tuckergurl

I Wanna Be Famous.

Rehab just seems to go much faster for celebs than for regular folks. I mean, you can get over your cocaine addiction in a month!

Prime

I saw it a while back and this New York Times review does a remarkably good job of summarizing it.

Ads … Ads … Everywhere Ads

Last night I saw After Innocence (which everyone should see, it’s fantastic) at The Quad Cinema, a small art house in New York that played Deadline back when we had our teeny tiny theatrical run. I really wanted to support this film because many of the folks who do criminal justice work that supported Deadline were giving this film a big push. Plus, the film makes the most compelling argument for compensation after exoneration I’ve ever seen. I really think that more legislators need to see this film to get educated about the growing number of wrongful convictions and the need compensation for the exonerated. (So you know, only 19 states compensate people after they have been released from prison for a crime they did not commit. Of those 19, only a handful gives you any amount of money that you can really rebuild your life with. Learn more about this at The Life After Exoneration Program site. I will not rant much more about this here.)

Anyway, I was excited to sit with my popcorn and finally, finally go to a movie without 20 minutes of ads before the film. I was sadly mistaken.

The Quad, yes even the Quad, had two ads before the film, better than most but still upsetting. I was a bit annoyed. It seems that there is no peace for advertising even in a theatre like this one. It is getting ridiculous.

The first moment that I acknowledged my annoyance with this was when I went to the United Artists Union Square Cinemas, which is a total zoo! I went to see Good Night and Good Luck (which was also fantastic! Yes, it is propaganda but you know McCarthyism was bad. Those trials were nothing more than the Salem Witch Trials and I just don’t think there is another side to that story.) I have this false assumption that because I am seeing an arty film, that my movie going experience should be classier in some way. Oh no.

Instead, I sat through 20, yes t-w-e-n-t-y minutes of ads from Coca-Cola to cellphones to Moviephone.com (which I won't even link to here because they get ENOUGH press). Afterwards, there was a final commercial that was a commercial for the series of commercials you were watching. They were trying to convince you that these 20 minutes were like the pre-movie shows that our parents and grand parents used to watch when movies were all day affairs. Um … those 20 minutes are not programming, they’re ads and it’s getting out of control.

I understand that movie theaters have to stay in business, especially since the box office is doing so badly. But we all know that if the movies were a little bit better and cheaper, more folks would actually go! Plus, commercials before the movie just make staying home and watching a DVD all the more appealing.

Advertisers are more aggressive than ever about getting into your psyche. A story on NPR talked about how television programmers are not even putting any original programming on Saturday nights anymore because advertisers do not think that people make decisions about the things they are going to buy before Friday and see no point in buying ad space on shows that have low ratings. This is why Thursday is such a big night. Advertisers see that night as the night that they can get through to a large audience to buy, buy, buy Saturday and Sunday.

So what to do? You could not go to the movies but that is not realistic or fair for that matter. You could get to the movie later, after the ads, but then you get bad seats. Honestly, I am at a loss. I know there must be a movement a foot on this so let me know about it. I am finally moved to action.

Shameless Self Promotion

I guess a blog is shameless self promotion but I digress.

I wrote an article for Media Rights about filmmakers who are making projects about Hurricane Katrina. It took me a while to write it so if you are interested, check it out.

Someone More Addicted to Coffee Than Me

I just finished making a pot of coffee and reading The New York Times online. My upstairs neighbor knocked on my door. I opened it and there she stood with an empty coffee cup. She said, "I'm so sorry to bother you. Really. But my coffee maker isn't working and I got a cup of coffee from around the corner and it was disgusting and you always make really good coffee. We can smell it upstairs. And I was just wondering if I could have a cup ... I know this is strange but ..."

I let her in even though my place was a mess. I was out of coffee so I made her a new pot. I told her it was just Maxwell House coffee, vanilla flavor. She said that I did something special to it but I don't. She didn't believe me.

People Who Do Not Watch TV

I am not sure I trust them. I know I am supposed to think that they are highly evolved, intellectual beings. That they read deep meaningful books in their corners somewhere. That they know about news and politics. But I just don't. I think they're strange. There I've said it and I feel better about it.

Veronica Mars

I watched it for the first time and well ... I'm not sure what the fuss is about.

Tagged!

Quel tagged me and this was a hard one. I looked at some other sites to see what they said (and stole some ideas). Here it goes:

7 things I plan to do before I die:
1. Raise a child.
2. Live in the present.
3. Learn how to drive damnit!
4. Get published. I’m secretly working on this. OK, not so secretly if I’m telling you guys.
5. Direct a feature length film. I'm not so secretly working on this.
6. Be fluent in Spanish.
7. Live outside of New York, even just for a little while.

7 things I can do:
1. Paint an apartment. Anyone whose comes to my house can see that!
2. Spend hours alone and not feel lonely or get bored. I like being by myself. Probably too much so.
3. Make excellent chili.
4. Play badminton. Sure, laugh but I’m pretty good.
5. Watch Sixteen Candles over and over and never get sick of it.
6. Walk all over New York City.
7. Hold a grudge. It’s not a good thing. I admit it.

