Rych McCain Hollyhood Notes : March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Roland S. Martin - Awards

(C) 2013 by Rych McCain, All Rights Reserved. No part of this column may be reprinted, re-posted or duplicated without written permission from Rych McCain Media/Syndication. Violation is subject to applicable laws.

Roland S. Martin NABJ Journalist of the year - Awards

Special to Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

Roland S. Martin Named NABJ's 2013 Journalist of the Year

Roland S. Martin

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced today that Roland S. Martin, nationally syndicated columnist, television host, and radio and television commentator, is to receive the organization’s Journalist of the Year award. It is one of NABJ's most coveted honors celebrating the accomplishments of black journalists and those who support blacks in the media. Martin was selected for the award by NABJ’s Board of Directors.

Martin currently is host and managing editor of TV One's Washington Watch with Roland Martin, and a senior analyst for The Tom Joyner Morning Show. He is also a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate and a contributor to CNN.

"Roland Martin has had an enviable career as a multimedia journalist, becoming a respected and trusted voice in print, on air and online," said NABJ President Gregory Lee, Jr. "He is unapologetic about his quest to provide well-rounded coverage of the African-American community, and to provide unique insights to diverse audiences across the many platforms on which he is asked to contribute on a regular basis."

Martin will be honored with others at the association's Salute to Excellence Gala on August 3, 2013, during NABJ's 38th Annual Convention and Career Fair in Orlando.

"I am enormously thankful and humbled that NABJ has bestowed this amazing honor on me for my work as a fearless voice in advocating the critical issues facing voters in the 2012 election, but especially as they relate to African Americans," said Martin. "I hope this honor serves as a lesson to any young or veteran journalist that Black media platforms are just as essential and important to us today as they have always been. Before CNN, TV One offered me a TV platform for my commentaries, as well my own show. After CNN, TV One and Tom Joyner, are still there. It pleases me greatly to be at a place where our voices and images are the norm, and not the exception. I'm enormously thankful for the opportunity."

Those who nominated Martin noted his important coverage of voter suppression, perhaps the biggest story of the 2012 presidential election.

"No other African-American journalist and member of NABJ brought more news and analysis to black communities about the most important story of 2012 than Roland Martin,” said Vanessa Williams, former NABJ President and an editor at The Washington Post. "As managing editor and host of Washington Watch on TV One, Roland consistently offered journalism that reflected the hopes and fears of many African American voters as they anxiously watched to see whether Barack Obama would win a second term as president of the United States.”

Earlier in his career, Martin was a radio talk show host for WVON-AM in Chicago. He is the former executive editor and general manager of The Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s oldest black newspapers. He was the founding news editor for Savoy Magazine, and the founding editor of BlackAmericaWeb.com.

A published author, he has written three books: "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith,” "Speak, Brother! A Black Man’s View of America,” and "The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.”

A lifetime member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Martin served as the organization’s first national student representative, and as national secretary of the board from 2009 until 2011.

Martin is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Louisiana Baptist University. He is married to the Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin. The couple resides in Washington, D.C.

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization for journalists of color in the nation, and provides career development as well as educational and other support to its members worldwide. For more information, please visit www.nabj.org.

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Ramaa Mosley - Movie

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

Ramaa Mosley

Makes Her Directing Debut With “The Brass Teapot!”

Photo by Magnolia Pictures

Ramaa Mosley Director Of The Brass Teapot

Directing a feature film for the first time with established professional actors can be a trying situation but if you are totally prepared for the opportunity it can be just another day at the office. Ramaa Mosley makes her film directorial debut with the independent “The Brass Teapot.”

Mosley’s background includes her start with making films at age 16 and graduating from Bennington College in Vermont where she studied theater, literature and photography. Following college, the Dutch government hired Mosley to direct a documentary on the Aymara Indians of Bolivia and that led to producing commercials for top commercial companies such adidas, Powerade, PGA, Pedigree, Wallmart, ESPN and others. Mosley also began directing music videos for artists like the B-52s, Brendan Benson, Creed, Five for Fighting and more.

Michael Angarano (John) and Juno Temple (Alice)

“The Brass Teapot,” the movie was modeled after the comic book of the same title and that is based on an ancient fable about a mythical teapot that had magical powers to give its owner(s) cash money in exchange for pain inflicted on them. The greater the pain, the more money it produced. Kind of like the goose that laid golden eggs. The movie centers on the theme of temptation and greed for a young couple who runs across the teapot just as they are in the middle of a personal financial crisis. The couple is played by Juno Temple as Alice and Michael Angarano as John.

The magical teapot gives money for pain

There are people who not only actually believe that this mystical, magical, money making teapot has actually existed since the time of Christ; there is an organization created in the late 1800’s whose mission is to actually find it.

How did Mosley get involved to the point of making a movie about this teapot? She explains, “There’s a whole team of people called the “Theosophist Society” in China who are searching for the lost teapot. They believe it’s the Holy Grail so they’re searching for it. I was doing research on the brass teapot and I met Dr. Ling over the phone who is an archeologist in China and he tells me all about of the previous people who had the teapot from Gangues Khan to Hitler.

