SFIAAFF: file under misc (or god she's ranting again)

besides experiencing the lovely sensation of being handed a BAG OF SWAG (see picture with contents displayed thusly) here are some other tidbits from my trip to san francisco:


\\ asian americans
there are lots of 3+ generations of asian americans and they are highly visible. whereas in canada, this group is invisible. this is fascinating to me because the asian americans seemed fully integrated into the SF art scene and, thereby, into the history of the SF art scene.

i'm sure there are asians in canada who have spent many years in the art scene but they are invisible or, at the very least, not representing at the vancouver asian film festival.

it was a shock to me and i felt somewhat envious of all those potential mentors in the asian american community.


\\ architecture
did SF go thru a serious art deco phase? man, there's lots of it. not my favourite style but at least it's a style.

whereas in vancouver, i find the architecture utterly uninspiring (there are exceptions of course) as a result of an attempt to mimic certain styles (especially the colonial and arts & crafts styles) but in a watered down and mutated manner. SO UGLY.


\\ airplane etiquette
when did it become ok for the person in the aisle seat to simply swivel their legs to the aisle as they expect you to shuffle to the window seat? OMFG, this happened on both flights.

and you can't even blame demographics.

the first offender was a caucasian mother in her late 40s and the second idiot was an asian male in his late 20s. this is not cool, people.


\\ we are canadians
here's the count of canadians at SFIAAFF:
- 4 from VAFF
- 1 from Toronto ReelAsian Film Fest
- 1 filmmaker from Vancouver
- 1 filmmaker from Toronto (but she doesn't really count because she was barely in SF and didn't talk to the rest of us)

anyways, the 6 of us hung out quite a lot at the parties and get-togethers.

so one time, when just the 3 of us showed up at a low attended party, we were greeted with "THE CANADIANS ARE HERE!"

fortunately, it was a friendly greeting.

SFIAAFF: in pictures

all shot on my iphone so easy on the judgment ~


cool mural of obama
@ the minna gallery



randall (vancouver filmmaker) and kathy (vaff director of programming)
@ filmmaker's brunch in the tomo hotel's outdoor dome



golden beet carpaccio with roasted paprika coulis and truffle tapenade @ Bushi-Tei



what i left the hotel staff when i checked out
coupons / recycling / goodies



"silver screen" by andy warhol
@ the san francisco museum of modern art



free photoshop workshop
@ the apple store in downtown san francisco



swoop table
@ CB2

haircut

BEFORE






DURING

SFIAAFF: Day 5

1. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- matisse, pollock, william kentridge
- my creative batteries are recharged

2. visit to CB2 re: desk
- it's really cute in person
- time to set some financial goals to meet before i pick this up

3. misc
- a quick 30mins visit to the haight-ashbury neighbourhood which is kinda like commercial drive
- a stop into the apple store
- some thai noodle soup

4. flight home
- arrived back home at 10pm
- glad to be back


eyes closed at midnight

SFIAAFF: Day 4

1. filmmakers' brunch
- lots of bleary eyed folk standing/swaying around tables of muffins, breads, fruit, and domaldes
- met some filmmakers and gave them my card and told them a bit about vaff
- had to leave early to make it to a film

2. Screening: Patsy Mink
- documentary about the first asian american woman to make it to the senate
- she was denied entry into law schools in the 1950s because she was a woman

3. dinner by myself
- i had the best food experience at bushi-tei (1638 post street, across from the kabuki hotel)
- day boat scallops, golden beet carpaccio with a truffle tapenade, and a smooth delicious pinot gris from france
- food heaven

4. Screening: Ocean of Pearls
- a south asian tale about not compromising your morals and ethics to get ahead

5. Screening: Tales of Departures (8 shorts)
- a really well programmed selection of shorts

6. Party at Li Po bar in chinatown
- this is a super old chinese restaurant that's been converted into a great bar
- more drinking, some dancing in the basement, and some second hand smoking
- i managed to score a ride back to the hotel from the festival director


unconscious at 2am

SFIAAFF: Day 3

1. Panel on multiracial-multimedia
- interesting dialog that would never happen in canada

2. Farmers Market
- while looking for an ATM that I could take money out of, I came across the Fillmore farmers market
- they had the usual vendors plus a naural dried fruit vendor. I picked up some dried grapes and plums
- next to the farmers market a jazz band made up of guys in their late 50s where playing some tight, sway-inducing tunes.
- a woman wearing tiger prints, approx in her 50s, stopped (along with her dog) and she danced without concern.
- While sitting on a bench and taking in the sincerity of this scene, a big steady gust of wind blew thru and I tilted my head back to let the wind clear my thoughts and refresh my mind

3. Nap
- a nap was definitely in the cards for me

4. Sreening: Dirty Hands
- a doc about artist David Choe shot over 8 years
- the scenes where David is creating his art is amazing

5. Party at Poleng Lounge
- drank and danced


head hits pillow at 3am

SFIAAFF: Day 2

1. Meeting with other Asian film festival programmers
- there were 12 other Asian film fests in attendance
- talked about declining budgets, the use of social media and coalition type activities.
- really neat to connect with other festivals

2. Screening of: Tokyo Sonata
- I was absolutely devestated by this film and cried during the ending
- watch it if it comes to town

3. Horrible food experiences
- breakfast at this ex-Denny's diner was just terrible: greasy with a heaping side of bad service.
- late lunch at this ramen house with broth lacking depth.

4. Party at a gallery with djs and live hip hop rapping
- loud
- had a beat and you could dance to it stuff

5. After party in a hotel room
- dude with guitar playing covers and ppl snapping their fingers cause we didn't want the cops called on us
- 20 ppl sitting in a room laughing quietly and humming along to tunes
- dude with iPhone looking up lyrics to sing along to

Finally asleep at 5am

SFIAAFF: Day 1

it's, like, 2am, and i'm not sure i'll be able to keep this up but here we go....

