Throughout our journeys in life, we meet individuals that give off a certain energy and you immediately know that this person embodies a force that will impact culture and lifestyle. One of the many people I’ve met on my journey happens to be Alexis Mincolla, after meeting Alexis last summer at our mutual friend’s office (David Gensler of The KDU) and talking about his latest venture, Prometheus Spring, I knew he was onto something big. I recently spoke with Alexis to find out what’s the ‘Overthrow‘ is all about and what void he plans to fill with Prometheus Spring.
Please introduce yourself for those not familiar:
My full name is Alexis Van Ess Mincolla and I’m a 27 year old artist and serial entrepreneur.
Where are you originally from?
Well, I was a natural birth in the South Shore of Boston on a place very dear to my heart called Nantasket Beach. From there grew up in the New England boarding school system and then went off to do my university in Rome, Italy. (more…)
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders is a riveting documentary following four volunteer doctors serving in post-war Liberia and Congo. This is the first time Medecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has allowed uncensored access to its field operations. The result is a real look at day-to-day operations in a field clinic with no overly romantic notions of the good that MSF does and overt clarity that MSF cannot solve every medical issue in the regions it serves.
Dr. Divinder Gill is 26 years old, serving in his first mission with MSF, and is stationed in a remote clinic where he is the only expatriate. Dr. Tom Krueger is a veteran surgeon who closed his 20-year-old private practice to serve his first mission with MSF. Dr. Kiara Lepora is a veteran MSF volunteer and is the head of mission in Monrovia, while Dr. Chris Brasher has worked for MSF for 9 years and reached his burnout period. Each of their stories is revealed with honesty and care as the doctors share their candid views on the importance of their work and the frustrations of the tough choices they must make, given the limits of available technology, supplies, and their own abilities. (more…)
What made you launch Vintage Vandalizm? I wanted to be heard. I started a blog so I could express myself emotionally & fashionably. Blogs these days are less personal, all about what’s new, what’s in and blah blah blah… where are your opinions? You go through endless blogs, seeing the same things and you find yourself bored to death wanting more, wanting to know if the person behind this blog has a soul… I put my soul into my blog, I give it all I’ve got. (more…)
Let me take you back a few years. While attending college in Massachusetts, I worked in the school’s writing lab, teaching mostly international students about the proper use of commas and semi-colons. As a student writing tutor, many of my fellow tutors were professors. One of whom was English professor Laurie Stolarz. One day in the lab, Laurie was telling me about how she had just finished a teen fiction novel and that she was shopping it around to publishers, hoping to strike gold.
Fast forward a few years …
I’m now living in Texas, pursuing a graduate degree and working part-time in my favorite store, Barnes & Noble. One day, I was at work shelving books in the teen fiction section, when, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a series of books - Blue Is for Nightmares, White Is for Magic, Silver Is for Secrets, Red Is for Remembrance - and all by … you guessed it.
It seems that everyone and his pet hamster are writing a book or screenplay (yours truly included). What makes all these people believe that they actually have something interesting to say is totally subjective. Most will not achieve the level of success that they fantasize about, but every so often, one star shines a little brighter than the rest. (more…)
Frank Sabatella, Writer/Director, Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet
Tell us a little bit about yourself… how did you get into filmmaking?
OK, a little about myself. I’m 31 years old and I grew up and lived on Long Island all my life, moved around a few towns here and there… I love NY and don’t think I could ever live anywhere else. I have always loved art and film and I’ve spent most of my life pursuing an artistic and creative career. Filmmaking seemed the natural progression for me after years of photography and photo illustration. Ever since I was young I had always written stories and I think filmmaking was always sort of in the back of my mind. After a few experimental films on my own and after college, I went to film school and began working consistently on sets ever since.
When did you realize you wanted to be a director?
It’s an interesting question, because I don’t know that I can pinpoint a precise moment when I decided I wanted to direct. When I was much younger, like 11, 12 years old, I would take my dad’s old VHS camera and me and my brother and our friends would make dumb little horror movies in our backyards and on our streets. We would write up these quick scenarios and just go out and shoot them and then watch them in our basement. It was just what we did in the summertime mostly because we were bored and it was fun for us. But at that age it doesn’t occur to you that you are a filmmaker or what you are doing is directing, it was just what we did. As I got older and started to really get into the filmmaking craft and the process, I sort of looked back and realized that I had always wanted to do this, that I had always been doing this. I had done some DP work throughout the years which I did enjoy very much, but I really preferred directing because as a director you have the most creative say in a project, you really get to bring your vision to life, and you do this by collaborating with all these other talented and great artists on the set. So it just became the most appealing to me to direct because I love telling stories, I love creating visual elements for the story and I really love working with other artists to bring a story to life. (more…)
Recently we had some time to exchange dialogue with the super ”conscious but gangster” Stic Man of Hip Hop Duo dead prez. Simply put… the conversation was nothing short of enlightening. Dead Prez is known not only for their music but using their cultural and historical consciousness to educate the community on anything from politics to a holistic lifestyle. There most recent records, Stimulus Plan and Runnin’ Wild are amongst some of their most socially aware work.  We asked Stic Man about some of the purposeful decisions made to not fall into the shallow river of mainstream Hip Hop but swim in a pool of consciousness and edification. He gave us some great insight.
