Dear Friends, Hope your summer has had lazy and luscious moments. Wish my summer looked more like this photo above;) In this issue: films (a smokin' indie film, The Wackness), books (Camp Camp & Tom Corwin's Mr. Fooster), technology (Jott.com), and other cultural fixes that have emerged on the horizon. We've just started production on our new feature--very excited. More soon. Tickets just went on sale for a "documentary performance" that I'm presenting at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts October 23-25. You can read about it in the nytimes below and can buy tickets here. Ken, Odessa and I have had a busy summer (beach, river, tonsils out, digging in the garden and attempts at camping). Here's what I've been working on: * Hosted a show for the BBC called "Real Cities" -will air Aug 30th * Co-hosting a conference on the future of cinema & the internet on Oct 17-18 * Video highlights from our art installation "Smashing" * Speaking at The Idea Festival in September 26th. Those of you in the mood for a fantastic intellectual feast, definitely come join us. All details and links in the "update" section below, as well as many other books, films, websites, and happenings to explore. If you would like to share this with a friend, you can send them here: www.tiffanyshlain.com/Blog.html Thank you all for making this world so interesting. Warm regards, Tiffany www.tiffanyshlain.com

Table of Contents (Full Details Below) UPDATES - Tickets on sale now for my shows at YBCA, Oct 23-25. - BBC's "Real Cities" airs Aug 30 - The Conversation, Oct 17 & 18 - Watch Video Highlights from our art installation: "Smashing" - Watch Trailer we made for The SF Jewish Film Festival - Idea Festival 2008: Sept 25-27 EVENTS - (Bay Area) Ken's artist talk at The Headland Center for the Arts, This Sunday, August 17 - (Bay Area and LA) DIY Days In SF, This Sunday, August 17 - (Bay Area) One Economy's 8th Annual Gala, September 18 - (Bay Area) Web 2.0 Summit, November 7-9 FILMS - Under Our Skin by Andy Abrahams Wilson - The Wackness by Jonathan Levine - 1000 Journals by Andrea Kreuzhage - From Here to Awesome Film Festival, a discovery and distribution festival - Telluride Film Festival, Labor Day Weekend WEBSITES - www.jott.com, transcribes your voicemails into email. - www.wonderlandstream.com, a site for great films online - www.snapbubbles.com for stressful moments BOOKS - www.mrfooster.com by Tom Corwin - Camp Camp by Roger Bennett and Jules Shell - Rythm Science, by DJ Spooky - The First30Days- Your Guide to Any Change, by Ariane de Bonvoison - Nursery Style, by Serena Dugan & Lily Kanter - America At Home by Rick Smolen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATES

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, October 23-25 I will be experimenting with a documentary lecture performance at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts during Bay Area Now, a triennial exhibition of local artists. It will be an intimate experience for three nights. We think this is going to sell-out so if you are interested, we would suggest getting your tickets now. Info below. It's a new live “performance documentary” incorporating film, lecture and visual thought mapping software, with audience participation. I'll explore topics from the new film ---Reproduction on a broad scale -- of people, ideas, food, bacteria, rights, culture, organisms, money, information, and seeds -- and about how these interlinking networks inherently affect one other. October 23-25 Tickets on sale now. Visit YBCA site for more info Read more in The NYTimes

BBC's "Real Cities" airs Aug 30th BBC asked me to host a show on the series Real Cities. Had a good time shooting it this summer. It will air on Aug 30th. To see the other shows in this series go to: www.therealcities.com

The Conversation, October 17th & 18th Our hunch is that we're at an important moment in the history of technology and visual storytelling — a broad term that encompasses filmmaking, TV, online video, and narrative-driven games. New software is making incredible things possible in visual effects and animation, and also democratizing those fields. Web sites offer to help finance film projects, or share ad revenue with video-makers. Marketing and release strategies are shifting by the minute. High-end high-def cameras are plummeting in price. The connection with the audience is changing. Established ways of doing things just don't seem to be working anymore, and the once-powerful power brokers seem to be losing steam. The Conversation is a grass-roots gathering, developed by a group of filmmakers, investors, entrepreneurs, journalists, and consultants interested in the new creative and business opportunities — and new ways of connecting with audiences — that new technologies are presenting. Running into each other at film festivals and conferences, we began hatching this idea ... The Conversation delves into all these issues and more. Spearheaded by Scott Kirsner. Co-hosted by Scott, Lance Weiler, Ken and myself. UC Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive Co-Sponsored by The Berkeley Center for New Media Oct 17-18, 2008 You can Register Today.* www.theconversationspot.com

Smashing Art Installation You can watch highlights from the premier of the art installation, "Smashing," that Ken and I exhibited at the opening night (DAWN) of the new Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Smashing is an interactive installation with video and sound. A new exhibition of the piece is in the works..will keep you posted. Check it out on YouTube.

