In an interview with GreenCine, screenwriter and associate editor of The Stranger, Charles Mudede, describes the role the Internet played in bringing together the Enumclaw, Washington beastiality circuit that is the subject of his new documentary, Zoo. He also explains that the viral spread of the story via the Internet garnered national attention and eventually brought about a change in state law. "No one knew that bestiality was legal in this state," says Mudede. "That was the first thing everybody learned. No one was breaking the law." Zoo is currently screening at the Sundance Film Festival.

Continue ReadingMudede: Internet Makes for Strange Bedfellows

Steve Perry announced today that he will resign next month after 13 years as editor of City Pages, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. In a memo circulated to staff, Perry said "philosophical and practical differences" with New Times management prompted his decision to leave the paper.

Continue ReadingEditor Plans to Leave Minneapolis Alt-Weekly

Cingular, Sprint, and Verizon -- along with smaller companies such as Virgin Mobile USA and Amp'd Mobile -- are rewarding customers for viewing cellphone ads by offering lower rates, free content and multimedia services, according to the New York Times. Although mobile advertising doesn't generate much revenue yet, it may be too early to tell whether cellular carriers' new overtures will bear fruit. "Big advertisers generally want to see further adoption of services before they pour significant money into mobile ads," reports the Times.

Continue ReadingCellular Companies Rolling Out Advertising on Mobile Phones

"While many are looking to the digital future to explain why Time Inc. fired 289 people last week, they'd do just as well to look at the ... changing marketing habits of the domestic auto industry," explains Ad Age. General Motors and DaimlerChrysler were among the domestic auto manufacturers who cut print spending with the magazine publisher last year to the tune of $100 million. The Detroit automakers are slashing magazine budgets "and, when they are spending, (they) often seek more direct and interactive connections with their customers," reports Ad Age.

Continue ReadingTime Inc. Layoffs: Disappearing Auto Ads the Untold Story

John Callahan was scheduled to sing the blues this weekend in Salem, Ore., performing songs from his new album, "Purple Winos in the Rain." Non-ambulatory since he was paralyzed in a car accident at the age of 21, Callahan's lyrics are as dark as his cartoons -- suicide is mentioned in nearly every song, reports the Statesman Journal's Michelle Theriault -- but "there are slivers of a humor as bracing as his cartoon work throughout the album," says Theriault.

Continue ReadingQuadriplegic Willamette Week Cartoonist Turns to Music

A fair-housing group has sued the Web-based matching service Roommates.com over allegedly discriminatory real-estate ads, leading New York Times legal columnist Adam Liptak to question the efficacy of congressional attempts to strike a balance between fair housing and free speech. Under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, Liptak notes, discrimination itself is not necessarily illegal when choosing roommates and tenants, but advertisements that suggest as much are. And the Communications Decency Act of 1998 immunizes Web publishers from lawsuits for the same kinds of discriminatory classified ads that land print publishers in hot water.

Continue ReadingLiptak: Fair Housing Laws ‘Tangle of Contradictions’

That's the rhetorical question PopMatters asks in an article lamenting the "sad trajectory" of arts coverage at the paper since it was taken over by New Times. In a somewhat less-than-thorough investigation, the Web site turns to two former Voice music critics for answers. Robert Christgau says Michael Lacey is "a philistine who hates New York City” but admits that Village Voice Media's executive editor cares about writing; it's just not the kind of writing that Christgau does. Meanwhile, Eric Weisbard claims the new owners hate "what the Voice stood for," i.e., "the idea that you should write about pop music with the same depth and the same number of cultural references that you would talk about a novelist in the New York Review of Books."

Continue Reading‘What Happened to Our (Village) Voice?’

After five years of doing a little bit of everything at Missoula Independent, Andy Smetanka now works as a baker when he's not taking classes toward a Master's degree in creative non-fiction or drafting silhouette animation for the Decemberists. New West profiles Montana's Renaissance man. CORRECTIONS: According to the Independent, Smetanka was the paper's arts editor, not the art director, as New West reports. In addition, Smetanka, who left his full-time position at the Independent almost two years ago, still reviews film for the paper on a regular basis.

Continue ReadingFormer Alt-Weekly Arts Editor Juggles Projects

Syndicated sex columnist Amy Alkon knows how to get her man -- and manners. Recently, when a cafe patron sitting within earshot chatted too loudly on her cell phone, Alkon recorded and published details of the conversation, including the woman's name, telephone number, and plans for the afternoon. When the Wall Street Journal reported the incident but disguised Alkon's identity, Alkon wrote about that, too, taking credit for her coffeeshop intervention. She is scheduled to appear tonight on ABC's Nightline to discuss the "undermannered" and how to deal with them.

Continue ReadingTivo Alert: Advice Goddess on Nightline Friday Night