lively. Joan is promising another blog post very soon on her work. We had considerable interest and so much great feedback on her first post that I asked her to share more of her research with us, which she kindly has agreed to do.

Hi everyone:

Just wanted to let everyone know about the documentary in the works from Janeann Dill (our kindred spirit in praxis) of The Institute for Interdisciplinary Art and Creative Intelligence. The documentary, currently under production, is part of a much larger project exploring the work of the experimental artist, Jules Engel. The Jules Engel Project will include a film, book, and website, and I would encourage everyone to take a look at the Institute’s site for more info on this very cool project. Below is a clip from her documentary — Enjoy!