Post Spirit Awards

Posted on February 27, 2011 by yarnspinnerpress
Sunday, and days behind on comments. If I don’t catch up now, I won’t remember it all. Well, first, there were the Spirit Awards. I think the general consensus is if we were going to sit all afternoon in that damn tent freezing our tushes, we shoulda won more. The other consensus is that if we were going to take just two, we would have chosen exactly those two, because they were so very well deserved and had not gotten nearly enough recognition before now.
And as a tacky aside, if we were going to lose out, it would have felt better to have lost to a film whose corporate sponsors Hadn’t spent $5 mil on Oscar promotion alone. But that’s just me.
As for the Spirits, the tradition has long been a giant tent (picture those behemoths they use for horse show arenas where we live), but on the beach. This year, they hadn’t figured on temps in the 40s and 20+ mph winds. All those little heaters along the sides were well-intentioned, but didn’t make a dent in trying to counter thin but elegant clothing and obligatory flesh-baring.
Enough grousing. It’s all rarified air, and a privilege to be included. The Granik-Scheuers head on to the Oscars today for the final round (and where the real money talks — and I guess I’m still grousing. Sorry).
The real pleasure in this whole West Coast effort has been the gathering of this little tribe of filmmakers, and the joyful creativity that sparks between them at every encounter. Last night we assembled with about 40 folks that have been associated in one way or another with this brave little film, at a Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica where the food and atmosphere had to compete with the sheer delight of all of us coming together. There were no losers. Thanks to Sarah for her long-distance handling of the details of this gathering, even as she puts the finishing touches on the local gathering of the homefolks.
At last report, the Woodrells will walk the red carpet, and I probably won’t. Yesterday’s experience taught me that these kinds of things are generally better on Television. There’ll be a smaller party tonight in Marina Del Rey, with a big TV and good company, and we’ll hold the good thought, along with our friends.
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Two Spirit Awards

Posted on February 27, 2011 by yarnspinnerpress

Can anybody say Woo Hooo!?

… and a great write-up. Read it here from wbur.org.

“”Who would’ve thought?” she marvels. “Sixty-seven years old and I’m in a brand-new career, and going to Italy, Austin, Texas, and New York. It’s not anything at all I expected.””. Read the rest here.

poster via;moonmooring

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Wednesday in LA

Posted on February 24, 2011 by yarnspinnerpress
Spent yesterday trying to get emails answered, CDs ordered and student assignment posts to work. It was a workday for Robin, and the “New York Posse” of Winter’s Bone folks spent yesterday entertaining young Hannah while mom Debra went on interviews and photo shoots. Today we’d barely gotten toast and coffee out of the way before Jonathan invited us down to join them at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market. We opted instead for a lunch of Seafood Louie and grilled artichokes at the Malibu pier before catching up with them as they finished up at the market. Robin left me to go visit friends nearby, and we puttered down to the beach to see Marian Davies’ beach house, but it was closed. So we walked down the beach and back up to get my toes in the ocean (I’m all better now) and then on to the condo for supper with Jonathan, Tory, Brenda and Mo (Debra’s folks), Hannah, Phinjo and Keith. Spent the evening over good food, fruit for dessert and a wide-ranging free-for-all with politics, education and Wall Street as the main points of dis/agreement. Didn’t solve a damn thing, but it was good exercise. Then Tory and Jonathan drove me back to Thousand Oakes, which is a looong way from Marina Del Rey. And a good day was had by all. More to come. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the Roadside party. They’re our distributor and have promised a good time. But first we’re going to the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Find it here on-line:  www.mjt.org or wait and I’ll tell you about it.
Still don’t have a confirmed ticket to the Oscars but the prospects are looking brighter. Stay tuned.
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From a woman who lived it

Posted on February 24, 2011 by yarnspinnerpress

This review of Winter’s Bone isn’t flattering, but the comment at the end tells a much bigger real story that makes Winter’s Bone even more real.

February 16, 2011 – 4:21pm

I was born in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Watching this movie was, in many ways, like watching a story of many members of my family. Deep Generational poverty, wrapped in feuds over things that may have happened many many years before. Women who are there to serve the men, while still maintaining some kind of matriarchy. And drugs. And people having babies at 15, because everyone does it and school just isn’t that important when you are hunting squirrels to eat.

As such, it was raw. And I mean the kind of raw of chapped and bleeding lips.

It is also beautiful. Beautiful because some of us DO make it out, away, or through that background stronger, more powerful than our uncles or cousins imagined.

From a cinematography standpoint, the director got the look, sound and feel of the Appalachia perfect. The actors are also pitch perfect – some even looked like the men and women in my family.

It is not an easy movie to watch. I sobbed through the final parts, in fact. I mean SOBBED.

However, it tells a story of an America that is invisible or frequently mocked ( I can not tell you how many hillbilly jokes I have had to endure after telling people I was born in West Virginia). This story Americans living now is told in a quiet and intensely moving way.

Dawn Rouse

Writer, Thinker, Nap-Taker and almost Doctor of Education

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A California Monday

Posted on February 23, 2011 by yarnspinnerpress
Monday in California, and still enthralled by the extraordinary beauty of the place. Went for a drive yesterday in the northern valleys of Ventura county and spent a good hour trying to re-identify what I was looking at, flora-wise. Orchards of oranges, loads of lemon trees, and an abundance of avocados. Makes me almost like avocados again. Almost.
Somewhere along the way we stopped at a fruit and vegetable stand where virtually everything in the place is grown locally. We got lemons, satsuma tangerines, some avocado honey (really) and watched pygmy goats and alpacas endure small tourist attentions. The real news about this place, though, is that the list on the little slate board tacked next to the register, headed “Grown here” listed 22 items. Beautiful lettuces, Napa cabbage, beets of three kinds, obviously just harvested, with greens attached. Tomatoes. Carrots. And strawberries, just picked. Almost overwhelming. We had to buy and eat several things, including a restorative taste of cherimoya, the Central American relative of the pawpaw, often called Custard Apple. Oddly, I’d eaten my first whole pawpaw last summer, courtesy of a fellow who attended a community engagement meeting on the National Heritage Area feasibility study. Now I’m patiently awaiting the one we purchased to become perfectly ripe, probably sometime tomorrow. Those of you who know how passionate I can get about fresh and local food realize by now that I’ve managed to get to heaven without actually having to die. Rabid foodie, me. I confess. Be nice to me and I’ll share my artichokes.
Posted in Oscar Adventure, Winter's Bone | 4 Comments

Remember the local Oscar Watch party in West Plains

Posted on February 22, 2011 by yarnspinnerpress

Sunday, February 27 · 5:00pm – 11 pm

Ozark Community Event Center,

1386 Bill Virdon Blvd., West Plains, MO

417-255-1000

The action starts at 5 PM on February 27, 2011. This event is a fundraiser, with donations split between the local CASA ( court appointed special advocates), and the WPCA with funds designated to the National Heritage Area feasibility study.

silent auction
popcorn and cold drinks
raffle
food and desserts
music, Winter’s Bone players
Oscar Presentation on a big screen TV
cash bar, beer and wine
red carpet
lots of great company!

voluntary door donation: proceeds to
CASA (court appointed special advocates)
WPCA (West Plains Council of the Arts), National Heritage Area feasibility study

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Note to listeners of exotic music

Posted on February 22, 2011 by yarnspinnerpress

Tedi, Ralph and Rick are to play at the Key Club in West Hollywood, Thursday night.

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