ON THE "BULLY" PROJECT

This is the official trailer for the documentary, Bully.

Right now, it's rated 'R' for language, which means that those who really ought to see this film, cannot do so without a guardian.  This also means this film cannot be shown in schools, where the very subject of this documentary plays out every school-day.

Ellen DeGeneres recently spoke out against the rating and urged viewers to sign this petition to change the rating to a PG-13.

Now, I've been pretty vocal against the MPAA's warped and arbitrary rating standards, wherein a woman's orgasm on-screen would likely warrant an NC-17 rating, but a graphically violent rape scene would get just an R. 

I've scratched my head at the R-ratings films like the sweet Irish romance Once get for two f-bombs, while films like the violent epic, Beowulf get PG-13 ratings. 

This film's rating however, rings much more personal... 

You see, I was a bullied child and teenager.  Having been managing depression for most of life, right along with the stigma of having a mental illness...  Having been a lanky, buck-toothed, black, female fan of all things geeky and dorky, I understand the need for a film like this being shown in schools all over the country because I almost was one of those statistics.

I almost succeeded in taking my own life at fourteen years old because of school bullying.  I still have insecurities and flashbacks about it to this very day.

Yes, I did survive, but my heart goes out to those kids in schools who are still trying to survive the bullying in their schools.  It hurts my heart to know that unlike me, some won't survive it. 

Even one child taking his or her own life because of those preventable cruelties is too many. 

So, I urge you to sign the petition, linked above.  I urge you to support anti-bullying initiatives in your schools, and continue to support other anti-bullying efforts like the awesome  "It Gets Better Project".

I've known far too many talented, loving, kind-hearted, LGBT, weird, goth, and/or geeky individuals getting insulted, put-down, and harmed for their strange in the eyes of some, but ultimately benign choices, opinions, and ways of life.

Simple kindness in conjunction with tolerance is far too underrated in country that purports to have so many people trying to be Christlike.

THE 2012 OSCAR PREDICTION POST

It's almost time.  This Sunday is the annual celebration of the best in film, according to the Hollywood elite that is The Oscars.

I always look forward to the fashion, the gaffs, the performances, and the speeches.

As for fashion, I'm most looking forward to what Ms. Spencer and Davis are bringing the table and I'm hoping that one or both will have a naked golden man to put on their mantels.

I am happy to see Billy Crystal is still alive and hosting this year and disappointed to know that Eddie Murphy dropped out for sake of defending his friend's homophobia.  Bad form all-around on that one and especially disappointing coming from a black man, but I digress...

These are some of my predictions for winners, losers, and those others I'll be looking forward to seeing what they'll be wearing on the big night:

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

 

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Brad Pitt (though I'd pick Gary Oldman)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Viola Davis

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Christopher Plummer 

ACTRESS IN SUPPORTING ROLE

Melissa McCarthy

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Rango 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Hugo

ART DIRECTION

Hugo

COSTUME DESIGN

The Artist

DIRECTING

Martin Scorsese

MAKE-UP

Albert Nobbs

SCORE

Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy

ORIGINAL SONG 

Real in Rio

VISUAL EFFECTS

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

WRITING ADAPTED

The Descendants

WRITING ORIGINAL

Bridesmaids

We'll see how I do.

And I can't wait to see what Ms.'s  Mara, Close, and Williams will be wearing.

P.S. I enjoyed Santorum's guest spot on Criminal Minds last night. ;)

 

WHITNEY VS. "BLACKNESS"

Rest in peace, Whitney Houston.  

You know, it's always interesting how the cruelties of life pursue us unto death and beyond, while those who were foremost in perpetuating them remain oblivious.

She was as beautiful as her voice.

...A gilded girl, blessed with the talent to make our souls soar with one perfectly executed note.  She was a church girl and a "hood" girl from Newark, re-molded into a squeaky clean cross-over goddess of song...which sadly, only stuck for so long.

