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An Amazing Roots Performance

I am seriously procrastinating right now. Anyway, this is a tribute The Roots did to Bono at a decent awards show, The NAACP Image Awards. I heart The Roots. Black Thought has a good voice (and looks cute). He is working on a project with Danger Mouse. I can not wait for that. Enjoy! I will now clean my apartment. Procrastination over.

Yes, I watched the Soul Train Awards

I came upstairs to "loan" my friend and neighbor, Kim, some white wine. She was watching The Soul Train Awards and I could not walk away. This is easily the worst award show I have ever seen. Hands down. Five reasons:

1. Almost everyone who won was not there. Beyonce wasn't there. Mary J Blige was not there. Hell, Kirk Franklin even had something else to do. Maybe you should think about changing the date guys!

2. When Jermaine Dupri won a Lifetime Achievement Award he pulled out his white sidekick, that matched with his white suit, and read his speech. We were in shock. Did he really read his speech off of his sidekick? Yes folks, he did.

3. 50% of the presenters were random people you have never heard of. Everytime they called someone's name, Kim and I kept asking each other, "Who is that?" It's nice that they are bringing attention to black folk you've never heard of but you know, if they had the show on a night when folks could attend, that might help things.

4. Every performance got a standing ovation. Omarion, Marques Houston, everyone.

5. Jennifer Hudson was the most famous person there and at every commercial break, they would mention it.

Chris Rock Is Hysterical

Just when I forget I see things like this and I remember. This is genius. End of story. My favorite quote: "And for those doubters out there who ask if America ready for a black president, I say why not. We just had a retarded one."

every day is saturday night but i can't wait til sunday mornin

6th St
Originally uploaded by dreadfuldan.

The title of this post are lyrics from a song by one of my new fave artists, K-os. This song perfectly describes my trip to SXSW. Some highlights:

*We had a great party. It was hosted by Tito's Handmade Vodka which I can not praise highly enough. (BTW, they make you enter your age to enter their website. That's nice but if you're under 21, you're not gonna say so.) The musicians were great and it was fun hanging out.
*I met a fellow blogger, Quel for the first time. It is wild to meet people whose blogs you have read for a while. You feel like you are meeting an old friend. She was just as sweet as I anticipated and she was tall, very tall! I like making new friends but I like making new tall friends even more. Thanks for coming out Quel! Next time I am in Austin we will have to hang out some more.
*The screening of Election Day went really well. I would have liked to have been at the premiere on Saturday. Tuesday was great but seeing the film with a full house would have been even better. (I was at the screening of my short film on Saturday which went so well btw. I loved being a part of Harlem Stage on Screen. It was so nice to be in a program with so many talented women. So great. I loved it!)
*I met a lot of great people, mainly local Austin folk. I stayed with a cool girl who I liked a lot and she brought us to some cool places.
*I had some yummy food! I adore Mexican food and I got my fill. I would weigh 500 pounds if I lived there. 4 sure.
*I saw some great movies. Zoo was about ... wait for it ... a man who dies from having sex with a horse. Oh, and it's a documentary! I can't tell you much more. It is so artfully done (actually maybe a bit too much. There are one too many arty shots of empty fields for my taste) and provacative to say the least. I am not sure though that I ever really wanted to think about bestiality. No, I never really wanted to think about that. This film has a major distributor so it will be playing at a theater near you. I can not wait to see mainstream America's response to this film.
*I also saw Knocked Up which is hysterical and so much fun and Cat Dancers, another quriky yet dark documentary. This was my time to see weird flicks I guess.

I have a hard time balancing work and play at festivals. I had a lot of work to do from helping with events to interviewing filmmakers for an article I am writing to shooting another interview for a film that we are developing. Yes, SXSW was fun. There were a lot of parties and that kind kind of thing. Honestly though, the party scene there is not completely my thing. People were acting like it was Spring Break 07! I am not as much of a partier as I thought I was. I learned it this trip. I used to be but I'm not so much anymore.

Plus, the film festival is not the most diverse festival in the world. I know the music scene is more diverse (and I will definately go to the music festival the next time I go). But film .. not so much. Sometimes being one of few at these kinds of things gets a little old. I missed my friends. I missed listening to music I actually liked.

