I've covered singer-songwriter Jill Goldberg (C'04, Dischord A Cappella, Penn Choir, Wind Ensemble) on DT before and have been saving this great music video of hers for Halloween because I really like this song and there were some cool animated ghosts floating around in the video.

However, what I didn't know until yesterday was the moving backstory behind this song.

After the jump, watch the video and learn about the touching reason why her perspective about ghosts has changed over the years.

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I've talked about my obsession with the talented and passionate Penn undergrads and alumni who specialize in spoken word.  Specifically, over the years, Caroline Rothstein (C'06, The Excelano Project) continues to wow.

Earlier this month, Caroline performed another fierce piece about her love for the 1993 Chicago Bulls you've got to see.

After the jump, even if you're not a basketball fan, I encourage you to watch the entire 7 minute video to enjoy her enthusiasm, hear her Penn basketball references, and most importantly, learn about why she holds onto the memories of the Chicago Bulls and the deeper, chilling meaning she reveals at minute 6:09.

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So since I posted about THIS Penn alum's commercial, I keep on getting more and more commercial submissions.

I showed you THIS comical Penn alum's toilet paper commercial, and today, I've got a commercial from another Penn alum actor who is new to DT, but probably familiar to many of you.

More about this actor and his touching commercial after the jump!

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Whether it's dedicating a song to DT readers for my "Love Week" or dedicating a song to the Phillies, the Glee club definitely knows how to serenade.

Recently, both the Glee Club and the Penn Singers Light Opera Company helped pull off the mother of all serenades on a Philadelphia SEPTA train during a popular Philadelphia attraction tour.

After the jump watch these groups partake in a surprise wedding proposal!

I think you'll agree that this video is quite moving. ;)

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Recently, I was among a group of alumni invited to a special breakfast with visiting University officials from alumni relations and development.

At the meeting, we were shown a fantastically produced Penn promotional video that by the end, gave me chills and made me feel real proud to be an alum!

After the jump check out what I'm calling "the best Penn promotional video I've ever seen"!

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Last year I wrote a post on two alumni who teamed up to create a very moving, "gave me the chills" film...

Co-directors Michael Pertnoy's (C'06) (left) and Michael Kleiman's (C'06) (below left) feature documentary The Last Survivor focuses on genocide awareness, prevention, and survivor advocacy. The film follows the lives of survivors from The Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, and Congo.

Per Pertnoy,

"The Last Survivor is centered on the basic premise that genocide is not only a consequence of intolerance and discrimination, but also the important acknowledgment that “democracy dies if you don’t work for it”—that we each have role in ending genocide and improving our world. By focusing on the work of several Survivors turned activists who are leading this global fight to end genocide, the film seeks to inspire youth to get involved in the democratic process – taking an active stand against genocide as an idea and practice in the 21st century. Ultimately, the film will be a call to collective action, declaring that we all have a responsibility and obligation to end genocide and it is only by walking together—each taking his/her own small steps—that real change is created."

For you Los Angeles alumni, their film will be playing starting tonight (May 11th) and tomorrow night (May 12th) as part of the LA Jewish Film Festival:

Tuesday, May 11, 7:30 pm
Emanuel Arts Center Theatre
8844 Burton Way
Beverly Hills, CA
Get your tickets HERE

Wednesday, May 12, 7:30 pm
Laemmle’s Playhouse
673 East Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA
Get your tickets HERE

More Penn "Chilling Videos" you should check out HERE

More Penn Documentary filmmakers HERE



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I could have saved this post for another "Love Week" series I'll be doing in February 2010, but I just couldn't wait.

Why? Well, you'll see when you finish this very smart film called "Love Notes".

This film was created by Erin Sougstad (C'12), Kyle Olson (C'10), Luv Patel (C'12), Abhay Sharma (C'12) and Shreyans Goenka (C'12) for their Writing class in Cinema- Witness Spectators and Voyeurism (Spring 09).

This film reminds me of the 1996 student film I did where one man runs through campus all in the name of love!

Keep up the great work undergrads!


Other impressive Class Project films

More of posts from my "Penn's REEL deals" series

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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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Two alumni have teamed up to create a very moving, "gave me the chills" film...

Co-directors Michael Pertnoy (C'06) (left) and Michael Kleiman (C'06) (below left) are preparing to launch their feature documentary The Last Survivor which focuses on genocide awareness, prevention, and survivor advocacy.  The film follows the lives of survivors from The Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, and Congo. 

Per Pertnoy,

"The Last Survivor is centered on the basic premise that genocide is not only a consequence of intolerance and discrimination, but also the important acknowledgment that “democracy dies if you don’t work for it”—that we each have role in ending genocide and improving our world. By focusing on the work of several Survivors turned activists who are leading this global fight to end genocide, the film seeks to inspire youth to get involved in the democratic process – taking an active stand against genocide as an idea and practice in the 21st century. Ultimately, the film will be a call to collective action, declaring that we all have a responsibility and obligation to end genocide and it is only by walking together—each taking his/her own small steps—that real change is created."

