Shima and I are here for a few more days. I haven’t read my Google Reader news in 3 weeks. I’m not sure if I should go back and see what I missed or not. I also haven’t been on MetaFilter in weeks. I suppose these things are both signs of a good vacation. Shima and I are heading off to the zoo shortly, which should be the last touristy thing we do in Sydney. Then it will all be loafing about with my cousins and family before taking a damn long flight back home.
I have yet to be charged less than 3.80$ for a coke when I’m out at a restaurant. That is way too much. Everything in Austrailia is expensive, but that just seems excessive.
Shima and I are alive and well in Australia. It will probably be quiet here till I get back. The cousin I’m staying with doesn’t own a computer. (I know, I couldn’t believe it either.) The weather here is great. We’re on what i’ll call our first official day out, as yesterday we arrive and slept for most of the afternoon and evening. (I’m writing this post in an Apple store downtown.) I love Apple.
The last film I watched at the Film Festival was the Thai film Chocolate, by the director of Ong Bak. Chocolate is in a similar vein: light on plot, heavy on lots of crazy action. Unlike Tony Ja, the start of this film Jija Yanin didn’t have any prior martial arts experience. The director told the audience she trained for three years before making the film. I would say the martial arts is better in Ong Bak. That said, the action sequences in Chocolate are still really great, and reminded me of a Jackie Chan film. There are lots of crazy stunts. The last fight sequence on the side of a building was awesome. Judging by the out-takes shown at the end of the movie, if you see someone getting punched in the face during the film, they actually got punched in the face. People falling of buildings are probably falling off buildings. Thai “special effects” apparently aren’t effects. I guess that’s also part of the appeal. Chocolate was awesome.
I’ve been bitching about how stupid the TIFF audiences seem to be this year, but I do have to say that Midnight Madness audiences can’t be beat. The Midnight Madness program seems to attract people who are sincerely interested in the films they are seeing. I’m pretty sure a good chunk of the audience probably saw most if not all the films that screened during the week. You definitely need to check out Midnight Madness to enjoy a true TIFF experience.
I’ve watched a few episodes of Mad Men now. The show is great, which I’m sure anyone who has heard mention of the show is well aware of. The show is about the people working at a Madison Avenue ad agency during the 50s. Like the Sopranos, what’s it’s actually about is a fair bit deeper than that. The whole show has a very bleak and depressing feel to it. Characters seem to feel trapped in their circumstance. Again, this is very reminiscent of the Sopranos. I quite like the show, but I have no idea how it isn’t being shut down for being essentially one long cigarette commercial. There must be money from the tobacco industry funding Mad Men. If not, they need to start asking for some. It really is all I can do not to go buy a pack midway through an episode.
The first film I watched at the film festival was Adela. It’s a quiet and slow look at the life of a 80 year old Filipino lady living in a shanty town dump site on the outskirts of Manila. The character who the film is named after, Adela, is played to perfection by Anita Linda, who is probably the Sophia Loren of the Philippines. (She’s 84 years old and travelled to Toronto to take part in the premier of the film. It was very sweet.) The movie itself was really good, although it’s a bit hard to watch. The director really wants you to feel the slow pace of Adela’s life, so while everything is hustling and bustling around her, we watch as she wanders around, waits for telephone calls, etc. Scenes play out longer than you would think they should & start without any characters at all in them; dialog is sparse; etc. The film is very well put together, but can be a challenge to actually watch. Still Anita Linda’s performance definitely makes the film well worth watching.
I watched Three Monkeys with Carvill and Limin before watching Two-Legged Horse with Shima at the film festival . A rich man runs over someone in the middle of the night; his driver takes the fall for him, promised a big chunk of money when he gets out of prison. The movie is an examination of how this event effects the driver and his family — his wife and son. I quite liked the film. The movie gets particularly interesting when the father gets out of jail. The film seemed to be about the way we ignore obvious truths in our lives; how we leave things unsaid; etc. It’s shot beautifully: the cinematography was great. The 4 lead actors all give very nuanced performances. It’s a very quiet, subtle film. It would have been nice to have had the director around to ask him questions, but at our screening no one was there. The film was quite good, definitely worth watching if it makes it to DVD.
