Laizzes-Faire Self Promotion

Wanna know something funny? I entered my music video for “When You Say I Love You” into the last Famecast contest and it didn’t get very far. By default, though, the rejects from the last contest are entered into the next time they have the same contest. I haven’t promoted the song in the least, I swear. And yet somehow the song just got enough votes from Famecasters to get accepted into Round Two: the Top 50. So the only thing I haven’t figured out quite yet is, if my song continues to gain speed and get to the finals, I would be required to fly somewhere unless maybe I forfeit the contest. But I don’t even know how to do that and I’m pretty sure that if that time ever comes, I’d likeliest not be able to go due to the amount of work I’m having to do on other projects.

In the meantime, this whole situation… It’s just funny how I got into the second round without even trying. A lot of the other videos out there must REALLY be bad.

Glory Be!

That’s right, folks. I’ve just received my first ever award for a short film in the 4-5 years I’ve been pursuing my film career. Last night at the College of Marin Annual Judy Awards, my short film “Marble Mayhem” received a Judy award for meeting the Film Class Challenge of Fall 2006. I share this award with the wonderful Mr. Nick Coccellato who created the computer generated world of “Marble Mayhem” on his laptop and collaborated with me on the concept of the project. In other words, the real genius of the project who thought creating a short film in a video game world would be cool. I also share this award with Gregg Golding, who helped out doing the lighting and character animation for the project. And to show you all my gratitude for receiving this award, here’s a photograph of it in my room as proof:

Hmm, you know, this picture doesn’t quite do it justice. Let’s try something else:

There we go. That’s MUCH more like it. Thanks again to everyone who voted for us during last semester’s class, the COM Film Dept., Nick and Gregg, and my wonderful parents for being who they are and supporting me in my film career. Hey, I gotta practice for the ole Oscar speech. Or maybe the MTV Movie Awards. Whichever comes first.

And since this post wouldn’t be complete without reshowing the movie itself, here it is. The now Judy-award winning “Marble Mayhem.”

Big Controversy

OK, so it looks like a recent post I made has caused a little thought provocation and the first comment I’ve received on this blog since forever. So let’s take a look at that comment to see what it says:

The Frog Princess is a slur against the French because frog is a derogatory name for the French. So that means you can’t use the word frog? Maybe frogs don’t like the association either and are insulted they are associated with the French as much as the French are associated with the frogs.

And they don’t want the black girl to be working for a white debutante. That is good, because they probably would have showed the white girl in a bad light. Now you know why so many animated movies are made with animals. Avoid the race all together. Here is a good comment on the issues http://ucsdguardian.org/viewarticle.php?story=opinion03&year=2007&month=05&day=24

That’s interesting. I’ve never heard the word “frog” used to describe the French, but you learn something new every day. And showing the white girl in a bad light is not something I really have much of a problem with, except that had it been the other way around in any era whatsoever, that would probably be viewed as racist.

Note: the writer of this blog has no problem against people of any race for their skin color and has NO PROBLEM with the concept of having a black princess. That being said, I’ve just received an e-mail from my mother who I’m guessing has read my last blog on this subject and will be reading this one. It links to an article from “The Gaurdian” saying “I never thought I would be agreeing with a liberal university newspaper.”

I’m guessing that this is in response to the last part I said in the “Black Princess” blog: “I was raised not to look at things through race colored glasses, but every time I try not to, a white, liberal college professor essentially tells me I’m wrong for not looking at things in terms of race along with his pupils.” The reason why I said this is because several weeks ago, during a Cinema Studies class, the professor had a lecture on black culture in the media and we were instructed to examine how our culture is “Whitey” dominated in the movies, even though we have black actors playing some of the most moral characters and superheroes in movies today. Example: Morgan Freeman playing God, Wesley Snipes playing Blade, Will Smith playing Will Smith and Halle Berry playing Catwoman and every other role she’s done recently. The general opinion in the class was that no matter what part a person of color plays in the movies, it’s automatically racist. “The Last King of Scotland” was deemed as racist for having a black actor playing the role of a tyrant, despite the fact that Idi Amin Dada WAS, in fact, a tyrant of sorts. This is the kind of race baiting I’m up against.

But now, back to “The Princess and the Frog.” The point out and add to my opinion of why I think that changing this story around is a bad and unnecessary idea, read the whole thing. It’s my thoughts exactly.

Hypo-Christian

Another fabulous joke from my uncle in my e-mail:

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy street. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door.

She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.

"I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' & 'Focus On The Family' bumper stickers, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.

Naturally... I assumed you had stolen the car."

Lesson learned: It’s easy to say you follow the book, but actually following it is another thing.

Black Princess

OK, so the news has been out for a little while now about Disney’s new animated movie, The Princess and the Frog. Title changes, Disney’s first black princess and all that. Cool stuff. But now I have to ask, why is it that almost every time a black character comes along, we have to play race politics?

Almost two years before its hoped-for release of its first hand-drawn animated film produced under the supervision of Pixar's John Lasseter, Disney has already drawn fire for alleged racial and ethnic insensitivities that were detected in its original announcement of the film, according to Disney watcher Jim Hill.

Since the original title, “The Frog Princess,” might be regarded as a slur on the French, the title has been changed to The Princess and the Frog. The main character, named Maddy -- who was to become Disney's first black princess -- has had her name changed to Tiana, since Maddy reportedly sounded too much like Mammy. She will no longer be seen as a chambermaid working for a rich, white spoiled Southern débutante.

