Museums, Mormons, Gays, and Iguanas

June 11, 2010 — GraceKathryn

Day 2 of deadCENTER began with the Oklahoma City Museum of Art rooftop party. Once again it was hot and humid, and once again I had a blast. Oh yeah, and more Stella. I really approved of this:

After I mingled with strangers, friends, and Two Movie Guys (Lucas says I owe him $500… I remember it the other way around), we headed on over to the Kerr Auditorium for the screening of 8: The Mormon Proposition.

The film was aptly titled. Before the film, I had not realized just how much the Latter Day Saints church had been directly involved in the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which simply added these few words to the California constitution: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” According to the film, only 2% of the population of California is Mormon, yet 71% of the monetary contributions toward the passage of Proposition 8 can be traced back to members of the LDS church and to the church’s finances directly. During the final week of the campaign to pass the Proposition, $5M in contributions came in via out-of-state sources, and specifically from Salt Lake City alone (Mormon headquarters). In order to pass a ballot issue in California, it was said, you need three things: money, volunteers, and a message. The LDS church had all three in abundance. With very minor assistance from a coalition of other (mostly religious) groups, they were successful in getting the Proposition passed.

As the film continually emphasized, the campaign for marriage equality has always been about people rather than politics and money. Laws have implications on real people who are trying to live their lives in the best way they can. The most heartbreaking part of the film were the details of numerous suicides by gay Mormons. One young gay man, feeling he had no one to turn to and was even hated by his family, even killed himself with a bullet to the head at a Mormon temple. Apparently Utah has one of the highest suicide rates in this country, and it has an even higher rate than most other countries in the world. The filmmakers used this statistic to imply that the high suicide rate is because of the alienation experienced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual Mormons due to actions by their families and the church. I would need to see more solid research rather than anecdotal evidence before I could accept that particular hypothesis, but it is definitely the case that many young gay people have killed themselves and are continuing to do so because of the hate expressed to them by the Mormon church.

One of the Mormon apostles/prophets quoted in the film stated that, “the face of sin bears the mask of tolerance” and the preservation of the traditional (i.e. 1 man, wive/wives, children) family is “a core principle upon which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is based.” Being a Christian myself, the last time I checked, the core principles upon which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is based are forgiveness and redemption. The Gospel is about Christ’s sacrificial atonement for the sins of the world because of the deep love of God… Last time I checked there was nothing in the core principles of the Gospel about the preservation of the “traditional” family, whatever that means (a “traditional” family excludes childless married straight couples as well, as a friend has very eloquently pointed out). But what do I know, anyway?

After the Proposition 8 documentary, we headed over to the Iguana Lounge for some more drinkin’ and talkin’. As is always the case with Iguana, the food and drinks were fantastic! I’m about to head over to Iguana again right now for the Friday night Oklahoma Film & Music party. After that, it’s on to see Simmons on Vinyl and later the Midnight Shorts. Cheers!

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Kickoff Night

June 11, 2010 — GraceKathryn

My first thought after walking into the opening night kickoff party at TAP Architecture on Thursday night was, “Dangit! No cuppies!” My second thought was, “Shup up you whiny baby! There’s Stella Artois and hummus! Yay!” Just like last year, the free outdoor opening night screening and party were lots of fun, and this year the big event was complete with BMX bikers, Rollergirls, and… a karaoke cowboy (WTF?).

While I still don’t find the subject matter (BMX biking) to be terribly inherently interesting, The Birth of Big Air turned out to be a solidly entertaining documentary. Mat Hoffman, in his interviews throughout the film and during the Q&A afterward, came off as quite a likable guy. It really is amazing what Hoffman was able to accomplish, using his creativity and innovativeness to push the boundaries further and further of just how high it is possible to jump using a BMX bike on a vert ramp. Hoffman even came up with the idea of having a motorcycler pull his bike in order to gain enough momentum to make well over 20′ jumps. His body has paid the price, with a busted spleen and so many broken bones and surgeries I can’t even remember. It makes sense to me now why I had always heard the guy called one of Oklahoma’s “hometown hero” celebrities. He even tried to break records while flying an Oklahoma flag at the top of his ramp, and sported an Okie flag t-shirt during his appearance on Thursday night.

The highlight of the evening for me was, of course, seeing Spike Jonze in the flesh while he introduced the movie and stuck around for the Q&A. Even better than that was one of the questions from an emotional girl in the audience who declared her love for Jonze and stated that his movie Adaptation had changed her life. It was just the kind of honest moment I love to experience at these kind of events. It was simply adorable. She almost brought tears to my eyes.

Jonze talking about how cool Hoffman is. Hoffman trying to look bashful.

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Bring it!

June 8, 2010 — GraceKathryn

deadCENTER 2010!!!!! Coming to your very own Oklahoma City beginning tomorrow. I couldn’t be more excited, especially now that Spike Jonze has been confirmed to attend the opening night fundraiser! While I am not personally planning on shelling out the bucks to attend the ‘REDcenter Lounge‘ fundraiser kickoff Jonze is confirmed to attend, I will be at the All-Access Kick-Off Party, the free Kick-Off Street Party on Broadway, and the opening night (free to the public) screening of The Birth of Big Air, which Jonze co-produced with Johnny Knoxville (of Jackass fame). The Birth of Big Air is a documentary about BMX biker Mat Hoffman, who hails from Oklahoma, and who supposedly gave birth to “Big Air” by pushing the bound of gravity on the vert ramp. Hoffman will be in attendance at the screening tomorrow night as well. However, being more of a film buff than an extreme sports fan, I’m mostly crossing my fingers that Jonze will stick around and grace us Oklahomies with his presence at a Q&A following the screening. It will be interesting to see Hoffman’s story, however. Growing up in Oklahoma I had always heard about him as one of our “hometown celebrities”.

