NaNoWriMoVember

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out two cool month-long events for November - NaNoWriMo and Movember.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
http://www.nanowrimo.org/

The spiel: A challenge set out to anybody to write a 50,000-word (minimum) novel in the span of 30 days, starting on the first of November. The objective of this initiative is to encourage people to write, and inspire writers to finally get that long-gestating idea off the ground. The emphasis is on quantity, not quality, which, in a way, allows the writers a lot of freedom.

I will personally be taking part in this. I already have notes on rough plot points and such. I'm quite excited to write that first novel.

Movember
http://www.movember.com/

The spiel: All men are asked to grow a moustache - and just a moustache (that is, no connectors or hair underneath the lips) - for the entire duration of the month of November in the name of charity. The aim of the event is to raise awareness of male health issues, such as prostate cancer. Each participant can be sponsored, and the month ends with a Movember ball.

I probably won't get sponsored, as I am currently in job hunting mode (more on that later), meaning that I'll have to shave off the mo if I happen to get an interview, but it's a really fun way to help a good cause.

In other news...

Seeing as I have just recently returned to the country, I have not achieved a great deal. However, I feel like I've been running around just trying to get things done. There is the small matter of my large travel debt, which I would love to pay off as soon as possible. This implies that I should get a job fairly soon, which I'm (sort of) working on. This conflicts with my plan to have a bit of time to relax as I ease back into Australian life (and try to kick that damn jetlag).

Anyway, the other thing I'm trying to sort out is catching up with people. For some reason this involves a great deal of calling people and getting generally confused (due to myself being in a state of delirium). I'm sure NaNoWriMo will help in this matter. (See what I did there? I used sarcasm! Hah!)

I suppose I'll keep scant updates on the goings-on of the month ahead, as November should prove to be mighty interesting indeed. I'll also try to provide regular updates on my state of mind as I take on the process of novel-writing. Onward!

I am home (and so can you!)

I landed in Sydney this morning. I am very tired. I will keep this short.

As I headed for the airport, there was a bit of a boo boo with the Airporter - it didn't stop where it was meant to - but apart from that, the whole trip went more or less without a hitch. Once I arrived at the airport, I checked in and got through US customs pretty expediently. I was actually surprised at how quiet the airport was, especially for an international airport.

As a result of my good luck (if that is what you'd call it), for most of the wait I sat opposite a television, watching game two of the MLB World Series. When I boarded the plane, I was once again reminded of the quality that Air Canada stood for. The seats were fairly spacious, and the entertainment was very flexible, with each passenger getting their own touch-sensitive screen, which they could use to select the program they wish to watch (or hear).

Once I arrived at Sydney International Airport, it was simply a matter of retrieving my snowboard bag at the oversized luggage claim area, and my backpack at one of the carousels. Of course, the trip couldn't finish without a bit of drama. Only a bit, though. I was stopped at customs for a random bag check, which was done with a lot more politeness than my last experience through customs.

After that, I met up with my mum outside of the gates, and knew that, finally, I was home.

North America trip overview

Trip dates
Nov 26, 2006 - Oct 27, 2007 (11 months and 1 day)

Highlights (off the top of my head, and in no particular order)
Epic snow; catching up with friends I knew and friends I've never met; road tripping; waiting in line for 10 hours; being in a train for almost 40 hours; getting soaked in the rain; seeing a movie on the side of warehouse at a pier; watching 23 movies in 15 days; hiking along a coastline; hiking up a mountain; picking fresh blueberries; ordering a double double; swimming in the Atlantic Ocean; seeing bears in the wild for the first time (they were having sex); inline skating around a Formula One circuit; discovering new hobbies; discovering Vietnamese food; cheap sushi; camping in the middle of the desert with nobody else in sight; riding The Cyclone; writing.

The playlist
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Green Day - Good Riddance
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
Steppenwolf - Born to Be Wild
Arcade Fire - Cold Wind
Simon and Garfunkel - The 59th Street Bridge Song
Infusion - What lies Ahead
Holly Throsby - The Shoulders and Bends
Regina Spektor - Summer in the City
Architecture in Helsinki - Vanishing
The Waifs - Lighthouse
Gogol Bordello - Start Wearing Purple
Feist - I Feel It All
Pearl Jam - Present Tense
Stars - Reunion
The Strokes - You Only Live Once
The Living End - 'Til the End
Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye

Famous last words

"It's raining once again today"

Typical. Right after I posted yesterday's entry, the sun comes back up. It actually turned out to be a beautiful day, though not as comfortably warm as the day before. I spent most of the day hanging out with my ad-hoc crew, consisting of Dave, Dom, and Charlene.

As a result of a hasty heads-or-tails decision, in which, incidentally, heads won out, I was on the verge of purchasing a Martin Backpacker at the nearby music store, but after much deliberation about transporting it to Australia, I did not end up buying the cool little thing.

