And I thought: Phew! I still have time to make my first feature.
Then I thought: WAIT. I already have 2 feature films under my belt!
Evidence #1: Let Me Be Fictional A 2007 documentary about the recording of Ladyhawk's second album was released. You can watch the entire documentary for free on youtube. Evidence #2: Everything Louder Than Everything Else In 2010, a comedy set in a music recording studio. This little one premiered at the Whistler Film Festival. So why the sense of failure? It's been 3 freaking years and I haven't done anything since. Time to get the filmmaking train back on track! Time to get off my ass. You heard it.
Spoiler: Berlin, Naples, Modena, and Rome were freaking awesome.
So Summer 2013 started off with a bang (ahem, anyone in need of a digital project manager?), sped right into an amazing Germany-Italy trip and now we're coasting into a peaceful August that ends with a family wedding in Saskatoon.
Germany and Italy
- The artist who wraps islands (Christo) had an installation in Oberhausen, Germany called the Big Air Package. Being inside the large white cloth sphere was cocoon-like and reminded me of George Lucas' early experimental film: THX 1138
- From Oberhausen we travelled by train to Berlin where OMG EVERYONE MUST VISIT BERLIN. The food, the graffiti, the currywurst! The amazingly resilient art community is facing rapid change with a lot of courage. I could live here. If you go for the first time, you must stay at the Michelberger Hotel. It's the Ace Hotel of Berlin.
- It was an abrupt scenery change when we landed in Naples to watch the dance performance of Rite of Spring by Pina Bausch' Tanztheatre Wuppertal. See this video for a sample of what we watched. Twice. About 4 months ago we bought tickets for the Sunday (July 14) performance but on Saturday night, we thought it would be a good idea to walk by the venue. And while standing in our sticky shorts and flipflops and seeing the dance community dressed quite fashionably we wondered if anyone was selling their tix. The answer would be YES and we entered and hoped no one noticed I was wearing flip flops. And YES the performances moved me to tears.
- Of course, pizza and gelato were consumed in Naples. Those were tasty tasty delights.
- From Naples, we rented a car and drove to a bed and breakfast (Opera 02) which is near Modena, the capital of balsamic vinegar. Except this b&b was nothing like a old brick Italian farmhouse. It had a modern rustic design aesthetic to it with concrete flooring, floor to ceiling windows, a gourmet restaurant, a pool. We were pampered for 3 glorious days.
- The final 2 days of our trip were spent in Rome where we visited the Protestant Cemetery, the Spanish Steps and more pizza and gelato.
Retrospective on this trip
- What worked? Watching the dance performance twice. Modern rustic in the Italian countryside. Amnesia about a carb-restricted diet.
- What didn't work? Not enough days in Berlin and Modena.
- What should we keep on doing? Traveling Europe.
I'm working on the video montage for the trip so come back for that.
also, I planted my tomato seedlings (grown from seed!) out too late (2 wks ago) and they look like dwarf tomato plants that are doing their best to get bushy but it's already late june and now there's rain again in vancouver and wtf. poor seedlings.
in other news, things are afoot in my world:
- I've resigned from my full-time, good-paying job with the government (shhh, don't tell my parents)
- I've resigned from my full-time, good-paying job with the government without a job to go to
- Bill and I are going on a trip in 2 weeks for 2 weeks. the itinerary includes Berlin and Naples.
- I am working on a new blog that will reveal the true nature of my obsession with trello
- my external hard drive where my photo library lives decided to die on me and now I'm waiting for the lovely folks at simply computing to transfer the files from the aging 500GB eSata into a newly purchased 3TB for $160!!
in the meantime, I came across this awesome paris trip report that starts with this gem:
"in paris, my hair was wavier."
I'm not the only person growing out their hair. Look at this cutey.