My tentative schedule for the rest of the festival has been mostly solidified; But as always, it’s subject to change based on peer pressure, whims, or exhaustion. My downtown hotel room will be a nice oasis in the case of the third contingency. Looking at the schedule, there are quite a few films I’ll be upset if I miss, but we’ll see how it goes. Here’s what I’m most looking forward to:

8: The Mormon Proposition: Mormons! Gay marriage! Prop 8! What more fascinating subject matter could there be? Knowing quite a few Mormons personally, I am very interested to find out just how the LDS church was involved in the campaign for and passage of Proposition 8 in California. I will freely admit that I am not the most unbiased of people when it comes to the beliefs of the Mormon church, but I am curious to see whether this documentary really is as even-handed as it claims to be. The deadCENTER summary states that the film “is careful not to succumb to emotional rant but chooses instead well-researched data and a range of interviews with politicians.” The film screens twice during the festival but I plan to see it Thursday night at the Kerr Auditorium.

Heart of Now: This seems like just the kind of drama that I would love. According to the synopsis, “HEART OF NOW is a quiet and understated debut feature that explores the inclination to define ourselves by the people who leave us.” This film screens Friday afternoon at 2:00, and I really hope I’m not called in to work that day (I had to agree to be “on call” for Friday. Ugh.) Zak Forsman, the director, is scheduled to be in attendance, as is the lead actress and music director.

Simmons on Vinyl: According to the author of this article, Simmons on Vinyl is fantastic! And I’m going to take his word for it. Surely he’s not biased … Wait … He’s the director of the film, you say? Oh … Well, at any rate, I’m always excited to see anything Singletree Productions comes out with. Mark Potts, Cole Selix, and Brand Rackley have a wonderful ability to make me laugh my ass off. And I like to laugh my ass off. Singletree Productions has another film screening this year during the Comedy Shorts as well, The Bedazzler.

I’m pretty excited about quite a few of the short films screening this year too, including Blastula: The Making of Embryonic (the Flaming Lips, yay!!!), and Mr. Hypnotism. I always enjoy short films, and some of the Comedy Shorts last year were my favorite films of the entire fest.

Only one more day, people. My only wish is that Cuppies and Joe will sponsor the Kick-Off Party again so I can eat my fill of Vanilla Sky cupcakes (or as I call them, my addiction). It would also be nice if the little rapping Wimgo guys from last year would perform at one of the parties. (Please, please please!!!)

I’ll see you all tomorrow night. I’ll be the one drinking the Stella Artois. Oh, wait…

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Preliminary Top 13 Films of 2009

February 9, 2010 — GraceKathryn

I have not yet seen quite a few films from 2009, but here goes… this will give you a good idea of my taste in films:

1. Inglourious Basterds

2. [500] Days of Summer

3. A Serious Man

4. Up in the Air

5. Antichrist

6. Funny People

7. Capitalism: A Love Story

8. Paranormal Activity

9. District 9

10. Moon

11. Up

12. An Education

13. Away We Go

***I have not yet seen the Hurt Locker, the Road, Invictus, the Messenger, the White Ribbon, Crazy Heart, Public Enemies, the Last Station, or a Single Man. Yes, I have seen Precious. Meh.

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My 3 Years in Corporate Hell

June 27, 2009 — GraceKathryn

You gotta love The Onion. The photo at the bottom of this post sums up perfectly my experiences working for 3 years in corporate America. I swear the upper management at the company I worked for hated independent intellectual thought and fun with everything in their core beings. The 1927 German film Metropolis comes to mind.

Here are a few fond memories I have of my time at said job:

  • A coworker got called in to the BIG bosses’ office to have a stern talking to about the “alarming” frequency of her email exchanges with her HUSBAND, who also happened to work for the company at the time — big brother was SERIOUSLY watching you at this company.
  • I was moved to 4 different desks/cubes on 2 different floors of the same building within 1 1/2 years. On the plus side, they did let me keep my red swingline stapler, though.
  • My boss (who was actually a really cool person so I was very disappointed with her for this) sent me a STERN email about how work computers were to be used for business-approved websites only, even if it was possible for me to access other sites on the “allowed” list. Thus, another “big brother is watching you” example. (For context: most employees had no internet access at ALL, and the select few who did have access could only get to a few select sites on the “approved” list, and these were sites that they had to have in order to do their jobs. So no yahoo, no newsok.com, no anything).
  • Extremely disturbing (indirect) sexual harassment directed at me, such that I was bawling my eyes out a few times. I need to find out the statute of limitations on that, b/c I think I actually have the guts now, 3 years later, to maybe say something about it.
  • The sense, ALL the time, that my coworkers, bosses, and everyone around me, were ALWAYS watching me, looking over my shoulder at my computer screen, and listening to my every word on the phone and every conversation I had with those around me. I am not being paranoid. This was really happening. There was a mass paranoia in the corporate culture at this company that I really didn’t understand.
  • Gossip. Constant backstabbing mean-spirited gossip… Now, I know people will say that this is an inherent feature of any workplace with a lot of women in close contact (and all that other sexist crap that I don’t buy in to), but it’s NOT. I know from personal experience that that argument is BS. That argument is sexist to its core. I work in an office now with about 10 other women, and the gossip where I work now is NOTHING like it was at this company. My office now is wonderfully positive and gossip-free by comparison. I don’t even blame the individual women I worked with at my former job, I blame the company’s culture. I blame the highest leadership. It was an institutional problem, not a problem with individuals.
  • Terrible timecard system that nickel and dimed you and ripped you off. (The skeptical pessimist in me suspects that this was NOT a coincidence).
  • After I left, I heard from a few ex-coworkers that they actually tried to BAN MUSIC AT PEOPLE’S DESKS for a while… this was in the form of headphones, iPods, small radios, small speakers, etc. It was an absolutist policy… No matter what. Apparently that only lasted for a few weeks and the backlash was so bad that they caved a bit.
  • I was HORRIBLY underpaid, and so were almost all of my coworkers. This company rapes their employees with low paychecks, all the while posting great profits (at least during the years I worked there). When I moved to the public sector I immediately got almost a 20% raise… I now make almost TWICE as much as I made when I started at that company in 2004. This company does not value its employees.

