“It” is fife and drum, an African take on colonial English marching songs, and one of the oldest forms of distinctly American music, played by the slaves of Jefferson’s Monticello and still played today — by one family, once a year, at this, one of the last of the traditional farm picnics celebrating the end of the growing season. I first met Tamke earlier in the day, before the sun had gone down, when the party was still getting going. He sat beside me on a hay bale, friendly-like, and struck up a conversation. He introduced me to his father, John, who sat nearby in a wheelchair, his left leg amputated above the knee due to the ravages of Agent Orange (and who has since died). After coming home from Vietnam, Tamke Sr. became a local judge. Back in those days, he told me, it was a point of family pride to “take care of the minorities,” and he reminisced about his grandfather bringing him outside, 50 or 60 years ago, to hear the drum call the field hands to the picnic.
Blues Travelers - Adam Fisher, NY Times
My best thoughts often show up when I listen to music. In this particular instance, I was bumping this Jill Scott debut again and thought “the likelihood of me meeting someone here who has any idea how damn good this album is ranges from slim to none.” That thought depressed me briefly.
It’s not even about a lack of relations. It’s bigger than that right now. It’s about finding people who I can relate to in the simplest of ways. I try almost too hard to relate to other people. I think traveling and finding yourself in consistently awkward situations as an adult, has heightened my sense of curiosity that was always there to begin with.
It’s not about other people, but an inability to really understand what I’m supposed to do about it. I think it is just part of an evolutionary process that’s continuing to evolve. One of the things the past few years has been helpful for, is realizing what I’d do differently in situations if they arose and resisting the temptation to take even the most basic things for granted.
I used to think common ground was about liking the same tunes or finding someone who was a poor substitute for what I’d always imagined made sense. It’s not really about a caricature of a person that I think I’m looking for. But I don’t want to feel like I’m constantly trying to adapt something to fit a place it’s not meant to inhabit whether it’s me or someone else. I don’t think picking up and moving will change anything even if it were in the cards at this very moment. And I think there’s a penchant to try to make fetch happen that I’m also avoiding.
But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m souring on the routine, because there’s a real lack of the kinds of energy that keep me going. It’s akin to running a race where no one is watching. You just have to like running to keep motivated in that kind of forest. When I wrote that, I felt like there was a different kind of punchline but as I end it now, I realize that maybe that was the lesson along.
I feel like there’s a middle ground somewhere, it’s just a matter of finding it.
Instead of watching Girls, watch these movies instead
The manufactured internet controversy about HBO’s Girls and whether it’s a vapid demonstration of nepotism run amok or the most heralded piece of television since All In The Family, the fact is everyone seems to have an opinion.
That is, except for people with real lives and jobs and who don’t have tumblrs. Luckily for me (for once) I live in a place where barely anyone tumbls and surely no one near any water cooler has any idea what this show is. So I haven’t been party to any impassioned discussions about whether or not Lena Dunham’s parents are “famous enough” to merit her inclusion into a discussion about privilege.
I found Tiny Furniture pretty insufferable despite being initially excited about it. What I didn’t find insufferable were these movies that are absolutely worth your time. What none are absolutely perfect, each comes with leads that are far from conventional. So it’s easy to complain about Tyler Perry or talk about shows that may or may not have diverse casts, but these films (except for the Swedish one) do and they’re all pretty enjoyable to boot.
Jump Tomorrow (2001)
Tunde Adebimpe is the lead singer of TV On The Radio, but is also an actor. Jump Tomorrow is a borderline campy B-movie about a guy named George who’s about to get married through an arranged marriage. He meets a super quirky girl who is probably a manic pixie dream girl but not really and they fall all over themselves. I like how neatly it all tied up, it’s quirky and not the kind of movie you’d normally see bandied about. It used to be Netflix instant, now it’s not.
Guy and Madeline On A Park Bench (2009)
This is a glorified student film. The budget was mostly spent on the Bratislava Symphony so they could score it. It’s shot in black and white. Guy meets girl. Girl and guy break up. He’s a musician and we just sort of follow them as they go along looking for love in all the wrong places. It’s not especially complex and rough around the edges. It’s a musical. It’s magical. Just watch it now.
En kärlekshistoria (1970)
A Swedish Love Story is a great movie that would never, ever get made in the modern world even in Sweden. If you live in the UK, you can get it via iTunes, otherwise you’re going to need to look for a DVD online or torrent it. It’s a beautifully shot film by Roy Andersson and I believe this was his first flick. It explores young love in the tumult of an adult world that was changing in Sweden. Even with subtitles, it’s the kind of rawness and beauty that is perfectly translated into any language.
