"Women in the Seats but Not Behind the Camera"

Kimberley French/Summit Entertainment, via Associated Press

By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: December 10, 2009

IN March 1993 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that hands out Oscars, decided it was a good time to celebrate women. It wasn’t an original idea: 1992 had been popularly known as the year of the woman in politics, partly because of the number of new women elected to the Senate that year (4!) and the House (24!). Now the academy was joining the fun with the show “Oscar Celebrates Women and the Movies.” The host, Billy Crystal, rose to the occasion with quintessential Hollywood class. “Some of the most-talked-about women’s parts,” he joked, bada-boom, “are Sharon Stone’s in ‘Basic Instinct.’ ”

It should be more difficult for Oscar and his pals to ignore women’s non-pulchritudinous contributions to cinema when the awards roll around this March. Certainly women have been a considerable force this year, whether flocking to “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in record numbers or helping to turn “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” from an unknown quantity into the most passionately debated women’s picture in memory. Meryl Streep (in “Julie & Julia”) and Carey Mulligan (“An Education”) have scooped up loads of critical love. And Sandra Bullock, at 45, has hit gold with “The Proposal” and, more recently, “The Blind Side,” in which she plays a sexy Christian mother who, from her faith to her high heels and gun, is right out of the Sarah Palin playbook.

“New Moon” and “The Blind Side” might not make a lot of critics’ Top 10 lists, but their popularity with audiences is good for women in film — and might be too great for even Hollywood to ignore. For years the received wisdom, both in the industry and the press that covers it, has been that women don’t go to the movies and can’t open movies. Although recent hits like “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Sex and the City” and “Mamma Mia!” have helped put a dent in that thinking, it will take more than millions of teenage girls (and their moms) squealing in delight at sparkly vampires and hairy beasties with swollen deltoids before real change will come to American movie screens. Women need to develop their own muscles.

I’m not talking about those buff babes who pop up in adolescent fantasies, licking their lips as they lock and load; I’m talking about movies made for and with women. I’m also talking about movies directed by women. Here’s a little history: Only three women have been nominated as directors by the academy in 81 years: Lina Wertmüller for “Seven Beauties” in 1976; Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993; and Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation” in 2003. None won. At a glance this year looks promising, with high-profile titles like Kathryn Bigelow’s “Hurt Locker,” Nora Ephron’s “Julie & Julia,” Lone Scherfig’s “Education” and Ms. Campion’s “Bright Star,” all of which have been too successful, critically and commercially, to dismiss.

Sounds good. Sounds like progress too. Yet the closer you look at the list of female filmmakers from this year, and the more you separate the breathless hype about the better-known “femme-driven pics,” to use a favorite Variety locution, the worse the numbers get. Of the almost 600 new movies that will be reviewed in The New York Times by the end of 2009, about 60 were directed by women, or 10 percent. Some are foreign directors, like Claire Denis (“35 Shots of Rum”) and Lucrecia Martel (“The Headless Woman”); others are documentary filmmakers, including Agnès Varda (“The Beaches of Agnès”) and Aviva Kempner (“Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg”). Many received modest releases; I bet you never heard about, much less saw, most of them.

Bigger, not surprisingly, doesn’t mean better, at least for women. Only a handful of female directors picked up their paychecks from one of the six major Hollywood studios and their remaining divisions this year: 20th Century Fox had “Jennifer’s Body” (Karyn Kusama) and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” (Betty Thomas), while Fox Searchlight had “Amelia” (Mira Nair), “Post Grad” (Vicky Jenson) and “Whip It” (Drew Barrymore). Anne Fletcher directed “The Proposal” for Disney, while the studio’s once-lustrous division, Miramax Films, continued on its death march without any help from female directors. Ms. Ephron’s “Julie & Julia” was released by Sony Pictures while the art-house division Sony Pictures Classics released “An Education” (Ms. Scherfig), “Coco Before Chanel” (Anne Fontaine) and “Sugar” (Anna Boden, directing with Ryan Fleck). Universal Pictures has Nancy Meyers’s “It’s Complicated”; its specialty unit Focus Features has no female directors.

Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers Pictures, meanwhile, did not release a single film directed by a woman. Not one.

