| June 24, 2005 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig It’s been a subversive week here at Insurgent Headquarters. On last Saturday’s exciting edition of Insurgent Radio, we were privileged to have Bryant Maynard and David Turnbull, Anchorage’s very own ‘guerrilla’ filmmakers, join us for an in-studio interview. In case you live in a refrigerator box down at Point Woronzoff, Bryant was an employee at KYES Channel 5 who turned the station (and a few uptight insomniacs ... Prevo?) inside out when he decided to pre-empt a 2:00am John Wayne flick with “Checked Out”, a film he’d written and directed two years prior. There was only one problem: the film is laced with some 160+ profanities. Oops. Thankfully, the two mischievous little imps didn’t say any naughty words on the air. In fact, they gave a great interview, which was highlighted by a call from Bryant’s (former) supervisor at KYES. “Yeah, Bryant, I’ve got your last paycheck sitting here and I’m not sure what to do with it”, he declared smugly, making no effort to conceal his desire to shove Bryant’s check down his f**king throat. “Guerrilla” or not, Bryant slunk a bit in his chair. Later that night, the old lady and I curled up in front of the stupid box and watched “Checked Out”. It’s okay. Not great, not awful ... watchable. The merits of the film, however, are not the ultimate point here. These two guys had the brains and the balls to get their project out to a wider audience by whatever means necessary. Whatever you think of their tactics, there is no question that they worked. Their goofy stunt was picked up by local TV stations, Beth Bragg over at the ADN, the Northern Light, and, of course, Insurgent Radio. When I spoke with the guys last Saturday, they had sold so many DVD copies of “Checked Out” due to all the publicity, they were frantically scrambling to make more. Bravo, boys, well done. Bryant and David’s success with brute force marketing got us thinking about our own troubles with getting the word out here at Insurgent49. Like the guerrilla filmmakers, we lack the behemoth budget necessary to buy up big chunks of advertising in traditional media forums. So far, our “marketing” has consisted of emailing the crap out of everyone we know in the local press, and pasting I-49 stickers all over downtown (which have been mysteriously vanishing lately, by the way ... Prevo?). Some of our contributors have suggested that we employ other-than-legal means of mass marketing (which we won’t discuss here because, well, you never know ...). We’d prefer, however, to let our outstanding product speak for itself. We believe Insurgent49 has already become the most comprehensive source of progressive news and opinion in Alaska and, although ours is admittedly a niche market, we are gaining steam. The best way to spread the word about anything worthwhile is through simple word of mouth. Don’t the best movies, books, and music get discovered that way? And so, we’re going to do something we wouldn’t normally do ... we’re gonna beg. We need your help. If you like the articles, opinions, and cartoons you see here at Insurgent49, tell people about it. Email all of your friends and family, even your conservative brother-in-law, and let them know that not all Alaskans are savage oil whores bent on global destruction. There is a sizable contingent of progressive thinkers here in the reddest state of them all, and we have our very own kickass indy news source. Okay. Enough begging. In the meantime, rumor has it that Letterman might be interested in Anchorage’s guerrilla filmmakers. David Turnbull has agreed that, if they get on the show, he’ll wear an Insurgent49 t-shirt. Now there’s a good start. Regards, Aaron Selbig Editor, Insurgent Media AK |
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Insurgent Media.
All rights reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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