The night before watching Treeless Mountain, Shima and I watched the Iranian film Two-Legged Horse at the film festival. The film is directed by Samira Makhmalbaf. (Her father is a very famous director in Iran, and she is certainly a good director in her own right.) The film is set in Afghanistan. A poor boy is hired to carry the son of a rich(er) man whose son has lost his legs to a landmine. The film is about the relationship between this boy who can’t walk, and his two-legged horse. The film is really an examination of human relationships — in particular of abusive relationships. The film gets very surreal very quickly. By the end of the movie you are watching a very strange film. It reminded me of Ashes of Time in the way it was edited. Within a single scene events may take place out of order. Some small scenes are repeated again and again. Both boys play their respective parts brilliantly — neither were professional actors. The casting must have been very difficult.
The Q&A following this film was a disaster. People were very upset after watching the film. I think that may actually be a sign the film was successful. I don’t know what it is about TIFF that seems to attract the ignorant and affluent, but the questions that were asked at this screening were ridiculous — opening with a comment on how stupid and horrible a depiction of Afghanistan was in the film, and ending with a query on whether Afghanistan was actually like this. (Hint: you aren’t watching a documentary.) Her answer to both questions was similar: “The movie is not about Afghanistan. I would have made the film in Iran if they let me.” Makhmalbaf handled herself very well, considering much of the audience was so confrontational.
Two-Legged Horse was a challenging film to watch, but it’s certainly a very good film. Shima is convinced it is typical Iranian fare, but I think it is particularly odd.
The day before I watched Machan, I saw Treeless Mountain at the film festival. I like depressing movies, and the story line for this film hit all the right notes when I read the synopsis: two little girls are left with their aunt while their mother looks for their estranged father; they are told by their mother that if they behave their aunt will give them coins they should place in a piggy-bank; when the bank is full she will come home. The film is slow, and the plot is simple. I don’t think that is a big deal, the film is really about the characters. The two little girls do an amazing job playing their parts — impressive considering neither are actors. The mother, aunt, and everyone who plays a supporting role in the film was excellent. If you can, go watch this movie. The very last scene is simple, but great.
The Film Festival has been great so far. I’ve seen five films, and I’ve enjoyed them all. I’ll write about them all at some point, but the film I watched yesterday was so good I felt compelled to say something this morning. If you have a chance, you should go see Machan. (It is playing once more before the film festival comes to a close.) Machan is the directorial debut of Italian producer Uberto Pasolini, who’s prior work includes the Full Monty. Machan has that same down on your luck dudes overcome adversity sort of feel. What’s particularly interesting is that this Italian director decided to set his first in Sri Lanka, with everyone speaking Sinhala. I asked the director how he ended up making a film in Sri Lanka of all places, and he said he read a little news clip in the paper about 23 Sri Lankans who arrived in Germany for a handball tournament, played and lost 3 games, and then disappeared into Europe: he knew he had to turn that story into a movie.
It’s a funny film. Two down on their luck Sri Lankan boys are trying to immigrate to Germany, legally, and failing spectacularly (because the West only wants the developing worlds Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, etc). When the pair learn of a handball tournament taking place in Germany, they hatch a plan to sneak into the country by pretending to the Sri Lankan National Handball Team. Though no such team exists, and none of them know how to play the game, they manage to muddle through. The movie is a light hearted look at some very serious topics: legal and illegal immigration, globalism, racism, the East/West divide. Pasolini manages to tackle these weighty topics without bogging the film down in too much drama. Machan does a good job of outlining what people are leaving behind when they come to wash dishes or clean office buildings in the West.
The Q&A that followed the film was great, primarily because Pasolini was a very engaging and funny speaker. Every screening I’ve been to thus far has featured some horribly ignorant question asked by some middle aged White lady in relation to the country the film was set in. Machan was no exception — it’s stupid question was essentially, “they have movies in Sri Lanka?” — but the director managed to turn that into an interesting discussion on how he opted out of using professional actors for much of the cast in the film. There was some discussion on the films name, how he managed to secure Italian, German, and Sri Lankan producers, and other interesting topics.
Machan was an excellent film. If you have a chance you should definitely watch it.