(For balance, a few good things the company did: yearly free health screenings for all employees, random bonuses ranging between $100-500 every Christmas and sometimes occasionally throughout the year in response to economic crises, community involvement in things like charity races and the like………. but most public sector jobs do all that plus more)

This was just my personal experience with corporate America and the company I worked for. I don’t claim that this is how it is for everyone, or that ALL large businesses are evil, or that capitalism isn’t a great thing (it is!), but this is how it was where I was at. This is just my story and my observations of the company I worked for. I experienced the depths of human misery at that job (I was crying alone in the bathroom on a regular basis I was so miserable), and it was as close to an Office Space type experience as I can envision in the real world.

Everything I have detailed above is all true. You can ask my husband, my parents, my doctor, or anyone who knew me while I worked there. I was in a deep depression at the time. It saddens me so much the way some companies get away with mistreating their employees. That was just the effect it had on me. By comparison, my public sector job now is like working in utopia.

Please don’t misread me and think I’m saying that all companies do this. I see the value in capitalism and I think that privately-owned businesses are a good thing. I know there are lots of private corporations and businesses that are wonderful places to work, but this particular company did not fall into that category. I would love to hear stories about the ones that are good. It will help to give me hope in humanity and the corporate world (which, admittedly, I aspire to never return to).

Office Internet Crackdown - from The Onion

Office Internet Crackdown - from The Onion

Posted in Feminism, Humor, Movies, My Life, Politics. Tags: , , , , , , . 11 Comments »

deadCENTER 2009 Film Reviews

June 22, 2009 — GraceKathryn

Dear deadCENTER, since you gave me the most fun 5 days I’ve had in quite some time, I figure I owe  at least a few (albeit belated) words to the wonderful filmmakers who contributed their blood, sweat, and tears to the festival. I have already summed up my deadCENTER EXPERIENCE in another post, so here I’ll just discuss what I believe were the few noteworthy films I saw from the festival.

(note: I apologize up front for the enormous length of this post. I realize it is way longer than most ‘normal’ people would ever want to read. I don’t expect you to read it all, or any of it for that matter. Heck, turn off your computer right now… or go read the Onion or something more entertaining. Why on earth do you even care what I have to say?!?!?!)

Documentary Features: (I actually only saw one narrative, non-documentary, full-length feature, Yesterday – aka the Canadian zombie movie, and it kind of sucked)

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo: This film was fantastic. I spoke about it a little bit in one of my first posts from the festival. I could completely relate to the female inmates of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary system featured in this film. I found myself wanting to hang out with them, laugh with them, and hear their stories. I wanted to go talk to them. </redundancy> There is nothing more I can say about this film that hasn’t already been said much more eloquently by the Filmcake or Two-Headed Blog in their reviews of this same film. Just see the film when you get a chance if you haven’t already. I think it’s been picked up by HBO for distribution.

Official Rejection: Very well made and extremely amusing (if a bit self-absorbed) documentary about the perils of navigating the film festival circuit from a filmmaker’s perspective. I was very glad I dragged myself out of bed bright and early at noon to make it to this 2pm screening followed by the discussion panel afterward. I just criticized the film for being self-absorbed, but I really shouldn’t, because that’s what makes it so honest and real. The filmmaker, Paul Osborne, simply made a documentary about his life – about his firsthand experiences. I shouldn’t criticize because I do the very same thing on my blog. This is an eye-opening (and VERY entertaining) documentary for anyone who enjoys “indie” film or considers themselves to be a lover of good art. Also, you “get” to see Lloyd Kaufman’s ass in the film. Um, yeah.

Familiar Voices: This documentary is about the current genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. I cried. A lot. It is not the best made documentary out there in terms of technical aspects, but it was enlightening to me as to what is happening over there and what we can do about it in our own little ways… even here in Oklahoma, USA. Rape is used as a weapon of war every day in Darfur… women are gang raped by as many as 20 or 30 men, and they are not killed, but they are instead sent home to be pariahs in order to shread the social fabric of their communities. One story was told in the film of a 35 year old mother of 8 who was gang raped… she went home to her husband and he immediately divorced her. This kind of thing makes me want to heavily self-medicate, curl up in a ball, projectile vomit, and then sob in the corner of my room for weeks… but I can’t do that. I am instead compelled to speak out. I am compelled to be a loudmouth. I see injustice and I just can’t keep quiet.

