Tre premiere in Chicago -- Headed for Obama Speech in Maryland

After the Chicago premiere of Tre at Facets we had a great party in the upstairs lounge of a bar/restaurant down the (very cold freezing cold) street.  Kimberly-Rose and I had to duck out briefly to do a Q and A for the late screening -- as soon as the credits were done Kim told me that in her introduction she'd promised the audience that I would tell a joke.  I was unprepared for this, so to get Kim back I talked about the shooting of Tre, and panties prop we used in the car scene -- a story I delight in telling because it embarrasses Kim to death, my favorite thing to do.  (Her favorite thing to do is embarrass me by the way).   Later at the party a group of guys and gals got into an impassioned discussion about whether Kim's character Kakela ever loved Tre at any time, or whether she was just using him.  More and more people were called in to give their opinion and support the counterveiling arguments.  Finally I started keeping score, at which point another friendly dispute broke out about the quality of sex Kakela had with Gabe -- namely did she ever climax ever once or did she never climax never once with Gabe.  By the end of the night the results were quite decisive, but I won't give it away here.  I will say that everyone liked the cartoons I drew to signify the different choices (one was a drawing of a heart with an arrow through it, and the other was a drawing with an arrow missing the heart completely).  Many of Chicago's actors and filmmakers came out to support and I had some great conversations about technique following Friday and Saturday screenings. 

Meanwhile, I was doing my part for Barack Obama this weekend.  With the help of my friends in Virginia, I organized 3,000 calls from Chicago Asian Americans and Latinos to Virginia Asian Americans and Latinos (many of them in-language) urging them to vote for Barack Obama.  I enlisted a Puerto Rican woman who came to see Tre and saw my Obama sticker.  Turns out she used to work with Obama when he was doing community work here in Chicago!  She was happy to call Latino voters in Virginia because she can relate to them first hand (and in Spanish) how hard Obama worked for the Latino community -- before he was running for public office. 

Today I have one last q/a screening at Facets at 3 PM, then I fly to Virginia.  I'll be shooting video at a rally featuring Barack Obama at University of Maryland tomorrow morning.  If you're in the area, please join us -- and email me to let me know to look out for you (ericbyler52@gmail.com).

Stand for Change Rally with Barack Obama in College Park

University of Maryland

Comcast Center

1 Terrapin Trail

College Park, MD 20742

Monday, February 11, 2008

Doors Open: 10:30 a.m.

And, to top it off, during the 7 PM screening I got the very happy news from Annabel Park in Maryland and Wendy Carillo in Los Angeles that BARACK OBAMA swept Satuday's primaries in Nebraska, Washington State, and Louisianna.  I'm starting to believe that government by the people is possible.  But don't underestimate government by the politicians.  Old habits die hard.