i don't know what i did to deserve this, but...

i spoiled myself this past saturday; let me count the ways.

> i went to granville island and spent some serious paper-fetish time in paper-ya. i didn't buy anything but there's a matt & nat brown purse that i covet, like, harshly. and, hey, when did vera wang get into the business of stationery?



> i wandered through the market and purchased okanagan bordeaux sausages from (i declare) the best sausage place in vancouver: oyama sausage

tonight, i made a pasta with that sausage and mushrooms and, oh lord, were they delicious.



> i wasted some time casually strolling through opus framing and art supplies looking at paints, pens, canvas, and more paper.

> then, i stepped into artisan sakemaker on railspur avenue and purchased two bottles of premium sake. i spent about 15 minutes talking to the sakemaker himself, Masa Shiroki. it was truly an honour to speak him and listen to him talk about the different sake he makes and individual characteristics for each. a true gentleman with a passion for sake.



> and finally, i made my way to go fish restaurant on the pier and treated myself (after waiting 20 minutes) to the day's special: scallop burger. holy mother of foodies was it delicious. the bun was perfectly toasted; reminding me of triple o burger buns way back when white spot made it right. the scallops were cooked until just done. there was an amazingly spicy and flavourful sauce nestled on iceberg lettuce that never tasted better. the burger was a treat because i don't normally spend $11 on a burger (just a burger, no fries) but it was worth it.

collection of bits

- i'm addicted to www.spout.com which is a social networking site for film officiandos. i'm starting with writing pithy (ok, not so pithy) reviews of my favourite vancouver film fest viewings.



- i'm addicted to www.vimeo.com which is a social networking site for people who like to videotape stuff and put it up on the internet.



- this past saturday, at 10am, i was at the hastings & commercial drive value village looking for mini muffin tins when... oh god, is that william gibson fondling an all white sake set? oh fuck it is his super tall and cyberpunked-ness.



- today, at 5pm, while on the treadmill at my gym (the one i've blogged about before) a super skinny blonde with purchased chest protrusions takes the treadmill beside me. not 20 seconds later, a trainer at the gym comes up to her and asks how she's doing. she ignores him but he's too busy looking at her chest.

trailer is private

the URL for the HD version of the trailer was posted on a vancouver-based indie music blog and we got a number of hits. but because we haven't received formal permission to post the trailer, we've made the trailer password protected.

please email me if you need the password.

documentary trailer in HD

rob found this great video hosting site that takes HD. the trailer never looked better.

go here

film fest: wrap up

best movie
it's a tie between "edge of heaven" and "flight of the red balloon"

worst movie
mr. cinema (my lesson to never select a movie based on a still)

most annoying audience member
that guy who likes to read comics and grunts in response to interesting plot developments. after sitting one row behind him, i knew to look for him and sit far away.

best film moment
before the showing of the very last film of the film fest (paranoid park), the older film fest geeks sang to the kyoto planet commercial and shouted out lines to the "funny" film fest ads.

how the film fest could improve
1/ hire a web development company to design a better functioning and better looking website. the current tired website has been there for about 4 years now. this includes revamping the poorly conceived "myfest" page on the viff website that ONLY allowed you to see your calendar based on on-line ticket purchases and did not allow you to add films to your calendar. idiocy.
2/ have ushers forcibly remove viewers that insist on looking at their cellphones during a film and thereby casting a 3 meter radius of light around them.

otherwise, it was a pretty good film fest this year. i didn't get to see as many films as i wanted but i was very pleased with the ones i did get to see. i think the vancouver international film festival is one of the best film festivals in north america because of the large amount of films that are shown and the great range of films. we're lucky.

film fest: paranoid park

my score = B+

the good: interesting story construction, good acting, awesome cinematography
the bad: i don't really know

rob loved this film much more than i did. i didn't really like the way the story was structured although i appreciated that gus van sant was trying to do something different. maybe i just wasn't in the mood for it.

film fest: flight of the red balloon

my score = A+

the good: sublime acting by juliette binoche and the rest of the cast. languid scenes that hypnotize you into a parisian rhythm of living.
the bad: i couldn't connect with the balloon.

my most anticipated film this year at the film fest. directed by hou hsiao hsien, a taiwanese director, and filmed in france in the language of french. it did not disappoint. similar yet different to my other favourite HHH film, Cafe Lumiere. it must be seen to be experienced.

