Flashback Friday #6 with Black and White Film, Documentaries, oh my! #nablopomo #blogher

Last week, I introduced you all to some guest posts that I wrote this year for other blogs. Today, you are all welcome to join me in taking a look back at some guest posts that other peeps wrote for this blog. Here we go!

Black and White Movies....why Not?

Anyes at Far Away in the Sunshine was kind enough to share not only why she loves black and white movies so much, but also which films were the favorites in this genre. I remember not being in the best of places that month and am grateful to have met Aynes, who is such a joy to host as a guest blogger. She brought the sunshine to my world that week! -- in black and white, go figure.

Favorite Documentaries that Made Me a Better Writer

Who knew that you could improve your writing by watching movies?! Well, Rashida at Books, Bass and Beauty explains how documentaries help her with character development being authentic and more. I had no idea that one of the documentaries on her list was one that I watched on Netflix some time ago and didn't love it...but, didn't hate it either. That goes to show how a movie that doesn't really move one person (me) may still move another (her), so never count a title out until you've watched it for yourself because you just may find it to be among one of your favorites.

The Flashback Friday series was inspired by Tara’s “Fake It Friday!” at Two Hands and a Roadmap.

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Favorite Documentaries that Made Me a Better Writer

This guest post is from Rashida of Books, Bass and Beauty who I met during the WordCount Blogathon.

Documentaries are my favorite types of films to watch. There's just something about the reality of them that intrigues me. Anybody can use their imagination to make a good movie. Taking real life and transforming it into a great film, however, is truly amazing to me. As an urban fiction author, I always put some of my real life and experiences in my stories. Watching documentaries helped me learn how to do that. Here are some of my favorite documentaries and how they have made me a better writer, a "docu-writer".

"Very Young Girls"

Everyone's life has a story and it starts when they are just a kid. I learned that from Very Young Girls and I use that in my writing. When creating characters and their back stories, I go all the way back to childhood. I think of the things that have happened to them in their past and how it has made them into the person they currently are. When you go through traumatic experiences and you are forced to grow up at an early age, you carry that with you into adulthood. Thanks to this documentary I now know how to create realistic characters with depth.

"Oh, Saigon"

I stumbled across this documentary on a public access channel one night. The story behind this family hit home immediately. Like Doan, the film maker, I come from a family that is blended and estranged at the same time. Just like hers, my father doesn't visit his family or where he grew up often because of the pain from his past. No matter what race, sex, or religion you are, families are all the same. I keep that in mind in my writing. I have lots of people that read my work that have never had any interest in urban books. What I want is for them to be able feel real emotion and see some of themselves or someone they know in my stories. I do that by being like Doan and putting it all out there for the world to see. I'm not afraid to put my family's history, good or bad, in my writing.

"Backstage"

Backstage is a documentary that goes behind the scenes of the "Hard Knock Life" tour back in 1999. This tour made history because it was the very first all hip hop tour to travel across the country to sold out arenas without any negativity. At that time I was a teenager and the independent hip hop label was still new. Rocafella, Ruff Ryders, and Murder Inc. Records were the front runners of this movement. I love this documentary not only because it's so nostalgic for me, but it was the first time that I saw on film that you can live your dreams and be self-made. Just like hip hop, urban fiction has a bad reputation because of the subject matter. What people don't see are the authors behind those stories. The morals of the stories are overlooked because of the strong language that so many can't seem to get around. So, what Backstage taught me was to stay true to myself and write the stories that come from my heart. No matter who doesn't like what I have to say, I am always Rashida. That's the best and most important thing I've learned thus far!

Rashida is an author and book reviewer of urban/street literature, blogger and lover of hip-hop culture. Become her fan on Facebook or add her on Twitter.

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Black and White movies...why not?

This guest post is from Anyes of Far away in the Sunshine who is a fellow WordCount Blogathon participant. You can also read my guest post on her blog.

The attraction I still have for Black and White movies started early on, while I was watching the late Friday nights flicks every week in my living room. Those magic moments marked the beginning of my love affair with the whole genre. As everyone was asleep and the whole house had fallen into a quiet slumber, a different atmosphere could be felt all around. I order to better my English, I remember watching mostly American B&W movies, in VO (original Version) with French subtitles.

They were showing me a world, I had never dreamed of. I was about 14 years old at the time and my impressionable mind absorbed all of those wonderful images. This foreign language was music to my ears, those landscapes I had never seen made me curious and eager to know more. The actors and actresses were all surrounded with the glow of my teenage admiration.

A movie like Suspicion, where the handsome Cary Grant made me wonder if he was as bad as his co star Joan Fontaine suspected was the kind I really enjoyed. Alfred Hitchcock's quiet understated movies were always so full of suspense. This particular capacity of his to take an ordinary situation and turn it into a frightful scenario, was simply irresistible to me. Looking past the fancy decor and the well chosen words of the dialog, I could see a whole different window into a world I wanted to be part of.

Another one of my all time favourite is Bringing Up Baby this time with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.  Every scene of this classic movie, was an excuse for a comic repartee from either actors or some physical comedy that left me crying out of laughter. I really enjoyed watching the interaction between the two actors and having a big adolescent crush on Cary Grant made the whole experience even more enjoyable.

Having fairly young children, I have made a point to try and share my love for those old fashioned movies signs of different times. I feel very lucky that both my children still come and sit with me when one of my old favourite is showing on TCM, and get to spend a bit of time into a different world, one I used to cherish in my younger years.

What is your favourite Black and white movie?