There's No Place Like Home.

Week #11: Required Reading

Transcript: Bill Moyers interviews Richard Rodriguez

I gleaned a number of delectable morsels from this book, allow me to share a few with you...

• MABEL MERCER 
• "A few weeks ago, in the newspaper (another day in the multicultural nation), a small iten: Riot in a Southern California high school.  Hispanic students protest, then smash windows, because African-American students get four weeks for black history month, whereas Hispanics get one.  The more interesting protest would be for Hispanics students to demand to be included in Black History Month.  The more interesting remedy would be for Hispanic History Week to include African History." - Richard Rodriquez
• Black + White = Mutual Vanity
• The call of nature is brown, even in five-star hotels. - Richard Rodriguez
• The White Negro
• The Sermon on The Mount

The mud we make...

Week #11: Natural Toothpaste | Peppermint

Week #11: Wednesday

Inspired by the film focus of my host and the directive of a Facebook posting, I finally took advantage of an opportunity to catch a screening of Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett.  Highly recommended.  

Then, at the invitation of my host, I attended "Conversations with Leonard Lopate and DCTV's PRO-TV Filmmakers".  Johnny is an educator at DCTV and all of the young filmmakers featured during this radio program have been his students.

The Skin I'm In from DCTV on Vimeo.


Reflections of Thailand from DCTV on Vimeo.


Dependent from DCTV on Vimeo.


El Mariachi Infante from DCTV on Vimeo.



THIS BITTER EARTH

This bitter earth | What fruit it bears | What good is love | That no one shares | And if my life is like the dust | That hides the glow of a rose | What good am I | Heaven only knows

This bitter Earth | Can it be so cold | Today you're young | Too soon your old | But while a voice | Within me cries | I'm sure someone | May answer my call | And this bitter earth | May not be so bitter after all

Filmheads

Both Johnny and his roommate Zak are filmmakers and, as a consequence, EXTREME cinema aficionados.  As we enjoyed our first meal together, I quizzed them about their favorites.  So, in no particular order...

JOHNNY'S PICK of THE FLICKS

The Magnificent Ambersons | Red Dessert | The Double of Veronique | Strangers In Paradise | Marni | Nashville | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore | Being There | Interiors | 400 Blows | Father | Five Easy Pieces | God's Stepchildren | Vagabond Nomad | Mondo

ZAK'S PICK of THE FLICKS

Being There | Harold & Maude | Magnolia | This Sporting Life | The Royal Tenenbaums | Rosemary's Baby | Silence of The Lambs | The Missing | Limbo | Boogie Nights | Network | Whale Rider | Shadow of a Doubt | Strangers on a Train | The Birds | City of Hope

Melodrama: A dramatic work which exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions.

Week #11: Johnny Ramos

My host for Week #11, Johnny Ramos, is the friend and colleague of Michael Paul Britto (Week #6) and it's already been a pleasure!  A photographer and filmmaker, Johnny's home is a spacious two bedroom in Crown Heights that he shares with a roommate he's known since college (Zak).  We all shared our first meal together (handmade ravioli from Little Italy, tossed salad, french bread toast and whiskey gingers) as I probed these two filmmakers for their  top movie picks...

 

I've been noticing that many of my hosts are tenders of altars (thanks for alerting me to this phenomenon, Legacy).  For some, this practice is entirely intentional, for others it's an outgrowth of personal documentation and casual collection.  Peeping Johnny's space, I was struck by the repeating motif of... chickens, roosters in particular.  Curious, I asked the deal and he schooled me on a cultural marker: Puerto Ricans like Chickens.  It's too wonderful to be real, but the perception actually exists! So much so, that Johnny routinely receives poultry figurines as gifts.  It even sounds good together- PUERTO RICANS LIKE CHICKENS (now say that 3 times, fast :->)




"You keep saying age is just a number, but that's like saying jail is just a room!" - Emily Q. Lu, Age 18

NASHVILLE

For our final 'Inflatable' evening together, Tom and I watched Nashville as we polished off a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.  Long familiar with the film's poster, this was my first viewing- I may have to add Robert Altman films to my NetFlix cue...  On a related note- I was reminded of one of my celebrity crushes: Lily Tomlin.  

Lemon yellow satin panties.