I would like to start this review with a bit of honesty – keeping it completely one hundred, as they say – I do not really understand the platform/content of the site I am about to review. Not all of it anyway. And more important, I don’t like some of it either. But what I do like, I love, and all of it is something that I appreciate and find refreshing. But I am getting ahead of myself, so let me start with the basics.

Creative Control is a website co-founded by music video directors Coodie and Chike, the creative minds behind Kanye West’s first video “Through the Wire” along with Erykah Badu’s controversial 2010 video “Window Seat.” The site is a part of the DD172’s portfolio, Damon Dash’s umbrella entertainment company.
The site itself is a network of sorts, consisting of music videos from independent artists-of-color along with online television shows and odd ends, videos that are neither music videos nor television show, but one-off content pieces that are distinctive regarding the subject. One considerably great find is a video showcasing a young Kanye West receiving a new Mercedes Benz jeep and asking the dealer about the Maybach before it hits the U.S. market. Irony is not dead. (For those of you completely out of the loop, he rides around in a deconstructed one with Jay-Z years later in the “Otis” music video off of the album, Watch the Throne.)
The site itself is visually disarming and beautiful. Occupied by mainly black and white video, the video stills are housed against a smooth white, expertly simplified visual interface making it easy to navigate and get lost in. The only thing more encompassing than the stills exhibited like a well-edited photo essay are the subjects that offer snippets of their life and art. Uniquely defiant, enthralling, young, extravagant in their presentation and openly experimental, the subjects are that new black. Or maybe that old black that hadn’t found its place in the stream of current culture or was escorted out of it? (You see Mobb Deep’s Prodigy promote his newest album in one of the Odds and Ends videos along with other familiar faces from the annals of hip hop and pop culture.)
What I love about the site is simple – it showcases black artists being artists. I don’t like some of the things on the site, because some of the work just does not appeal to me. But that is a taste issue. For example, there is a video with Chanel Iman titled “Chanel in Run a Way” that I find to be a limp attempt at art; reminiscent of a perfume commercial, pretty with low impact. I do love that it has a format where it can exist and I respect the bravery it takes to put it out there. But it isn’t really about anything, so I moved on next.
There are extreme highlights to the site as well. I stumbled onto the site after getting hooked on a series called “The Menthol Show,” which is co-produced by a friend. Hosted by Ren Jett, a graduate of FIT, the premise of the show is to have one assumed tastemaker introduce you to other tastemakers based in New York. Ren makes a natural and easy connection with each episode’s subject by starting off with the “Or” segment. “Or” serves in a place of a traditional teaser trailer, where Ren asks the subject to choose between two seemingly random things, such as Janet Jackson or Regina King. (She chooses Janet of course, but I have a soft spot for Regina because she is a brown actress that STAYS working.)
Another favorite is the “Gatekeepers,” which humanizes the men that sometimes won’t let you pass go at some of NYC’s hottest spots. Sam Sneed, and his friend The Chad, offer up hilarious stories and insights into the less than human condition of NYC party goers. Attractive and dapper, these men detail the serious dangers of their profession along with the human follies that come up when people dress to impress… and miss. In one show segment, they talk about women’s fashion faux pas and proper dress etiquette. In another video, they describe a man sniffing coke in the middle of a crowd and to be fair, scenes like that are what make living in a city – this city – great. The show is best when highlighting the crazy that exists on the sidewalks and pathways leading into the club. These stories, no matter how foul, make you want to be the gatekeepers.
And that is what I love about this site. Whether the content appeals to you or not, it compels you to invest more than a slight glance at the work being showcased (even if they only offer that much per video). You gorge on the views and appetites of each subject…perhaps envious of the artistically slanted and wonderfully rambunctious (you assume) lives that they must be leading; only to realize that there is no need. Not because their life and opinions are more beautiful than your own, but that they too are a work in progress.

Check it out: http://www.creativecontrol.tv/www/

Back to the original point of this article – I believe now is the era of the black video mixtape. Distribute to your homies!

First up is The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, a web series about an intelligent, witty, passive aggressive and self-described awkward girl that speaks my truth from the opening credits.

