In 1984, a youngish Oprah Winfrey talks to an oldish Norman Mailer about love. She tiptoes nicely around the knifing.
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Tags: Norman Mailer, Oprah Winfrey
If you tell Jonathan Franzen to sign your book, "Dear Oprah," he has no choice but to do it. You fucking deal with it, Franzen! (Image by David Shankbone.)
I want to thank all of you who’ve generously supported the Mekons documentary that is being made by my old boss Joe Angio. His Kickstarter campaign has been a great success, and he’s raised enough money to begin the editing process in earnest. Now with just four days to go in the fundraising, every dollar he makes brings him closer to being able to completely finish the movie.
My guess is some Afflictor readers might like books more than music or film, so I wanted to point out that some of the writers who are featured in the doc have contributed autographed books that can be yours for a donation. Still available, for instance, are four copies of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, who will personalize the inscription to the pledger. (Freedom, by the way, was just chosen by the New York Times as one of the “10 Best Books of 2010.”) Check the Rewards list on the right-hand column of the Kickstarter page to get a nice holiday gift for a loved one (or yourself). And thanks again for helping a great project.
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The original post from November 8, 2010:
Bleg: Help Complete A Movie About The Mekons
You know I don’t bleg for me, but I am willing to bleg for a good cause or a good project. One such project is a documentary about the rock group the Mekons that is currently being made by Joe Angio, a former boss of mine and a fine filmmaker. He has finished shooting just about all the material and needs some money to begin the editing process. You can give by visiting his kickstarter site. But some questions you may want answered before you give:
Who are the Mekons?
An incredible and incredibly influential band that has stood the test of time for more than three decades, maintained integrity and still rocks on.
Who is the director?
Joe Angio is the talented filmmaker who made the smart and entertaining film, How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It), a documentary about Melvin Van Peebles. The film was critically acclaimed and called “an energetic and admiring biography” by the New York Times‘ A.O. Scott, who has read books and shit.
Should I give money if I like the director Joe Angio?
Yes, though I question your taste in people.
Should I give money if I hate the director Joe Angio?
Definitely. There’s no better way to stab someone in the back than to encourage that person to be an independent filmmaker. It’s an awful and unglamorous life. If you really want to twist the blade, encourage that person to be a documentarian. There’s no money in it, and it’s endless work. These are the kind of filmmakers who actually have to pay for their cocaine. Meanwhile, Brett Ratner dates Maggie Q. Unfair.
Why don’t the Mekons hold a benefit concert to raise funds?
They’re currently drunk, every last Mekon. It’s rock and roll.
Have any celebrities contributed to the cause so far?
Indeed they have!
Are there rewards?
Yes, there are. Go to kickstarter and see all the cool stuff you can get for a modest donation. You can probably resell most of it on eBay for at least twice what you pay for it. (Joe Angio is a filmmaker, not an accountant.)
Will my donation be used responsibly?
All contributions will go to editing this film and making it great. Every penny will be squeezed until Abraham Lincoln’s head wounds reopen.
Seriously, it’s a great project, so if you love the Mekons or independent film or people doing something creative because it’s good thing to do, please give.
And look for my documentary about Ke$ha in 2014. It will $uck.
Tags: Joe Angio, Jonathan Franzen, Oprah Winfrey
President Obama greets Ranger Shelton Johnson.
New York Times reporter Miryea Navarro has an interesting story about the racial make-up of visitors to U.S. National Parks, which is overwhelmingly white and underwhemlmingly African-American. While it’s not precisely clear why attendance is so homogenous, Shelton Johnson, a ranger for the National Parks Service, has enlisted Oprah Winfrey in trying to change the demographics. An excerpt:
“Yet no group avoids national parks as much as African-Americans. The 2000 survey found that blacks were three times as likely as whites to believe that park employees gave them poor service and that parks were ‘uncomfortable places.’
Park Service officials emphasize that the demographics vary, and that parks like theMartin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta and the Manzanar National Historic Site in Independence, Calif., site of a World War II detention camp for Japanese-Americans, draw diverse crowds.
But attendance tends to be more homogenously white at wilderness parks like Yosemite, where a 2009 survey found that 77 percent of the visitors were white, 11 percent Latino, 11 percent Asian and 1 percent black.
When Ms. Winfrey visited Yosemite this month to tape her show, Mr. Johnson said, he was not surprised to hear that it was her first trip to the park and her first time camping. He said he was more likely to meet someone from Finland or Israel in the park than from, say, Harlem or Oakland, Calif.
‘It’s something that’s pervasive in the culture — it doesn’t matter whether you’re Oprah or a postal worker,’ Mr. Johnson said.”