16.9.01

Read this letter from Afghani-American writer Tamim Ansary, and then forward the link to everyone you know. Thanks, Caterina, for posting it.

9:45 PM | link | 0 comments

15.9.01

Waking Life (USA, 2001, Richard Linklater, director) is a groundbreaking film. Using a form of rotoscoping to animate over digital video footage, every frame of this film is beautiful, creating the perfect setting, a dream world, where the main character never knows if he is asleep or awake. Lots of philosophical musings, which occasionally grate, making it difficult to concentrate on both the visuals and the talk at the same time, but overall a film that deserves several viewings. 9/10

2:24 PM | link | 1 comment

13.9.01

The film festival has been disrupted the past few days and two of my screenings have been cancelled or rescheduled, but tonight I saw a film for the first time since Monday night. How fitting that it was The Son's Room (Italy, 2001, Nanni Moretti, director), a quietly moving film about grief. The anguish that this family experiences in the film is being played out thousands of times over in the United States, Canada, and other countries right now, and collectively as well. It was good to be sad with a lot of people tonight, and to realize that every single person who perished in New York, or in Washington, or in Pennsylvania has people who love them very much, and who are grieving. Impossible for me to "grade" this one, since my reactions are as much due to real life right now as anything in the film.

11:52 PM | link | 0 comments

11.9.01

I don't have the words, but today will never be forgotten...

8:16 PM | link | 0 comments

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (France, 2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director) Between Jeunet's dazzling visual tricks and Audrey Tautou's dazzling beauty, it was hard to look at the subtitles at all (might be a reason to learn French in itself!). Jeunet (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children) has made an incredibly romantic movie that celebrates all of life and love (not just romantic). As in all romantic comedies, Destiny is a major character, but only in this film will it use a suicidal goldfish, a globetrotting lawn gnome, and a one-armed fruit vendor as its henchmen. Perfect! 10/10!!

12:24 AM | link | 0 comments

10.9.01

La Pianiste (Austria/France, 2001, Michael Haneke, director) reinforces the "Austrians=grim" thesis I'm formulating. Isabelle Huppert won a well-deserved Best Actress award at Cannes for her portrayal of a woman who, in her efforts to attain the artistic ideal, loses her humanity. Trapped by her talent, she suppresses her emotions and her sexuality until they can only be expressed in twisted and terrifying ways. When a younger student falls in love with her, our hopes rise, but are soon dashed by the realization that she cannot experience love the way others can. It is too late for her, and the film's final 30 harrowing minutes are, tellingly, devoid of the beautiful music that carried the first 90 minutes. The message seems to be that the music itself is not enough without the life and beauty it's describing. 9/10

6:13 PM | link | 0 comments

Link this page and watch the diagram grow as more and more people link. (via Tim)

12:39 PM | link | 0 comments

9.9.01

Rain (New Zealand/USA, 2000, Christine Jeffs, director) was a beautifully shot first feature, set at a beachfront cottage in New Zealand. Lots of melancholy, but also strangely disturbing close ups foreshadowing tragedy: soapy dishes being washed, a man cutting the lawn in his bare feet. Sort of a coming of age story, very moving. 8/10.

Japanese Devils (Japan, 2001, Minoru Matsui, director) was almost three hours long, but compelling all the way through. This documentary features the confessions of 14 Japanese soldiers, detailing their atrocities against the Chinese in the war that Japan waged for most of the thirties and forties. At times hard to listen to, it was nonetheless an exercise in bravery for these men to speak out when the overwhelming majority of soldiers did not. A deeply difficult film to get made and shown in Japan. 8/10

Tape (USA, 2001, Richard Linklater, director) was another film that dealt with the issue of confessing our sins. Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard play two old high school friends reunited in a seedy hotel room ten years later. One character coerces the other to confess to a rape he committed in high school, then informs him he has taped their conversation. It gets even more complicated when Uma Thurman, the victim, shows up. Shot in six days on digital video, the medium is used brilliantly to reinforce the seediness and claustrophobia of the setting, as well as the characters' unstable relationships. Adapted by Stephen Belber from his play. 8/10

7:11 PM | link | 1 comment

8.9.01

Waterboys (Japan, 2001, Shinobu Yaguchi, director) was another crowd pleaser. It follows five misfits who start a synchronized swimming team at their all-boys high school. Much hilarity ensues, including a flaming afro, some electrocuted dolphins, and a breathtaking Esther Williams-esque finale. Despite that, there are still some quirks about Japanese culture which elude me, so this rates 8/10.

4:52 PM | link | 0 comments

Elling (Norway, 2001, Petter Næss, director) has me grasping for words and coming up with lame stuff like "triumph" and "joy" and other stuff from the movie ads. Nevertheless, it's amazing. Two mental patients are released to live semi-independently together in their own apartment. It's like the Odd Couple in a halfway house, with note-perfect performances from the two leads, especially Per Christian Ellefsen as the title character. This turned around my icky mood from the earlier film with some to spare for tomorrow! Needless to say, it's a 10/10!!

