My World Bank Lunches

I am an epitom of beauty

2010-12-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

I love messages like this in response to my baby photo that's still lingering on friendster...

Hello
If i say you are a beauty,i swear thats an understatement..What else can i say other than to say that you are an epitom of beauty.I really has just gone through your profile and i can't stop until i get to know you better.Hello dear,this is Brian from Laferia Texas in United States Of America,love to know you better

The Cinematic Beauty Journies of Giovanna Chesler and Timoleon Wilkins

2010-10-12T14:57:00.004-04:00

I just watched this slideshow that my dad sent, which was the perfect reminder of the roots of my relationship to aesthetic beauty and why I find filmmakers Giovanna Chesler and Timoleon Wilkins so important.

I'm sure my dad is a huge influence on how I see the world and why beauty is so important to me. I'm grateful that now, as an adult nearing middle-age, I can finally see the interconnectedness of my dad's slideshows and his ever-present camera and my own career path and my love of avant-garde film. But there are others who've also had a huge influence on me.

photo by Timoleon Wilkins

When I first met filmmaker Timoleon Wilkins in San Francisco in the mid-1990's, he was my boss at an art-house movie theater in the Tenderloin. He invited me to a lot of experimental film screenings and showed me even more work at his home. I fell in love with his imagery and with everything he was teaching me about avant-garde film. He also encouraged me to pick up my parents' super-8 camera and start shooting Kodachrome. I've noticed since that many of the things I shoot are things I think Tim would shoot and I often wonder if he taught me how to see things or if it is our common vision in the world that is one of the things that brought us together in the first place. Tim taught me that beauty was absolutely worth capturing on film simply because it was beautiful and pleasing to look at. Now, like Tim, I store beautiful images for later use, not knowing how I might use them or what work they might comprise in the future.

still from Timoleon Wilkins' Drifter

Giovanna Chesler's photographic beauty then is more deliberate. I first met Giovanna when we screened her 16mm work at a film festival I was working on in Chicago and she came in from San Diego for the screenings. I have programmed several of her works in various settings over the past ten years and each time I am struck by the beauty of her composition and by how genuine her work is, how heartfelt. But the most obvious thing I think of when I think of Chesler's work is her ability to fluidly move between genres and to do each genre excellently and authentically. Giovanna is a perfectionist filmmaker who creates compelling fiction (BEAUTEOUS, BYE BI LOVE), documentary (PERIOD: THE END OF MENSTRUATION?) and experimental forms (HAND.SOME and BEAUTEOUS: GIOVANNA), as well as smart internet work that involve collaborative group projects that engage communities (HPV PROJECT). It's no coincidence that BEAUTEOUS is a key word even in her titles. Chesler deconstructs beauty even as she creates some of the prettiest images in modern cinematography.

still from Giovanna Chesler's BeauteouS

In fact, maybe that's the difference between Wilkins' and Chesler's work- Tim captures images purposely without purpose and G's images and stories are expertly planned and calculated. But both of these filmmakers use the full frame, filling it with beauty.

Tim was remarking the other day that he can't take photos of flowers, implying that photos of beautiful flowers are cliché and unoriginal because people are not interested in the subject matter. But he said that he practices his technique by shooting flowers and the like and that he can give them to his family as christmas gifts.

Tim's take on beauty can be summed up with this clip that he shared with me.:

I don't really agree with Mr. Scruton's rather simplistic view of art and beauty, particularly his notion that beauty is not subjective (or constructed, for that matter...). But I do think this is important to ponder. I, for one, enjoy images that please my eyes and I want more. That's why I love the work of these two filmmakers.

You have a chance to catch their work!

Tonight at Anthology Film Archive in New York, Giovanna will be presenting a program of her work, including her gorgeous and compelling BEAUTEOUS: THE TRILOGY and her latest, the poignant narrative BYE BI LOVE. The show starts at 7:15pm.

Tim exhibits only on celluloid, so catch him when you can. His latest masterpiece, DRIFTER, screened recently at the New York Film Festival and will be screening at the London Film Festival on October 22 and 23 and as part of the TIE festival at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee on October 26.

Women on the Guardian’s Film Power 100 List

2010-09-24T20:40:00.000-04:00

http://womenandhollywood.com/2010/09/24/the-guardians-film-power-100-list/

18) Angelina Jolie, Actor: Salt, Changeling, A Mighty Heart
22) Amy Pascal and Jeff Blake, Studio executives: Co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and vice-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment
29) Kate Winslet, Actor: The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Titanic
30) Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, Producers: Goldeneye, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace
33) Tessa Ross, Commissioning executive: Controller of film and drama, Channel 4
36) Christine Langan Commissioning executive: Creative director, BBC Films
38) Keira Knightley, Actor: Never Let Me Go, Atonement, Pride & Prejudice
58) Tracey Jacobs, Agent: Co-head of Talent, United Talent Agency
62) Claudia Winkelman, TV personality: Presenter of Film 2010
64) Sofia Coppola, Director: Somewhere, Lost in Translation
66) Tilda Swinton, Actor: We Need to Talk About Kevin, I Am Love, Michael Clayton
70) Clare Binns, Film Programmer: Programming-Director of City Screen
74) Kristin Scott Thomas, Actor: I’ve Loved You So Long, Leaving, Nowhere Boy, The English Patient
83) Kathryn Bigelow, Director: The Hurt Locker, Point Break
90) Nikki Finke, Web Entrepreneur: Editor in chief of Deadline.com
93) Janet Pierson, Programmer: Head of Film programming, SXSW
96) Jane Goldman, Writer: Stardust, Kick-Ass
99) Catharine des Forges, Distributor: Director of the Independent Cinema Office

la frontera

2010-04-14T11:50:00.000-04:00

Move over!

2010-04-01T01:20:00.002-04:00

Programming Committee, my film discussion blog with Jenn Hsu, is up and running. So, for blurbs on every film I ever see from now on, look for us there!

Sunset Community Film Festival

2010-03-26T23:42:00.000-04:00

I've been a fan of Wayland He's Life of Wayland since Rebecca Devlin first shared it with me a few years ago. At the 6th Annual Sunset Community Film Festival, held at Ulloa Elementary School in San Francisco on March 5, He made dozens more fans. His latest short, a funny animation called Worm War I, won the audience award for best film, and I heard many a serious discussion between 6th graders and uproarious laughter from the 3rd graders sitting behind me about the video.

The entire program, chosen and compiled by youth media group SCREAM members, was very good and it was professionally well presented. The best part was sitting in a theater full of an audience of young people, watching a program entirely made and presented by young people, and experiencing the extreme pleasure of everyone involved. Half of the time I had no idea why they were laughing, but they sure were having a good time.

Treats of San Diego

2010-03-19T21:51:00.000-04:00

Barbara Hammer and Silas Howard at the Hammer

2010-03-17T23:07:00.000-04:00

What a great night. I wish this conversation could have lasted a lot longer- they were just getting started. But what an excellent combination, whoever thought this one up!

WTF

2010-03-17T23:05:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I finally finished it. After three viewings over the course of two weeks I have finally finished watching David Lynch's enigmatic Inland Empire (2006). Clearly (well, I use that word loosely...), this film is about Laura Dern's character Nikki Grace's psyche. It's about psychology, movies and reality vs. make-believe in a hodge-podge of visual styles and genres, but mostly horror. I bet if I watched it again I'd get it, but I can't imagine I will ever, ever be driven to do that. If you know me, you know that I'm all about film and media that make you go, "WTF?!" But WTF?! And Whatever.

Wifey

2010-03-09T05:42:00.003-05:00

Part of the joy of staying with Mark and Andrea off and on for the past few months has been cooking for them. This also gives me a chance to return to the heart of this blog. Mark is an economist who sometimes works for the World Bank, though appallingly he's never eaten at the World Bank Cafeteria. Out of pity for that deprivation, I like to prepare meals for them when they return from work...

Nordwand Schmordwand

2010-03-08T14:55:00.000-05:00

This looks miserable, right? Well it was. There was also a lot of ACTING! bleh. This was a big night out to the Royal with Andrea and Mark. And I guess I never got bored enough to think of leaving. But this movie was a one-trick-pony. What did we need this for? We didn't.

Les chansons d'amour

2010-03-08T14:54:00.001-05:00

I finally watched Love Songs (Christophe Honoré, 2007)- and I loved it! Never has a musical worked so well, in my book. I actually didn't mind at all when the cast broke out in song, it seemed as natural as I ever do when I sing while walking down the street. And it was such a relief of a story. French, yes, and refreshingly real! The guy who looks like Albert from Little House on the Praiarie aka Ismaël (Louis Garrel) would drive me up a tree with his silly joker antics. But other than that, this movie did not annoy me at all, remarkable for a musical movie. The songs are actually good. And I'm sure if my French were better I would have appreciated it even more. I love the sexual fluidity, the matter-of-factness of the affairs and the way they affect everyone's lives in the film. And I love that it ends up GAY gay. And I love that it just ends abruptly in the middle of just another love story. And that it's to a Barbara song- no proprietary musical last song-ness. Yum.

The Yacoubian Building

2010-03-08T14:50:00.001-05:00

Hmmm...this was a tough one. Admittedly, I am ignorant of classic Egyptian film and Egyptian cinema in general. But The Yacoubian Building (Omaret yakobean) (Marwan Hamed, 2006), touted far and wide as the biggest-budget Egyptian film to date and a great cinematic accomplishment, was hard to take. I'd been expecting something pretty great, since this was the talk of the International Film Festival Rotterdam during my first year there, and I was really disappointed to have missed it then. It was so soap opera-like that I wasn't sure I could finish it. Upon finally viewing it, the main thing I took away from it was that the story entailed a lot of gross sexual coercion in the name of social advancement. That and the realization that I don't know enough about Egyptian history...or ANYTHING about Egyptian history for that matter.

When Taha (Mohamed Imam) became involved with a more radical sect of Islam, it was such a relief to focus on something substantial, something beyond the shame of characters stuck in poverty and feeling yuck-o about sexual favors demanded according to class and status. I guess there was also a fair share of political corruption. And it was thick with the message that violence breeds violence. But the homosexuality stuff was a bit much, not to be celebrated as I'd been lead to believe. The film has caused great controversy in Egypt for its depiction of homosexuality. But when the Bey Hatim Rasheed (Khaled El Sawy) indulges in a flashback montage in which he is talking to [hideously rendered] portraits of his parents, and his homosexuality is explained by an assertion that his black African caretaker molested him as a child, I had to groan.

The grossest part was probably the clown-like face and particularly the smile of the aged Pasha (Adel Imam) who somehow easily won the heart of the hot young thing of the film, a woman who'd been vehemently discerning till that point.

I haven't read the book, but it MUST be better than the movie...

When the Patriarchy Let's You Down

2010-03-08T14:28:00.000-05:00

Nerakhoon (The Betrayal) (Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath, 2008) is not a typical documentary. More than most docs, it attempts to- and succeeds in- telling its story through images more than words, and that works for the most part. It's an interweaving of recent interviews with amazing footage captured in the 1980's when Kuras first started following her Lao tutor, Thavi (co-director Phrasavath) with a camera. Nerakhoon dramatically reveals long-buried and/or never-revealed ugly secrets of US imperialism and dirty work that left allies abandoned and families in ruin, in particular that of Thavi. To that end, it's also the story of botched patriarchy and how political betrayal ruined his father and eventually his family. The doc also reveals truths about new refugees in the US, the living conditions of new immigrants and the price of assimilation. Are things really better for refugees once they reach the US? Does their chance for survival truly increase? It's a story of multiple betrayals, what we're willing to forgive, who we trust.

