tuckergurl

I Heart Mad Men

If you feel the same way or even if you've never seen it before, you should check out this article about the show on the cover of the magazine of The New York Times.  I got rid of my cable for the summer so I am going to have to figure out how I am going to handle not watching this show.  I can't even think about it.

Here's an amusing excerpt from the article about the creator of the show Matthew Weiner (a Wesleyan alum btw, had to mention it):

I recently spent three days on the “Mad Men” set, watching the people who work there, along with auditioning actors, most of whom are desperate to please Weiner, catch his eye, engage him. Rarely have I seen so many people beam so insistently at a human who’s not a newborn. They’re all expert practitioners of the current flavor of show-biz persona: the down-to-earth, up-with-people next-door neighbor who soft-sells his or her obsession with stardust and self-interest with chitchat about, say, the kids, the brilliantine smile buttressed by the unspoken prayer, “Don’t write me out!”

Said Friend

Can Scarlett Johansson sing? Well, the answer to that question lies in this video and is open to interpretation. I describe her voice a bit like this:

Let's say you have this friend who one day tells you she has joined a band and is the lead singer.

You are surprised by this. She never mentioned that she liked to sing.

You've never heard her sing.

You have faith because she is a hip, cool girl who can pull most things off.

Plus she is so attractive that really, if she can't sing, what difference does it make? She's not going to lose any coolness points or anything.

So you, nervously, go to hear her sing.

And she isn't bad.

But she's not Norah Jones or Christina Aguilera or anyone whose voice is so impressive that she should immediately quit her job and start auditioning for something.

Her voice just has a nice, interesting quality to it.

And the songs she chooses to sing are cooler than you thought they would be.

Tom Waits covers are a good idea because they are great for people who can't sing that well.

She struggles to hit some notes.

She struggles to hit a lot of notes.

But you gotta give it to her for just doing it.

It's not something you would do and you're voice is as mediocre as hers.

You realize it really is just about presentation and your friend is good at presentation.

Go her.

You actually begin to enjoy her more now.

Yeah, you sort of enjoy her.

You're not putting her on your ipod but you enjoy her.

Scarlett reminds me of a few friends like this. Here's her video if you want to watch it. It might grown on you.

Medicine for Melancholy

I have been strangely obsessed with this film I have never seen.  It is called Medicine for Melancholy.  I go to the website regularly to see how it's doing.  I read reviews.  I am its own personal cheerleader.  The reasons for this are as follows:

1. It features African-American protagonists in a very indie setting.
2. It takes place in a city I like a lot, San Fran.
3. I never see indie films with African-American protagonists (Never is a strong word -- rarely is better.)
4. People I like and respect have said to me.  "When I saw this film, I thought of you.  I thought it was a film you would really like."
5. The two leads spend most of the film walking and talking ala Before Sunset.  (This is something that bores/annoys many people but it is something I never tire of.  Of course, I should say that my liking the film all rides on the quality of the conversation they are engaging in.)
6. The girl in the movie has the cutest haircut.  I've always wanted to cut my hair like that but I'm too wimpy.  (OK, that's not really a reason for my being intrigued by the film but I just felt like mentioning it.)

I was pleased to see that the film was finally given distribution.  Finally, it is coming to a theater near me! Indiewire reports:

IFC Films has acquired the worldwide rights to writer-director Barry Jenkins' "Medicine for Melancholy." The film is in competition at this week's Los Angeles Film Festival, and will be released in theaters by IFC in 2009. "Medicine for Melancholy is one of the great American discoveries of the year," said Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment in a statement. "Barry Jenkins has delivered an intelligent, heartfelt and often funny universal love story and introduced two brilliant performers to the feature film world - Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins. The film will not only inspire and ignite great discussions among the African-American community, but is sure to engage audiences across the globe."

2009 feels like a long time for little ole me to wait but wait I will. 

The Launch of Reframe

The Tribeca Film Institute (now merged with the former Renew Media) recently launched Reframe. Their site describes Reframe as, “an innovative project which will help individual filmmakers, broadcasters, distributors, public media organizations, archives, libraries and other media owners digitize, market and sell their classic and hard-to-find films and video content using the Internet.”

I was asked to curate a list of films to appear on the site. I was feeling nostalgic so I decided to make a Coming Of Age list. Honestly, I had the hardest time coming up with a clever assortment of films so I kept the title vague. Of course I included some docs (Hoop Dreams, E Minha Cara: That’s My Face), some films that reminded me of my teen years (Smooth Talk, Metropolitan) and some more recent films that I thought were amazingly innovative and just plain good (Me and You and Everyone We Know and Half Nelson).

This list is by no means comprehensive. They are still adding additional films to the site so I change it all the time. I think they are a diverse lot. Check it out and make a list of your own!

(Cross Posted on Engine Feed.)

There are not enough hours in the day.

And that's all I have to say.

Off The Grid

I had the strangest dream last night.

I dreamed that I got a tattoo on the outside of my hand. It was the Grand Theft Auto logo. (This is the huge image that you see before this entry. I wanted it big and bold so that you can see how crazy this would look on my hand.) It was ugly. Grand Theft Auto plays no role in my life. I have no idea where this came from.

But I was feeling spontaneous and since it did not hurt, in my brain I thought it was just like getting a stamp. (How getting a tattoo like this across my hand could feel like just putting a stamp on my hand is really dream logic.)

Anyway, I went to work and everyone was polite about it. Looking back, no one said they liked it but they were all kind of like, "Hey, what a badass thing to do." I was a bit nervous about it because I had always been the girl with a tattoo (I have one on my shoulder.) who always wanted the flexibility to not have a tattoo. This was a big deal but I was ok with it.

Then I saw Isha, my best friend. She was not so gracious. She didn't yell at me exactly but her disapproval was so strongly felt that I could not deny it. She was like, "It's not that you got a tattoo on the front of your hand. It's that you got the Grand Theft Auto logo on the front of your hand. Why would you do that?" I didn't really have an answer. I then became angry with her because she made me feel bad about my bad decision.

I am about to go on a retreat of sorts. NAMAC has a Leadership Institute that is a retreat about 90 minutes from Portland. I am now in Seattle visiting a friend and will head over to Portland to be picked up to go to this retreat. I will be completely off the grid. This means no phone, no email, no television. I am mostly nervous about no internet but honestly I need a break from constant communication. I will be back on Friday.

Maybe as someone way to mentally prepare for this, I was able to do something I've been needing to do for a long time. I cut off my cable. I was going to get rid of it altogether but I just got rid of the box and downgraded to basic cable which saved me $50 a month. It is amazing how expensive cable is. $50 may not sound like a lot but since I have a problem constantly ordering films on demand and increasing my bill by $30-$40 a month, it really is a whole lot more. I still have my internet and phone through my cable modem which is through Cablevision. I may switch the way I do this because Cablevision is such a monopoly here in New York and I am not sure I want to necessarily support that but that rant is for another day.

Well, I have to run to the airport. I am sure I will have many reflections on my trip to Seattle and most likely my retreat. In the meantime, what the heck did my dream mean?

I Will Possess Your Heart (Death Cab For Cutie)

There is something about this song that I love. It is just so unabashedly romantic. It makes me feel so hopeful.

(For purists out there, this is the edited version. If you want to watch the version with the 4+ min instrumental at the open, it's somewhere on You Tube. That version makes me feel a bit less hopeful and a bit more, well, bored.)