Here are a few places you can start to help… just give $5. Anything will help: Sudan Divestment (educate yourself and don’t let your 401k dollars fund companies whose dollars fund genocide); Doctors Without Borders; Oxfam; and I personally strongly support the work of World Vision (but they’re an explicitly Christian charity so I realize that a lot of people may have a problem giving to such an organization). You can check out the ratings of all these organizations on Charity Navigator, an independent charity evaluator.

Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie: Admittedly, I was not in the most sober state of mind to appropriately evaluate this film… however, the parts I remember were GREAT! Hugh Romney really is a kind of saint, and I was truly honored to be able to shake his hand and take my picture with him. I think the man’s life and philosophy is best summed up in this song he likes to sing wherever he goes. It’s called ‘Basic Human Needs.’

Wouldn’t it be neat

If the people that you meet

Had shoes upon their feet

And somethin’ to eat

And wouldn’t it be fine

If all humankind

Had shelter.

Wow. You can also give to Mr. Gravy’s charity, the Seva foundation. For only $50, your gift can restore sight to a blind person! Personally, I think that’s money well spent.

Short Films!:

Comedy Shorts For one, I would like to say that I seriously question the judgment of whoever decided to categorize this particular set of short films as comedy. Only two of these shorts (my two favorites, incidentally), were purely comedic, in my opinion. But on to the reviews…

The SPAM Job: LOL!!! Fortunately I got to see this twice – once at the comedy shorts and once at the best of fest on Sunday. I would like to say that I am glad I never had the misfortune of personally knowing Paddy Culham. The guy seems like a self-obsessed jerk.‡ But his film was hilarious! I highly recommend!

Miracle Investigators: Best short of the entire festival, and I got to see this one THREE times (and it got progressively better with each viewing). My paraphrase of some of the best dialogue exchanges:

“I’ve been pretty New Testament with you up until now… don’t make me go Old!”

“Don’t be scared, I gave up ass-kicking for Lent.”
“But it’s not Lent.”
“I know.”

“He’s lucky we don’t believe in execution … like the Southern Baptists”

“You’re excommunicated, dirtbag!”

This film could not have been more awesome.

Okie Shorts were surprisingly solid:

Hit Boys II Men: I have to give it up to Mark Potts at Singletree Productions… the guy is a phenomenal comedy writer. I read his articles on the OU student website(s) as far back as 2003 or so, and his writing has always been Onion-quality material. He is hilarious. This film was no exception. It was my second favorite comedy short of the entire festival. I laughed all the way through. The timing was great and the writing was great. You can’t make a great film without a great screenplay, and this film had it. Kudos, Mark Potts. I really look forward to seeing your future work. (But I still want a free cookie, dangit! I don’t care if you don’t work at American Cookie Co anymore!).

Safe: 16 yr old and 13 yr old made surprisingly decent short film in 24 hours time. I was impressed.

Sha Sha Jones “Blow My Mind”: Nice little music video and almost the ONLY piece of racial diversity I saw at this entire festival, especially at Okie shorts. Not a fantastic short, but kudos to the deadCENTER programmers for including at least some non-WASPs in the Okie shorts lineup.

My Little Mascot: Wow. If it was really local OCCC students who wrote/produced/edited this film, I am extremely impressed. This short was definitely in my top 5 of the festival, and I probably saw over 30 shorts total. It also took me about 5 days later to figure out that Lucas Ross of Two Movie Guys fame is actually one of the main actors in this film. This film is funny, sweet, and sentimental without being over the top melodramatic. I liked it a LOT.

We Interrupt This Program and The Bags: On both, I thought they were clever and entertaining though not brilliant or anything.

Short Femmes were the best and most solid set of shorts of the entire bunch. There was only one out of the entire bunch that didn’t border on greatness:

Forced Into “Comfort” Fighting for Apology: I saw this film twice and bawled both times. I almost think there is something wrong with you if you can get through this 27 minutes of film without at least tearing up a little bit. This is about the “Comfort Women” forced to work as sex slaves in Japanese military brothels during WWII… these mostly were girls aged 14-16. The surviving women, who are now in their 80s and 90s, still demonstrate weekly demanding an apology from the Japanese government and financial compensation for what was done to them.

Old Days: I LOVED THIS FILM!!! It reminded me of About Schmidt or something else along those lines. Old Days also made it in to my top 5 favorite short films of the festival. I loved Lillian’s free spirit as she struggled to adjust to her new place in the social structure of nursing home life, all the while (deep below the surface) grieving for her dead husband. Lillian served as a role model for me, and I can’t wait until I get a chance to see this wonderful short film again.

Bean: Very strong short film about a smart young girl stuck in a terrible home situation and the (dangerous and morally questionable) decision she makes in order to try to get out of it.

Miscellaneous:

Whore: This film is great. I loved how it portrayed the protagonist (Wendy) – who could have been easily been shown as just another awkward crazy evangelical fundamentalist home-schooled girl – as an intelligent multi-faceted human being with compassion and depth. She (reluctantly) befriends a boy she (later) finds out is gay, all the while carrying around ‘good luck’ trolls to school and at another point wearing a ridiculous “Jesus” shirt. Prarthana Mohan, thanks for not portraying all evangelicals as hate-filled ignoramuses.

Money Please: Very entertaining, but the director needs to be very careful because it came off as though he was almost advocating anarchy at certain points. I’m glad he got a chance to clarify his points immediately following the screening.

I Am So Proud Of You: I may have liked this more than Everything Will Be OK, but I need to watch both films again. I think I was too tired to properly assess it when I saw it on Sunday.

In Brief:

Soulmates: Kind of cute for a campy horror ghost story.

Collector: RIP Brad Renfro. This film was actually very well done and acted, if not very original.