Once the family gets to the US, the doc moves seamlessly back and forth between Laos and US, between 1984 and the present, requiring its audience to find clues to figure out where we are, why we're there. From Ellen Kuras we expect beautiful images, and she delivers. There are a lot of orange robes of novices, Buddhism all over the place. And then there is unexpected and horrible community destruction due to gang coersion and involvement of young new immigrants. What emerges is a highly compelling collaboration between documentarian and subjects, revealing the interconnectedness of humanity.

Viva Women Directors!

2010-03-08T01:49:00.003-05:00

I am ecstatic! Driving home from watching the Oscars, I felt high like I felt when Obama was elected (which in itself felt like when Mandela left prison and when the borders were opened between East and West Germany).

OH MY GOD!!!!!! Kathryn Bigelow!!!!!!!!! Viva women directors! Viva women filmmakers!!! Viva our voices being heard!!! Viva women calling the shots!!! This is a dream realized- Finally a woman has won the Oscar for Directing. My next dream is to see a woman win for Cinematography- starting with a lot more women DP's being hired. What a beautiful day!!!

(As I just wrote to a kick-ass 19 year-old friend whom I've known since she was 4... Only 3 times before in the 82 year history of the Oscars have women even been NOMINATED for Best Director:
Lina Wertmüller in 1976 for "Seven Beauties"
Jane Campion in 1993 for "The Piano"
Sophia Coppola for "Lost In Translation" in 2003
Today is an historic day! In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win for Directing. Sad but true... and WONDERFUL! She also won Best Picture for "Hurt Locker!" Now what I really want to see is a woman win Best Cinematography. THAT is a male-dominated field...)

Maverick Mother

2010-03-07T18:33:00.000-05:00

Australian humor is a particular brand of humor, something I'm not necessarily accustomed to. It's somewhat innocent and cheesy, like Canadian humor, yet it can be raunchy, but not as bad as British humor. That might threaten to ruin Janet Merewether's autobiographical 2007 doc, Maverick Mother. But somehow it works, her fantastical dramatic interludes serving only to illustrate her seemingly cliche desires to procreate, and they keep the tone of the work lighthearted and flowing.

My viewing partners and I questioned not the acquisition of sperm demonstrated here, but Merewether's stubborn, then annoying, then obnoxious, then incredible persistence in contacting the "father" long after he'd ceased to respond, seemingly making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the wishes she'd manifested. But other than that, I found it entertaining and relatable as an illustration of modern motherhood. Well done.

Roller Derby Queen

2010-02-28T18:31:00.001-05:00

The family story goes that when I was born my dad said I would be a roller derby queen. He also wanted to name me Zwingliana if I was a girl and Heinrich if I was a boy. (He was working on his PhD in Swiss Reformation History, though how that relates to roller derby, I'm not sure...) It always seemed like an eccentric early-70's reference until the recent surge of roller derby popularity that has swept the nation. Considering I was an active member of the drag king community at the turn of the century and the burlesque movement in early Decade One, it would have been a logical successive turn, had I only been a bit younger.

Drew Barrymore, however, is about my age and is undaunted by fears of being too old or seeming too trendy to make a movie about the Austin roller derby scene and she plunges right into this subculture in her debut feature Whip It. I'm truly glad to see her taking the creative helm in her own project, and it's decent entertainment. I never once thought, "when is this going to be over" or "wow, this is really crap." It isn't a work of genius either, but as Barrymore herself has attested, this is just a first attempt at directing, only the beginning.

I appreciated Whip It's depiction of perpetual teenager Ellen Page's Bliss Cavendar and her desire to break away from the beauty pageants her mom has subjected her to for years. She's freakier than that and she's smart and she's stuck in a small town. She needs an outlet and finds her answer when she joins the Hurl Scouts and adopts the moniker Babe Ruthless. It's a relief to see a teenage girl like this, someone I can relate to, someone who was more like me as a high-schooler. I imagine that's true for a lot of us.

another bad title and the danger of poor memory

2010-02-28T18:26:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine lamented recently that his memory is going to crap, particularly bad news for this friend who is a history professor. In the same vein, I've been freaking out about my increasingly bad film programmer memory. What good is the wealth of film information my mind has gathered if I can't recall a director's name, film title, or recollect a plot detail. More and more this happens to me and it's scary. My wonderful Grandma Nelson suffered from Alzheimer's, which was especially awful in her last decade, and it made the rest of the family wonder if this would be our fate too.

The memory-loss fear came up again when I watched Youth Knows No Pain (Mitch McCabe, 2009) with my friend Jessica in New Orleans in our HBO binge. I know that I had seen this doc before. But was it in consideration for my program at NMWA? Was it at a festival, on a screener, in a theater? If she released it in 2009, I must have seen a rough cut or another version of the piece, a shorter one maybe. Where the hell did I see this? And it wasn't called Youth Knows No Pain, was it? Not a memorable title anyway, rather an awful one, and not suited to this doc, which is about our internalized agism and the fear of getting old, or rather the fear of LOOKING old. I must admit, especially in the last couple years, I'm feeling the "I look so old" thing as I never expected I would. And as much as theoretically I am much more concerned about the memory-loss associated with getting older, my vanity also gets stronger each day and the looking-older thing gains importance. Ugh.

Youth Knows No Pain is a feature length doc that follows filmmaker McCabe (whose name is really familiar- I know I've screened work of hers in the past. What was it? When was it? How come I can't remember anything?) whose father was a plastic surgeon and died in a car accident that she and the rest of her family survived when she was a teenager. The doc serves for her as a tool to pay homage to her dad, but more to indulge her own fears of aging. She interviews various people who have had plastic surgery and delves a bit into their psychology, what it's meant for their self-image, for their social lives, their intimate relationships, how they view youth and how they view plastic surgery in general. It's a disturbing and mildly fascinating of investigation.

I saw another documentary that was submitted to a film festival I organized a few years ago, I think it was from a Dutch director, examining plastic-surgery-happy Americans and their obsession with youth and beauty. It was actually very wry, entertaining, compelling, the most memorable bit being of a 16 year old girl who was getting labiaplasty because she thought she had flabby vagina lips, her mother sitting next to her in agreement the whole interview. What the hell was that doc called?

Towelhead or Sex and the Arab American Teenage Girl at the Turn of the Century in Texas

2010-02-22T20:46:00.005-05:00

Another night, another HBO movie, though this one had a festival and arthouse run before being relegated to cable and DVD. I imagine that a big part of the reason it wasn't more successful is its title, Towelhead. I had a vague idea what this movie was about, thought it had something to do with Arab Americans in the US, definitely about men, maybe men in the Middle East, something to do with the war? That did not compel me to see it sooner or to seek it out in a theatrical run. In actuality the film was nothing like I expected. It's a really compelling story of a girl coming of age in Texas and the sexual awakenings, adventures and misadventures that she has. Based on the autobiographical book "Towelhead" by Alicia Erian, it was eerily reminiscent in tone, setting and some content of my friend filmmaker Susan Youssef's feature script Marjoun and the Flying Head Scarf, which she's been working for a few years on adapting from her short film of the same title.

Towelhead- which originally had the much more appropriate title, Nothing Is Private- was directed by Alan Ball, of American Beauty fame, and it contains a lot of social and sexual taboos like those that made him (in)famous with that film. A lot of it is hard to deal with, partly because we so infrequently see healthy images and stories of childhood sexuality. Of course, in this case, that is complicated with inappropriate and criminal behavior on the part of adults. Young-looking 20 year old Summer Bishil plays Jasira Maroun who discovers the orgasm when perusing her neighbor's porno mags while babysitting his son, and she wants more. She's oddly open and frank about it, as though she does not understand that sexuality is private, and she's without shame. It's actually a bit overdone- to me it seemed like she was mentally challenged at times, like when she approaches neighbor Travis Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart) and requests access to his Penthouse magazines, because she likes "how they make her feel." I don't believe that a 13 year old girl would present that so transparently. (At all. I did something like that when I was 7, but I certainly didn't say it was because of how they made me feel.) Mr. Vuoso is creepy, if only because of his idiotic lack of self-critique in falling in lust with the barely-teenager and believing that something is legitimately going on between them. It's an old tired story, but in this context of early 1990's Gulf War Texas it's spruced up in a truly interesting way. Jacira (pronounced Jazeera) has come to a white sub-division in Houston to live with her father (Peter Macdissi) after her mother back in Syracuse (played by Maria Bello) kicks her out for shaving her legs (at the suggestion of her mother's boyfriend...). I kept waiting for the scene where we learn that papa Maroun has a secret loverman, because this guy is GAY. But that never happens, which I guess is ok, but it was confusing. In any case this snooty French-speaking Lebanese Christian is an asshole, a pretentious jerk and an unloving father who is abusive in the name of discipline. I think Macdissi is simply a terrible actor, and that is the only significant flaw of the film (besides the title) in my eyes. Toni Colette plays the vigilant, right-on and refuge-providing neighbor, Melina. Her bleeding heart Peace Corps veteran husband happens to speak excellent Yemeni arabic that the Beiruti Mr. Maroun understands perfectly when reprimanded in a face-saving way.

I guess, once I got past the deceptive title of this film and beyond the bad-actor gay-but-not-gay father, I really liked this movie for it's complex characters and community questions delving into race and ethnicity in the US. But most importantly, it's important in its portrayal of the sexual agency of a young woman just starting to figure out what gives her pleasure in the world and navigating this tricky territory.

The Joy of Cows

2010-02-22T19:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, it didn't make me weep repeatedly as it did my friend Jessica (she also exclaimed, "Oooh I love autism!" as the movie began...). But this biopic about autistic cattle expert Temple Grandin was a very nice film. Claire Danes does an excellent job embodying the title character, and Catherine O'Hara as her sympathetic Aunt Ann is also a standout (and finally given a substantial dramatic role). Produced by and screened on HBO, Temple Grandin (Mick Jackson, 2010) tries through visual techniques of enhanced flashes of bits and pieces of what Grandin is seeing to convey what it is like to be autistic. I have no idea if this is accurate or if it's possible to convey what it's like to live as an autistic person, but I liked it. In typical biopic fashion, the audience follows Grandin from her summer before college on her aunt's cattle ranch when she discovers the comfort of the cowpoke, through adulthood, all the while summoning flashbacks to childhood and school to explain where she is now. It entertainingly relays her triumphs and struggles leading to her innovations in understanding how cattle work. It's definitely an inspiring, uplifting story, but it's also funny and not too sappy. Unless you're my friend Jessica.

The Black List

2010-02-22T18:18:00.003-05:00

During downtime throughout carnival in New Orleans, we caught a lot of HBO entertainment. One pleasant find was Elvis Mitchell's The Black List (dir. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, 2007). When it came on, I immediately thought, ah yes, Black History Month. But whatever. It's a great portrait of amazing people coming from very disparate parts of culture, their only commonality being that they are black. Yet there are unifying elements. Every person is shot against a grey background, well lit, well dressed, everything's real classy. The interviews were insightful and frank, inspiring and not too sentimental. My favorites were Thelma Golden, Colin Powell, Lorna Simpson, Toni Morrison, Serena Williams, Chris Rock. It's an appropriately celebratory piece and I'm definitely glad we caught it.

Old Joy

2010-02-12T19:58:00.000-05:00

I finally watched Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, a film I kept missing at Rotterdam a few years ago and have not made a chance to see since then. It was perfect for my flight from Denver to New Orleans- and a glimpse of male nudity always perks up an airplane row!