Alright, now let me ask another question. How would the title The Frog Princess be a slur on the French? Me personally, the only thing I see about it is that it’s a bit too similar to The Swan Princess, which was another fine animated movie. And the allegations that lead to the name change are unfounded as well. Mammy and Maddy are too very different names, especially since one of the is short for Madison. But I guess Princess Tiana has a prettier ring to it that Princess Maddy, so it works for me on that level.

And why is she no longer a chambermaid? Was that just a change in the ideas, or were they under fire for that too? And if so, why didn’t they have a problem with Cinderella being forced to work for her wicked stepmother? I just have so many questions to ask now, someone could mistake me for a racist.

In a statement, Disney, which said that it ordinarily does not comment on its animated films in the early stages of production, observed: "The story takes place in the charming elegance and grandeur of New Orleans' fabled French Quarter during the Jazz Age. ... Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney's rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity."

That’s great. And I’m sure it will be a fine movie, hopefully. You can never tell with Disney nowadays. But the problem as I see it is as follows: If there’s a lack of black, movies and TV shows get criticized for being all white. If there are black characters, the movie makers have to bend over backwards to please some of the people in our black population. This is exactly why I was raised not to look at things through race colored glasses, but every time I try not to, a white, liberal college professor essentially tells me I’m wrong for not looking at things in terms of race along with his pupils. I THOUGHT we were not supposed to do that as a country, but I guess some people disagree with me there.

Good and Bad

Good News: My copy of Adobe Audition 1.5, which I ordered from a man on Craigslist, arrived today. It’s not the latest version, but for $50, it’s a good deal.

So-so news: It was obvious when I opened the package that the copy was, in fact, a hot copy. The disc has no label, the disc holder is store bought and the cover label is photoshopped. At least it’s not a hacked copy and it still works fine.

Bad news: My New Numa music video has been disqualified in the contest, as not enough people voted on it and it didn’t make the top 100 list. Thanks to anyone who did vote, I’m just disappointed, though, when I see 99% of the videos that did make it into the top 100.

Worse News: I have my final tomorrow in Cinema Studies and the head of the cinema department has just decided he’s going to lower all of our grades to limit the number of students that get into the Cinema program. Which means I’d better whoops some ass.

Shrek, the Health Advocate

Some amusing news today. It looks like a certain group of conscious activists don’t like the idea of having a big, fat, green ogre telling kids how to stay healthy:

A children's advocacy group wants the Department of Health and Human Services to oust Shrek, the animated ogre, from his role as spokesman for an anti-obesity drive.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood says the soon-to-open "Shrek the Third" has too many promotional ties with unhealthy foods to justify using Shrek as a health advocate.

They’re actually right here, you know. I actually remember not too long ago when Shrek 2 was being advertised for with the worst possible junk food tie-ins imaginable. Not just because of the junk food itself, but because the campaigns seemed just plain nasty. I remember going to Baskin and Robbins and seeing a standup poster with Shrek, Donkey and Puss’n Boots posing like they were in a threesome behind a giant ice cream shake. I also remember the Twinkies ad with Shrek and a green goo-filled Twinkie positioned over what would have been his crotch (had his image not been cropped) with the slogan “Where’s the Ogre Filling?” All this could just be my dirty mind at work, but hey. Advertisers know that this kind of subliminal advertising is worth a shot. Why would they not try it for children’s ads?

So now that brings us to 2007 when Shrek the Third is about to be released. And thanks to this link from the article, you can see what’s probably only a handful of the products that the movie is being advertised with. And so far, I see no foreplay in these promos, but it’s junk food nonetheless:

http://www.kelloggs.com/promotions/shrek_the_third/

"There is an inherent conflict of interest between marketing junk food and promoting public health," Susan Linn, the group's director, wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt.

"Surely Health and Human Services can find a better spokesperson for healthy living than a character who is a walking advertisement for McDonald's, sugary cereals, cookies and candy," said Linn, an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

HHS spokesman Bill Hall said the department had no intention of halting the public service ads, which were launched in February.

The ad campaign — which seeks to curtail childhood obesity — is a joint project of HHS, the Ad Council's Coalition for Healthy Children and DreamWorks Animation SKG, creator of the three Shrek movies. It features ads in which Shrek, a stout and often clumsy ogre, and his fellow characters urge children to exercise at least an hour a day.

"Shrek is a very well known character in the target population of this campaign," Hall said. "We have always promoted a balanced, healthy diet, which does not necessarily exclude the occasional treat."

Now that you’re all probably wondering what these exercise ads really look like, you’ll probably want to sit through four hours of Ed, Edd and Eddy on Cartoon Network just to see if they’ll advertise for it in the breaks, but since I’d rather not let you put yourself through that torture, here’s the ad on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-zEDbl04NY

It actually seems that Donkey is more the one advertising here, but Shrek’s got his bit in there as well. I’d say these guys are within their rights to request that Shrek be removed from these ads. But other than the already mentioned complaints, I’d have to wonder what the advertisers were thinking when they thought up a jingle that asks kids to “get up and be a player.” It just seems like a double entendre that I would find a little too risqué for any kids stuff that I’d be making.

If I Can Dream

The most amazing concert performance in the history of television:



Now if only they'd release a single CD of this as a studio recording, I'd buy it right off the bat. A friend of mine suggested last week that they should use this same kind of special effects technology to bring back Bon Scott of AC/DC, so let's play a little game here. Who would YOU like to see come back to life on stage? Leave your answers in the comments.