This week's FU is given out by none other than Doug Bresler, independent animator and creator of Doogtoons. One of his most well-known works is his animated music video for Weird Al Yankovic, Trapped in the Drive-Thru, which has gotten almost five million views on YouTube alone.
Frank Warren is the soft spoken man behind one of the most popular blogs on the Internet: PostSecret. Most people already know about the intimate project where people anonymously send in their secrets on beautifully crafted postcards. Frank created the project as an art installation before taking it to the web. As founder and curator, Frank receives hundreds of postcards from all over the world.
If you saw a bunch of bicyclists zipping past you on the highway, what would you think? Well, if I were stuck in traffic, as is usually the case in a car culture town like Los Angeles, I would think "I bet if I were riding a bike, I'd be home by now." That would probably be true -- and that is exactly the kind of thought that Crimanimalz wants floating through your head.
No one is more deserving of this week's FU of the Week (check out the full episode here) than Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Zack Whedon, the notorious writers of the epic three-part musical mini-series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. If you haven't heard the story of the evil Freeze Ray toting mastermind with a heart of cold created by Joss Whedon, where the heck on the InterWebs have you been?
Scott Sigler is the Future Dark Overlord™. That's what he says. We believe him. He has a pair of chicken scissors ready if we dare say otherwise. So that's what we'll all say "Oh, hail Future Dark Overlord!"
On a more serious note, there is a reason why we chose Scott to be our FU of the Week -- he epitomizes the FU. He's a science fiction horror novelist who took matters into his own hands after getting rejection letter after rejection letter. And they didn't involve sharp deadly weapons, though some may consider podcasting equipment just that.
If you haven't heard of Mortified, it all began in 1990 when founder Dave Nadelberg found an old unsent love letter and shared it with friends. In 2002, he teamed up with Neil Katcher, formally formed Mortified and began sifting through thousands of people's forgotten diaries and photos in an attempt to "crack the lid off our cultural shoebox and expose our inner geek."
Note: Check the extended interview after the jump!
I remember the first time I watched The Guild. I was surfing around on YouTube, looking at various web shows and funny one-off videos. Thinking back, I'm not quite sure which breadcrumb lead me to The Guild, but as soon as I finished watching the first episode I clicked "subscribe." With its clever writing, nuanced acting, and that web aesthetic that is so hard to pin down by many "experienced" Hollywood producers, it stood head and shoulders above most web shows. When I took a look under the hood, I became especially thrilled to know it was written and produced by the lead actress of the series, Felicia Day.
Note: Check out the extended interview after the jump!
Sustainable Dave first caught my attention when he was interviewed on NPR at the beginning of the year. I only knew him then as the guy with the crazy trash saving idea, but it was intriguing nonetheless. Before heading over to Dave's house to interview him, I decided to keep all my trash for just that day. By the time 2pm rolled around, I already had the cardboard box from starting a new tube of toothpaste, a box and waxed paper from a morning bagel run, napkins, a plastic Starbucks cup, and two receipts. That was just in the span of 6 hours!
To tell you the truth, I didn't know much... I had never heard of KCRW before moving to Los Angeles. Even then, it was just a station someone had recommended that I program into my car radio. Surprisingly, I don't spend much time in my car, so I never get to listen to most of those stations.
Fast-forward a few years and we're interviewing KCRW for the FU of the Week. I quickly learned that the local public radio station based out of Santa Monica College is a beacon of light to a lot of indie musicians and responsible for launching many of their professional careers. It's also known far and wide for the way they use technology to get their content out on a global scale.
Meanest Man Contest is a hip-hop duo featuring Quarterbar and Eric Steuer. The guys met in college and first started recording rap songs on a "barely-working 4-track." In 2002 they released their first single, Contaminated Dance Step.
Elon Musk is the principal owner and chairman of Tesla Motors, an electric car company that actually released a 100% electric car -- their first model is a gorgeous sports car dubbed the Roadster. In April, they opened their first U.S. showroom in Los Angeles where Zadi got a chance to speak with Elon about electric cars and some of Elon's other endeavors.
This week our FU of the Week is served by Jacob Soboroff, the Executive Director of WhyTuesday.org -- a non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing voter participation through election reform.
Sounds stuffy, but really it's not. They ask a simple question: Why do Americans vote on Tuesdays? Why not another day, why not weekends, why not on a national holiday? You might be surprised by the answer. Be sure to watch Zadi's interview with Jacob to hear his explanation.
Each week, we here at EPIC FU highlight someone or something who is giving the ultimate FU to the status-quo. This week, the FU of the Week is being served by Jonathan Coulton, the former computer programmer turned Geek Rockstar.
In 2005, Jonathan stopped writing software and started writing song lyrics. He immediately tapped into his online roots and decided to release a song a week for an entire year as free downloads on his site. The combination of the web's love of free things and Jonathan's readiness to take creative risks turned the experiment into a crazy success. The project, called Thing a Week, garnered a legion of loyal fans, who are now the core of his online community and continue to fuel his music career.