"Sorrow is just worn out joy" is the line, spoken by freewhellin' Kurt (Will Oldham), that the title comes from, and I've been trying to think about how this is the theme of the film. The weepy Pacific Northwest is certainly the perfect setting for such a theme, and the buddy movie aspect of old friends coming to terms with adulthood in their own particular ways was a good context for this emotional nostalgia. It's largely a film about just that: male bonding, manhood, masculinity, life responsibilities, growing up, becoming an adult, procreation... It made me think about the man-friend-couples I know and how they are and aren't allowed to express their affection for one another, what is an acceptable amount of attachment, and how friend-pairs sometimes grow apart as much as romantic pairs.

The context of Mark's (Daniel London) wife's pregnancy is also interesting to me with regard to the fact that his pending fatherhood is mentioned only briefly at the beginning of the men's brief camping trip. Yet it is the coming infant intruder that seems to so threaten Kurt, or at least it is a manifestation of Mark's increasing distance from their friendship, a threat that seems in some way to be the cause of Kurt's current sorrow. I kept thinking about how different it would be if Kurt and Mark were women, going on a camping trip right before a birth like that, how omnipresent that coming presence would be in its advent. But this was a bromance, and that was the point.

Up

2010-02-12T02:55:00.001-05:00

Some people I know and trust have raved about Up, how deep and complex it is, how much it's a story for adults, how it made them cry. I wasn't terribly excited about it myself, but it wasn't a complete waste of time. I think I appreciated the Pixar technology in this film more than I have in other Pixar films. And I like the intergenerational story, the idea of an old man and a young boy becoming friends. I like the fact that the romantic couple of this story does not have kids, yet they live out a happy life together. And even more I like that Mr. Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner) by the end of the film takes on responsibility for Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai) in a non-conventional family role. (It would be nice if some of the boys receiving medals at the end of the movie could have been accompanied by someone other than a normative father figure, but this is a Disney film...) I probably like Dug (the dog voiced by Bob Peterson) the best, but after a while his humor got tired too. No matter- it was all entertaining enough. Oscar nomination-worthy, no. But neither is Up in the Air, which I really liked. C'est ça...

The Devil Came on Horseback

2010-02-06T14:03:00.002-05:00

Wow. I've been meaning to see The Devil Came on Horseback (Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, 2007) for a while. Tonight a year+ old article in Harpers, Nick McDonell's "The activist: Alex de Waal among the war criminals," left me wanting to make more sense of the situation in Darfur, and this film certainly helped with that. I was at first skeptical that Brian Steidle, an ex-Marine and African Union hired monitor of a ceasefire in Sudan in 2004, was our entrée to this situation. But, as I came to learn, he was in fact the one to expose this situation to the world, starting with Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. In an op ed piece, Kristof published some of the thousands of photographs that Steidle took, along with his account of the genocide occurring in Darfur. The story burst out from there, but somehow not enough, and that is part of the puzzle that this documentary leaves its viewers pondering and the inaction it leaves viewers wanting to react against.

The story is absolutely horrifying, a call to action against a genocide full of the worst atrocities you can imagine. I suppose that is exactly why Steidle's photos are so important to the story (in a way that reminded me of Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib or Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure). They are proof, they are undeniable, they are terrible, they are haunting. Equally disturbing is the frustration Steidle expresses in his inability to get the world to react in a meaningful way to the genocide. ...

Crazy Good

2010-02-06T04:15:00.001-05:00

This evening I went to Crazy Heart and came home to Sam's crazy chicken in time to meet crazy Nihar at the corner bar. Crazy Heart was crazy good. I'm trying to live by the theme of it, "give love another try" like I'm trying to live by "carpe diem," simple mottos that ain't always so easy. I see why this film is such a hit, so touted for the great acting. I was very skeptical, didn't expect to like it at all. It's probably Maggie Gyllenhall (a present crush because of interviews) that made me go see it. But it's really Jeff Bridges' Bad Blake (and Colin Firth's Tommy Sweet, for that matter) that makes this film great. And the script and the music- it's just a great story that is completely believable and relatable.

MG acts first like a therapist and she's also super sexy from the start. Bad Blake thinks she's too good for him. He is enchanted with her classiness (and her youth?). She gets all shy and bashful, which was for me off-putting. I mean, really? This old scruffy dude complaining about his hemorrhoids is that intimidating to you? I didn't expect to, but I totally bought their love story, it made perfect sense. It's chemistry that draws them to each other, like it always is, and they have it.

Just as important as the love story, the struggling musician story, the buddy story, and indeed central to the story as a whole, is Bad's struggle with alcoholism. It's good to see alcoholism portrayed humanly, as the fatal disease, the killer that it is. I've seen a few friends struggle with this disease and it's heartbreaking how it destroys lives, just as it does here. When Bad calls his friend Wayne and says, "I wanna be sober," it's a moment of great triumph, but with a deep breath in anticipation of the long road ahead. In that sense the ending was very real too. But I won't spoil it for you...

Here's Sam's Crazy Chicken! Yum.

Steve McQueen's Hunger

2010-02-06T03:52:00.003-05:00

Like most of artist Steve McQueen's work, Hunger is absolutely beautiful. It's also deeply disturbing, in a visceral sense that I haven't experienced since Precious. That's probably at least partly because Hunger is based on the true story of a "blanket" and "no wash" strike that lead to a hunger strike of IRA prisoners held in Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in 1981. The stillness of this film echos the monotony, the disturbing silence that must have existed there. It's, well, imprisonment. The film is full of shit, spread all over the walls of each cell as part of the prisoner's protest to being denied political prisoner status by the British government. This image is so strong you can absolutely smell it and it's overwhelming. We watch an orderly pour bleach onto pools of piss that prisoners have poured out their doors into the hall, and we watch him sweep the liquid all the way down the hall toward the camera, methodically, as if to hypnotize the viewer, the pools reflective and somehow beautiful. I love it when experimental filmmakers and video artists make narrative features, because then we get this beauty, this stillness, this pause. And the film is indeed slow, but this is called for. It takes time to fully contemplate what is happening and to digest the horrific violence the prisoners endure (historical echos of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo). The sound design is amazing- sparse and quiet, so that there is an overlying tension and we can hear every little thing. The confined, entrapped, seclusion of the prisoners is contrasted with extreme low angle shots of a prison guard in the outside world with the sky behind him, no limits. In the same sense we see birds crossing through prisoners' dreams and at the end of the film flashbacks to outside times, forests and trees, causing my friend who'd gone to the bathroom to exclaim, "is this the same movie?"

When in Rome, enter Storm immediately

2010-02-05T02:48:00.004-05:00

Shannon and I wanted to go to a movie the other night. She vetoed Crazy Heart for its potential creepiness, and the only other film that fit our schedule was When in Rome. We thought we would enjoy a light rom com on a Sunday night, but boy were we wrong. Within 10 minutes of watching the zany hijinks of a not-so-smart Guggenheim curator at her sister's wedding in Rome, Shannon gave the thumbs up...to sneak into the neighboring screening room that was showing Hans-Christian Schmid's compelling Storm.

The film began immediately as we were seated- perfect timing! And it was excellent. I have a large-international-organization fetish (thus too the premise of this blog) and Storm fed that for one thing. But I was also captivated by the strong women characters and the fact that the lead, Kerry Fox as Hannah Maynard a prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, was extraordinary. The truths that she uncovers regarding Bosnian war atrocities play believably (and unfortunately) with the bureaucracy and unjust justice of deal-making in international courts that she experiences. Anamaria Marinca (of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) as her Serbian witness was also great, and together these two women drew me in. It's such a relief to see strong and smart women lead characters dealing with life as women deal with it. I don't think it's a coincidence that the film comes from Europe. (I don't need to remind you that we tried to see When in Rome before ducking into this...) When will Hollywood catch up?

Prison of the Mind

2010-02-05T00:14:00.006-05:00

Terry Gilliam's Brazil is one of my favorite films. I was a fan of his Fisher King, I liked Twelve Monkeys as a take on La Jetée, and I appreciate the aesthetic of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. But I couldn't sit through Tideland, and Gilliam's latest The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus was a disappointing mess. To appreciate a Gilliam film one must be fully taken in and I never got into this one. Perhaps I should have reverted to my motto for the new year, "Low expectations are the key to happiness."...

BUT, disappointment aside, there are things I liked about this film. I liked the idea. And I liked the compromise that had to come about in using 3 other actors to play Heath Ledger's Tony after he passed away- I thought that actually worked quite well. There are certain cynical Gilliam bits that I appreciate, for example the children's chorus singing about child exploitation and the chorus line of police encouraging violence-lovers to join their ranks. And, of course, aesthetically there is always richness to Gilliam's production design. Although, as my friend Shannon pointed out, CGI may not be a good development in concert with Gilliam's extraordinary imagination- there may be too much possibility, so that it gets out of control and loses focus. Nevertheless, it was a nice little film that didn't grab me in the end. What's next, what's next?

That was a matinée. In the evening, after Imaginarium, we rented Duncan Jones' Moon. I had no expectations going into the film, but I was pleasantly surprised. I keep wanting to call this film "Home" and I think that somehow that would also be an appropriate title for it. Sam Rockwell plays the caretaker of a station on the moon harvesting an energy-providing substance for a large corporation back on earth. Besides a robot that takes care of his every need (voiced by Kevin Spacey), he is all alone there for three years and is coming to the end of his tenure. But he is much worse for the wear and is having substantial mental breaks. Moon was a great take on solitude, loneliness, and the fortress of the mind, with major echos of Solaris and 2001 in design and feel.

2009 Revisited- My "Best of"

2010-01-26T15:44:00.009-05:00

Here at the end of January, I am finally getting around to saying a bit more about the 2009 films that I most liked. In no particular order...

(still from Treeless Mountain)

TREELESS MOUNTAIN was simply a delight. It's a pensive rich tale of two child sisters in Korea, their relationship, dependence on and responsibility for one another for lack of adults. Quiet and tender and wonderful. So Yong Kim, who made the excellent In Between Days a few years ago, is really establishing her perfectionist distinct style and it will be exciting to see what she comes up with next.

Carlos Reygadas' gorgeous SILENT LIGHT opens with one of the most beautiful sunrises captured on film. It's as though the story comes to life with this awakening in the sparse and vast Mexican countryside. All of the actors are non-professionals, which makes the film seem like a documentary. A shocking, scandalous, yet still tale of Mennonite adultery.

(still from Silent Light)

Another film set in Mexico that made a great impression on me is SIN NOMBRE by Cary Fukunaga. Rarely do we get to see with gritty realism what migrants from the south go through to get to the US, and Fukunaga went to great lengths to make this story authentic. The in depth look at gang life, the migratory process and an ill-fated love story make this film layered and rich.

(still from Munyurangabo)

Shot in Rwanda in only 11 days on a super-16mm camera, Lee Issac Chung's MUNYURANGABO is like no film I've ever seen. Also using non-professional actors and made by a non-native (coincidentally Asian American) director, it's kind of a miracle that this film turned out so perfectly. The first feature film in the Kinyarwanda language, it's a wonderful story of impossible friendship, unlikely forgiveness, and unexpected reconciliation.

With all the hype of Lee Daniels' PRECIOUS, I wasn't sure what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised that it blew me away. Incorporating elements that we've seen before but never in this context, Precious was extremely effective and moving. The film has raised concerns about race and storytelling (Jenn shared this article by Malkia Cyril that I liked). But I was deeply impressed, physically impacted, and I think this is an infinitely valuable film.

(still from Sita Sings the Blues)

Probably my favorite film of the past few years is SITA SINGS THE BLUES (Nina Paley). A gorgeous, brilliant and fantastically fun animated film, there's nothing else like it. You can watch it here for free. But I strongly urge you to see it in a theater if at all possible (it's playing at IFC in NYC last I checked). Or buy a DVD. It's well worth it and is one of those films you can watch again and again with great enjoyment, lend it out etc.

