Barack Obama continues to be America’s pop culture president. On Friday, Obama shared his list of his 15 favorite movies of 2018, which featured nine directors who are nonwhite.
Those directors include Barry Jenkins (“If Beale Street Could Talk”), Bing Liu (“Minding the Gap”) Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Shoplifters”), Lee Chang-dong (“Burning”), Chloé Zhao (“The Rider”), Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”), Carlos Lopez Estrada (“Blindspotting”), Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”) and Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”).
Obama also listed his favorite books and songs of the year.
Also Read: Michelle Obama Ends Hillary Clinton's 17-Year Run as Most Admired Woman in Us
“As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved,” Obama wrote on Instagram.
Obama also shouted out his wife Michelle’s new biography,...
Those directors include Barry Jenkins (“If Beale Street Could Talk”), Bing Liu (“Minding the Gap”) Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Shoplifters”), Lee Chang-dong (“Burning”), Chloé Zhao (“The Rider”), Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”), Carlos Lopez Estrada (“Blindspotting”), Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”) and Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”).
Obama also listed his favorite books and songs of the year.
Also Read: Michelle Obama Ends Hillary Clinton's 17-Year Run as Most Admired Woman in Us
“As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved,” Obama wrote on Instagram.
Obama also shouted out his wife Michelle’s new biography,...
- 12/28/2018
- by Omar Sanchez
- The Wrap
Former President Barack Obama has released his annual year-end list of favorites films, books, and music, a tradition he started while in the office.
Among the favorite movies of 2018, Obama listed award faviorites and Oscar Best Picture hopefuls Black Panther, Roma, and Eighth Grade.
Foreign films such as the Lee Chang-dong-directed adapation Burning and Golden Globe nominated Japanese drama Shoplifters were also a favorite for the 44th U.S. President, along with skateboarding documentary Minding the Gap and Mister Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
“As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved,” Obama shared on his Facebook account. “It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors, artists,...
Among the favorite movies of 2018, Obama listed award faviorites and Oscar Best Picture hopefuls Black Panther, Roma, and Eighth Grade.
Foreign films such as the Lee Chang-dong-directed adapation Burning and Golden Globe nominated Japanese drama Shoplifters were also a favorite for the 44th U.S. President, along with skateboarding documentary Minding the Gap and Mister Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
“As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved,” Obama shared on his Facebook account. “It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors, artists,...
- 12/28/2018
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Barack Obama continued his annual tradition of revealing his favorite books, movies and songs of the year, with the former president-turned-tastemaker including tracks by Cardi B, Janelle Monáe, Prince and the Carters on his 2018 list.
Obama said of his annual list, “It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors, artists, and storytellers – some who are household names and others who...
Obama said of his annual list, “It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors, artists, and storytellers – some who are household names and others who...
- 12/28/2018
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
In 1983, Prince was a budding genius on a historic run that would eventually redefine pop. A year earlier he’d exploded into the Top 10 with his synth-funk double-lp opus, 1999, and he was already hard at work on Purple Rain, the album/film project that would render a version of his life story in Beatles-size proportions.
One day, in the midst of all this, he sat down in his Chanhassen, Minnesota, home studio and knocked out a demo, just him at the piano. Most of what he recorded were works-in-progress,...
One day, in the midst of all this, he sat down in his Chanhassen, Minnesota, home studio and knocked out a demo, just him at the piano. Most of what he recorded were works-in-progress,...
- 9/21/2018
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
A new video for Prince‘s passionate cover of the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” focuses on the impact of gun violence on American youth, augmented by the artist’s own words. After showing gun injury and fatality statistics among children, the video displays a quote from the Purple One taken from another video he’d made for his song “Baltimore,” written in the wake of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray: “The system is broken. It’s going to take the young people to fix it this time. We need new ideas,...
- 9/20/2018
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Prince eases into a funky piano groove, asks for the lights to be turned down, lets loose a James Brown–styled “Good Gawd,” beat-boxes a little and then delivers a passionate rendition of “17 Days,” the B-side to “When Doves Cry,” on the latest recording to emerge from his upcoming Piano & a Microphone 1983 archival release. It’s a naturally sparser arrangement than the one he recorded with the Revolution — he sings the synthesizer part in falsetto — as the musician yowls lyrics about a breakup between jazzy piano fills.
The song is...
The song is...
- 9/6/2018
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Washington — A group of lawmakers introduced legislation on Tuesday to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Aretha Franklin, who died last week.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are among the co-sponsors of the legislation in the Senate, while Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) are co-sponsors in the House.
In a statement, Harris said Franklin “was simply a legend. Her work and impact will be felt for generations to come, and it’s long past time Congress honor her with the Congressional Gold Medal.”
