The L.A. Dime

Joss Whedon, super-duper writer/producer, created his own internet miniseries to show the Studios that content can happen without them. It’s pretty cool, and pretty darn funny. After tomorrow (7/20/08) it becomes pay to play.  You can download a season pass from iTunes for $3.99 and get all current and future episodes.

Last night, and far too late — not in the hour but in the timing — Tina and I finally watched an amazing film written and directed by Ted Braun, one my former USC professors, and now a colleague. Darfur Now is a documentary that tells the story of six individuals fighting to free the Darfur region from the genocide wrought by the Sudanese government against its own people, perpetrated by mercenaries known as the Janjaweed. Featured in the story are a woman who lost everything and now fights as a rebel, a UN official working to provide food to refugees, a Los Angeles waiter who successfully writes and passes a law to divest California from Sudanese business interests, actor Don Cheadle (also featuring his pal George Clooney) who wrote a book on the conflict and hopes to use his celebrity to raise awareness, and finally, the U.N. Prosecutor who seeks to bring Sudanese war criminals to justice.

Darfur Now is wonderfully crafted. It’s a heart-wrenching and inspirational film that should serve as a call of action to those like me who sometimes feel that simply being informed about a subject is enough. Knowing is one thing, but doing is quite another. There is no more chilling moment in the film than when the Rebel Fighter claims that things will be better “when the white people come to help us.” Darfur Now delivers their message. Now it is up to us to respond. All of us.

Watch the film on DVD, and visit its official website to see what is being done and how you can help.

Rich Copley, The Lexington Herald Leader’s culture writer and blogger of Copious Notes, recently included The Dime in his discussion of Classic 80′s movies. It should be noted that I first consulted The Cheese Fry, and we differed greatly, as we often do about movies and certain blue and silver football teams with QBs whose last names sound like restaurant chains.

Rich interviewed several other filmmakers with KY connections, and most of them brought up at least one movie that I failed to mention which was definitely worthy of consideration. Most distressing to me, was Oscar-winner The Dead Poet’s Society, which truly changed my life. Anyway, check out the lists, and then chime back in with your own.  Here’s mine:

“This was very, very hard to do! My rationale was to go with iconic movies I watch over and over again. Clearly, few of them were Oscar winners, but in my mind, they define the era and are still well-loved today.”

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark

2. The Empire Strikes Back

3. E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial

4. Back to the Future

5. Tootsie

6. The Breakfast Club

7. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

8. Top Gun

9. Wall Street

10. Amadeus

But what about The Princess Bride, Ghostbusters, Rain Main, Die Hard, When Harry Met Sally, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, 48 Hours, Gandhi, Driving Miss Daisy and Beverly Hills Cop?

Thanks to Jake White, the happy newlywed, for directing me to Pandora, a website that allows you to build radio stations around your favorite artists, and using the Music Genome Project, it then expands your horizons into music with similar roots, styles, and connections. The music streams for free for as long as you want to listen. It’s a great way to have a constant variety of music you like playing on your computer, and to also explore new artists you may never have experienced. Like an iPod on shuffle, there is the radio-like surprise of not knowing what’s next, and you also get info on the artist as it plays. You can reject a song, too, and you’ll never hear it again. Every time you give a song a “thumbs-up,” though, you’ll be sure to hear it again, and to also further expand your playlist into similar songs. Check it out. Very cool.

R.E.M.’s new album, Accelerate, is a return to the roots of the band’s beginnings, and I’m a big fan. The Submarines, our good friends and favorite local band, have released their second album, Honeysuckle Weeks, and as hard as this is for me to admit, it’s better than their debut. I see big things in their future. Please give them a look. You won’t be disappointed.

…is the best comic book movie I have ever seen. I was a big fan of Batman Begins, as well as the original Batman and the first X-Men, but Iron Man brings it all. A great performance by a supremely talented actor, more genuine, character-based humor than you find in most comedies nowadays, fantastic action you can actually follow (unlike Spider-Man 3), and a tight, multi-layered story that left me satisfied.

BTW — the trailers for the new Indiana Jones and Batman movies weren’t all that exciting, but Fallout Boy’s new cover of Beat It truly rocks.