I would not have thought that I would include Lars von Trier's ANTICHRIST on a list like this. But the fact is that this movie has stayed with me like no other. I think it would take a lot of work for me to entirely deconstruct it for myself, were that at all possible. Charlotte Gainsbourg's performance is one of a lifetime. And the issues raised are poignant and rarely handled with such intensity and courage.

Another film set in Mexico that deeply impressed me this year was Alex Rivera's SLEEP DEALER. I've been a fan of Rivera as a humorous culture critic video artist for years, so it was exciting to see he was coming out with a narrative feature (like when Miranda July made Me and You and Everyone We Know). But Sleep Dealer exceeded my expectations. I am not a fan of science fiction, but work dealing with race and class and futuristic situations is exciting, like an Octavia Butler book. Sleep Dealer way out-Avatars Avatar.

(still from Sacred Places)

We see far too few images of life in Africa and SACRED PLACES (Jean-Marie Téno) is simply a treat in this respect, fantastic candy for a film programmer and microcinema organizer who dreams of exhibiting film in Africa. Téno's documentary leads us through the streets of the acclaimed Cameroonian director's native Ouagadougou, peeking in on how his countrymen interact with cinema.

I was disappointed with Jane Campion's BRIGHT STAR when I first saw it. I knew I was going to see a period piece and perhaps this film dwelled too much in that realm. But in retrospect the inevitable beauty of a Jane Campion film stays with me, I see fields of flowers full of life, and this alone is a wonderful thing. Abbie Cornish's performance as Fanny Brawne is absolutely outstanding as well, and that too will not leave me.

(still from Bright Star)

There is little I like more than a good documentary that blows my mind with new information and changes the way I live my life. FOOD, INC. (Robert Kenner) is such a film. I'll never look at corn or beef or anything that I regularly eat the same way again.

Venus Boyz

2010-01-25T02:40:00.003-05:00

So again it took me 10 years to see a pivotal acclaimed documentary. I watched Venus Boyz (Gabrielle Baur, 2001) at Elisa's urging, since she and Carol were much impressed with the characters in the film. Having done drag and a lot of performance in Chicago just before and after this was shot, it was a very familiar world to me. There were many interesting characters and it was a smart exposé. Dréd Gerestant and Hans impressed me in particular and I enjoyed hearing them talk about their experiences in the world. It was fun seeing Diane Torr- who I worked with on Mickey Mahoney's UNDERGRAD some years ago but had never seen in eye make-up and femmed out- do her thing. Venus Boyz got to the heart of what made drag king performance so important to wider cultural queer and gender development, not just the blurring of gender absolutes, but the confidence that an audience affords disempowered people.

Vendredi Soir on Saturday Night

2010-01-25T02:39:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Carol pointed out that Friday Night (Claire Denis, 2002) would have been better as a 10 minute short and I couldn't agree more. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood to be patient and appreciative of this pacing, but it was not much fun. Major mind wandering. Even the portrayal of desire kinda grossed me out, I expected something more compelling and less gender-predictable from Claire Denis. Oh well.

L'heure d'été

2010-01-25T02:33:00.001-05:00

I watched Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours as my last hurrah at G and Andy's, late at night. It opens up with soft emotionally tense music accompanying children playing outside a posh country home outside of Paris. The camera is constantly panning, moving from room to room, person to person, story to story. The palette is full of light summer colors and deep lively green. Each scene cuts immediately to the next, passing through time with no BS in between, just the important stuff. I kept waiting for something to really happen, but the film is simply a pretty and posh portrayal of the cycle of life, beginning with children playing outside and the death of a matriarch, ending with young people playing outside and the eldest grandchild talking about her future children. It's about the disconnectedness of modern life, disconnectedness from family, from roots, from one's motherland, about growing diaspora and globalization with a hint of personal isolation.

Fish Tank

2010-01-25T02:32:00.002-05:00

Sara and Susan and I watched Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009) in a small packed IFC theater. There was nothing wrong with this film- it is perfect. Fish Tank is an excellent portrayal of a young woman's complex hive of emotions, particularly frustration, rage, tenderness and desire. It's rare that you get to see this fragile time in a woman's life (Mia is 15) portrayed from her perspective and with such honesty, raw authenticity. Perhaps this is because Katie Jarvis who plays Mia is not a professional actress and was asked to audition for this part when she was found on a subway platform in a screaming argument with her boyfriend. Her little sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths) is hilarious and heart-breaking as a scratchy-voiced smart-mouth, and Michael Fassbender as her mother's boyfriend, Conner, is extremely attractive and complicated. The whole story is allowed to come together because of the perfect fit of all these characters. The film just never stops, it pushes through to the very end without a breath. I loved Arnold's previous film, Red Road, and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Trembling Before G-d

2010-01-25T02:30:00.001-05:00

Ten years later, I finally watched Trembling Before G-d (Sandi Dubowski, 2001) and I see what all the hype was about. It was riveting! It's a great in-depth example of the way one part of one of the major world religions deals with homosexuality. The stories were fantastic, what was quelled from each of the participants. Just extraordinary editing, characters, etc. I was trying to go to bed and watched this just to get a taste of it, but I ended up watching the whole thing.

Varda's First

2010-01-18T20:04:00.006-05:00

Agnès Varda made her first film, La Pointe Courte, in 1955 with no prior film training and without having seen much film at all. A few years later, at the age of 30, she was hailed as an "Ancestor of the New Wave." Granted, Varda was working as a photographer at the time, and her photographic expertise is crucial to the beauty of this film. It's great! It's beautiful! It's amazing! Ahhhh...

I started watching this film on a bus from DC to New York and finished it on Giovanna and Andy's couch, so it was not an optimal viewing- I would prefer to see this in a theater on film. But it's pretty darn cool that I'm able to see it on DVD, thanks to the 2008 Criterion release of four of Varda's early films. Vagabond (1985) has long been one of my favorite films. And I loved Cleo from 9 to 5 (1962), though I didn't connect years ago when I watched it that Varda was its director. But it was hard to imagine as I started watching Pointe Courte that Varda could have made something this...old.

La Pointe Courte is from a time when films were deliberate, every shot carefully planned out. I know I know, they still are for the most part. But these shots are go gorgeous that every part of the frame seems created especially for the shot. The lighting, the movement, everything... I thought of Bergman, Fellini watching this, all the metaphors. There are also hilarious bits, such as when a woman speaking to a group of folks who, like her, are no longer young says, "We've already shit half our crap." I've had the good fortune of saying this a couple times this week about things I've seen, but...what a treat!

Good Dick

2010-01-17T21:15:00.011-05:00

Per Nzingha's request, I just watched Marianna Palka's 2008 Sundance favorite, Good Dick. It wasn't bad, and it was certainly unique. That is, it's the only film about a porn-loving twenty-something woman I've ever seen. Actually, I really liked it, largely because the protaganists are so compelling. But it's not without its problems. Mostly, I wished that the main character (played by Palka, who also wrote the script) wasn't portrayed as so messed up, her affinity for porn due to her dealing with major childhood sexual abuse issues. But then I suppose she had to be, that is, something very significant had to explain her agoraphobia and odd prudishness. So while that story line (featuring a cameo by Tom Arnold as her father) seems contrived and disturbing, it also helps the whole film to make sense. (But does this woman really spend so much time looking at the same childhood photos of herself, particularly one prominently featuring her naked toddler-self ?)

While I was pondering this, I watched Mo'nique's Golden Globes acceptance speech for her role as the terribly abusive mother in "Precious." She said "I accept this for all you who have been touched... It's time to tell." That reminded me, once again, how important it is for childhood sexual abuse to be exposed, for people to tell their stories. But the way this film put these things together...makes me feel ookey. I mean, I too am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and as an adult I sometimes watch porn. Is there a correlation? How did Palka come to that in creating the story?

Jason Ritter's character is very likable as the boy who stubbornly works his way into the woman's life. He attempts to help her in overcoming her fear of touch and the outside world, despite her outright meanness toward him and constant flippant rape cries. He looks so much like his father John Ritter (especially in the eyes) and has some of his mannerisms too, that sometimes I felt like I was watching a film starring John Ritter and my friend Amahl, who sharply resembles Palka...

As in all quirky indie films, there are quirky indie details, like Polish references throughout, the main character sleeping in his car, and a running joke about Annie Sprinkle's "Zen Pussy." But there's something to this film that made me really like it. I think it's primarily the two main characters, their chemistry and the unconventionality of their relationship. And the acting is great. I tend to grade films like this on a different scale than others, it being a first film from director Palka and all low-budget and all. But even considering that, I think this will stick with me for a while, something that's always a sign of a very good film.

Dreamy Films

2010-01-17T11:21:00.009-05:00

The connection between movies and dreams is a much studied topic. Artist Zoe Beloff has fun with this relationship in her exhibition "Dreamland: The Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society and its Circle 1926-1972," which is on display at the Coney Island Museum through March. Like all of Beloff's work, the exhibition blurs the lines between fact and fiction, and to get the work we have to give up trying to figure out what's what and just enjoy it. Aside from some ephemera and found objects, the crux of this exhibition are several short films made by members of an "amateur psychoanalytic society" during the greater part of the middle of the last century. As the wall text of the exhibition points out, Freud visited Coney Island on his first and only trip to the US. These Coney Island inhabitants and followers of Freud sought to analyze their dreams through their filmic depictions of what they dreamt, as the "dream is always the disguised fulfillment of a suppressed wish," according to Freud. With the dawn of the Cine Kodak movie camera and Kodak 16mm safety film in 1923, amateur filmmaking took off in the same year that the society was founded. According to Beloff, the society held a dream film competition every year and some of the winners are featured here. Among them are several films displayed on 3 digital monitors and 2 16mm films projected in a small screening room. They are varied and entertaining. And well worth the 99 cent admission to the museum!

Sheep Are Just Like Sheep

2010-01-15T23:00:00.009-05:00

I'm not an animal person. I like animals on a case by case basis, but I don't look at an animal and immediately swell with adoration and affection. So Sweetgrass, a new doc about Montana sheep and their herders, would not have been my first choice for Friday night viewing. But Sara Varon was really excited about seeing it, and I was curious about the attention it has been getting, so we went to a packed screening at Film Forum tonight. And it was quite nice. I was worried at first that I was sitting in a theater full of animal fanatics who would coo and aww at each cute sheep face. But in the first shot a sheep who is chewing on some grass and minding her own business slowly turns her head to the camera and stops chewing as she realizes she's being observed. It was a moment I could appreciate in my anthropomorphic relation to animals and the rest of the audience seemed to be with me in this.

Sweetgrass is an entirely observational documentary, and the only time the filmmakers are even referred to is toward the end of the film when a herder comments when a herd dog almost treads on a camera. Considering it's just a film about sheep in pastures, perhaps it's remarkable that Sweetgrass is never boring and I never once thought, "When is this gonna be over?" I learned that sheep are really just such... sheep. I wondered about the men and women who tended to the sheep. I was mesmerized by the sheering, it was almost meditative. I was reminded of Brokeback Mountain. I thought of the Swiss Alps (filmmakers Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Ilisa Barbash seem to have both Swiss and Cal Arts connections) and where these sheep herding families came from. It reminded me how much I love Montana, made me want to go there and be in the mountains. But it did not make me want to work with sheep. The work looked grueling and thankless. I wondered about why this sheep ranch was closed a few years ago. Sweetgrass was contemplative and pleasant and left me with more questions than answers, which in this case is fine.