Feeling queasy yet? Resigned? Indifferent? A little angry? The usual line on Hollywood is that it cares only about box office, which is at once true and something of a convenient excuse. Money makes the movie world go round, sure. But there are exceptions to this perceived rule, as some of my favorite male directors, including Michael Mann, have routinely proved with various box office disappointments. Released in 2001, Mr. Mann’s “Ali,” a well-regarded if not universally beloved biography of Muhammad Ali with Will Smith, brought in nearly $88 million in global receipts. (The production budget, partly paid for by Sony, was an estimated $107 million.) The next year Ms. Bigelow’s independently financed “K-19: The Widowmaker,” a submarine adventure movie with Harrison Ford, was released to solid reviews, raking in just under $66 million globally (with a $100 million production budget).

What did a $22 million difference in box office mean for the directors of “Ali” and “K-19”? Well, Ms. Bigelow didn’t direct another feature until 2007, when she began “The Hurt Locker,” a thriller about a bomb squad in Iraq that was bankrolled by a French company and is said to cost under $20 million. For his part Mr. Mann directed “Collateral,” a thriller with Tom Cruise, for Paramount and DreamWorks (with a budget of $65 million and global box office of more than $217 million), and “Miami Vice,” a reimagining, with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, of Mr. Mann’s popular 1980s television series. Paid for by Universal, that movie cost $135 million and is considered a disappointment with about a $164 million worldwide take.

I imagine there are a host of reasons why Mr. Mann has been able to persuade executives to keep writing such large checks. He’s a dazzling innovator, and big stars keep flocking to his side, despite his reputation for difficulty. But Ms. Bigelow is one of the greatest action directors working today, and it’s hard not to wonder why failure at the box office doesn’t translate the same for the two sexes.

I hope the big checks keep coming for Mr. Mann. But I also hope that the money people, including Ms. Bullock, whose production company actually makes hits, like “The Proposal,” start giving female filmmakers a chance to do something other than dopey romances. (Good romances would be a nice start.) Every so often a new female filmmaker grabs the spotlight — remember Kimberly Peirce, the director of “Boys Don’t Cry”? — only to sputter and fade. If you have ever wondered what ever happened to Susan Seidelman, Penny Marshall, Martha Coolidge, Amy Heckerling, Nancy Savoca, none of whom had the career they should have had, you’re not alone. Come back, Barbra, we miss you! But does Ms. Streisand, who was never nominated for best director, miss Hollywood? I doubt it.

This isn’t just about money, or even male sexism. There have been women running studios on and off since 1980, when Sherry Lansing became the president of 20th Century Fox. But trickle-down equality doesn’t work in Hollywood, even when women are calling the shots and making the hires, as they presumably did a few years ago, when four out of the six big studios were run by women. Fat good it did the rest of us. Now, there’s just Amy Pascal, a co-chairwoman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In the 1990s Ms. Pascal made movies like “Little Women” and “A League of Their Own.” In recent years, however, Sony has become a boy’s club for superheroes like Spider-Man and funnymen like Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow.

It’s hard to know why women have fared so badly in Hollywood in the last few decades, though any business that refers to its creations as product cannot, by definition, have much imagination. The vogue for comics and superheroes has generally forced women to sigh and squeal on the sidelines. Even the so-called independent sector, with its ostensibly different players and values, hasn’t been much better, as we know from all the female directors who have made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival only to disappear. New digital technologies and the Internet have leveled the field — though usually it seems as if it’s sheer grit that pushes filmmakers like Kelly Reichardt (“Wendy and Lucy”) along the hard road from idea to distribution.

In 1920 an American actress turned director named Ida May Park published an essay for a book titled “Careers for Women,” in which she warned other women about her chosen path. “Unless you are hardy and determined,” she wrote, “the director’s role is not for you. Wait until the profession has emerged from its embryonic state and a system has been evolved by which the terrific weight of responsibility can be lifted from one pair of shoulders. When that time comes I believe that women will find no finer calling.”

There are women who would agree with Park’s conclusions, or would if they could get the chance to direct. The problem is, 90 years later, women have advanced while much of the movie industry has not.

When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like "Avatar"?

By Annalee Newitz

Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it's about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader. But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy. Spoilers...

Whether Avatar is racist is a matter for debate. Regardless of where you come down on that question, it's undeniable that the film - like alien apartheid flick District 9, released earlier this year - is emphatically a fantasy about race. Specifically, it's a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people. Avatar and scifi films like it give us the opportunity to answer the question: What do white people fantasize about when they fantasize about racial identity?