SF Jewish Film Festival Trailer The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival started July 24, and ran until August 11. It was a fantastic festival with lots of great films and events. We were asked to make the trailer for the festival and had a blast doing it. If you liked The Tribe, you will enjoy watching the trailer online. The trailer The festival website

Idea Festival -- Tickets On Sale Now! Idea Festival 2008 will be held in Louisville, KY, Sept 25-27 The IdeaFestival is a unique non-linear program designed to stretch people's minds and promote breakthrough thinking by showcasing, discussing and "connecting" important ideas in science, the arts, design, business, film, technology, education, etc. Because the answers are everywhere, IF promotes out-of-the-box thinking and cross-fertilization of knowledge as a means toward the development of innovative ideas, products and creative endeavors. I've been asked to speak on September 26, about freedom with Professor of Philosophy Sanford Goldberg, Professor of Government Lori Hartmann-Mahmud, and Professor of Physics Suketu Bhavsar. Should be a great mental whirlwind. www.idefestival.com Buy Tickets

EVENTS

Ken gives an artist talk at the Headlands Center for the Arts, August 17, 2008 Action at a Distance: Relocating Reality Ken is doing an artist-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts this summer. This Sunday, he will participate in an Artist Lecture and Discussion: 4-6pm, Sunday 17 August Artists Speaking: Ken Goldberg, Renetta Sitoy, Luther Thie, Tanya Zimbardo Moderated by Gary Sangster Roger Bacon's theory of perception, based on the transmission of likeness through an intervening medium, was surplanted in the 14th century by Occam's arguably simpler model of action at a distance. Today, artists working with new media and network technologies are experimenting with new modes of action at a distance and challenging assumptions about the reliability of remote perception. Artists Ken Goldberg, Renetta Sitoy, and Luther Thie present recent work, and perspectives by Tanya Zimbardo, SFMOMA Asst. Curator of Media Arts, and Headlands Director Gary Sangster will initiate a dialogue with the audience about mediated experiences, artistic interventions, and other relocations of reality. Artist Lecture and Discussion, $10 Dinner following at 6pm, $20. Please phone for reservations: 415-331-2787, x31 www.headlands.org

(Bay Area and LA) DIY Indie Film Days: in LA July 26, 2008; in SF August 17, 2008 DIY DAYS Workshops, Panels, Case Studies, and Discussions on do-it-yourself indie film. These 2 days, one in LA and one in SF, will explore how indie filmmakers can sustain themselves with new forms of distribution, without studio support. Presented by From Here to Awesome, Current TV, and OurStage, DIY DAYS aims to answer these questions with a day of panels, roundtable discussions, and workshops: A look at how to fund, create, and distribute to an audience. EVENT ONE FROM HERE TO AWESOME - "You Are the Festival Programmer" August 15th @ 8pm - The Mezzanie and Mint Plaza (444 Jessie St.) Audience members will use their mobile phones to program a night of FREE festival screenings. It's theatrical on-demand and you're in control of what screens. Admission is FREE To secure your free ticket visit http://www.cinegogo.com/fhta EVENT TWO DIY DAYS - SF "fund, create, distribute, sustain" August 17th @ 10:30am to 7:30pm 111 Minna Gallery A FREE day of panels, workshops, and roundtables about how to fund, create, distribute and sustain as a filmmaker in this changing digital landscape. For more info visit http://diydays.com I'm participating in this with Lance Weller at the helm. Looking forward to it. Those of you in film in the Bay Area come on down. In LA on Saturday, July 26th In SF on Sunday, August 17th at 111 Minna www.fromheretoawesome.com/blog/diy-days/

One Economy's 4th Annual Gala, September 18 Proceeds from the event will support One Economy’s mission to maximize the potential of technology to help low income people improve their lives and enter the economic mainstream. One Economy Corporation is a global nonprofit that leverages the power of technology and information to connect low-income people around the world to the economic mainstream. One Economy brings broadband into the homes of low-income people, produces public-purpose media, and trains and employs youth to enhance communities' technology capacity. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit the oe8 website at www.one-economy.com/oe8/. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact Anne Emig at (415) 734-9104 or aemig@one-economy.com.