I don’t watch many movies more than once, but this one is one that I could watch over and over again and all I ever want to do is show it to as many people as possible.
Shades of Ray (2008)
Another indie flick rom-com type with a story arch that’s unconventional. You have a main character stuck between two words trying to figure out where he lies in both love and life. Lots of quirky characters and while you’ll wonder what the premise is trying to say in the end; it’s a pretty good story to put on your iPad Netflix while you cook in the kitchen or something.
I’m Through With White Girls (2007)
This flick is about a nerdy black guy who makes cartoons and his perpetual relationships with…you guessed it. It’s a comedy, it’s a bit over the top but there are some decent character actors in it and it has the feel of a “black comedy” without ever devolving too far into Tyler Perry territory. It’s basically cotton candy fluff, but decent enough to add to your list without shame, as it does an excellent job of holding up as a story that would’ve worked with modest alterations to the characters no matter what the ‘forbidden’ ethnic group was, but did so while making everyone seem somewhat real.
Medicine For Melancholy (2008)
Probably the only movie on this list that you’ve likely heard of. Maybe. I won’t lie to you and say that I absolutely loved it when I first saw it. I just felt like it was too mumblecore. The dialogue was too sparse, the characters reminded me of those coloring books without any crayon on the pages yet. But it was shot so well. And then I got some distance and realized that I’d watched an entire movie with two black protagonists who were into each other no less; backed by a impeccably stitched indie music soundtrack. (I did read a criticism once that there was no hip-hop in it. I sympathize with that…but there wasn’t a scene in the film except maybe the club where that would’ve fit even the most indie of indie rap..)
Anyway…the point is, this film just works bee stings and all. I know it’s on Netflix now, so you really have no excuse.
Finally, I’m going to suggest something two shows that aren’t movies at all.
Luther (BBC)
I happened upon this by accident after one too many episodes of the Korean TV drama City Hunter. But it’s just so so good and I’ve hooked numerous friends on it since then. It’s just plain excellent in every possible way. Idris Elba (DCI Joh Luther) is a rock star and Ruth Wilson (Alice Morgan) is fabulous in her role. You might not be the type into the whole true crime drama thing, but you have to give this a shot if you appreciate great acting, multifaceted characters and have any shred of good taste at all.
It’s a show that would never, ever make it on American television. Even cable. It’s too good. I recalled thinking it as I rewatched it with a friend a few months ago and I don’t have a good answer for why. But it’s how I see it.
Merlin (BBC)
I know this is being broadcast in America on SyFy, but I have no idea what the ratings are like. But here’s another one of those “would never happen in an American show moments.”
Yes, it’s a revisionist show about Arthur and the Knights of Camelot. Yes, that’s Guinevere. The people who hate it most are these kids who pervade tumblr with their incessant posts about a desire to see Merlin and Arthur together. But that’s the extent of it. There’s some criticism that the actress (Angel Coulby) who plays Guinevere is too pretty to be in that spot, that she’s not an especially good actress and that she and Arthur have no chemistry together. I’ve seen little to no tweets that mirror anything that happened when a bunch of poor readers discovered Rue from the Hunger Games wasn’t how they pictured her.
I’m not sure I really see any of that, though I can at least hear it with a semi-open mind. But enough of getting mucked into the details of the show. Ultimately, it’s just a really enjoyable fantasy show that doesn’t take itself too seriously and of course, like many of the others engages in colorblind casting.
So there you go. With all of the stuff I’ve given you to watch, you’ll simply have no time to watch Girls. YOU ARE WELCOME.
all of these stories — is a reminder. It’s a reminder that you have so little control over your life that who you are doesn’t actually matter. All that matters is what other people can make you into. You’re not a person, not in the end. You’re just a thing to be used and discarded, no matter how good of a guy you were, no matter how cute your daughter is, they’re going to find something on you and that’s going to be that. Sorry, but Mister Charlie needs grist for the mill.
I have no idea who this person is and I’d never read his blog before, but…this was a very powerful first-person narrative.
To the young people in my neighborhood, friendship was defined by having each other’s back. And in that way, the personal shields, the personal willingness to meet violence with violence, combined and became a collective, neighborhood shield—a neighborhood rep. And so it was known in my time, for instance, that “North and Pulaski” or “Walbrook Junction” or “Cherry Hill” were not to be fucked with.
I think one can safely call that an element of a kind of street culture. It’s also an element which—once one leaves the streets—is a great impediment. “I ain’t no punk” may shield you from neighborhood violence. But it can not shield you from algebra, when your teacher tries to correct you. It can not shield you from losing hours, when your supervisor corrects your work. And it would not have shielded me from unemployment, after I cold-cocked a guy over a blog post.
