Thursday, June 25, 2009

Double Your Donation - and More Good News

I'm pleased to announce that an anonymous donor has pledged up to $2,000 in matching funds... meaning that right now every dollar you donate to The Insular Empire will automatically be doubled. Yes - doubled! Already we've received a $250 contribution -- meaning there are still $1,750 in matching funds available. So if you've been thinking about donating, but thought you couldn't afford it -- well, now you can just lower the amount to whatever you can afford, and send that in, and it'll automatically  be doubled to something even better. Think of it as a 50% discount!

I'm also pleased to announce that after a nine-hour marathon recording session yesterday, with sound goddess Erica Chard Landrock at the controls and the mellifluous voice of Lesley Ewen on the microphone, all of the narration for the film has been recorded. Professionally. By someone who is WAY more qualified than I am. :)

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Things You Learn on Twitter

I finally decided to devote some time to learning how to use Twitter. (Yes, it's a procrastination tactic - God knows I've got plenty to do - but also, in theory, it's a way to find a bigger audience for The Insular Empire, out there in TwitterLand.) And look what I found: a news report from The Onion about how the recession is forcing the US to 'dip into Guam'.

Do the folks at The Onion know that that's not actually a joke? I mean, how much $$ would the US have to pay for all that military land they're holding, if they were to compensate Guam's rightful land-owners? And what about the millions of $$ that the courts have demanded from Guam because of the landfill debacle? Sounds like a good money-making venture to me...

The good news is there are a bunch of people out there tweeting about Guam and the CNMI. Which is cool. But (not surprisingly) a search for "Marianas" just calls up a bunch of tweets about the Marianas Trench -- a pop-punk band from, of all places, Vancouver. Go figure.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Guam is Crying

There's a really powerful short documentary up on YouTube, made by Chamoru filmmaker Alex Munoz. Check it out!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Guamology Interview

Kel Muna of the cool new website Guamology just published an interview with me, about my motivations for making The Insular Empire and what it's like to be a documentary filmmaker. It's an odd feeling, to be on the other side of the camera (so to speak). But he did kinda make me look good. :)