We've Got Penn in Cannes Exclusive Film Festival Coverage All This Week!

Last year we had our special Penn in Cannes correspondent Felisha Liu (W'09) providing us with coverage from the festival.

This year, Brian Tran (W'10) just wrapped up his week in Cannes and is this year's special Dueling Tampons Correspondent giving us the exclusive early scoop about some of the great (and not so great) films to come out of the festival. Plus how this year's festival has changed somewhat from last year...

Brian will be a Senior in the Wharton School this fall, studying Marketing and an individualized concentration in Media and Entertainment. He also attended the Cannes Film Festival last year as part of the Penn-in-Cannes program, but this year he's back with a film in the Short Film Corner and Film Market (he was a Producer and Director of Photography for a short film directed by Courtney Terwilliger (C'10) called The Power of Freedom). Brian also writes film critique for 34th Street Magazine and is Business Manager for Penn Singers.

Check back tomorrow when Brian tells us about:

• his red carpet experience
• the much better access he had with his higher "festival badge accreditation" 
• whether he had to "beg" this year
• which big star walked right in front of him

Check out last year's Penn in Cannes posts HERE

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Is this Penn Undergrad the Next John Legend? (VIDEO)

While he's still an undergrad, Malik Smith (C'10) is a musician we should all be looking out for.  

With his new single “Crazy” from his debut EP, "Before Dawn", already becoming a fan favorite on Reverbnation and drawing comparisons to last summer’s smash hit “Closer” by Ne-Yo;  Malik is only a brush stroke away from success.

Per Malik,

“I am a musician for the people…I write songs that connect to the simple yet universal things in life: happiness, love, lust, family, hardship, courage and triumph. I love music because I know there is a song for every moment”.

Check out the smooth stylings of Malik in his video above for his new single "Crazy" and look out for more about him on DT in the future!


Become a Fan of Malik's on Facebook HERE

Other Penn musicians here

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Team Philadelphia Uses Their Brave New Voices to RIGHTFULLY Advance Into Finals! (VIDEO)

Drama alert!

If you saw Russell Simmons' "Brave New Voices" on Sunday night you would have seen that at first our Team Philadelphia didn't get into the finals...BUT because of their "brave new voices", they called the judges on a technicality of one of the other teams who got into the finals.  Apparently the other team went over their allotted time. As a result, Team Philadelphia is rightfully now in the finals!

While I have covered chilling performances from Josh Bennett (C'10) and Alysia Harris (C'10), last night was the first time we were introduced to Aysha El Shamyleh (C'10).  And while they didn't show Aysha's "Cupid in a War Zone" video posted on the HBO site on Sunday night's episode, I wanted to make sure all of you got the chance to check it out above.  It's yet another spine tingling, emotional performance by Team Philadelphia!

Per HBO.com,

'Aysha spits passionately about gender and social justice for the Middle East and all Muslims. "My first language is Arabic," she says. "And sometimes I feel really guilty because I cannot pick up a pen and write a poem in Arabic. Maybe it's because it's a very rich, sophisticated language, very difficult to use." Is there slam poetry in the Arab world? Aysha says, "Not that I'm aware of, but my sister and I were thinking we would love to introduce it to Jordan and the Arab world."'

On a related note, in this week's episode there was a moving clip from a performance where Aysha El Shamyleh (C'10) and Alysia Haris (C'10) perform together. Each were locked arm in arm and had their back to one another and were supposed to represent two different sides of a person.  I presently can't find the clip anywhere but if I should find it, I will post it on DT.

Let's all hope that Team Philadelphia wins next Sunday night in the Finals!





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These 4 Penn Friends Want You To Lend for Peace

What happens when 4 Penn alumni come together to raise money for a good cause? Ask (l to r in pic in left) David Fraga (C'07, Mask and Wig, Sphinx Senior Society, Performing Arts Council), Allam Taj, (Law '09), Sam Adelsberg (C'10), and Andrew Dudum (C'11).

In February, these 4 created LendforPeace.org, a non-profit microfinance platform focused on the Middle East and was recently featured on Fox Business (see interview clip above featuring David Fraga).

