Stuff I Dig: A Trippy Trip Thru SXSW

My boy, The Urban Nomad, hit up SXSW like an alien from outer space.  This was his report to our intergalactic overlords.

Don't Turn This Into A Typical "Inspirational" Movie aka Hollywood Crap

According to Linda Holmes, who screened this at SXSW, some of the reasons that the documentary, Brooklyn Castle, about underprivileged kids who play chess is a film everyone should watch are 

Because the school has, as the principal explains, a poverty rate of about 70 to 75 percent, it would be easy for this film to be a very obvious, very shallow story in which the moral is that even kids from the worst possible circumstances can succeed. That's not what it's about. These are kids who are, in many ways, profoundly blessed: they're very bright, they're personable, and they have loving, supportive familie... In other words, these kids aren't interesting only because their school has a high poverty rate, and the film doesn't condescend to them on that basis. They're interesting — fascinating, really — for the same reason people who are great at something are always fascinating, which is that they have passion for what they do.

 Furthermore,

At the same time, the film is also making an argument about the importance of the extracurricular activities that are most imperiled by school funding debates. Some who watch the film may be surprised that even a reputation-making program like the chess program at I.S. 318 takes cut after cut after cut as the school's funding drops. Dellamaggiore wants not only to tell the story of these particular kids, but to argue for how important chess — and you can substitute art, or music, or sports — can be to any kid.

And finally, 

One of my favorite things about the way the movie is structured is that while it opens with a focus on Rochelle, who's seen moving on to high school from her position as I.S. 318's highest-ranking player (and, sadly, just about the only girl you'll see participating), it doesn't spend its time exclusively with superstar players who win tournaments, which wouldn't really be fair. 

The film is so great it got picked up by Scott Rudin and Sony Pictures to be remade into a "based on a true story" fiction film... which leads Holmes (and now me) to worry.

While there are movies that come out of stories about kids that are actually about kids (Akeelah And The Bee comes immediately to mind), it's far more common for classroom stories to become about the adults. I have a gnawing fear of seeing somebody like Charlize Theron (an actress I really like) as the woman who coaches the kids in chess. I fear the focus drifting from the kids to the adults who are more easily played by existing movie stars. This is a story about the school and the coaches and the parents, but it's really a story about the students. I deeply hope that it remains a story about the students.

We really don't need another Hollywood movie about needy (but cute/cool) inner-city kids lost in the urban jungle except for their inspirational teacher.  Especially when there are better and truer ways to express the experience of education, kids and inspiration in the world today.

Training Video Vault: What's Old is Still Good

The best thing about the following two clips, besides getting a glimpse at martial arts legends of the past, is that I get a glimpse of their training methods and exercises.  

You best believe I'm taking notes.

Bonus: On October 23rd 1951, Masahiko Kimura and Helio Gracie met and fought.

The Avengers Trailer #2... sweded!

This makes me wanna swede something.

Remember Be Kind Rewind?!

Doxology

The 7 Frames of Reggie Watts

save yourself.

The Universe is in Us

...is all that needs to be said.

American Hypocrisy and Privilege Intertwined

Republicans have cared little for women and rejected any notions of their sexual independence as if it were either a myth or liberal propaganda.  They have been hostile to women for so long that it astonishes me how they still garner support from any American women. And Amanda Marcotte's essay further underscores that point.  In essence, Republicans have overstepped their boundaries and risked support from the women in their group with the contraception (non) controversy.  Seems they forgot that even the professional and educated women in their ranks also have sex and just might be offended by the Limbaugh-like attacks coming out of the GOP.  In the past, Republicans used code words to ensure that their sexist insults only targeted poor or minority women.  And they got a bit too comfortable doing it because they have been getting away with it for so long.

This is my favorite quote of Marcotte's piece because it speaks to the larger more uncomfortable truth about women and sex in America:

"Americans are still uptight about poor women having sex, teenage girls having sex, queer women having sex, and women who openly reject the path to marriage and motherhood having sex, but they're just fine with the Sandra Flukes of the world having sex." - Amanda Marcotte

Stuff I Dig: Lone Wolf and Cub

This epic masterpiece is the original formula I try to live up to as a visual/martial artist; VA + MA = LW&C.  

I've learned so much about martial arts and visual arts from reading Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's manga that they have joined my personal canon of influence that includes, amongst others, Walt Whitman, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jean Vigo, and Bruce Lee.  It's most definitely one of those works of art I would take with me on a deserted island.  A writer once said about "The Catcher in the Rye" that it is one of those books that should be reread every 10 years in a person's life" because it yields different perspectives that speak to your life at each stage. Lone Wolf & Cub is one of those books too.

Check out this interview Frank Miller did with the dynamic creative duo here.

Not sure if Zhang Yimou (director of Hero) is a fan of LW&C but I'd like to think the scene in Hero where Jet Li and Donnie Yen stand before each other in silence, meditating upon the best strategy to defeat one another might have been influenced by "The Headless Sakon" storyline scenes in this post above and below.
See more of "The Headless Sakon" scenes and the fight scene from Hero by clicking below.

M.I.A. coasting

Bolowhip Presents: 19th Century Vibrators

Wherein I reveal that I looked into 19th century vibrators as part of my research.

Bolowhip Presents: The Sex Machine... is... here!

Woohoo!  We made another awesome movie thanks to Mauricio, Sara, Danny Neiba, Brad, Jonathan, Evelyn, Ingrid, Dio, Jake, Liette and Eve.  It's called The Sex Machine and it's coming to a film festival near YOU!  To get all the latest news and updates, visit http://IamAsexmachine.blogspot.com.

Danny Indio: sprinkling a little magic along with directions