The Dime would like to thank Cincinnati radio gabber, Bill Cunningham, for doing his damndest yesterday to portray my hometown as the seat of ignorant, closed-minded, fear-mongering politics of the past in his opening remarks before Senator McCain’s rally there. In a tirade laced with lies about Barack Obama, he insisted on using the Senator’s middle name, “Hussein,” over and over again, and later said Obama shouldn’t be ashamed of his strong Muslim background. He also referred to Obama as a “prophet,” whose election will cause our enemies around the world to celebrate. Sounds like Bill has been hanging out with Obamadamus.

While Obama has repeatedly discounted this theory that he is a Muslim, and the proof can be found in a my post, Debunked, I have to say, hypothetically, “so what if he was?” This country was founded on the principles of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In asking you to believe that Obama is a secret Muslim, they are also asking you to believe that all Muslims are terrorists. One of my good friends is a Muslim. A great guy whom I’d let babysit Sophie any time. I teach Muslims at USC. Great kids who are eager to learn and live a normal life. As human beings, they are as varied and unique as all of the Christians I know — and guess why. Because they’re no different than all the Christians I know save for who, how, and where they choose to worship — rights protected by our Constitution. These people are not terrorists just because they pray to a different God. Therefore, why are we being sold this bill of goods that you should fear Obama because some of his family are Muslim, and his middle name is Hussein?

People like Cunningham are counting on the American people to remain afraid. To not think for themselves. To be told the truth rather than seek it for themselves. They believe it worked in 2000 and 2004, so why not now? You may be a McCain supporter, or a Clinton supporter, or undecided. Whatever you are, don’t allow fear and prejudice to be part of the debate. Let’s discuss the issues, please, and not allow ourselves to be swayed by fear mongers. And let’s never let Bill Cunningham represent Cincinnati on national television ever again.

Recently, I was shocked to learn that there are numerous internet email campaigns, and several websites, and probably a lot of barbershop and hunting trip conversations propagating a wicked conspiracy that Senator Obama is a Muslim sleeper agent bent on destroying America from the inside out. Seriously?

I understand people’s politics on abortion, the war, etc….I may disagree, but that’s democracy. But I can’t abide the kind of fear-mongering that allows people to lose their sense of reason. I can’t abide an America built on fear and threats and color-coded warning systems that keep some folks from going to the mall. I can’t abide smear campaigns like Bush 43′s Swift Boat campaign against Kerry. Let’s vote on the issues. On leadership. On character and charisma.

My friend Jan and I were outraged that people actually believe such nonsense, so we decided to enter the world of political satire and create some nonsense of our own. That’s how we came to create Obamadamus.

Visit the site, if you think it’s funny, then tell your friends. If you hate it, let me know. But please, do what you can to keep people thinking reasonably, and to not be swayed by propaganda and fear. Haven’t we had enough of that in the last eight years?

It should be noted that my sometime partner in The Dime, Tina, is on record as opposing Obamadamus, because she feels it only contributes to the noise, and only calls more undo attention to a dangerous idea. Point taken. But we’re hoping to make people laugh, and in so doing, make them realize how silly all of this is in the first place. Decide for yourself.

A woman I once worked with at USC, Kirsten Holly Smith, earned a grant to develop her own, one-woman show about the life and career of Dusty Springfield. I saw the first performance ever at USC, and was blown away. She took it on a cruise ship for a while, and now has a month-long run of the show at L.A.’s. Renberg Theatre.

She looks like Dusty. She sounds like Dusty, and this girl can seriously sing. Check out her website, Stay Forever Dusty, and make plans to attend. You won’t be disappointed. Her version of “Preacher Man” is worth the price of admission alone.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with the highest regard that I wish to recommend a film to you. I watched it last evening in advance of a lecture introduction I am to give for one of its producers, Kentuckian, Gill Holland. Sweet Land is a touching story about community, faith, family, friendship, love, and the land. Those who know me well will understand the compliment I give when I say it is as close to a film version of a Wendell Berry novel as we may ever see. Find a way to rent it, and I promise, you won’t be disappointed. Here is the summary from Netflix:

In Ali Selim’s Independent Spirit Award-winning tale of how love triumphs over ignorance, German immigrant Inge tells her life story to her grandson after burying her husband on their farm in Minnesota in 1968. Inge begins her tale in 1920, when she’s just become a mail-order bride to Norwegian-American farmer Olaf. Discovering that Inge’s heritage is actually German, both Olaf and the community struggle to overcome years of anti-German propaganda and prejudice.