Is “Hip Hop” dead? Or is it just underground? Hip hop is a reflection of the power and lack of power in our communities. If we wanna see more liberation consciousness in Hip Hop, It has to start in the same communities that produce the rappers.
It’s been said that a big part of your political and social ideologies comes from an early influence of the Black Panthers. The late 80s early 90s sparked the formation of the NBPP (new Black Panther party). Do you guys have any involvement with them? What’s your take their ideologies vs. the original Black Panthers? I am familiar with the NBPP and have seen the comrades at work in the streets for many years organizing and striving to do the work the way they feel is most effective. I salute their sincerity and dedication to fill the void of leadership in our hoods. The original Panthers wisdom and analysis could surely benefit the new formation if there are ways the two eras can see to coincide to move forward it would be ideal. There is always a need for new approaches and fresh ideas but also balanced with tried and true experience from those who have ‘paid the cost to be the boss’ so to speak. Long live the Panthers in spirit and in deed and free the Panthers that are U.S. political prisoners like Hrap Brown, Sundiata Acoli, Mumia Abu Jamal, Mutulu Shakur and many others, wrongly locked up to this very day! (more…)
Richard Haines is a man who uses great use of his free time. Richards is one of New York’s most talented dwellers, he run’s a site “What I Saw Today?” where he walks the streets of Gotham City and sketches the many looks of our fashion warriors. We got a chance to speak to Richard and find out what are his favorite locations to sketch and his plans on having a book of series of sketches from different cities.
Where’s the best place in the city to watch people? Where do you find individuals with the best style? the coolest looks? Does that normally follow money lines?
New york has so many different places to people watch - I moved to Bushwick a few months ago and there is so much to look at between my neighborhood and places like Williamsburg. I love the Lower East Side too - and usually art openings are great for people watching.
I find the less money involved, the better the people watching. There’s an empty lot a few blocks from where I live and there were bands that played there all weekend - the cover for the whole thing was $10 and I saw the most amazing looks there - I was in heaven! (more…)
Dazed Digital spoke to director R.J. Cutler about following Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington in the making of this long awaited documentary. In his new film, The September Issue,, documentary filmmaker R. J. Cutler takes Dazed Digital behind the scenes of American Vogue, and provides a fascinating insight into the most terrifying woman in fashion: Anna Wintour. An experience he describes as ‘hell’
Dazed Digital: You don’t look like a typical fashionista…
R.J. Cutler: Well I’m obviously not into fashion as a consumer (gestures to scruffy attire). But I appreciate beautiful women in beautiful clothes. And, having made the film, I have an appreciation for the characters and the importance of the industry. It actually helps to be naïve when making a movie like this. The questions you need to ask are so simple. You have to be like a child, which is a beautiful thing about it.
DD: How long did you spend filming with them?
R.J. Cutler: Eight months.
DD: They’re planning the September issue that whole time?
R.J. Cutler: They start when the fashion shows start, at end of January. They were going to Paris for couture and I thought going on that trip would be a good way to get the ball rolling.
URB Magazine and The New Pop spent the day with KiD CuDi visiting his former workplaces here in NYC which are all familiar brands and locations: Bape Store in Soho, American Apparel, Dean & Deluca and Abercrombie & Fitch; what I like alot about this is showing that you can amount to anything no matter what your current occupation and income is. You to can rise my friends!
In New York and LA, you couldn’t spit without hitting someone who’s writing a screenplay. Out of the thousands who try, only a handful might actually sell their scripts, and even fewer will have them produced. So what’s Aaron Guzikowski’s secret?
Production company Alcon recently purchased the former New York ad agency employee’s spec script. Prisoners is a thriller about a man, who distraught by his daughter’s kidnapping, imprisons his neighbor whom he suspects committed the crime. Up until recently, there was talk of Mark Whalberg’s and Christian Bale’s involvement in the project, but that has fallen through. A director and cast are yet to be determined.
Alcon is fast-tracking the film’s development, scheduling an October 2010 release. The budget is set for $30 - 40 million, and Guzikowski’s deal is for mid-six figures against just over $1 million.
As a part-time screenwriter, myself, I sought out to determine what separates Guzikowski from all the other aspiring screenwriters.
What’s your background? Where are you from? Where did you go to school and what did you study?
I’m from Brockton, Massachusetts. I went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where I studied art and film.
At what point did you get the writing bug?
Fourth grade. I wrote a 7-page science-fiction story for some kind of contest. I think I won a “choose your own adventure” book. I loved those books. (more…)
