Community Is Everything

As we enter 2011, it's become obvious how important Facebook is to enabling a community of like-minded people to interact with each other around things they care about. Very few people want to maintain multiple profiles on multiple social networks anymore.

MIX has been an amazing place for Zadi and me to get to know the people who care the most about Epic Fu and to create amazing projects together. You guys have been with us through thick and thin the past 3 years since we created the site, and it's been incredible.

1. Video: Willhundredpercent's Object Part One

Lately, Stephen Hawking has been on a roll with the doom and gloom - evil aliens, Earth's extinction, no God. Just know, we have options, people! :)

1. Video: The Wilderness Downtown.
Arcade Fire teams up with Google to make a nostalgic HTML5 Music Video.

7 Steps to Building Your Online Identity
From the planning stages to your public internet presence, we show you how to construct an ID that will last in the constantly changing social web and examples of who's doing it right!

5 Ways to Make an Awesome Community
We give you five simple steps to finding and building your own online community. From finding your passion to engaging with an audience, we give you a 101 primer on how its done and point you to the web communities that can get you started.

Is Your Private Info Way Too Public?
In this episode we show you five simple steps to keeping your online privacy in check. From passwords to location tracking to cookies, we'll give you the skinny on the simple things you may be overlooking in order to keep your privacy on the web.

As work continues behind the scenes on the new Epic Fu blog network, I wanted to show you a blog that will be part of the network: Audioesque.

Created by Michael (Giannii) Calvert, Audioesque reviews an album each day of the week, uncovering the artistry of musicians and their creative process for each digital wax masterpiece they produce. With each review they reward one viewer for "filling in the blank" on one unanswered question within the show.

Here's a draft of the intro for the videos that Giannii's been putting together -- he's got a lot more up his sleeve.

We're still a few weeks away from launching the network, but we'll keep dropping tidbits to preview things as they become available.

Hello out there in Internetvision land! I'm really happy to be writing this blog post, because I get to let the world know that we're launching a new season of Epic Fu on January 21, 2010!

To celebrate we're going to drink a lot, and you're invited. But before we drink, the great folks at Tubefilter will feature Zadi and me in an onstage discussion as part of their monthly Web Television Meetup to talk about the show and our experiences creating and iterating it over the years. Our deals with Next New Networks and Revision3, our almost-multi-year cable television deal, assembling a team, building a brand, dealing with the ups and downs of new media -- it's all up for grabs.

From the Tubefilter announcement:

For the January edition of the Hollywood Web Television Meetup, we are proud to present a very special evening with popular internet culture show EPIC FU as they launch the new EPIC FU network. Join us as we screen the premiere of one of the web’s most revered and award-winning series, followed by an intimate discussion with its creators, Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf. The evening is sponsored by HP and Intel, who will be onhand to give away a free HP Envy laptop and a free HP DreamScreen for Meetup attendees. This is definitely a night not to be missed!

A Special Evening with EPIC FU
Thursday, January 21, 2010
7:30 pm – Panel / 8:45 pm – Mixer

Location:
Busby’s East (Mid Wilshire)
5364 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036

Come party with us this Sunday night as EPIC FU continues its Living Room Series with a Live performance by Paul Dateh & Ken Belcher. They'll be performing songs from their brand new EP, The Good Life, as well as giving away signed copies to a lucky few! I'll be hosting and taking questions from the live virtual audience - so make sure to drop by. Anything can (and will) happen!

Date: Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Time: 7pm PST
Place: YOUR living room! Meet us virtually at live.epicfu.com

RSVP on Facebook!

Since first appearing on the music scene two years ago, singer and violinist Paul Dateh has gone on to garner millions of views on the web as well as national exposure on television and in print. Now, Dateh has teamed up with guitarist Ken Belcher to create "The Good Life" - a concept record that offers a fresh and original take on acoustic urban folk music.

"The Good Life" is a seven-song EP that follows the life of a man living out his adulthood. Classic, well-known stories of finding happiness in each moment and the search for love are presented in new ways with Dateh's pure voice and lush string harmonies while Belcher punctuates each sentence with the soulful strumming of his guitar.

In preparation for this release, Paul Dateh and Ken Belcher have been touring throughout the United States performing to sold-out crowds while also continuing to build a solid following online. The duo will also be making their first one-month tour in Japan starting in November.

Fans from around the world are joining forces to recreate the classic, Star Wars: A New Hope.

The entire movie is split up into 15 second scenes. Claim a scene, film it, and upload it! When it's all done, it'll be stitched together so we can watch the magic happen.

Check out the official Star Wars Uncut Tumblr blog as well.

Directed by Alexander Tarrant and Justin Metros

They produced the show for Channel 101, the grandaddy of all funny video sites created by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab that keeps on chugging along and discovering new talent. This is episode 1 of Ikea Heights. Check out the others on Vimeo (Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4) or at the Channel 101 show site.

Big thanks to Ray Doustdar for working with us on the campaign as well as Sean Gailey, Tim Norris and the rest of the Jinx team. Also thanks to our DPs Lan Bui and Vu Bui, makeup artist Tracie Cotta, as well as Sarah Atwood and Rick Rey for their amazing production work.

We're revving our engines. Stay tuned! :)

Mark your calendars! This Sunday, June 21st at 7pm PST, EPIC FU is kicking off its Live Livingroom Series event with Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title. Jarrod will be giving us a sneak-peak of his highly anticipated upcoming album (still being produced as we speak!). We'll also have a Q&A session and autographed giveaways too! Definitely a must-see for fans old and new.

RSVP on Facebook

Jarrod has appeared on Carson Daly, Steven's Untitled Rock Show, One Tree Hill, MTV Subterranean. His songs have been featured in Greek, Real World, Good Luck Chuck, and The Haunting of Molly Hartley. And he's been written up by Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, and others. We're really happy to have Jarrod play the inaugural event since he was the very first musician to appear on EPIC FU (back then called JETSET) - seems fitting.

Does Conan's new set look familiar? That's because it's the Mushroom Kingdom from Super Mario Bros. The guys over at Serious Lunch caught the coincidence, and Kotaku got the scoop on the backdrop. When they asked Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime, if he would send a cease and desist, Reggie said "No. For Conan, we'll let that one slide."

NOTE: the main discussion around this blog post is taking place on Mix. Please go there to participate!

Zadi and I spent a lot of time the past two weeks thinking about what the next iteration of Epic Fu needs to be and how we can do it. Then we had another conversation tonight and it all changed... for the better.

It seems like the longer we make the Epic Fu web show, the more it becomes clear that there is a vast but disconnected sea of people who have a passion for the way global culture is influenced by what is happening on the web. We tend to be the ones who are a couple steps ahead of our friends and families, the ones that the people in our lives look to in order to find out what's coming next.

Update: Just noticed that the camera is indicated on the Vimeo video page. It's a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, same camera we just used to shoot a tv commercial (yes, it's an SLR!).

Quiet complexity comes to mind when I look at the test footage. It'll be cool to see the finished film, which begins shooting this summer. You can make a donation and contribute to the production of the film.

Check out some of the casting test footage with Sky Ferriera, who plays Jenny in the film.