1. opening night film: my dear enemy by Lee Yoon-ki
- this is the same director that made this charming girl
- this charming girl is on my top 10 list of films so i was pretty excited to see his new film.

2. gala reception at the asian american art museum
- cornered director lee and gushed about how this charming girl was amazing then gushed to his producer about how korean cinema is so exciting with such directors as Lee, Kim Ki Duk and Hong Sang So
- drank free booze, ate free cheese and red bean popsicles, and walked through the exhibits

3. after party at a bar called jade
- hung out with other festival programmers and tried to stay awake
- i'm glad the first event isn't until 11am cuz i'll be sleeping in

oh yeah, it's sunny, humid and 10 degrees here. i hear vancouver's getting more snow this weekend. that must suck.

desks are just expensive tables

swoop desk on the left / nelson swag leg desk on the right



as reported here, i have a calm desire for a nelson swag leg desk which retails around $2,000.

then, i found a substitution for consideration: the swoop desk from CB2 at $300, however, the legs on the swoop desk are rather tragic looking. so i dismissed it.

but since the nelson swag leg desk un-impressed me in person, i wonder if the swoop desk might cause me to swoon in person.

and guess what city has a CB2 store? san francisco.
and guess where i'm flying to this thursday? yes, the same!

hey, i'm just looking.

update on freezer project

MINUS
- finished the coffee ice cream last night
- threw out the wontons. B suggested that i reconsider this item.

PLUS
+ with the help of B, we made more dumplings tonight so as to use up leftover dumpling wrappers. the freezer now has 2 more bags of frozen dumplings.

also, 2 litres of anything is feeling like a long commitment so i've happily decided that i'll be purchasing two 500ml containers of ice cream instead.

OPERATION use up stuff in my freezer so i can buy 2L of chocolate ice cream

DILEMMA: no flat surface for the 2L of ice cream i want to purchase and add to my thighs


WHAT'S IN MY DAMN FREEZER?


starting clockwise from the top right:
- homemade dumplings from february's party
- homemade wontons from the summer of 2008
- steak (2007? not sure)
- package of pandan leaf (this is B's item)
- ziploc of leftover red wine
- whole package of edamame
- green onion pancakes
- two butter chicken sausages

not pictured:
- big bag of ice from february's party
- bottle of hendrick's gin (also B's item)
- coffee haagen dazs

in the process of taking all the items out, i finally removed the big bag of ice and threw out the steak. and wow, that made a huge difference already.

THE PLAN
i plan on using up the wontons, dumplings, green onion pancake, and edamame for a cast/crew wrap party for R's comedy feature that we're about to finish shooting.

the rest:
- i see g&t's in my future
- i'll eat the coffee haagen dazs tonight
- B will make some kaya with the pandan. some day.
- i'll pickup some kale and make a kale-sausage stewy dish



BUT I THINK I HAVE A BIGGER PROBLEM with the 6 blocks of cheese in the fridge!

2hr nap + hunger = grocery shopping FAIL

i had a short-ish and not expensive list of ingredients to purchase for my planned monday night dinner. i'm thinking maybe $20 to get everything. so how come i ended up spending ALMOST $90 and had to hit 4 (four, the number after three) different grocery stores?????

clearly, grocery shopping FAIL.

and i blame it on my 2hr afternoon nap and the fact that i went shopping when i was really really hungry.

LONG AFTERNOON NAPS_____
i had one of those LONG afternoon naps today where you wake up and you're not sure what day it is or even what year it is. there have been epic afternoon naps where i've thought i was late for work and i've thought i was twelve and still living at home.

that's what the omg-i've-slept-too-long naps do to you: they screw up the space-time continuum.

and they encourage poor shopping decision making. let me give you the exciting play-by-play:

CONTEXT #1.....
monday dinners usually end up being a going-out situation because i have NO ENERGY ON MONDAYS due to the transition from the weekend. THEREFORE, i decided that tonight i would pick up the ingredients needed for the dinner i had planned for monday: chicken corn soup with thai chicken baguette. if i have all the ingredients, then i have no excuse to make dinner.

CONTEXT #2.....
i had planned on going grocery shopping after a late evening workout at the gym. i leave the gym at 8:30pm (note: i have not had dinner yet) and drive to choices for the meat requirements and plan on going to the dollar store on the drive for the rest.

STORE #1: choices - i go to choices (the one on cambie and 19th) for the chicken. this location is undergoing renovations and the entire meat department is under a big orange tarp. so i decide to go to capers just 3 blocks away for the chicken. total bill = $0.00

STORE #2: capers - oh my frack, i'm not going to pay $11.00 for half an organic chicken breast. however, i pickup brown rice crackers, B12 vitamins, parbaked baguettes, caper's very own chicken stock, and green's & black's milk chocolate with almonds. total bill = $43.22

STORE #3: dollar - so economical at dollar. i love dollar. they have their own cloth bags imprinted with the faces of the owners. these bags rule. i'm able to obtain everything on the list but the chicken and the chinese sausage. total bill = $17.21

STORE #4: supervalu - this store depresses the shit out of me. and it's because of the combination of the sickly lighting and the cashiers who somehow make me feel guilty for making more money than them. i go directly to the chicken area but then remember i need creamo, bagels, ground pork, turkey deli meat, and malt vinegar. total bill = $27.45

GRAND TOTAL === $87.88 plus i had to go to four different stores

ok, ok, sure, now i have supplies for other things like breakfast for the week and stuff to make pork dumplings.

but what i'm trying to impress upon the 2 ppl who've read this far into my post is the annoyance of the $20 and 2 stores VERSUS $90 and 4 stores. we've all been there, right?