Monday, July 26, 2010

THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT

lasttruck

As a fan of cars, Americana, and documentaries, I was drawn in by the Oscar nominated documentary short "The Last Truck: Closing Of A GM Plant" - currently playing on HBO On Demand.

The IMDB tagline sums it up as, "The inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, as lived by the people who worked the line."

The plant came to a close as the U.S. economy faltered, gas prices rose, and the gas guzzling SUVs and trucks made on the GM line fell out of favor with the American public.

The documentary shows ordinary American factory workers (all with just high school educations) showing pride in their workmanship on the line, unsure of what future employment they will be able to find with their education level, and sharing stories of the wonderful solidarity and companionship they found among their GM co-workers. Sure these people just helped manufacture cars, but I really saw them as great American heroes doing the hard physical work that's responsible for building this great country and automotive industry. The film shows a cohesion and fraternity rare among women and men, blacks and whites, young and old.

Besides the dignity and pride that shows through from the interview subjects, I felt the film had a real beauty in how it captured the exterior of the plant and town.
- Lydia Marcus


Here's an interview with the filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CALI

cali1year

One year ago I adopted Cali from Southern California Labrador Retriever Rescue. Happy Anniversary my sweet Cali-ente!

Here's a then (4 months old) & now (1yr, 4mo) photo. She went from just under 25 pounds to just under 50 pounds! She's smart as a whip, very obedient, an excellent retriever, lots of fun, and has NEVER chewed anything in the house that doesn't belong to her.

© Lydia Marcus / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed July 2009/2010 in Los Angeles, CA

Monday, July 12, 2010

THE QUEER FILM EXPERT

Jenni Olson

I interviewed Jenni Olson for my documentary "Desert Hearts Mon Amour" and shot this with my Nikon D80 / 50mm f/1.8 lens after we finished rolling. I thought the DGA little theater (aka DGA Video / DGA 3) was the perfect setting to interview Jenni. We both had seen many great films in that theater in the early days of Outfest.

Jenni Olson is director of e-commerce at WolfeVideo.com and one of the world's leading experts on LGBT cinema history. Author of The Queer Movie Poster Book (2005, Chronicle Books), Jenni was also one of the founders of PlanetOut.com where she established the massive queer film industry resource, PopcornQ. She continues to write about queer films, as well as curating, collecting, and creating them. Her feature debut, The Joy of Life is now available on DVD. Her website is www.butch.org.

Jenni Olson

Jenni Olson

Jenni Olson
© Lydia Marcus / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed July 11, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA at the Directors Guild of America

Friday, July 9, 2010

OUTFEST 2010

A Tigress & A Cougar - Meowwwwww!

A Tigress & A Cougar - Meowwwww! "Momma" Dearest & Me, Outfest Opening Night Party.

Outfest has been a summertime tradition for me since 1987. This year is the 28th Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

Tickets are still available for many films, panels, and events. Go to outfest.org.

Outfest2010-2

Outfest2010

Photo © Lydia Marcus / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed July 8, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

WE WANNA GET OUR KICKS ON ROUTE 66

If you like the bad performances on American Idol you may get a kick out of me and my two friends singing a twist on the song Get Your Kicks On Route 66. We made the video for a contest sponsored by Sears called Exploring My America. We hope to win the L.A. to Amarillo Route 66 portion so we can go on the trip and have it paid for by Sears.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

LYDIAMARCUS.COM IS NOW VIEWABLE ON MOBILE DEVICES

lydiamarcus.com/mobile

My main photography website www.lydiamarcus.com is Flash and until now has not been viewable on mobile devices, i.e. cell phones. But I'm happy to announce a new mobile version viewable on many devices including iPhones and Blackberrys.

There are two ways to access the mobile site:

1. Go to www.lydiamarcus.com and click on the tab that says "Enter Mobile Devices Site" on the new splash page.

2. Go directly to the new mobile site at www.lydiamarcus.com/mobile.

Friday, July 2, 2010

LADY LIBERTY

Happy 4th of July weekend!
Lady Liberty

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed January 23, 2010 in Twentynine Palms, CA

Photographed with a Nikon D40 / Nikon 18-55mm