Violence, Sex, and Drugs Mix

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

I’m amazed that it’s possible to be more meta than a Quentin Tarantino film. If for some reason you thought that Tarantino’s movies dragged or could have used faster cutting, this mash-up is for you. Simply a must-see.

It’s from Eclectic Method who has also fashioned a remix for 30 Rock, a Fraggle Rock remix, and a remix of the Colbert Report.

(via Popped Culture)

-Chris G.

Did ya'll know that "Death Proof*" was inspired Pilipino Cinema? That's wassup!

The Untold Story of The Lower Ninth Ward PREMIER SCREENING

New Orleans is back! Come & celebrate with us, America, as we go on a Spring Break trip to New Orleans! Flashing lights! Amazing food! Good music! Booze! And of course... broken glass, lonely foundations, missing homes, and displaced families. It's been 4 years since Hurricane Katrina and while the French Quarter is crackin', the Lower Ninth Ward is still waiting for their street lights to turn on.

The short 8-minute version of my film, "The Untold Story of The Lower Ninth Ward" (still debating whether or not this will be the title) will be premiering THIS FRIDAY, 7:30pm @ UC Santa Cruz's Media Theater! Please come support me and my fellow film students as we finally put all our hard work on the big (HUGE) screen.

June 12th, Friday 7:30pm UC Santa Cruz Media Theater

-Chris G.

Next Day Air Opens Tomorrow

my brother-in-law david checel's new movie next day air is opening in theaters tomorrow.  he cut the whole film!  its directed by benny boom who's done music videos for everyone including snoop, nas, and 50.  if that doesn't sell you then here's the white man co-sign, roger ebert gave the film a great review.

download the next day air mixtape

SONG screening at LA Asian Pacific Film Festival on 5/2

a song for ourselves will be screening at the LA asian pacific film festival on may 2nd, 2:30p at laemmle's sunset 5 theater.  song will be part of the shorts program titled "passion for the people". four other films will be screened including academy-award winning director jessica yu's latest film!

for tickets and more information on the program please go to here.  this show has a very good chance of selling out so please get your tickets now!

-tadillac

"War Of The Flea" (Senz of Depth Remix Feat. Bambu)

here's another leak from the upcoming a song for ourselves mixtape (slated to drop next week!). this track is a remix of "war of the flea" (a grain of sand) by the phenomenal producer senz of depth. bambu insightfully draws the parallels between the political climate of chris iijima's era and now... senz of depth is just one of the many projects of the talented musician miles senzaki. i've been lucky enough to have been able to collaborate with miles on all three of my films. for a song for ourselves he flawlessly re-created the instrumentals of some of chris iijima's songs, miles explains the evolution of the remix here. his debut album under the senz of depth alias titled "boundary waters" will blow your mind! here's just a sample of what i'm talking about: -tadillac

Trailer for 2.28.08 Premiere

in the final stretch! final sound mix session tomorrow and color correcting on saturday. in the meantime here's the trailer for the big LA premiere:

if this video is taking too long to load you can watch the trailer on youtube.

after a month of mainly meetings, e-mails and phone calls this trailer was hella fun to cut!

-tadillac

Blue Scholars - "Coffee And Snow" Video

daymn, and you thought you got your grustle on over the holidays! blue scholars started off '09 by droppin a new track and video: like all the scholars' videos, this one was directed and cut by zia mohajerjasbi. i've become a big fan of zia over the last couple of years. his cinematography and production value can't be touched. i've always been up on his music videos but I was blown away when i saw his film manoj. this mockumentary is not only hella funny, but its really smart in the way it unfolds the issue at hand... manoj - directed by zia mohajerjasbi:

-tadillac

"Song" Premiere Gets Write-Up in the Rafu Shimpo

for those who don't know, the rafu shimpo is the main japanese american newspaper here in LA. getting ink in the rafu is huge for me personally because i know my grandma and bachan are gonna see it! i don't know if they really understand what i do, but if my name's in the rafu it's all gravy to them. "I think it's important to know that there have been successful artists and musicians in our community who have come before. My parallel with what Chris was doing back then is my relationship to hip-hop now."

large up to jordan ikeda from the rafu for the interview and doing a great job of connecting the film with the musicians who are gonna perform at the premiere.

