I have to admit I hadn't heard of this before, but Greg Allen just pointed me to Greencine, the "little guy/gal" alternative to the ever-growing Netflix.

GreenCine carries a select collection of over 10,000 titles, with an accent on indie, art house, classics, foreign, documentary, anime and Asian cinema. You can check out three titles at a time, with no due dates, no late fees...and we pay the postage! Hang on to them as long as you like. Return one...we send you the next one on your list. Only $21.95 a month, flat fee, with a portion of proceeds benefiting film arts organizations.

I suspect the member reviews are more useful to me than those on Netflix, which tends to get plenty of "Why is this film so boring -- no action!" comments on a lot of interesting indie films.

Hmm... What about my 310-disc queue on Netflix?

Maple Ave (Digimon) / Meredith Allen

I haven't had much time to post lately, because I've been working on my new biz for hosting artist web sites. The working name for the project is "ArtCat", but there's nothing corporate to show you yet.

I have the beta version of the first artist site up -- Meredith Allen. I wasn't completely ready to launch, but something big was about to happen! Meredith's photo on the homepage appeared this week in the September 1st issue of the New Yorker, as the illustration for a Dave Eggers story titled Measuring the Jump.

News Flash! It's now on the New Yorker home page.

If any of you can link to her site or mention it in your weblogs, I would really apppreciate it. I'm trying to get it to show up in Google so that people seeing her image in the New Yorker will end up at Meredith's site.

The site will have more content, images, plus some design changes over the next days and weeks. Her site is the test case for my new system, and I'm still working out some things.

... if we can stand the weather -- both part of the Howl! Festival -- and free:

• Way the F**k off Broadway

  2:00 - 4:00 PM
  Tompkins Square Park Bandshell, 7th and Ave. A

  Featuring appearances by Heather Woodbury, XAR, Mike Albo, Julie Atlas Muz, Pat Harper, Lissa Moore, Lady Finger, Wau-Wau Sisters, Polly Mormon & The Wives, Gecko, Big Mike, Moe Kelly, Dan Green, Missy Galore, Rev Jen, Porno Jim & Faceboy.

  Hosted by Penny Arcade & Murray Hill



• Wigstock returns to Tompkins Square Park!

  5:00 - 7:00pm

  So far the lineup includes:

  Lypsinka
  Taboo!
  Sweetie
  The Girls from Lips
  Sugga Pie Cocoa
  Murray Hill, and The Dazzle Dancers

I will send James, but I might be working. Tomorrow night is the Howl Festival's opening night party at Angel Orensanz Foundation on Norfolk Street, 7-11pm.

The first annual Howl! Festival happens August 20-26 in the East Village. Check out the web site, plus James's recommendation. One of the highlights: Wigstock returns to Tompkins Square Park on Saturday, August 23rd, from 5:00-7:00pm!

I'm reading a great book at the moment: Roger Shattuck's The Banquet Years, about the origins of the avant garde in France in the period from the 1880s to the beginning of World War I. It's the era of Rousseau, Alfred Jarry, Apollinaire, and near the end, Picasso and Gertrude Stein. After I finish it I intend to re-read Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, since it describes events around this time. Powell's has just put up Edmund Wilson's 1933 review of the book on its web site. Go check it out.

I finally met Cory Arcangel and heard him perform with his sister Jamie. We got to see from home videos from their childhood, when they had a goth-ish/death metal band called "Insectiside". They did two songs live -- very cool stuff. Another highlight was a video of Jamie as a child, complete with knee pads and other 80s accoutrements, dancing to Vanilla Ice's, "Ice Ice Baby". There! Now you have that damn song running through your head too!

James already did all of the research and made nice links, so go see his post and photos.

--

Updated:

Here are some more photos -- link via Tom Moody.

• See Phantom Arch show at White Columns -- today (August 2 until 6pm) is the last day
• See the Summer of HTML Tour concert at TEAM Gallery -- Sunday, August 3rd; 7:30pm-10pm