LendforPeace.org was founded by these four Penn students (two Jews and two Palestinians) on the premise that grassroots economic development through microfinance may help increase stability in the Middle East. While the founders disagree about a lot of things, it is hard to disagree about a mission of poverty alleviation and job creation.

Supported by such institutions as the Clinton Global Initiative and Ashoka (the largest association of social entrepreneurs in the world), Lendforpeace.org was launched on February 5th at an event on Penn's campus.

Visit www.LendforPeace.org and their Blog HERE

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Partners in Poetry: 2 Pros Who Make Team Philadelphia Look Real Good (VIDEOS)

Have you been watching  Russell Simmons' "Brave New World" on HBO?  If you have, you would have seen great performances from our Team Philadelphia .

Highlighted this week on the show were moving performances from Alysia Harris' (C'10, The Excelano Project) and Josh Bennett (C'10, The Excelano Project, Brave New Voices 2008 slam champion).

• Watch Alysia's "That Girl" piece above ... it's yet another performance of hers that will give you the chills!  
  
• If that's not moving enough, then watch Josh's "Carbon Copy" piece above where he honors his love for his father directly in front of him.
  

On a related note, it turns out that Alysia and Josh met in their high school days at a diversity conference where they were both performing spoken word (and even dated for a bit!).

While the show has only aired 2 episodes, from the site, it looks like we should be expecting another performance from Aysha El Shamayleh (C'10, The Excelano Project) sometime soon.

Good luck Team Philadelphia!  

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This Year's Winning Hey Day T-Shirt Design

I love how in 2009, all the undergrads use the web to promote everything from their candidacy, to fraternity parties, to fundraisers and now ...Hey Day t-shirt designs!

The t-shirt design to the left by Audrey Menco (C'10) is this year's winning design. 

Check out the other Hey Day t-shirt designs HERE.  I also thought another contender was the "Obama"-esque design.  These designs all look way cooler than the t-shirt I had back in 1995!

Which t-shirt do you like?

Catch up on Hey Day videos from the past!

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"Slamming" Penn Undergrads on HBO's "Brave New Voices"

Over the years on DT, I posted about The Excelano Project, a captivating group at Penn that performs the Spoken Word.

Apparently, 4 members of this group have caught the attention of Russell Simmons and will be starring in Simmons' new HBO show "Brave New Voices" debuting this Sunday night at 11pm ET/PT.

Per the HBO site, the show is "one part Def Poetry Jam and two-parts documentary" which "features the finest young spoken word artists in the country".

Representing from Penn are Josh Bennett (C'10), Aysha El Shamayleh (C'10), Alysia Harris (C'10), and Chloe Wayne (C'10).

If you recall, last year I named Alysia Harris' performance of "What's in a Soldier", the "#1 Penn Video That Will Give You the Chills".

Best of luck to Team Philadelphia!

Watch out for them on Sundays at 11 pm ET/PT on HBO!

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Getting Hot on DT: Their Jalapeno Contest

We've all experimented with jalapenos before but the guys in this film definitely have some serious cajones! (if they were indeed eating as many as the film makes us think!)

Check out this class project video starring some undergrads as a final project for one of Penn's cinematography courses (Starring RJ Ferguson (C'10) and Yanik Ruiz-Ramon (C'10) Produced by Matt Emrick (C'09) and Karishma Jhalani (C'08))

Watch the video


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The Procrastination Poster Child Has a Plan...And It's A Good One

Amin Osman (C'09) and Michael Shomin (C'10) created this video about a kid who is on his way to turning in his final term paper. Along the way, he flashes back to everything that's led to this moment.

Pay attention to the interesting story telling here ...and its good payoff!

Other awesome Class Project Videos

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Penn in Cannes: Her First Walk Down the Red Carpet

Jason Wald (C10), Felisha Liu (W09), Anna Cororaton(C09)

So far this week Felisha Liu (W'09) shared some of the good, bad and disappointing films she saw at Cannes, how she managed to score tickets to films through the art of begging and which Penn powerful Penn alumni she met.

