According to Wikipedia, on August 30, 2006, Pharrell Williams himself said on BET that the new song he’d produced would not only show off his gangsta side, but also tackle the issue of racial conflict in Los Angeles between African Americans and Hispanics and call for racial unity.

The song he was talking about was “Vato,” by Snoop Dogg featuring B-Real (the guy with the nasally voice from Cypress Hill) as the voice of the Hispanic community. Observe and enjoy.

Does the song deliver? The answer, right here –

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This started as a comment in a thread, but now it’s a FULL-BLOWN CONTEST.

There are not enough good roles out there for women.

Women who get shit done and are good characters to boot — more than just lycra-clad eye candy with a miscellaneous set of super-assassin skills or whatever.

So, we can talk about it (which is sometimes a good read), or we can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Here’s the challenge — to everyone — women and men alike. Write an action movie with good female parts in it.

If you win, we will MAKE IT.

Continue reading for rules and more information…

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I present to you as a special peek into my other projects (most of which revolve around a very cool theatre in Greater Boston), an entry into the Providence, Rhode Island 48 hour film project, Monday the 13th, by Nature’s Credit Card Productions (a new team we put together earlier this year). You can watch other 48 hour films at www.48.tv.

Our movie was selected for Best of Providence and won the Audience Award at the Best of Providence showing as well as the “Best Rhose Island movie” for its references and jokes about Providence and the area, which they like to encourage.

To keep you honest, every team in the city gets the same prop, character and line of dialog, and each team picks a genre out of a hat. For us, it was:

Character — A hairdresser named Monty Chaney

Line — “If you see him again, tell me.”

Prop — A pear

Our genre — Horror

Enjoy!

Don’t know what the 48 hour film project is and want to find out? Already know what it is and want to talk about it? Just want to bash my movie? DO SO . . . after the jump –

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It’s Saturday. Keep your PJs on, grab a bowl of sugary cereal, plop yourself on the floor 9 inches from the TV, and commence mouthbreathing. [via Big Contrarian]

As much as I’d like to, I can’t take credit for the nitpicky complaint that follows - it was pointed out to me years ago by an old co-worker of mine named Jory. And now it seems so glaringly obvious I can’t believe no one making Pirates of the Caribbean noticed.

Specifically, I’m talking about the climactic duel in the first film between Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Here’s the setup: Barbossa and Sparrow are both cursed, and neither can be killed or even injured until the Aztec gold is returned to its chest, along with the blood of the person who took it. There are two pieces of gold still missing: one taken by Will Turner’s father (currently turning into a crustacean on the Flying Dutchman, so Orlando Bloom’s blood will do the trick), and one taken by Jack Sparrow right before the swashbuckling broke out.

Let’s see what unfolds, shall we? Video after the jump. more »

“Da Game is to be told, not to be sold.”
— Snoop Dogg, 14th Annual Conference
on Hip Hop Securitization

In 2003, I identified what I believed to be a speculative bubble for bling bling — the shine, the scrilla, the ostentatious displays of wealth that reinforced and promoted hip hop record sales.

At its heart, the Bling Bubble was a case of overleveraging; even the Ruffest of Ryders and Biggest of Tymers found themselves deep in debt, but still pulling out all the stops, even as record gas prices force them to keep only a quarter tank of gas in their new E-class —

The global Cash Money crisis begins, after the jump —

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This one was inspired by the five Trapped in the Closet episodes all at once. I started thinking about other pieces of video that shared a soundtrack, and could potentially be synced up. So here you go - the closing montages to Love Actually and Boogie Nights. Take it away, Brian Wilson:

The first episode of Joss Whedon’s writers’ strike project, Dr. Horrible, goes live on teh interwebz tomorrow. Since one whiff of any Joss Whedon project is enough to turn most of the OTI bloggers into snarling, prosthetic-foreheaded vampires, consider this a pubic service announcement.

Trailer video and provocative resolution for discussion and debate after the jump. more »

So a while back, I complained about the relative lack of violence in the latest Indiana Jones film. Indy doesn’t shoot a single person. I blamed this on Lucus - the only person in the galaxy who believes that Star Wars is a better film when Greedo shoots first.

Anyway, I’ve edited together a little protest. Here’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, getting the Lucas “Special” Edition treatment:

By the way, a couple months ago, there was a very strange photo floating around the internet.

That’s George Lucas, on the set of Crystal Skull, wearing a “Han Shot First” t-shirt. This is basically the same as George Bush wearing a “No Blood For Oil” t-shirt. Does not compute.

Honestly, this seems in bad taste. (winky emoticon)