Unmasked: Simple, concise political statement from OU students. I can relate. Very messianic… but was it sacreligious?

Mary’s Ring: Ridiculous, but I liked it.

Divers: Beautiful… major kudos for using Kaki King music!!!

The Burrow Log: Beautifully shot, good job DP! However, very melodramatic. I get it, though. A strong effort.

Gaining Ground: This was great. I see why it showed at best of fest on Sunday… but I’m a sucker for immigration films.

Science Fair (Or: Migratory Patterns…): A good and solid short, but I think there were others more deserving of the best of fest on Sunday… like Hit Boys II Men or Old Days for example.

The Meh / Suck Awards: (I hesitantly post this, knowing that some of the filmmakers may actually read this)

Yesterday: Drinking game: huge fun success! The first 20 minutes were a blast! Movie: EPIC FAIL. This film would have been a great 20 minute short… as a 90-min feature film it was a steaming pile of suck.

Misadventures of Moon Kitty: Dewayne Austin, I was entertained by your film, but WTF? I couldn’t help but feeling like I was watching a complete ripoff of everything Joel Veitch has been doing at rathergood since the early 2000s (I’m a huge fan of rathergood, if you haven’t gathered that by now).

She’s Country: This was 3 minutes of a girl riding around on a horse to a country song… seriously, deadCENTER programmers, how did this pile of crap make it in to the festival? I could make a better film than this on my snapshot camera using the video function.

The short “suck list”: Mudman, Three, Pigman & Little Johnny… I didn’t get these. Feel free to try to convince me otherwise in the comments as to why these were good films, but I thought they sucked. I always love to be convinced.

deadCENTER 2009 was great, and I can’t wait until next year. Again I apologize for the delay in getting my petty little film reviews posted (if they even count for anything). I may write a few more straggling DC posts in the weeks to come, but for now, this concludes SuburbanKitch’s deadCENTER 2009 coverage.

___________________________________________

‡ 6/30/09 edit: Mr. Culham has stated that his preferred term is “jackass” rather than “jerk.” Footnote added to reflect the preference of the man himself.

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Feminism, Movies, My Life, Politics. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 10 Comments »

The deadCENTER 2009 EXPERIENCE!

June 17, 2009 — GraceKathryn

6/22/09 Edit: I have since posted my deadCENTER film reviews. So if you would like to read my thoughts on the films I saw at the festival, go here.

I’m not the most succinct or concise writer out there, so I’m going to try tackling this deadCENTER recap thing a post at a time so as to not overwhelm you poor reader (I don’t fool myself into thinking that more than one person reads my blog), so here goes… I’m starting with my overall deadCENTER EXPERIENCE… being a DC noob, I had no idea what to expect, and boy was I ever glad I chose to spring for the $80 (student discount price) all access pass. It was SO worth it! I ate more food, drank more Stella Artois and wine, saw more amazing films, and met more cool people than I would normally get to experience in a year, all for the bargain basement price of $80 — all this crammed in to 5 measly days. It was the most fun, and truly exhausting, 5 days I’ve had in a long time. Of course, the never-ending food/Stella and the nonstop fantastic film and feminist-centric conversation with my awesome friends Sarah, Dwight and Ellen during the parties and downtime made the whole experience even more fantastic. I would have had a blast just going by myself – but being there with some of the coolest people ever was just the icing on the cake.

A few non-film related bests:

Best film venue: The OKCMOA theater is too obvious, so I guess I’ll say Artspace at Untitled. I saw Horror shorts, Midnight shorts, and short Femmes here. It was really cool! I loved being able to walk around and enjoy great art in between the shows.

Best Party: While the OKCMOA kickoff party and its resulting hobnobbing on Thursday night was a lot of fun, I have to say the XO Lounge party at the Colcord on Friday night was definitely the best party. This thing had the best food EVER. I could have eaten 7 dinners and gone back for 8ths. It was amazing. The lounge itself was great, too.

The party the following night at VI ad agency was cool, just for the venue… lots of fun conversation there, too. It was here that my completely empty stomach + the unending supply of Stella Artois combined to form the perfect storm prior to the Wavy Gravy movie. It wasn’t pretty. But on to happier times…

Coolest New People I “Met”: (I say “met” because I doubt they would remember me). Cacky Poarch and Ian (of unknown last name). As I’ve said before, Cacky walked a city block and back to bring me, a stranger, coffee and an orange muffin (for free!). I love this woman! Ian is awesome for being one of the masterminds behind the Yesterday (Canadian zombie movie) drinking game. That film would have been a steaming pile of suck had the drinking game not existed (and even with the drinking game, it was still only fun for about 20 minutes… but kudos to Ian anyway).

Other cool people: Whoever found my journal, called me, and returned the journal that I lost at Uptown United on Thurs night (after Yesterday). You are awesome. I don’t remember your name, but thanks. You give me faith in humanity. There are 8 pages of important notes from another event I attended in that journal. I love you, good Samaritan!

Most Ridiculously Fun Moment: Jumping the Jessica Alba shark. We had waaaaaay too much fun taking these pictures. Sarah posted on our bit of juvenile stupidity a bit more over at her blog. I agree with her that it was really fun. We were so disheartened to see that the very next morning, Jim Inhofe, Randy Terrill, and Mary Fallin had come and painted over the very same poster (at least that’s what we are convinced happened). Why do our elected representatives hate fun so much?

