These are some of the sites and blogs I visit and read regularly:

• Shira Golding wrote a really fine piece this week called “Upstream: The Wide Wide World of Online Video Platforms” for MediaRights. The organization also brings news of filmmaker, Jehane Noujaim’s call for entries for Pangea Day, a landmark, one-day, global film event showcasing shorts from around the world.
• Over at Shooting People, Ingrid Kopp blogs on Shooting from the Hip about an interview with writer, Harlan Ellison, who rails against the propensity these days of someone offering an artist exactly zilch to use his or her work–a timely topic for the looming writers’ strike.
• For some mind-bending independent film distribution statistics, visit the blog Independent Films by the Numbers, where resident cruncher, Matt Syrett, weighs in on some solid strategies for marketing and exhibiting your film to its best advantage–impress your friends and neighbors by whipping out those bar charts.
• I always check in with the Cinephiliac to read a heartwarming yarn about Aaron Hillis’ latest adventures in film journalism-land.
• Also love visiting Blank Screen–check out their great interview with Cartune Xprez, a curatorial project for animated videos and multimedia performances.
• The latest Westchester-based Burns Film Center newsletter reports that Janet Maslin will be talking to artist and film director, Julian Schnabel, after a screening of his beautiful The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on Thursday, November 29. Maslin will also host a chat with graphic novelist/filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, director of Persepolis, after it screens there on Thursday, December 13.
• And then there are my friends over at UnionDocs, hosts of the Documentary Bodega series. Their blog is maintained by program director, Christopher Allen and the eight resident curators and producers that use the large house on Union Avenue in Williamsburg as both living and work space for their film, photography, art, music and media projects. This is a unique arts collaborative where the visiting residents live and work for one year, usually while pursuing advanced degrees. Take a visit out there on a Sunday evening and get involved. One of the current residents, Hillevi Loven, an MFA candidate in Integrated Media Arts at Hunter College is working on a project on Christian hardcore/metal culture (hmm). She says that, “UDRP offers a growing community. I wanted to build a center for creative exchange and dialogue between media artists. I have always longed for a chance to create a presentation/exhibition space.” If you’re looking for a cool place to have a screening for your film, get in touch with the curators over there.