Avatar imaginatively revisits the crime scene of white America's foundational act of genocide, in which entire native tribes and civilizations were wiped out by European immigrants to the American continent. In the film, a group of soldiers and scientists have set up shop on the verdant moon Pandora, whose landscapes look like a cross between Northern California's redwood cathedrals and Brazil's tropical rainforest. The moon's inhabitants, the Na'vi, are blue, catlike versions of native people: They wear feathers in their hair, worship nature gods, paint their faces for war, use bows and arrows, and live in tribes. Watching the movie, there is really no mistake that these are alien versions of stereotypical native peoples that we've seen in Hollywood movies for decades.

And Pandora is clearly supposed to be the rich, beautiful land America could still be if white people hadn't paved it over with concrete and strip malls. In Avatar, our white hero Jake Sully (sully - get it?) explains that Earth is basically a war-torn wasteland with no greenery or natural resources left. The humans started to colonize Pandora in order to mine a mineral called unobtainium that can serve as a mega-energy source. But a few of these humans don't want to crush the natives with tanks and bombs, so they wire their brains into the bodies of Na'vi avatars and try to win the natives' trust. Jake is one of the team of avatar pilots, and he discovers to his surprise that he loves his life as a Na'vi warrior far more than he ever did his life as a human marine.

Jake is so enchanted that he gives up on carrying out his mission, which is to persuade the Na'vi to relocate from their "home tree," where the humans want to mine the unobtanium. Instead, he focuses on becoming a great warrior who rides giant birds and falls in love with the chief's daughter. When the inevitable happens and the marines arrive to burn down the Na'vi's home tree, Jake switches sides. With the help of a few human renegades, he maintains a link with his avatar body in order to lead the Na'vi against the human invaders. Not only has he been assimilated into the native people's culture, but he has become their leader.

This is a classic scenario you've seen in non-scifi epics from Dances With Wolves to The Last Samurai, where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its most awesome member. But it's also, as I indicated earlier, very similar in some ways to District 9. In that film, our (anti)hero Wikus is trying to relocate a shantytown of aliens to a region far outside Johannesburg. When he's accidentally squirted with fluid from an alien technology, he begins turning into one of the aliens against his will. Deformed and cast out of human society, Wikus reluctantly helps one of the aliens to launch their stalled ship and seek help from their home planet.

If we think of Avatar and its ilk as white fantasies about race, what kinds of patterns do we see emerging in these fantasies?

In both Avatar and District 9, humans are the cause of alien oppression and distress. Then, a white man who was one of the oppressors switches sides at the last minute, assimilating into the alien culture and becoming its savior. This is also the basic story of Dune, where a member of the white royalty flees his posh palace on the planet Dune to become leader of the worm-riding native Fremen (the worm-riding rite of passage has an analog in Avatar, where Jake proves his manhood by riding a giant bird). An interesting tweak on this story can be seen in 1980s flick Enemy Mine, where a white man (Dennis Quaid) and the alien he's been battling (Louis Gossett Jr.) are stranded on a hostile planet together for years. Eventually they become best friends, and when the alien dies, the human raises the alien's child as his own. When humans arrive on the planet and try to enslave the alien child, he lays down his life to rescue it. His loyalties to an alien have become stronger than to his own species.

These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color - their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the "alien" cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become "race traitors," and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.

Think of it this way. Avatar is a fantasy about ceasing to be white, giving up the old human meatsack to join the blue people, but never losing white privilege. Jake never really knows what it's like to be a Na'vi because he always has the option to switch back into human mode. Interestingly, Wikus in District 9 learns a very different lesson. He's becoming alien and he can't go back. He has no other choice but to live in the slums and eat catfood. And guess what? He really hates it. He helps his alien buddy to escape Earth solely because he's hoping the guy will come back in a few years with a "cure" for his alienness. When whites fantasize about becoming other races, it's only fun if they can blithely ignore the fundamental experience of being an oppressed racial group. Which is that you are oppressed, and nobody will let you be a leader of anything.

This is not a message anybody wants to hear, least of all the white people who are creating and consuming these fantasies. Afro-Canadian scifi writer Nalo Hopkinson recently told the Boston Globe:

In the US, to talk about race is to be seen as racist. You become the problem because you bring up the problem. So you find people who are hesitant to talk about it.

She adds that the main mythic story you find in science fiction, generally written by whites, "is going to a foreign culture and colonizing it."

Sure, Avatar goes a little bit beyond the basic colonizing story. We are told in no uncertain terms that it's wrong to colonize the lands of native people. Our hero chooses to join the Na'vi rather than abide the racist culture of his own people. But it is nevertheless a story that revisits the same old tropes of colonization. Whites still get to be leaders of the natives - just in a kinder, gentler way than they would have in an old Flash Gordon flick or in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels.