Coolest Pictures Obtained: tie – pics with Lloyd Kaufman, pics with Wavy Gravy (runner up: Alba shark pics)

Most Embarrassing Moment: Ridiculously loud beer bottle topple during silence in between short films at Horror Shorts on Friday night. My bad. (In my defense, I heard at least 2 or 3 other beer bottle topples later on that night. Late night glass bottle drinking + concrete floor = recipe for loud disaster).

Biggest Giggle-Like-A-Schoolgirl / Kathy-Feeling-Way-Too-Cool-For-Her-Own-Good Moment: Talking politics/obscure 80s female film directors with Lloyd Kaufman (I actually corrected him on Penelope Spheeris being the director of Suburbia… schweet!) followed by him giving me Troma swag (a DVD of Cannibal: the Musical) and his personal business card for IFTA. I of course took the business card as an invitation for me to personally email him, which I fully intend to do. We actually have a lot in common politically. Of course I expect a prompt reply to my email from Uncle Lloydie himself *sarcastic cough*.

Now, I could write a whole blog post on just Lloyd Kaufman. He fascinates me. I am very conflicted on my opinion of the man. He talks the feminist talk in abundance, but yet all of his films border on female exploitation, and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that he was fighting the urge to screw every woman who came within 5 feet of him… yes, I realize that all men struggle with this problem, but Lloyd Kaufman is a special case. Watch any Troma film and you’ll see immediately what I’m talking about. As I said, I’m conflicted. I’ll report back again after I watch Cannibal: the Musical… after all, I do love me some Trey Parker!

Speaking of Mr. Kaufman, deadCENTER film festival, and its “Gynos in Charge” have received his highest endorsement (originally posted on http://www.troma.com/news/ on June 16, 2009). I have to say I fully agree:

Lloyd Kaufman Here,

Last weekend I attended deadCENTER Fest in Oklahoma City, the Gyno operated and incredibly well-organized festival showcased a slue of brilliant films and relevant panel discussions on the state of Independent Cinema. I mention that deadCENTER Fest was organized by Gynos (more politically correct term for woman) because it was the best run film festival I’ve ever been to! The G.O.C’s for the festival (Gyno’s in Charge) were Melissa Scaramucci, Kim Haywood, and Cacky Poarch. They took care of every detail, everything at deadCENTER went on without a hitch or a glitch, they are all perfect human specimens!!! The Film Fest was refreshingly idealistic, untainted by the cynicism and evils of Hollywood. This was truly a film fest for Independent films, supported and organized by lovers of Independent film.

A couple films I attended especially kicked ass! Specifically, Weather Girl, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (my film of course), Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie, and Official Rejection, which I was in and elaborates on the BS I have encountered at so called mainstream film festivals. I recommend deadCENTER Festival to all filmmakers, regardless of experience or genre. This is Uncle Lloydie’s highest endorsement. Take it and spread the word kiddies! Looking forward to next year’s deadCENTER Fest!

Xoxo,

Uncle Lloyd

All in all, deadCENTER was a fantastic experience. I fully intend to spring for another all access pass next year. I’ll post reviews of all the best and worst films I saw in the next few days. Thanks for the memories!

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Feminism, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , , , , , . 4 Comments »

“HOB-NOBBING” with the 2 Movie Guys at deadCENTER OKCMOA roof-top party

June 16, 2009 — GraceKathryn

Two Movie Guys brought to my attention that I am featured a few times in this video. Ahhhh, yes… me and Two Movie Guys are old friends. Yep, we go way back. I have known those guys for soooo long. I definitely knew them waaaay before that one guy (Lucas? Lucas… that’s what the video said his name was, right?) came up to our table and started laughing uncontrollably. Good times, good times… No really, it was a blast. Thanks guys for tipping me off to the existence of said video! It’s pretty dang funny if I do say so myself. A few things about this video:

1. Mark Potts’ wolf shirt – the shirt clearly deserves a following of its own. It deserves a time zone of its own. The thing was so wonderfully amazing. It reminded me of Bret’s amazing wolf sweatshirt from Flight of the Conchords, but I’m not sure if that’s exactly what Mr. Potts was going for.

2. Cacky Poarch – I would just like to again reiterate that the woman is a wonderful human being.

I do hope to post further deadCENTER musings in the coming days.

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Humor, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , . 8 Comments »

Shorts I wouldn’t mind seeing again

June 14, 2009 — GraceKathryn

As I’ve mentioned before, I am REEEEEALLY looking forward to seeing I Am So Proud Of You today at best of fest. Everything Will Be Ok (its precursor in 2006) was an amazing film, even with its short running time; and it struck to the core of my very being. I love it (huge nerd alert).

Here are a few other shorts I wouldn’t mind seeing again today (in my order of enjoyment):

Miracle Investigators (for the THIRD time, yeah!!!)

Hit Boys II Men - LMAO

Old Days – One of the best of the best imo, I loved this film

Whore - stunning

Forced Into ‘Comfort,’ Fighting For Apology – CMAO (replace “laughing” with “crying” in the acronym)

Bean – Both depressing and inspiring. This was also a very well made film, imo.

My Little Mascot – Very solid film from students of OCCC. I was extremely impressed.

The SPAM Job – Again big LMAO

Money Please! - Had a tendency to seem politically almost anarchistic, but the director, Joe McClean, had a chance to further explain and moderate his views a bit in the Q&A aferwards. A solid and entertaining film, however.

Collector – Yes, it may have been somewhat cliché and unoriginal, but I liked it anyway. So mleh on you! RIP Brad Renfro.

Unmasked - Nice little social commentary short from some OU film students. The message was very clear and it resonated with me deeply.

