The Dumb Are Mostly Intrigued By The Drum

Once again our heroes return....what heroes do I speak of you ask? Well none other than myself, brodiemash, & our new co-host of The DUmb, Bryan Harley from AMF Productions. Back again for the first time, we talk about all kinds of stuff relating to film and some other things....not so much:

• We talk about films we saw over the Labor Day weekend including The Wackness, Pineapple Express, The Clone Wars, Babylon A.D., Tropic Thunder & more.

• Next weeks DVD releases and how nobody else loves Wings but me (and Quagmire).

• How we'd make an R-rated Star Wars film.

• We reenact the conversation between Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter.

• My lunch at Livingstone's and their horrible customer service.

• The active film festivals going on in Fresno in the month of September, including the F.F.I.L.M.M and the Latino Film Festival

• The death of Don LaFontaine

• We overload on nerdiness as we discuss the awesome RED Camera.

All this and much, much more. All for free. Download it, listen and let us know what you think. Thanks to Late Update for hosting our podcast!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DUMB #9

This was the email sent out by Ray Arthur earlier today (I apologize for it's lateness): 

Dear Friends,

It's been a long journey but the City of Fresno Film Ordinance will be brought to the Fresno City Council on Tuesday, July 29th. It is scheduled as a timed item for 9:30 AM. That means it will be heard at or after 9:30 AM.

The Film Ordinance and Staff Report can be viewed on the City of Fresno website here.

Following is a portion from the Staff Report that notes the changes in the Film Ordinance from its previous version presented in February:

On February 26, 2008, the Fresno Film & Entertainment Commission (FFEC) presented the Fresno City Council with a previous version of this Film Ordinance. Council, at that time, expressed concerns in the areas of required insurance for student and small independent film productions.

With the assistance of the City Attorneys Office, this revised version of the Film Ordinance responds to Council's concerns by incorporating the following changes:

Student Filmmaking will be exempt from both the film permitting process and insurance requirements.

The "Rule of Three" has been expanded to the "Rule of 15." This revision greatly broadens the previous "Rule of Three" to include all productions of 15 people or fewer, providing they use handheld equipment and do not interfere with the general flow of the citizenry.

Two additional definitions, for "hand held devices" and "obstruction," have been added to the definition section of the ordinance to clarify elements of the "Rule of 15."

With the inclusion of these additional revisions the FFEC feels these steps meet the interests expressed by all parties.

Sincerely,

Ray

Bullshit. That's seems to be all we're getting from our "leaders" that we pay to run our city. I can type away and list the ways our fine politicians have decided to slowly and systematically run this city into the ground. But in not very eloquent with words (as you can tell by the first word of this post) so I won't waste your time. Rather, I'm here to inform you about the latest idea out of the think tank that is the Fresno City Council: decommissioning the Fresno Film Commission. It seems like they plan to get rid of it and everyone involved. So what can you do to help stop this nonsense? Well, come by downtown city hall tomorrow, June 17th around 2pm (if you do go, try to get there before) as the council is voting on the budget around that time. Here's the email sent out by Ray Arthur, an overall good guy and head of the Film Commission:

An Email sent out by Ray Authur, Fresno Film Commissioner:
Many of you have asked, based on Councilmember Duncan's motion to defund the Fresno Film & Entertainment Commission, when the vote on the Commission's budget will occur. The budget motionvoting process is scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM, on Tuesday, June 17th, in the Council Chamber at City Hall.


I'm going to try my best to be out there and I really hope that those of you interested in keeping our film community growing here in Fresno can make it out there!

Fresnocentric bloggers over at Fresnocentric.com have posted up a wonderful write up on last Thursdays mixer which happened over at Full Circle Brewery (damn, I fell in love with those Russian Stouts; 11% is A-okay in my book!). Also included are some video clips for your entertainment. We met a lot of cool people and I hope that many more of you guys can make it out to the next one, which is tentatively planned for June or July. Check out the story here!

So you live in or around Fresno, your interested in or already making films and you like to get your drink on (but not too much, right?). If this describes you (shit, even if it doesn't) feel free to join other like-minded individuals tonight, Thurs. May 22nd at 7pm over at Full Circle Brewery (great place, BTW. Awesome beer!) in downtown Fresno for a mixer put on by the Fresno Filmmaker Forum. What more can you ask for? Film, drinks, downtown. Sounds like a winner to me so I'll be out there but I'm not exactly a "mingler" so I'll just sit back and troll around as I pound beers. I wonder how many times the pharse "Indiana Jones" will uttered tonight? Hope to see you guys there!

This past Sat. was not only the day to get drunk while dressed up like your favorite fictional character, but it was also a day of reckoning for the film community here in Fresno. The Fresno Filmmaker Forum took place in downtown Fresno early in the morning as although it started off a bit much like a city council meeting with people yelling out ideas as the speaker tried to keep up with all the spewage, it suddenly turned into a good meeting of people and ideas. Ray Arthur, the Fresno Film Commissioner was present and that lent a aire of authenticity and that was important. To see that the city is going to actually take an active role in not only courting Hollywood but maybe, just maybe, we can nurture and cultivate our own productions & filmmakers. Although my name was misspelled on my name tag that I paid $12 for (weird...that was the first time ever that has happened), overall it was a good experience. "So what else happened?" you might ask. Well, I had to take off to get my Thor costume ready for the night's festivities. But something tells me that this won't be the last forum held simply due to the sheer amount of people that showed up and really showed an interest in creating something from nothing. Keep an eye on the Fresno Filmmaker Forum website and this very blog for future events!