I wonder now, how much of that initial cross-over diva was pushed to the wayside for the sake of some kind of false sense of "black authenticity". I wonder how much of that sensitivity, disguised by hood-girl toughness, in that infamous interview with Diane Sawyer; that desire to be authentically black, might have had a role in ultimately destroying her.

You see, as much as black folks are pouring out their love for Whitney, now that she's gone, as much as they had a real hope that she might have returned to us before it was too late, I also remember the hate she received from black folks for being "too white".

I remember the criticisms she got from her brothers and sisters at the height of her fame for being false because of her safe image and songs.

...And so, she showed us how "hood" she actually was. She traded in that clean image for the rough-edges of what too many ignorant folks define as "more black" .  The duets with Bobby, the defiant "mean black girl" she show in that interview.

...The marriage to Bobby, the drugs, the "black" music and mannerisms.  A so-called return to "her roots" that I believe ultimately destroyed her. So, this is my call to black America to for once and for all give-up the idea that there is one right way to be black.

There isn't.

Between most of  the successful hip-hop elite all now following in "not hood enough" MC Hammer's footsteps, when it comes to endorsements, squeaky clean projects, and expanding their brands and those who choose that similarly doomed of path of 'when keeping it real goes wrong', I am tired and done with that ill-conceived ideal.

Let us realize, that "keeping it real" is not something that can be singularly defined, not something so negative as to set-us on destrutive paths, but truly whatever the heck you want it to be. From playing the bagpipe to  learning Russian, we need to stop limiting and destroying ourselves in pursuit of that false and self-destructive ideal.

It's the melanin and ancestry the defines black, not the "hood things" we do.

THE HUNGER GAMES TRAILER AND VANITY FAIR

Okay,  I have to admit, the trailer for The Hunger Games blows my mind.

It's just awesome.

Though it would've been nice to see some actors of color in those "olive-skinned" lead roles, we all know how unrealistic that is, in the current Hollywood system.  Still, I am looking forward to seeing those noble deaths, um err, substantial supporting roles by Lenny and Amandla.

The characters they portray are pretty beloved.

For those who haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out:

The books are pretty damn amazing.  With the heavy political allegorical shades of an Animal Farm or Watership Down for the Twlight set, sans the facile, cheesy, melodrama of that vamp/werewolf series.

Read it before the films come out, people.

So, the new Vanity Fair Hollywood issue cover has been revealed. And what do you know? They were generous enough to maintain their black-and-a-half inside cover-flap quota.

Diversity, y'all!

The lucky inside flap tokens are Adepero Oduye from the critically-acclaimed indie, Pariah and Paula Patton, from Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (note: Paula considers herself black, not "mixed", as the majority of Africans-Americans technically are but are still racially-labeled based on recent parentage and looks)

Aren't they just so generous to us colored folks?  ;-)

 P.S.  Yes, indeed I am laughing my behind off at the irony of this (check the fifth paragraph in).

ABOUT THE BLOG AND REDTAILS...

Just a few notes today....  Foremost, this blog is not shutting down, though it has been awhile since I've posted.

New posts for the new year and possibly a new look is to come.

Now,  I have to say a few words about the newest "black movie" and George Lucas' very correct assessment that Hollywood producers believe black films don't make money.  Lucas' debatable writing and directing talents notwithstanding, the fact that even he, the king of independent billions funneled into the Hollywood system could not get major funding from the Hollywood mainstream for Red Tails indeed proves how valid the point, (having been raised time and time again by many folks) truly is.

I am pleased to have seen the trailer and avdertisements for this particular film being aired during mainstream TV shows that aren't necessarily, "black oriented", as this is an American story, for all.

No doubt, that is due to those aforementioned independent billions. The fact is this is still an anomalous situation.

Han Solo was supposed to be a brother, y'all until Hollyweird intervened.

Right now, this film is number two, but I can't begrudge the mainstream audiences for not wanting to see another history movie with heavy platitudes and cheesy proclamations.

...What I can do is celebrate the African-American-created Underworld series still going strong.

See, I'm always looking for that silver lining. :)

Until again, see you.