I finished Crisis Core on the bus ride to work. I’m very conflicted over the game: I know deep down it was a pretty lame. Square had so much to work with, and they basically dropped the ball. Visually the game is amazing: its impressive what they managed to do with the PSP. Sadly, visuals aren’t all there is to a game. The game play is very linear. The storyline is barely fleshed out. Lots of characters are introduced that you’re supposed to care about, but which ultimate you really can’t. Finally, the game itself is very simple. None of the big boss battles are particularly hard. On the other hand, it’s still the prequel to Final Fantasy VII. And for that reason alone I felt compelled to play it and finish it. If the game has any depth at all, it comes from its association to Final Fantasy VII. Bits and pieces Crisis Core’s story show up in Final Fantasy VII, in flash backs. These events are fleshed out — ever so slightly— to create the storyline for the new game. Sadly, the new story just isn’t as good as the old one. Square waited so long to make this game, I don’t understand why they could not have made it better.
Actually, I should add that the ending of the game is done really well. Also, this game has made me reconsider my opinion of Final Fantasy VII. Maybe it is better than Final Fantasy VI?
I met Mahi for a drink yesterday, and the conversation turned to Sarah Palin. He’s convinced that if the Republicans win it will be because of her. Having listened to her speech finally, I can see where he is coming from.
Palin appeals to the far-right — your Christian nut jobs, your gun-totting NRA members, etc — with her crazy-ass views on everything. She is nuts. And the far-right is certainly a strong and active voting block. That group probably wouldn’t have voted for Obama, but they may have sat the election out if McCain hadn’t added someone who appeals to them to his ticket.
I love Battlestar Galactica. My god it’s so good. Season 4 started off a bit slow, but really does build to a great climax. The (half) season ended faster than I thought they would, and looked to end on a very high note. And then you have that last shot, and you remember what show you’re watching: bleak is the name of the game.
Holy fucking shit. Update: Maybe I should have fleshed this post out a bit more. 3 more episodes to go and i’ll finish the first half of the 4th season of Battlestar Galactica. I have found season 4 thus far to be a bit slow, and not nearly as stressful as the prior seasons. There are a lot of interesting plot points, and the story is definitely still very good, but the sheer panic of the first few seasons is lost in the 4th. And then we get to this episode, episode 7, and you’re all, holy fucking shit.
I watched IVONA – Princess of Burgundia last night. It’s an old absurdist Polish play that was re-imagined by Ted Witzel and the Red Light District theatre group, and put on at the Gladstone. It was a strange ass play. I suppose that was to be expected. The play was certainly entertaining and funny. The story is about a prince who feels compelled to marry this wretched lady that annoys everyone with her wretchedness. I thought the second act dragged a little bit, but it picks up at the end. The dance numbers were awesome. The actors stay in character from the time you arrive till the end of the play. They wander about before the show starts. Checkers, the maid, was particularly funny. She is cleaning and setting up the set when you arrive, and spends most of the play in a small side room closet thing, doing her own thing. I thought everyone did a great job with their roles. The play is probably worth checking out if you’re into theatre. I quite liked it.
I need to head off after work to pick up my order book for the Toronto International Film Festival. Getting tickets for TIFF is an involved and convoluted process. It involves a lot of lining up, filling out forms, and more lining up. Mezan thinks this is to discourage people who aren’t that interested in movies from coming out. He’s probably right. The film festival begins in two weeks, but the TIFF website still doesn’t have descriptions of what is being shown. Their web site usually sucks, so I don’t know why I expected this year to be any different. (Why they don’t ask the Hotdocs people for help, I don’t know.) Last year I didn’t see many films, which was a bit disappointing. This year there are already a couple that sound interesting, in particular the Ashes of Time Redux. Anyone else going to the festival?
Unspace discuss their past, and the future of Ruby. There are a lot of interesting links in the post, but of particular interest was the post about Hadoop by Ted Dziuba. (The subtitle, “On the emasculation of Twitter and Dirty Harry” is certainly enjoyable.) There is a lot of interesting stuff being done in Ruby, but like Dziuba, I find a lot of it quaint and half assed. Sometimes I get the feeling that the community around Rails seems to be a bit of a cargo cult. You have a core group of people who know what their doing, and a lot of people who echo what the core says, but who perhaps don’t quite grasp what’s going on. Someone discovers REST and all of a sudden everyone is going on about RESTful this or that. Someone discovers automated testing and everyone is going on about Runit and Rspec. Mind you I’m probably just an elitist C++ programmer. One day I’ll write a longer blog post about that, but not today.