She said, “from listening to ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ to standing in the living room dancing to ‘Rock Steady’ over and over again, to hearing from the Queen herself how lucky I was to be young, gifted, and black — Aretha’s songs were the soundtrack of my childhood.”
Hatch said Franklin “brought light, laughter, and love to all who would hear.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are among the co-sponsors of the legislation in the Senate, while Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) are co-sponsors in the House.
In a statement, Harris said Franklin “was simply a legend. Her work and impact will be felt for generations to come, and it’s long past time Congress honor her with the Congressional Gold Medal.”
She said, “from listening to ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ to standing in the living room dancing to ‘Rock Steady’ over and over again, to hearing from the Queen herself how lucky I was to be young, gifted, and black — Aretha’s songs were the soundtrack of my childhood.”
Hatch said Franklin “brought light, laughter, and love to all who would hear.
- 8/21/2018
- by Ted Johnson
- Variety Film + TV
Legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin died on Thursday at 76 after a battle with cancer, but her decades-long career featured some of the most memorable live performances in modern music history.
From her legendary 1968 tour dates in Sweden and Amsterdam to her melodic tributes at presidential inaugurations, Franklin brought audiences to their feet and to tears just about anywhere and anytime she took the stage, which makes choosing her best moments nearly impossible.
In memoriam, here’s a sample of Franklin’s most iconic live performances throughout her life.
“Night Life,” Sweden, 1968
Franklin’s 1968 European tour included a number of unforgettable performances, featuring live renditions of songs primarily from the three albums she’d released on Atlantic to date. But one in particular that has withstood the test of time is bluesy cover of Willie Nelson’s “Night Life.”
“Nessun Dorma,” Filling in for Luciano Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammy Awards
Just...
From her legendary 1968 tour dates in Sweden and Amsterdam to her melodic tributes at presidential inaugurations, Franklin brought audiences to their feet and to tears just about anywhere and anytime she took the stage, which makes choosing her best moments nearly impossible.
In memoriam, here’s a sample of Franklin’s most iconic live performances throughout her life.
“Night Life,” Sweden, 1968
Franklin’s 1968 European tour included a number of unforgettable performances, featuring live renditions of songs primarily from the three albums she’d released on Atlantic to date. But one in particular that has withstood the test of time is bluesy cover of Willie Nelson’s “Night Life.”
“Nessun Dorma,” Filling in for Luciano Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammy Awards
Just...
- 8/16/2018
- by Christi Carras
- Variety Film + TV
Spike Lee and Prince went back a long way. Apart from being friends and mutual fans for decades, the two worked together on Prince’s “Money Don’t Matter 2Night” video and, more famously, on the 1996 film “Girl 6,” which featured a soundtrack made entirely of music from across the artist’s career, along with a new song he’d written specifically for the movie. And in the hours after Prince died of an accidental drug overdose in April of 2016, Lee threw an impromptu block party outside his Brooklyn office that ended up being live-streamed on CNN, and even got the cooperation of local police when it ran over the time he’d been allotted — that celebration has evolved into an annual event held in Brooklyn (read Variety’s coverage of the event here).
Thus, it’s not entirely a surprise that a rare Prince song is featured in Lee’s new film,...
Thus, it’s not entirely a surprise that a rare Prince song is featured in Lee’s new film,...
- 8/6/2018
- by Jem Aswad
- Variety Film + TV
“BlacKkKlansman” has been earning praise and making headlines since its world premiere at Cannes, where Spike Lee’s latest was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix. Now, on the eve of the film’s theatrical release, there’s more news still: “BlacKkKlansman” uses the unreleased Prince song “Mary Don’t You Weep” during its end credits.
“I knew that I needed an end-credits song,” Lee told Rolling Stone. “I’ve become very close with Troy Carter, one of the executives at Spotify [and a Prince estate advisor]. So I invited Troy to a private screening. And after, he said, ‘Spike, I got the song.’ And that was ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ which had been recorded on cassette in the mid-80s.”
“Prince wanted me to have that song, I don’t care what nobody says,” he added. “My brother Prince wanted me to have that song. For this film. There’s no other explanation to me.
“I knew that I needed an end-credits song,” Lee told Rolling Stone. “I’ve become very close with Troy Carter, one of the executives at Spotify [and a Prince estate advisor]. So I invited Troy to a private screening. And after, he said, ‘Spike, I got the song.’ And that was ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ which had been recorded on cassette in the mid-80s.”
“Prince wanted me to have that song, I don’t care what nobody says,” he added. “My brother Prince wanted me to have that song. For this film. There’s no other explanation to me.
- 8/5/2018
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
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