Skip to main content

Kerry Washington at SXSW

South by Southwest is one big messy, crowded, weird, crazy, overwhelming and supremely cool festival. You need to be smart to navigate the crowds and the lines, but if you have strategy, patience and interest, this event is a must attend!

This is my fourth Spring in Austin, and my first serious SXSW, meaning I actually broke my bank a little bit and purchased a badge to attend the events I really want to. In the years prior to this one, I just went to open, free or pay at the entrance type of gigs.

One of the main reasons I decided to purchase the badge was due to Kerry Washington's participation in one of the panels. I have been a fan of Ms. Washington for quite a while now, and I was very excited to see her in my now hometown.



Kerry was interviewed by Ariel Foxman from InStyle, and first kudos goes to him for being prepared! I watched quite a few interviews by Kerry, and I don't know why journalists keep on asking her the same questions all over again! Ariel did his homework and came prepared with data behind Kerry's social media presence as well as thoughtful questions for Kerry. Here they are starting the interview.



I really enjoyed Kerry giving a shout out to all Original Gladiators, or fans of her show Scandal who watched from the very beginning. "We would not have the 2nd season" she said, and she is damn right! it is impressive and exciting that social media and fans can influence the decision of big wigs and money makers at Hollywood studios.



Kerry was not shy to share her views on race, discrimination, online trolling and unpleasant fan interactions during the panel. She mentioned that anyone is more than welcome to critique her gowns, or her manicure, but if someone comes after her because of her race and gender, she is not afraid to hit the block button.



Kerry talked a lot about balancing her personal life and public persona and how much she is willing to share or not share with public what is going on behind closed doors.

I loved her stand on Oscar Boycott and her firm belief that she needs her voice at the table and her voice be heard for real change to happen in Hollywood for actors of color.



My only concern with the panel was that it was too short :-) I wish we had more time for more discussion and more questions from the audience! :-)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Another-worldly destination

Nothing can prepare you for majestic, unbelievable views of Glacier National Park! I have traveled around Europe and the States a fair bit and have seen a good share of beautiful views and wonderful places, but GNP holds a special place in my heart. You pass through an entrance gate to the park and you step into the nature embrace, it happens magically. Lake Mcdonald was one of the first wonders that we saw. Can you tell how excited I was to step out of the car and walk around after a a pretty long 10 hour drive from Portland airport? Can you also tell how nice and blue the sky was? This was one and the only evening that we saw blue skies in the park. We traveled over the Labor Day weekend and didn't expect it would be that cold and rainy there. Oh! And there was some snow too, it made it for quite treacherous conditions to hike up to the mountain lake, but we persevered!  Having complained about the weather once, I will not do it anymore, because even the coldness, b...

I did it!! Chicago Marathon review

It's been a long journey to October 9th... I started this year by making a few resolutions, and one of them was to run a marathon. I had no idea what kind of commitment it would be, what amount of discipline and perseverance it will require, but here I am, writing my first marathon recap! I would also like to mention that I started running seriously only this year, and after making the commitment to my New Year resolution. My running schedule looked like this:  - 5K in February  - 10K in April  - Half Marathon in July  - Marathon in October All of these races were my first time races. As I go further into my race schedule, I am very curious to see how my performance would be when I repeat the distances. I had to sign up for a group run in order to be able to follow the training schedule. I envy the people who can do it all on their own, but I didn't want to injure myself, or lose motivation, so I ran with Rogue running (local Austin running group) ever sin...

Running 101

Today was excellent for running. There was very little humidity and the temperature dropped overnight to a very cool 57F (ok, I am in TX, so it is "cool" for us). The day was a bit windy though, so no sleeveless shirts. I like to have 2 layers when it is windy, they protect you better from the cold gusts when you are done running and begin your cool-down. Since my aim now is to run at least 5-6 miles, I try to find longer trails so that I don't have to run in circles around the same spot. 15 minute drive and I am on Brushy Creek Trail that starts on a beautiful lake. Here is me enjoying the view and the sun and serenity after I pounded the pavement for about an hour. I was very excited to see bluebonnets (is that geeky?) all around me on my run, the Spring is really here! While running today, I was thinking about must-haves that I developed in my very short so far career of running. Here is my short list, which I dubbed "running 101": 1. WATER! Espec...