The series comedically articulates the inner monologue of a woman who is agonizingly meandering her way through her 20s, one painfully self-conscious moment after another. The show follows lead character, “J”, played by writer and director Issa Rae, as she endures some of the most fundamental aspects of any young adult’s lackluster life post-college. [SPOILER ALERT] My favorite episode is the fifth one, “The Dance,” where J attends the party of her at-work crush. The episode starts with her “bestie” at work needing to talk her into going to the party, and it ends with her crush kissing her at-work nemesis.

Now, I recognize the description may make the show seem cliché circa John Hughes, but what makes the series so good are J’s accurate internal observations. From her recognition of the competition among women layered into any party to her awkward grasps at interacting with people that she doesn’t know, this web-series is a comedy, but considering how accurately her insights zing home, it feels autobiographical (though I believe the biography is my own). The cinematography and production design is pretty basic, but from what I gather on her website, her work seems to be independent of any outside sponsors or donors. Also, as an independent comedy series on the web, the purpose of this show really isn’t about special effects or high-value visuals. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl is about the thoughtful and frequently hilarious representation of a young black woman in the world… if you like that sort of thing. And if you don’t, check out the first episode when J writes violent rap lyrics to help her get over a break-up with an ex-boyfriend; that was just good TV.

There is a new episode every month. Check it out and let me know what you think.

*To all of our readers, please note that I make reference to both A.O. Scott and Manhola Dargis, the two chief movie critics for the New York Times, as if we were friends. I have never met either, but I know I will eventually and they will be damn pleased.

“You know you done f*cked up, right?” When you can’t even get a cameo in a farce, you know you’ve gone too far. That means you’ve officially fallen off of the movie level. Oh, sure you have some straight-to-DVD drops coming in the next year or more, but you have definitely maxed out your A-list credit. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

We can’t even say you are a habitual line stepper, that would mean we grew accustomed to your outlandish behavior. From here, you might as well club baby seals, go whaling, become the Simon Cowell of a reality show, etc. Your comeback ante has just been upped to a daunting degree. Granted, I await what PR miracle your team cooks up for you to meander your way back into celebrity’s good graces but still you have major penance to make.

Maybe it was the gradual decline starting with Apocalypto. Maybe it was the anti-Semetic remarks. Maybe it was the male chauvinism. Maybe it was when you went Chris Brown on your jump off. Honestly, I’m not sure what the tipping point was, but you’re star-power needs some Viagra.

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Be one of those middle-aged guys on the medical ads. Perhaps you should start smaller, take a cue from David Hasselhoff and make a YouTube video that is just embarrassingly lovable enough that America gives you a pass. Trust me, there is a LOT that we will let slide if you entertain us. Ask Kanye West fans.

Sincerely,

Misses Pre Crazy Mel

Source: Mel Gibson dropped from The Hangover sequel

In a time where villains just aren’t respected anymore, something last week arose from the dust. Something incredibly sinister, something so vile, that you just had to respect it. There will never be another Jack Napier (if that’s even his name) projected on your screen again? Why? Because Heath Ledger nailed the role…on his first try. I mean it takes alot to outwit Jack Nicholson. And let’s give credit where credit is due. Nicholson nailed the Joker role in the first batman movie, but Ledger, pretty much took the gold in The Dark Knight. Don’t expect any future movies featuring the Joker because after you watch Heath’s stellar performance, you’ll never wanna see the intelligent D.C. comic book jester ever again.

What makes Ledger’s performance so great is his uncanny ability to portray to us a person who is truly and in every way, insane. No one was pardoned from the Joker’s wrath. And when I mean no one…I mean, no one. And for good reason. You see the Joker that Ledger showed us is the type of person that we all aspire to be. He was unmerciful, a prankster, and above all things, remarkably intelligent despite the scars on his face and the rundown purple suit. His undying passion, like all great revolutionaries, was to stimulate anarchy. *Warning: SPOILER ALERT!* Observe the following passage he recited to Harvey Dent after blowing up his soon to be wife and leaving Dent with half a mangled face.

“Do I really look like a man with a plan, Harvey? I don’t have a plan. The mob has plans, the cops have plans. You know what I am, Harvey? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do if I caught one. I just *do* things. I’m a wrench in the gears. I *hate* plans. Yours, theirs, everyone’s. Maroni has plans. Gordon has plans. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I am not a schemer. I show schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. So when I say that what happened to you and your girlfriend wasn’t personal, you know I’M telling the truth.
[hands Dent a gun]

It’s a schemer who put you where you are. You were a schemer. You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best-I took your plan and turned it on itself. Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple bullets. Nobody panics when the expected people get killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. But when I say one little old mayor will die, everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey? It’s fear.”