*New Film: A Song For Ourselves

i'm finally in the home stretch of finishing my new film! it's been almost 3 years in the making but i'm happy to announce that A Song For Ourselves will premiere on Feb. 28th at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre in downtown LA! besides the film the event will also be a full on hip-hop concert with performances from blue scholars, bambu & kiwi. more details here.

i haven't really posted much about the film but that will all change!  i also created a separate blog for the film. please save the date:

-tadillac

Send "DJ:LA" to Slamdance

for the last couple of years it seems like almost everyone's been talking about DJ:LA a short film that was produced as part of vc's "armed with a camera" fellowship.  even though it toured the asian american film fest. circuit the same time as pilgrimage i was never able to catch a screening.  now having finally watched it online i'm really pissed that i didn't get to see it on a big screen with a good sound system! directed by jerry chan and produced by mitchel dumlao, DJ:LA is now in the running to screen at slamdance.  you can peep the film here and then vote for it there. the film reminded me of the chemical brothers video for "star guitar" directed by michel gondry, on of my favorite music videos of all time. *spark one to this! seeing this on youtube just doesn't to it justice, invest in this dvd and i guarantee you won't be dissapointed! -tadillac

Pilgrimage Gets Blog Love

for all three of you who read this blog its obvious that i am a huge blue scholars fan. that's why i was really honored when i saw that emcee geologic (1/2 of the group) had written a real dope review of my film pilgrimage on his blog. over the last 3 years my respect for the scholars' music and hustle has really grown as they are hands down my favorite hip-hop group out right now. another reason why their shit is so inspiring to me is that even though we don't rep the same city, share the same ethnicity or community, i feel they really represent our generation of artists, both politically and aesthetically, to a broader audience. i mean when was the last time you watched mtv and saw this: blue scholars are currently on a 3 month doin'-it-big tour with hieroglyphics which is coming to LA this saturday at the el rey theater. i also recently found out that pilgrimage had gotten some online-ink following sundance. from the pbs p.o.v blog: "Pilgrimage, on the other hand, made me cry — which is difficult for me in 22 minutes!...The film feels like an Asian hip-hop music video, and explores the tragic history of the Japanese concentration camps in California during World War II." from the oxford university press blog: "Easily the most impressive short I saw while at Sundance was Tadashi Nakamura’s Pilgrimage, a retelling of the civil rights movements Japanese-Americans waged to get recognition of World War II internment. (One of the heroes is Tadashi’s dad, Robert.) It’s a great story, 1970s history told with 21st century music. This is both a film worth watching, and also a calling card for Tadashi. Look for him." apologizes for such a self-centered post... -tadillac

Mongol

last week i finally got to see Mongol, an epic film based on the life of a young genghis khan. overall the film was good, i mean, its one of those films to see if you want to escape the real world for a couple of hours...kinda like braveheart but everyone's asian! geologic wrote a good review of the flick on his blog. it was interesting to see a film about an ancient asian historical figure and civilization, if anything it reminded me how eurocentric my education was and how much i really don't know (i had to wikipedia genghis khan). although the film stars tadanobu asano, one of my favorite japanese actors, it is kinda funny that the ruler of the mongolian empire is played by a japanese dude. like my friend johneric said. "that's like abraham lincoln being played by a mexican!". the film was oscar nominated for best foreign language film as a submission from kazakhstan! -tadillac

KGA's "Coming Together"

yesterday i went to the community screening of "Coming Together" a short documentary film produced and directed by six youth leaders of Khmer Girls in Action. the film examines how the legacy of the khmer rouge war both connects and disconnects the youth with their parents generation. read more about the film here. the film documents many issues that immigrant and refugee families must struggle with, but from the perspective of the children, specifically teenaged daughters. i was really impressed that six different directors could collectively make one film in only a years time. "Coming Together" is going to have its world premiere at the los angeles film festival next weekend: saturday, 6/29 at 12 pm italian cultural institute 1023 hilgard ave. los angeles, ca. 90024 i've been a huge fan of the work that KGA has done over the years. this film reminded me of the power that stories can have if told by those who live it. thanks for the inspiration. -tadillac

Boomerang - Best Soundtrack EVER!

to continue with my early 90's nostalgia, i just have to state for the record that the Boomerang soundtrack is the best of all time! in addition to such classic lines as (come on y'all, i'll start and you finish) "maaarrrcuuuss, i have no..." or "don't be pussy whipped,...", or introducing the world to halle berry, Boomerang also brought these classics to the table: boyz II men - end of the road toni braxton - love shoulda brought you home pm dawn - i'd die without you a tribe called quest - hot sex ahhhhh, i'm fucking old... -tadillac

Up The Yangtze

last weekend i was able to see Up The Yangtze by yung chang at the vc film fest. yung's been reppin hard for young asian documentary filmmakers as up the yangtze has been getting mad pub and after seeing it, i know why. the film gives a much needed look at some of the fucked-up effects (like displacing poor people) of china's "new economy". the film is shot amazingly and the story unfolds well. it's having a theatrical run in LA soon, i'll post the details when i get them. peep the trailer: -tadillac

Shameless Plug

i must apologize for this non-JA moment but i finally learned how to save and upload my sundance interview from the cnn website. i'm sure all three of you who read this have already seen it but fuck it, this is probably the one and only time i get some shine on corporate television. peep the pilgrimage exclusive hoodie by beatrock!
Nakamura Sundance Interview on CNN TRT: 9 min. from Tadashi Nakamura on Vimeo. oh fuck it, since we on the damn subject might as well go all out: UCSC article, Pacific Citizen article, Culver City News article shame, tadillac

A Hyphy Documentary? ay dios mio!

last night at uc bezerkeley, Ghostride the Whip, a documentary on the yay area's hyphy movement, had it's premiere. while i am not, nor ever have been a member of the hyphy movement, i do respect the culture for being local, creative, and at the least, entertaining. i don't know shit about the flick but i did peep the trailer and saw that it features nump trump, the pride and joy of the bay area. as far as the gorillapino goes, i used to have a problem with him for his "fuck LA" comment, but my brother bambu got his grown man on, and so i figure i should do the same. -tadillac

Breakfast at Tak's *Mass Movement TV Exclusive*

so here's the mass movement tv premiere of the month. Breakfast at Tak's is a short piece i did on one of my favorite eating spots in la, Tak's Coffee Shop. the bacon fried rice is legendary and the sense of community is unmatched. most people don't know that the crenshaw district of la used to be a thriving japanese american community, a history you can see and taste at tak's.
BREAKFAST AT TAK'S TRT:11 min. from Tadashi Nakamura on Vimeo. if fried rice, chicken wings, loco moco or portuguese sausage is your shit, then you gotta hit up tak's! -tadillac

Sexual Chocolate!

just in case you don't get our header (which means you probably waisted your childhood reading, instead of memorizing lines from movies), its eddie murphy playing his classic role as randy watson, lead singer of sexual chocolate in coming to america... reasons why this is one of the best scenes ev-er: 7. it takes place at the "black awareness" community show 6. arsenio hall plays rev. brown 5. eddie murphy plays randy watson 4. his intro as "joe the policeman from the 'what's going down' episode of 'that's my mamma'" 3. the introduction of "sexual chocolate" in the american vocabulary 2. he's covering a classic song from a classic crackhead 1. the way he drops the mic and exits stage!!! -tadillac