When will whites stop making these movies and start thinking about race in a new way?

First, we'll need to stop thinking that white people are the most "relatable" characters in stories. As one blogger put it:

By the end of the film you're left wondering why the film needed the Jake Sully character at all. The film could have done just as well by focusing on an actual Na'vi native who comes into contact with crazy humans who have no respect for the environment. I can just see the explanation: "Well, we need someone (an avatar) for the audience to connect with. A normal guy will work better than these tall blue people." However, this is the type of thinking that molds all leads as white male characters (blank slates for the audience to project themselves upon) unless your name is Will Smith.

But more than that, whites need to rethink their fantasies about race.

Whites need to stop remaking the white guilt story, which is a sneaky way of turning every story about people of color into a story about being white. Speaking as a white person, I don't need to hear more about my own racial experience. I'd like to watch some movies about people of color (ahem, aliens), from the perspective of that group, without injecting a random white (erm, human) character to explain everything to me. Science fiction is exciting because it promises to show the world and the universe from perspectives radically unlike what we've seen before. But until white people stop making movies like Avatar, I fear that I'm doomed to see the same old story again and again.


case in point: if Annalee Newitz (a white girl) can get it, why can't we? As a person of color, I'm not going along with this bullshit ANY LONGER. fuck you, James. FUCK YOU.

-wu

NAZI GNOMES!

CLICK HERE for more

fuck a Barbie.

Considering these tough economic times, many Americans are perusing different avenues of wealth acquisition.
...Fuck wealth, a lot of us would be satisfied with just enough to keep our heads above water. With this in mind, a toy company has created and begun distribution of a new toy called "Pole Dance".

...doesn't look too good upon first impressions go, I know...
However, with me being the optimistic person I am, I decided to come up with several reasons as to why this doll may be not only appropriate in its existence but NECESSARY.

---WHY WE NEED THE POLE DANCING DOLL---
1) to help mother's explain what's keeping the lights on.
2) because girls need realistic goals to aspire to. 'female doctor' just sounds stupid. or...
3) because all the role models out now don't have action figures equipped with SPIN ACTION! (woot!! woot!!) Have you seen the Michelle Obama action figure? It pales in comparison. She can't even make it clap.

And that's what young ladies of this generation need to know above all else: "If life gets you down, learn to go down."

Or, I think it was, "Times are hard, but dicks are harder!"
Wait, shit. That wasn't it either...

Either way, go out there, young girl. Shake what your mama gave you and make a place for yourself in this society by any means necessary. Cuz if you don't, you might just end up like Gwen who's pictured below.

yet another realistic possibility to conclude your fate.

The doll pictured above is the latest from the renowned doll makers at American Girl and she's homeless. But by 'homeless', I don't mean go to the store, buy her (she's selling for 95 bones btw, fyi, if ya get my drift, nudge nudge, lmao, ok, i'll stop), take her home to your daughter (or son), and now she has a home. I mean, the story that was created about her is that of a young girl who is now homeless with her drug addicted mom, after her father walked on them.

a little too familiar?

Well wait til you hear about Uniqua-the HIV positive crack hoe and mother of 7 doll to be released this December; Just in time for Christmas!! But check it, she's white!

links: Next Up, A Pole-Dancing Doll
American Girl's Newest Doll is Homeless

don't you like it when peformers, perform?

check out A PERFORMANCE in its truest sense by The Noisettes singing "Never Forget You" on the Letterman Show.

Good Ol' PCP = Politically Correct Police

Due to elevated temperatures of the block, you would think political giants like...I don't know, our president, would take it easy with dispensing his two cents on music industry madness.

President Calls Kanye West a 'jackass'
But I don't know who was more imprudent in the matter; Obama for speaking his honest opinion about an issue that should have, by no stretch of the imagination, interfered his list of priorities to speak publicly on or...

wait. Obama IS the only one fucking up here. Not because Kanye West is indeed NOT a 'jackass', because he is, but because you're the fucking president. And a nigga at that. CHILL with the commentary. You would think after the heat he faced for calling the swine who arrested Skip Gates 'stupid', he would have gotten hip (apparently not), regardless of the fact that his statement was supposed to be 'off the record'. *cough cough* Terry Moran is hating ass biotch *cough cough*

but seriously, Rocky*, Yeezy. RE-LAX. The all-white, disgustingly conservative PCP is out for that ass. They have a quota to fill.

