mnhtnbb
mnhtnbb's JournalAcademy Award for Documentary Short Film
On Netflix: All the Empty Rooms.
Steve Hartman documents four untouched bedrooms of children killed in school shootings since Columbine. The film is only 35 minutes long and tells a powerful story.
DU APRIL PHOTO CONTEST Announcement
Posting the link to the announcement which just went up in the Photography forum to give a heads up for those who don't check in to Photography on a regular basis.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036159866
***APRIL PHOTO CONTEST Announcement***
Recently I decided to make a short trip in April, so I want to get the April contest up and done before I go. With that in mind, I want to give everyone the theme (which I get to choose because my photo won the February contest) so there will be plenty of time to look through your archives.
The theme for the April contest will be DU Travels I'm going to put a restriction on it, that the photo you enter must have been taken on a trip at least 100 miles from your home. It can be any kind of shot: landmark, landscape, people, vehicle, event, daytime, nighttime. It should be one of what you consider to be your 'best' travel shots. Something really memorable from that trip. Many of us at DU have been fortunate to broaden our horizons because we have traveled. Share one of those travel experiences with us!
I will open the contest for Submissions on April 1 and hold it open until April 8, unless we fill all 30 slots prior to the 8th. Preliminaries will run from April 9-12 and Finals from April 12-15.
Any Outlander fans?
I came to the TV show only a couple of years ago. I was immediately grabbed by the story, the writing, the acting, the scenery, the production...and went on to read the books.
I became such a fan of Sam Heughan's portrayal of his character--James Alexander Malcom MacKenzie Fraser -- that I promised myself if he ever did return to his theatre roots, I'd go see him. I did--twice--see him in Macbeth last fall at the RSC in Stratford -upon-Avon.
If you're a fan, you are aware the final season 8 dropped streaming on STARZ at midnight EST last night. I stayed up to watch it and was sorely disappointed, primarily because of the Faith lived scenario.
If anyone else has been following the production/books, I'd be curious to know what you think.
Flashbang explosive device found at North Carolina early voting site, police say
About 150 yards from the polling site, police found the remnants of a flashbang, a small explosive device often used by law enforcement agencies to disperse crowds. Aberdeen police found a black cylinder with a pull tab that’s about six inches long and two inches wide, Blackburn said.
No one was injured during the event, and no property damage was located. Voters and poll workers said they believed the device was thrown from a moving vehicle traveling southbound on US 1, Blackburn said.
“We believe the poll was targeted,” Blackburn told WRAL, adding that the department has increased its presence at the polling site.
https://www.wral.com/news/nccapitol/flashbang-found-near-early-voting-site-aberdeen-moore-county-nc-feb-2026/
Moore County voted 64% Trump in 2024.
Anybody want to put odds this was some right wing shenanigans attempting to disrupt polls with the suggestion it was "libruls' who did it?
Cross posting from the African American forum: Harlem's African American Wax Museum Creator: Raven Chanticleer
(I am cross posting about Raven Chanticleer here because he was gay and the fact that his family did not approve of his "lifestyle" was the reason they destroyed the museum he created and much of his life's work after his death.) https://www.democraticunderground.com/118771452
If you lived in NY in the '80's or 90's, you may have heard or been familiar with the name/persona of Raven Chanticleer.
My youngest son holds a doctorate from Yale Drama and has been writing/producing/narrating a podcast https://www.artofcrimepodcast.com/ for several years. In a roundabout way (after producing a series about Madame Tussaud) he stumbled upon Raven Chanticleer, who was motivated to create Harlem's African American Wax Museum after a visit to Madame Tussaud's in London where he noticed there was not one single wax figure of an African American in the collection at the time.
My son writes:
For about the last year-and-a-half, I've been working on a side project titled Raven. It's about an unforgettable man with an unforgettable name: Raven Chanticleer. In 1989, Raven fulfilled a long-held dream of opening a wax museum devoted to Black history in Harlem. It garnered widespread attention in New York and abroad. When Raven died in 2002, his family gutted the museum and sold the property, destroying his life's work. For years, Raven's prized wax statues were thought to have been lost or destroyed. Plot twist: some of them miraculously survived. Part character study and part detective story, this miniseries looks at who Raven was, why the African American Wax Museum mattered, and what happened to the collection after its closure.
