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movies to watch: putney swope

ksolo — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:21:14 +0000

“Our job is to manipulate the consumer by arousing his desires. And then we satisfy those desires for a fixed price.”

~from “Putney Swope” (1969)

It’s a rare treat when you stumble across a film that’s so groundbreaking and before its time that it leaves an indelible impression on your brain. I was treated to such a stumbling a few months ago when a grey-movie-loving friend of mine introduced me to Putney Swope. Radical, thought-provoking, and absolutely hilarious… this one is now on my ‘favorite movies of all time’ list.

Synopsis: By a total fluke, Putney Swope – the lone black member on the board of a corporate advertising agency, is elected President when the owner dies. Determined to change the way things are done, Putney changes the name of the agency to ‘Truth and Soul’ and brings in a staff of pseudo-militant soul sistas and brothas to help him run the organization… into the ground.

You’d Like this Movie if You’re a Fan of: Black Dynamite, The Watermelon Man, Bamboozled

Why You Should Watch:

Makes equal mockery of the blatant money-grubbing and mind-manipulation of corporate advertising machines and the flexible morality of revolutionary organizations that often makes it difficult to distinguish them from the money-grubbing manipulators.
The commercials in the movie are as funny (ha-ha) as they are funny (strange)!

Interesting Tidbits:

The guy who plays the lead character looks amazingly like Dick Gregory
Robert Downey Sr. (yes, Sherlock Holmes’ dad) wrote and directed the film and also did the voiceover for the lead actor because he kept flubbing his lines
Downey came up with the idea for the film during when he was making ‘experimental commercials for an ad agency – some of those commercials actually appear in the film
Antonio Fargas (aka, Huggy Bear) figures prominently in the film, providing lots of comic relief

Watch Putney Swope on Amazon

cheers,

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i’m listening to: skin, is my by andrew bird

ksolo — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:25:11 +0000

I hate Pandora. Ok maybe hate is too strong of a word. Really, it’s a sort of missplaced hate. Who I really hate is MySpace, since it is the reason behind the demise of the online music service, Imeem, that I was such a loyal fan of. Listening to music on Pandora is much more restricted, so it’s taken me a while to get adjusted to it.

The one ‘sunny upside’ though, is that I get exposed to all kind of music I might not normally find otherwise. Like this track, “Skin, Is My” by Andrew Bird. Found this one while listening to my Zero 7 station on Pandora. It’s groovy, funky, and cheerful all at the same time. What a lovely sound!

Purchase Track on Amazon

Purchase Track on iTunes

cheers,

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atlanta’s national black arts festival kicks off next week

ksolo — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:40:13 +0000

Only a few more days before the 22nd National Black Arts Festival begins! Well, technically, the festival never ends since it’s a year-round celebration of arts and culture across the African Diaspora. But from July 14-18, we’ll be treated to a concentrated dose of all that the NBAF has to offer.

The NBAF is always a highlight of Atlanta’s summer festival season with a myriad of music and theater performances, workshops, films, and educational programs that allow Atlantans and visitors from all around the globe to see, taste, hear, and feel the work of artists and artisans that have shaped and continue to influence Black culture.

Centennial Olympic Park will once again be the summer festival’s home base of operations, with Main Stage performances by Afro-Brazilian percussion group, Olodum, Atlanta’s own DJ Kemit, and Roy Ayers with the Common Ground Collective. Several other events – film screenings, dance and theater performances, visual arts displays, and more - will occur at locations around the city. Many of the events are absolutely free to the public, while others offer some very affordable options if you’re looking for things to do on a sweltering Atlanta weekend.

Visit the NBAF’s website for a complete schedule of events or download this handy Excel schedule of 2010 NBAF events that you can sort by date, event type, and price (alternate link for those without Excel).

see you at the festival,

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before and after: golden brown by the stranglers and omar lye-fook

ksolo — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:56:12 +0000

I first heard the song ‘Golden Brown’ in Guy Ritchie’s iconic caper flick, Snatch. Ritchie has a way of sneaking obscure musical classics into his films that leaves me scrambling for a copy of the soundtrack. This particular obscure classic was originally recorded by English rock band, The Stranglers. The song – when it was first released in 1981 – had a little bit of controversy attached to it because it was said that the lyrics referred to heroin usage. While there’s nothing in the Stranglers’ original video to suggest that, English soul singer Omar Lye-Fook’s 1997 version of Golden Brown – well at least the video – makes heavy visual references to ’chasing the dragon’.

In my opinion, the song’s lilting melodies and day-dreamy lyrics are enough of a drug. Have a look and a listen for yourself. I promise, you will get addicted.

The Stranglers – Golden Brown Video

Omar Lye-Fook – Golden Brown Video

cheers,

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Left Unsaid: film series explores the blurred reality between our online and offline selves

ksolo — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:29:54 +0000

With everyone being so engaged in social media these days, it’s often hard to separate the online persona from the offline human. There is a line that is blurred – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not – when we start posting snippets of our personal lives all over the interwebs for the whole world to see. Through 140-character brain farts, status updates, microblogs, and snapshot images we develop composite pictures that may or may not reflect the totality of the individuals who publish them. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other social media applications have allowed us to expose more of ourselves to each other, but the core of who we are – what moves us, makes us happy, angry, sad, likeable or detestable – can still only be truly grasped by direct interaction. For this very reason, some people have chosen to opt out of the online world altogether, refusing to allow the line to be blurred because they realize that it’s important to maintain the humanness of connections.

Filmmaker Nelson George (who also produced Chris Rock’s ‘Good Hair’) has created a collection of very brief video vignettes that explores many of the social concerns of merging online conversations with offline reality. George’s series, Left Unsaid, chronicles several intimate interactions among a group of eclectic female creatives who’ve been invited to a meet-and-greet in a Brooklyn brownstone one sunny Sunday afternoon.

The series is divided into 19 chapters, each of which focuses on one or more pseudo-fictional characters. I call them pseudo-fictional because it seems as if the characters themselves have been modeled after the women who are playing them. One particularly poignant interaction occurs between Belinda – a dancer and single mother, and Bethlehem – a freelance writer who pays the bills by writing for a tween-oriented celebrity gossip blog. In the chapter, titled “Phat Booty”, Belinda finds out that her pre-teen daughter is actively engaged on the site that Bethlehem writes for. Have a look at the video for yourself. Check out the entire Left Unsaid series by visiting: http://www.leftunsaidseries.com. I’d recommend starting from the first chapter – I didn’t at first and almost wrote the series off because I didn’t have the proper context.

Also – keep your eyes peeled for Chyna Layne – the girl who played the Jamaican smack-talking sista Rhonda in Precious.

(as seen on Black Web 2.0)

cheers,