Today, she tells us about the electricity in the air at Cannes and her first walk down the Red Carpet!

Click here to read her post!

Check back tomorrow to find out about a very special Beach screening of a film classic Felisha attended and which star made a surprise appearance!

Read Part 1: Penn in Cannes: The Good, The Bad, and The Disappointing
Read Part 2: Penn in Cannes: Begging and Tips For Scoring You Tickets & Access
Read Part 3: Hobnobbing With Penn Hollywood Big Wigs


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Per Felisha:

"Red is the color of power, strength, passion, danger and desire.

The Red Carpet of the Grand Theater Lumiere at the Festival De Cannes is all of these and so much more. The first time I walked down the Red Carpet, I couldn’t stop smiling.

It didn’t matter that jaded people around me gave me dirty looks as I posed for what seems like an onslaught of pictures.

How many people get to walk the Red Carpet in their lifetime? Not many, and so I was going to take full advantage of the opportunity. There are two entrances to the Red Carpet: the Orchestra and Corbeille seats walk the entire carpet, while Balcony seats merge halfway up.

My first film was the 11:30pm screening of Blindness, for which I was fortunate enough to get Orchestra seats. I strutted like a VIP past the barricades separating us from the gawkers. At the edge of the Red Carpet, my friends and I paused to take it all in. Lights from the top of the stairs shone like beacons, enveloping everything in a surreal light. Photographers lined the Carpet on both sides with ever-flashing bulbs ready to capture that million dollar shot. Savoring every moment of pure bliss, I walked extremely slowly up towards the stairs. My friends and I anchored ourselves in the middle of the stairs and gave ourselves our own photo shoot alongside the paparazzi.

It is impossible not to get caught up in the frenzy. There is a sense of excitement and electricity in the air all up and down the Croisette, the beachfront street of Cannes, during the nighttime premieres. The streets are barricaded as black-tinted Renault cars drop off the movie stars one by one. Screaming signifies a recognizable celebrity, and the entire crowd pushes forward to try to get a closer look. Walking down the street is nearly impossible. In addition to the thousands of gawkers, automobiles try to drive through the masses. The worst traffic jams are the strollers going against the flow of traffic. Add on the onslaught of people still begging for last minute tickets and the result is angry shouting and violent pushing.

But in the end, it the traffic is worth the experience of the Red Carpet. Everyone wants a piece of the magic. For the little girls who grew up thinking they wanted to be Princesses, walking down the Red Carpet is about as close as you can get.

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Love Week: Better Than Sending You Chocolates!

(from l to r) Mark Huerta (C'09), Andrew Leonard (C'09), Kyle Andrews (SEAS'09), and Patrick Wolff (C'09)

Last week I saw on Facebook that the Glee Club was allowing people to place orders to send Singing Valentines to "that special someone."

Thanks to Lee Crain (C'10) from the Glee Club, I placed my order to send a Singing Valentine to you & all of my readers... my "special someones". It comes from the Glee Club to you ... via video!

Thank you readers out there for coming back each day!

Get serenaded here!

Check out all my posts from the DuelingTampons' "Love Week" series

How awesome are these guys for doing this for me!

If you enjoyed that, then you should check out the Glee Club's "Miracle on Rice" show next week: February 21, 22, 23 at 8:00 PM in the Zellerbach Theater. Tickets Available on Locust Walk from Feb. 18-22 and at the Annenberg Center Box Office. Visit www.penngleeclub.com for more information.

Check out the Glee's Club's "Miracle on Rice" fun promo video here

READ MORE - Love Week: Better Than Sending You Chocolates!

Love Week: They Really Love the Library

Penn students, including me, seem to love to do entertaining videos in, at and about the library.

So, as part of "love week" on DuelingTampons.com, I wanted to show you the love a bunch of undergrads really seem to have for the library.

Check out this very entertaining short video highlighting the many features and functions of the Weigle Information Commons, located on the 1st floor of Van Pelt Library.

Do these guys love the library, or what?! It's great!

