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‘This Is Our State’: Museums’ Opening Makes and Breaks Peace
Charlie Davis, a 9-year-old from West Point, Miss., read the panel outside an Emmett Till exhibit not long after the doors of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opened Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017.
Party Rock For Shape Shifters
Rise Up Howling Werewolf is straight-up electro-pop garage-rock from Muscle Shoals, Ala. Except, that is, when Rise Up Howling Werewolf is riff-driven, supernatural punk-blues; or retro psychedelic drone; or spooky, vernacular hill music.
From Blues to Hip-Hop
When I heard about Ali Neff's book on the Clarksdale hip-hop scene, I was relieved that someone had finally decided to talk about something other than the blues. Someone was willing to engage the Delta on contemporary, relevant terms; someone was ready to listen to the young people.
Jihad, Defined
Casual readers may view "How to Win a Cosmic War" (Random House, 2009, $26), the second book by acclaimed religious scholar Reza Aslan, as a defense of Islam. In part, this is an accurate assessment.
Gloria Norris and her Mississippi Road
With her Nikon FE camera in tow, Mississippi native and noted author Gloria Norris drove down Highway 51 through Mississippi capturing the fleeting images of the state that characterized her childhood.
Compliments of the Sundance Waitlist
Wasn't able to stay for the Q&A, so I have little background on Don't Let Me Drown, but I know from the intro that it was developed by the Sundance Institute, and the director, Cruz Angeles, brought a baby onstage, whom he called "Julian, the film's twin," because he and co-writer, Maria Topete found out they were pregnant about a month into the development process. He also thanked everyone and their mothers like it was the Academy Awards, which was almost as adorable as sleepy-Julian. Just a couple of wish-you-were-here factoids.
Sumdance
Three films, one day. That's Sumdance (especially when waitlists are involved)
What to say about Spooner, except that it's perfect? Spooner is the off-beat romantic comedy Garden State was trying to be (no offense, Zach Braff), and it couldn't be more representative of what Slamdance is about: a first-time feature director, an talented leading lady who, up until now, has only crossed our radar in bit parts (Eden McCain in Heroes, Lainey in Everwood and Laura in the movie Brick), and a writer standing proud, up front with cast and crew during a Q&A, getting the shout-out that all writers deserve and few receive. Spooner is the story of used car salesman Herman Spooner (Matthew Lillard), the kind of endearingly clueless 29 year-old that hops a desk to prop up a leaking 20 foot inflatable gorilla, describes his parents as "pretty awesome," goes to his backyard fort to think things over and never plans to move out of his childhood bedroom. Except that in a few days he's 30, so his parents have made a plan for him. They love him. This is why they change the locks.
Premiere Night in Mississippi
Maybe the fifth time's the charm? Maybe the fifth time, I can watch without crying? I think maybe, because on each viewing I cry at a later point in fact, Saturday night, when Prom Night in Mississippi pemiered at Holiday Village Cinema in Park City, Utah, it was my fourth viewing, and I nearly made it 70 minutes before breaking down at Heather and Jeremy's senior walk. It was the expression on Heather's facethe radiance and quiet confidence of this shy 17-year-old, escorted down the mock-runway by her classmate and boyfriend of four yearsthe boy over which she's been grounded and had her phone taken away ("she overcame all that," her dad, Glenn Sumners, tells us), the boy she texts first thing in the morning and hangs with during locker-break, the boy she's never actually "dated" because her father thinks other people's prejudice will make her life difficult, so he does what he can to discourage his white daughter from her black boyfriend. And in that walk, that public moment of intimate celebration, they seem like such a solid couple, so happy and secure, that really, it's the hope of the moment that gets me.
Extremely Faulty Planning
So I spent most of yesterday morning in the condo, having long legal-jargony telephone conversations with the folks at CheapOAir and the folks at Deltaneither of whom I will ever have any other conversations with, because I will never fly with either again. Which kinda sucks because, up until yesterday, Delta was my favorite airline.
Mississippi Does Slamdance (by way of New York) Part 2 (Part 2)
Then I wised up, headed over to Slamdance, and picked up one of the Mississippi Film Office's sponsor badges (hey, I'm an affiliate-in-exile), just in time to see a film called Mississippi Damned. Another film about poor black Mississippians, we've NEVER seen that before, I thought. I expected to hate it, times double for being filmed in North Carolina and set in Mississippi.
Mississippi Does Sundance (by way of New York) Part 2 (Part 1)
First off: Note to the lady on the 10AM All Resort Shuttle from Salt Lake to Park City. You may be blonde and willowy, but must you conduct Blackberry-fueled business meetings the entire 60 minute trip? Your chatter about "mock-ups" is not fooling anyone. If your time were so precious, you would NOT to be sitting next to me on an econo-minibus. Moving on
Man v. Flesh
Andre Dubus III's "Garden of the Last Days" (W. W. Norton, 2008, $24.95) is a brick of a book. At 500-plus pages, it's America on parade: g-strings and neon, alcohol and testosterone, easy cash, patriotism and dumb sentiment.
A Fighting Chance?
Oct. 20, 1992. Naked Madonna is all over the dance studio. In one corner, she's straddling a fish. In another, she's kneeling in the surf and leaning against a bike.
No Safety Here
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to like this book about sticky Louisiana summers, lifelong friendships, severe Southern mamas and the vapid allure of Los Angeles.
Romantic Devastation
A few weeks ago, I was in snowy Park City, Utah, at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. While there, I attended the premiere of "Ballast," a made-in-Mississippi movie that rallied the efforts of a 35-member Mississippi cast and a mostly Mississippi crew, including Producer Nina Parikh and Production Manager Todd Stauffer.
Hometown Pride
Back from Utah (where Ballast cleaned up—it was the only movie to win TWO Sundance awards in the Dramatic Competition —Excellence in Cinematography and narrative Directing), I'm trying to heal (my sad knee and sore throat) and re-acclimate to waking at 8 a.m. and other mundane tasks, such as laundry, dishes and deadlines. And, as happens this time of year, I am turning my thoughts towards Crossroads.
Sundance Day 8: Ballast on CNN
Okay, so I've been hearing a lot about Ballast . Mostly what I'm hearing is along the lines of, "I LOVE that movie. That's the best movie I've seen at Sundance this year," or, "Oh my gosh, I've heard such great things about that movie!" These comments are streaming from the mouths of my fellow white Americans, which is no huge surprise, because white Americans are exceptionally well-represented in Park City this week.
Sundance Day 7: Because We're All a Little Off
Things are slowing down here in ye olde Jim Shea place. For a few days it's just been the ladies—Nina, Anita and I. Anita and I share what we have fondly dubbed "the Neshoba County Fair Room." It's a hole-in-the-hall, chock with bunks. We've had revolving roommates, but the two of us are consistent (kinda like BFFs), and we think it's cozy, the Clarion Ledger shackin' up with the JFP, and all…
Sundance Day 5: Movies and Mayhem
Mos Def is here. He's wandering the streets of Park City, promoting Be Kind Rewind , sitting on panels at Blackhouse Foundation, and being all-around AWESOME, because that's just how he is. Yesterday I caught a quick glimpse of him, be still my heart...
Sundance Day 4: Hindsight is 20/20
So yesterday I got to ride a ski mobile down a big hill. Well, technically, I rode a stretcher behind a ski mobile, but hey, semantics…
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