More from the 2 Michael's on:

• The Huffington Post here
  
• and on their website here
  

On a related note, and speaking of alumni documentary filmmakers, you may recall that last May I wrote a post about Jon Kean's (C'89, Mask and Wig, Friars) moving documentary Swimming in Auschwitz.  I just heard that this documentary will be broadcast on over 230 PBS stations throughout the U.S. starting on April 8th. Please consult your local listings for more information. More info about Jon's film at his website here

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

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While my #4 and #3 picks for my "Penn videos that will give you the chills" have been beautifully made films, yesterday I introduced a powerful spoken word video as my #2 pick.

The more I experience these Spoken Word performances from our Penn community, the more I really like this genre.

...Which brings me to #1 pick today from an award winning undergrad with tons of passion and an interesting background story to match.

Click here to check out my #1 pick!

Raw truth and expression is what you will find in Alysia Harris' (C'10, The Excelano Project) April 2007 Spoken Word College Nationals winning performance of "What's in a Soldier".

Before you watch it, note Alysia's story behind her spoken words:

"I wrote that poem because my father was in the army for 22 years and when he was sick he stayed on the amputee floor at Walter Reed Army Hospital. And it was really life changing to see people who were my age 18, 19, who were literally half the people they were before they left for iraq, no legs, no arms, disfigured for life, but all still optimistic and smiling. These men are my age and while I'm off in a classroom pouring over Russian literature these men are out there squaring off with death. And it just made me think. People are so quick to criticize the army and those who serve, but they have no idea about what they are willing to sacrifice."

Check out Alysia's passionate performance of "What's in a Soldier"

Check out all of my Top 4 "Penn videos that will give you the chills"

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So far, my #4 and #3 picks for my "Penn videos that will give you the chills" have been beautifully made films combining stylized photography, use of music and special effects.

Today I bring you an engaging video from one of our alumni jam packed with emotion and truth.

Click here for my #2 pick.

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Yesterday's #4 pick for my "Penn videos that will give you the chills" demonstrated a nice combination of stylized photography, use of music and special effects.

As heartfelt as that video was, today's #3 pick is even more moving.

Click here for my #3 pick!

Remember that great music video featuring Nikhil Dhingra (C'10) that I posted about back in November?

Well, filmmaker Kevin McMullin (C'10) just debuted another beautiful video called "The Boy and the Star" that combines a unique style of photography, animation and music which will give you the chills.

Per Kevin,

"I've always wanted to do a black and white fairy tale-- about a week before starting my sophomore year at penn i got back from studying up in boston (where I came up with the idea), and i filmed it with a buddy of mine who goes to Villanova in a couple hours in my foyer. The way the sunlight hits my house, we only have about 2 hours of usable light since our makeshift green screen, a large green bed sheet, is so thin and therefore extremely delicate in terms of how it appears on camera in certain lights. Anyway, I had a draft done by October and just now put it online. The story is a parable about forgiveness. I loved the idea of using a child's narration with what looks like a child's animation because it provides the film with a certain innocence that is necessary in a fairy tale, especially one that deals with the subject of death. I edited the film in Final Cut Pro (green screen keying and animation sequencing), using still animations I drew in Adobe Photoshop. I filmed the project on a Canon GL2."

Check out Kevin's moving video, "The Boy and the Star"

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As part of my 2008 goals for DuelingTampons.com, I want to bring you yet another "series" which I'm calling "Penn videos that will give you the chills".

As you'll see this week, I've chosen some very cool videos from undergrads and alumni which embody a great combination of artistic style, (in some cases) music, and most importantly, passion.

To kick things off, check out my #4 pick from an undergrad with some serious talent...

When I posted here about Brian Canavan's (C'10) last visually stunning video, it has become even more apparent that this undergrad has some serious talent.

In his latest short entitled "Memories", Brian's stylized photography, and use of music and special effects make this a pretty moving (dare I say heartfelt) video.

Click here to check out "Memories"

Check back tomorrow for my #3 pick!

...And stay tuned in the coming weeks for more great videos on DT from Brian Canavan!

Check out past stories on emerging Penn talent!

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With all of my blogging about undergrad and alumni work, I decided to go back into my own video archive and digitize and re-edit "Love to Go" a 16 mm short film I created for Paul Buck's Filmmaking class back in 1996 starring Josh Styne (C'99, Mask and Wig, Friars).

It amazes me that to create this film, it required some intense splicing and editing in what was a small boiler room under some stairs in a building on 34th Street. No computers, ...no final cut.

As you'll see, this film shows you some glimpses of Penn's campus back in 1996. Plus there's a special guest appearance at the end of the film that most of you older (and possibly younger) alum will appreciate.

Enjoy! I'll have a few more of my films posted soon!

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Alumni Weekend May 13-16, 2011 Available hotels here

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Okay, so I'm realizing more and more everyday that there are probably 500 groups/organizations (if not more) at Penn. ...This is a good thing. Everyone has a voice and an interest and it's great to see that manifest itself on campus.

On that note, have you heard of the Penn Fashion Group? Not sure whether these are actually Penn students, but they're hot and so are the clothes.

Click here to check out the Penn's Fashion Group's sizzling show.

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