ON-AIR HANGOUT SCHEDULED FOR WED 10:30A PDT

Adam Cosco is a American Film Institute graduate with mission. His vision: to make a his debut feature Personal Demons–a film about "two neighbors with haunted pasts" who'd "kill for a second chance–through Kickstarter, all while taking the crowdfunding site back for indie filmmakers.

The crowdfunding goal: $100,000.

The hashtag: #takeindieback

Cosco's concept trailer and directing reel showcase polished, confident work. The premise of the feature looks rock solid. Yet has he bitten off more than he can chew? Is the story really indie vs. celebrity?

We aim to find out tomorrow in a LIVE Google Hangout, right here at this very URL.

Follow Noah Nelson on Twitter (@noahjnelson)

Uneasy lies they head that wears the crown.

Being the most profitable technology company in the world makes you a target for everyone: corporate rivals, pundit haters, and Senate permanent subcommittees on investigations.

For Apple that has meant coming under heavy fire by the U.S. Senate for the way that they handle their cash. Ars Technica sets the scene wherein Apple CEO Tim Cook faced the political heat:

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), who chairs the Senate subcommittee where Cook testified, opened the proceedings today by suggesting that Apple has avoided paying $9 billion in taxes with strategies like those seen at the Irish subsidiaries.

Cook and company attempted to get ahead of the story over the past few days, even releasing the full testimony they set out to give to the panel. What's at stake isn't the reputation of Apple, but the structure of the entire U.S. corporate tax code, and perhaps the corporate tax codes of the rest of the world as well.

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Recently, Kevin Smith took to Reddit to do an AMA, and because people were already going to ask whether or not he’d use Kickstarter, he had this to say in the introduction:

As for funding the flick – we nearly Kickstarted the budget back in November (talked about at great length here: http://smodcast.com/episodes/giant-sized-annual-1-clerks-iii-audience-0/). But now I’m feeling like that’s not fair to real indie filmmakers who need the help. Unlike back when I made CLERKS in ’91, I’ve GOT access to money now – so I should use that money and not suck any loot out of the crowd-funding marketplace that might otherwise go to some first-timer who can really use it. So if I can get away with it, I’m gonna try to pay for CLERKS III myself. As much as I love the crowd-funding model (and almost did it myself in early 2009 with RedStateGreen.com), that’s an advancement in indie film that belongs to the next generation of artists. I started on my own dime, and if I’m allowed, I should finish on my own dime.

Fair enough. He’s (mostly) wrong about crowdfunding’s dynamics and macro-economics, but it’s not like this is his job. He’s an indie filmmaker (sort of). And being an indie filmmaker means that you get to make your movie however you see fit, whether you’re a kid in Montana or Neil Young. That’s what “indie” means. So when fellow filmmakers rail on someone like Zach Braff, it strikes me as incredibly selfish and hypocritical. Anyway, if he wants to finish the Clerks trilogy on his own dime, that’s 100% his call.

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Mainstream.

That's the watchword out of today's reveal of the new XBox One console.

(You may want to read up on the bullet points before going further. This is an analysis piece.)

The Redmond giant set itself an impossible task today: make the case for a new piece of gaming hardware to hardcore gamers, the cynical gamer press, and a general consumer base that–at best–is barely recovering from the longest economic recession in decades.

There is already much gnashing of teeth amongst gamers and gaming pundits on Twitter about the lack of games revealed, and even the order in which they were shown.

Which is just this side of ridiculous.

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From Daring Fireball to The Verge everyone is excited about the big images, free terabyte of space, and basically the idea that the “new” Yahoo! seems to know how valuable a piece of Internet real estate Flickr can be.

Everyone but the users commenting on the official page, that is.

Pitchforks! Fire! Change BAD!

Follow Noah Nelson on Twitter (@noahjnelson)

New media star Felicia Day–creator of the hit webseries The Guild and founder of YouTube Channel Geek & Sundry–has taken the next step towards becoming the reigning monarch of YouTube: forming an MCN of her own.

MCNs, for those not down with ACRONYMs, stands for Multi-Channel Network. The MCN that Day is forming may not have the scale of a Fullscreen or Maker Studios, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in focus.

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It's right there in the second paragraph of the press release that announced that Yahoo! has acquired Tumblr:

Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business. David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators.

Tumblr CEO David Karp is staying on with the company, and this certainly solves the little problem they had: that they weren't making any money.

Funny how that "make money" comes up now and then.

How independent will Tumblr remain, however? That's the real question. As Redditors will quickly tell you Tumblr is for teh pr0n, and Yahoo! is a family friendly company.

Of course, Reddit happens to be owned by the same privately held company that owns Condé Nast, and Reddit is full of the pr0n. There is that big difference: Yahoo! is a publicly traded firm.

If Yahoo! can plug Tumblr into their advertising stream without disrupting the entire user experience this could be a win all around.

That's a mighty big "if".

Follow Noah Nelson on Twitter (@noahjnelson)

So "whimsical" and "sweet" are not words that usually pop up in my vocabulary with great frequency. At least not in their non-ironic form.

Yet those are the exact adjectives–irony free–that come to mind whenever I encounter the short form work of writer/director Wendy McColm.

This piece, featuring McColm and comedian Josh Fadem with cinematography by Nate Cornett needs no more introduction.

Follow Noah Nelson on Twitter (@noahjnelson)

Introducing The CrowdCrowd, a weekly show about crowdfunding.

We’ve gathered a rogue’s gallery of clever panelists– Cindy Marie Jenkins, Jonathan Poritsky, Gabe Diani and Etta Devine, all led by host Noah Nelson to discuss the crowdfunding news of the week.

Recorded via the magic of Google Hangouts, this pilot episode is a little rough around the edges, but we’re proud of the quality of the discussion.

Subscribe via the RSS link here: The CrowdCrowd

After the jump, the promised show notes.

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We've had some more time to kick around the changes over at G+ and the new Hangouts app, and despite my initial distaste, I'm starting to come around.

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