A Dollar a Day Keeps the Fetus Away
“Young women in the College Bound Sisters program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are offered a simple bargain. They’re paid a dollar for every day that they don’t get pregnant.”
Courtesy of the Washington Post
Add comment July 7, 2009
Michael Jackson: Holy Shit
So, I’ve never really been a Michael Jackson fan. As my Persian friends like to point out, “There are two kinds of Persians. Those who like MJ, and those who don’t.” Well, with shit going down in Iran, I think it’s only all-too-ironic that Tehran’s symbol for the progressive West has mysteriously died. Growing up, I always fell into the “don’t” category, and it was only with his passing that I realized just what I was missing…thanks to MTV’s constant RIP video special:
MJ was a music video GENIUS.
Screw Chuck Statler- MJ’s formula for music videos was EPIC. It’s one thing to hire cutting edge directors like Spike Lee and Martin Scorcese to direct the videos…it’s quite another to actually take the risk to collaborate with directors for never-before-seen music video strategies. Thriller, Bad, They Don’t Really Care About Us, and Smooth Criminal are all deadly videos that set the standard for today’s artists. Tactics like bookending the music video with a diegetic story, presenting the music video like a feature-film trailer, and pretty much inventing how to edit a choreographed dance sequence are all courtesy of MJ and his all around sweet video collection. Except for “Scream”, of course.
Check out my faves [Note: these videos are all (solely) owned by Michael Jackson, who has disabled embedding. Click on the Youtube link to check 'em out!]:
Thriller The first video to incorporate dialogue exclusive to the track. It has a storyline, choreographed dance movements, and a GREAT use of cut-aways and full coverage, ex: 5:54’s sweet swerve parade (just ignore the weird zombie portraiture at 5:24, please). If you substitute the undead for half-naked black women, the dark alley for a swimming pool filled with benjamins, and michael jackson’s sick jacket for a wife-beater, you basically have the formula for every rap video ever made.
Bad FYI: The trick to this one is to keep your eyes on the “Japanese” break dancer, for maximum brilliance seepage. This video is important because is demonstrates Michael’s (actually, pretty good) acting. It also is one of the first videos to feature a celebrity cameo: Wesley Snipes. I only feel bad for the cinematographer that had to expose for Michael’s pale-white skin and Wesley’s black-as-night bod in the same frame. Bravo!
Beat It I love this beat. I can’t help it. It’s as if Michael begins the video at a slumber-party gone awry, screaming into his pillow for true-love and a decent hair straightener. I can see the Ouija board now: “No one likes to be defeated!” I also can’t help LOVING the chemistry of 00:58’s sincere and heart-felt smooch. Oh well. SICK dance sequence at the end.
Last, but not least, my thirst for tacky greenscreens have been quenched thanks to these two diamonds in the rough:
Rock With You Ugh, I totes want that outfit. Check out the killer 80s pyramid lighting!
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough What can I say? I’m a sucker for guys in tuxedos…as they pelvic thrust in 70s game-show sets! Pure brilliance. I must say he’s probably one of the last performers to successfully pull off an earnest and sincere demeanor without making me grimace and feel uncomfortable. Sorry, Blur.
So I know I’m missing other favorites like Smooth Criminal and Billie Jean, but it’s safe to say that they’re all pretty revolutionary. I’m just sad that I didn’t know. Sad that when they taught me the history of music videos, they completely skipped MJ and went straight to Madonna and U2 (ugh). Here’s to you, Michael Jackson, for inspiring filmmakers everywhere to take a chance and expand our concept of sight and sound. RIP.
9 comments June 27, 2009
Cheat Skeet
It’s Friday! Sorry for dominating the blag today, I’ve been gone for a long time and damn it feels good to be back!
I’m calling today’s skeet a “Cheat Skeet” because I’ve chosen Chris Pine. Maybe I could’ve come up with someone better if I didn’t have the memory of a goldfish, but whatever.
This is cheating because I’ve only seen him in one movie (”Blind Dating,” a film about, you guessed it, a blind guy who is dating) and thus I cannot vouch for his acting ability or prowess in choosing good roles. Basically I’ve only chosen him for one reason: he is physically attractive. Nothin’ wrong with that every once in a while. He was in Star Trek though, which I heard was good. And also he doesn’t seem like a Paul Walker style douchebag/statutory rapist. YET.
So, let’s enjoy while we can.
4 comments June 26, 2009
Tim Burton, You Are Walking a Fine Line
Like many people our age, I grew up watching and loving the work of the young (by comparison) Tim Burton. I remember seeing one of his early feature films, Frankenweenie (1984), when I was but a wee lass of 8 or so after my mom picked it out for me at Blockbuster. I was somewhat hesitant to watch it, seeing as how it was neither animated nor in color, but after I did it elicited one of the most intense emotional reactions I have ever had to a film and remains burned into my memory. Because it was traumatizing. (It’s the story of a kid whose dog is killed, then he reanimates it into a Frankenstein monster of sorts. Burton is re-making it. We’ll see.)
