Joe Flood

  • DC Shorts – It's Back!

    DC Shorts Film Festival

    The DC Shorts Film Festival has returned! It’s my favorite time of year, when filmmakers from around the world come to Washington to share their cinematic visions.

    This year, the festival features 145 films from 23 nations. The short films are organized into different screenings and shown at E Street Cinema, the Artisphere, the Atlas Performing Arts Center and the US Navy Memorial. The festival runs from September 8-18.

    I’ve been a part of the festival for more than five years, as a judge, screenplay competition manager, photographer, volunteer wrangler and, this year, as a blogger-in-chief. What I like most about DC Shorts is that it’s a festival for filmmakers. They’re front and center, with the opportunity to receive recognition for their work. Lots of small touches make them feel welcome, like vouchers for food and a special filmmakers-only party.

    This is not Hollywood. The films in the festival come from people doing it themselves. They’re not trying to win the attention of some fickle producer; instead, they go out and film the story they want to tell. This year’s DC Shorts features a slew of local films, including a film that cost only $500 to make. This is not atypical – you can do a lot with a camera and volunteer labor.

    As someone who has written screenplays and self-published a novel, I identify with this DIY philosophy. It’s what makes our age so wonderful, that advances in technology allow anyone to communicate their vision with the world.

  • Earthquake Anecdote in Washington Post

    earthquake screenshot

    It began as a low rumble. I thought someone was moving furniture in my building but then it grew stronger.  I was being shaken, and for a few scary seconds I thought my apartment was going to split in two.

    Then it stopped. Outside was a gorgeous sunny day. What happened?

    I filed downstairs with my neighbors, none of whom knew exactly what we had experienced. Was this just on our block? I checked Twitter and saw that people from the around the Washington region were tweeting, “Earthquake.” Within seconds, someone had retweeted confirmation from the US Geological Society.

    After I posted this anecdote on GovLoop, it was used in Washington Post article on disaster preparedness in federal government. The article highlighted the fact that informal networks, like Twitter, conveyed information more quickly and efficiently than official government channels.

  • New Article: Local Films Shine in DC Shorts

    Why do they make movies in LA? Well, they always have.

    But, with cheap cameras and Internet distribution, that doesn’t need to be the case anymore. The upcoming DC Shorts Film Festival features several films that were made in Washington. In an article for the Pink Line Project, I argue that these local films are just the harbinger of things to come. I believe that moviemaking will escape from LA and that interesting films will be made everywhere.

  • "Software is Wrong, Not the People" Republished by Design Firm

    My post, The Software is Wrong, Not the People, is the most popular thing I’ve ever written. It’s something I wrote after hearing Matt Mullenweg of WordPress discuss his philosophy toward software development. In short: if users are confused by something, then they’re right.

    A design firm in NY republished it on their site (with my permission), since it explains why they use WordPress for their clients.

     

  • Friday Photo: Baltimore Edition

    View from Federal Hill, Baltimore, MD

    If DC is where high school valedictorians go, then what is Baltimore? The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street have given this charming, scruffy city a bad rap. It’s home to some delightful neighborhoods, like Federal Hill (pictured above). It’s where Federal troops were stationed during the Civil War, to keep an eye on the occasionally riotous citizens of the city. Now it’s used for more peaceful purposes.

  • New Article: Local Films in DC Shorts

    I’m the Chief Blogger for the DC Shorts Film Festival, responsible for developing an editorial strategy, training contributors, editing blog posts and writing posts of my own.

    For the DC Shorts blog, I wrote a short article on local filmmakers in the festival. It’s a subject I’ve been interested in for a long time. The revolution in technology (cheaper cameras and internet distribution) allow anyone to make a movie these days. There’s no reason that filmmaking has to only occur in Hollywood anymore.

