URGENT!!! PICTURE NEW YORK!!!

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Subject: Press Release - “Picture New York” Formed In Response to Mayor's Plans to Limit Cameras

For Immediate Release
Contacts: Lisa Guido (917) 573-2282 Julie Talen (through July 31) (212) 226-4651

PICTURENEWYORK.ORG
email Picture New York

Artists Band Together to Fight Restrictions on Street Photography

"Picture New York" Formed In Response to Mayor's Plans to Limit Cameras

YouTube "Video Public Comments" to be Submitted to Mayor's Office

NEW YORK CITY: Picture New York WITHOUT pictures of New York. The most photographed city in the world is about to be shut down visually by proposed regulations which would basically make it illegal to film or tape in NYC without a permit and a million dollars of insurance.

An overnight, massive grassroots fight against these proposed regulations has sprung up under the name 'Picture New York.' Fighting back with YouTube videos, petitions, handwritten letters, a website, Flickr space and a rally and press conference this Friday in Union Square, this ad-hoc group of working artists, photographers and filmmakers vow to stop the regulations going into effect as scheduled in September from the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting (MOFTB).

Albert Maysles, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe and Amy Arbus are among the celebrated artists who have already signed on to demand the MOFTB extend the period of public comment, currently ending August 3, and eliminate the proposed regulations: 11 pages of single-spaced rules where none existed before.

Jem Cohen, the critically-acclaimed filmmaker whose alarmed e-mail prompted the first formal meeting of concerned filmmakers, says, "Because street photography is, by its very nature, inextricably born out of free and random movement through the city, street photographers cannot know exactly where and when they intend to work, or for how long. One cannot regulate an art form or activity by negating its very premise. The proposed rules, in refusing to recognize the spontaneity which is at the core of street photography, are untenable for that reason alone."

"I already have a permit for my camera," says another of the group's founders, Beka Economopoulos. "It's called the First Amendment."

Since the Mayor's Office has asked for public comments, Picture New York has come up a new form: the Video Public Comment. The first - perhaps ever - Video Public Comment has already been posted to YouTube by artist Juliana Luecking and more will follow. Picture New York wants to invite anyone who loves the city and their camera to make one and post it. (To learn how to make a Video Public Comment, please see the website at pictureny.org.)

The proposed regulations will affect every kind of filming and photography in the city, aside from artists. Industrials, fashion, wedding and architectural photographers will need a permit and insurance for anything that takes more than a half hour and two people to shoot. A film school graduate with a camcorder, four friends and a dream will now have to pay the same fee to New York City to shoot as HBO does – because the regs include anything that takes more than 10 minutes to shoot with a tripod. Even parents making home movies in public parks would fall under the new rules.

As the Daily News says the regulations "are, in a word, nuts. . . "They were written as if small bands of rogue photographers were running amok. And they won't withstand court challenge unless the cops come down equally on everyone taking pictures, including mom and dad filming junior and pals at the playground." The conservative New York Sun agrees: "It would be a sad day if New York became a place where a family has to get a permit before making a home video."

The proposed rules are reminiscent of the MTA's failed attempt to ban photography in the subways two years ago. "If we can take photographs underground without permits," points out television producer Susan Marcoux, "we certainly should be able to take them above ground."

"This is micro-management of public space taken to an absurd level. What are the police going to do – time people holding cameras?" asks Eileen Clancy of I-Witness Video who has written about conflicts between police and camera people after September 11th. "These new rules give the police another excuse to arrest anybody they don't like with a camera."

These regulations violate the First Amendment right to photograph in public places, points out the NYCLU, and follow a slew of recent laws that already restrict rights in New York City to parade, dance, meet, bike, shout, and assemble. Draconian noise ordinances and the new parade and assembly laws make constitutionally-protected dissent almost impossible. Now, with regulations on street photography, New York City adds yet another infringement on civil liberties and free expression, which is why Picture New York will be participating in a press conference and First Amendment-themed rally at Union Square at 6:30pm this Friday, July 27.

* Friday, July 27, 2007 6:30pm - First Amendment Rally with Rev. Billy north end of Union Square Park

PICTURENEWYORK.ORG
email Picture New York
Mayor's Office on Film proposed regulations text

View signatures on ePetition
Union Square Rally: Friday, July 27 PICTURENEWYORK.ORG

Daily News and The NY Sun editorials links:
NY DAILY NEWS

Juliana Luecking's YouTube response to the proposed regulations

Invisible Universe video podcast seeks on-air host!!!

The Invisible Universe Foundation is producing a video podcast and is seeking an on-air host to cover conferences, conventions, book readings/signings and to be the in-studio host of the show!

Candidate must be enthusiastic and personable! Female or male. Any age. Any ethnicity. Must live in the New York City area. Having an interest in SF in general would be a plus!

If you are interested, please send headshot and resume to info@invisibleuniversedoc.com.

Eventual eligible candidates will need a video sample of their work in the future.

"Cavemen show not a racial metaphor…"

Thought this article might be of some interest to you all…

By LYNN ELBER
AP Television Writer

Producers: `Cavemen' Not Racial Metaphor

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- The producers of ABC's new "Cavemen" said Wednesday the comedy is much more than the insurance company commercials that inspired it, but isn't designed to be an ambitious allegory about race.

