Our Season Finale, Series Finale . . . it’s over. Feels like the time to go out (while we’re still on top) and sad to say goodbye to the stories, characters, cast and crew I’ve been with so long. Love to you all.
Lesbians on Fire
So last week on Umlilo we began the lesbian plot line – two of the patriarch Mnqobi’s wives begin a secret affair with one another. The response was huge, we trended globally twitter – one of the top 50 things talked about all over the world.
This is why I love TV – reaches millions, can at times challenge and spark. We’re running this line in a country where lesbians are still “correctively raped” to try and fix them. See the responses below, a mix of excitement, misogyny, intrigue . . .
Umlilo – Seasons 3 Finale Monday!
Umlilo Season 3 already here! Very proud of the work everyone has done. But Season 4 then starts right up, cant’ wait – by far my favorite Season. We got to take the show in new, unexpected, and I think very rich directions. A big shout out the cast, crew, director, writers, and producers for making this happen.
I’m on TV . . .
Well not TV exactly, but a video of me is on the IFC website . . .
Actually did these interviews and edited these videos – I was in Washington DC last week at a gathering of Sustainability professionals from around the globe. We asked people to tell their stories, and at one point I jumped in front of the camera and did so myself.
So here I am – in the “Personal Journeys” category. Check it out.
I realize that my frame of reference for this video goes all the way back to college days from my senior thesis which was center around a book by Donna J. Haraway – Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. In the book she talked about growing up Catholic and how as a Catholic she was always “drawn to the belly of the beast.” Well, so am I.
Umlilo on fire
I’m in Washington DC and so I can’t watch my show Umlilo. Normally each Monday night I watch, chat to friends, and watch the twitter feeds.
Today I wake up and check twitter see we trended number one for seven hours straight! That means for the duration of the show and most of the night afterwards we were the number one thing talked about thing in South Africa.
I’m blessed to be a part of this show, the writers, crew, brilliant cast. Sitting 7,000 miles away, I feel deeply connected to South Africa at this moment, honored to be a part of shaping the country’s imagination, and in turn fed and connected by my adopted home.
Prince R.I.P.
David Bowie died and I immediately felt sad then Prince passes away and I pretend I don’t’ care. My relationship with Prince was much more complicated – decades long, he unsettled me, pushed me, guided me and over the days I remember and reclaim what he meant. Here are few of my Prince moments:
- Summer 1884: 12 years old listening to Purple rain on my silver cassette player feeling unsettled and aroused: “Wendy . . . is the water warm enough? Yes, Lisa. Shall we begin? Yes Lisa . . “
- Fall 1984: 7th grade, laying back in the orthodontist chair, my mouth strapped open, listening to the assistants gush about the skinny new movie star Prince.
- 1987: Germany my sister andI playing “If I was your girlfriend” like we are the first to discover it – especially the last part. “And would U, would U let me kiss there, you know down there where it counts . . . and together we’ll stare into silence.”
- Spring 1988: driving to school making everyone listen to “Sometimes it snows in April”, the mom making sarcastic weather comments and me wondering who Tracy was.
- 1995: working at a black gay bar, the crowd always goes wild when they play “Pussy Control” so I tell the DJ to play it nightly.
- 1996: I take my sister to visit university of Chicago to visit and they tell us repeatedly not to walk into Chicago’s South Side and so that night we head out on foot and end up in a cinema watching Girl 6 with an all Prince sound track.
- 1997 :“In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name . . . “
- 1998: Gold Experience CD: “Desperate is the day that is tomorrow . . . the only love there is is the love we make . . . “
- 2007: I rediscover Graffiti Bridge living in Johannesburg. I put , “Round and Round” on repeat and wonder what happened to Tevin after his arrest.
- March 2016: a month before his death, my older sister and I spend hours listening to Little Red Corvette covers on you youtube , she always liked that song. I like the lesbian one the best.
- April 2016: A bunch of us gather in the park in South Africa, almost spontaneously, to remember Prince – I DJ, drinking, laughing, remembering (pics below).
Prince our chronicler, our raconteur, our guide . . . rest in peace.
Waves
In Durban, my favorite get away. I’ve spent most of the weekend floating in the sea. It’s fun, the waves are so huge, you only go in certain areas, all crowded together, the life guards watching, the waves smashing against you.
I learn, yet again, the only thing you can do when a massive wave is barreling down on you is to duck. I know there’s a life lesson in here.
My Joburg
My Johannesburg neighborhood. Trash strike last week and so folks resorting to their own solutions.
Joburg is my love and my heartbreak . . .
Party Recovery . . .
Still recovering form my end of the year party. I must be old. But love that I’ve found my people. A glimpse for those that weren’t there . . .
Surviving the first Episode
So I watched Umlilo Season 3, Ep 1. At first, I could only see the problems and the terrible disjuncture between what I saw in my head when I wrote it and what was on screen (even if it was better on screen.) But then I relaxed and enjoyed it . . .
In any case, in case you missed it, here are the top 5 best moments. (I love the shit these marketing people come up with.) Check it out.