Starring Ryan Leonard (C'10), Andrew Abranovic (C'10), Will Xiong (C'10). Directed by Ryan A. Leonard.

Click here to check out this musical extravaganza

Check out my library video: "Stacked Competition"

Check out all my posts from the DuelingTampons' "Love Week" series

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Broke and Homeless Ivy Leaguer goes Viral

Eric Augenbraun's (C'10) and Stephen Stewart's (C'10) idea for a prank may very well turn into a potential web video series called "The Collegiate Bum".

Apparently Eric and Stephen were thinking of a way to prank their friend. They were determined on creating a fake DP article talking about how their friend was homeless and managed to make his way through Penn without having a dorm or apartment, never paying for books, etc. ("owing in part to the ridiculous price of a Penn education" Eric says).

Eric tells me, "we thought the idea was too good to waste on a prank and we were both interested in making a web series. We made the little trailer that night and we liked the response to it so we decided to go through with it."

The team is working on the writing for the first episode right now and it should be out by Feb. 28. Stay tuned!

Click here to check out "The Collegiate Bum"
Starring Eric Augenbraun (C'10), Isaiah Greene (C'10), Paul Pennington (C'10), Chidi Ahaghotu (C'10), RJ Ferguson (C'10), and Erin Marshall (C'10).

Speaking of broke Penn kids, this reminds me of Angela Nisel (C'98) and her book The Broke Diaries. Angela was an early blogger back as an undergrad who documented her daily humorous accounts of her struggles trying to make it through Penn on little money. As a result of her unique voice, she landed up in Hollywood writing for the TV show Scrubs (and was even featured on an Oprah episode!).

Check out Angela's Book The Broke Diaries

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Something’s deliciously fishy about this short

As the final part of my Talented Undergrad Showcase Week: featuring filmmaker Brian Canavan (C'10), take a look at this creative "Goldfish" piece by Brian using stop action animation (credit also goes to Andrew Salute (C'10), David Loewy (C'10), Chris Arasin (C'10), Emily Barlow (C'10), and Amy Jones (C'10)). As you can see throughout this week, Brian seems to successfully experiment with different film genres.

Check out Brian's stop action "Goldfish" short

Click to see what other 2010 Penn undergrads are up to

Check out other creative Penn Class Projects!

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They're running a film festival in Philadelphia

Believe it or not there's another Penn related film festival outside of the Los Angeles based Pennfest film & music festival.

It's the Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival (GPSFF) and this one is only for current Penn (and neighboring Philadelphia college) students and alumni one year out.

You hear that undergrad filmmakers I posted about here?

Now in its 3rd year and co-run by Penn undergrads, GPSFF seeks t o forge lasting connections between the city and its most talented filmmakers as an investment in Philadelphia's film industry. This festival provides an outlet for Philadelphia students to screen their films in front of a city-wide audience of their peers.

“The GPSFF team has built an extensive network of student liaisons from the various schools that will allow the Festival to grow beyond the walls of UPenn, where it originally started.” said Yanik Ruiz-Ramón (C’10), Co-Executive Director of the Festival’s board. “With the success of last year’s festival, we are anticipating tremendous growth for this year’s event, with more submissions from more schools, a more diverse attendance of students throughout the region, and greater support from both the city and promotional sponsors,” said Jason Gurwin (W’08), Co-Executive Director, a founding member of the festival board.

GPSFF will be accepting submissions from current Penn students and alumni within one year of graduation through Friday February 1st, WITH NO SUBMISSION FEE! (Late submissions may be sent in by February 15th but require a $10 late fee.)

Finalists will have their films screened in front of hundreds of adoring fans at the GPSFF Awards Ceremony on March 28 and the winning films will be screened in the Philadelphia Film Festival in April in Levitt Auditorium at 401 S. Broad Street, which seats up to 600 people.

Click here for submission guidelines

Any questions, email GPSFF@GPSFF.com.

Watch the GPSFF Promotional Videos: City Ad, "GPSFF Boardroom": Day One, Day Two

Check out all Penn alumni filmmakers I've posted about

Check out all Penn Film Producers I've posted about

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