OKAY - found some mentionings at least....
Filmmaker shares the thrill of Michael Jackson
Reel 2 Real Festival screens dance-friendly horror movie made in 48 hours
Michael KissingerVancouver Courier
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Say what you will about
Michael Jackson, but the once-mighty King of Pop continues to touch a lot of people in a lot of places... with his music, that is.
Two years ago, prisoners at a detention centre in the Philippines performed the zombie dance sequence from "Thriller" and the footage became a YouTube sensation, with Time magazine naming the clip one of the 10 best viral videos of 2007. Recently, scenes from an old Bollywood rip-off of "Thriller" featuring Indian cinema star Chiru have made the Internet rounds with predictable vigour.
So it's not surprising the long reach of Jackson's sparkly glove has finally caressed our fair shores. Local filmmaker Jimi Cuell wasn't born when Jackson's mega-selling Thriller was released in 1983, but that hasn't stopped the 24-year-old from making an eight-minute-long horror film called Book of Terror that not only pays tribute to the video's campy storyline but deftly mimics the style of its music and lyrics. It even includes a Vincent Price-esque monologue and opening disclaimer like the one Jackson insisted upon at the beginning of the video because he was a Jehovah's Witness at the time: "Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult."
Most impressive, however, is the fact Cuell and crew made their film--writing the script, writing and recording the music, filming and editing--in just two caffeinated days as part of the annual Bloodshots 48-hour Horror Filmmaking contest.
"I just thought it would be funny to do a musical given that it was a 48-hour thing," Cuell says. "It's just kind of ridiculous because you have so little time."
The rules of the contest required Cuell's team to make a movie in the werewolf genre. They also had to include an occult book and the line "this picture looks familiar."
"We came up with the idea in something like 10 minutes," Cuell says. "And then we went straight home and started working on the song and that took three hours or so. We wrote the lyrics accordingly and went and grabbed a werewolf mask and just went from there."
Although Book of Terror is a send-up of "Thriller," right down to the zombie choreography, '80s fashion sense and thin plot within a thin plot, Cuell maintains it was done out of love. "I'm just a big fan of 'Thriller.' I like pretty much everything by [Michael Jackson]--well maybe not the past five or 10 years, but I'm a big fan of Thriller and Off the Wall and Bad."
To capture the look, sound and feel of "Thriller," Cuell and his team watched the original 14-minute video in sections according to what scene they were shooting. He estimates he watched "Thriller" 100 times over the course of the shoot. Even more surprisingly, he claims the song didn't do any permanent damage to his psyche, even after the 60th or 70th listen. "No, actually I really like it," he says. "And when I was making the film, I realized it's even better than I thought it was originally."
Cuell will share his appreciation for Jackson when Book of Terror screens at the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth Feb. 20-27 at Vancity Theatre and the Roundhouse. The festival includes screenings, workshops, panel discussions and public forums for youth interested in film. Cuell, who teaches at Vancouver Film School, will lead a special effects workshop at the festival.
In addition to inspiring legions of aspiring young filmmakers, the festival also gives Cuell the opportunity to turn them on to the simple pleasures of a much-maligned celebrity who was a superstar before things went terribly wrong.
"Yeah, hopefully," Cuell says. "Just the early years though."
For more info on the Reel 2 Real Festival, go to
www.r2rfestival.org.
© Vancouver Courier 2009
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"American Idol" Puts The Fate Of 12 Semifinalists In Your Hands ...[/URL
Idolator, NY - [/CENTER]
The guy who forgot his lyrics during Hollywood Week did not redeem himself, singing a terrible version of Michael Jackson's "Rock With U" that was torpedoed ...
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Kanye Doesn’t Think He Dresses As Well As Michael Jackson
2/18/09 at 12:31 AM
We caught up with Kanye West outside the backstage W Lounge after the Narciso Rodriguez show, where we finally got a chance to talk about his assertion that [URL="http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/02/kanye_west_regrets_lauding_the.html"]he dresses better
than lots of gay people. Actually, he says, we were the first to ask him about that comment. “But there’s a lot of gay people that dress better than me, too,” he admitted. “No, I just think it’s a stereotype that all gay people dress good, and then it’s also a stereotype that if you dress good, you’re gay,” West explained.
Right. So does Kanye consider himself better dressed than most people in hip-hop? “Yeah, mostly,” he said. But when we pressed him for specific examples, Kanye would only say who he thinks out-dresses him. “I don’t think I dress better than
Michael Jackson, so I think I got a long way to go. That’s what I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about
Michael Jackson, Stefano Pilati, Ralph Lauren himself, like, and until I’m on that level, you know.”
But perhaps it won't be long until Kanye IS on that level? After all,
Elle's Joe Zee told us that Kanye was his ideal intern. Alas, Kan's not interested. “I don’t know if I want to intern at a magazine. I want to make clothes.”
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/02/kanye_doesnt_think_he_dresses.html
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