Soulmates - Fun, silly, horror/ghost story ridiculousness. I liked it.

Mary’s Ring – More fun, silly, horror ridiculousness. This one was even more campy. I liked it.

The Burrow Log – A bit of melodrama from some local Oklahomans in the Okie shorts, but the DP did a great job and the film is shot beautifully. It was a worthy effort and I liked it.

Being cynical, however, I don’t expect to see even half of my favorite shorts at the best of fest this afternoon. I’ll be lucky if I even see Miracle Investigators and Hit Boys II Men (although Hitboys was definitely a crowd favorite so I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t screen again).

KitschDogg out!

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Those femmes really know how to kick it!

June 14, 2009 — GraceKathryn

A quick recap of day 4:

First of all, I love Cacky Poarch (@cackiness on twitter). I had never met this woman in my life, but I showed up to the screening of Familiar Voices at 2:00 pm exhausted and in search of coffee, and she personally walked across the street to OKCMOA and brought me back not only a cup of joe, but also a delicious orange muffin. This woman is amazing! She deserves mad props and lots of hugs.

Familiar Voices made me cry and made me angry. It made me want to be a political activist for the rest of my life (and it looks like my life *may* be heading that way already, we’ll see). Everyone should see it.

Short Femmes was the most solid block of shorts I have seen at deadCENTER thus far, and that is saying a lot. There was maybe only one film out of the entire lot that I did not think was at least good, and I thought that many of them bordered on greatness. Old Days and Bean were both phenomenal in my opinion. I hope to expound further when I am not falling asleep.

Saint Misbehavin’ was a great movie! I’m also quite thrilled about getting to meet the man himself, Wavy Gravy. He is an inspiration to humanity and further serves as a motivator to me to get off my butt and do SOMETHING. I’m sorry if I’m a loudmouth, but I’m trying to find my place in the world. Mr. Gravy, thanks for keepin’ on.

Wavy_gravy

I hope to give all the good films I saw more thorough reviews once I get a chance to SLEEP!!!

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Quick deadCENTER Day 2 and 3 recap

June 13, 2009 — GraceKathryn

Highlights of the festival so far:

Meeting Lloyd Kaufman! He even gave Sarah and I some SWAG (aka s*** we all get), in our case, a DVD of Cannibal: the Musical (written/directed by a pre-South Park Trey Parker) and another promo DVD of Troma trailers and short films. I talked a teeny bit of politics with him and he gave me his card for Independent Film and Television Alliance (an organization he is currently the Chairman of) b/c I mentioned my husband is about to start his third year of law school and we are on the same page politically with a lot of things. This had to be the highlight of the festival for me so far.

Taking our pictures with the infamous Jessica Alba shark posters. Yes, we’re lame. But it was fun. Sarah and I jumped the shark. (Yes, I realize we technically jumped next to the shark, but the concept is close enough for me).

IMGP0962

Parties and food!!! Someone even brought pizza to the midnight shorts. I will never ever pass up free pizza, and I partook in abundance. You people who attended Poultrygeist really missed out.

IMGP0955

Best films I’ve seen so far. Briefly, with no reviews (yet):

Feature length:

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

Official Rejection (and the panel that immediately followed)

IMGP0949

Shorts:

Miracle Investigators (May be my favorite so far! I’ve seen it twice now)

The SPAM Job

Hit Boys II Men

My Little Mascot

Collector (I appreciated it even if I admit it wasn’t phenomenal)

Unmasked

Whore

Money Please!

Overall I’ve been impressed by the quality of Oklahoma talent! I wish I could have seen more feature length narrative films this year. But alas… Among many more shorts, the only two feature length films on my agenda tomorrow are also documentaries: Familiar Voices and Saint Misbehavin’. Should be fun. See you there tomorrow (hopefully).

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

I’m aboot to eat your brain

June 11, 2009 — GraceKathryn

A quick update on last night at deadCENTER.

The kickoff party: More Stella Artois and cuppycakes than a girl could ever dream of. I was stuffed on only  1 1/2 cupcakes. The things were enormous! I hear the festival will be filled with even more of these monster cuppycakes, courtesy of Cuppies and Joe. Kickoff party – success!

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo outdoor documentary film screening: To our pleasant surprise, not only was director Bradley Beesley in attendance, but so were a few of the main stars of the film as well (former female prison inmates). They even fielded a short Q&A session shortly after the screening! The film was very inspiring and had me very near tears at many points. Personally, it was a sharp implication to me of my tendency to terribly misjudge people. These women are smart, and funny! I would have fun hanging out with them. They are not just statistics and can not be forgotten about or discounted because they’re ‘just’ inmates. They are valuable human beings who have amazing abilities and gifts to contribute to our society! I can’t wait to watch this film again at home. I really wished I would have gotten a chance to talk with some of the women in person, but there were just too many people around and I would have had to be too much of a pushy loudmouth for even my tastes (and that’s saying a lot).

After party at Makers: I had a blast, but of course I stayed out way past my bedtime and didn’t get home until 2:00 am (on a work night, ugh), and then had to take a shower when I got home. However, it is because I went to this party that I found out about this screening tonight from one of the DC organizers, Ian (which is now on my schedule for sure):

Yesterday: Playing tonight at 9:30 at Uptown United. It’s a Canadian zombie movie, where the polite (I said Canadian) non-zombies say “sorry” a lot (lol). I was told that there will be a drinking game involved at the event tonight with Stella Artois dyed red, and there is a rumor that there may even be brain-shaped jello shots as well. Yep. It’s on my schedule for sure now.