(Bay Area) Web 2.0 Summit, November 5-7 Web 2.0 is always a great summit. Here is info from their site: "The Opportunity of Limits: Sustaining, Applying and Expanding the Web's Lessons The first four years of the Web 2.0 Summit focused on the industry's challenges and opportunities, highlighting in particular the business models and leaders driving the Internet economy. But this year, the conversation is no longer just about the Web. Now is the time to ask how the Web—its technologies, its values, and its culture—might be tapped to address the world's most pressing limits, and most opportunities. " The world is fraught with problems that engineers might charitably classify as NP hard—from roiling financial markets to global warming, failing healthcare systems to intractable religious wars. In short, it seems as if many of our most complex systems are reaching their limits. And the Web might teach us new ways to address these limits. From harnessing collective intelligence to a bias toward open systems, the Web's greatest inventions are, at their core, social movements. This year's program will include leaders in the fields of healthcare, genetics, finance, global business, and yes, even politics. More information on the Web2.0 Summit

FILMS

Under Our Skin by Andy Abrahams Wilson A dear friend of mine has had this illness for some time, and she strongly believes this film illuminates the issue. Here is the info from their website: "Under Our Skin is a dramatic tale of microbes, medicine and money. It investigates the untold story of Lyme disease, an emerging epidemic larger than AIDS. Each year thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, told that their symptoms are "all in their head." Following the stories of patients and physicians as they battle for their lives and livelihoods, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of our health care system and its ability to cope with a silent terror under our skin." www.openeyepictures.com/underourskin/

The Wackness by Jonathan Levine I saw this film and it definitely takes you right back to the 90s. Great acting, script, soundtrack, and art direction. From their site: "It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana. The newly-inaugurated mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, is only beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against crimes like noisy portable radio, graffiti and public drunkenness. The Wackness centers upon a troubled high school student named Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck)a teenage pot dealer who forms a friendship with Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Ben Kingsley), a psychiatrist and kindred lost soul. When the doctor proposes Luke trade him weed for therapy sessions, the two begin to explore both New York City and their own depression. Propelled by an exuberant hip hop score, The Wackness captures the spell of 1994--a time of pagers, not cell phones; a time when Tupac and Biggie were alive but Kurt Cobain had just died. Funny and moving, The Wackness is an offbeat tale of two lost souls stumbling towards maturity."

1000 Journals by Andrea Kreuzhage 1000 Journals is a film about people whose lives are touched by 1000 traveling journals. These blank journals were released into the world in the summer of 2000, by Someguy, a San Francisco based artist. Some people found a journal, or got it from a friend or stranger. Some signed up on the web and received it in the mail. Some wrote in them, others doodled, pasted in photographs, or added artworks. Some kept them. Some passed them on. There are no rules, and no one really monitors these journals and their movements. And yet, they are connecting tens of thousands of people worldwide, provoking and inspiring them. www.1000journalsfilm.com

From Here To Awesome Film Festival A cutting-edge festival with the goal of creating a direct connection between filmmaker and audience. NO submission fees, multiple revenue opportunities, and filmmakers retain all their rights and choose how to price their work. And the programming of the festival lies directly in the hands of the audience. Go to the site to be part of the festival, and help push this film revolution around the world. www.fromheretoawesome.com/blog/

Telluride Film Festival, August 29-September 1 Tom Luddy is the man behind this great festival. It's unique in that it's one of the most difficult to get to, it doesn’t announce its program in advance, it charges the press for a pass and it has as its guests some of the best filmmakers in the world. www.telluridefilmfestival.com

WEBSITES

www.jott.com My days of calling myself to remind myself to do things on voicemail are over. This site has changed the way I remind myself to do this...which has kind of changed my life;) You leave a message and it converts it into email, text message, to do items, or calendar appointments. www.jott.com

www.wonderlandstream.com This is a fantastic new film site to check out. Their description: "Wonderland is a guide to the best movies on the web wherever they are hosted. Wonderland doesn’t host movies but simply provides the link to where they can be found. The site is unique, singling out movies only after they’ve been reviewed and accepted by the filmmaker membership. Founding members include Robert Greenwald, Arin Crumley, Susan Buice, MDot Strange & Ze Frank. The highest rated movies, as voted for by the membership, will be screened at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris on November 18th and the winners will be awarded the “Alice” as a supreme accolade to honor the best of the best in the online movie world." www.wonderlandstream.com/

www.snapbubbles.com This really helps me on a stressful day ;) Though snapping cyber bubbles is not quite as satisfying as snapping the bubble wrap out of a package, it's pretty good. www.snapbubbles.com