If you like what you hear, please follow the show on your preferred podcasting platform (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.) so you find out as soon as new episodes are out. Again, the podcast is called Raven, and it's linked to my name. (Gavin Whitehead)
Apple Podcasts has spotlighted the series on the homepage under New Shows
Harlem's African American Wax Museum Creator: Raven Chanticleer
If you lived in NY in the '80's or 90's, you may have heard or been familiar with the name/persona of Raven Chanticleer.
My youngest son holds a doctorate from Yale Drama and has been writing/producing/narrating a podcast https://www.artofcrimepodcast.com/ for several years. In a roundabout way (after producing a series about Madame Tussaud) he stumbled upon Raven Chanticleer, who was motivated to create Harlem's African American Wax Museum after a visit to Madame Tussaud's in London where he noticed there was not one single wax figure of an African American in the collection at the time.
My son writes:
For about the last year-and-a-half, I've been working on a side project titled Raven. It's about an unforgettable man with an unforgettable name: Raven Chanticleer. In 1989, Raven fulfilled a long-held dream of opening a wax museum devoted to Black history in Harlem. It garnered widespread attention in New York and abroad. When Raven died in 2002, his family gutted the museum and sold the property, destroying his life's work. For years, Raven's prized wax statues were thought to have been lost or destroyed. Plot twist: some of them miraculously survived. Part character study and part detective story, this miniseries looks at who Raven was, why the African American Wax Museum mattered, and what happened to the collection after its closure.
If you like what you hear, please follow the show on your preferred podcasting platform (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.) so you find out as soon as new episodes are out. Again, the podcast is called Raven, and it's linked to my name. (Gavin Whitehead)
Apple Podcasts has spotlighted the series on the homepage under New Shows
I'm posting this in recognition of Black History month.
USA Gold in Team Event Figure Skating
It was neck and neck with Team Japan. Fabulous performances.
WORDLE Feb 4 SPOILERS
Wordle 1,691 3/6
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜steal
🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜diner
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩chide
NY Times average 3.9 and Wordlebot in 5.
The Guardian reviews Melania documentary "with a face like a fist and a voice of sheet metal" LOL hilarious review
This mood of cosy conviviality extends all the way through the opening credits; at which point the chill descends and the novocaine kicks in, as the film’s star and executive producer proceeds to guide us – with agonising glacial slowness – through the preparations for her husband’s second presidential inauguration. She glides from the fashion fitting to the table setting, and from the “candlelit dinner” to the “starlight ball”, with a face like a fist and a voice of sheet metal. “Candlelight and black tie and my creative vision,” she says, as though listing the ingredients in a cauldron. “As first lady, children will always remain my priority,” she coos, and you can almost picture her coaxing them into her little gingerbread house.
No doubt there is a great documentary to be made about Melania Knauss, the ambitious model from out of Slovenia who married a New York real-estate mogul and then found herself cast in the role of a latter-day Eva Braun, but the horrific Melania emphatically isn’t it. It’s one of those rare, unicorn films that doesn’t have a single redeeming quality. I’m not even sure it qualifies as a documentary, exactly, so much as an elaborate piece of designer taxidermy, horribly overpriced and ice-cold to the touch and proffered like a medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.
It’s dispiriting, it’s deadly and it’s spectacularly unrevealing. Ratner’s film plays like a gilded trash remake of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest in which a button-eyed Cinderella points at gold baubles and designer dresses, cunningly distracting us while her husband and his cronies prepare to dismantle the Constitution and asset-strip the federal government. “White and gold – that’s so you,” purrs one of her lickspittles as she busies herself with the colour-scheme for the ball and the incoming first lady allows that yes indeed, this is true.
The full review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/30/melania-review-trump-film-is-a-gilded-trash-remake-of-the-zone-of-interest
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Gender: FemaleHometown: NYC
Home country: USA
Current location: Durham, NC
Member since: Sat May 7, 2005, 11:13 PM
Number of posts: 33,323