3 posts tagged “siff”

Haven't gotten to writing about all the movies I've gone to over the past few weeks. I'm not much of a movie critic. And anyway, many of the movies I've seen might not get released here so what's the point suggesting them?

The thing I've come to know recently, and perhaps this is widely known, is that many filmmakers rely on personal financing to make their movies. For example, I heard at a SIFF screening, the Korean director of Breathless sold home to make his movie. And I found out on Adam Carolla's Podcast, even Francis Ford Coppola, who is the director of the #1 movie of all time, still has to personally finance his own movies. He himself financed his latest movie, Tetro.

This year we saw a lot of documentaries. Usually we pack the schedule with Asian movies and then we never see them.

List of movies seem: (I think one short film block is missing from here...)

		The Hurt Locker HURT3009A, 1 ticket May 30, 2009 4:00 PM, 130 min Uptown Cinema User Reviews |
		Miao Miao MIAO0209A, 2 tickets Jun 2, 2009 7:00 PM, 83 min Egyptian Theatre User Reviews |
		Kabei—Our Mother KABE0309A, 2 tickets Jun 3, 2009 6:45 PM, 132 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |
		The Red Race REDR0809A, 2 tickets Jun 8, 2009 7:00 PM, 70 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |
		Breathless BREA1109A, 2 tickets Jun 11, 2009 9:15 PM, 130 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |
		Kimjongilia KIMJ1209A, 2 tickets Jun 12, 2009 6:30 PM, 75 min Pacific Place Cinema User Reviews |
		No Age performs “The Bear” BEAB1209E, 2 tickets Jun 12, 2009 9:30 PM, 94 min The Triple Door User Reviews |
		Forever Enthralled ENTH1309A, 2 tickets Jun 13, 2009 3:00 PM, 147 min Cinerama User Reviews |
		Every Little Step STEP1309A, 2 tickets Jun 13, 2009 7:00 PM, 95 min Egyptian Theatre User Reviews |
		Manhole Children TBAC1409A, 2 tickets Jun 14, 2009 9:00 PM, 117 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |

SIFF had a free screening, which we aren't obliged to attend but it's a free movie so we went. A Swedish(?) movie, a period piece movie, which I did not remember the name of. The story was about a mother in an unhappy marriage, who had aspired to be a photographer and who was in love with another man but who remained loyal to her drunk husband and raised her 7 kids. She did find a measure of happiness in the end but most of the movie you're frustrated with her. Hitomi liked the clothing (costumes) of the period, circa 1920s, which all really resembled the kinds of clothes she buys.

Post movie we met Eurika and Tylor at the nearby QFC to carpool south.

We spent more time today driving to and from the Sakura-con meeting than actually at the meeting, which was at the Covington Library somewhere in the vicinity of Auburn. Similar to last year, we held a meeting to divvy up the Japanese guests and get familiar with the expense process. Mostly what I (and Hitomi) do is act as a walking wallet, personal shopper, tour guide, drink and food orderer, and general escort. There's other staff around to translate panels, etc.

Post-meeting, mostly Japanese relations staff went to Malay Satay Hut and mostly Eurika talked about prior years and the difficult situtations she's been in. She talks a lot, probably about 90% of the words spoken at our 8 person table were hers. (Not hyperbole.)

Eurika bought a durian shake. Hitomi and I tried just a little of it: Durian admittedly tastes fine but unfortunately does smell bad, a smell which we discovered would return to our mouths as part of the digestive process, i.e. when burping. I'm a little scared to visit the toliet tomorrow.

Hitomi's off skiing Crystal Mountain tomorrow. I would go, I guess, if the snow conditions were better (newer) and I had enough rest from the prior week. Taking the day off, physically and mentally seems prudent. I actually spent some of today (Saturday) entering names into a bug tracking system I'm setting up. It took about 4-5 database exports to get the data right, and about 3 imports to get the data imported correctly. And I'm not 100% done, as I still need to import the attachments to the bugs.

Oh, and speaking of not skiing, I'm also not going to do the Chilly Hilly, Sounds like a fun ride but I could use the rest.

I've been keeping up with my cycling. Hitomi was gone to Anime North (Toronto) and the weather's been fine. I spent Saturday riding to five different movie theaters for five different films at SIFF: A personal record for movies watched in one day? Sunday, I got Kevin to ride sixty miles, some of it quite hilly, and he did an adequate job. Monday I visited my parents and went to the Kubota gardens for the first time.

Tuesday, although Hitomi had just returned, I went out (again!) to my usual Tuesday night ride. The weather's finally gotten good. And I went to another movie that night.

I led a Seattle Bicycle Club ride last Wednesday. I was asked by the ride coordinator to lead, although I hadn't been on more than a few rides, and actually wasn't a member. (I did send in my dues a few weeks back.) The ride was a success. Here was the route. Our club did an interesting thing I think Cascade should do as well. At every corner, we had the rider behind me stay behind to make sure the remainder of the group made a turn. I would shout "Corner!" (actually I politely asked somebody) and somebody stayed behind. Usually what happens is the ride leader has to wait after every light and turn for everybody else to arrive, but instead I could keep going without concern.

Thursday was a day of rest. Plus, I wanted to actually see my wife before she left on a trip. Unfortunately, Thursday for Hitomi was mostly packing.

Friday, bought an oyster knife by Dexter Russel. Dexter Russel makes commercial-grade kitchenware. I have one of their knives I bought at a fishing store for my kayak trip a few years back. Hitomi wanted bought an oyster knife for her trip for consuming oysters on the beach, obviously. And later that day, I looked at Santoku Knives by the same company. For some reason I want to buy some new knives, though the knives I have are still adequate (actually Henckles), there's something exotic about Japanese-style cutlery. And I really like the utilitarian look and quality that goes into commercial products.

Saturday was another movie day, though this time I only went to three movies. Maybe sometime I'll write a couple of reviews? For foreign movies, I really like Asian movies the best. Even if an Asian movie isn't so good story-wise, it's usually aesthetically pleasing. I got back early to cook dinner and prepare food for an ambitious ride Sunday.

The initial plan was to ride about 80 miles inside of Mount Rainer Nat' Park, for a total of 8,000 feet of climbing. The weather unfortunately did not cooperate, so we turned back earlier. Most of the group ascended just the first 4,000 feet, from outside of the park to the Paradise visitor center. The visitor center was just a few hundred feet under snow level, under fog, and under rain. Although the ascent was surprisingly easy, the descent was difficult in the cold. Downhill was steep, requiring careful control of speed while maintaining muscle control of the hands and legs. Speedy controlled descents require leaning, which are difficult cold. Under a rain jacket and knit hat, I was listening to music which kept my morale up. Eventually, it got less steep and warmer and less rainy.

We all had a slice of pie and returned home.