Check out the rest of the story at this link here:

Cavemen story at AP

-mad

L. A. Banks at Harlem Book Fair/Hue-man Bookstore in Harlem

This weekend L. A. Banks will be in my old homestead, Harlem, New York City promoting her new novel in the Vampire Huntress Legend Series, The Cursed. The Cursed is the 9th novel in the series and here begins Armeggedon in the world of Damali, the Neteru. Check her out at the Harlem Book Fair on Saturday, 21 July 2007 (time/place: ???) and at the Hue-man bookstore in Harlem on Sunday, 22 July 2007 at 2pm.

In the meanwhile, check out these great videos inspired by the world of the VHL!!!









-mad

Samuel R. Delany to appear at Clarion Summer Reading Series

(from Clarionwest.org)

http://clarionwest.org/website/cat_readings/

The 2007 Clarion West Summer Reading Series

Come hear our 2007 instructors read Tuesday evenings in June and July as part of Clarion West's Annual Summer Reading Series. Admission is now free - so be sure to take advantage of this great chance to hear live presentations of new and forthcoming work from some of speculative fiction's top authors and editors.

All readings start at 7:30 p.m. and take place in the JBL Theater in the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame at 325 Fifth Avenue North, near Seattle Center.

Samuel R. Delany is arguably the most daring, wide-ranging, word-drunk, idea-besotted writer of science fiction and fantasy that the U.S. has ever produced. In his 45-year professional career, he has extensively explored issues of language, gender, race, sexuality, power, and otherness. Author of Dhalgren, Babel-17, and numerous novels, stories, and critical and philosophical works including his new novel Dark Reflections, he never fails to deliver a dynamic evening. One of a handful of African American SF authors, he has won numerous national and international awards including the Hugo and Nebula, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2002. Delany is Clarion West's 2007 Susan C. Petrey Fellow.

Appearing Tuesday, July 24.

An Un-Flashy new Flash Gordon Series

SCI FI Channel, Reunion Pictures and RHI International are in production on a new incarnation of the Flash Gordon Series, set to air on SCI FI Channel sometime this summer. The new series stars Smallville's Eric Johnson as Flash Gordon, who describes the character not as a superhero but as a "regular guy trying to do the right thing." In an interview with Entertainment Weekly.com, Johnson goes on to describe the other changes written into the storyline that the execs and writers thought would make a 1930's originated Flash character more relevant to a modern day 2007 audience. Flash's claim to fame professional Polo career has been forfeited for that of a marathon athlete, as well as making Flash a car lover who works on them probably as a hobby. Flash's historical adversary, "Ming the Merciless" is still present. This time, however, due to modern day "racial sensibilities", the alien character Ming will no longer be known as "the merciless" and will be portrayed as white by white Canadian actor, John Ralston. (Note: Ming the Merciless was portrayed by white American actor, Charles Middleton in the serials and white Swedish actor, Max Von Sydow in the 1980 film version) As SCI FI Channel's executive vice president, Mark Stern, put it, they wanted to stay away from any of the issues of race in the new show. Stern goes on to describe the original Ming character as thin and one dimensional and said they wanted to replace him with someone charming and blond. How quaint!

And how convenient the paradigms of racism and double standards are in the world SF entertainment. SF often reflects the moods and thoughts of the time in which it was created and Flash Gordon is no different. First of all the original justification of the character's adventure and the hero worship of Flash Gordon was premised on a racist stereotype. Ming the Merciless is a character originating in American and European mythology, as a figure of the Asian as a physical, social, sexual and/or racial inferior type, bent on overrunning Western autonomy. The thin and one dimensional character type, though technically an alien in the series was created in the minds of white men because of their fear and hatred of Asians and which came to be known as the Yellow Peril. It was based on earlier, character types created by white writers, that eventually culminated into the infamous, "Fu Manchu" character, the role model of Ming the Merciless. Ming is still and will always be grounded in a racist thought and be a reminder of that ignorance. It's like exclaiming "nigga" is not the same as saying "nigger." It doesn't really get to the reason of why the terminology was created in the first place. My opinion is if the executives responsible for the creation of the new and "re-imagined" version of Flash Gordon were really honest with their intentions to not offend the "racial sensibilities" of todays modern audience, they would take a leap and re-imagine Flash Gordon as a non-white character. How about Flash Gordon as an citizen of the United States of Chinese or Japanese descent? I honestly don't know if that really would justify bringing the series back either.

-mad

See links:
Flash Avoids Stereotypes
EW.com's First Look: Flash Gordon
On Yellow Peril Thrillers
Wikipedia's Flash Gordon page
Flash Gordon press release

Vampire Huntress Legends Video Contest!!! deadline extended

I think this is a fabulous idea!!! (from Banks' July newsletter)

L. A. Banks is extending her Vampire Huntress Legends - video contest!

THE VAMPIRE HUNTRESS LEGENDS™ Video Contest – It is still not too late !!!!!! Enter to win Today. Deadline Extended to September 20, 2007 !

