Magazines, News, Interviews etc. #10 all in one thread

[Fraz]

How The OC saved music

Dorian Lynskey
Wednesday December 1, 2004
The Guardian

Critics might dismiss hit soap opera The OC as a latter-day Beverly Hills 90210, but in one important respect it's a major improvement. In 1993, after an appearance by the Flaming Lips, one 90210 character gave the unforgettable verdict: "I've never been a big fan of alternative music, but these guys rocked the house!"
Ten years on, The OC's Seth Cohen, played by Adam Brody, has been dubbed "TV's most popular fictional music buff" by Entertainment Weekly magazine. Cohen secured his status as alternative music's most high-profile cheerleader during a heated debate over the merits of cult quartet Death Cab for Cutie with the line: "Hey, do not insult Death Cab." And he would never use the phrase "rocked the house".

The soundtracks of several hit US shows, including Scrubs and The Gilmore Girls, betray their creators' left-field tastes, but none as influentially as The OC, which exposes the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and Clinic to 10 million viewers every week. The Californian soap, which has already spawned three compilation CDs, attracts heavy hitters such as U2 and Gwen Stefani, but routinely favours more obscure bands.

The show's music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas, learned her trade working for shoestring film-maker Roger Corman. "I got interested in music that was under the radar because that was all we could afford," she says. Every week she burns a CD of new music for Josh Schwartz, The OC's 28-year-old creator, to consider. Schwartz is an indie aficionado himself, and Adam Brody really is a Death Cab for Cutie fan.


As MTV screens fewer videos and US radio playlists become more homogenised, The OC's ability to champion new music is especially important. Beneficiaries include LA quintet Rooney, whose sales tripled the week following their appearance, and British singer-songwriter Jem, who plays a wedding singer in the season finale.

In the new series, coming to E4 in January, Seth Cohen conveniently starts work at a rock venue, where visiting bands will include the Killers, the Thrills and Modest Mouse. No wonder Patsavas is deluged by CDs from eager up-and-comers. "It feels so natural because I think the characters would listen to the music that we're playing," she says. "I've heard the phrase 'OC band' and it's really flattering."

[Fraz]

Merry Chrismukkah: Cards Combine Holidays

By MATT SEDENSKY

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Every December, Zack Rudman and his wife send out cards with winterscapes and generic holiday greetings.

Finally, though, the Kansas City lawyer found a variety that seemed to better suit a Jewish man and an Episcopal woman with two young children as familiar with the menorah as mistletoe. It screams ``Merry Chrismukkah!''

Across the country, two holidays that once seemed to share little more than a calendar page are increasingly being melded on greeting cards aimed at the country's estimated 2.5 million families with both Jewish and Christian members.

``It's representative of the way people live and the way they spend the holidays,'' said Elise Okrend, an owner of Raleigh, N.C.-based MixedBlessing, a card company devoted to interfaith holiday greetings. ``And it's an expression of people understanding the people around them.''


MixedBlessing, like other companies, has found such interfaith greeting cards have a stable market niche and a slowly growing customer base.


The company was among the first to come out with holiday cards suitable for Jewish-Christian families about 15 years ago and is still perhaps the only company to focus entirely on that market segment.


In its first year, it sold about 3,000 cards from nine different offerings. This year, Okrend projects sales of 200,000 cards off its 55-card line.


Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards Inc. says among its most popular categories of Hanukkah cards is the one that combines Jewish and Christian themes.


The company tried the idea with just one card in the mid-90s; today they have four.


``The essence of these cards is not about interfaith households as much as it is about friends and family members of different faiths acknowledging the different holidays that they all celebrate,'' said Shalanda Stanley, a product manager at Hallmark.


American Greetings Corp. has also increased its Hanukkah-Christmas line offerings since its introduction eight years ago. There are around 10 this year.


Kathy Krassner, editor of Greetings Inc., a trade magazine, said mixed-faith holiday cards are one of countless niche categories introduced by greeting card companies.


``It's an interesting market,'' she said. ``But it's a limited market.''


The newest player is Chrismukkah.com, which helped put a name on what many interreligious families have been celebrating for years.


Ron Gompertz founded the company this year with his wife, inspired by an episode of the popular Fox series ``The O.C.'' in which Seth Cohen, a character whose mother is Protestant and father is Jewish, coins the term.


``It's a little bit of both,'' Gompertz explains. ``Spin the dreidel under the mistletoe.''


As with anything addressing religion, though, cardmakers are careful not to offend.


The Chrismukkah site even offers a disclaimer: ``We respect people's different faiths and do not suggest combining the religious observance of Christmas and Hanukkah.''


``Our intention wasn't to merge the religious aspects,'' Gompertz said, ``but rather the secular aspects of the holidays.''


Gompertz's explanation hasn't gone over well with everyone. He says the site has angered some conservative Jews who believe it promotes intermarriage.


