From a San Francisco Cafe: "TRE" and Clinton vs. Obama (of course)

First of all a shout out to Patrick and AliveNot Dead.  I'm seeing a lot of people at the theaters who came out to support "TRE" because of this website!  Filmmakers out there, be glad this site is out there.                        

So I was really happy to see the film projected on 35 mm last night, and we had a great time afterwards at the Margaurita (sp?) bar down the street.  All I can hope is that tonight we'll get a chance to do the same.  The drinks and the food were great at this place!  After a few drinks the ladies got into a discussion about who among them could see themselves cheating on Gabe with Tre.  The guys were standing to the side discussing it amongst themselves and at one point I had to run over to them and tell them to listen to the women -- all was being revealed!  My sound byte "Tre is a movie for women and men who understand women" paid off in my radio interviews, which I'll share with you once they are on-line.  In discussion with Tim Sika of Celluloid Dreams, I realized that Tre has a hybrid sensibility, not just on race, but also from a gender perspective (being that Kimberly-Rose and I authored the scrīpt together) and also from an alpha male vs. beta male perspective.  I explained that traditionally American films that touch upon romance have been firmly rooted in the beta male perspective -- most classicly in the nerd vs. jock high school genre, but also in the romantic comedy genre which is essentially an extension of nerd vs. jock but with adults.  Both Charlotte Sometimes and Tre are "hybrids" in the sense that perspective is in between alpha and beta male, and Tre in particular allows for a more in-depth and illuminating study of the percieved alpha male in the story.  The mystery as to why women are attracted to alpha males, even when beta males treat them more respectfully and offer stablility/security etc. is certainly a theme in both films.  We got into it over drinks last night but I'm not sure if anything was settled. 

On the campaign front the big news of today was leaked to me yesterday by a friend at the Service Employees International Union, who endorsed Obamatoday.  This afternoon I am at a cafe in San Francisco editing a "Latinos for Obama" video I shot on Monday when Obama spoke at the University of Maryland.  Latinos voted for Obama in Virginia and Maryland which was part of the reason why Obama carried both states by such a decisive margin. I was able to capture some of that spirit at UMD and will be posting the video soon.  Meanwhile, I've noticed that the Clintons' new slogan is "speeches or solutions" as if there were somehow a choice between the two.  I hate to slam the Clintons, and I won't here, but time and time again their slogans are so insulting.  Do they think we're too dumb to realize that BOTH Clinton and Obama are making speeches, only the CONTENT of Obama's speeches is reaching people at a much higher level.  Unfortunately for Hillary, who has been a faithful public servant and has worked really hard on this campaign, the nation needs a President who can communicate with us, because we no longer want the kind of President who manipulates us and our goverment behind closed doors.  It's as if the Clintons are saying to the American electorate "Go home, there's nothing to see here, it's too complicated for you to understand anyway, here let me prove it by being technical and boring for half an hour, government is too complex for a true democracy, you just go back to sleep and we'll fix everything for you."  Sadly, we've learned our lesson letting politicians run the government while we were asleep.  A few months ago it looked like the late 20th century style of politics was too entrenched, and if it was going to be a partisan war, the Clintons would be our best warriors.  Obama is offering an alternative vision where the people are active and awake, where the choices we must make as a nation are NOT too complex to understand -- not if our leader is a communicator who wants to listen to us, and to whom we want to listen.  As Annabel explains in this video, Hillary is a "technocrat" and a good one, but in today's America, a leader is required.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1v2aG-QMls

Hope to see you at 4-Star Theater tonight:

2200 Clement Street @ 23rd Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94121

(415) 666-3488

Showtimes: Daily 1:40, 7:20

A special Q&A with director Eric Byler

Saturday (Feb 16th) after the 7:20 show

Sunday (Feb 17th) after the 1:40 show

Admission: $8.50