An interesting story: I was at a party and this cute black girl grabbed my arm. She said, "Are you from New York?" We chit chat about being from New York. She lives in LA now. She is with the lone film by someone African American, a narrative film. (Actually there was a short too. I forgot about that one.) The film was screening at a time I could not attend because it was too close to when my flight was leaving. When I said I couldn't go, she said to me, "You know this is the only black film here right?" I did not know how to react. I had not encountered that kind of guilt trip since college. It was kind of annoying and yet I could see why she did it. When I asked her if she was having a good time, she said, "You know, I'm glad I'm here because I would have regretted not coming but I'm not sure I think it's the greatest thing in the world." Yeah, I see that.

Note: This photo is not mine. Check out dreadfuldan's photos on flickr. They are amazing!

Some Things Never Get Old

I heart Adventures in Babysitting. Isha and I saw it in the movie theater two times in 7th grade. It was on Oxygen today and I still love it. Did you know that Adventures in Babysitting came out 20 years ago! So many famous people are in it. Elizabeth Shue of course but also Vincent D'Onofrio and Bradley Whitford! I still remember all of the words to the "Babysitting Blues". Also, it really made me want to visit Chicago.

After some googling, I learned that they are doing a new version of this film with Raven! I love her but I have mixed feelings. I think part of it is because it makes me feel old. This is the perfect movie to update though. It is timeless. Yes I am a geek but it is true. I wish I had come up with that!

Have you seen this poster?

This poster has fascinated me for a while now. I have seen it all over Chelsea, a neighborhood in New York with a large gay male population. They have been really promoting this film to the gay community and I am unclear if it is because it is a swimming movie with a lot of half naked men or if there is a gay-themed storyline in the film. Not sure.

At the same time, the film is also being heavily promoted in largely black communities. I get why they are doing that. It stars Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac so there will already be a decent turnout for that reason alone. Time will tell how successful this campaign is. I am not sure I am going to see Pride. It looks a bit too cheesy for the big screen. I might have to Netflix it.

If You Wanna Hear Me...

I was on WBAI this morning. If you want to hear it, listen here. This was for Harlem Stage on Screen where my short film is screening this weekend. It was pretty wild to be on the radio with three other women of color filmmakers. I listened to it and of course kept thinking of the things I did not say. My friend made an interesting comment to me. She said I was really conident when I was talking about film in a general sense but a bit less when I was talking about my work specifically. I do hear what she is saying. Overall, I am happy with it and happy with the show.

I've Been Self Absorbed Lately

First I was sick. Now I am better.

Now I have a bunch of great stuff going on but I am so preoccupied with it that I have nothing else to blog about. Sure I am excited about Libby finally being indicted. Sure I am still all about Obama. But I have a lot of cool things happening right now and I am just enjoying it.

I am listing them all here in case I never get around to blogging for the next handful of days. In another week or so, I will have more to say about the world:

1. Myself and three other filmmakers are going to be on WBAI's Wake Up Call with Deepa Fernandes this Thursday at 8am. (That's 99.5FM for New Yorkers or you can listen to the podcast the next day online.) I am nervous for some reason. Those who know me are probabaly wondering how I am going to wake up for this. My answer: Two alarm clocks!

2. My short is screening at Harlem Stage on Screen on Saturday, March 10th at 8pm. It is great to see it on the big screen. I have had so few chances to. I travel and talk a lot as a producer but there is something different about it being my work.

3. Sunday, I leave for SXSW for Election Day's premiere. Our company produced this film and I am a consulting producer on it. It is a great film though I am entirely biased! If you are in Austin, check it out. Honestly I am so so excited to go to Austin I can not stand it! I need some warm weather man.

Beth and I are interviewing doc filmmakers for an article/video podcast for MediaRights. I am excited to meet so many new people. Everyone I have encountered in Austin has been so great. I am staying with a girl I don't even know!

This picture is from my short. Isha took some great stills. It really is amazing the importance of having some good stills for your film. It's the image you look at over and over for your film. It should be something you like. Beth mentioned how much the main still of my film looks like my main photo on my blog. It does! Geez, what an act of narcassism!

So that's all for me. Keep warm.

This American Life on Showtime

I think I have consumed more media in the past few days that any human ever should. Being sick sucks! Anyway, I was skeptical about This American Life moving from radio to television but this trailer is gorgeous. It really does have a distinctive visual style. I do not have Showtime but I have a feeling that I will get to see it thanks to my good friends at YouTube.