Cards from the Livingston, Mont.-based Chrismukkah.com use humor to create a hybrid holiday. Gompertz is Jewish and from New York City. He married the daughter of a Protestant minister from the Midwest. His company offers greetings including images of a Christmas tree decorated with dreidels, a menorah filled with candy canes and simpler varieties featuring messages including ``Merry Mazeltov'' and ``Oy Joy.''


``It's whimsical. It's humorous,'' said Gompertz. ``This is a way of diffusing the seriousness of it.''


Most of American Greetings' Hanukkah-Christmas cards are humorous, too. One shows three snowmen - two dressed in traditional winter hats and scarves, the third wearing a yarmulke and prayer shawl. Another features a list of Hanukkah songs that never caught on, including ``Shlepping Through a Winter Wonderland,'' ``Bubbie Got Run Over by a Reindeer'' and ``Come On, Baby, Light My Menorah.''


``We don't go over the line,'' said Pam Fink, who works on Jewish-themed cards for American Greetings. ``We're careful to make sure it's lighthearted funny, but not too far.''


More serious messages are offered, too. One Hallmark card begins ``Hanukkah and Christmas - two different holidays, but each a celebration of peace and joy, of love and family and friends.''


Cardmakers say similarities between the two holidays, and the strong secular side of each is what makes combining them possible, something not necessarily true of any other season.


That hasn't stopped Gompertz from floating around an ``Easterover'' idea, featuring a ``Rabbi Rabbit.''


Still, Gompertz thinks he'll probably pass on that idea. ``That threatens to push the levels of what's acceptable,'' he said.


On the Net:


American Greetings: http://www.americangreetings.com


Chrismukkah: http://www.chrismukkah.com


Hallmark Cards: http://www.hallmark.com


MixedBlessing: http://www.mixedblessing.com

[Fraz]

Thursday, December 2, 2004
Sundance Festival to include two movies filmed in North Carolina


Associated Press


GREENSBORO, N.C. - Two movies filmed in North Carolina will be shown next month at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, the internationally recognized showcase for independent American films.

"Junebug," written by Winston-Salem playwright Angus MacLachlan and directed by Winston-Salem native Phil Morrison, and "Loggerheads," written and directed by Wingate native Tim Kirkman, will be shown.

The festival runs Jan. 20-30 in Park City, Utah.

The two movies were among 16 films selected for Sundance's dramatic competition, chosen from among 761 American narrative feature films submitted.

By having "Junebug" screened at Sundance, "we hope we will get people interested in it, and that we will get a distributor," MacLachlan said.

"Junebug" was filmed primarily in Winston-Salem in a neighborhood off Hanes Mill Road, New Hope Methodist Church, a Waffle House, an art gallery created in an empty Trade Street storefront, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and Pilot Mountain.

It features Benjamin McKenzie, the young star of TV's "The O.C.," in his first film role.

The story focuses on Madeleine, a Chicago art gallery owner, and her new husband, George, a native of Pfafftown. When Madeleine gets a lead on an undiscovered North Carolina artist, she uses the opportunity to visit him and to meet George's family.

Her relationships with her husband's parents and his younger brother's family challenge her preconceptions.

McKenzie plays George's younger brother, Johnny.

Kirkman called Sundance "the holy grail of independent film festivals. To be included is a real exciting accomplishment at this stage."

Kirkman said his film, filmed mainly in Wilmington, is a fictionalized account of a true story involving a middle-aged woman who gave up her son for adoption when she was a teenager and now wants to find him; the child, who is now a young man; and the adoptive parents from whom he is estranged.

Among the stars of the film are Tess Harper ("Tender Mercies") Bonnie Hunt ("Jerry Maguire"), Michael Learned ("The Waltons") and Kip Pardue ("Remember the Titans").

[Fraz]

Oh come, 'OC' faithful. . .
WB offers merch around holiday episode of teen sudser

By JOSEF ADALIAN


Forget Festivus: The new hot made-formade-for-TV holiday is Chrismukkah.
The mash-up of Christmas and Hanukkah originated last year as the focus of a holiday episode of Fox's hit sudsersudser "The OC." Series creator Josh SchwartzJosh Schwartz calls the interfaith holiday "eight days of gifts followed by one day of many, many gifts."

However you define Chrismukkah, it was an instant hit among the show's young fan base. And now it's going commercial.

A Chrismukkah CD of holiday tunes was released earlier this year. And now, using recently launched OCInsider.com, producer Warner Bros. is offering fans a slew of Chrismukkah-related merchandise.

You can buy boxes of Chrismukkah cards. There's Chrismukkah wrapping paper. Or for $16, you can get the Yarmuclaus -- a fuzzy red combination of a yarmulke and a Santa hat.

Latter item is actually selling out on the Web site, even though it won't make its TV debut until the second annual "OC" Chrismukkah episode, which airs Dec. 16.

Schwartz is still bummed about one bit of Chrismukkahalia that wasn't.

"I wanted to get the Beastie Boys to do a cover of 'Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,' " he sighs. "It didn't happen."

