To market, to market to buy an indie film;
Home again, home again, jiggety-jim.
To market, to market, to buy a indie script;
Home again, home again, jiggety-jypt.

It’s the season for filmmakers to go to market. Get yourself to NYC September 19-23, 2010 for the IFP Filmmaker Conference, part of Independent Film Week. Sheila Nevins (President, HBO Documentary Films), Liz Rosenthal (Founder & Director, Power to the Pixel) and John Sloss (Founder, Cinetic) have been announced as the Independent Filmmaker Conference’s 2010 Keynotes. For Conference updates, schedule, and to purchase passes, go to www.filmmakerconference.com. IFP is a great organization that really helps out indie filmmakers. I can’t say how much I love them; they’re the fiscal sponsors of my documentary, which allows donors to generously support Finding Art in Dubai. Thanks heaps, and I hope to see you in NY!

Comic-Con San Diego is here again and geek culture has never been so political. The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka Kansas travelled all the way out west to protest the event with “God Hates Nerds” signs. Seriously, haven’t the nerds been picked on enough?

Upon arrival, however, the Church group was met by a collection of counter protestors. “All glory to the Hypnotoad!” “God hate sentries!” Even Bender showed up with a sign expressing his love for Flight of the Conchords:

For those wishing to sidestep the political fracas (or for those made hungry by shouting too loud), Chef Vader was on hand with some tasty treats. It looks like he’s dishing up some Steak de JarJar:

Teaser 1 Art Fair Montages:

Teaser 2 Animation & Censorship:
The feature length documentary Cultural Capital: Finding Art in Dubai examines the creative process in urban spaces and the socio-economic realities that challenge the sustainability of Dubai’s boom. The reality of a creative culture, like much of Dubai, is optimistic and still under construction.

He grew up in Dubai. But he’s not from Dubai. He left Dubai. Now, he’s back in Dubai. Lantian Xie’s new installation “I’ll Be Back Someday” opens this Wednesday at The Jam Jar. Xie’s work examines the continual experience of leaving, wandering, returning, and waiting. Wandering and hunger. Waiting and eating. At the end of our path waits a warm bowl of gumbo: a diasporic food dislocated from the bayou … and brought to the desert.

When mathematics is integral to an art project, it risks becoming derivative. But when nature speaks for itself, its quite radical. That’s why we love the prints of Nikki Graziano, which uncover found equations in bushes and rockpiles. The world, after all, is nothing but zeros and ones. And that’s why babies should grow accustomed to digital love as soon as they need a bib. Perhaps, they too will be photographers one day. They’ll snap images of graffiti murals … and trace the natural functions of wildstyle math beneath the words. But that’s another tangent…