So umm, this is what I mean by intelligent. There is truly nothing more terrifying in the world than a wise prankster. Think about it. Ledger’s Joker broke down his madness throughout the entire movie. Nicholson’s never even gave us a chance. By the end of The Dark Knight, all you really wanted to do was admit yourself into mental facility or hang around psychologically warped individuals just to be cool. Because, and to quote him again:

“What does not kill you, makes you…stranger.”

I’m hooked. I wanna be strange. Rest in peace Heath Ledger.

“Bask in the Thugnificence!”

So I was going to save this bit of news, but for those of you who don’t know… The Boondocks Season 2 drops Tuesday. For those of you not up on The Boondocks, you are sooooooooo missing out. Consider your Black card in jeopardy. Fortunately for you, Season 1 is still scarcely available on DVD and the comic strip still runs in over 300 publications. Few series have captured the perspective of thinking brothas and sistas the way the Boondocks has. In fact, as The Boondocks set its cross-hairs on BET the network -once a bastion of Black programming- reportedly complained to Cartoon Network and Sony Pictures, which produces “The Boondocks”.

The result was two episodes particularly scathing to top BET executives, Debra Lee and Reginald Hudlin, being banned from U.S. airwaves. However, the two pulled episodes will make the season two DVDs. Spoiler alert: One in which a main character refuses to eat until BET is off the air and head executives commit seppuku. Another where a black man prejudiced against African-Americans gets his own show on BET.

According to an LA Times article, Cartoon Network initially resisted blocking the episodes, but when legal action was threatened the episodes were pulled. Supposedly, BET has no grudge against those responsible for the episodes says a BET spokesperson citing the networks own satirical content. Ironically, as the result of a professional partnership and eventual dissolution in 2005, Hudlin is also listed as an executive producer for “The Boondocks”.

As usual, the DVD’s commentary is anticipated to be well worth the attention. This season’s commentary does include the two controversial episodes, delivered by the ever-humorous co-executive producer Rodney Barnes and Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder. McGruder reportedly offers explanation for his pursuit of Black Entertainment Television network in the commentary essentially saying executives ‘failed to elevate’ the network’s standards – something expressly promised by Hudlin upon joining BET.

“I was looking for changes and improvements, and I didn’t see any,” McGruder said on the DVD. “I didn’t see them. So I said, OK, it’s fair game. It’s hard not to address it. It really was an important part of the strip.” Because of legal reasons, he adds, he cannot mention the real names of the people satirized in the episodes.

Barnes added: “You expect white television to present black people in a particular way. The anger comes from black television portraying us in a particular way. That brings out a different sense of frustration, and at the heart of these episodes is that frustration.”

Editorial:

Word BET?! The Boondocks has you scared like that?! Most people don’t even know The Boondocks exists and here you are whining (allegedly). What happened to “stop snitching”?! ‘Oh, you mad cus they stylin’ on you?’ Maybe u need to watch your sister channel MTV and pick up on the “No Bitch-ass-ness!”

Honestly, this brotha couldn’t agree more with McGruder and Barnes. BET fell off years ago. Slowly devolving from Entertainment to Embarassment. When Free and AJ bounced you knew there was nothing left. Nail in the coffin. And the network’s attempt to bank on the reality TV era didn’t help. I notice Christopher Scott Cherot (writer/producer/director/star of “Hav Plenty”) doesn’t even associate his name with College Hill anymore. Beyond that it’s hard to keep track of the programming (especially in prime time). I mean besides 106 & Park, what is on BET? By the way, i’m not saying that as if 106 is something to be proud of anymore, only that it’s the one mainstay. That and Bobby Jones’ Gospel which you could assume is kept around merely to ward off the guilt of the programmers. How do you dumb down your own people?

Then again maybe they’ve fallen prey to their own brainwashing; possibly really believing what they air is hot. Everyone knows if you play something enough you begin to like it. No matter how much you disdained it initially. First you avoid it, then you joke about it, then it has you. Maybe they’ve fallen so deep that they truly think everyone else is just hating. That BET really expresses where Black people are nowadays. Ha… oh no. What if they are right? I mean… what if the majority of us are carbon-copies of the 106 and Park audience. I could believe it. Not like i see a plethora of alternatives out there. (Probably just as planned.) I see a lot of my contemporaries falling in the BET line. I always say “people are sheep” but if the programming is following the herd and the herd is following the programming who’s the leader?

