Feb 17: Us vs. them: a DIY media extravaganza (Seattle)

17 Feb 2008 - 7:00pm
Description:

D.I.Y. MEDIA!!
Fear of a Handmade Planet

They’re smaller, smarter, and feistier, and they number in the millions, but can D.I.Y. zines, blogs, and viral videos overthrow the corporate media dinosaurs?

Find out from Anne Elizabeth Moore and Franklin López as they brazenly celebrate independent media in Seattle and world-wide. Anne is the Chicago-based author of Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity and has been self-publishing her own work since she was 15.

Vancouver’s subMedia genius and producer of the hilarious and foul-mouthed news vlog It’s the End of the World As We Know It and I Feel Fine, Frank hosts an eclectic evening of spoof ads, book excerpts, video shorts, and inquiry into the rebellious forces driving the D.I.Y. movement.

Join Anne and Frank as they explore the bizarro world of corporate marketing, where revolution is a commodity, the punk scene is a target demographic, and graffiti is a brand. What happens to cultural resistance when it becomes just another marketing platform?

"People need independent media because it is vital to democracy," explains Anne. "People do it for inherently political reasons, or for no reason at all, but in an intellectually free nation, they must be secured the right to do it."

Non-commercial media is essential for freedom, Anne argues. "In the US, hyper-commercialism has created a system of economic censorship," she says. "Dissenting voices are being pushed off the shelves of bookstores, out of the pages of newspapers, off the radio dials. These vital elements of healthy democracy have been effectively silenced."

Anne recognizes the frustration of those who reject corporate media as disconnected from the reality they see everyday. "As far as the kids who view the media critically . . . you're not alone!" she asserts. "But as long as you see it as a two-way street, you should be OK."

*****
In the past seven years, Frank López’s politically-charged films have racked up millions of views online. His work has been featured and reviewed in the New York Times, Wired, BET, and more. Recently drafted as a producer for Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now!" Frank is currently producing a film inspired by Derrick's Jensen's bestseller Endgame. View Frank's work at www.submedia.tv

Anne Elizabeth Moore's Unmarketable was called "sharp and valuable muckraking" by Time Out New York, and "a work of honesty and, yes, integrity" by Kirkus. Mother Jones described it as "conversational, intellectually curious, and charmingly ragged, Unmarketable is an anti-corporate manifesto with a difference: It exudes raw coolness," and the LA Times said it offers "something distinctly more radical than merely protesting against consumerism: a total rejection of the competitive ethos that drives capitalist culture." This winter, Anne taught self-publishing to a group of 32 women university students in Cambodia, where freedom of expression is frequently met with government-backed police violence. More about Unmarketable and her work in Cambodia can be found at www.anneelizabethmoore.com.

Anne and Frank welcome fellow media critics, D.I.Y. enthusiasts, and the general public Sunday February 17th at the Rendezvous JewelBox Theatre in Seattle (2322 Second Ave.) starting at 7:00 pm. Tickets are only $5, and books will be available courtesy the University Bookstore.

Location:
Rendezvous Jewelbox Theatre, 2322 Second Ave.Seattle
The media's job is to interest the public in the public interest. -John Dewey