-Wu



* - Barack O.

Delicious find.

If you haven't seen this vid, then EAT UP. Make your day better.

Daft Punk - "Something About Us (Interstella 5555)"





-Wu

In order to form a more perfect union...

In an ideal world, humanity wouldn't have to deal with the blunders that complicate our ephemeral lives and college careers. There would be no more wars, no more famine, no more disease, and definitely no more not knowing how much this Fall's Gen. Chem class is going to cost you before you show up all bright-eyed and bushy tailed on the first day of class only to get smacked with the seemingly endless list of required text and supplies. Yeah, no more of that.

Well good for you and humanities efforts to achieve utopia, as legislators have recently implemented a new law that requires every institution of higher learning to post the price of all required materials for the offered courses on the school's online course schedule (get this) BEFORE YOU ENROLL; Thus eliminating the whole 'wtf face' that every collegian gets after going to the bookstore to purchase whatever book that will really only feel the touch of a human hand three times. Once, when it's bought. Twice, before finals. And third, when you're shipping it to someone else though your Amazon.com account.

But just in case you didn't get the main point of all this, now by knowing how much your classes are gonna cost you BEFORE you enroll, you can properly budget just how much of your refund check can go to three ring binders and just how much can go to pot. Perfect. Now, you know why you elected your local officials. Ahhh, democracy...


-Wu

a DC treat

What are you doing today? Not shit? Well if you’re in Washington, DC, I say you treat yourself by gracing the Capital Fringe Fest with your lovely attendance.

And you say, “What’s that?”

Well, *wiping brow* I’m glad you asked. Now, you can follow the link here or just keep reading.

Suspense, suspense, suspense, suspense….





Independent Theatre. Yeah, it’s a festival of a bunch of independent productions happening around L St and 7th NW at all the little theatres up and down that joint. I suggest you make your way before it ends on the 26th.
Either way, I was invited by a friend to check out the final show of "Titus X" , a rock opera and adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. If you like lots of reenactments of torture and baby killings all put to a rock/metal/grunge soundtrack then hey, that would have been the show for you. Lol. Just kidding. (But I’m not.)

If you’re familiar with the original play, you would understand. But if you just like checking out different,crazy, and strangely fun shit, "Titus X" would have been the show for you also.

Ahhh, independent theatre = art in one of its most pure and earnest forms. And the Fringe Fest is full of art indeed, no holds barred, as confirmed by some of the other plays that are showing at the Fest such as, “Bare Breasted Women Sword Fighting” (<--yup, that’s the name of the show) Or “Lipstick Handgun” and something that sounds like it should be based on my daily experiences, “My Fabulous Sex Life” ...but not if you followed the link. lol.

Though all of the previously mentioned are “not recommended for children”, as suggested by the fest’s authorities, there are plenty of shows for the whole family like, “It’s Not Easy Being Green” , a play about this whole “going green” movement. Now, who wouldn’t want to learn more about why it’s so important for us to take care of our little piece of the universe?

I say, go. Enjoy yourself. And enjoy some good beer and other pre-gaming opps at the bars in and around the theatres where they’re putting the shows on. The Warehouse, one of the festival’s venues, served as an awesome chill spot prior to a rocking show. With its industrial style interior design, perfect for any film student to make themselves at home, the Warehouse definitely proved itself to be a place where I wouldn’t mind finding myself again and again for good convo and good lager. Not because I’m a film student either, but because it just really was a genuinely comfortable spot.

Final words, the Capital Fringe Fest gets my vote. If you’re free, head on over. At least if you don’t like the show, you can get sauced in the company of friends right outside. Win/win.

-Wu

I got a twitter...

and apparently i cannot use this social networking tool. As you must have stalkers and a healthy need to provide sustenance to your leeching crowd in order to get good use out of it. Just for kicks. i'm at www.twitter.com/al_wu

eh...

-Wu

M3 (My Michael Moments)

I had to do it...
for various reasons, all speculated, much like the lifestyle of an unmatched musical icon whose vocal and dancing abilities set the standard for every artist to follow. And if you can't care about his contributions to not just American music but the art on a global spectrum, just respect the fact that he was MY shit.

In this blog, I wanted not to talk about the moments that solidified Michael's iconic status to the world but the moments that shaped my childhood and provided numerous mental markers into my adulthood. Memories that will never escape me.

Top 5...

