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old time relijun plot points: buddha vs. mara, jesus vs. the devil

jesus vs. the devil the buddha vs. mara some religious art to get you going on this monday morning. when you take two of the most oldest & popular stories on this planet - the journey of prince gotama to buddha-hood & the journey of jesus to christ-hood (is that even a word?, i think so :), you come across two very important "plot points"; that of the buddha resisting temptations offered to him by the demon mara, and jesus resisting temptations offered to him by the devil. so what do we have - two conflicted men resisting evil - a great thing to put in your next screenplay (not specifically those two guys & their temptations, but a character resisting some awesome temptations at possibly great cost to self); it is bound to be popular because it is already a very popular element of human mythology (probably because such actions are necessary for survival in any type of a positive sense - for communities, individuals and organizations). find out more about the bud

Tracey Moffatt, Nice Coloured Girls

Get an introduction to Australian artist/filmmaker Tracey Moffatt at this wikipedia page . Sense of Cinema has an analysis of Moffatt's film Nice Coloured Girls . A segment: "The film confronts orthodox histories of colonial race and gender relations. The use of colonial documents (through the voice-over of Lieutenant Bradley's diaries) recalls the arrival of the First Fleet and the beginning of dispossession for black Australians. The relationship between black women and white men in the film is romantic and paternal (characteristic of early relations but not of contemporary ones) and this serves to illustrate both the naivety and self-deception of the writers of the colonial documents and the astuteness of the women. The colonists are shown to be naive because they believe the women need protection but the women, in fact, have a clear understanding of how interracial relations work and how to manipulate the situation to their advantage to get what they want. The depicte

Unraveling Independent Film Distribution

Check out notes from the American Cinamatheque Panel - Unraveling Independent Film Distribution at the Film Panel Notetaker. Here's how it starts: " Unraveling Independent Film Distribution American Cinematheque - Aero Theatre Los Angeles December 4, 2007 Panelists: (BA) Bob Aaronson (Red Envelope Entertainment (REE), a Netflix Company) (GG) Gary Garfinkel (Senior Vice President - Content Strategy & Acquisition, Showtime Networks ) (BS) Barry Schuler (Managing Director, DFJ Growth, Former Chairman & CEO, AOL, Inc.) (DS) David Shultz (President, Vitagraph Films LLC (Theatrical) (TS) Ted Sarandos (Chief Content Officer, Netflix ) (MC) Mike McClellan (VP Film Buyer for Landmark Theaters Corp) Moderator: (MG) Margot Gerber ( American Cinematheque PR Director) (MG) How do you decide which festivals to attend, what you watch and what you distribute? (GG) – I attend Sundance, Toronto, Cannes, and AFM primarily. Showtime is generally more likely to buy from AFM as thi

New York Underground Film Festival regular deadline in 8 days

According to the NYUFF site , the regular deadline is December 15. Final deadline is January 15. Festival happens April 2 - 8 in the city that invented independent film. A little bit about the fest, from a Withoutabox e-mail that I received today: " NYUFF has been a great launching pad for its well-regarded alumni, who continue to produce and submit more films to the festival. Some notable Underground alumni include Sam Green and Bill Siegel of THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND; Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley of HALF COCKED, RADIATION, and HORNS AND HALOS; James Fotopoulos of MIGRATING FORMS, and BACK AGAINST THE WALL; and George Kuchar of HOLD ME WHILE I'M NAKED." Find out more about the fest here . - Sujewa

Yeah, looks like I will have to read Youth Without Youth before watching the movie & then repeat to get it

While working at the bookstore - the day job - I've leisurely shelved (took a while to leaf through the books before shelving them) books by Mircea Eliade and even bought a couple of books by him; dude was deeply into philosophy, linguistics, and religion (even though I have not re-read it in at least three years, I still remember an interpretation of the Buddhist concept of Nirvana by Eliade - it talked about being able to step outside of experiencing the ordinary flow of time in a very significant way; granted, I do not clearly know what that means, but it was memorable because most books on Buddhism do not analyze or talk about exactly what happened during the nirvana experience). Since, as a novelist, Eliade (read bio below) was most likely no hack - a writer pulling together a bunch of exotic ideas in order to merely entertain - I am thinking that maybe there are some valuable ideas behind the very complex story of Coppola's movie version of Eliade's book Youth Without

Award winning new indie film DIRTY LAUNDRY opens in LA & NYC on December 7

Maurice Jamal's award winning indie film (the description of which reminds me a little of Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers) Dirty Laundry opens for theatrical play this Friday December 7 in NYC & LA. Here's the screening info: Los Angeles Mann Beverly Center Cinemas (Inside Beverly Center) 8522 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90038 New York Clearview Chelsea Theater West 23rd Street (between 7th & 8th) New York, NY 10011 Dirty Laundry synopsis from IMDB : "A modern-day prodigal son story with a twist. It follows Patrick, a magazine writer, who seems to have the "perfect life," until one day, there is a knock at the door. On the other side stands a secret that brings him face to face with the traditional southern family he hasn't seen in over 10 years." A little bit more about the movie from a comment at IMDB : "a class-conscious New York-based magazine writer whose discovery of a ten-year old son leads him back to the family he left be

Humanists help bring "Fields of Fuel" to Sundance '08 :: Fuel site

About the Sundance '08 selected doc " Fields of Fuel ", from the American Humanist Association press release: " "Fields of Fuel" is a 90 minute documentary that was filmed over the past 12 years in 5 countries by a team of scientists and filmmakers lead by Tickell, who is an alternative energy activist and humanist. The film explores fossil fuel production and its impacts and provides innovative, ethical and practical solutions. Most importantly, it empowers individuals to change their own energy use as well as the energy use of their communities. The film will be seen in theaters across the nation. A seven-month-long 50-city Community Action Campaign will bring the film to theaters, town halls, events and schools across the country, accompanied by a professional staff of scientists and educators. "Fields of Fuel" is one of only 15 documentary films that were accepted for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. 3,000 films were submitted to the Festival

