This Friday VCAM will be hosting a new group of artists.  Come down and see the work, meet the artists and have some refreshments.  The show is called Luminists and features work by Marcia Blanco, David Mialle and Dan O’Donnell.  The reception will run from 6 to 8 pm at the VCAM studio.  We hope you can join us.

VCAM viewers may be familiar with Penny Dreadful, the hostess of Penny Dreadful’s Shilling Shockers — an access show that comes to us from Massachusetts. Ms. Dreadful got a nod in today’s USA Today in an article about the history and legacy of horror movie show hosts and hostesses. Her name appeared in the article along side such other horror show luminaries as Vampira and Zachary. Congratulations, Penny!

From the article…

With the advent of cable access and YouTube, a new generation of horror hosts is emerging from the genre’s freshly dug graves. Dr. Gangrene in Nashville appears on local TV in a retro horror show that also features his red-haired assistant, Nurse Moan-Eek. In Massachusetts, Penny Dreadful hosts movies ranging from The Brain That Wouldn’t Die to The Seventh Seal on public access stations. She says her character “is definitely in the tradition of the dark mysterious lady you don’t want to mess with — Vampira.”

Check out Penny Dreaful’s Halloween special, The Horror Hosts of New England! The hour and a half special will run three times on Halloween — at 6:30 am, 7:30 pm, and an extra scary 1:00 am late-night airing. Tune in!

Burlington filmmaker Nate Beaman has been shooting a bunch of short films with local filmmakers on his tricked-out Panasonic HVX200. He collaborated with VCAM Production Manager Bill Simmon on a short documentary called Digital Pamphleteer, which recently won the Goldstone Award at the Vermont International Film Festival. He also recently shot three short films for Vermont filmmaker Michael Fisher. These films and Nate’s rig are featured on the Redrock Micro cinema accessories website. Nate is Redrock’s “featured filmmaker.” Nate uses a Redrock-manufactured lens adaptor that allows him to use 35mm prime lenses on his Panasonic HVX200 HD camera. The result is an astoundingly shallow depth of field that accentuates the camera’s already very film-like look. Our congratulations go out to Nate for the recognition.

To see the films Nate shot for Michael Fisher and to read all about his set-up, check out the Redrock profile. Bill’s film, Digital Pamphleteer, will go online in a month or two and we’ll link to it here when it does. Stay tuned.

The AP is reporting that Comcast is actively blocking certain peer-to-peer file sharing connections.

NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally.

The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users.

If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.

The principle of equal treatment of traffic, called “Net Neutrality” by proponents, is not enshrined in law but supported by some regulations. Most of the debate around the issue has centered on tentative plans, now postponed, by large Internet carriers to offer preferential treatment of traffic from certain content providers for a fee.

Comcast’s interference, on the other hand, appears to be an aggressive way of managing its network to keep file-sharing traffic from swallowing too much bandwidth and affecting the Internet speeds of other subscribers.

…

Comcast’s technology kicks in, though not consistently, when one BitTorrent user attempts to share a complete file with another user. Each PC gets a message invisible to the user that looks like it comes from the other computer, telling it to stop communicating. But neither message originated from the other computer — it comes from Comcast. If it were a telephone conversation, it would be like the operator breaking into the conversation, telling each talker in the voice of the other: “Sorry, I have to hang up. Good bye.”

According to The Washington Post, an irate Comcast customer was so incensed by the poor treatment she received, she marched down to the local office and attacked the customer service counter with a hammer…

This was after the company had scheduled installation of its much ballyhooed “Triple Play” service, which combines phone, cable and Internet services, in Shaw’s brick home in nearby Bristow. But Shaw said they failed to show up on the appointed day, Monday, Aug. 13. They came two days later but left with the job half done. On Friday morning, they cut off all service.

This was the company that has had consumer service problems serious enough to prompt the trade magazine Advertising Age to editorialize that Comcast and other cable providers should spend less on advertising and more on customer service. And has spawned a blog called ComcastMustDie.com that’s filled with posts from angry customers.

So on that Friday, Mona Shaw and her husband, Don, went to the local call center office to complain.

Let’s pick it up, mid-action, according to Shaw:

Mona demands to speak to a manager. A customer service representative says someone will be right with them. Directs them to a bench, outside. (Remember, it’s mid-August.) Mona and Don sit.

Tick, tick, tick, goes the clock. Sit, sit, sit, go Mona and Don.

For. Two. Hours.

And then — this is the best part — the customer rep leans out the door and says the manager has left for the day. Thanks for coming!

…

So, after stewing over it all weekend, on the following Monday, she went downstairs, got Don’s claw hammer and said: “C’mon, honey, we’re going to Comcast.”

Did you try to stop her, Mr. Shaw?

“Oh no, no,” he says.

Hammer time: Shaw storms in the company’s office. BAM! She whacks the keyboard of the customer service rep. BAM! Down goes the monitor. BAM! She totals the telephone. People scatter, scream, cops show up and what does she do? POW! A parting shot to the phone!

“They cuffed me right then,” she says.

Her take on Comcast: “What a bunch of sub-moronic imbeciles.”

One of the most popular culture and technology blogs, Boing Boing [and one of my daily stops. –Bill], has launched a new video podcast called Boing Boing TV. Their plan is to produce one short (under 5 minutes) webisode each and every weekday. Ambitious. The first one focuses on one of BB’s favorite subjects: visions of the future, and is hosted by BB founder Mark Frauenfelder and BB, NPR and Wired contributor, Xeni Jardin. Xeni writes…

Boing Boing co-founder Mark Frauenfelder and I are co-hosting the first few weeks of Boing Boing tv, but expect to see the other Boing Boing and Boing Boing Gadgets editors, too — Pesco, Cory, Joel — along with familiar characters whose work and eccentricities have been chronicled here before.

And: you. We also welcome video produced by you, our community, our audience, our internet-friends, and we’re working out exactly that might fit in the mix (we’d love to hear your thoughts on that).

We’re exploring different ways of producing this, and plan to publish a mix of faster-moving “internet zeitgeist” stories with material that remains of interest for a long time. Some lighthearted, other stories less so. In other words, a variety of material pretty much like you find on the blog.

An RSS feed will be available soon for all your subscription needs. In the meantime, here’s a link.