C’ya there tonight film nerds.

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Superexcited and Supernerdy

June 9, 2009 — GraceKathryn

I will be experiencing not only my first ever deadCENTER film festival this year (starting in less than 24 hours), but my first film festival ever. I feel like such a nerd for getting so excited about it. Having been utterly and completely into movies for so long now, you would think I would have made it to a film festival or two by now… but not so. This is a first for me.

As much as I would like to post multiple blog entries each day on every film I see, I know that is probably not going to happen. I am a VERY busy person. As it is, I am doing really well just to post anything at all every few days or so. This pre-fest post plus a recap afterwards may be all I can muster up, but we’ll see how it goes…

Anyway, here are a few things I am looking forward to the most at the festival:

All the parties! Food/alcohol/extended conversation with people I like… conversation about one of my favorite subjects, film, no less! This is right up my alley.

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo - This is by the same documentary filmmaker who made Okie Noodling and Fearless Freaks, both of which I greatly enjoyed. I am seeing this tomorrow night after the kickoff party.

Official Rejection and the panel that will follow its screening

Social Commentary in Film panel, followed by Familiar Voices documentary on the genocide in Darfur.

Lots and lots of short films. Specifically the Comedy Shorts, the Horror Shorts, Okie Shorts (by local filmmakers), Short Femmes (films by and about women), Immigration Focus, and Family Ties. I’ll probably get burned out on short films by the end of the festival, but we’ll see.

This last bit betrays my true nerddom… the one thing I am looking forward to more than anything at the festival is seeing I Am So Proud Of You, a short film, on Sunday afternoon. This is the second chapter of the short film Everything Will Be Ok, which actually made it into my top ten movies of 2007 list, despite only being 19 minutes long.

I may not blog at all during the festival depending on how busy I am, but I do hope to post a recap within a few days afterwards. I’ll probably be tweeting/twittering/whatever-the-heck-ya-want-to-call-it-ing pretty frequently throughout, however. Here I am on the twitter interwebs: http://twitter.com/SuburbanKitsch

I truly deserve to be roasted by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. At least I embrace my nerddom in all its glory. Please say hi to me at the festival if you see me there!

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , , , . 3 Comments »

Funniest bank call center call EVER

June 6, 2009 — GraceKathryn

A few days ago, Jared called our bank (where I used to work for 3 years) for a routine question about our account. The conversation with the call center employee began something like this:

Bank guy (we’ll call him Milton): You sound just like Jeff Goldblum!

Jared (sounding really surprised but laughing hard): I sound like who? Jeff Goldblum? Um, ok. I’ve actually never gotten that before, but, ok… um, what?

I overheard Jared’s part of the convo from the other room and was of course laughing my arse off. Jared then talked back and forth between me and Milton for a few minutes asking me if I thought he sounded like Jeff Goldblum and saying to both of us that I guess it made him sound really smart and that it was a good thing.

Eventually they got down to talking bank account stuff, and then Jeff Jared had to put me on the phone because I was the primary account holder. My conversation with Milton then proceeded as such:

Me (in panicked voice): Jeff keeps telling me that there’s some sort of code he’s cracked and that the world is going to end or aliens are going to attack or something and we all need to pay attention!!!!

Milton(cracking up): Is that Independence Day?

Me: I think that’s actually every Jeff Goldblum movie.

We talked bank account stuff for awhile, and then I mentioned that I used to work for his fine (extremely over-dramatic sarcastic cough) employer for 3 years.

Milton: Oh, that’s why you have so many accounts. I thought you just really liked the bank.

Me: Um, no. Actually, I really dislike the company … but I love the people who work there! Are you housed at _______ building?

Milton: Yep. 6th floor.

Me: I used to be on 4, and 2, multiple times. I worked in that building for 1 1/2 years and they moved me 4 times.

Milton: Yeah, when they moved me they didn’t even let me keep my red stapler.

HE REALLY SAID THAT!!!!! THIS GUY WAS AWESOME!!!!!!

Me: They kept telling me I could listen to my music at a reasonable level, but then they moved me to an office that was in a basement closet, and then one day I stopped receiving my paycheck, and (unintelligible mumble) I’m gonna blow up the building.

Milton, Jared, and I were all laughing our arses off at this point. He eventually told us that he had just started working there a few weeks before. I’m so surprised they didn’t fire him on the spot for having so much fun at work. (I think the company I used to work for is actually kind of a little bit evil, but I really liked my coworkers and all the ground level employees… it’s the organizational culture and upper management that are warped). I bet he doesn’t last there 6 months.

Anyway, Jared and I received this in the mail today:

midfirst card from Geno 060609

I thought the whole awesome call deserved a blog post. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on the phone with a bank employee discussing my bank account.

Posted in Humor, Movies, My Life. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

My very first deadCENTER

June 6, 2009 — GraceKathryn

The Filmcake just posted an anticipatory blog re: deadCENTER film festival, which got me all excited about it again and gave me a quick diversion from being all fired up about the political event I just attended (which I will likely be blogging on extensively within the next few days).

deadCENTER 2009 will be my first ever film festival experience, and I couldn’t be more excited. You may recall that this is one of the events I am most looking forward to this summer. I am kind of a huge film nerd, and 5 days straight of movies and parties is right up my alley. I figure I’ll try to twitter and blog about the whole thing, now that I have this new blog off the ground and in some sort of working order.

Film nerds untie! er, UNITE! (you’ll notice I repeat myself a lot).

Posted in deadCENTER 2009, Movies, My Life. Tags: . Leave a Comment »
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