[Fraz]

Somebody's O.U.T. on 'The O.C.'
(Friday, December 10 01:35 PM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Wherever Mischa Barton goes, lesbian subplots seem to follow. During a much-discussed run on "Once & Again," Barton's character found halting young love with Evan Rachel Wood's confused teen. In the indie feature "Lost and Delirious," Barton's character was shocked to discover that her friends played by Piper Perabo and Jessica Pare were more than just friends. Barton is expected to explore alternative lifestyle choices again in January, when Marissa Cooper finds love in unexpected places on FOX's "The O.C."
The drama's creator Josh Schwartz confirms to Out.com that next month will see some unexpected changes for Barton's character, who has had emotionally distant relationships with Chris Carmack's Luke, Benjamin McKenzie's Ryan and Nicholas Gonzalez's D.J. during the show's run.

"Marissa's at a point in her life where she's trying to find herself and her true identity," Schwartz tells the site. "There's another character who she really connects with. It's a girl, which is not something Marissa may have anticipated. But she's willing and game to explore and experiment with that."


Although Schwartz declined to discuss Marissa's future romantic foil, speculation has centered on Olivia Wilde's Alex, a new character introduced this season. Alex has already had a blind date with Ryan, a romantic kiss with Adam Brody's Seth and a kiss with a random female to prove a point, but that doesn't mean that there isn't room for flexibility when ratings are involved.
Schwartz denies, though, that Marissa's explorations are Nielsen-based. Since moving to Thursday nights this fall, "The O.C." is averaging more than 7.6 million viewers.

"We cooked it up well before the show ever premiered this year," Schwartz says. "We're constantly looking at evolving and growing these characters. And challenging them. They're at that age where they're open to it. It was either that or Oliver's return."

There's still no word on when Ryan and Seth will consummate their long-smoldering friendship.

[littleputz114]

CHRISMUKKAH IS NOW!

Celebrating the holidays together.
Hanukkah is here and Christmas is fast approaching. Many of us are wrestling with an annual dilemma: "So, what's it going to be? You want your matzoh balls or a candy cane? Spin the Dreidel or get kissed under the mistletoe?" Well, you've found the one place where you don't have to choose. Here we have it all! Here we celebrate Chrismukkah !


What exactly is Chrismukkah?
Chrismukkah is not a literal calendar holiday. It's the "state of mind" interfaith families find themselves in this time of year. Chrismukkah is a gumbo of favorite secular, (Eg non-religious) traditions from both Hanukkah and Christmas. Chrismukkah is celebrated by intermarried couples, interfaith families with both Jewish and Christian members, people with partial Jewish heritage... or anyone who just feels like it. Chrismukkah is a festive celebration of diversity and tolerance - a fresh way to describe how millions of us already experience the Merry Mishmash of a holiday. The most recent UJC survey counted 5.2 million Jewish people in America. It found that of those who were married, nearly 1/3rd had wed non-Jews. Further, nearly half who have tied the knot within the past 5 years, married non-Jewish spouses.

But how is Chrismukkah spelled?
Chrismukkah is not a religious holiday, so first we take the T out. Next, swap the N in Hanukkah for an M, and voila! Nobody seems to agree how Hanukkah is spelled - Google it and you'll find Chanukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, Channukah. Chrismukkah therefore has multiple (mis)spellings too: Chrismukka, Chrismukah, Chrismuka, Chrismakka, Christmukkah, Christmukah, Christmakkah, Christmakah... now even Chrismahanukwanzakah... we've seen it all. But we prefer the typographic elegance of Chrismukkah. :-)

Source: Chrismukkah.com

[Dreamer101]

lol...that was funny, thanks for posting that Darc.

[prankster324]

Thanks for the article Darc!

[Fraz]

Josh Schwartz
'Tis the season to get into the spirit of Chrismukkah! Join "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz as he talks about the new CD "Chrismakkah" from one of the hottest shows on TV and talks about the spirit of Chrismukkah being alive in "The O.C." with fans.




Chat begins on Tuesday, December 14
at 7pm ET/4pm PT


http://chat.msn.com/msnlive_feature....hwartz_dec2004

[ShannonQT85]

i'm not a msn member so i dont think i can do it. and i have finals this week with my 2 hardest on wednesday so i'll be studying anyways. oh well...i hope everyone has fun who does the chat cuz i wish i could!

[Dreamer101]

i'm an msn user...but I don't really like those chats, because they don't always allow your questions to go through...so I don't think I'll be doing it. Thanks for the info Fraz.

[prankster324]

Thanks for the info Fraz. I wish I could do it but I also have finals coming up, so I don't think I have time for it. Hope everyone who does the chat has a good time!

[Fraz]

Well I hope that somewhere they post the transcript because I am at work when this is going on tomorrow as well.

If we get a transcript will post it.

[Skye24_7]

I'm going to miss it. Really hope we get a transcript because I'd like to see what Josh has to say.

Thanks for the info, Fraz.

[littleputz114]

I really hope they post a transcript. I'm beating myself up right now for having to miss this. Sadly, I won't be home when it takes place. I have a meeting to go to.