“Torturing Democracy” when it slipped onto public television this month? If not, PLEASE go to the site and watch it, and you’ll see why the PBS folks are not that thrilled. Of course, this level of cowardice from PBS isn’t exactly new.
Category Archives: film
Brief Book Review: Post-HipHoppers
This brand-new book occupies the intellectual space between Kevin Powell’s essay collections and Bakari Kitwana’s seminal work.
M.K. Asante, Jr., a filmmaker, poet and college professor, adds his name to the list of young (under 45 🙂 ) Blacks who’ve written works that seek to combine journalism, personal essays and contemporary history, using hiphop of the point of departure. He is an optimistic self-described “artivist,” a 26-year-old writing to inspire younger people who will pick up this book because of its title. It’ll be their text for Black Contemporary Socio-Political Development 101, and believe me, they need it.
Get this book for the teenager (or college-aged young adult) in your life and make him or her read it. Then make him or her look up all of the authors he mentions.
Did You See……….
….the excellent Harlem Book Fair panel on James Baldwin? The S. Pearl Sharp discussion of Baldwin’s Hollywood adventures—trying to produce a film on El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz—was worth the time alone. And Herb Boyd’s masterful work of moderator-as-narrator. And Baraka. Damn. That’s all they wrote.
CONGRATS To………
…..my nephew Andrew Burroughs Jr., who is being honored this week by the Newark Black Film Festival. His film won the Long Narrative Competition. The award, the 2008 Paul Robeson Award, is being presented by Paul Robeson Jr.
JULY 30th UPDATE: My nephew tells me last night Mr. Robeson is sick, so Richard Wesley is doing the honors. Get well soon, Mr. Robeson.
P.S. In an unrelated note, enjoyed this NPR story on Kevin Powell’s Congressional run. Congrats to you too, K.P.
P.P.S. More unrelated: Congrats to Pacifica’s “Democracy Now!” and NPR’s “Tell Me More” for actually covering what Obama said at “Unity” about reparations, et. al.
One-Word Review Of "The Dark Knight"
Masterpiece.
P.S. I’m off to see it tomorrow for the THIRD time, but I’ll see it again with anyone who wants to see it.
The (New) Little Tramp, The Tough-As-Nails Vamp, And The Future (of Pixar)
When I heard this (level of) review, I put “Wall-E” on the to-see list. So yesterday I went, and saw no exaggeration.
Another home run for the 3-D gang. It’s hard to explain the amount of, and quality of, visual storytelling in this film. The characters fit like parts of a symphony separate and attached to the music. As usual with Pixar, the emotions are raw, sentimental and direct without being sappy. “Monsters, Inc.,” “Wall-E”, et. al. continue to stand in constant contrast to today’s dual overdose of overrated hip, small-screen animated cynicism and big-screen patronizing mediocrity.
And the film’s Sci-Fi socio-political content….
What amazes me is that Pixar seems to be just beginning to find its storytelling-style groove. Can it really get better than this?
Not doing a good job expressing myself here, am I? Then stop reading this and just go see it! Bring your kids if you have to! LOL! 🙂
Just Three Words (And One Acronym)
See. Hancock. Fun-nee! LOL!
P.S. Can’t believe the critics are dogging it so badly!
P.P.S. The movie brings a whole new meaning to a certain idea popularized by Michael Eric Dyson. 🙂
How To Tell If You've Created A Stereotypical 1970s Black Superhero
You know you’re bored when you finally find an article in your apartment that you’ve been (thinking about) searching for FOR YEARS. 🙂 I finally found this blurb in my old copy of the 100th anniversary issue of Wizard magazine, published eight years ago. Something to think about while we’re all enjoying “Hancock.” 🙂
Black Power!
Ten easy steps for making a genuine stereotypical, borderline offensive, 1970s Black superhero.
1. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL! Make them Black. Seems obvious, but nobody included that on the memo for “Blackhawk,” and look where that went.
2. ALWAYS BET ON BLACK The character MUST be called “Black” something, like Black Goliath, Black Lightning, Black Panther, etc., to offset how all the white heroes’ names start with “white,” like…..uh……..
3. DRESS FOR SUCCESS When designing the costume, pepper freely with high collars, plunging V-necks and chains. And the Afro’s a must.
4. TALK THE TALK Aside from a healthy dose of “jive turkey” and “brotha,” give your new crimefighter a believable ethnic catch phrase, like “Sweet Christmas.”
5. WALK THE WALK Make ’em good and angry, so they’ll lash out at billboards and fences and stuff when they’re talking to themselves.
6. UP WITH PEOPLE Unlike guys like Superman and Aquaman, they’re one of the people. Have the grocer give him an apple when he walks by.
7. STAY GOLDEN He might act all tough and grouchy, but beneath that hairy, V-necked chest beats a heart of gold. Unless The Man gets in his way, that is.
8. DO THE TIME Give him a criminal background, just like Superma…uh, no, like Batma…er, no, bad example. Like Iron M–ah, maybe we should move on to #9.
9. SLUM IT UP These guys are rarely members of the Avengers and JLA. They’re more likely private investigators, ex-thugs for hire, social workers, stuff like that.
10. FUBU The stories have to have the air of authenticity to them: the situations the characters find themselves in because of who they are, their day-to-day problems and struggles they must hear. You need somebody who can relate to these issues. Get somebody white to write it.
Copyright (c) 2000 by Wizard magazine.
P.S. For more on Black superheroes, you should check out this and this and this.
2010 UPDATE: Enjoyed reading this.
The King's Tome
The new biography of Jack Kirby really isn’t that; it’s an authorized, more-polite-than-it-should-be version of his life used as an excuse to showcase his great art. And thank God for it.
Jack Kirby is responsible for two-thirds of every childhood smile I ever made. Period. The Fantastic Four. The Silver Surfer. The Incredible Hulk. The Mighty Thor. The Black Panther. The Uncanny X-Men. ‘Nuff said.
Thanks to Mark Evanier for putting it together. He told the story of a man who created hundreds of universes in order to take care of his most important one: his wife and children. Jack Kirby, the immortal hero whose superpower was unlimited imagination.
Spike, Clint And The Rights Of Writers
Okay, look, I don’t have a horse in this race (pun intended 🙂 ), but I’ll just say this:
As a writer and a historian, I think people have the right to tell any story any way they want. And other people have the equal right to publicly criticize that telling, and tell their own stories in defense/offense. And then those stories get criticized. And on and on. And that human beings will have to be smart enough to figure the(ir) truth(s) out for themselves.
So, now that I’ve said that, here’s my opinion of the dust-up:
Spike should kick Eastwood’s old ass for saying he should “shut his face.” Then Spike should shut his face. 🙂
Spike, didn’t Eastwood do a whole World War II film from the point of view of the Japanese? Why should every (white) filmmaker be duty-bound to show Black World War II soldiers in the (white) stories they tell?
If I’m making a historical film, I wouldn’t distort history, but I’d want to focus on the story I’m telling. And if I’m telling a story about Blacks in World War II, I’m not going to worry about showing white people. At all. Unless it’s to show the vicious white racism of the period.
If anything, the lack of Blacks in Hollywood World War II films should emphasize the strict segregation of the U.S. armed forces—and in homefont America!—during that time. In the future, I hope Black people will produce more “Tuskegee Airmens” that will tell those painful stories as white people laud “The Greatest Generation.”
Drums in the Global Village 
