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This past Saturday I had the inaugural date of Jai's Southern Film Series. The film of choice was what I think most people would consider the quintessential Southern film, Gone With The Wind . Some people thought it was a bold choice b/c it is so long but I thought it completely appropriate. The week before the event I had about 8 people lined up but Sat morning I got several emails from people getting sick. I was appalled by the fact that people had the nerve to get sick on the day of my film! So. Tara and I made some food - I was thinking something southern but then I realized that it was almost Mardi Gras week so I decided to do some red beans & rice but I had to do it Turnip Truck style which meant chicken sausage instead of pork - and waited to see who would show. We ended up with two guests. Two Gone With The Wind virgins. Tara loaded up the movie and we were off. "Tara, I hate Tara. Why must we do all of this work for Tara?" were some of the first lines we he...

What a great way to start the morning... soccer & sex . I got this from Global Game and it truly shows the powerful impact soccer can have. Sometimes the smallest thing can infintely empower someone. I see it in the library. People who are excited and emboldened when they check out books.

This is actually more a response - a dissent, if you will - to the extraordinarily smart and beautiful, poetically inclined maven of Brown Rabbit Tanning , Marjorie. Marjorie and I worked at Davis-Kidd together, we started on the same day (to walk into the breakroom and see her certainly made me feel better about working for $8/hr), and I typically agree with her on things film and political, although she once steered me to an insane Turkish movie, which I have fortunately forgotten the name of, although I did like the music. I will have to say that her disinterest in The Queen disappoints me greatly. I, not being an Anglophile wasn't interested in The Queen but when the lights went down I became enthralled and entranced by Dame Helen Mirren (who joins other silver-haired beauties, Raquel Welch - I know she's not silver haired but you know what I mean - and  Emmylou Harris , on my hottie list). Here performance was all encompassing, she is one of the few who truly and absol...

Discovery Channel Accused of Attacking Christianity -- 02/27/2007 If the findings are accurate, Charlesworth said, "we're finding a basis for Christian hope and vision indeed the Christian affirms that Jesus was fully God and fully human." I've never understood why this isn't the way more people think. I remember the hub-bub about Last Temptation of Christ and thinking, if you see the movie you know the story ends just like the Bible says besides, what is so wrong with thinking that Jesus was more like us? The concept was brought up again in Half Nelson - a tree is both strong and weak, yin yang are entwined, that was no longer good enough. At some point Christians and especially American Protestants became extemely fixed on the fact that Jesus is God. He was no longer the Son of God, he was no longer "born of a woman (virgin or not)"...except "baby Jesus". It's absolutely ridiculous. The Holy Book itself says He was both man and God......

I've never done a meme b4 but this one was in my inbox (credit to The Life Of a Wife and Teacher ): IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE? So, here's how it works: 1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc) 2. Put it on shuffle 3. Press play 4. For every question, type the song that's playing 5. When you go to a new question, press the next button 6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool... 7. When you're finished tag some other people to do it! Here are the areas that you need to fill out: Opening credits: Waking up: First day of school: Falling in love: First song: Breaking up: Prom: Life: Mental Breakdown: Driving: Flashback: Getting back together: Wedding: Birth of Child: Final Battle: Death Scene: Funeral song: End Credits: Here's Mine!!! Opening credits: Joe Hill by Paul Robeson Waking up: South Heading by Groundthruter ( DJ Logic version) First day of school: Nowadayze by Georgia Ann Muldrow Falling in love: She Bel...

This started as a comment on Marjorie's blog, Brown Bunny Tanning , but it was getting long so I figured I'd flesh it out over here. The Queen was a good movie, we saw it back in Oct or so (sneak peak), and Helen Mirren made me fall in love with the Queen. I was completely entranced I am not an Anglophile (I do love British soccer and the pub culture), I never understood the Diana thing, but this was such a well-written and well-acted movie I am smitten with Helen Mirren. We (Marjorie And I) are on the same tip with Dreamgirls . This was a schlocky Hollywood bombast of a perfectly good (from what I hear) Brdwy production . The problem I had (other than hating musicals) is that the off-stage characters (except Jamie Foxx ) had no story. I didn't care about any of them, I just wanted to get to the next on-stage scene, which they ALL did great jobs with. After Jamie Foxx, J-Hu 's character and Eddie Murphy 's character had the most depth but they had so little it...

