Last summer, Nathan Kuruna interviewed me for his documentary Everything By Everyone. It's about internet media, and particularly Newgrounds, a website which hosts independent flash games. As you might guess, he didn't ask me about flash games - he asked me about the future of media, and particularly independent media. It was a pleasure and an honor to be included in the project... and now he's got a trailer! Note the appearance by internet luminary Kevin "Sprinkles" Pereira.

Matt Harlock and Steve Hicks on The Sound of Young America from Jesse Thorn on Vimeo.

Matt Harlock is one of the directors of American: The Bill Hicks Story, a documentary about the legendary rebel comic which screened at South by Southwest. Harlock talked with us about the film in Austin, along with Hicks' brother Steve.

The film tells the story of Bill Hicks, one of the most influential and incendiary comics of the last 25 years. Hicks started performing comedy as a teenager, but found his voice in his mid-20s. Inspired by a group of comics working out of the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas, Hicks was fiercely personal and fiercely political, as well. He struggled against drug and alcohol addiction, getting sober in the early 1990s. He became a major star in the UK (Harlock and his co-director Paul Thomas are English), but never achieved the national impact he'd like to have achieved in the United States. In late 1993, Hicks was diagnosed with cancer. He kept the diagnosis secret from all but his closest family. He passed in early 1994 at the age of 32.

Vimeo is having some trouble at the moment - video of this episode will be up as soon as possible.

Bear Nation Director Malcolm Ingram on The Sound of Young America from Jesse Thorn on Vimeo.

Malcolm Ingram, the director of Bear Nation, talks with Jesse Thorn at South by Southwest. The film is about "bears," a gay subculture known for their girth, their penchant for all things hirsute, and their acceptance of men who may not have been comfortable in other parts of gay culture.

Jeffrey Blitz and Sean Welch Interview on The Sound of Young America from Jesse Thorn on Vimeo.

Jeffrey Blitz and Sean Welch were nominated for an Oscar for their first documentary feature, Spellbound. They made the film as a duo with money borrowed from credit cards - Blitz behind the camera, and Welch holding the microphone boom.

Blitz went on to direct the fictional feature Rocket Science (you can hear his interview on the show about that film here), as well as episodes of The Office.

Now, Blitz and Welch have a new documentary, called Lucky, about lottery winners. It premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where we spoke to the pair.

A few months ago, filmmaker Gary Hustwit was on The Sound of Young America to talk about his documentary Objectified. At the time, he was touring with the film - if you missed the tour because of scheduling or geography, you can now catch the film on the PBS series Independent Lens, starting tonight.

Most PBS stations carry Independent Lens, to find out when yours does, use this handy tool.

The strange and remarkable film Hands on a Hard Body, about a contest at a Texas car dealership wherein the last entrant left touching a truck gets to keep it, is available on Google Video. Entrants get periodic bathroom breaks, but as the contest stretches past 24 straight hours, madness starts to set in. A really amazing film, as recommended by Dr. Manhatta in the Docs thread on the board.

Kottke.org adds that the contest was suspended in 2005 after an entrant killed himself after pulling out.

Also very much worth checking out is the episode of This American Life which covers the contest.

Morris on Herzog: "...what I do understand in his films is a kind of ecstatic absurdity, things that make you question the nature of reality, of the universe in which we live. We think we understand the world around us. We look at a Herzog film, and we think twice. And I always, always have revered that element. Ecstatic absurdity: it’s the confrontation with meaninglessness."

OH SHIT, THESE DUDES ARE AWESOME DUDES.

Private to EM: Please make some more happy movies, the sad ones are freaking me the fuck out.

Previously: Believer co-editor/founder Vendela Vida on TSOYA

The always-awesome Dave Hill is looking for love in all the wrong places this Valentine's day.

Jeffrey Blitz is the director of the film “Rocket Science,” which follows the story of a New Jersey teenager with a stuttering problem who joins his high school's debate team. His last film, 2002’s “Spellbound,” was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary. He has also directed several episodes of NBC’s “The Office.”

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Sarah Lamm is the director of the documentary "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox," which examines the Bronner family and their counter-culturally iconic soap. She talks about the original Dr. Bronner, who created his famous soap in a tenement apartment after being briefly committed to a mental institution. The soap's text-dense label includes wisdom from Ghandi, Jesus and Olympic champion Mark Spitz. Sarah also discusses the second and third generations of the family, who've built the soap into an international force and more recently into a leader in the field of sustainable business practices.

Discuss this episode on the forum!

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You might also enjoy these past interview programs:
Goofaround Gang with Tim & Eric, Paul F. Tompkins and Will Franken
Baseball with Bill Lee and Tim & Eric
Joke Warfare with Terry Jones and Dino Stamatopoulos