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Here's a reprint of the "Nothing So Strange" email newsletter that went
out July 18, 2003. If you're not on the list, you can subscribe right
here and never miss the latest news:
+ SCREENINGS: New York premiere Monday, July 21 + SCREENINGS: New York premiere Monday, July 21, 7:30 pm
If you are in or around New York City, don't miss the New York
premiere of "Nothing So Strange," the groundbreaking documentary-style
drama about the assassination of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. The details:
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+ NSS IN THE NEWS: Site hack causes Korean stock market crash
While "Nothing So Strange" has a pretty convincing Web universe, we
are always very clear to date the Gates assassination as occurring on
December 2, 1999. However, a computer hacker recently copied our fake
CNN story about the assassination and re-jiggered it so that it
appeared to be dated whatever day you came to the hacker's site. This
hack caused a $3 billion loss in the South Korean stock market when
somehow somebody got hoodwinked. The BBC reports:
"There's nothing like the internet for making people look foolish.
"The latest outbreak of red faces is in Seoul, where Korean journalists
and investors have been caught out by one of the oldest online hoaxes
around. "On a slack Friday afternoon's trading, the Korean stock
market dropped by 1.5% - a value loss of more than $3bn - after local
TV reported that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates had been assassinated.
"Mr Gates, who personifies many of the hopes of the global technology
industry, was reportedly shot by a lone gunman at a charity event in
Los Angeles - 'facts' eagerly retailed by three Korean channels, MBC,
YTN and SBS. "In fact, the story was a hoax, lifted from a -
admittedly, highly accurate - spoof of the CNN website." see:
Unsharp Mask, LLC, the company that produced "Nothing So Strange,"
is fully cooperating with the authorities investigating this incident. =============================
+ LATEST REVIEW: "Brilliant, one-of-a-kind faux documentary"
Can you count the number of times that "brilliant" has been used to
describe "Nothing So Strange"? Neither can we. Joining the bandwagon is
Gerald Peary, who writes in the Boston Phoenix: "'Nothing So Strange.' It's the perfect title for Brian Flemming's
brilliant, one-of-a-kind faux documentary, which begins with
Microsoft's Bill Gates getting gunned down at the bandshell of LA's
MacArthur Park. Is the killer the black man who's shot dead in turn by
the LAPD? Or someone unknown? This movie traces the search, over
several years, by a left-liberal don't-trust-the-police ad hoc group
called Citizens for Truth to find out what really happened. 'Nothing So
Strange' is in no way a 'mockumentary': the search is a straightforward
affair, and it's completely credible, the people on screen being
immersed in their obsession. You almost have to pinch yourself to say,
Wait a minute, Bill Gates is alive!' But he's stone dead in this
movie's meta-universe, which extends into the end credits, where we're
told the 'characters' played themselves and reminded that they're all
members of Citizens for Truth, for which there is a solemn Web site."
We recently put up a page on the official "Nothing So Strange" site that
links to some of the other print, TV and web press this movie has
received. You can read the Drudge Report's proclaiming the film
"cinematic shock," the Seattle Times front-page story headlined "Gates
Shot! But don't worry, it's only a movie," and Salon's report on the
NSS cast and crew "Doing the Sundance shuffle." There are also
QuickTime movies of lead actress Laurie Pike's interview on the Fox
News Channel by an openly hostile Neil Cavuto (don't miss this surreal
clip) and director Brian Flemming's interview on CNN Headline News. READ STORIES, WATCH CLIPS:
============================= + NEW ONLINE: The Open Source Footage Store On February 12 of this
year, to riotous applause at the San Francisco IndieFest, we announced
that "Nothing So Strange" was officially the first "open source"
feature film in cinema history. While our version of the film itself
is protected by an "all rights reserved" copyright, the raw footage
that makes up the film is "open source." Once you get your hands on
some raw footage, it is yours to use as you please. However, announcing that the raw footage is open source is different
than actually delivering the footage, which is a logistical challenge.
To take the first step toward a solution, we have created the "Open
Source Footage Store," where you can purchase short clips and download
them to your computer. Prices for the clips range from 5 cents to 25
cents. We are using a wonderful new "micropayment" technology called
BitPass, which makes it easy to spend tiny amounts on the Web (which
means we can pay for the bandwidth to deliver the clips). So if you're not one already, become a filmmaker today. We've taken
care of that pesky "going out and shooting something" part of the
process. Editing is where a film is really made anyway. Think "Nothing
So Strange" director Brian Flemming missed the mark with his analysis
of the Gates assassination? Show the world where he went wrong. Grab
some clips, start editing, narrate it, add music, combine with your own
footage--make this footage say what YOU want it to say. Then share your
work--give it away, sell it, make a DVD and put it on eBay, BitPass a
download on your own site, whatever you want. Once you buy it, it's
your footage. EXCLUSIVE TO NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS: Right now, for a limited time,
the clips at the Open Source Footage Store are FREE. Download all you
want. The clips will cost money after we make a wider press
announcement. But you're the first to know about the Open Source
Footage Store, and, for now, the clips are yours for the clicking.
Presently stocked at the store are several clips of the assassination,
the full audio of the LAPD interrogation of Julia Serrano, four music
MP3s and more. DOWNLOAD OPEN-SOURCE CLIPS AT:
============================= + RUMOR MILL: Watch "Nothing So Strange" on the Web? While it isn't
official yet, "Nothing So Strange" hopes soon to announce that it will
be the first feature film to be released on the World Wide Web using
the new BitPass micropayment technology. (This is separate from our
sale of short clips at the Open Source Footage Store.) We're working on
the timing, implementation and price structure of this Web download. It
costs a lot, unfortunately, to deliver video over the Web, and the
image quality is not nearly that of DVD. However, we have had enough
requests that we can't ignore the fact that some people would like to
experience the film this way. Please help us by taking the new poll on
nothingsostrange.com. TAKE THE POLL:
And please feel free to send us any additional feedback on the
Web-downloading idea. Would you buy a little QuickTime movie (i.e., 160
x 120) for $3? What's the maximum file size you would download? 100MB?
600MB? 1GIG? EMAIL FEEDBACK:
doc@nothingsostrange.com =============================
Get the latest. Visit the Gates-assassination Web universe:
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