5. The year is 2003. Michael, our beloved, is up on charges coming out of the wazoo. "He touched me here. He touched me there. He jacked me off. He made me drink alcohlic beverages. MOLESTATION!!" The most complex thought coming into most of our minds is, "Shit..." All these white people got Mike trumped up on this bullshit but thank God for Jewish lawyers! The reigning cry, "NOT GULITY" Seven charges. And I watched all of this go down on a TV in a Coney Island in Roseville, MI. I watched some crazed fan release 7 doves in honor of all of his aquittals. And you say you've never witnessed a miracle...

4. It's 1991. Home Alone was every child's shit. (don't lie, you know that was your shit) and Pepsi cissed the hell out of this new video they were about to debut, yup, "Black or White". Macaulay has the guitar, he's rockin out, blasts his dad out of the ceiling. yup, yup. I was in Jefferson City, MO in the den at my house. The whole family got together to watch this joint. We waited in anticipation like Santa claus was about to reveal his true identity. Not gonna lie, even as I child I thought the vid was only "aight" but I remember how important that moment was.

3. Adding to Michael's awesomeness, did you know he could draw? Yeah... If you had the Thriller album, the art on the insert was done by Michael himself. I can only find this one...

but there were two sketches. Count 'em, TWO SKETCHES. If you find the other one, let me know.

2. I have no I idea when this happened but I know I cannot be the only one remembers exactly where they were and how they felt after seeing "Thriller" for the first time. I was in Muskogee, Oklahoma in my Big Momma's beauty parlor. I was getting my hair pressed. It scared the hell out of me. The ending?!? When HE was the zombie!!! YIKES!! Everybody else in the room was older than me and they all watched unmoved. Even though it scared me, it was still awesome.

1. I have so many of these "Michael Moments". I remember exactly where I was for most of Michael's video premieres that I was alive for: Remember the Times, that Free Willy joint, You Are Not Alone, etc. Or when my dad bought "the glove" from the Motown Museum. (Yes, I owe a replica of Michael's glittery glove.) I have so many, I can't even begin to remember them all... But my most cherished Michael Moments weren't moments so much as they were a series of instances that I was enveloped in the magic that was known to the world as "Moonwalker". Hands down, I have seen that movie more than any other film IN MY LIFE. I know it inside and out. Hours I spent trying to learn the dance moves to "Bad" the way little kids did it. My sister and I have an inside joke from that scene. The claymation characters, the retrospect they did in the beginning where I discovered some of my favorite Michael and J5 hits, the live performance of "Dirty Diana", "Smooth Criminal" IN IT'S ENTIRETY!!, Joe Pesci and those ridiculous glasses! Wow.

Never have I been so impacted by one person and, in this lifetime, I know it will never happen again. So this is for you Mike. You're THEE greatest. No disrepect but John Lennon and Elvis Presely ain't got shit on you. and that's word.


PART II
So yeah, it's Al Wu here with my main man, Michael Jackson. (Mars Blackmon and Michael Jordan reference...) and the longest post I will probably ever put up. But this is just a list of my favorite hits by Mike or the Jackson 5. I found it too difficult to put them up in any order. I feel like all the other lists I've seen include great songs but they were his best selling and most obvious joints and never any B-side classics. I tried to include some of those on here cause, hell, they deserve to be.

check out my bangin playlist.

Favorite Michael Joints

Oh yeah, and I had to leave a little bit something extra. Mike had a video game for Sega and an arcade version. Watch the clip. Laugh your ass off.


Did you hear that soundtrack?!

Love ya'll,

-Wu

Adulterous Behaviors

I should have written this weeks ago but I didn't, so deal. Either way, today's blog explores some awesome new equipment your buddy Bill Gates has in the works. Well, not Bill Gates so much as the new guy, Steve Ballmer, but whatever.

It's the new Project Natal technology for the X Box 360. And to put it plainly, yet so perfectly, it's fucking awesome. Even as I Nintendo devotee, I may have to step out and spend a few weekend getaways or "late night business meetings" resting in the arms of Natal. Sorry, baby...

and by "baby", I specifically refer to Nintendo's Wii system. Yes, Wii was and still is, in many ways, a bad bitch but this new joint goes one step further; It is absolutely remote free. All of the interaction needed to use the Natal games comes from your body and voice. For example, if you're playing a fighting game, and you want to kick your opponent, you actually kick.

And although I do foresee a lot of people accidentally getting caught in the crossfire of erratic arms and legs from those enthralled in game play, come on, a blow to the chest won't be so bad especially if it's a part of a kick ass combo.

hey, "DON'T BE SORRY HOE, BE CAREFUL!"

watch the vid to see yourself. and if Wii is around, hide your boner.