Indian Sneak Peak

2010-01-15T00:41:00.007-05:00

With a thin offering of dark chocolate, I stopped in on my friend Mridu Chandra today as she was finishing up some grants to get them out on a tight deadline. She needed to test a DVD that she was sending off with a grant application, so I had the good fortune of getting to preview a rough cut of the first part of a documentary trilogy that she is working on about hidden aspects of Indian American life. Part I is called, "Indian Summer" and it's a funny, short observational doc about Hindu Heritage Summer Camp in Upstate New York. The teens featured in the doc cracked me up repeatedly with their, like, views and observations. It was an upbeat and well-crafted glimpse into a world that I didn't know existed and was delighted to learn about. I hope Mridu has great success with this project so that many many people will see it.

Double Feature Day with Sara Varon

2010-01-13T22:34:00.007-05:00

One of my favorite things in life is a movie day with Sara Varon. When I was living in DC, we had movie days as much as possible when I went to New York. Or Sara would take the bus down for 24 hours and we would fit as many movies into a day as we possibly could. We timed them just right and often saw things we would not see otherwise, just to fit them into our intricate schedule. So when I came to New York this time I was really looking forward to the Wednesday we set aside for one of our movie days. We packed an extensive lunch and charted out the films we most wanted to see.

We started with Hurt Locker at Quad Cinemas, thinking everyone else had already seen it and we'd have the place to ourselves, but that's what dozens of senior citizens were thinking too. I expected great things from this one, because that's all I'd heard about it. And it was indeed impressive, a thinking, empathic, layered, excellent war movie. I was especially impressed having just seen Black Hawk Down, another film lauded as "best war movie," and being gravely disappointed. The focus on interpersonal and intercultural relationships held my interest here, and director Kathryn Bigelow's skill with suspense is extraordinary. (I won't even get into the many discussions about Bigelow as a female filmmaker and the historical significance of this film, or crap like this...)

But we had to hurry on and we couldn't dwell for long in Bigelow's Iraq. Rather, like Sgt. James returning to a Texas supermarket, we made a surreal cultural jump. Ours was to pre-WWI Germany at Film Forum where Michael Haneke's White Ribbon was playing. Haneke is one of my favorite directors, and I was curious to see how this black and white period film would fit into his ouevre. It was reminiscent of The Castle, Haneke's 1997 Kafka adaptation, both in style and in setting. Being rather obsessive and anal retentive myself, I must admit that I appreciate Germanic perfectionism. And it is a veritable treat to watch a Haneke film and know that everything will be absolutely perfect (although I'm pretty sure Haneke would not appreciate the association, particularly considering the implications of this film...). White Ribbon is a horror film, a psychologically probing film, a culturally revealing film- suffice it to say, it is a great film.

Trippy Canonical Feminist Film

2010-01-13T01:38:00.008-05:00

Rhyne and Dara were joking before the Light Industry screening of Riddles of the Sphinx (Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, 16mm, 1977, 90 mins) that we were about to watch the feminist Avatar, because the film has a reputation for being cutting edge and trippy. Or maybe there were other reasons. But it was certainly cutting edge and trippy. I suppose it was too organized and logical to be considered truly trippy, but it was indeed a trip of feminist nostalgia that I, for one, sorely needed.

Trippier, actually, was Gunvor Nelson and Dorothy Wiley's 1966 Schmeerguntz, which preceded Riddles in this program, with its inspiring collage of babies, crap and beauty pageants. Schmeerguntz set the stage perfectly, complete with pageant soundbites to put Miss South Carolina to shame. ("I'll always let my boyfriend think he's the best. Because I think that's the way it should be.")

Mulvey's structure for Riddles of the Sphinx is calculated and complex. But the main thing I took from it was pretty simple and definitely resting on my historically placed reading of it- we've gone backwards in our feminist evolution as a society. Why does this happen? All the right questions are in this film, literally in the narrative of Louise and her questions about motherhood and patriarchy. She poses riddles such as, "Is exploitation outside the home better than oppression in it?" and "In the workplace, should men and women organize differently?" Her questions of gender are so basic, yet we may never have the answers.

Read & Watch!

2010-01-11T11:48:00.007-05:00

Today in a Frameworks post I learned about a film and book blog that filmmaker Veronica Ibarra has started. Glad to see it! I watched her short film, The Uncertain Existence, which you can see here. It's a pretty, reflective, kind of painful film, quiet and still and full of mirror images, double existence, and loneliness in a cold London in late spring.

Low Expectations are the Key to Happiness (or a word on The Princess & the Frog)

2010-01-09T15:36:00.006-05:00

I just saw The Princess and the Frog with 3 Wisco kids in a big exciting New York City cinema. Everything I see lately reminds me that, at least for me, low expectations are the key to happiness. I hadn't heard anything great about this film. On the contrary, I've heard a lot of criticism about the clouding over of the racial disparities that this film depicts but does not address. But I was enchanted with the voodoo plot (watch out mainstream America!) and the can-do female lead. The best thing this film has going for it is the fact that Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) is wildly ambitious to the end of achieving her career goals. She supports the prince financially and teaches him about hard work and dedication, a scenario much in line with a lot of real life stories. It's still a barfy fairy tale, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this one in comparison to all the other Disney offerings.

It's Not That Complicated

2010-01-08T16:19:00.008-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I found myself with some time to kill around Penn Station while I waited for my sister and her family to arrive in New York. The only movie playing in the neighborhood that I was interested to seeing was Nancy Meyer’s It's Complicated.

It has been so exciting to me to read all of the popular articles being published lately about women directors. (Thank you, Manohla Dargis!) Long overdue conversations are finally happening, and women directors are finally getting full stories, not the least of which was Daphne Merkin's New York Times Magazine piece, "Can Anybody Make a Movie For Women?". As problematic as that article might have been (...), I was glad to see it. So all of the hype could only lead to disappointment. And there's not a whole lot more to say.

The scenery and music of Complicated were as sweet and sunny as the dialogue, and so was the whole experience. It was surprisingly saccharine, rosy and slick, though that should not have surprised me. The consistently vocal gentleman next to me, who was actively enjoying the film throughout, said at the finish that it was a good movie for TV, and I'm afraid I found that observation astute. The vaginaplasty joke also REALLY worked on him. Personally, I liked it when Jake (Alec Baldwin) expressed his approval of former wife and present lover Jane's (Meryl Streep) lack of bikini wax saying, "You've gone native. I like it." But my favorite part was when Jake grabs Jane's crotch post-coitum and declares with a satisfied smile, "Home sweet home." Jake's desire to win Jane back is comedic, way overdone and embarrassing. But mostly so for Nancy Meyers.

Invictus & the Baggage We Take to the Movies

2010-01-05T19:41:00.009-05:00

I walked from Santa Monica to the Pico Landmark to see Invictus today. Even though it took 2 hours, it's not all that noble a feat. I only had to leave the house because Andrea's cleaning lady came, something that has resulted in my every-other-Tuesday morning movie ritual. All the way there I was thinking about how this movie would probably piss me off, because it seemed to be yet another movie about South Africa centered on a white protagonist. I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually about Mandela (Morgan Freeman), albeit with white rugby captain François Pienaar (Matt Damon) as his pawn. Invictus is a thin take on Mandela, but it was excellently acted, a satisfyingly sympathetic and tear-jerky portrayal of the great leader's enormous humility. The connectedness between Pienaar and Mandela is appropriately that of the former deriving fundamental inspiration from what the later has overcome. According to the Mandela mythology perpetuated here, Mandela sustained himself during the 18 years when he was prisoner at Robben Island with the words of Victorian poet William Ernest Henley: "You are the captain of your soul, master of your destiny." When he shares with Pienaar the poem and his personal history with it, the team captain is justifiably and reasonably inspired and moved.

The rugby plot that drives this story seems a stretch, but it works with the politics for what this film is. After all, as Mandela points out, sport is a social equalizer, a popular and most basic form of politics. In this film there is much focus on surroundings, details of set-up leading up to the game, and social make up, rather than the actual rugby match. This is a smart move on the part of the filmmakers, for Americans at least know little about rugby, and it's doubtful it would hold their interest were this more of a sports movie. We see people watching the climactic match with New Zealand’s All Blacks (a reference to their black shirt uniforms) in homes and bars, white and black and mixed groups, in townships and in gated white communities, within the stadium and outside of it. The mingling and unbridled excitement post-game reminded me of the energy on the street in DC when Obama was elected president. The legacy of slavery in the US all too closely resembles that of apartheid’s legacy in South Africa, even though almost 150 years separates those events. I appreciated the roles of black South Africans brought to the foreground in this film and the way it highlighted and exposed this legacy, not least in terms of class differences, in much the way slavery in the US can be seen today. We see this repeatedly in the positioning of blacks as domestics in the homes of whites, cleaning the field before the game, a young boy from a township who lurks about a cop car trying to listen in on the score. The audience is asked to consider South Africa as only the latest in a long line of former colonizers and enslaving oppressor countries. For example, when the New Zealand team dances its Maori war chant at the beginning of the game, the whole team relishes in raw Kiwi pride, although there are far more white faces than Maori on the team. This is juxtaposed with the almost exclusively white South African team's initial refusal to learn the new national anthem, Nkosi Sikkeleli Africa, the haunting and inspiring former ANC anthem that pleads, "God Bless Africa."

Last week over breakfast I was arguing with my cousin about Avatar. He said, "You sure took a lot of baggage into that film," and I had to admit that he was absolutely right. It seems that that is just the point, we all take all of our baggage into each film we see, and that's what makes a film relatable or not, great or not. It's this power that film has that makes it the greatest contemporary art form, and this is why film is exciting to me at all. That’s why I think I loved Invictus. It was an ode to Mandela, someone I have a huge emotional nostalgic connection to and great admiration for. One of the greatest memories of my life is that of waking up on February 11, 1990 and listening to the radio in my German host family’s kitchen, crying tears of joy at the news of Mandela’s release. These are the moments we take to the movies.

The black and white hand placed together on the trophy cup at the end of Invictus was a bit much. But that's when I suddenly remembered that this was a Clint Eastwood film...

Broken Embraces

2010-01-05T01:09:00.005-05:00

Just saw this at the Royal with Andrea. I love Almodovar. And Penelope Cruz. So this was enjoyable. Funny and smart and good. But not absolutely compelling, probably because of the main Kelsey Grammer look-alike character who just didn't pull me in. I think he fit the part well, he just wasn't a very sympathetic character.

a few days later...

I like this movie less in retrospect than I did when I first came out of Almodovarland. I think that's due in equal parts to the powerlessness of Lena and the fact that Harry Caine is not very compelling or, ultimately, likable. Oh well.

First Films of 2010

2010-01-03T23:31:00.018-05:00

In keeping with my promise to myself to create documentation about everything I see this year and to write about it for the upcoming blog, here's my take on the first few moving images of my year.

When I arrived in San Diego for New Year's, the first thing we did was watch THE COVE. I had heard that this doc was as drama-filled as the best of narrative films and mind-blowing as an environmental exposé. That is was, but frankly the main thing that stayed with me from the film was it's ethnocetricism. Why did these powerful monied white American dudes not have a single Japanese person on their crew, or at the very least someone who spoke Japanese? That's mind boggling to me. It would be too paranoid to think that they couldn't find any number of Japanese folks who would have been interested and willing in working on the project, and it would have helped their understanding of the situation, not to mention their on-the-ground comprehension of Japanese, tremendously. In that sense they came across as pretty stupid to me. Perhaps particularly because of the outright cultural accusations made in the doc, that the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji is perpetrated solely because of tradition and a stubborn refusal to succumb to international pressures to stop this practice because it is inhumane and wrong.