Interesting that they share initials. Thanks to some audioblog out there, I have now heard both versions of " And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going ", the emotional linchpin of the musical. I saw the movie but not the play . I was not impressed by the movie. The stage performances were very good but the off stage stuff was weak. Everything off stage had me asking for the next stage performance...that doesn't make a good movie, which is why I am not surprised that it wasn't nominated for an Oscar . The other thing was that this reinforced my hatred for most musicals ! I can't stand those damn things. This song is a prime example. The music in so many musicals is such a bombastic mess. This is one where you can sorta compare the source material ( Motown ) with the stage/screen production and you can see that even the most emotional song in the entire production lacks the substance, the subtleties and breath of a truly emotional ballad. Part of it is that fucking ...

I put my simple little tribute to Robert Altman earlier and now I see this: Moistworks First, I didn't know there were so many versions of "suicide is painless"; second, and more importantly, I never would have thought to make that my tribute like this...no words from the author, just a photo of, music inspired by and a quote from Robert Altman. That, my friends, is a multi-media tribute.

A man with amazing talent. LOS ANGELES ( Reuters ) - Director Robert Altman , who introduced an innovative ensemble style of filmmaking in such works as "MASH," "Gosford Park" and "Nashville," has died at age 81, his production company said on Tuesday. A spokesman told Reuters that Altman died on Monday night but gave no cause of death. Altman revealed at the Academy Awards in March that he had a heart transplant when he was in his 70s but kept it a secret in order to keep working. He received a lifetime achievement award at the same ceremony. Altman, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was 30 when he made his first feature film. On the strength of that he moved to Hollywood where his big break came with "MASH," the 1970 black comedy about a medical unit during the Korean War. Its irreverent ad lib dialogue caught viewers by surprise and ushered in a new era of film making.

Nashville is usually thought of as a music city, and we are definitely that, but what most people don't know is that we are a movie city and tonight was payoff to the supporters of this industry and art form. Nashville Film Festival has arranged a special engagement of the new film: Come Early Morning Exclusive and FREE To Our NFC Members The film's star, Ashley Judd , director, Joey Lauren Adams (to be confirmed) and music producer, Alan Brewer will be in attendance for a special Q & A panel to follow. Brian Mansfield (Nashville correspondent for USA Today ) will moderate the panel. Come Early Morning Monday, November 20, 7pm Regal Green Hills Cinema Q & A Panel to Follow Screening NFC Members may bring one guest to this event. Members must show their NFC Card for admittance. Seating is limited. Come Early Morning, Dir. Joey Lauren Adams, 97 min, USA, Rated R (language and some sexual situations) Cast : Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Tim Blake Nelson, Laura Pepron, Di...

I'm starting with the end of this article because I think it's the most interesting theory. It's going to be fun watching what happens with the 2008 presidential election. I don't think it's Al's time. I just don't know if people are ready for President Gore. I think he should continue to do what he's doing for another 4 years, if not 8. Barring most situations I will vote for him based on his environmental policies alone but I just don't think most Americans give a shit about global warming...it's too theoretical, especially in the christian fundamentalist realm, which seems to be a predominant ideology right now. Oscars are in Jan or Feb so we'll see. An Inconvenient Truth will probably be nominated for an Oscar . It's the third highest grossing documentary in history and the most successful documentary of 2006. It will probably win. If you see a chubby, happy Al Gore standing next to the producer and director, celebrating the win at...

Hell yeah!

I'm listening to " Speaking of Faith "(if you're interested in how people spiritually deal with various social & personal issues you need to check out this show), the episode with Mariane Pearl and I have to tell you that the movie, A Mighty Heart , might be the perfect role for Angelina Jolie . Doing a little google search on the movie I found this picture (left) of her in the role I am convinced that this will be "the one" for Angelina. As I am listening to Mariane Pearl (below) I hear attitude, intelligence and this sexy French accent. On top of it all she is quite attractive. Who knows what the movie will actually bring but on face value Angelina is perfect.

Different movies, different vibes, different stories. I've not read any Truman Capote , I was never interested. Earlier this year there was the Phillip Seymour Hoffman movie, Capote , I thought it was great. But now there is Infamous , an indi film about Truman writing In Cold Blood . Capote didn't make me want to read the book, Infamous did. Infamous is a very subtle story and I think has a much stronger emotional impact. It slowly sucks you in. I was amazed by Truman's boldness, egotistical attitude and manipulative abilities but there was such a sadness. I think some people would say that the Harper Lee (a very southern sounding, understated Sandra Bullock ) was too direct of a narrator (the action was interspersed with interviews with Truman's friends and acquaintances). She was there often and her "observations" of Truman came across, at times as directives to the audience. Overall, I liked this movie a lot and, like I said, I'm gonna read some...