Dispatch from NFFTY: This past weekend brought the 2014 edition of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, and to honor the spirit of the event, we sent a high-schooler to report back. "There's always awesome talent on display at NFFTYâfor example, the beautifully filmed and told German short Luftschloss, which had me screaming on the edge of my seat and may have been the most stressful thing I have ever watched," reports our underage mole. "But secondhand embarrassment, poorly lit scenes, and teens awkwardly writing beyond their years are also part of the festivalâs most endearing qualities. Many of the filmmakers NFFTY introduces will soon be forgotten, but some will not."
Mark Chamberlin Memorial Bike Rack: Two years ago, a well-known local actor named Mark Chamberlin was found on the ground next to his bicycle and died a few days later. (Whether he had had an accident or some other event was not known.) Local theater folks, led by actor and director Ian Bell, raised funds for a memorial bike rackâfor the theater artists who regularly cycle to workâwhich was installed at Taproot Theater last week.
An Un-boil-down-able Art Magazine: Last week, the ambitious Greenwood gallery Bherd (âbe heardâ) released the first edition of WEAVE, an art magazine the gallery owners plan to put out twice a year in the name of promoting local âurban and contemporaryâ artists. (Urban and contemporary can mean many, many things. We cannot boil that down for you.) Seattle artists Kate Protage and Robert Hardgrave have especially beautiful spreads in the first edition, which is ready to be digitally eyeballed free of charge. The WEAVE festival, where these artists are featured in galleries across the city, often making art as you watch, happens in September.
No Running! The annual art parade NEPO 5K Donât Runâso named because, really, they donât have permits, so please donât runâis accepting project proposals from artists now. Be fast: The application deadline is this Wednesday, April 30, and the event happens on Saturday, September 6. Donât know what NEPO 5k Donât Run is? Please enjoy pictures from all three years of the event thus far.
Hooray for Jerkin' It! Winners & Losers, the competitive performance piece by Marcus Youssef and James Long performed last weekend at On the Boards, was full of surprising admissions that drew surprising responses. Case in point: During Friday's show, writer-performer Marcus Youssef admitted to occasionally masturbating without the aid of technology, a confession that earned a spontaneous round of applause from the audience.
Amazon Isn't Interested In Your Money, iPad Users: Over the weekend, Amazon pulled the ability to buy comics from the digital storefront of their Comixology iOS apps. A number of comics fans and professionals are mad about this. John Gruber at Daring Fireball is mad, too.
"Despite Dank Reviews, The Other Woman Tops Box Office": Have you read Danielle Henderson's ode to this steaming pile of poo? YOU MUST. As Middle of Nowhere filmmaker Ava DuVernay writes:
