No More Celebrity Gossip: A 2010 New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year!

First things first, thanks to all of you who have continued to read this blog prior to and during 2009. My posting frequency was reduced and then stalled after being overwhelmed with work duties and illnesses. I welcome those of you who subscribe to or read the Madlab Post to join me in this New Year for some exciting posts on the schedule for 2010.

Secondly, I am starting this New Year off on the Madlab Post with an apology to actors Duane Martin and Tisha Campbell. Fans of the pair or those who read entertainment news, magazines and gossip columns are well aware of those huge 2007 rumors that were posted online regarding the married couple. As one of the bloggers who published a blog post about their so-called news at that time, I now apologize to both Duane Martin and Tisha Campbell for the contributions made on my part in the 2007 rumor and gossip frenzy about their relationship and Martin’s sexuality.

This posting is long overdue because there are too many celebrity gossip blogs online and I never intended for the Madlab Post to become one of them, even if just for one day. I may read the casual US Weekly magazine or webpage every now and then but generally am not a fan of celebrity gossip, especially when it involves the personal lives of other people. We are all imperfect human beings and I recently chose to stop procrastinating on writing this blog post after receiving a Black Planet notification about some drama between singer Beyoncé’s parents, Tina Knowles and Matthew Knowles.

I want to commend Raven-888 for asking why we should care about Beyonce’s father on a Hello Beautiful post that highlights the R&B star’s family drama. I tend to ask the “why should we care” question many times when reading about celebrities or watching one of those entertainment news TV shows. I did when the media started talking about Tiger Woods and when none of us went a day without being shown various aspects of that Chris Brown-Rhianna scandal. I should have asked the same question in 2007 when finding out about the Campbell-Martin situation that I later learned was false.

Moving forward, there are many exciting things planned for the Madlab Post blog which will not include celebrity gossip. With that said, I am defining celebrity gossip as personal rumors or news e.g. Alicia Keys and Swizz Beats, John and Kate Gosselin or Keyshia Cole stopping communication with her family. I will not be writing about who is sleeping with whom, who is divorcing whom, who is shopping where, who is wearing what or any related mess that you can find elsewhere on blogs that are all about celebrity scandals.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s define some news or rumors that I may write about although some may consider celebrity gossip as well. If a specific topic is related to business matters, I do not consider it to be gossip and will be fair game to discuss on the Madlab Post. Since this is a movie blog, expect posts that are related to films, actors and movie professionals who also work in television. This may include who declined what role, who fired whom, who got hired for what role, what company replaced who for who in what role, who walked off the studio lot in the middle of a scene or related news.

Those of you who are reading this blog are welcome to leave a comment here or contact me with any suggestions or requests for future posts on this blog. I wish you all a very happy and productive year in 2010!

Technorati Tags: 2010+Blog+Resolutions, New+Years+Blog+Resolutions, Celebrity+Gossip, Tisha+Campbell+and+Duane+Martin, Tisha+Campbell, Duane+Martin

Blog Action Day 2009: Does Visual Effects Ruin our Environment?

Climate Change, the chosen cause for this year's Blog Action Day helped me realize how much we as human beings are using up our natural resources. Too many of us in the United States and abroad have taken natural resources for granted. Everyone is responsible for the negative effects that are taking place on our environment, including those of us in the entertainment industry. For every movie that Hollywood makes each year, there are probably thousands of independent films produced around the country that can be more energy efficient. There is one area in particular that many film producers are neglecting when taking climate change into consideration.

The sections on efficiency and unplugging electronics in 10 Solutions for Climate Change are two subjects that movie producers consider make environmentally friendly decisions during post-production. According to the 10 Solutions piece, electronic devices cost us more money when they are turned off than on because they use more energy during this downtime. Unplugging electronic items, a practice that movie producers film editors should adopt can not only save us money but energy as well. Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine are not even the tip of the iceberg when calculating the number of movies released just this year that included visual effects (or special effects). The movie 2012 even has a special video on how detailed the visual effects process was to create tidal waves for this film.

With all of the visual effects needed to create blockbuster hits at your local movie theater, that is a lot of computers, TV monitors, video cameras, tape decks and other electronic devices that can easily reserve our energy by simply being unplugged. If Hollywood movies are using up this much energy, how many independent films are adding to the problem of climate change? Broken, Alex Ferrari's entertaining short film was praised for it's elaborate special effects but that's just one film. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of horror, action and Sci-Fi movies that are produced independently and come loaded with visual effects. This includes hours of work in addition to the time it takes to edit a rough cut of these movies.

The Sundance Film Festival alone claims to receive over 9,000 submissions each year. I wonder how many of those submissions have contributed to global warming by heavy use of special effects equipment. The lighting in post-production facilities may also affect climate change if standard incandescent light bulbs are being used instead of more energy efficient products such as compact fluorescent lights. Sure, the work area of special effects editors need to be illuminated for them to be able to locate the proper tools to do their job. There is still a way to reduce climate change during the movie production process by getting rid of lights that produce carbon dioxide emissions.

While unplugging special effects equipment and using energy efficient light bulbs is one way to reduce the potential for drastic changes to our earth, efficiency during production is another way to bring positive adjustments to climate change. As independent producers, we would be more efficient by shooting on location, reducing the energy use of special effects teams that we have depended on to make our movies more extravagant in post-production. This could mean the loss of many jobs in the post-production sector that specializes in effects, which is another subject in and of itself but our mere existence and survival is more important today than tomorrow. Special Effects teams could adapt their skills to be put to use on location rather than in editing rooms equipped with computers, monitors and other forms of technology that uses lots of energy on a constant basis.

While indie film producers are trying to land distribution deals and compete with major Hollywood studios, keeping the importance of climate change in mind can help to reduce major environmental disruptions in the coming years. I know some of you reading this may be thinking "Climate Change? Global Warming?...who cares?!!!" and yes, I thought the same thing too over the last two years until now. It's not as boring or insignificant as we may think because climate change affects the earth on many levels that we rely on everyday including our water supply, air supply and cooling systems.

How do you think movies are adding to Climate Change?
Leave your comments below!

Technorati Tags: Blog+Action+Day, Blog+Action+Day+2009, Climate+Change, Global+Warming, Blog+Action+Day+Climate+Change, Blog+Action+Day+Climate

2009 Terror Film Festival Release

Terror Film Festival selected films ANNOUNCED!

The Union Directed by Tom Laughlin plays in the "Frightening Shorts" program of the Terror Film Festival at 6:45pm on Friday, October 23, 2009.

Were Baaaaaack... Terror Film Festival has announced their 2009 SELECTED FILMS to be screened this year in the upcoming fourth edition of Terror Film Festival. The festival will once again be held at the prestigious and gothic Ethical Society Building at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia from October 20-24, 2009, and the event will again include filmmakers and screenwriters from around the world, as well as, celebrities, actors, distributors, and many other industry professionals. Plus, our world-class Screenwriting Competition, sponsored by InkTip.com. Every film and script has an opportunity to win a coveted “Claw Award”. And, it is all hosted by the star of the festival, Princess Horror.

SHOWTIMES are Tuesday through Friday 5pm, 6:45pm, and 8:30pm. Saturday 1:30pm, 3:15pm, 5 pm, and the Claw Awards at 9 pm.

TICKETS for TFF have been SLASHED to $10, and $70 for a Bad-Azz VIP Pass (good for the entire festival). Tickets are available on the TFF web site at www.TerrorFilmFestival.net.

Live Your Dreams!! Or at least, YOUR NIGHTMARES…

Claw, Festival Director
Terror Film Festival
Horror, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Thriller, Drama, Screenplay
Ethical Society Building
October 20-24, 2009 | Philadelphia, PA USA
Website: www.TerrorFilmFestival.net

The information in this Film Festival Wednesdays post was received from a press release on the Terror Film Festival. The Madlab Post is not affiliated with this event and any future changes to prices, showtimes or any other information related this published release here is solely at the discretion and the responsibility of the Terror Film Festival. All photos are the property of their respective owners and used here exclusively for promotional purposes in relation to the Terror Film Festival.

Have you attended the Terror Film Festival in previous years? Leave your review of this event in the comments section below!

Terror+Film+Festival 2009+Terror+Film+Festival Film+Festivals Philadelphia+film+festivals horror+film+festivals October+film+festivals film+festival+screenings film+festival+movies horror+films horror+movies Terror+film+festival+screening Philadelphia+terror+film+festival independent+films independent+film+screenings terror+film+festival+philadelphia