A gi-normous book: 30,000 Years of Art

Curious about art? Ya might want to check out the book 30,000 Years of Art . A description of the book from the Amazon page linked to above: "30,000 YEARS OF ART: THE STORY OF HUMAN CREATIVITY ACROSS TIME AND SPACE is the follow-up to Phaidon's phenomenally successful THE ART BOOK. This is an accessible, fun and informative compendium of world art that offers a fresh perspective on the whole of art history, from 28,000 BC to the present day. It debunks art historical classifications and hierarchies by presenting 1,000 masterworks of art in simple chronological order, demonstrating what was being created all over the globe at the same time. Only here can you find the Venus de Milo next to a mural from the Mayan civilization, or Velazquez' Las Meninas next to a painting from the Chinese Ming Dynasty, an Indian jade wine cup, a ritual Nepalese plaque, a Korean portrait, and Vermeer's Milkmaid. Each work has been chosen for its unique place in the history of art, and as a

Drew a movie poster :: Need to screen DNO in Austin, LA, San Francisco in '08 :: DVDs

Got hold of a gigantic/poster size piece of drawing paper last night & drew a poster for Date Number One . It looks fun. I need to pick up some markers & color it in, and whenever I get it scanned, will post it up here. Didn't do any traveling with DNO in '07. So, in '08 I want to show the movie in 3 cities that I didn't get to in the '06 screening travels: Austin, LA, and San Francisco. I had planned on getting to those cities in '06 or '07, didn't happen, so '08 it is - a brand new 365 day period of screening opportunities. If you live in Austin, LA or San Fran & you want to help me put together screenings, let me know . I can display the new hand drawn poster at the next screening. I think I'll be able to come to a final decision on DVD packaging (& actually make some) this weekend, so, maybe by Monday 12/10 I can have DNO DVDs available for sale - f-i-n-n-a-l-l-y (no more bloggin' 'till the DVDs are on sale). Fina

Sri Lankan cricket player breaks world record

Congratulations on an awesome job Sri Lankan cricket team & Muttiah Muralitharan. Read about Muralitharan's achievement that will no doubt have all of Sri Lanka & cricket fans in the sub-continent partyin', here . From the article: "After fittingly breaking the world record for the most career test wickets Monday at Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy, the ground where he created the first of a long list of records as a schoolboy, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan said he never dreamed of coming this far. Muralitharan fell short in his bid to break the record on Warne's home territory when Sri Lanka toured Australia last month. But the off spinner said it was even better that he achieved the record in his home town." And further down: "The 35-year-old off spinner's achievement on the cricket field has made him a household name in Sri Lanka - and a source of hope and inspiration to a nation battered by decades of civil war. His status as the only Tamil

On the bright side, much of the world is at peace

December, the most important month of the holiday season in the US, of the 7th year of the new millenium, is here (or maybe the 6th year of the new 1000 years, based on whether you count 2000 or 2001 as the starting point), and, to me, it looks like that the majority of the people who live on this planet are living in places where there are no wars. By wars I mean large scale fighting; a good example would be battles of WW II, with hundreds of armed participants & much damage to cities and towns. Have the who-knows-for-how-long-now secular & religious projects (kingdoms that used various methods of organization & control go back several thousand years, Buddhism is over 2500 years old, Christianity is over 2000 years old, and the US - the most successful of the secular republics/one with a lot of religious activity nevertheless - is over 200 years old) that aimed, in part, to make nations & the world more peaceful been mostly successful? Looks like it. Here's what I

International Tribal Art & Culture Film Festival in India in 2008 :: IFFTAC-2008 Call for Entries

From a press release that I received today: "VANYA (an enterprise of Deptt of Tribal welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh) and iiMC(Indian Infotainment Media Corporation) are organising “ International Festival of Films on Tribal Art & Culture 2008”(IFFTAC-2008) at Indore, Madhya Pradesh on 1,2 & 3 Feb 2008. It will be an International event that will bring the best films on Tribal culture and art from all over the world. Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh heads the board of patrons of ifftac-2008. Under the stewardship of Shri Shriram Tiwari as the Festival director, IFFTAC-2008 will showcase films based on the theme of Tribal culture, art, religion, architecture, philosophy, traditions, mythology, history, life-style, food, costumes, jewellery, sports and various aspects associated with them. It will also offer awards and certificates to the participants. There is a competition and any film-maker can enter his/her film. There is no entr

Karen "Green Party" Jennings is running for office in Annapolis! :)

I met Karen a couple of years ago at a screening I produced in Kensington, and I knew that she was always interested in making the world a better place, so it is exciting to hear that she is getting very directly involved in politics by running for an office in Annapolis. Check out her letter (most of it at least) to friends & family & support her any way you can if you like her politics & enthusiasm (she's got a website for further info, and the most urgent need seems to be for $500 for mailings): "Dear friends and family, You had to have known that this day would come... I am running for public office! Specifically, I am running for the Annapolis, Maryland City Council in a special election to be held on December 19th. It is a special election because the city council representative for this district has resigned. The Green Party asked me to represent them in the election because I have been active in the community and a lot of people in the district know me. It

Full Movie - SNEAK PREVIEW - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene And The Mystery Of Immortal Time Travelers

NEW - COSMIC DISCO DETECTIVE RENE (2023) - TRAILER!

The Secret Society For Slow Romance (2022) - available to rent as a new release starting January 1

Werewolf Ninja Philosopher at Vimeo VOD

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