That said, THE COVE was powerful and heartbreaking, as dramatic as promised, cohesive and fast-paced. I liked it a lot, except for that serious bad taste in my mouth from the major cultural ignorance flaw...

The next day, on New Year's Eve, along with my cousin and my parents and millions of others, we went to AVATAR. Ugh. This blog posting by Gilad Atzmon helped clinch our decision to finally go see it. And we all regretted it. Amend that- we didn't regret it, this is something everyone has to see simply because it will be praised and referenced for years to come. And I was indeed impressed with the special effects. But I had better be impressed, considering the 15 years and millions and millions of dollars and manpower of hundreds of people on crews all over the world that went into creating this.

This is not the kind of movie I get excited about. But the interconnectedness of nature and humans and life is a compelling topic and imagining a world like that of the Na'vi and what exists on Pandora should have been much much more exciting and original and thought provoking. As Jenn (and many) pointed out, so many of these ideas have been explored in hundreds of books and films before this one. What really bothered me was how UNimaginitive this film was. With all of the resources available to James Cameron and his crew THIS is as good as you can do in imagining a futuristic society? I was so disheartened when the kick-ass and invincible woman that Jake Sully (the character meant for everyman to relate to) meets in the forest slowly loses her power after meeting him, becomes...a woman. Indeed how could we tell that she is a female character except for her breasts and her lulling comely female nature and her sexy come-hither voice. She must be vulnerable, fertile seeming. Is that it? I just lost any interest I might have had, which was also true as Sigourney Weaver's bad-ass scientist is revealed as a save-the-children type earth mother anthropologist that I won't even get into. Jenn had a spot-on analysis of the problematic racism at play (and she shared these blog posts:When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like Avatar? and Avatar: Totally Racist, Dude on that note). Obviously, there are dissertations to come out of this, but I'll stop here.

Andrea and I picked up BLACK HAWK DOWN and watched it the night after our other 99 cent video store pick, THE PROPOSA L. I watched this diligently for the first hour or so, expecting some insights into Somalia and the situation there. But by an hour and a half of this film, when Andrea told me that we still had 45 minutes to go, I was long tuned out. Bang bang bang I do not care.

We had both been wanting to see this film, having heard the hype about it for years. Of course, when it came down to it, neither of us could quite remember why it had been so hyped. I thought this had happened because it was the only mainstream filmic depiction of US involvement in Somalia, something too few people probably knew anything at all about. Andrea thought it was because guys like war movies a lot and this is apparently a good war movie. Surely, its acclaim was due to a combination of these things. But I'd love it if anyone can tell me why they liked this movie. I am curious. I don't have patience for American war movies, or war movies in general I'm sure, particularly when almost all of the 2 hours and 24 minutes of the film are spent in battle. Andrea seemed to have been prepared for this, but for some reason I was expecting a film about Somalis and insights into the situation there, touched by Americans yes. But this film, shot in Morocco, didn't even involve Somalis, they were barely peripheral. I think this fact would be all the more disturbing to me were I to give it more thought, but I don't plan on it.

In Honor of my Alaska Peeps...The Proposal

2010-01-03T22:05:00.008-05:00

On New Years Day over breakfast Jenn and James and I decided to start a blog where we can simply write about all the movies we see and start a conversation about them. The biggest hurdle is a title, but that will come, I'm certain. Yesterday Giovanna unveiled her fabulous blog with the same purpose, so clearly we were all meant to join forces. Until we get that up and running, I'm going to store responses here.

My most recent viewing, with Andrea last night, was Anne Fletcher's THE PROPOSAL. We knew it would be what it was and it certainly was that. Like much of America, we were in the mood for something light and funny. And one or the other or both of us had already seen all of the other options at the 99 cent video place on Santa Monica. It was also an appropriate choice for us since we saw Fletcher's 27 DRESSES together at The Grove a couple years ago.

...Gosh, I guess I don't have much to say about it. It certainly required a lot of suspension of disbelief. But any movie that combines a power-woman with Alaska scenery and Betty White is as worthy of watching as THE HANGOVER or I LOVE YOU, MAN. And, frankly, I laughed out loud several times, though Andrea didn't join me. She disapprovingly mentioned "America's Sweetheart" several times post-viewing, but I don't mind Bullock. The cast was quite decent actually. ... That's all.

My Favorite Movies of 2009

2009-12-28T17:33:00.015-05:00

2009 was an abnormal year of movie-watching for me. I attended very few festival screenings and probably saw a lot more mainstream films than usual. I saw a lot of movies that I liked just fine, but didn't LOVE. Of what I saw, in no particular order, these were the stand-outs, the movies that made the greatest impression on me, and I did love these.

TREELESS MOUNTAIN (So Yong Kim)

SILENT LIGHT (Carlos Reygadas)

SIN NOMBRE (Cary Fukunaga)

MUNYURANGABO (Lee Issac Chung)

PRECIOUS (Lee Daniels)

SITA SINGS THE BLUES (Nina Paley)

ANTICHRIST(Lars von Trier)

SLEEP DEALER (Alex Rivera)

SACRED PLACES (Jean-Marie Téno)

BRIGHT STAR (Jane Campion)

FOOD, INC. (Robert Kenner)

I must admit, I put forth this list without considering several films that I suspect I will like and have yet to see, including: Beaches of Agnes, Broken Embraces, Hurt Locker, Milk of Sorrow, White Ribbon, Tokyo Sonata, Goodbye Solo, Julia, Up, Hunger and Lorna's Silence.

Clearly, I have a lot more viewing to do!

I'll expand on these in a film blog that Jenn and I are starting, coming soon...

I am kind of in love.

2009-12-24T20:58:00.003-05:00

Snoop Dogg and his family are so adorable. I am kind of in love.

3's Company

2009-10-13T17:32:00.016-04:00

When I returned to my San Diego home in September, this was my welcome meal.

I always take a long time to stare at my favorite trio buddy pic...

Jenn and I went hunting for good camping and magically happened upon Oak Grove in the Cleveland National Forest. This was our view upon waking up...

...and this was our tree...

...where we spent much of the day.

We rushed home so these two could go to the prom.

And I went to DR STRANGELOVE under the stars with Bassemah. DVD projection, but still great.

I think this is the breakfast where Micah told me, "You look old now." and when pressed to explain further, " You have wrinkles all over your body now." Kids at least are honest with you about your wrinkles, spots, mustaches and apparent pregnancies...

So I thought I might as well let it all out and fry my wrinkly body some more at Coronado beach.

After some fits and starts, we went on a spontaneous end-of-the-day trip to Mexico. This is TJ and the wall (so reassuring) from el otro lado...

...and the view behind me. God bless America.

We got stuck in a sunset traffic jam, but it was okay because we were in an exciting foreign land.

James chauffeured us while Jenn and I sat in the back seat so we could feel the subwoofer on all the Mariah Carey songs we were listening to.

Margaritas with cheap tequila upon arrival at sundown...

...and cigars (me: "Son cubanos?" server: "Sí son cubanos. Cubanos hechos en México.")...

...mean we're staying overnight in Mexico. Yippy!

For $15 each, we get this view and our own rooms and LOTS of toilet paper.

At this rate we can afford breakfast!

We headed down to the beach before hitting the road back to el norte. Jenn showed us the way.

Then, once we got there, she inspected her split ends as I devoured her with love.

James was more receptive.

Take that, Jenn!

The happy couple coupling happily.

But three is company too!

Too much going on. Adios, La Fonda!

I see it there in the distance, the land of crappy coffee!

On my last night we made homemade dumplings, first with whole wheat flower so they're thick and nutritious and hearty...

...then dozens and dozens more, each one carefully contemplated and discussed.

Goodbye, San Diego!

...and hello again...

Denver to Taos Random Shuffle

2009-09-04T00:46:00.005-04:00

Buttons- Sia (thanks to Kelly)
Endlich Ein Grund Zur Panik- Wir Sind Helden (thanks to Andréa)
L'Amoureuse- Carla Bruni (thanks to MJ)
Amargosa- Otto
No es tan cierto- Juana Molina
Sympathy- Matson Jones (thanks to Jenn)
You're the One- James Pants (thanks to Fred)
Something's Gotta Give- Big Boi & MJB (thanks to Lavert)
Errare Humanum Est- Jorge Ben
Guerreiro- Curumin (thanks to Luiza)
Bittersweet- Big Head Todd (thanks to Silvinha)
Mavovo- Zola
Patins- CSS
Os alquimistas estão chegando- Jorge Ben
Mbdle Mbole Na Yona- Ngoma
Hide & Seek- Imogen Heap

Creationist- Kerli (thanks to Gene)
J'T'emmène Au Vent- Louise Attaque (thanks to MJ)
Get Over It!- Ira Glass (thanks to MJ)
Assim Assimix by DJ You DJ me- Moreno+2
Muito Pouco- Maria Rita
Itsoweezee (Hot)- De La Soul (thanks to Nzingha)
Futuro do País- Planet Hemp (thanks to Sara Towne)
País Tropical/ Spyro Gyro- Jorge Ben
Tribe- Simphiwe Dana
Por isso eu corro demais- Adriana Calcanhotto
Closer to Fine- Indigo Girls
Vambora- Adriana Calcanhotto
Life in Marvelous Times- Mos Def
Adelante- Los Guaraguao (thanks to Jim Finn)

Someday You Will Be Loved- Death Cab For Cutie (thanks to Sara Varon)
Top of the World- Brandy (thanks to Jackie)
Migrate- Mariah Carey (thanks to Jenn)
Supermagic- Mos Def
Hot Thing- Prince (thanks to Eve)
I Thought-Brandy
Down Syndrome- De La Soul
Brother- Jorge Ben
Fire and Rain- James Taylor
Rough Riders- Make Up feat. Mighty Flashlight (thanks to Liz, that bitch)
The Hat- Ingrid Michaelson (thanks to Anneke)
Walt Whitman's Niece- Billy Bragg & Wilco (thanks to Shannon)
Who Is It- Björk
Ich Hab Dich Lieb- Herbert Grönemeyer (thanks to Stefan)
Medicine Girl- The Everybody Fields (thanks to Leah)
I Gotta Feeling- Black Eyed Peas
A Postcard to Nina- Jens Lekman (thanks to Anne)

Is it medicine u make me- The Knife (thanks to Giovanna)
Oh Timbaland- Timbaland
Amei Tanto- Ana Martins
Mania de peitão- Seu Jorge
TV a cabo- Otto
Final Hour- Lauryn Hill
Chan Chan- Buena Vista Social Club
Hello Goodbye- Milton Nascimento
Drama Bug- David Sedaris
Eu vou torcer- Fernanda Abreu
Hope There's Someone- Antony & the Johnsons (thanks to Abina)
Comme d'Habitude- Khaled, Faudel, Taha
Vem menina- Curumin
Love Dog- TV on the Radio (thanks to Jenn)
The Mess We're In- PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke (thanks to Red)
Oh My God- Ida Maria (thanks to Whitney)
O ultimo por do sol- Lenine & Marcos Suzano (thanks to Peter)

Narita: My First Hour in Asia

2009-08-29T02:38:00.006-04:00

I finally went to Thailand this summer. It was my first time in Asia (not counting Lebanon or Asian Turkey). But there was a stop-over at the Tokyo airport on the way to Bangkok and that was as far as I got in processing my trip to Thailand, an hour at Narita still has me chewing.

These were my first impressions:

The very first thing I saw was actually this display which I assume was about the N1H1 virus and health and safety precautions. It was really pretty more than anything.

