Handmade Moment August 19 Update: Another Judge, 10 Days To Go, and Adios Gold Street

eetzee

Story by eetzee

Published on Aug 19, 2009 in Events

Updated August 19: We’ve added a new judge, Mark Elijah Rosenberg from Rooftop Films, so scroll down and check him out.

We have less than two weeks to go until the Etsy video contest ends. Later today we will be posting the release forms on Etsy.tv. Please get your submissions in!

These are bittersweet days here at 325 Gold Street in Brooklyn: We are moving offices this Friday. No, I won’t miss the lack of air-conditioning, the deathtrap they call Flatbush Avenue, or the temperamental elevator.  But I will miss my office-mates Matt, Anda, and Neelam. Anda may not appreciate the irony of me typing my Etsy About Us questionnaire while working at a handmade company, but she’s awesome (as are her fellow soccer-loving husband and endlessly cute daughter), so I let it slide. Meanwhile Neelam brings in cupcakes like every other day (chocolate in the house!), and now I will have to keep a keen eye and ear for her arrival each morning at the new digs. Phooey!

We’re hosting a goodbye party in our little room today after work, and we expect all 60 something Admin to make an appearance. We’ll have the video submissions playing and a box of wine flowing. Woot!  Raise a glass at home (as if you needed an excuse).

Greetings from the offices of www.etsy.tv!

On June 1, 2009, we invited all artists and other creative members of the Etsy community to create :15 and :30 (second) videos promoting Etsy and the handmade movement. And if your love of Etsy isn’t enough, we threw $10,000 of prizes in as well! We call it the Handmade Moment Contest.

We have over 80 entries so far, and they keep pouring in. Remember, we are accepting submissions through August 31, 2009 (be sure to read the FAQ and Rules). The Handmade Moment contest will have 10 finalists who will get slices of the $10,000 pie, from whom we’ll pick the winners, and whose winning submissions will be used in our marketing efforts!

Today we are pleased to announce some of the Handmade Moment judges (they rock) who will participate in selecting a winner this October.  We love making new friends, so check ‘em out (in not-so-creative alphabetical order below) and click the links to see their work!

 

Brett Anderson is the lead singer of The Donnas, an American all-female rock band from California. They draw inspiration from The Ramones, AC/DC, and Kiss. After gathering a cult following in the punk scene since their 1993 debut, the band achieved major label commercial success in the early 2000s. Rolling Stone says, “The Donnas offer a guileless take on adolescent alienation; they traffic in kicks, not catharsis, fun rather than rage.” MTV notes that the band offers “nothing more than a good old-fashioned rock & roll party.”  Brett was an avid Girl Scout and loves to sew and make perfume, jewelry, and friendship bracelets. Photo by Dave Burke.

Corinne Leigh is the host and executive producer of ThreadBanger.com, a landing point for people who want to create and discover their own style through alternative fashion: recycling, upcycling and refashioning with simple tools and techniques. Corinne has been an environmental activist since elementary school when she learned about the three R’s — reduce, reuse, recycle. In 2002, she started a non-profit organization that helps people in impoverished nations. Working mostly in Haiti, Corinne opened a safe haven for the children of Port-au-Prince. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her two cats and boyfriend.

Mark Elijah Rosenberg has built Rooftop Films into one of the most innovative film companies in the country—a cutting-edge outdoor film festival, a forward-thinking film production collective, and a full-service media center. Rooftop has shown over 1,400 films to more than 100,000 audience members, and has supported 60 emerging filmmakers through the Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund. As a curator and filmmaker in his own right, Mark’s taste and work favor low-budget, personal cinema. Mark has written and directed numerous short films, is currently at work on an astronaut narrative, and was a producer on the Emmy-award winning documentary show “IMNY.” Mark was a juror at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, is the second baseman for the New York Giants amateur baseball team, and the proud father of a dog named Rizzo.

Casey Safron is the founder and curator of NYC’s premiere animation festival, Animation Block Party. The ABP festival supports all genres of film and loves handmade works with organic styles, so computers are not always key at ABP. In the past two years, Safron has produced the Webby
nominated Perfectland series for MTV, the hit cartoon, Breakfast, for the Sundance Channel and a variety cartoon series for My Damn Channel. Education is also a big part of Safron’s work, as he has overseen the prestigious School of Visual Arts Animation Department since 2001.

Brett Simon’s first feature, Assassination of a High School President starring Bruce Willis and Mischa Barton, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. He has directed numerous music videos including the award winning Somebody Told Me for The Killers, and Belly for Polarbear, which was made entirely with a scanner. He has also created dozens of no-budget shorts on his trusty camcorder, which have won awards and screened at festivals around the world. He likes to tinker. When he couldn’t get the right image from his video camera, he created a lens with wax paper, a magnifying glass and cardboard box. With Counterfeit Film, he transformed a photocopy machine into a mechanical flipbook. He is currently working on a film adaptation of the Duane Swierczynski novel, Severance Package. Brett also founded Present Day, a holiday celebrated on the first Sunday of every month by spending the day without cell phones and computers.

Andrew Wagner is the editor-in-chief of ReadyMade magazine. Prior to coming to ReadyMade he was the editor-in-chief of American Craft magazine. Wagner was also the executive editor and founding managing editor of Dwell magazine, where he helped push the boundaries of architecture and design journalism, garnering the publication the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) General Excellence Award in 2005. In 1997, Wagner founded LIMN, the unorthodox design and arts magazine published by the equally unorthodox furniture and design company of the same name, and served as its editor-in-chief until 2000. Wagner was also the founding editor of Dodge City Journal, a magazine dedicated to documenting life in America’s under-explored cities. In addition to his work at ReadyMade, Wagner is a consulting editor at Places magazine and has been a guest lecturer at several universities.

Olivia Wilde is equally successful in film and television having starred in an array of comedic and dramatic roles. Wilde can currently be seen in Fox’s hit Emmy-nominated drama, House, opposite Hugh Laurie. Additionally, Wilde wrapped production in the futuristic thriller, Tron, in July.  Most recently, Olivia was seen opposite Jack Black in the biblical-era comedy Year One. Wilde is well known for her recurring role on the critically acclaimed Fox series The O.C. Previously, Wilde co-starred opposite Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch and Justin Timberlake in the film Alpha Dog. Moreover, she starred in and produced Fix, the story of documentary filmmakers who race all over California to help out a relative. The film opened at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival. Photo by Jeff Lipsky.

 

There is still time to get your submissions in! Visit www.etsy.tv today for more details.

Discuss: 167 comments

Related Items

167 comments

Sign in to add your own