It's About Damn Time!

Last night, I arrived home after a draining 6 hour bus ride from Maryland to New York, just in time to catch my most anticipated Oscar categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Documentary and of course, Best Picture.

All of the films I have been whole-heartedly rooting for received nods: The Departed, Pan’s Labyrinth and Little Miss Sunshine. Pan’s Labyrinth deservingly left with Best Foreign Picture. This timeless film unexpectedly captured my heart 2 months ago. During post Franco-Prussian war Spain, a 12 year-old girl is thrust into a life controlled by an evil military general. The young protagonist, Ofelia, takes her audience on a journey through two worlds, one of dark fantasy and one of harsh reality that even adults have trouble digesting. In both realms she is a true heroine and rekindles the brave and uninhibited child in all of us. The characters in this film are like nothing I’ve ever seen before, brilliantly imaginative and at times terrifying.

Though I am a shameless Leonardo DiCaprio groupie I was delighted to see Forest Whitaker take away the statuette for Best Actor. He played the ruthless Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, in The Last King of Scotland (a role far from Whitaker’s normally modest and soft spoken personality). This film struck a personal chord with me being that my family is from Uganda and were products of Amin’s tyranny. Whitaker not only acquired the regional Ugandan accent with perfection, he also captured the childish and random manor in which Amin ruled, down to the sporadic twitches and severe mood swings. However, I feel the film itself lacked focus on the South Asian residents who played a significant role in Uganda’s prosperity at the time (but that’s discussion for another post).

I am a devoted Scorsese follower and watch his films with an analytical eye, identifying his trademark moves and admiring his unique story telling techniques. His portrayal of underworld violence and alternative American culture has revolutionized cinema and is quite possibly the reason I decided to major in film. So knowing that he has been nominated six times for Best Director and never received an Oscar, kept me on edge throughout the ceremony (he has been passed for such amazing films as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver). I literally leaped out of my seat and let out a loud whoop when they announced his name, “…and the goes to, Martin Scorsese!” Baffled and obviously overwhelmed, little ol’ Marty and his caterpillar eyebrows stepped up on stage, held that golden statue in his hands and in his usual awkward humor asked, “can you double check that envelop?” The audience roared with applause and after 30 years of directorial genius Marty gave his first ever Academy Award acceptance speech. My eyes actually welled up. At this point I was on a high and even if The Departed didn’t receive Best Picture, justice was served. A piece of me wanted Little Miss Sunshine to win, a low budget comedy about a dysfunctional family on the way to a child’s beauty pageant. But when they announced The Departed for Best Picture I couldn’t have been happier. The ensemble for this film was absolutely superb. Nicholson, DiCaprio, Damon, Whalberg and even Alec Baldwin drove this gritty modern day Irish mob film and turned it into a masterpiece. Originally adapted from the Japanese film Infernal Affairs (also worth checking out), The Departed creates an intricate web of deceit, mistaken identity, questionable loyalty, reinventing the relationship between good and evil (definitely going down as one of my all time favorites).

Party at 9:30!

This Friday night fellow P.G. County residents, The Dance Party, will grace the stage of the legendary 9:30 Club. This is the zenith of DC's music scene, people. To perform at the 9:30 Club is like an initiation into rock stardom. Acclaimed musicians such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Go-Gos and Justin Timberlake have all made history after performing at DC's premiere music venue. So whereever you are, take a trip to The District this Friday night and come support the band.

Lemme tell ya, they're not called The Dance Party for nothin. Make it out and you will not be disappointed. Then, when The Dance Party hit it big time you can say you saw them way back when, at the 9:30 Club.

Official after-party at Chief Ike's in Adams Morgan! It's being thrown by the bloggers at diminished 7th (http://diminished7.evasource.net/). Bring your ticket stubs to get in for free. Cheap drinks!

Friday, February, 23 2007
9:30 Club is at 815 V St. NW, WASHINGTON, Washington DC 20001
Cost : $10
The Dance Party goes on at 9:30pm

For tickets go to www.930.com
Check the band out at www.thedanceparty.net
Listen to their music at www.myspace.com/thedanceparty

The Burden of Passion

"Most human beings today waste some 25 to 30 years of their lives before they break through the actual and conventional lies which surround them."

Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)

For over twenty years I watched my father drive to the same job, day after day, until he returned home at 11:15 pm. I would wait up for him to fit in 30-60 minutes of face time. He was not happy. If he could have been anywhere, doing anything, it would have been cooking or inhaling the outdoors. I watched my father get burnt out, imminently tired, stained with a perpetual frown. Though I would point this out to him, he never saw any way around it, “I have to make money to support the family, send you to school, pay bills.” He worked to live and lived to work. He retired a year ago and has been traveling and enjoying his freedom since. He claims now, after 40 years of working, is his chance for true happiness. We are alike in many ways, my Father and I, but not in this case. I could never wait.

When I told my father I was going to major in Film and English after High School graduation his eyes narrowed and jaw tightened. He didn’t have to say anything, I knew what he was thinking—just by being his daughter, ‘we become doctors, engineers, businessmen. Why do you have to be different? Why can’t you just choose one of those professions?!’ As a first-generation South Asian woman, I was up against centuries of educational building blocks and a sea of judgment.

The first and most predictable argument is money, “How will you support yourself?” Most parents, especially those not native to America, relentlessly push security and consistency. Literature, film and dance; none of which are in-line with those standards, just happen to be my passions. Society has conned us into believing they are phases for the “dreamers” and the less scholarly. Somewhere, somehow, I gained the perspective that if you love something enough it will transpire into something beneficial, regardless of how unconventional it is.

In time I was able to prove myself, I won my Father’s support and today, I produce documentaries for major networks. Not exactly my 14-year-old, wide-eyed fantasy, but I am certainly on the fruitful path to bigger dreams.

I truly believe we are each blessed with a gift that translates into our passions, and it's up to us to share that gift. Someone recently told me that this gift is a burden, which is the obligation to exercise it and not abuse or denigrate it. I like to think I’m still discovering this gift of mine and perhaps, along the way, I can create something that will touch or influence you in a bigger way, and that makes me a happy girl.