Enter to win Today!

Have you ever read one of the VHL books, or one of the gripping scenes in the series and felt like it should be a movie? Well here's your chance to shine! Whip out your digital video cameras and open up your creative imaginations--we want to see what comes out of the minds of VHL readers! In our first ever VHL video contest, you have a chance to win a VHL Oscar for a short film posted on YOUTUBE from 30 seconds to 2 minutes long. We'd like to see your creative take on any characters from the series that are your favorites, any scenes that you'd like to recreate, or even a montage of scenes from the whole series--it's your video. Rules of the contest can be found at:

http://www.vampire-huntress.com/vhlvideocontestrules.html

Winners will receive a VHL Award, will be listed on the website, and also receive mention in the acknowledgment of the next book forthcoming in the Vampire Huntress Legends series. This contest runs from May through June 15th, with winners being announced late in October, 2007. Once you've made and uploaded your video and read the rules, go to the VHL Video Contest Entry Page and enter all the required details and submit.

Invisible Universe 5 minute trailer

Invisible Universe trailer

Pre-Release Speculation :: I Am Legend :: Will Smith

I Am Legend Poster, 2007 In December of 2007, the latest cinematic version of Richard Matheson's novel, I Am Legend, is due to be released. This time the protagonist, Robert Neville, is played by Will Smith. The director will be Francis Lawrence, director of Constantine. The story follows the struggles of Dr. Robert Neville, apparently the last and the only person uninfected from a virus that causes sensitivity to electro-magnetic radiation or sunlight and bloodthirsty and murderous tendencies.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, 1954 Matheson's book published in 1954, takes place in his future of 1979. A pandemic breaks out caused by a bacterium and results in the human population essentially displaying the characteristics and the behaviours of vampirism. Having survived the initial outbreaks and seemingly unaffected by the disease, Neville spends his nights barricaded inside a fortified house and his days killing the vampires while they sleep.

I Am Legend was previously made into two other film versions, one in 1964, called The Last Man on Earth and starring the irreplaceable Vincent Price. The second film adaptation, starred Charlton Heston and was called The Omega Man in 1971.

Where the first film was more in line with Matheson's story and plot, the second film veered down another path. In Heston's version, the pandemic was caused by biological warfare and Heston's character, a military scientist, applied an experimental vaccine to himself that saved him from becoming infected. The infected are mentally crazed albinos, who have formed a cult around their predicament, that they call The Family.

The Last Man on Earth, 1964 From some accounts that I have read, the new version, after several different producers, budgets and re-writes, will be closer in spirit to the 1970's version.

One of the most obvious changes though is that the main character, Robert Neville will be played by an African American actor, Will Smith. Will is definitely one of the biggest box office draws out there with films and franchises like Bad Boys, Independence Day and Men in Black under his belt. Will has also been in his good share of speculative films including his role in The Legend of Bagger Vance and as Del Spooner in I, Robot.

The Omega Man, 1971 I wonder what racial commentary could be made of Will Smith's new role. Originally, the Robert Neville character was written to be imagined as a white man. The book focuses more on Neville's psychological temperment more so than on the social, political and racial ramifications of his ethnicity. The Omega Man, being produced in era when racial issues were closer to the forefront of daily news, starred African American actress, Rosalind Cash as Lisa, one of the infected survivors and the eventual lover of Charlton Heston. The inter-racial lovers were to grace the screen in a full kiss only 3 years after Star Trek's exploration into that unknown territory. It also starred Eric Laneuville as Lisa's younger brother, Richie, who is saved from turning by Neville's vaccine, only to eventually be murdered by The Family. I always felt that Richie needlessly sacrificed his life for the benefit of Neville's character, which is common in SF film (Yaphet Kotto in Alien, Paul Winfield in The Terminator and Joe Morton in Terminator 2: Jugement Day) however it could also be attributed to Richie's youth and naiveness of the human condition.

Honestly, I doubt the producers, writers or director of I Am Legend or that, Will Smith for that matter will cross the line into racial commentary. With a reported budget of over $100 million dollars and Will Smith's past portrayals which tend to lean to the side of the popular comedy, there is too much money and reputation to lose, respectively. In my opinion, though there is room a plenty for racial commentary. For instance, what if the bacteria or biological agent only affected white people and Will Smith's character and the other survivors (mostly Blacks, Black Latinos other dark skinned people) did so because of the melanin content or genetic variations inherent in people of direct African descent. Or how about if it were the other way around and the agent affected dark skinned people of more direct African descent because of the those differences? All kinds of comments could be made about why Will's character survives and is immune. Comments that go all the way back to places like slavery, rape, miscegenation and the Tuskegee Experiment in the United States.

Film is scheduled for release on 14 December 2007.

Filming Locations (from IMDB)
Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA
Dumbo, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Herald Square, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Kingsbridge Armory - 29 West Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
New York City, New York, USA
Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Tower Records, West Fourth Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Technical Specifications (from IMDB)
Color info: Color
Camera: Arriflex Cameras / Panavision Cameras and Lenses
Negative format: 35 mm
Process: Super 35
Aspect ratio: 2.35 : 1

See trailer here: I Am Legend

-mad