BOOKS

www.mrfooster.com, a visual novel online This book is a brilliant, whimsical journey by a dear friend Tom Corwin. From the site: "Mr. Fooster seems like your average fellow, albeit one who travels with an old bottle of bubble soap. One Tuesday morning, however, he takes us into a rich and vivid world unlike any we've seen before. While his boundless curiosity leads him to reflect on questions such as How come we never see baby pigeons? And Who figured out how to eat artichokes? Mr. Fooster shows us that pondering the little things can be a reward unto itself." www.mrfooster.com/

Camp Camp by Roger Bennett and Jules Shell This book had me in stitches. Brought the pleasures and the horrors of camp right back atcha. From their site... "CAMP CAMP: WHERE FANTASY ISLAND MEETS LORD OF THE FLIES is the follow-up to BAR MITZVAH DISCO, picking up where that book left off, to head back to the one place on earth where appropriated Native American terminology, competitive sports, social hierarchy, and libido-soaked nights lived in wholesome harmony. The book, the ultimate summer read, is a love letter to summer camp and history of our generation, a chance to relive every Champion sweatshirt-wearing, accidental bed-wetting, sky-hook-wedgie-receiving, tie-dye-making golden moment via hundreds of photographs and stories straight from the source, including tall tales from AJ Jacobs, Rachel Sklar, Paul Feig, David Wain, and Sloane Crosley." www.campcampbook.blogspot.com

Rythm Science, by DJ Spooky Paul Miller's non-linear thinking always takes you to unusual and unexpected places. From the website: "Also known as Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid, Miller delivers a manifesto for rhythm science--the creation of art from the flow of patterns in sound and culture, "the changing same." Taking the Dj's mix as template, he describes how the artist, navigating the innumerable ways to arrange the mix of cultural ideas and objects that bombard us, uses technology and art to create something new and expressive and endlessly variable. Technology provides the method and model; information on the web, like the elements of a mix, doesn't stay in one place. And technology is the medium, bridging the artist's consciousness and the outside world." http://www.rhythmscience.com/

The First 30 Days -- Your Guide To Any Change by Ariane De Bonvoisin We could all use this...."The First 30 Days reveals how the beginning of any change is a pivotal time that can either leave us stressed and stuck or lead us forward in our lives with clarity and hope. Change coach Ariane de Bonvoisin provides the tools to make each change a new beginning, whether it is a change you want to make or one brought on by a situation out of your control. Ariane introduces nine principles that will help you develop an optimistic mind-set toward change, an attitude that encourages you to see that life is on your side and that good can come from even the most difficult circumstance. With real-life stories, practical exercises, and inspiring action points, The First 30 Days teaches the skills you need to face any change--skills that will help you today and for the rest of your life." Amazon link

Nursery Style by Serena Dugan and Lily Kanter Love Serena and Lily's aesthetic. Beautiful things for babes. From the website: "Nursery Style does a great job of giving us permission to break the rules. It's an absolutely beautiful book-I only wish it had been written just a few years earlier!" - from foreword by Kate Spade "Nursery Style is an inspiring guide to finding your personal style and creating a one-of-a-kind nursery. Whether you seek a traditional, modern, vintage or eclectic look, each chapter shows you how to implement your theme with color, fabrics, furniture and accessories. We've also included dozens of ideas for storage, comfort and safety, making this the ultimate start-to-finish guide to decorating baby's room. A great gift for new moms." Amazon link

America At Home: A Closeup Look at How We Live by Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt Rick Smolen's books are always great. From their website "AMERICA AT HOME is an extraordinary book of fascinating photographs from 100 of the nation's leading photojournalists plus thousands of amateurs, and features more than 250 photos capturing the emotions of home: the distinctive rituals, the intimate moments, and all the ways in which we work, play, and interact with friends and family members (and pets!) as we transform our dwellings into the most important place in the world: HOME." You can even customize the cover with your own photos: www.myamericaathome.com/customcover/