  • Book Review: Purple Cow by Seth Godin

    I’m a fan of Seth Godin, particularly his book, The Dip, which is about knowing when to quit and when to keep going. His thoughts on traditional publishing are also really compelling – it’s an industry that is broken. I read just about everything he writes.

    purple cowPurple Cow is one of his older works, published in 2003 and updated last year. Purple Cow is a book that will push you to create something extraordinary. Godin’s basic point is that we don’t remember ordinary experiences, like the airline that got you to your destination on-time or the meal that was merely OK. Instead, we become passionate over excellent, “above and beyond” service and products. We rave about them to our friends and neighbors, which is the best marketing there is.

    And about the only marketing that works.

    Which is Godin’s point – in order to break through the clutter, we must create the truly extraordinary. Do work that scares you, that’s on the edge. Don’t be like other people – be unique.

    A compelling idea, but one that probably doesn’t deserve a whole book (even a slim one). After a while, it’s the same story of iconoclasm again and again. Also, some of the examples are dated now, like JetBlue as a paragon of customer service and Godin’s comment about mobile phones being commodities at this point – obviously written before the iPhone.

    But if you’re a fan of Seth Godin, or are currently working on a new product and need some inspiration, then it’s worth checking out.

    Note: The 2010 edition includes an appendix containing stories of companies and organizations that have adopted the Purple Cow philosophy successfully.

  • New Article: What's New at DC Shorts

    Check out my new article for the Pink Line Project on what’s new at DC Shorts. This is an amazing film festival that I’ve been involved with for several years. 2011 features more films (145 from 23 countries) plus bigger parties and more free sessions on filmmaking. The DC Shorts Film Festival runs from September 8-18.

  • Friday Photo: The Unsinkable Mary Murphy

    mary murphy and redskins cheerleaders

    It was one of the hottest days of the year, at the end of a week of 100+ temperatures in Washington, DC. Cooped up by the oppressive heat, I had gotten a little stir crazy, so decided to venture out to check out Dance Day DC, where my friend and neighbor Cecile was volunteering

    It was held at the Sylvan Theater, a little bowl next to the Washington Monument, with a steamy southern exposure. Things were pretty staid until the arrival of Mary Murphy, the judge from So You Think You Can Dance.

    The audience knew as soon as she took the mic – I literally recoiled away from the speakers as her voice blasted out. She’s the loudest person I’ve ever met and probably didn’t even need a microphone.

    Despite the crushing heat, she led the audience in a complex series of dances, part of a flashmob. This went on for a good half hour, dance after dance. I can’t imagine how hot it must’ve been on stage. I was off to the side, in the shade, doing nothing but taking pictures and I could barely stand it.

    Murphy even taunted the sun. “I heard it was hot but, c’mon, is that the best you can do?!!”

    It’s a good thing that she’s a celebrity. Otherwise, people might think she was insane.

  • "The Happiest Man in Washington" Published in eFiction Magazine

    My short story, “The Happiest Man in Washington” has been published in eFiction Magazine. You can read it below. If you roll over the pages, you’ll see backward and forward arrows. Click on the page and it will become a full-screen view.

    This story was inspired by a homeless man I used to see daily at 17th and Rhode Island in DC. He was a neighborhood fixture, a happy face greeting commuters every morning. I wondered how he got there and if he ever thought about leaving the streets.

    [issuu viewmode=presentation layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml showflipbtn=true pagenumber=67 documentid=110801031002-b8529143d5464ccaafd9f5dd37e86a28 docname=efiction_magazine_august_2011 username=efictionmagazine loadinginfotext=eFiction%20Magazine%20No.%20017%20August%202011 showhtmllink=true tag=efiction width=600 height=776 unit=px]

    Like this? Read more of my short fiction and my novel, Murder in Ocean Hall.

    (For you WordPress geeks, eFiction is a magazine that was created using Issuu. You can embed and customize the viewer.  I used the Issuu “customize and embed” tool to get the code to paste into my site. I made the embedded viewer one page across (instead of two) and to start on p.67, where my story is, rather than at the beginning of the magazine. The WP Issuu plugin was also necessary to make all this work. It’s not difficult.)