Above: Screengrab from BarackObama.com; Bill Thompson, running for Mayor of New York this week on Nov. 3rd; Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2008 campaign page; Anthony Woods, who lost his campaign for Congressional House district, CA-10; James Perry, running for mayor of New Orleans in 2010. Any that I’m missing? The issue of websites borrowing, um, liberally from [...]
Archive for October, 2009
Atom Egoyan: “Artists Don’t Always Do What Their Communities Want Them to Do”
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 30th, 2009
Filmmaker Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Adoration) has, over the course of three decades of movie-making, probed such disparate characters as strippers and comedians in provocative and artful ways. Egoyan further demonstrated his artistic curiosity at The Philadelphia Museum of Art on Sunday during a public conversation with curator Michael Taylor commemorating the recently opened [...]
The Tender Same-Sex Moment in Levi’s “O Pioneers!”
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 29th, 2009
Levi’s Jeans “Go Forth” ad campaign (dir. Sin Nombre‘s Cary Fukunaga for the firm Wieden+Kennedy) has been gaining some fans, most notably Slate’s Seth Stevenson. I’m not sure how popular the vid is on YouTube; between all the reposting it might have views in the low hundred thousands. I certainly stopped and paid attention when [...]
Babelgum Aims to Bend Genres, Rule Phones This Halloween
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 29th, 2009
My first blog post for the Wall Street Journal looks at a few new series on Babelgum: Looking to build up its roster of Web series, online video site Babelgum, best known to Speakeasy readers for its online and mobile release of Sally Potter’s “Rage,” have announced three new sci-fi and horror comedies. The site [...]
For Wanda Sykes, George Lopez, Success Not Guaranteed
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 28th, 2009
UPDATE: George Lopez’s show Lopez Tonight also started strong on TBS (and TNT, TruTV), so it looks like we have hit a temporary POC (people of color) late-night trifecta. UPDATE: The ratings for Wanda Sykes were good; not, SNL good, though. UPDATE: Fox has the site up, with promos and such. With the (apparent) success [...]
Mo’Nique, Shilling and What An Oscar Means
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 27th, 2009
UPDATE: Mo’Nique has won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, praising the Academy for putting “the performance” over “politics”! Go ahead, girl! UPDATE: Mo’Nique has addressed the controversy, saying: “Baby, people gonna talk. It comes with the territory. But didn’t they talk about Jesus? Then they killed him. So, what makes me think I’m so [...]
"White Collar" White Hot, USA Wins My Love
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 27th, 2009
UDPATE (11/4): Mike White confirms to Queerty he and Bomer were lovers. UPDATE (10/31): There’s been some speculation — okay, really, revelation — that White Collar star Matt (Matthew) Bomer is openly gay. Queerty seems certain he is and has been out within the industry (like Anderson Cooper) for years, but now that White Collar [...]
“The Crew” Season Two Opens and Hilarity Ensues
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 27th, 2009
Original at Ronebreak. The web has been fertile ground for shows more quirky and less genre-specific than what makes it onto television. The Crew, written and directed by young filmmaker Brett Register, is a perfect example of that kind of show. Best understood as a blend between The Office and Star Trek, The Crew is [...]
Reckless Speculation: Are Women’s Shows Doing Worse This Fall?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 26th, 2009
UPDATE: TVbtN’s Bill Gorman quickly explained why the numbers look this way. Thanks, Bill! So TVbytheNumbers, the best TV blog on the Internets, has published a chart on the returning fall shows that aren’t doing so well, and the few that are (Fox is up, the rest are flat or down). Below is what he [...]
“New York I Love You” in Five Minutes
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 24th, 2009
I had high hopes for New York, I Love You. My friends know what kinds of movies I fall for easily, and this is it: pretty people, New York City, romance, set in autumn, bourgeouis pretension. I eat it up: You’ve Got Mail, As Good as it Gets, Auntie Mame, All About Eve, the list [...]
“Good Hair” Is Shockingly Preachy
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 24th, 2009
It’s easy to say Good Hair is superficial, putting a shiny gloss on a serious issue — it certainly is fun. There are plenty of appearances from celebrities (no, not Oprah or Michelle; they’re not stupid), and the film’s narrative is centered around the glamorous and ridiculous Bronner Brothers show and convention in Atlanta. Good [...]
Chris Crocker, Somewhere Between Boy and Girl, Proves Me Right
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 22nd, 2009
Nobody is particularly interested in Chris Crocker anymore; maybe he’s been replaced by B. Scott. But I still think he’s fascinating, and kind of a smart performance artist. (I’m using “he” right now because it’s my understanding that’s the pronoun Chris still uses). In this video, Crocker, whose hair has been growing longer and whose [...]
“Precious” and the Fight Against Representation
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 20th, 2009
I saw Precious Wednesday (it’s accomplished, bound for Oscar greatness), but I’ll hold off on film criticism and instead talk about what I think the film means, and what I think it does for black cinema, a field I’m still learning about, so I would love comments and suggestions. My thrust is simple: Precious is [...]
Where the Wild Things Are…For Hipsters, Kids, Cinephiles or Everyone?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 16th, 2009
UPDATE: The New York Times has a piece about whether the movie is appropriate for children. After seeing Where the Wild Things Are two nights ago, I suspected I would awaken Friday morning to check Metacritic and see a big ol’ 80+ rating on the film from critics. Not so! Okay, it’s a 70. Well [...]
Black Hulu: Creating a Home for Independent Black Video
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 15th, 2009
Many thanks to Racialicious for reposting this! When new technologies emerge a host of new companies tend to sprout up. Tons of independent radio stations catering to diverse interests existed before 1970s-style deregulation. Digital technology brought dozens of new channels to television; that same technology fostered numerous production companies making independent TV and films. Now [...]
Posted in uncategorized 
Tags: black, Digital Culture/Industry, distribution, race, TV, web series, Web Series/Online Video 
10 Comments »Black Web Series and New Black TV
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 15th, 2009
Please see my Black Web Series page for a full and updated list. So I did a little bit of reporting and found some web series featuring all or mostly black casts! The full story is up at The Root: A small but growing number of filmmakers, producers and writers are looking to the Web [...]
Is Hollywood Really Youth-Obsessed?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 15th, 2009
Please comment on the original at SpliceToday! UPDATE: Greek made fun of another ABC show! On volunteering to deliver food to the elderly on Thanksgiving, Rebecca said to Casey: “I care about old people: I watch Desperate Housewives.” Burn again! UPDATE: Some information from The Hollywood Reporter offers some contradicting evidence, looking at the average [...]
Web Series and Branded Entertainment
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 13th, 2009
UPDATE: For links to everything I’ve written on web series, visit the web series page. So my article in Businessweek on branded entertainment and the web series is finally out online! I’m just posting here to provide a bit more context, more than could make it into the article (below). The article focuses on MTV [...]
What is a Web Series? A Guide and Introduction
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 9th, 2009
What is a web series? To anyone in the industry right now, this post will be elementary. Apologies in advance. But I think for academics and maybe aspiring producers, this might be useful. I’ve had a bunch of hits on my old primer, but it’s rough at best. I’m also posting this so if you’re [...]
Posted in uncategorized Tags: research, TV, vlogging, web series, Web Series/Online Video, youtube No Comments »Me on Jezebel, or “Women Who Don’t Work”
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 8th, 2009
So Jezebel has done a riff on my article in Splice Today (“The Death of the Working Woman?”), and cited it again in another post this week! Thanks, Jezebel! To be honest, the article was not my finest work. I was merely reacting to some personal observations: there are a lot of productive, innovative and [...]