- Wu

Back from France, back to France

Thinking of cycles...

recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to the 62eme Festival de Cannes. oh in english that's the Cannes Film Festival, the 62nd installment. Long story short, it was amazing. At least that's what I tell people whenever i'm asked. "So, how was France? Tell me about it. I want to hear everything." Realizing that statement is absolutely not feasible, I break 'em off with the one liner. "Oh man, uhh, it was amazing." Because that is literally what it was. Well maybe, incredible may be more appropriate. Yeah, France was incredible.

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting, but I got a lot of it. France was gorgeous. The people were gorgeous. The beach was gorgeous. The culture, gorgeous. Feeling the presence and passion of such talented filmmakers from around the globe, gorgeous. The people in the program who I learned to hate, gorgeous. The ones I grew to love, my new found appreciation for the French language, and appreciation for the dollar, cuz the euro was KICKING MY ASS. gorgeous. or incredible, i mean.

Hummmmm.....
Top 5 things i loved about Cannes:
5) the weather: hot, everyday. sunny. perfect weather to chill on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea
4) the beach: old, naked bitches cold chillin in the sand. to be that old and that bossy is awesome. aging is considered beautiful over there. wish that was true in the states.
3) the kids: the kids in france are effin' bossy. flyest kids i've ever seen. american kids be crying and alla that bull. not in france. those so called "kids" are mature as hell. i saw one shoot another, take a toke of cigarette and then put it out on the other guy's face! wait, that was here in detroit...WE GANGSTA, NIGGA!
2) the old school black music constantly in rotation: as soon as i arrived in france the first song i head was "getaway" by Earth, Wind and Fire. it was a sign, 'to soon to be followed by' a healthy dose of stevie Wonder, rose royce, more EWF, and uhh, i don't remember. it was a lot. and all the locals know ALL the words. IN ENGLISH. nuts. and finally,
1) the dogs: hands down, the coolest thing about france were the dogs. these things were like people. their owners take them EVERYWHERE. (no really) Restaurants, work, church. ok, i don't know about church but i would not be surprised if those dogs were capable of catching the spirit. they were very human-esque. they never barked, or made their presence too known. at the hotel where i stayed, i actually shared an elevator with some roaming k-9s a few times. they were just chillin in there. now, i want a french dog SO BADLY, but i know as soon as i bring it to the states, it's going to turn into an american dog and be off the effin chains! damn. lose, lose.

but it does feel amazing to be back in the states. where everybody speaks english. and we all ignore other cultures of the world while they worship ours. :O(
it happens...

but overall, the trip was way too dope to even begin to include in everything. so i'm headed back next year to take in more of the sights and sounds of Cannes; to see some more films, (which were so amazing btw), maybe meet some celebrities (not that i'm so star struck but i know people like to hear about that), and definitely go back with some better films. One of my films WILL screen In Competition at the festival. no doubt. Later this year, I will also be headed to the TIFF. (for all you suckas that don't know what that is, it's the Toronto International Film Festival.) sike, i didn't know either until recently. but that's what's it's all about, ya know, learning. losing those certain ignorant elements about ourselves that keep us in the dark. that build up our inhibitions and keep us from doing the things that we would love to do. I never would have thought the festival (and the globe for that matter) would have been so accessible but truly, it is. I have learned more than anything that if you want to go somewhere or do something, all you have to do, is do it. Just go. Tell people you're going. Make plans to go, and GO. Your life will be so much more enriched if you just DO whatever it is that makes you WANT to DO. and I,
I wanna make films.

Toronto in September.
Sundance in January.
Cannes next May.

signing off,

-Wu

Textures

PRESS PLAY B4 READING

Textures - Herbie Hancock
It is important to understand the defining correlation between music and mood. Writing, listening to Herbie Hancock, has had to be one of the most rewarding moments of my second semester junior year of college.