Otherwise...

1. They drive on the left side of the road in Japan! Didn't know that.

2. The regular trees look like bonsai trees! Or maybe it's just because we're looking at them from an airplane...

3. Narita seems to be located in the middle of nowhere, kind of like Minneapolis.
4. Japanese people are very sweet and polite.
5. Japan seems to be very down with environmentalism (recycling at least).
6. It's HUMID in Japan (at the airport).

7. Everything is so cute and pretty and expensive!

8. Drinking fountain water and sushi at the airport in Japan taste exactly like drinking fountain water and sushi at the airport in the US!

Otherwise I just tripped out about the toilet and all of its functions and capabilities aiding in discretion.

Deep...

Thailand was delicious. Among other things.

2009-08-04T03:46:00.007-04:00

The Redwoods make me think that life is AWESOME!

2009-08-04T03:45:00.001-04:00

Mañanitas

2009-04-06T18:09:00.005-04:00

I listened to this repeatedly, Zulma's dad singing Las Mañanitas to her. I especially love the vocal embellishments and his parting comment...

Deutsches Essen

2009-04-05T16:22:00.014-04:00

(oder, besser gesagt, Das Essen in Deutschland und Umgebung)

Start the day out with a good Frühstuck, my personal favorite....

Afternoon Kaffeetrinken is obligatory...

Abendbrot!

Oder einfach herrliches Abendessen...

This is the only meal I made the whole month in Berlin, for Tesia:

Mannheim Goodness...

And in Würzburg...

Celebration food in Germany is usually awesome.

Here's a birthday...

Obama's inauguration at the Amerika Haus, featuring German-Caribbean fare...

And Mama Henning's 60th birthday party with Lutoschens devouring some extraordinary Spargelsuppe...

Dutch food has never been my favorite, although one of the best meals I've ever had was an unexpected visit to La Ville in Maastricht. And I do adore hagel sla. I've been hording gaufre for several years, but my first street gaufre was this:

Kinda messy. Kinda embarassing when you're walking around trying to eat it in a dark coat.

I found this in the street...

And I found this late at night...

I was very tempted by these "Swiss" McDonalds specialties, but I resisted.

Pea soup hit the spot on a cold afternoon.

Belgian food is SO much better than Dutch food, in my experience. I have a hard time making sense of this strange cultural nuance...

But the Czech food I ate on this trip may have taken the cake, albeit lacking in vegetables. Hell, it was Feburary!

Food, Glorious Food (dedicated to Aunt Irma Huchthausen)

2009-04-02T03:38:00.025-04:00

I was looking at photographs of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa and dreaming of 5 star hotels, World Bank Lunch style...

My last night in DC, Nzingha made this amazing meal:

And this was my parting home meal from one of my favorite World Bankers, Johannes...

In Brooklyn, I made pasties for the first time, for my G's...

After some amazing meals in Germany etc (meals to be addressed in another post), it came time for Wisco chow...

Well, I guess it was a lot of feeding kids and watching kids eat...

But there was some good stuff in there for me too, like this breakfast from my brother in law, featuring his very own venison sausage...

And my birthday cake! With all the fabulous cakes in the world, nothing makes me happier than a Dairy Queen cake...

Except maybe this little number I picked up in Northern Indiana while visiting Eve & Jim. Damn damn damn. We devoured this, in thirds. Maybe as delicious as the moon pie scored the previous day (from the Cultural Center Café, something I dream of when I am far...):

Northern Indiana also offered an amazingly delicious meal ala Jim and Eve. This picture doesn't even show the pork tenderloin. Preceding dinner, we had a very arousing discussion of meats...

I was delighted by this chip bag design. Isn't it nice?

And then San Diego. I'd been told tales of James' kitchen skillz, but I had no idea...

1st night- Black Cod Wasabi

3rd night- Yellow tail cheek & Tuna and salmon sashimi and Salmon skin, etc.

No photo can capture what an extraordinary sight this meal was. Not meatloaf and mashed potatoes awe, colorful complex tasty layers of yum...

Then, more watching kids eat- Micah now:

And then, as if it could not get better, Bassemah's mom's fried chicken:

Lucas came from the OC craving BBQ, so we went to the place that the interweb said was the best BBQ in San Diego, House of Barbeque.

For San Diego's sake, I hope that is not the best BBQ in San Diego.

The next day, we drove all around North Park searching for Roberto's #10, which I could not find to save my life. So we settled on Rigoberto's.

It was fine, not great. I have been trying to eat as many fish tacos as possible while I am here. Roberto's #10 are much better...

That night, Lucas wished for some good old-fashioned meatloaf and mashed potatoes so we wouldn't have to go to bad San Diego gay bars or crappy BBQ. I provided, with a bit of embellishment ala ground turkey and my childhood Betty Crocker cookbook from which I used to create meatloaf pie ala mode.

The next night, for a belated birthday meal treat, Bassemah took me to Albie's All Beef. I could not imagine how perfectly full this experience would be...

Clearly, we were hungry.:

And I was mesmerized by everything around me.

Bassemah indulged me with my dream appetizer...

carefully sliced.

And I wasn't sure which I wanted more, her chicken parmesan...

or my bacon wrapped tenderloin.

Duh! Ha!

Wow. This was all topped off with the lounge band and everyone in the restaurant singing "Happy Birthday, Dear KJ."

...what a night... It's a long way from the World Bank.

What Does An Out-of-Work Film Programmer Do?

2009-04-02T01:03:00.025-04:00

This post is like the opposite of a Bring-Your-Gainfully-Employed-Adult-to-School type of show and tell. My days usually look like this, though the setting varies. The present set-up at James and Jenn's in San Diego is definitely the warmest...

The important thing is to face each day hopefully, with a lot of clothes on.

This is not always easy. A few months ago, on the day that I first sat down to start my job search in earnest, the very first thing I came across was news of the 25% staff reduction at Film Society at Lincoln Center. Today there's this again...

It is at once 1) validating re: my current condition, and 2)extremely depressing.
I do not see light at the end of this tunnel, though I'm sure it's there, somewhere, far off...

Meanwhile, I am taking advantage of the, um, free time for visits with friends and family who are good enough to take me in and let me feel productive in their lives while I search for a job. This involves a lot of kid visits and babysitting. In the case of my nieces, the kids are really happy and excited when I arrive and couldn't be cuter...

And by the time I leave they are miserable and can't wait to see me go.

Maybe it's a good thing for our relationship that I don't get to see Malcolm T as much?

In the case of Oliver, after the last 3 days when it was just him and me, we both really wanted more of each other. Here he is at a big gaping garbage hole that we checked out on the daily coming home from school.

I also got to see some kids I haven't seen in so long that they don't even look like this any more...

I've also taken to crashing birthday parties of kids who I don't know...yet. Free cake!

Then there's housesitting, which is a nice way of saying that my wonderful friends let me stay in their awesome homes while they are away so that I don't feel quite as home-less as I am. I break up a day of futile resumés and cover letters with useful things like watering their plants...

And I take care of their pets and pray that they don't bring flailing lizard tails into the house.

My favorite task is cleaning out the kitty litter. Mmmmm!

I also give impromptu lectures and book reports to visiting friends, just to hone my public speaking skills...

Bassemah just tried to talk me into going to work with her tomorrow by saying, "You can have 3 hours of internet!" I am not a sucker. Why would I go to her yucky work at school when I can do my futile work searching in this setting?

Cheers! Here's to finding a job before 2011!

Land of the Happy Animals

2009-03-31T18:19:00.005-04:00

Maastricht Moments

2009-02-18T11:21:00.006-05:00

FINALLY

2008-11-06T11:56:00.009-05:00

November 5, 2008

I'm still waiting for it to sink in.

I was so nervous and doubtful and scared and anxious, despite a positive and assured attitude that I was projecting on election evening. Robyn and I went to Marx Cafe, and as soon as we got there I was annoyed with people. I'd SO been looking forward to this for so long, but when it came down to it, I didn't feel so hot, felt kind of solitary. Margaret and Leesil showed up and their friends too, and the place got more and more crowded and we were squinting at TV monitors across the room. I was irritable and worried. The results so far looked hopeful, but I didn't trust it. I had such matter-of-fact hope for the last two elections, and, deep down, I just didn't have any hope left for this one. But I believe in the power of positive thinking, so I was just putting it out there...

When we left Marx, Obama had Pennsylvania and it looked like he'd get Florida. I talked to Gene briefly on the phone and he said Obama had secured Ohio. That seemed like it put him over. But I was still skeptical. We went to Margaret and Leesil's and continued watching. The TV stations were so desperately creating ridiculous filler. The panels of experts with their laptops? The holograms? We watched, cynically, uneventfully.

Then, very SUDDENLY, there was a graphic on the screen saying, "Projected Presidential Winner Barack Obama." We looked at each other, not comprehending, unable to compute. Amid all the fodder, they were going to drop the news, just like that? It didn't seem like it could be true. I felt like we sat there for 5 minutes or so, looking at each other, looking at the TV. I got up to hug Margaret, started crying, shocked, heard screaming outside. So I ran outside and started screaming too, jumping up and down (on my left leg), neighbors emerged from their houses, banging pots and pans, screaming all around, ecstatic elation abounding, all around, hugging and jumping and screaming and dancing, people I've never met and probably won't again- we were all HIGH, completely another state of consciousness, I had to go over to the porch with the folks who'd first let out hollers. We fell into each others' arms, jumping and screaming. They invited me in and we drank celebratory Hennessy and wandered around ecstatic and incredulous, went back to the porch. Other neighbors came out, we were all friends, we were all unbelievably relieved.

We went down to the White House, we had to. It was packed and euphoria emitted from everyone all along the way. People were waving American flags out of cars, and for the first time that I can remember I felt pride attached to that, all of a sudden I had to put my cynicism in check- I didn't know what to do with it (and have often felt that way since then). We made our way to the intersection of U St. and 14th. The streets were full at midnight. Everyone was walking in a daze, huge smiles, muttering to themselves in disbelief, trying to digest what had happened, loving everyone else, congratulating and celebrating and incredulous. It was unreal.

Now it's September 2009. It still surprises me when I watch a newsclip of Obama speaking and realize that it's all true, that this was really possible. Is it?

Nurses I Have Loved

2008-10-29T21:08:00.011-04:00

Post-debate TV cart

To borrow a phrase from Red, "Look how lucky I am! Take a picture!" Giovanna's pumpkin bread and Jenn's leg massage making me pinch myself.

Vanna and Jim braved DC driving to come visit. And so nice it was! They sent me all the best cards...

G & Nzingha & Jenn too.

Jenn and I watched some Women Make Movies screeners, this was THE WOMEN'S KINGDOM, I think.

Jenn cleaned my whole house before she left!

After the bandages came off- lookin' good!

When Aaron arrived, my camera got somehow pink for a while.

He took me for glorious late night walks...

and played wonderful music for Jackie, Robyn and me! A neighbor from next door even came over to tell us we needed to keep it down, but that our harmonizing group-sing of "Brown Eyed Girl, "sounds really good."

Robyn did ALL my laundry, dude! And look how BEAUTIFULLY folded everything is! So spoiled I am...

Heavenly Prudence and her heavenly tapanade. Chopped by hand!

And Pru's DELICIOUS curry meal, with Nurses Robyn and Rowan.

Pru!

Morgan came over from next door, she has the YUMMIEST belly.

Serious scrabble with Sara Varon.

She kicked my ass, actually.

My Bed Rest Lunches: Post-Surgery Part III

2008-10-29T19:34:00.014-04:00

OK, so this is all out of order, but here are some nice things.

