tuckergurl

A Personal Day

I am taking one today doing personal stuff. I love the term personal day. Sometimes it just fits.

I am passing along this secret message. I need it!

I am also passing along a suggestion. Buy (or acquire) the new Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings CD. You won't be sorry. I saw them years ago at Warsaw and thought, "They should be famous." Mark Ronson apparently thought the same thing.

Watch the video below.

I sort of can't believe ...

that I joined Facebook. But I did. And I really do prefer it to Myspace.

I am not quite ready to poke people or take quizzes though I am sure I will be in time.

Ah social networking.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Santa Monica Farmers Market
Originally uploaded by hustler of culture

This morning I was inspired by this entry and this one. A line from the second entry -- "Something so much greater is holding you, I’m sure of it." -- my friend said to me two days ago, almost word for word.

Yesterday I went to the farmers market in New York (this one is in Santa Monica but I like the picture) and it was filled with so many goodies. It was a nice reminder of the beauty of the holidays. I had some nice apple cider and simply walked around.

Ten things I am thankful for:

1. My amazing friends - for everything!
2. My Godson/Nephew - for being so cute and for making me believe that I could fall in love with a little person
3. My apartment - for the solitude
4. My job - for not being a place filled with crazy people
5. My relatives - for coming out of the wood work and being so cool
6. My Netflix account - for bringing me joy every few weeks
7. My blog community - for reading and for all of the great advice/word of wisdom
8. My computer -for surviving its near death experience
9. My health - for improving
10. My LP - for keeping me sane

Black Women All Week Long

My friend (a fellow black girl) sent along this email today:

"NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS" SPECIAL FIVE-PART SERIES " AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN: WHERE THEY STAND" TO AIR BEGINNING ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26 New York, N.Y.

"NBC News With Brian Williams" will take a look at the issues facing
African-American women across our nation in a new series
"African-American Women: Where They Stand." The series will cover a
wide-range of issues from their role in the '08 Presidential race, to
the increased health-risks that they need to be concerned about.

I am so fascinated to see this though having Brian Williams tell me where I stand is a bit ... ironic.

You can read about the various segments at the bottom of this entry.

My Short Film

Well folks, I have been looking for a place to put my short, The Birthday Girl, up online and here it is. Revver pays a teeny tiny amount of money when people watch. So even if you click play and go do the dishes, I win! Check it out. Put it on your blog. Email it to folks. It all helps. Here is the url as well.

Any questions/comments, please bring them on. I will do my best to answer them. Later!

Back from Mississippi

IMG_1631
Originally uploaded by tuckergurl

Note: I can't stop listening to this song. Enjoy it while reading this entry. I'm not trying to tell you what to do but it enhances the experience.

I hope the writers' strike ends soon. I hope this for entirely selfish reasons. I can not bear watching repeats and reality shows only. I feel it coming slowly and it makes me sad, so sad.

I was in Mississippi for NBPC's New Media Institute. I was one of 25 filmmakers chosen to learn more about new media and create an interactive media project for The BB King Museum. It should be online at some point. I was gone for seven days and I feel like I have been gone for a month! I am writing an article about this whole process so I will not give a blow by blow right now.

What I will say is that while I sit here in my pjs (pjs that I have been wearing all day) and I watch reality TV, specifically The Shot, I am amused by how much the experience I had this week was like a reality show. Man, someone should have been following us around. Collaboration is a hard, hard thing and honestly I am not sure that we perfected it. We did create good work though. I met some amazing people and feel rejuventated by being around people who are doing so many great things. Still I came across some people that really challenged me.

This photo is from the many, many photos I took this week. I met and interviewed some incredible Blues musicians. Truthfully, I never knew that much about the Blues. But I am so into it now!

This is a short week. Yeah! I have made it through one of the busiest and difficult months I have had in a long, long time. I am ready for some yoga, candles, sleep, baby games with my godson, writing in a cafe with a decaf latte and more things that relax and rejuvenate me. I am proud of me for making it through this time. I need to say that out loud. I am proud of me.

Angela's Movie Trailers

This looks bad!

This looks amazing!

And I don’t care what this looks like. Eric Bana is in it so I’m there!

Keeping My Head On Straight

  Mom and Dad 
  Originally uploaded by tuckergurl

In the interest of clearing my mind:

Jay Z's performance of his new CD, American Gangster, on VH1's Storytellers was hypnotic.  He was in this trance.  It was incredible to watch.  Listen, his music is not as good as it was but his passion for it is something to watch.

More on the film, American Gangster, I thought it was really, really well done but I just cannot shake this feeling:  Why are we glamorizing drug dealers like this?  I know the Jay Z album is doing the same thing. Maybe I am missing the point.  Still it was a feeling I could not shake.

But I know the film was well done because I cannot stop thinking about it.  Ridley Scott’s ability to keep the camera still and show the beauty of simple objects, a spilled coffee cup for example is truly a skill.

Speaking of coffee, I have been drinking entirely too much.

I still have many steps to go in my fibroids process, so, so many follow up appointments.  Sometimes I am too much of a producer.  I want to schedule everything and just get it done but surgery does not work like that.  There are steps, many steps.

I tried to schedule my mini nervous breakdown and that did not go well.   As some of you know, the upcoming holidays are always hard for me.  Because my father passed away during the holidays, all of the hooplah around the holidays just feels like an elaborate buildup to the worst time of my life.  It is always the week or so before that I get sad (depressed honestly).  I am going away for a work thing the week before Thanksgiving and figured that would distract me.

But I feel sad and anxious and I cry some.  I am not saying this for pity.  I am just saying it.  Honestly I do not want to talk about it much.  I mean, what is there to really say?

I really need to see some more movies.  In no particular order:

No Country for Old Men
Lars and the Real Girl
Why Did I Get Married? (Yes, you read that right)
Michael Clayton
I’m Not There
Gone Baby Gone

I can’t keep up with my emails lately.

A great quote I heard the other day:
Not many people allow themselves the full extent of their complexities.

I am working on an installation.  I am excited about it.  It is my first and I will link to it soon.

TV Guide has been doing some great coverage on the Writer’s Strike.  Here is the schedule on how many episodes until our favorite shows are over. 

I am now in love with Samantha Who?  Such a cute show.

Grey’s Anatomy is strange now.  This last episode was pretty amazing but it has taken a while to get at this point.  My main problem still is that although I know Meredith has been through a lot, I just cannot relate to a person who cannot commit to Patrick Dempsey.  Sorry.

That’s all for now.  I think.  I know there have been a lot of stream of consciousness entries.  Someday soon I will have time for paragraphs.

An Interesting Idea

In David Denby's review of American Gangster, he made an interesting point:

Our loyalties are split between the hero of virtue and the hero of vice. We don't have to choose, which is fine - irresponsibility is one of the pleasures of narrative movies.

Ew!

This kind of grosses me out.