7 things I cannot do:
1. Drive, damnit.
2. Watch plastic surgery shows. Not even Nip/Tuck. There’s just something about someone sticking a knife or a needle in someone’s face. EEK!
3. Figure out how to set up my cable, my DVD player and my VCR to all work on my old TV.
4. Eat gazpacho. Who likes cold soup? You all are NUTS!
5. Eat beets, goat cheese or cotton candy. See my comment above, only it’s not soup … Oh, you get what I’m saying.
6. Stop drinking coffee. And I'm sick of trying.
7. Get rid of my Netflix subscription. Everytime I want to save money and get rid of something, I just can’t do it!

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1. Shoulders - They are just what make men, men!
2. A sense of humor
3. Height - Oh, there is nothing like a tall guy. I am six feet though.
4. Intelligence
5. Passion
6. Integrity - That sounds so boring but as I get older, it becomes more and more important.
7. I’m having a hard time thinking of a 7th thing. Hmmm … that is probably really telling …

7 things that I say most often:
1. Bananas - I know Gwen Stefani started this phenomena but I have embraced it fully.
I’m having a hard time with this one. Friends, comment, nicely …

7 celebrity crushes:
1. Terrance Howard - I feel like such a cliché black woman by picking him but what can I say.
2. Nigel Barker from America’s Next Top Model - Friends tell me he is straight but I just can not believe it. He is so gorgeous and perfect and BRITISH.
3. Jason Momoa - You just have to see him. I even watch a science fiction show, which I hate by the way, to stare at his lovely face.
4. The Rock – He is in bad, bad, bad movies but I love him. I do.
5. Jeremy Piven - He is waay too little for me … but I think I could get over it.
6. Patrick Dempsey - Aging like a fine wine!
7. Idris Elba -Ever since he was killed on The Wire, I have just been loving him more and more. He is every where now. He needs to be famous ... NOW!
8. Zadie Smith - Oh, I know I'm only supposed to pick 7 but I can't help it.

7 people I want to do this:
I am just going to leave it open. Whoever wants to, have at it.

Grey's Anatomy

I missed it this week but Lauren showed me this FANTASTIC, funny Seattle blog that offers great recaps of Grey's Anatomy for a Seattle resident's POV. I missed it this week. Check out this blurb:

With the company reduced to the Dempsey lovers, AddiSatan speechifies about how "it's hard to accept the end when you're too close." As she showily puts her giant diamond wedding band back on her finger, she continues to say, "I don't want someone who doesn't want me, but if there's the slightest chance that he does, I'm not leaving Seattle." I think that we all sympathize a little with people who will take any excuse to stay in our fair city, don't we?

The Dedication of The August Wilson Theater

The New August Wilson Theater 3
Originally uploaded by tuckergurl.

Lauren and I went to the August Wilson Theater Dedication ceremony. It was open to the public so we decided to show up. We waited for an hour and forty five minutes in the cold. (OK, it's not really cold yet but I was dying for coffee so it felt really cold to me.) It was so worth it!

While I was waiting for Lauren, I began chatting with Engel, an older actor (in his 80 for sure) who loved theater and had a way of asking me my life story without me feeling intruded upon. He had met August Wilson a few times but did not know him. He was just a fan and a real lover of the theater, the kind that they don't make anymore.

Lauren and his wife (I think though I'm not sure) came at the same time and we all ended up waiting to be let in. We had a great conversation about theater as the famous folks went into their cocktail party before the ceremony. As we all drank our coffees, we raised our Starbucks (which Lauren got for free from the guy in front of her because his friend did not like caffine) to August.

Finally, they let us in and we saw the new refurbished theater. The lobby is a mini August Wilson exhibit with photos and flyers from all of his plays. The sign, as you can see from this photo, is his signature which I think is really cool.

The ceremony was really nice and more packed than it seemed outside. Charles Dutton gave a speech and performed a monologue from Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Lillias White sang a song also from Ma Rainey and the original cast of Seven Guitars performed a poignant scene. The M.C. of the night, whose name I never did get but I am sure was one of the owners/operators of the theater and producers of August's plays, gave a really great speech about August's legacy and had the great comment of the night which was, "The Great White Way Is A Lot Less White Tonight". Amen.

It was really nice to be at such a happy event. Charles Dutton reminded all of us what an achievement accomplishing your life's work is. August Wilson finished his ten play cycle without being bogged down by Hollywood, without compromising his vision.

We went outside and saw the sign lit up and it was really beautiful! The President's Wife from 24 stood next to me and whispered questions to me and wished she had a camera like I did. It was funny just to be chatting with this sort of famous woman I didn't know. I guess we were all comrades in honoring this amazing man.

Oh, as for more famous folks, yeah there were some, Black theater types but I was not really star gazing the way I usually am (though if you really want to know I can name some later).

I am so glad I went to this. It is so important to honor your heroes and I feel like I have.