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Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Check out my Best (and Worst) of Halloween (the movie series) over at Criticize This!, and enjoy our Halloween themed commandN below (yes, that is Amber as a pirate).

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Beware of blip.tv!

The other day I uploaded the short film Hotel Chevalier to the Criticize This! blip.tv account. Within minutes my account was shutdown and removed (taking all the previous videos I had the rights to with it). I expected a warning first before my entire account would be closed!

I contacted blip.tv customer support. From the reply I received it appeared that they were going to look into the matter and resolve the issue. It's been two days with no response and my account is still gone. I have realized I will not be getting my account back and need to find a new solution.

It bothers me to think they can remove an account so fast with no explanation. I think we'll be looking for another video service for both Webnation and commandN as we can't take the risk.

UPDATE: The Shape of Days blog called me out on my post. No - I did not have the right to upload Hotel Chevalier (it is free on the web though and I was not profiting from it). Closing down my entire account without notice is still a little harsh. I do have the right to upload film clips, trailers, etc. which they could have easily thought I did not. Sites like Revver and YouTube will send notice and give you time to remove a video before shutting down your account (always read the TOS before using an online service).

Toronto After Dark Film Festival

We did a story for CityNews today on the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (which kicks off tomorrow and runs until October 25th at the Bloor Cinema). Being one of over 80 film festivals in Toronto, festival director Adam Lopez relies on MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and the blogging community to help get the word out about the fest. His marketing has worked - Toronto After Dark is currently one of the top 5 festivals in the city.

We will be covering the fest for Criticize This! next week. With films like Blood Car, Poultrygeist (a Troma film), Murder Party, The Tripper (David Arquette's directorial debut), and Simon Says (starring Crispin Glover) it may be hard to decide which films to review though.

Watch the preview of the fest below, and check out the full interview Amber did with Adam Lopez over on blip.tv.

Kevin Smith/Douglas Coupland do Webnation! [update]

The new episode of Webnation airs tonight at 11:35PM EST on CP24 (it will be online/in iTunes tomorrow afternoon). This week we have two pop-culture icons gracing the screen. Filmmaker turned blogger turned author Kevin Smith does a very funny webcam interview with Amber (with Amber being on the webcam this time), and Canadian author/artist Douglas Coupland talks about his latest novel The Gum Thief and his upcoming series based on JPod.

Both gents were a blast to meet and chat with, and Kevin Smith even signed my LaserDisc copy of Chasing Amy (which is now going up on my office wall in one of those album frames).

Kevin Smith chats with Amber on the webcam

UPDATE: Watch the full show is now below.

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Book Marketing 2.0

I shot an interview with Canadian author/artist Douglas Coupland yesterday for Webnation. I've been a fan of his for awhile (Microserfs is one of my favorite books) so it was great to meet and talk with him (Amber did the actual interview but the behind-the-scene chatter was a lot of fun).

In order to market his new book The Gum Thief (which is set in a Staples store), Random House has hired Crush Inc. to shoot videos depicting moments from the story. My favorite (below) uses the signs in a Staple store to show important events in the life of the main character. Is this now the norm for marketing books? Or does this only work for an author such as Coupland?

More videos can be found on the Douglas Coupland YouTube page.