From there, Burton continued to nourish my interest in film with his classics, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and even Beetlejuice. His aesthetic was like no other’s; it was his fantastically dark, yet somehow childlike rendering of characters and production design that made him so unique among other auteurs of film.
2 comments June 26, 2009
editing reels
This post is intended to be an open discussion on the topic of the editing reel
1.) What’s the running time of the ideal editing reel?
2.) Is the editing reel cut to music or not?
3.) Is the editing reel supposed to stand alone as its own as an editing object or are the projects that you edited in the past the focus on this reel?
4.) Can you put movies on your editing reel that you have shoot but have not edited? (because it a way you are editing them)
What do you all think..
4 comments June 25, 2009
Cubanomics
I’m back from the little/big island of Cuba. What to say? It’s so hard to explain the absurdity of a falsely communist state. Cuba’s decaying government is riddled with hypocrisy/poor man socialism, and to top it off, its citizens are not granted the right to express themselves. For an American youth to understand this sad mixture of unrelenting stupidity and faux-Marxist values, I can only sum it up by saying:
“Cuba, is, like, totally gay.”
2 comments June 24, 2009
All things good in new york
art supply
alison’s new apartment
anonymity
balcony
bars
beer
bike riding
big payoffs
bobst library
boyfriend
burritos
craigslist ny
central park
climbing upside down
deli salads
editing labs
even cuter clothes
good looking people
gotham reads
girlfriends
filmmaking
film labs
french roommate
hard work
high energy concerts
hudson river
intelligent, fun, weird people
inspiring walks
kmart
million restaurants
mcdonalds mediations
mudd
new people
new apartments
new parties
nifty to dos
no painting rooms
old nyu friends
old memories
people who speak the same language
pick up soccer
pizza
production
post
running along hudson river
shelby
socializing
sunbathing publicly
strategy
strolls with photography in mind
whole foods
union square jk
taxis jk
trader joe
transportation
web
weekend jaunts
yoga classes
zip car
3 comments June 23, 2009
Skeet herded: Paulo Costanzo
Sorry, I cannot offer steamy tales from Cuba, but I can offer something as simple and American as a slice of white bread and that is: Paulo Costanzo.
Paulo Costanzo is pretty cute, in my opinion.
Although, I’m generally not a fan of the Kramer-like hair ( I don’t think you can see what I mean by this.. google it), I overlook it because I figure that this guy’s boyishly handsome looks and smiley personality can trump any bad hair.
Bored out of my mind one night at home and awkwardly cooking dinner for myself, I decided to watch “Royal Pains” which is a new show on USA featured on hulu.com
On royal pains, Paulo Costanzo stars as the business manager for his brother’s private doctoring, a practice for the monstrously rich habitants of the Hamptons.
I found the prickily plot-line entertaining because of the depiction of the collapse of a billionaire Hampton family who is serviced by the good doctor and the subsequent loss of the patient son – a hemophiliac.
Paulo Costanzo casts his light when he is on a date with a retired ballet dancer (36 years old) to get fast food.
She faints after eating a hot dog and the good doctor comes to her rescue.
Ridiculous but somehow charming…
I read that Paulo Costanzo was also in Dr. Doolittle. Ah, now all the memories are flooding back.
For the record, he seems to have cleaned up a lot since those awkward days.
I think you should give Royal Pains a chance.
3 comments June 16, 2009
Hey, I’m Not Dead
Alright, I know I’ve been a bad googly-eyer. I didn’t need Olivia to rub it in! Ever since I started working 50+ hours a week, I somehow find very little time to write and have even less interesting stuff going on to write about. If there’s nothing more boring about spending all day at work, it’s reading about someone else’s day at work, and since that’s what I do most of the time I figured I’d spare you all from that horrible fate.
But here’s an update on my life. I am NOT in Cuba. I am in Brooklyn. I moved into a new apartment that is a major upgrade that I certainly don’t deserve. Yes I know this. I ended my relationship with my boyfriend, which was sad for all parties involved. Yes, I am sad. But, also single, which is new and exciting for me since I guess you could call me a serial monogamist (if two relationships can constitute a “series”.) I don’t have much to say on this topic out of respect for the other party, because of course you must have respect for one another. If we don’t have respect, then what in sweet jesus do we have?!
Anyshit, I’m running on about three hours of sleep and my brain has been firing at about 60% (I’m feeling a bit dizzy and delirious). I’ve been doing my best not to become a hermit person now that I live alone (utterly, desperately, wonderfully, fabulously alone.) I am trying new things and doing it all with style. Though the faces may have changed, the hassles are all the same. Yes, that’s right. I am Jerri Blank.
2 comments June 15, 2009