Poor Cousin Jeff. You know it’s only a matter of time before he bounces. How long can you stand being the paragon bringing up the test scores? The one brother the whole network points to for credibility. Remember when BET News was it’s own show. Not gon’ lie; Flava Flav has better moments than BET. D*mn!! So when the Boondocks parodies BET with the “Booty Buttcheeks” video, “Gangstalicious”, “Thugnificent” or a spot-on cooning Terrence (106 & Park co-host)… i feel relieved. Thankful that a collection of thinking Black folk are in the position to present an alternative to the portrayal of our people on BET. Hell, not only that; that they are recognized for it… when did BET ever win a Peabody Award?! Like Barnes said… I expect that portrayal of us from white programming, but when we broadcast ourselves like that the frustration is exponential. Oh and VH1 Soul, don’t think we don’t notice you slipping T-Pain, Keyshia Cole, etc into the mix. You are on notice!!

Real real real soon. You know where you heard it first!

So I’m done. I quit. My first reaction was that BET has somehow done it again, time to crank back the time on the clock and set us back s’more years. But SURPRISE! This show is actually on MyNetworkTV, the illegitimate child of the WB and UPN and owned by Fox, the same people that brought you…well Fox.

These three networks are no stranger to the danger of creating and airing these controversial shows. Just to give you a brief history of similar nightmare shows of the past:

• Soul Plane - now this is officially the worst movie ever made, and yes, I have seen “The Net”. I’m not even gonna waste my time talking about this. I lost respect for alot of the cast members whom i believe should all be shot…in the foot….twice for being a part of this.
• The Waynes Bros. – Wait..cuz this showed was really funny when it first came out. I dunno what the hell happened though, like 2 seasons into it it just went down hill and finally crawled in the corner and died. Those two have never been funny since.
• Friday (the series) – Anytime you take a good movie, and throw a cast together (that has NOTHING to do with the original cast), your just stapling your nuts to a moving car. Bad move.
• Homeboys in Outer Space – WORST. SHOW. EVER. This was a show that was SO bad, that it got boycotted by the NAACP and forced off the air. This is proof it can happen people. I will provide a link and speak no more of this. Watch and Cry

I guess a general rule of thumb is that anytime you have a show that has to give you an entire back story before you ever watch it is gonna tank. It worked for Fresh Prince, but they got lucky. What amazes me more than the fact that shit show is on, is why this show is on. It’s on cuz they know people will watch it, or at least have reason enough to believe that to invest time and money into this project. Someone needs to tell Flavor Flav’s ass that calling “911 a joke” is like the black ass charred kettle calling, I dunno you finish that one. After what seems like an eternity of disappointment from endless spinoffs of Flav’s ongoing minstrel show, I’ve learned that more than 1/2 the people I know watch one or more of the following shows religiously: Flavor of Love, I Love NY, Charm School, Strange Love, Surreal Life.

Honestly, that’s actually kind of impressive and at the same time offensive. This one man has birthed five shows which multiple seasons of each and moFo’s still watch it. According to Nielsen ratings, Flavor of Love was the number one show amongst blacks in 2007 (and tha’s a CABLE show). How long will the networks create formulaic stereotypical television programming that insults and offends us? As long as people watch it and like it.

I went the extra step and decided to give the show a chance. According to the intro, it looked like a Fresh-Prince knockoff (which itself was controversial and stereotypical, but at least was funny and in good taste), so I decided to watch some of the pilot. I expected some laughs here and there, but what I saw was the worst acting I’ve ever seen next to Fast and Furious and Resident Evil (PSOne for those that remember). The jokes were incredibly not funny, the delivery was horribly timed, and the cast stereotypes were so exaggerated it was offense to my intelligence. The rich brother has a huge green bow tie, yellow plaid pants and a sweater around his neck? COME ON, challenge me damnit. If you want to subject yourself with the buffoonery of this piece of garbage, you’re more than welcome to check it out here. I got through about the first 5 minutes of it.

This show has only had one episode so far and hopefully someone will storm the tape room and destroy all copies and evidence of this, including this blog.

Discuss…