plays on trains and japanese westerns

. .. ... letters from lithuania



i'm not into plays; that kind of acting generally turns me off.

but.

rob and i recently met one of the directors of letters from lithuania and was impressed by her enough to go to this outdoor, sitting on the miniature train, live music, puppets, and stilt-walking play.

because of recent rains, the play had been canceled for a few nights but the weather this past friday night was rainfree. also, the canceled nights, i think, resulted in some great performances from the actors who had been waiting for better weather to allow them to perform.

it was awesome: great performances, a rather creative use of stanley park's miniature train route, tricky timing for actors that were running around the outdoor sets, a compelling story, and good pacing.

and, although i thought the ending was a bit cliche, i nevertheless had to work hard not to cry.

the play ends today (aug 31) if you're thinking of going to it. tickets available here.

here's a review by the straight.


... .. . sukiyaki western django *warning: spoilers*



this is one crazy japanese western by takashi miike. and by crazy, i mean awesome.

here's what i liked about it:
- an older attractive woman was secretly super skilled and killed a whole bunch of guys
- quentin tarintino had this bizarre japanese southern accent and looked like a scarier marlon brando's dr. moreau as done by southpark.
- there were some asian male eye candy.
- the dialog was mostly cliches stolen from popular westerns and then some (i.e. payback's a bitch)
- the rock n roll inspired western duds looked like the offspring of a union between betsy johnson and anna sui.

check out the trailer here

fire at whitehouse night gallery

the house where ladyhawk recorded their 2nd album (shots) and where rob and i filmed our first feature documentary (let me be fictional) is now no more.

link to the kelowna sun article

and now i'm all nostalgic for the 2 weeks we spent (a year and a half ago) with some really cool dudes. here are some stills (taken on our old shitty camera) from when we filmed the doc.

the rains

rob and i attended the radiohead concert tonight at thunderbird stadium at ubc. it was a really great show. but not super awesome great; it didn't blow me away. i have to say that this year's best show is still the black keys show at the commodore, followed by the black mountain/ladyhawk show. but we had a great time tonight even though we were thoroughly drenched by the time the show was over.

some interesting things at the show tonight:

- is vancouver populated with giants and why are they standing between me and the stage?


- there's always that guy that likes to wave his pointed finger towards the direction of the stage in beat with the song. it almost looks like when you form your hand into the shape of a gun and say "bang bang" except you wave the finger gun from the sky to the stage. there's always a guy doing that at every show. this guy seems to have the same physique: thin, muscled and wearing a pretty golf shirt.

- i wonder if being a concert designer has to be one of the coolest jobs in the world. radiohead utilized tube technology to create atmospheric environments.


- why do people sing along to all the songs? and sing it LOUDLY? there was not just 1 guy but i guess 4 of his buddies behind me who kept singing loudly (and off-key) to their favourites, especially the slow ones. dudes, sorry i paid to hear thom not you.

- you don't really notice you're getting soaked when you're standing still and surrounded by 20,000 fans. i only really noticed it when we were walking back to the car and the wet jeans, specifically around my thighs and knees, suddenly felt very heavy and seemed to be in partnership with gravity.


- rob's water repellent shell jacket wasn't very repellent.

look and drool

trattoria
1850 west 4th ave (at burrard)

rob and i ate at trattoria tonight and it was freaking delicious without the il giardino prices.

i had the strozzapreti which had chicken, olives, arugula and cheeze. they make their own pasta on-site! the flavouring was subtle but distinct.


rob ordered the spaghetti with kobe meatballs. it was pretty delicious.


we ended the meal with panna cotta and vanilla ice cream. those were also superbly executed. our server was sweet and friendly. we now count this as a PERFECT MEAL.

more rob and than me

so i've been bi-zy with MAMM and don't have much to report except...

-- midnight showing of shaun of the dead at the rio theatre just off commercial drive tomorrow night. we be going. i hear it's a good flick.



BUT IT'S ALL ABOUT ROB....
rob will be flying to the toronto international film festival to attend the world premier of When Life Was Good (WLWG), which is terry miles' film in which rob has a significant but non-speaking role.

i would totally be flying to toronto as well except that WLWG is playing sep 6 (sat) which is the same night as the MAMM Gala Screening where i will also be the projectionist because: how difficult can it be to hit the PLAY button on the dvd player?

anyways, rob is psyched to be part of the cast & crew Q&A in toronto and (more likely) psyched to be part of a rather debaucherous celebration as well.

this and that

i'm currently in the jubilant throes of editing k+k's wedding. i'm getting really good at this and taking MUCH LESS TIME in putting together an edit.

i need to finish all the editing before this weekend because the MAMM-alicious action starts on sunday which means i will be missing an awesome work event - boo!

but here's something, i have a title for the work i'm doing for MAMM: MAMM Technical Coordinator

that's pretty sweet.

in the meantime, here are more pictures from the wedding including rob doing an impersonation of bill murray's suntory time and photographic evidence of UNCOOKED INSTANT NOODLES being used in a salad.

MAMM = mighty asian moviemaking marathon

FYI, the MAMM is part of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival.

as some of you might know, i headed up a team for MAMM in the year 2006. all sorts of fun things happened:
- we didn't win
- i was misquoted in the georgia straight and now all asian female directors LOATHE ME
- there were 3 days of filming and i was the only production person on 1 of those days. that was also the day that i had to handle camera and directing for 2 male actors + my mom + my dad + my brother + my brother's wife + my nephew. that's 6 adults waiting for me to get my shit together and shot the scene already. this, people, is what i consider to be STRESSFUL and i highly recommend against it.
- um, did i mention we didn't win?

last year, rob and i were happy to be extras on KT's team for their MAMM submission. rob played a dead guy lying in a coffin and i was a funeral attendee that rocked a triangle during the musical section.

i've just confirmed today that this year, i'm behind the camera again but working for MAMM as the behind-the-scenes videographer and editor of the montage that will include the Pitch Session (new this year) as well as footage i get from visiting each of the film sets. the montage will play at the Gala Screening where all the films submitted will be screened.

it's an awesome position to be in because i still get to be creative, people have to watch my shit and i'm not being judged in a contest.

now, as long as i stay away from journalists, everything should be fine.