I called Rishi on Saturday, and left a message on his voicemail asking if he wanted to meet for brunch. He called me back a few minutes later: “Is it too early for a beer?” Is it ever? So we went to Beer Bistro, where I got to have both a beer and brunch. While waiting for Rishi to show up I got to watch the best thing i’ve seen at the Olympics – by far – the men’s 100m sprint. I arrived just as the race – or perhaps a replay of the race – had finished. People in the bar were going mental. I figured I must have missed something awesome. So I waited, and then watched as they replayed the race. Holy shit, Usain Bolt is amazing. That’s how you win a race. For those who missed it, try your best to find a copy of the race, which features: Bolt winning by an embarrassingly large margin; Bolt looking back, seeing he’s winning by an embarrassingly large margin, and thus deciding to cheer his win before crossing the finish line; and finally, Bolt letting up early to cheer and yet still managing to get the world record. He ran the race a full tenth of a second faster than Ben Johnson did in 1988. And Johnson didn’t get to keep that record. Go Bolt! Go!
Yesterday my iPhone decided to eat all my phones 3rd party applications. Well, not all of them, but most of them. In most cases, this isn’t such a big deal, you can just download them again from the AppStore and call it a day. In some cases the applications store data that I would have liked to have kept: so that’s no good. The iPhone 2.0 release seems to pretty buggy, especially when compared to the old phone’s software.
I have to say that I had very few ‘oh my god what am I watching?’ moments as I made my way through Season 6 of Smallville. I’m not sure if my standards have sunk so low for the show, or if it actually was an interesting and entertaining season. I’m going to have to hope for the later, but I think i’m too close to the show to offer any informed opinion. There were a few standout episodes, but I don’t think they reached the highs of the earlier seasons. Lex continues to be the real star of the show in my eyes, and this season the writers seemed to have figured out how to set things up so he’s evil and yet sympathetic. There are a few unresolved plot points at the end of the season that could take his character in a couple directions. The whole Green Arrow subplot was enjoyable, although I suppose it was also cheesy at times. (I guess a show about teenage Superman is going to be cheesy no matter what you do.) The season finale was good, though not as totally insane as those of seasons past. Lots of death and destruction, but it wasn’t as over the top as Season 4 or 5, and not as intense as Season 2. (I liked how they introduced Bizarro Superman at the very end of the show, though.) The take away from all this is that Season 6 is a big step up from the last two seasons. Now I just need to wait for Season 7 to make it to DVD.
My Unicomp Spacesaver arrived a few minutes ago. I knew it would be loud, but I think I underestimated just how loud it would be. There is a clackity-clack that comes with every key press. Typing out a sentence results in a not so quiet roar of noise. My plan was to use it at work, but i’m worried the noise is going to drive everyone around me nuts: our work space here is pretty quiet. I think this keyboard is a bit too loud. (Well, I know it is too loud, it’s really a question of just how annoying everyone else finds it.) Of course, it feels quite nice to type on. I’ll have to see if people start giving me dirty looks.
I started watching Smallville Season 6 yesterday. I got through 4 episodes before calling it a day. Season 5 ended with a fair amount of craziness, but this craziness was resolved fairly quickly in the season premiere. The premiere sets up a lot of hopefully interesting subplots for the season. Episode 2 features Erica Durance jogging in a sports bra and short shorts, and Chloes also does some h8×0ring in Episode 3, so they definitely aren’t trying to break new ground in season 6. One of the best parts of the show was Lex’s internal conflict with himself. So far he hasn’t been as one dimensional as he was last season, but he certainly isn’t as interesting a character as he was before. His relationship with Clark is antagonistic now, which is also boring. Luckily there are a couple new characters that have been introduced to the cast that may make things interesting. I’ll have to wait and see how it goes. Till then I can count on Erica Durance to keep me going.
