Oakland’s Hollywood moment: films glisten light on city’s ‘grit and beauty’

August 3, 2018August 3, 2018 California, culture, Film, Oakland0 comment

Movies like Sorry to Bother You and Blindspotting, set in the city and made by local directors, have brought global attention to a hub of arts and activism The film-maker Nijla Mu’min’s debut movie was based on her upbringing as a black Muslim girl in Oakland, California. Although Jinn was inspired by their own lives, she had to go to Los Angeles, 350 miles south of her hometown, to shoot it. Mu’min said there wasn’t enough industry support to attain filming in Oakland financially sustainable. But now that’s changing. The…

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Oakland’s Hollywood moment: films glisten light on city’s ‘grit and beauty’

July 31, 2018July 30, 2018 California, culture, Film, Oakland0 comment

Movies like Sorry to Bother You and Blindspotting, set in the city and made by local directors, have brought global attention to a hub of art and activism The film-maker Nijla Mu’min’s debut movie was based on her upbringing as a black Muslim girl in Oakland, California. Although Jinn was inspired by their own lives, she had to go to Los Angeles, 350 miles south of her hometown, to shoot it. Mu’min said there wasn’t enough industry support to stimulate filming in Oakland financially sustainable. But now that’s changing. The…

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In Defense of the Vegan Hot Dog

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018 Cooking and Recipes, culture, Food and drink, Grilling0 comment

The Fourth of July is a holiday consecrated in meat smoke. On this day, lovers, neighbors, children, and friends gather around a BBQ, cold brews sweating in hand, to stare into piles of pork belly, strip steak, burger patties, and row after row of red hot dogs. We watch the embers char the flesh as we discuss the misfortunes and triumphs of our United States. It is my favorite holiday. I love the hot of it, the fact that it doesn’t revolve around gifts or religious beliefs( unless you consider…

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Pimp my bike: Detroit’s custom cycles- in pictures

July 8, 2018July 8, 2018 Art and design, Cities, culture, Cycling, Detroit, Life and style, Photography, US news, World news0 comment

We take rusty old junk and we set love into it. The old Motor City has a unique style in bicycles these days: from fat wheels and fake fuel tanks to stretched cycles with powerful sound systems and even a family-sized BBQ Read more: www.theguardian.com

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Katy Perry says she tried to ‘pray the homosexual away’ as an adolescent

July 7, 2018July 7, 2018 culture, Katy Perry, LGBT rights, music, World news0 comment

Singer made an emotional speech while accepting the National Equality Award at the 2017 Human Right Campaign Gala Katy Perry has opened up about her Christian upbringing and being taught to pray the lesbian away at Jesus camps while accepting an award for LGBT rights advocacy. The 32 -year-old pop star made an emotional speech while accepting the National Equality Award at the 2017 Human Right Campaign Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Perry referred to her breakout hitting single, I Kissed a Girl, in describing herself as merely…

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Reba McEntire is your new Colonel Sanders, and perhaps 2018 won’t be so bad.

June 7, 2018June 6, 2018 culture0 comment

Fast food fried chicken juggernaut KFC has cast a new performer to play Colonel Sanders: Reba McEntire. Yeah, this Reba McEntire. Photo by Charley Gallay/ Getty Images for Celebrity Fight Night. Only for this role, she appears a little more like this. Image via KFC/ YouTube. McEntire donned the signature white suit and string tie to perform a tongue in cheek song as everyone’s second, favorite fried chicken purveyor.( I’m an Annie from Popeye’s stan , now and forever .) “I’m Colonel Sanders, the same as always, ” she sings…

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Barclay Crenshaw built an empire from nothing. Is he the next unlikely hip-hop star?

May 28, 2018May 28, 2018 culture, Electronic music, Hip-hop, music0 comment

Claude VonStroke came from obscurity to win Best DJ over the Chainsmokers. Can he pull off the same trick in a new genre with a new stage name? Blood is running down a guys arm. He shoves his way across the terrace of the Airliner in Los Angeles, a soggy cocktail napkin blooming red under his nose, and bumps into a girl bending over the ridge with a cigarette dangling off her lip. Another daughter hands out Jell-O shots to her friends. There are always too many people at Low…

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Barclay Crenshaw built an empire from nothing. Is he the next unlikely hip-hop superstar?

May 16, 2018May 15, 2018 culture, Electronic music, Hip-hop, music0 comment

Claude VonStroke came from obscurity to win Best DJ over the Chainsmokers. Can he pull off the same trick in a new genre with a new stage name? Blood is running down a guys arm. He shoves his way across the terrace of the Airliner in Los Angeles, a soggy cocktail napkin blooming red under his nose, and bumps into a girl bending over the ledge with a cigarette dangling off her lip. Another girl hands out Jell-O shots to her friends. There are always too many people at Low…

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Q& A: SXSW 2016 ‘s must-see music acts introduce themselves

May 9, 2018May 9, 2018 culture, Indie, music, SXSW 20160 comment

Festivals most buzzed-about acts took the Guardian questionnaire and disclose sounds that resemble a fast-paced Cure album sung altogether in Hebrew and more Rome Fortune Rome Fortune at Coachella last year. Photo: BFAnyc.com/ Rex Shutterstock Who are you ? Im Rome Fortune, a producer and vocalist. Where are you from ? Decatur, Georgia. What do you sound like ? Music espousing its evolution. What do you sing/ rap about ? My life, my children, my aspirations, females, inspiring people. Whats your seem ? The Fifth Element satisfies Leon: The Professional.…

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What we learned from the Golden Globes: Meryl Streep always wins and Ryan Gosling never fails

April 22, 2018 Amy Poehler, Awards and prizes, Beasts of No Nation, culture, donald-trump, Eva Mendes, Film, Golden Globes, Golden Globes 2017, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, John Lithgow, Kristen Wiig, La La Land, Meryl Streep, Moonlight, netflix, Oscars 2017, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Television, Television & radio, The Crown, The Night Manager, Tina Fey, Tom Hiddleston0 comment

The curtain has fallen on this years rite and heres our key takeaways, including the best anti-Trump speech, the wittiest mention of syphilis and what it all means for next months Oscars Theres no stopping La La Land, the post-truth underdog Right from the start, which ensure Jimmy Fallons opening skit wholly devoted to a spoof of La La Land, it was obvious Damien Chazelles hymn to Hollywood had converted the 90 -odd members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association men and women who had left their homelands to travel…