I replaced cable 9 months ago with the cobble-together – Netflix, Hulu Plus, renewed devotion to brick-and-mortars like I Luv Video – and that’s the direction a lot of TV viewers are going in. This week’s On the Media devoted a whole episode to the changing ways we consume TV, with a nod to Richard Linklater’s new foray into the fray.
Hulu announced last week an original travel series Up To Speed, created by Linklater and starring Timothy “Speed” Levitch, the euphorically-riffing subject of Bennett Miller’s 1998 documentary The Cruise. Levitch – who previously gave bus tours of New York landmarks and memorably collaborated with Linklater on Waking Life and short film “Live From Shiva’s Dance Floor” – will “visit the monumentally-ignored monuments of America’s cities, from the shoe gardens of San Francisco to the luckiest subway grate in New York City.” The show premieres in August on Hulu and Hulu Plus, part of ten original shows debuting on the streaming service this summer, including Kevin Smith’s movie review show “Spoilers,” kicking off next Monday.
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Attention, web watchers looking for some Austin flavor: YouTube channel American Hipster (pause for wince here) has been touching down in various cities, highlighting American Hipsters in their natural habitats in the American Hipsters Presents series. So far Austin’s Eastside art community, Thunder Heart Bison, Charm School Vintage, and Cheer Up Charlie’s have been profiled, and yesterday the final Austin-centric episode – this one featuring multi-instrumentalist outfit Mother Falcon – was posted. Embedded below for your one-click enjoyment.
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Okay, okay, some of you are still watching TV the old-fashioned way. You might want to flip on your fancy cable box then and tune in to HGTV for this evening’s seventh season premiere of reality show HGTV Design Star. Why the urgency? Austin’s Kris Swift will be competing in the interior design styleoff. The hourlong show airs tonight at 8pm, which gives you just a couple hours to do some prep work by perusing Swift’s portfolio here.
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The locally produced hip-hop musical Camp Kickitoo, which won Best Comedy at the San Diego Black Film Festival in January, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for post-production and marketing. More info can be found here. And, at the end of a long workday, let’s take the advice of the lovely lady below and spin something real quick – namely, a clip from one of the film’s musical numbers.
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Questions/comments/concerns? Hit us up here: filmflam@austinchronicle.com.
This article appears in May 25 • 2012.
