Seen, But Not Heard...: Web Stuff

Showing posts with label Web Stuff. Show all posts

8.10.2011

"Black Folk Don't..."

Shadow and Act tipped me off to a new web series called "Black Folk Don't..." Each episode finishes that phrase.

The first episode is "... Tip".

I really hate that stereotype, and I think that it tends to be more of a class thing then a race thing (but poor white people are invisible, so Black people have to take on the poor people burden). I grew up poor, but I had a friend who was a waitress and broke down the tipping thing to me when I finally had money to pay for my own meals at restaurants, and since then I hold pretty steady at 20%. Most of the young Black people who I've eaten out with tip about the same, but I've noticed having to compensate for older Black people when I go out and eat with them, so I wonder if it's also a generational thing. I also think the suggestion that it has to do with Black people not having gone to the same restaurants as white people until segregation ended is interesting. I wonder if waiters in Black restaurants back then had to live off it tips in the same way, or if they were just paid a fair hourly rate?

The second episode is "... Go to Therapy".

I'd agree that Black people do not go to therapy enough, though I wonder if this too, is a class thing that gets mixed up as a race thing. Poor people are expected to suffer in silence, and Black people especially have suffered for centuries with no mental aid, so it makes sense that a lot of Black people think that you should just be strong and go to church. I've been to therapy for depression, and I will probably go back before the year is out. I don't know if I will ever tell my mom this, because she'll probably just start looking for churches down here for me to go to or worse, start thinking that she should move down here. I think all people should go to therapy at some point in their lives, and if I ruled the world all poor neighborhoods would have free mental health care centers.

3.24.2011

Ill Doctrine - A History Lesson For Chris Brown

THIS.

3.08.2011

Popcorn Fiction.com: Better Than Hollywood

Ever since I was a child, I've read books as though they were movies in my head. Meaning, I cast them, imagine the cinematography, figure out which angle each shot would be at, line delivery for each actor, etc. About 6 months ago, I subscribed to Popcorn Fiction, a website that publishes short stories written by the site editor's fellow Hollywood screenwriters. Since a lot of the stories are written like movies (and are the proper length of a movie, unlike the novels that I usually have to turn into a cable miniseries or short-run TV show), my reading process is made much easier.

I think that without the pressure of trying to get a story turned into a movie, a lot of these writers have revamped their creative juices, because so many of these stores are the types of original ideas that I hope get turned into movies, instead of the refried crap that Hollywood has been churning out lately.

The most recent one, "DMT" by Leslie Bohem, is one of my favorites. I might love this one, "The Lacerations" by Nick Antosca, slightly more, however.