"Good morning, good morning love..."

greetings earthlings.

perhaps finding the words to begin this article may be the hardest thing to do. it's my spring break. i've been all over the country. taking photos of everything. thinking about a lot. chief. trying to find conclusive evidence on a non conclusive life. where everyone agreeing is an impossibility so we're all left to live lives to make yourselves happy. some people get the memo, others don't. so they're stuck making sense of things the way they've been taught to. it's quite sad actually. on the flip side, it's quite amazing how this purp has given me the spirit of "i don't give a fuck". quite honestly, i don't give any kind of fucks right now. all i know is, i wanna make films. which i will do. i'm in the process of producing a short with my amazing writer friend, Drew Moten. Remember this kid's name, he's going places. Either way, I am tremendously excited to work on a short he wrote called "God, Becca, and Micheaux" Hella dope. To be completed by May 2010. We're shooting it on film. yay.

so, if you haven't noticed by now, i am just typing randomly. which i would still say is pretty healthy; being random from time to time. i may start living a more random, carefree life. that's what you gotta do to enjoy man, cuz people will drag you down into their pit of misery and defeat. fuck that. i'm cruising. and taking pictures along the way.

while in ATL, i found this dope ass artist named Jonesy. she was drawing on tiles, and boards and records and shit and it was hella fly. i bought some of her work because she is uniquely talented and deserving of some support. here goes my purchase there should be no such thing as a talented starving artist. that should be impossible. i don't know how far twenty bucks will take her; maybe a bomb ass sandwich and ice cream from the zesto's across the street. THE ZESTO'S!! I hadn't seen one of those since jefferson city. i was completely stoked. took like 300 pictures of that shit. word. i'll post some of my fly ass experiences here in the south. very interesting. hella fun. mad fly muhfuckas. cool.

peace. i'm still coming down.

damn. Just read this shit.

http://www.asylum.com/2009/03/09/man-dies-after-winning-pancake-eating-competition/


...and the author is an asshole for that last line.

-Wu

Oscars are tonight. what will you be doing?

I wasn't able to catch some of the big movies up for nomination like "The Reader", "Milk", and "Frost/Nixon" (all of which I sorely regret) but regardless of this fact, I'm pretty amped to see what happens tonight; Or maybe more pressed to see if some bullshit slips under the radar and nabs a win, particularly "Doubt".
"Doubt" is up for a rack of nominations including Best supporting actor (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), best actress (Meryl Streep), 2 for best supporting actress (amy adams, viola davis) and best writing/adapted screenplay. And flat out, it deserves none for them. Now, I appreciate the work of Hoffman and Streep but this movie was a disappointment on both the acting and the writing side.

Having read the play, written by John Patrick Shanley, I was pretty darn exctied about the movie. It was AMAZING from page 1 to the back cover. Shanley provided an amazingly composed tale that allowed the audience gain a certain amount of doubt and let them roll around on their mental tastebuds. This movie, however, didn't. It was far more biased than the play read, and far less interesting. Overall, I was disappointed. I need the "Doubt" cast and crew to go home empty handed. Sorry guys.

Another dissappointment was "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". Now I know Howardite Taraji P. Henson is up for best supporting actress but let's be serious. Her role was decent at best. It wasn't a bad job at all but "outstanding"?...naw. "Ben Button" needs to go home with their tales between their legs with the cast of "doubt" go ahead, make it a date.

On a happier note,
I messed around and caught a trailer for an animated film up for Best Foreign picture called "Waltz with Bashir" which looks HELLA dope. I'm definitely gonna check that out as soon as I have the chance. Either way, the clip is posted below.

Enjoy this evening's festivities. I'll be doing homework.

-Wu

Women love dating gay guys. Seriously.

Mr. West must have a LOT of fucking pull.

In a recent interview done with Details magazine, Kanye West has issued his prophecy into the world stating that, in the future, he can see the term "gay" as meaning "really cool" or "fashionable". Now whether or not this really takes off is one thing but it is one hell of a bold move. (Well, maybe not for Ye...) Either way, I'm interested to see where it goes. Is this Kanye really being revolutionary or him just trying to smooth out the ride for his coming out party? Things that make you go "hmmmmm"

Here's the link:
Kanye West claims to have reinvented the word 'gay'

-Wu

Nias

According to the Nguzo Saba, the 7 principles of Kwanzaa, Nia means "purpose". We all have one, or so we hope. My Nia is still at the X as I'm on the path to discovery. 4th Meal's Nia however is a little better known.

I've been meaning to begin a blog for some time now just to put ya'll presidents* up on the shit that I love and want you to know about. This includes but is not limited to music, movies, comedy, tv, fashion, and current events. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, fairly opinionated, and fairly cultured. So with that math, that will make me just like Fox News-"fair and balanced". (that was a joke.)

you've had your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's getting a little late but you're still hungry. Nia: to Feed your mental with this 4th Meal.

-Al Wu

*-no more "n words" here guys...

truth kills opposition (Love TKO) - Charles Hamilton