Alice sleeps with the teapot because it is paying so well

We’re working on the comic book and Dr. Ling thinks we were making a documentary, he doesn’t understand that we are making a movie. There was a lot lost in translation but we’re working on the script and he gives me permission to use his name. Then we finish the movie and now he’s really angry and he started protesting. He thought we were making a documentary and he thinks that what I’ve done is gone and taken the whole story and turned it into entertainment and his mission is to find the teapot. He doesn’t want it to be trivialized.”

The Teapot money makes John and Alice Rich!

As a result of this type of hassle or negative reaction from making a film with a lot of real world, non-creative baggage attached to it, will Mosley be more selective with her future film projects? She laughs, “You know what? I don’t think I could do another movie unless it lived beyond just the screening. The thing that has been so exciting for me is that the movie lives on a TV screen, lives on the theater screen hopefully but it also lives in this other world which is the internet. The element of the mythology for me and learning about it then bringing it to life was as much fun as making the movie. So as I go forward in my next project, that’s where my head is at. It has to big idea because the idea of making a movie isn’t as exciting as building a world and going into that world and making it alive.”

L-R: Juno Temple, Ramaa Mosley, Michael Angarano at The Brass Teapot Hollywood Premiere

Mosley is definitely a fresh new film director with a clear vision of her purpose and the direction for the path she has set to take. We will be hearing great things about her!

(You DID Hear It From Me!)

Twitter@rychmccain and Facebook

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Lily Tomlin - Movie

Lily Tomlin -Movie

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

Lily Tomlin

The Iconic Actress Is Still In The Driver’s Seat!

Photo Courtesy Focus Features Films

Icon is a word that is sometimes loosely thrown around. However, in the case of veteran actress Lily Tomlin, the title is as deserving as it is apropos. Tomlin has not just been there, done that; but the awards she has garnered over the years attest to a true and marvelous set of talents. Her trophy mantel houses, a Grammy, six Emmys, a Tony and many more major awards in and out of the biz. In her latest film “Admission,” Tomlin plays the eccentric mom Susannah to Princeton University admissions officer Portia played by Tina Fey. Playing a mom is nothing new to Tomlin and she is pretty darn good at it. Susannah in this film is a little over the top in attitude and her values on life.

Lily Tomlin as Susannah

In describing her character Susannah, Tomlin says, “Susannah was intellectual and wrote a book and being very brainy while thinking a lot of stuff through, she was wed to that mythology that she created for herself when she has sex with some guy on a train out of sheer attraction or lust, whatever. But she doesn’t want to admit that’s how she got pregnant. She wants to think that she commanded her own destiny and so she’s built this idea or as I said mythology around her and she has imposed it on her life and on her daughter’s life and I understood that.”

Tomlin as Susannah working on her bike

The question here is does Susannah not give a damn or is she just super radical? Tomlin laughs, “First of all she’s not 30 anymore she’s 70 and a lot of life has gone under the bridge. Plus she has a grown daughter that she really doesn’t have a relationship with. So we all make these choices in life and many of them we regret.”

Tina Fey as daughter Portia

In real life Tomlin has no children so where does she draw her mother instinct from? Flashing that famous broad smile, Tomlin explains, “You just have to be a human being. I probably feel as much a mother to my cat as I do to Tina. I mean it’s just human relationships. We’re not all so different. You don’t have to know very much to understand it. You just have to be open to what you’re living and what part of life is.”

Paul Rudd (John) & Tina Fey (Portia)

What was Tomlin’s relationship like with her real life late mom? She reflects, “Somewhat more parental. I was that kind of open assertive kind of kid, free in the neighborhood, lived in an old apartment house. My mother and dad were blue collar. My daddy worked in a factory, my mom was a nurse’s aid they’re from Kentucky so every summer I’d go to rural Kentucky and then the rest of my life I’m living in inner city Detroit. It was an explosion of cultures in an old apartment house where all of these different people lived. I was just fortunate because you learn. I saw so many human beings and saw how they acted and they were pretty much all the same no matter if they were real political, radical, conservative, if they were White, Black or Jews; if they were anything, they were so much alike. They did despicable things, beautiful things, they were funny, tragic and I know that is what made me be so accepting of the species. I mean I’m not bragging or slapping myself on the back for it. As my Hungarian dress maker used to say, I lived it in the skin.”

(You DID Hear It From Me!)

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Gospel Goes To Hollywood Awards Luncheon - Charity

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment columnist

Second Annual “Gospel Goes To Hollywood Luncheon

Honors Professionals In The Faith!

Photos Enf

Host Wendy Raquel Robinson

The setting was the beautiful Taglyan Complex in Hollywood for the Second Annual Gospel Goes To Hollywood Benefit Awards Luncheon. The gala was hosted by actress Wendy Raquel Robinson and comedian D. Ellis Mr. Entertainment! The elegant affair was a celebration of the untold stories of faith in Hollywood honoring Hollywood couple Terry & Rebecca Crews, Marla Gibbs, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Kym E. Whitley and Sony Exec Devon Franklin.

The afternoon's entertainment was rendered by Erica Campbell of Mary Mary; Singer Ami Rush and J. Kingdom.

The event was a benefit on behalf of battered women and their children via the HELPPPPing Hands Foundation and a donation was made to Haven Hills, Inc. This event was produced by Tomeka Holyfield of the Helpppp Agency based in Atlanta, GA, and Gary Taglyan of the Historical Taglyan Cultural Complex.

(You DID Hear It From Me!)

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