More Film, Please—The deadline for submitting film to the 10^th Annual Alibi Short Film Fiesta is almost upon us. Films must be in our grubby little hands by this Saturday, Sept. 18.

Sayles' latest walks the line between political commentary and pointed comedy

“Washington”--meaning, the general political power structure in America--has long accused “Hollywood”--meaning, the entertainment industry as a whole--of being a nest of potty-mouthed, sex-crazed, tree-hugging liberals. This year, it seems that Hollywood has finally risen to the challenge, unleashing a barrage of unabashedly anti-conservative, Republican-bashing rhetoric. From laser-guided documentaries like Fahrenheit 9/11, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Uncovered: The War on Iraq, Control Room, Persons of Interest and Bush's Brain to agitprop fiction like The Manchurian Candidate to Green Party fantasies like The Day After Tomorrow, summer movie screens are awash with left-wing indignation. Heck, even M. Night Shyamalan's crummy The Village could be viewed as a heavily cloaked parable about Tom Ridge's reign of terror.

Extreme surfing documentary rides the crest

Skateboarding legend Stacy Peralta staged a street-level assault on the documentary industry in 2001 when he unleashed Dogtown and Z-Boys, an unforgettable, eye-opening documentary about the history-making Zephyr skateboarding team--pioneers of the radical “vertical style” of boarding--which he himself had been a member of as a young boy. The power of Peralta's first documentary feature was that he made something as obscure at vertical skateboarding (essentially kids riding boards inside empty swimming pools) seem as radical and groundbreaking as mankind landing on the moon.

“The 56th Annual Emmy Awards” on ABC

This Sunday, it's time for the TV industry to congratulate itself by handing out a lot of self-serving awards. In recent years, the Emmys haven't been the most exciting crop. Almost without variation, we can expect to see “The Sopranos,” “The West Wing,” “Friends,” “24,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and Jane Kaczmarek from “Malcolm in the Middle” (five years worth of nominations and counting).

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth