Sundance 2012: Common LUV

Filmmaker Sheldon Candis details his film LUV, which is premiering at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Starring Common, the film is about an orphaned 11 year old and his revered uncle, who isn’t as heroic as he thought. Watch as Candis describes the filmmaking process for this “new genre” he’s created, the driller (part drama, part thriller).

 

Jaiden’s Yummy Melody

If you have been on the sofa with me for a while, you know I am a fan of Jaiden “The Cure.” The very first time I heard him sing, at The DEN in Harlem, I was like… who is the guy and why haven’t I heard of him before? A quick Google search and I found out why I didn’t know him – he had been busy singing background vocals for some of the biggest names in the industry. But that voice, smooth as a baby’s ass, draws you in and makes you want to hear more. Couple that with the fact that Jaiden writes most of his own material and you have the makings of a star waiting to happen. With this week’s release of the video for “Melody,” his catchy-as-hell love song with songstress Yummy Bingham, he gets one step closer.

The video features two lovers, working their way through New York City as they make their way to each other. Along the way, Jaiden runs into other up and coming singer/songwriters Sean Fair and Charles Perry and Yummy shares a hug with that diva KimberlyNichole. I love the support their peers are showing them by being in the video and the reciprocal support they are showing by asking them to be in the video in the first place. It’s a small, tight-knit community; things like that just make sense. In any event, the video is charming and the song, stuck in my head.

As I was listening to the song, I immediately hit Jaiden up on twitter to see if he writes all of his own stuff. I assumed the answer was yes and of course he did write “Melody.”  My response to that is that Ne-Yo needs to satdown; Jaiden’s got this. Honestly, he’s telling a story – a good one at that – and I wanted to hear what happened next. And let’s be honest: a good song stems from good lyrics. And “Melody,” my friends, has good lyrics. Enjoy the video below, and if you don’t have Shades of Grey: The Cure Suite II, Jaiden’s free mixtape from which this song comes, then go download it. I said it was free.

Obama Sings Al Green

Reason #458,652,560,871,234 to love President Obama.

Cougar Town is BACK!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ABC announced this afternoon that the ridiculously over-delayed third season of Cougar Town has finally gotten a premiere date! If I sound excited that’s because I am. Cougar Town has been woefully under-appreciated by the network, despite having a legion of adoring fans. The date? Tuesday, February 14th is the magic date. Thanks, ABC, for the Valentine.

As you may/may not know, ABC bumped the season order down from 22 to 15 (booo!!!) in an ignorant financial inexplicable move. Who knows? No one has been able to intelligently explain the situation. All is not forgotten, but we can temporarily forgive. Thanks to the folks at TV Line, here’s the poster art:

The Walking Dead: First Look

A new clip touting the return of the second half of season two of The Walking Dead. Who are those guys?

SouthLAnd Season 4: Behind the Scenes

Mark your calendars, people. TNT’s SouthLAnd premiers season 4 this Tuesday (January 17) night in the way too overpopulated 10PM time slot (airing against the equally well-acted, well-written, well-produced, but woefully under-watched, under-appreciated, under-trophy-awarded Parenthood and Justified). No DVR can handle that pile-up. Especially if you’re also a fan of Private Practice, which is moving to the same time come April. In any event, fans will be happy to see their favorite characters back in action.

The extremely talented (where’s his Golden Globe nomination?) Michael Cudlitz (Officer John Cooper) is back on the job, paired with new cast addition Lucy Lui. His former protege, Officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) is now working with Detective Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) and Detective Lydia Adams (the ridiculously gifted Regina King – where’s her Golden Globe nomination?) is partnered with newcomer Dorian Missick. With all these new groupings, we’re certain to see character development over the ten-episode season.

Below, a preview/behind-the-scenes look at the new season.

Awkward Black Girl: Finally, The Finale

And here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the first season finale of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. Coming in at 25 minutes and 9 seconds, this is, hands down, the most ambitious episode the team has put together. And I can happily say, they did it! The production value has really taken off since they got that influx of Kickstarter money. After a full year’s worth of hard work, sweat, tears and probably several curse words,  Issa Rae, Tracy Oliver and the whole cast, crew and team, have pulled together a collection of episodes that have sparked the interest of a nation. Well, maybe not the whole nation, but the Awkward Nation has fallen in love with J, Fred, White Jay, CeCe, Nina, Baby Voice Darius, Boss Lady and Germy Patti.

The night started out slowly, as twitter was abuzz with fans patiently – and not so patiently – awaiting the latest installment. As the official twitter feed clarified, it takes longer to upload a thirty-minute episode than the short-form versions ABG is used to. Luckily, they kept us entertained and the Awkward Nation pulled it together, cracking jokes, posting videos, all sorts of things on the ABG Facebook page. It was refreshing to see such love and support. There were a few knuckleheads but you know ignant folks invade every party; that’s just the way it is. Luckily the ABG crew had it together – Issa even took the time to send a quick thank you for my “relax. relate. release” message (and birthday wishes). Please join me in wishing our favorite Awkward Black Girl a happy and joyous birthday. I went to bed at 4AM, with no episode up. Woke up at 8AM and still no show. Around midday, the episode finally went live. That’s the nature of the game.  It’s okay.

My notes (No spoilers): “Dead people are so boring.” – J. They have a commercial break! White Jay raps. Childish Gambino makes an appearance. Which, for the record, is so apropos. Other than that, I’m not telling what happened. Watch it yourself.

ABC Moves Private Practice, Still No Cougar Town

ABC‘s Private Practice is moving to Tuesdays to face off against NBC‘s Parenthood.

At the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour on Tuesday morning, ABC president Paul Lee made the announcement, along with several others. I’m unsure of how I feel about this joker, but here’s what he had to say:

• The Shonda Rhimes-produced Scandal (starring Kerry Washington and Columbus Short) will debut in the post-Grey’s Anatomy slot (currently held by Private Practice) on April 5. That will bump Practice to Tuesdays at 10, airing against my beloved Parenthood.
• Shockingly, there is still no date set for the return of the third season of Cougar Town. Make no mistake, that was sarcasm; I am not impressed. Nor should anyone who appreciates good TV. It’s interesting; the Cougar Town fanbase seems to be fairly large and extremely vocal. And yet… quite possibly the worst sitcom ever, Work It, not only made it through the system but is currently airing.
• There is potential good news for Cougar Town fans in that Lee hinted – hinted, not to be confused with saying – that there might be room for a second comedy night on ABC that would combine Cougar Town with Happy Endings (which makes sense). Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 (cleaned up to become Apartment 23) would be a part of this alleged comedy night. I say throw in Suburgatory and have a night of witty comedies (if Bitch ends up being as good as the pilot suggest).
• Lee had nothing to say about the fate of Grey’s Anatomy‘s original cast (all of whom have contracts up for renewal). Nor did he have anything to say about the fate of General Hospital (with Katie Couric breathing down their neck).
• Pan Am isn’t officially cancelled, which is a good thing; I kinda like the show. But we’ll see. Ratings have continually dropped with each episode. Of course, when people hear that a show isn’t going to be around much longer, there’s generally less interest in showing up at the allotted time.

And that was about all he said that was interesting. What do you think? Looking forward to Scandal? Would you watch the comedy block I suggested?

Are you following me on Twitter? If not, what’s stopping you? Get on it. @josephrileyland

Fringe: What’s Next?

Continuing their summertime series, Fringe: Past + Present + Future, there’s a new primer out for season 4 of the beloved, yet under-watched sci-fi drama.This one, narrated by John Noble (Walter, Walternate), clarifies everything you need to know to be ready for the January 13th return. Check the first video to see what has happened. The second is a preview of what’s to come.

 

 

 

 

KimberlyNichole Tells Us What’s Up

I’m a few days late with it, but if you don’t already own KimberlyNichole’s free cover of 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” then you are in for a true aural treat today. If you don’t know KimNicky, all I can say is go check her name though out my site. Or just do a quick Google search; the girl is a star on the rise and it makes sense to get aboard now so you can say you were a fan from the beginning.

“What’s Up?” marks the third single from her slowly-released covers collection, The Rock Ballerina EP. Other releases include The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and Nirvana’s “Lithium.”