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.

SIFF Day 3 in Review

Today, Kelsey and I went to my cousin's house fore a little get together with her wife's great fried chicken, and some of their monkey friends. Brandi and Hector showed up with Malika too.

After Becky's, Kelsey and I went to see the midnight screening of Severance, a hilarious black comedy/horror flick out of the UK. A group of employees from a major defense contractor, on a tour of eastern Europe, get lost on their way to a mountain retreat. It's really unlike other movies in the comedy/horror flick genre in that it doesn't follow a trail of stupid mistakes made by the main characters, nor can you anticipate what the bad guy is going to do. It was gory, had a high body count, and was hilarious. It will be in smaller theaters like the Varsity Theater in the U-District soon. Probably cheaper than what a lot of people at SIFF paid too. See it.

SIFF Day 2 in Review

Today, I stayed up on Capital Hill for two movies at the Neptune, followed by a film at the Egyptian in the U-District. One of the great things about being a pass holder (besides almost never being turned away from a movie, getting first seating priority, and being able to see as many films as your sanity will permit) is that when you're waiting in line to get into a movie, it's really easy and common to get tips on other good movies that are coming up. I would probably never have gone to the last film shown today (especially since it's the midnight showing) if I hadn't heard that a film I'd been interested in had been moved up in the schedule.

The first film I say tonight was Knocked Up. It's a comedy about two very different people who meet on a very drunk night, and well, you can guess what happens next. It was funny and worth seeing (since it was free) and will probably do well in the box office when it's released in the next few weeks.

The next film was Monkey Warfare, a Canadian film about a burnt out ex-anarchist/revolutionary type couple who are trying to stay under the radar until their dope dealer changes all that. I thought this was a very well written, acted and filmed movie, and well worth someone's ten bucks. If you find it in the US, stay after the credits for some extra entertainment. You wont see this part in Canada.

Aachi & Ssipak was one that I heard some murmurings about, so I decided to run the the U-District from Capital hill right after Monkey Warfare. Aachi & Ssipak, and animated film from South Korea, is the story of a time in the future when all that cities have for power is human excrement. For their excrement, they are rewarded with a very addictive popcicle. The story follows two protagonists who find a loophole in the system, and mutants, who live off of the popcicles, but produce no excrement. It's a very very strange, but I'm glad I went, if only for the strangeness.

Tomorrow, I have a kind of day off from film. Although it will probably be the best film watching day for a while, I'm going to a Texas Chicken Fry at my cousin's house.

SIFF Day 1 Review

I saw two movies today, both at Pacific Place, mostly just so I didn't have to walk between theaters.

First, 12:08 East of Bucharest. It was a film about the Romanian Revolution, and one towns recollection of the events of that day. It was mildly funny, but took a long time to get up to that part. Direction and cinematography were average, as was acting. Recommendation: Try something else.

The next film was Pleasant Moments, which followed a psychiatrist trying to council other people's disintegrating lives as her own live goes down the same path. The cinematography style was really annoying, but direction and acting were pretty good. The story was also pretty good. I suspect that I probably broke even on this one. It was good enough that there might not have been something at this time slot that I should have chosen over this one.

Seattle Internation Film Fest Opening Night

Tonight, Sister and I got all spiffed out for the opening night of SIFF. They screened a British movie called "Son of Rambow", about this kid who's family belonged to a very strict, conservative church. Don't know which one it was, but the women wear long dresses, wear head scarves, (not Islam) they can have clocks, but not watches, can drive cars, but not use TVs or record players. Seem them around, but don't know what they are...

So this gets befriended by the school bully, and his life changes. No spoilers...

It was only the second screening, and with about 2,900 people in attendance and Seattle audience's reputation, probably the biggest and best audience they'll have for a while. Not because it wasn't an awesome movie, but because SIFF picked it as it's opening night film.

After the film, there was a big gala, with free everything. Good food catered by Seattle restaurants, an espresso stand, Pyramid beers, cocktails, chocolates, deserts, and 80's dance music. Oh, did I mention the movie was set in the 80s?

So, tons of fun. Too bad I couldn't drink. Had lots of coffee though.

Tons more movies coming up. Lets see some!

Oh yea, I'm not in the hospital anymore!

Yea, I got out a while ago. I was only there for about 4 days, and since late last week, all my blood counts have been returning to normal, and I've been feeling great mostly. Last Friday, I asked my doctors if I can do without my caregivers (parents) and drive myself to my appointments. They said that I'm doing so much better than they'd expect at this point, and that I'd probably be okay, but it's so much earlier than almost everyone else, that they'd rather not set me completely free yet. What they did though, is set me free for the weekend, and drop my daily appointments back to two days a week, so I only have to go in on Monday and Thursday. They said that I could drive locally, but they still don't want me driving longer distances, like from Bonney Lake to Seattle alone. Don't really know why, but my parents are listening to them, so that means that I can't. I didn't tell them about riding motorcycles...

It sounds like they are going to set me free this week though. On the 30th, I have a CT Scan scheduled, and they will transfer me back to the care of my regular oncologist offically on the 31st. The next, and hopefully last phase of my treatment will start on June 4th, with radiation therapy.

So there's the update everyone's been itching for.