12:14 AM | link | 0 comments

7.9.01

Models (Austria, 1998, Ulrich Seidl, director) was my first film of the festival. It was a thoroughly unpleasant tale, shot in a documentary style, about coked-up and unhappy models in Vienna. The excruciatingly long scenes alternated between existential longings for love and meaning, whining about physical imperfections, real or imagined, and hedonistic pursuits. It made its points in the first ten minutes, then kept making them over and over and over for the next hundred and ten. Maybe that was the point. Not sure if I'm grading the film only or the whole experience, but I gave it 5/10.

4:12 PM | link | 0 comments

Noted: "You want to know the Christians' biggest mistake? Not recognizing the neutrality of media. You don't like the movies they're showing downtown? Then make some of your own. You spend all your time preaching to the choir, it just gets incestuous. And you know what incest produces? Retards."
-- Christian film producer Matt Crouch (The Omega Code) in the September 10 New Yorker. (via DVD Journal)

Well, that's a fitting way to begin my film festival experience. I'm off to see "the movies they're showing downtown."

10:02 AM | link | 0 comments

6.9.01

Though I feel a little dirty using Blogger to post this, I've been hankering after a more "hands-on" and customizable system for maintaining CC. Movable Type looks interesting, and I've always wanted to play around with Grey Matter, too. Problem? My hosting plan, wonderful as it is, doesn't allow me to use custom CGI scripts. Do you know anyone who might consider hosting me, temporarily, just so I could try out these systems? Dreamhost charges $9.95/mth for my current plan, and $19.95/mth for the next level, where I'd get CGI access. Doesn't seem worth it. Any hosting suggestions?

6:48 PM | link | 5 comments

5.9.01

Just remembered something funny. As I was waking up on Saturday morning (the 1st), I remember hearing, in my dream, "Rabbit Rabbit." Now that's both funny "weird" and funny "haha."

12:20 PM | link | 0 comments

Brooke and I have been looking for a church. We've been attending one for almost a year, but still don't know very many people and aren't sure we'll stay. This is a big deal for us, as we're getting married next year. I'm a Christian, though I suppose a pretty unusual one. Brooke is still checking out Christianity. We both have some issues with the evangelical subculture, though that's what I'm most familiar with. In general, meeting people in your mid-thirties is difficult, and it's made even more so when you're looking for a spiritual connection as well. I joked to Brooke that it would be better if we could get some t-shirts made up that we could wear to each new church, just giving people a heads up as to where we're at. Then they could decide if they wanted to get to know us or not. So, here's what mine would look like, and here's Brooke's. What do you think?

10:41 AM | link | 6 comments

Oh sure, it's been blogged hundreds of places already, but in case you need a belly laugh: "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"

10:22 AM | link | 0 comments

4.9.01

I'm sorry I've been so absent of late. There are a few other things going on in my life. For one, next Tuesday, I'll be returning to full time employment. I've decided to return to my pre-web-worker job in computer sales. I'll be working Tuesday to Friday at my old employer, Computer Systems Centre, at College and Spadina in downtown Toronto. Stop by and say Hello. And, uh, yeah, buy something from me! I have to be honest and say that this was not my first choice for a return to employment, but months of shouting into the abyss and hearing nothing back have left me little choice and not much money either.

I'll be continuing my writing for CanadaComputes.com and hope to expand that area of my employment. If anyone knows a good site for web design book reviews, please let me know. I've been writing a bunch. Speaking of my writing, the Content section is growing. I've added articles on Fray Day, Gaming Clans, and reviews of several recent web design books in the past few days, so don't forget to check those out. I crave feedback.

4:52 PM | link | 0 comments

30.8.01

Well, the friendly UPS man has just been here, and as I suspected, I've received another copy of Derek Powazek's Design for Community. In the spirit of the Zeldman Haiku Contest™, I'm going to be running the Powazek Poetry Contest™. This time, I need a 4 line stanza, rhymed either ABAB or ABBA. Other rules:

• No more than two entries per person
• At least 10 entries must be received
• If you have a site, you must post a link back to this entry (publicity is required for this to be fair)
• Contest closes when it begins to get lame

Click "comments" and get rhymin'...

10:01 AM | link | 18 comments

28.8.01

Today I began the annual bittersweet ritual of lining up for the Toronto International Film Festival. Today it was picking up the program book. Thursday morning, it's lining up to drop off my film picks. Monday morning is lining up to pick up tickets and see how many of my picks I got, then lining up again to pick alternates. Then during the actual festival, it's lining up at every film to get in. Lots of interesting conversations are overheard in line. Stay tuned...

1:53 PM | link | 0 comments

23.8.01

Congratulations, Joe! You've just been elected the "King of Closed Captions."

11:38 AM | link | 1 comment