For example, percocet makes you feel SO SEXY!

When we removed the nerve block catheter, I put this patriotic band-aid on the scar.

Here's Luz, the little luz!

A delicious Karin meal!

And Nzingha's outstanding breakfast. What a treat...

Visits with Nzingha and Zulma...

And moms!

After they took out the sutures at my one-week check-up, I had this nice tape for a while. Bon appetit!

The ever-requested kringle. DELICIOUS!!!

My Bed Rest Lunches: Post-Surgery Part II

2008-10-29T19:05:00.007-04:00

Marta and Luz brought these beautiful zinnias from their garden. Such a treat to have that bundle here for a spell! And these flowers lasted forever.

On the same day, Zulma brought this wonderful bouquet!

And a week and a half after the surgery my left hand was finally starting to recover for the anesthesiology student Eric's missed IV pricks.

Robyn made moms and me the PERFECT delicious veggies with tofu and brown rice. It was EXACTLY what I'd been craving!

And Johannes made mom's dream come true when he came over and made us Wienerschnitzel. It was EXTRAORDINARY. And my first excursion out of the bedroom! I think this was one week post-surgery. After dinner, Johannes and I watched INTO GREAT SILENCE alone, after mom realized what was on and said "oh no, not this, this is BO-RING" and retired to the living room with her book.

Pfister Sisters

2008-09-29T04:02:00.003-04:00

Jenn saw this in Berlin, I was impressed. and, yes, jealous...

My Bed Rest Lunches: Post-Surgery Part I

2008-09-21T02:37:00.004-04:00

Just for you, Cousin Andy, I am posting these post-surgery entries out of order, bloody upload problems...

After Karin left, moms came and it was a wonderful visit. First time we've had that much QT as adult, I feel really lucky for it. She made many of my favorite things too, including almond kringle (which won't upload) and this: Greek Spinach Quiche. YUM.

Then, my favorite beefcake and her mother arrived.

We played sober dress-up games...

and hide and seek (she had the mobility advantage...)

We read books and shit...

And ate more good food!

Laid Up

2008-09-14T09:26:00.007-04:00

Karin & I went to Trader Joes, and look what happened to my fridge. It has never seen such bounty! Provisions.
We celebrated Karin's 40th with a DELICIOUS cake she brought all the way from Madison!
Before.
One last look at my right knee before the knife.
Shawn Khoury recommended pineapple for ligament strength. Karin cut this mother up the morning after surgery. Yum!
After. Pain killers are good when they work.
My nerve catheter totally freaks me out. I try not to think about it. Dr. Yang just called me to check on it. I figured out a sexy bikini bottom number to keep the crotch out of the brace. Such a weird situation...

Spontanaety good

2008-09-06T02:54:00.008-04:00

Robyn calls this my "let's talk about film theory face"

Life is so...fascinating, amazing, messy, hard-core. (RAE)

I feel like I'm coming down in Orlando. (MM)
Don't you feel like you're coming down in Orlando? (MM, 5 seconds later)

The other one tasted like a sci-fi winter planet. (RAE re: the second glass of scotch)
M'am, that's animal poo. (LA, imitating house inspector in basement)
A low-level spiritual experience. (RAE re: mental illness)

World Bank Lunch 9/08

2008-09-06T02:52:00.004-04:00

Despite a largely looming and unappetizing Palin pallor over our conversation, we had a good lunch yesterday. Nice variety.

Johannes had udon or some such thing.
Diane had some good looking chicken and rice.
I had a delicious fish stew with rice. Oh so good.
Of course, the World Bank Art was irresistable.
I love that they sell little globes that bankers can place it their mouths and masticate with a grin.

Ass 5

2008-09-02T12:54:00.008-04:00

The last summer 08 pre-knee surgery trip to Assateague with Robyn.
It was good. We even bought commemorative clothes, like this girls gone wild skirt Robyn picked up. H O T.
The day was a blur. A sunny, wet, happy blur.
We set off for Rehoboth at sunset.
Assateague pride!
Now I understand about Rehoboth. The meal we had there was truly excellent. And I kept having to remind myslef that I didn't need to be scared of people, we weren't in Ocean City.

Good call, Robyn! Methinks I shall pose!
This is my new invention. Do not steal this idea.
These kids were hanging out aorund the Burger King in Cambridge or something. It was odd, but they were very friendly. In their home country, I think this is common.

A week of Cheryls

2008-08-31T19:28:00.014-04:00

Cheryl Dunye came to NMWA on Wednesday for an excellent and fun screening and discussion.
She was so comfortable in front of an audience, clearly a great teacher, director and performer.
We piled into the elevator to clear out to the after party...
at Fab Lounge, organized by Ebone (on the right).
I had no idea this place existed.
I had to engage in anal sex with Margaret immediately.
And here I've been trying to make The Phase work all this time...
Yucky but entertaining meal at Kramers with a crew.
I got to sit next to Rudy Huxtable. She's all grown up!
On the way home we stopped off for some spiritual guidance.
Thursday was a celebratory lunch for my wonderful intern, Diane. Really perked her up, I'm sure.
Then Cheryl Coward came to town! Just in time for G's celebratory good-bye meal...
And dancing back at Fab Lounge.
She could not hide her celebrity, exhausting.
So back to the Hyatt. I insisted she needed a chaperone.
She lead a great workshop on Saturday.
I had no idea what an online chapbook was! http://dcwrites.dreamhosters.com
Sunday morning Jason took me out for breakfast buffet brunch! And a look at Jacob Lawrence's migration series at the Phillips.

A Week of Goodbyes to G in DC

2008-08-31T19:12:00.018-04:00

Saturday...
Sunday...

Wednesday...

Thursday...

Friday...

Saturday...

Miss you already, G!

This is what I'm into lately

2008-08-26T23:37:00.004-04:00

I know, I know, I'm always behind.

But ever since Jenn made me do this yesterday, I feel like Princess Leia.

Definitely futuristic. And a little bit freaky distrubing. But mostly very very good.

Jenn is always nagging, (imagine whiney voice) "Do a screen grab do a screen grab."

And I say, ah, that's complicated, I can just use my trusty camera. And she's like," no it's easy you just push star shift apple release 7 amperstand." and I'm like, "check out my cool old picture, dude."

Jackie's on my page.

Leaving the Reunion & a nite in mini-paradise

2008-08-26T01:12:00.006-04:00

One more breakfast...

... some last lovin'...

...last strange exercise.

and then a delightful walk with Auntie KJ.

This is fun, really!

So I took Elise for daquiris when she was your age, this is better for you!

Grandma to the rescue.

I swear to god this was not my thong.

Back in the 6 MOHR van once again, on the way to the airport. Now THIS is reunion.

Had to stay in Denver an extra night thanks to United, a blessing in disguise. Good retreat. And a good view of the city with the mountains behind it...

got better and better.

Wonderful amazing miracle treat. After a trip to the pool and a trip to the gym and some maxin and relaxin and e-mail catching upin, this is what I was able to actualize. I had snatched as many vegetables as I could from Andy's garden, including a perfect tomato and a bunch of basil. With my room service voucher compliments of United, I got a perfect ball of mozzerella to perfectly match said tomato and just enough basil and a little salt and pepper... heaven.

Red Rocks hike and the last day

2008-08-26T01:01:00.011-04:00

My dad asked for directions. We must consider the context.

Roxborough State Park

Avvy & papa

happy Avvy, happy papa

That's a bit much.

nice-uh

right before i tripped back into a bench...

Leftover salmon reincarnated into a very yummy sandwich with the help of Andy's sweet relish. Best tailgate ever. His home-smoked salmon and gouda too. (ok, he didn't make the gouda himself...)

gang

amazing, enlightening spark

hiking at Red Rocks

Mrs. & Mr. Nelson harvesting hops

He explained what hops do, but I still don't understand.

my well-intended grave mistake. no, it is not a good idea to teach kids to taste the wondrous mint or anything else in the garden. AG was barfing all night...

kitchen candid

getting attached

OMG I LOVE THIS ONE.

Avvy, she's just...irresistable. She is henceforth known as cute monkey baby or just monkey or Äffchen. OMG she is just a little monkey.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for making the flatbread again, and I'm sorry that I kept eating it before dinner was ready even when you said not to (and THANK YOU for the secret mojitos too, btw) and I'm sorry that I had more than my share and I'm sorry I took the last one from the kitchen and ate it as my airport treat the next day.

OMFG don't even make me talk about this meal. THAT PESTO!!! THOSE BEETS!!! THE CHICKEN LEFTOVERS IN THE PESTO!!! OMFG I'm hungry again...

They're taking a bath for a dog!

Colorado Springs Excursion and on to Boulder and back

2008-08-25T23:58:00.013-04:00

And at the end of the fourth day, she went to Colorado Springs with the last pastie, wrapped in tin foil...

and got in on a little bit of the UFVA conference. Well, the important reception and drinking parts.

bathroom photo shoot...

and who knew Courtney Herman would be there! So, of course, we piled into her fancy hotel suite for some major party action. dude.

Giovanna and Kylos were kind enough to host me in their own gorgeous EconoLodge room (reminiscent of Salisbury...)

And then we met Mridu for an authentic hippie college breakfast.

Then we drove up to Boulder...

and met these kids in a park!

They were pretty friendly.

Though the rocks scared Giovanna and her motherly sensibilities.

So, after a muddy wet hike, we took her to a teahouse to try to calm her down.

Once we got our act together...

We took her home and fed her Andy's beer and Elliott's amazingly yummy chicken parmesan.

Hey, Karen will make anyone happy!

Whoopie!

Slap happy bedtime...

Colorado Part 2 (this is where it starts to look like a cult)

2008-08-25T23:26:00.007-04:00

cult breakfast

fatherhood can be dangerous

Why'd they have to leave?

Rockies game

they lost

But you've still got your cuz, E!

The grand treat- Aunt Karen's pasties. With Andy's homemeade Gertie relish! And pickled turnips!

my debonair cousin

yum

Auntie Annie really makes me look bad.

ahhh!

Grandfathers with s'mores- don't mess with em.

Decendants of Evangeline & Roy Reunite

2008-08-25T09:15:00.011-04:00

When I landed, at first I was disappointed, because I didn't see any mountains, although it felt like we were on top of one, a big sandy dirt covered mountain plain. But it was nice when Onkel Chack graciously picked me up at the airport and brought me to these two awesome girls. Haley Kate asked Jeanette, "When are your husband and that girl gonna get here?"

Haley could not have remembered me.

But she was a true hostess and friend and immediately started to entertain me with a card game.

Then Malcolm T et al arrived and we set out to the park.

Check out the view from the park (i.e. mountains in the distance!).

Andy has the most amazing garden I've ever seen (except for Grandpa Nelson's)! I can't begin to describe or perhaps even to fathom my appreciation of this garden. You name a plant that grows, it was in there. Incredible.

And this is what he made from it! A DELICIOUS Thai curry, including great seafood too.

And we got to enjoy it out here! Sunset Magazine, eat your heart out!

There were also 3 Jenny's. and Andy's outstanding home brew, or so they say... I don't drink beer, but when Giovanna came for dinner, she said his was the best beer she's had in years, definitely better than the other 2 fancy beers he had on tap in the garage.

The next Day we went to Cherry Creek State Park and did some swimming...

And more eating. and spilling- out of our suits and out of chip bags.

Haley Kate, Elise arms, Abby Grace & Gramps after another incredible dinner (salmon Andy caught and Jack grilled, grilled flatbread with rosemary, polenta etc)...

and there were a few birthdays to celebrate!

Just 1 from the beach

2008-08-24T00:26:00.002-04:00