next generation of filmmaking

on september 29th, rob and i attended the gallery gachet in the downtown eastside for the pleasure of watching Four Eyed Monster and then listening to the co-director, arin crumley, discuss the film.

the movie is biographical and based on arin and susan's (the other co-director) relationship in the world of new media. it's also artsy, got a great story and has brutally captured the truth of relationships.

plus, it's a new type of filmmaking. arin and susan are in their mid20s, they didn't go to film school, paid for the movie on credit cards, and has an honesty that's unique.

the discussion has been posted on youtube.


if you look carefully, you might see us in the crowd. cuz we're mad that way.

film fest: euphoria

my score = B+

the good: cinematography, story, acting

the bad: music score and too many helicopter shots of the road

euphoria was a last minute choice for us but we're glad we stumbled on it. it's the lone russian film at viff and it's a bold, crazy movie. i would have given this film a solid A if not for the grating-on-my-senses music score that was repeated over and over again. there were actually 2 "songs" that were played: the first was a accordian piece that conveyed zaniness and the second song was a full bore orchestral piece.

both songs did NOT belong in this film. my choice would have been something more ambient. the music took me out of the film and made me wish i had ear plugs.

beyond the music, the film was a short (1 hour) and strangely beautiful story full of interesting characters.

thanksgiving dinner

we assembled at my dad's for thanksgiving dinner last night. my contribution was the spaghetti squash. the key to this dish is butter. lots of butter.

after dinner, my brother brought out this handyman workbench set for ethan. apparently, santa also visits at thanksgiving at my brother's house. my brother and his wife have been doing renovations at their house and ethan's been wanting to get his hands on the tools.


here's the thanksgiving spread. it was delicious.



rob is tempting ethan with the joys and pleasures of beer. see how focused ethan is.



ethan, with a drill that never left his hand, thanking grandpa for helping setup the workbench.



rob and my dad really got into setting up the toy. ethan's busy pressing the table saw switch.

film fest: mr. cinema

my score = WO (as in, I walked out)

the good: goose egg
the bad: disjointed editing, over-the-top acting, bad cinematography.

look at that still (above). how could a still like that result in such a horribly mainstream and poorly executed idea of "edgey?" i could only handle 30 minutes of the stuff. and tell me, why do directors believe audiences will buy into a 60 year old actor playing a 30 year old? i say it's pure laziness. there was nothing edgey about this film. boo.

film fest: the elephant and the sea

my score = B

the good: quiet and slow moving narrative. acting. lack of exposition.
the bad: cinematography could have been better. another film that had wayyyy too many out of focus shots that, i think, were unintentional

another film that's part of the malaysia new wave where there's very little dialogue, actors are non-professionals and everything is subtle. it was a solid film but i think it could have had more confidence in the storyline.

film fest: edge of heaven

my score = A+

the good = everything. absolutely everything.
the bad = if i had to choose something then the framing could have been better.

i still have about 5 more films to watch but i'm rather sure that this film will be the stand out film for me this year. this is by the same director that made "head on" which is another film that is a must see. edge of heaven was perfect. the story kept me going. the acting was riveting. my favourite actor was the german mom. the other women had such strong roles and did them justice by not overacting them. this is a gem.

i'm so happy to have watched it.

film fest: lost in beijing

my score = A

the good: cassavettes-esque dialogue, editing and cinematography BUT IN CHINA

the bad: excessive out of focus shots

an allegory about how money corrupts. abosolutely. the strongest acting came from the the senior actors. i found the mid 50s woman in the film stealing every scene she was in. it's also freaking amazing that this film was directed by a 31 year old woman from china - Li Yu. she's my new hero.

neil young

there are no less than 3 references to neil young in the ladyhawk documentary which we are making some final edits to before handing it over to a trusted friend for audio cleanup.

fitting that i came across this interesting interview of neil young by the guardian.

he is one cool dude.

film fest: secret sunshine

rob and i just returned home from watching secret sunshine and i need to vent right away.

my score = C-

the good: there was nothing good. nothing.

the bad: writing, directing, acting, cinematography. why do i need to watch a person have a nervous breakdown over and over again for half the movie? the breakdowns were boring, too.

what the hell! the director made one of the most ground breaking films (oasis) and he comes back with this unnecessary, melodramatic soap opera bullshit. boo.

this is 3 bad movies out of 3 so far. it's gotta get better.