I suspect that a large part of the problem, when we talk about culture, is an inability to code-switch, to understand that the language of Rohan is not the language of Mordor. I don’t say this to minimize culture, to the contrary, I say it to point how difficult it is to get people to discard practices which were essential to them in one world, but hinder their advancement into another. And then there’s the fear of that other world, that sense that if you discard those practices, you have discarded some of yourself, and done it in pursuit of a world, that you may not master.
The streets are like any other world—we all assume an armor, a garment to suit that world. And indeed, in every world, some people wear the armor better than others, and thus reap considerable social reward. In the main, it’s been easy for me to discard the armor of West Baltimore, because I wore it so poorly. I was never, as they say, truly built for the streets. And still, even I struggled to take it off. But I know others who were masters. (My own brother, for instance.) Inducing them, and those in between, to change class, to trade their plate for robes, to trade the broad-sword for a spell-book, is the real work.
A Culture of Poverty - via Ta-Nehisi Coates
This is a few years old, but re-reading it today reminded me of how great it is. In some ways, where I am now is such a regressive place in terms of people’s awareness of race. It’s not even just a white thing - the black kids who end up here are just as stunted - and while it frustrates me mightily, it’s this kind of dialogue and high-level thinking that I miss more than anything about being in more culturally advanced places.
There exists a kind of unspoken burden where you want to educate people on what they clearly lack. But I’ve come to realize time and time again that there’s no way to replicate years of experiences lost and books not read. There’s only so much you can do as one individual and so, I try to insert knowledge and perspective where I can and the rest I’m learning to just leave alone because it’s a losing battle frankly.
This goes beyond a particular place, it’s a broader argument about a rhetoric that infects our politics and addresses it head-on. Worth revisiting whether you’ve seen it or not.
Instead, we have a 23-year-old kid who dunks, keeps the ball for himself in pressure situations, preens, chest bumps, and gets caught up in Kim Kardashian rumors. The public record of Jeremy Lin might show a modest kid who praises Jesus, but that’s not how he conducts himself on the court.
I’m not particularly proud of it, but over the past two weeks, I’ve exchanged countless e-mails with my Asian American friends about how the only way the Jeremy Lin story could possibly be better is if he talked like Nas and released a dis track on Tru Warier Records. All of us have shared stories, without a hint of modesty or shame, about getting choked up while watching Knicks games. Lin has reignited the possibility of ChiNkBaLLa88 and the Mental Oriental — a pluralistic, autonomous minority who, without apology, represents a life spent stuck between expectations.
Black and Jewish
Oh goodness. Because I missed this during all of the black and yellow parodies last year.
“A Beer With..” S2E3: Baratunde Thurston
Baratunde, one of the most viral people on the internet, digital capo for The Onion, author, and recent magazine cover boy drops by for a pint and some conversation. We discuss his upcoming book “How To Be Black”, calling out social media “gurus”, #BlackTwitter, and a lot of other stuff.
This is the best episode we’ve done. More to come.
Very funny. Very timely. Watch.
But 21st-century blackness has lost its rigid center, and irony permeates the cultural membrane. More than kids knowing they can be president of the United States, it might be more crucial to the expansion of black identity that — thanks to, say, N.E.R.D or Odd Future — they know they can be skate punks. Kanye West can release an album called The College Dropout, then run around the world dressed like an Oberlin junior. (The backpack craze was popularized by him.)
Wesley Morris on LeBron, Dwyane, Amar’e, and the rise of the NBA nerd - Grantland
(via extraface)
I’ve been thinking this stuff and I’m glad someone else is 1) noticing and 2) has a platform to document the observations. Maybe I ought to reply.
Medicine For Melancholy, Barry Jenkins 2009 movie is a mumblecore flick at its core. The difference between this and any other mumblecore movie you’ve struggled through is the main characters in this one are black.
It’s extremely beautiful film in its rendering, even if the story is uneven at times. It’s the profile of a pair who meet and spend the day together, have a one-night stand and are essentially trying to answer a lot of questions. Unlike many movies that purport to be “a whole day” that feel a lot longer, this feels extremely linear and while it doesn’t give you closure…it tells like a story and doesn’t try to be more than it is.
I enjoyed it a lot more after the fact than I did when I got to watch it. Probably because there is really nothing else like it that’s been released before or after. It’s mumblecore so there’s not a lot of dialogue. The characters aren’t especially nuanced or lovable, yet…there’s far more to like than to not. Not just because it’s a movie with black people not made by T.D. Jakes, Tyler Perry or starring Will Smith; but rather because it’s a good indie movie.
It’s available on Netflix Instant and is thus required watching.
