Nina Paley's Blog » Radio

Sita Soundtrack now available!

nina — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:02:01 +0000

You can buy it right now at CDBaby. Soon it will be at the Sita Merch Empire (where we’ll get more profit per sale), but with today’s snow it may take a while for the initial shipment of CDs to reach the order fulfillment warehouse.

In semi-related news, I mention the soundtrack on this podcast interview with the CommandLine. I was all worried about being inarticulate, but actually I said some smart stuff. Thanks to Thomas Gideon/cmdln for asking smart questions, making smart comments, and making a smart show.

Oh, and DC was fun! I spoke at American University. Great audience, great hosts. (And AU’s IP Law Clinic did all the initial legal research on the Annette Hanshaw songs I used in Sita Sings the Blues, for which I am forever grateful.) During my visit, everyone in DC was still talking about their weeks-past “snowpocalypse,” even though the snow was mostly melted, just some patches on the sides of the streets. I thought, “big deal, I wish we’d gotten more snow in New York.” Then I came back to New York just in time for a snowpocalypse here! I have a lot more sympathy for DC now.

WNYC today at 2pm, 93.9 fm

nina — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:50:05 +0000

Smackdown: Open Source or Closed Doors? (click here to listen)

The director of Sita Sings the Blues, Nina Paley, had to pay $50,000 to use old songs in her animation movie. She then put the movie online for free and turned herself into a free-culture activist. Composer Jaron Lanier was a digital pioneer in the ’90s, but in his new book he claims that open-source is destroying creativity and fostering vicious behavior. They join us to debate the pros and cons of free love in art-making.

Sita Sings the Blues site
More about Jaron Lanier [NY Times]

To the Best of Our Knowledge

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:04:16 +0000

A segment on Sita Sings the Blues on NPR’s To the Best of Our Knowledge, starting around 13:30.

By Popular Demand: “Sita” Title Music

nina — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:45:55 +0000

The immensely talented Todd Michaelsen composed and performed the fabulous title track and much of the score for Sita Sings the Blues, which are now available for streaming (free) and download ($0.99) at toddmichaelsen.com. He has lots of other great music on his site too, you won’t be disappointed.

Comics! Animation! Post-Modern Literalist Irony!

nina — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:36:36 +0000

Pipe Wrench Fight!

Hat tip to Ian.

Free Annette Hanshaw “Sita” soundtrack!

nina — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:02:47 +0000

Music collector Matthew Lanoue has made available as free downloads the Annette Hanshaw songs used in Sita Sings the Blues. These recordings are only available anywhere due to the efforts of record collectors, NOT Big Media corporations. Thanks Matthew!

Update – today, October 18, is Annette Hanshaw’s birthday! How’s that for fortuitous timing? Hat tip to Stewart and Steven for emailing me.

Sita Sings the Blues’ Tribeca Publicity Roundup

nina — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:24:39 +0000

TV and Radio:

BBC World

Morning Edition, WNYC

My First Time, WNBC

AVS TV

Magazines:

Premiere’s Top 10 Films of Tribeca 2008

“wittily written, brilliantly acted”
–Variety

“beautifully audacious”
–Premiere

“One-Woman Pixar”
–Wired

“a unique depiction of the epic”
–Zee News

“…both heartfelt and consistently witty, the type of low-fi animated musical that puts Disney to shame.”
–FilmMaker Magazine/IFP

“a strange and beautiful little film”
–Spout

“funny and eye-popping and never bogs down.”
–Nerve

“One of the best films playing at the…Tribeca Film Festival this year”
–New York Magazine

Other Blogs:

“mind-blowing…The overall look of the film was fantastic; the graphics stunning and the flow between parallel threads excellent.”
– apercevoir

“…a triumph of individual creation.”
–JTAbron

“It’s touching, encouraging, fun, and educational. I LOVE IT!”
–tiny blog

“The narration was hilarious, the quality of animation never faltered no matter what the style and the songs were the most incredible fit – astonishing that a jazz song from the 1920′s would match exactly with a story from ~500 BC. “
–Yewknee/Michael Eades

“beautiful, funny, and kind of brilliant.”
–Two-Timing My Scrapbook

“Hopefully this movie finds its way to Thailand in order to give people a glimpse of how traditional material can still be meaningful today.”
–comment on Thai Film Journal

Morning Edition

nina — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:42:20 +0000

You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to hear Sita Sings the Blues mentioned on the radio. That’s what will supposedly happen on WNYC tomorrow (Tuesday April 22) around 6:30ish (FM) and 8:30ish (AM), during Morning Edition. I think it’s local only, but you can hear it online (hour 2, about mid-way through). That’s what I’m gonna do, since I plan to be asleep when it airs live. (Big ups to Publicity Bitch, whose work seems to be paying off.)