So Get This...

Today I met my sister's sister's sister. (Aparently there's one more too. Add Kelsey and it's crazyness.)

You all know half sister Brandi. I went to her birthday party today. It was hosted by her half sister Jasmine. About a year ago, Jasmine found out that she has a half sister, who was also at the party today. She apparently also has a half sister who Kelsey has met. So today at Brandi's party, there was a picture taken of my sister, my sister's sister, my sister's sister's sister, my sister's sister's other sister (Brandi has three total sisters), and my sister's sister's sister's sister. I'm glad the sixth one wasn't there. It's too much to type.

Japanese Movie Day

And free burritos.

Today I saw three Japanese movies in a row. I'd meant to see this French movie, but I got to Beleview a few minutes later that I should have and couldn't find parking in time. When I did though, it was this nice tiny little space made by a big SUV taking up two spots, and I thought, I can fit there, so I did. I hope they had to climb through the passenger side.

Chipotle, who is sponsoring SIFF, was giving free burritos to all SIFF pass and ticket holders, and there was one right around the corner from the theater in Bellview, (I'll spell it a few different ways, hoping to get one of them right) so I picked one up for lunch, and saw Retribution, about this cop who was investigating a string of murders that were all related, but were not carried out by the same murderer, and who himself gets a little more involved that he expected.

After this, I headed to another Chipotle location in the U-District and got another burrito for dinner (eating that one now), then to Capital Hill for two more Japanese movies. Mushishi takes place near the turn of the last century, as Japan is modernizing. Don't know why that part was relevant, since the entire movie took place in rural mountainous areas where modernity hadn't reached yet. A Mushishi is a sort of bug/spirit charmer, and that's what the main character did. Kind of weird, a bit slow, and didn't really get to a point where the was a point.

The last movie was Tekkonkinkreet, an animated film about two orphans (the theme for the night?) who try to keep their neighborhood from falling to the Yakuza who are trying to redevelop it into a theme park. A bit trippy, (but it's anime, so I think that's a requirement) but very good artistry, and a pretty good story.

And just for clarification on my last post, I do actually know what a Hasselblad looks like. They look like over rated, expensive cameras that wont make your photos look any better.

Is That a Hasselblad?

I was out shooting my New Weapon (my new 4x5 press camera) yesterday, and took a break to watch a few movies. (I have a Seattle Film Festival pass) At the end of the first movie, as I was gathering my pile of stuff to leave, the lady next to me asked, "What is that?"

I said, "It's a Speed Graphic."

Her face remained blank, and she asked, "But what does it do?".

"It's a camera, you take pictures."

More blank stares, as there was no visible lens, she still didn't have a clue, so I opened it up. "Gasp! Were you recording the movie?!"

"No" I said, "It can't record a movie. It shoots stills!" Besides, who'd want to record a documentary about how El Salvador's gang problems are a result of a US funded civil war and their repatriation of gang members from LA?

Deep in thought, she said, "Is that a Hasselblad?"

Now I don't even know what a Hasselblad looks like, but apparently, this is the first thing that comes to people's minds when they see some weird camera. A search on Google for "Is that a Hasselblad", in quotes, comes up with over 4,000 hits!

Too many movies

So as you can tell, I abandoned the day-by-day play-by-play in favor of not writing at all. It's a whole lot easier. The last few days have been a bit crummy weather wise, so I've been trying to fit in at least two movies a day. I'll skip all the bad stuff and just get on with what counts.

Sakuran - billed as what Memoirs of a Geisha should have been. It was directed by photographer Mika Ninagawa, and based on a Japanese Graphic Novel. Visually, it was very much like the Ninagawa's still photography, and included an emphasis on goldfish.

The Banquet - Being from Hong Kong, it included it's share of Kung fu. Visually, very beautiful. Grandiose palaces, good fights.

Two Days in Paris - Saw this one with mom. Kind of Woody Allen.

Desepo Naughty Girls - Did I mention that Korean movies are all really strange? It was really strange. This one will be playing at Landmark Theaters.

NW Ties - 6 short films from the NW. Saw these with Emily. The best one was Fortune Hunters, about this guy who works summers in his dad's fortune cookie factory.

Black Sheep - Mutant sheep wreak havok. New Zealand's national horror story. Saw this one with Sylvan and Tristan.

There's still one week to go if you want to see anything. There's plenty of good stuff coming up. Just stay away from the Malaysian stuff.

Malaysian Movies Suck!

I'm staying away from Malaysian movies for the rest of the festival. I've seen two movies from Malaysia in the last week, and both just sucked. The first one, I read the first two lines of the description just before the house lights went out, and said to my friend, "This sounds like a movie that's not going to go anywhere". And sure enough, and hour and a half later, nothing had happened, and the movie was over.

In the one I saw, I was following what seemed to be the main story, but at the end, that one didn't really do much. The sub-plot did slightly more, even though less time was spent on it, but it really didn't do anything either.

Now maybe it was because these films were both in Chinese. Maybe a Malay film would be better, but I'm going to stay away from Malaysian films for the rest of the festival. I need to see some German and Dutch films.