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Thumbnails 8/15/2013

1.

"Jenji Kohan Can Write About Women of Color Because Her Lead Is White." By Laura Beck. In an NPR interview, The "Orange Is the New Black" showrunner acknowledges an unfortunate truth.  The author doesn't think we should accept it so readily.

"It sucks that's the narrative we're unrelentingly stuck with. Since it could be strongly argued we live in a culture that values the stories of white people most of all, it would be so damn refreshing/mind-expanding/enlightening/fun/interesting/important to enter into entertainment from different points of view much more routinely. We all have creative imagination, and it's time for some of us to exercise it."

2.

"A campaign to help drive-in theaters convert to digital." By Vadim RIzov. Long past their hey days, drive-in movie theaters face extinction as studios prepare to phase out 35mm prints entirely. Honda has launched a campaign to convert theaters to digital projection.

"Expressing concern about the situation, Honda has launched “Project Drive-in,” a website where people can vote on which five theaters should be saved, as well as donating to an Indiegogo campaign to buy more projectors. Drive-in operators are doing what they can to hype themselves in local media to gain more votes. 'If we don’t win it, I hate to say it, but we’re probably going to close,' Charlie Perkins of Brownsville, Pennsylvania told his local paper.

3.

"Danny Boyle’s 15 Golden Rules of Moviemaking." By Danny Boyle. "What’s extraordinary about film is that you make it on the day, and then it’s like that forever more. On that day, the actor may have broken up with his wife the night before, so he’s inevitably going to read a scene differently. He’s going to be a different person. I come from theater, which is live and changes every night. I thought film was going to be the opposite of that, but it’s not. It changes every time you watch it: Different audiences, different places, different moods that you’re in. The thing is logically fixed, but it still changes all the time. You have to get your head around that."

"What’s extraordinary about film is that you make it on the day, and then it’s like that forever more. On that day, the actor may have broken up with his wife the night before, so he’s inevitably going to read a scene differently. He’s going to be a different person. I come from theater, which is live and changes every night. I thought film was going to be the opposite of that, but it’s not. It changes every time you watch it: Different audiences, different places, different moods that you’re in. The thing is logically fixed, but it still changes all the time. You have to get your head around that."

4.

"
Lee Daniels Says Racism Played Role in 'Butler's' Struggle for Money." By Steven Zeitchik. "The Butler" director is characteristically blunt about why it was hard to get his latest movie financed.


" 'It’s bull ... that our movies don’t make money,' Daniels said, then added pointedly that he thought industry types didn’t protest the point for reasons of cowardice and self-protection. 'It’s politically incorrect to scream racism at the studios in Hollywood. People fear for their jobs,' he said. Daniels said the budgetary concerns he was hearing were what particularly rankled after the success of "Precious." 'How dare you tell me how much money to spend on this movie,' he said, addressing those in Hollywood who put a hard cap on the film."

5.

"On Writing and Anger: Laura Bogart." By Sarah Einstein. In a candid interview, the memoirist endorses anger as a survival technique, and the value of writing while still furious.

"In some ways, anger has been my saving grace. The ability to get good and pissed-off at the ways I’ve been mistreated—and not just by my family—is life affirming. The whisper of my roiling blood tells me that I matter, that I don’t deserve what I’m getting (or not getting). My current therapist actually has made a very potent distinction between anger and rage. Anger, she says, is that affirming force. Rage, she says, is a kicked dog that bites the first person that tries to pet her. My work in nonfiction and fiction examines the often hairline difference between the two, which has made me very aware of whether what I’m experiencing is anger or rage. That is to say, whether what I’m feeling is a legitimate reaction to a genuine slight, or just an excuse to bare my teeth."


IMAGE OF THE DAY

Is this the most inappropriate children's toy of all times? Believe it or not, it may not be.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

"Anatomy of a Scene: Lee Daniels' 'The Butler.'" Thanks to our pals at indieWire for hipping us to this item.


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