"I don't think I'll go out tonight"

My plan was to pack my bags before too late in the night, then relax a bit before heading to bed. Alas, I was weak to the power of persuasion. We had a quick stop at Tim Hortons before going to the liquor store, where Charlene planned to buy some beer. The boys and I spotted a beer called Dude, and we bought a six-pack for the sheer novelty factor. The beer itself tasted like tin and is without a doubt the worst beer I've ever had, but its name produced endless jokes.

"I'll just have two beers" turned into "we'll buy you a drink because it's your last night" and eventually ended up in some escapades, including the obligatory sushi, and a particularly amusing incident involving a fire escape. Once we got back to the hostel, we hung out on the first floor for a bit. I eventually retired very late in the night, my bag still unpacked.

It's actually brought a huge two years full circle. I remember partying hard on the night before Dave and I left for that trip to Europe, which was, at the time, my biggest overseas trip to date. Now, what will probably remain my biggest overseas trip for a long time has now come to an end with another huge night with friends.

"I'm going to have that steak tomorrow"

I was also planning to drop by The Keg today, but a combination of tiredness, laziness, and shortness of funds led to a boycott. I suppose I could pay for the steak using credit, but that's where the laziness comes in. I think I shall opt for some Vietnamese instead. On the way to our daily Tim Hortons stop, we discovered that there's a Vietnamese restaurant just two blocks away from the hostel that had somehow flown under our collective radars for the past couple of weeks (and my personal one for about four). I'm also hoping to get one more B.C. roll into my stomach before I go without it until the next time I visit the country.

It's nice and sunny again today, but I don't think I'll be doing a whole lot. I'll probably head to the airport soon after all that food, most likely via the airport shuttle. After eleven months, it'll finally be time to say goodbye to Canada and North America. If all goes okay, I should land in Sydney very early on Saturday morning.

Vancouver overview

Days spent: 29
Sushi: Cheap and plentiful
Panhandlers: Cheap and plentiful
Theme song/s: The Living End - 'Til the End, Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye

One perfect day

I wouldn't say that I've been inundated with stuff to do in the past week. In fact, it's been pretty relaxed. However, the rain has been stretching things out, forcing me to sit in waiting for the next sunny day. It's raining once again today, so I think I'll take it upon myself to update this blog.

Yesterday was perhaps only the third or fourth sunny day I've experienced in Vancouver in the four weeks that I have been here. I figured that it may be my last, so I fought off a hangover from the night before and decided to make a full day of it. It was not only a sunny day, but it was also the first day in which I found myself outside not wearing more than one layer. All the locals seemed to be rugged up in their winter clothes, but the sun and the fifteen-plus-degree temperature warranted a sleeveless approach.

I first headed over to Stanley Park, as I hadn't yet visited the famous urban park in my stay. I got there not really knowing how to go about seeing the park. I had heard that renting a bicycle was a good way to do it, but ten minutes in, I still hadn't seen a rental shop. I was told by the information booth that I actually had to back outside of the park for about fifteen minutes. After doing so, and renting a bike, I was on my way. I set a pretty leisurely pace for myself around the store, as I had the bike for two hours, and took in the sights of the park as I went along. It was pretty beautiful there, and the difference between the view of the sea and the view within the forested areas was quite large.

Afterwards, I headed back to the hostel for a bit of a rest before going to check out the UBC (University of British Columbia) campus. At the hostel, I ran into a few people who were interested in a bit of a trek, so I waited around and we all went together. The basic plan was to make our way to UBC, and then stop by Sophie's Cosmic Cafe (a famous cafe in the neighbourhood of Kitsilano). Before catching the bus (which took forever to arrive), we planned to get all the way to UBC then walk back to Sophie's. After realizing how far away UBC was from anything (it was basically past a small forest), we decided against this course of action.

UBC itself was pretty nice for a university campus, although we found not much else to do there apart from a quick stroll around. We went to the Museum of Anthropology, but the entrance fee was $9, which none of us wanted to pay. The campus was also surrounded by beaches, though, on the way to one of them, we took a wrong turn, and were too lazy to head back, so we ultimately gave the beaches a miss.

We caught the express bus on the way back towards Kitsilano, which turned out to be a fateful decision. When we saw Sophie's, we signaled for the bus to stop. Unfortunately, as it was an express, it went by several blocks before stopping. We were too lazy to walk back that much, so we just kept going, settling on trying out a Vietnamese place on Robson St.

We got to Robson St., and the Vietnamese place was nothing but an empty building, something I really should have taken a note of the last time I went past the area. We almost ate at a Korean place a little further down the road, but the prices seemed a bit extravagant, so we walked out soon after being seated and given menus. It was then that I suggested Phnom Penh, a Cambodian/Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. That of course meant walking all the way across town to Chinatown. The upside of this was that the food was absolutely incredible, and very affordable too, and everybody agreed that, despite the long journey to get to that point, it was well worth it.

We capped off the night with a bit of Tim Hortons and a stroll to Canada Place after buying things at (and hanging out in) HMV and Chapters. I had been out for a little over twelve hours, and so my legs were in absolute pain, but I somehow managed to survive the trip back to the hostel, where we all kicked back for a few beers and a whole lot of conversation.

These will probably be my final set of photos for the trip, unless I see something funny at the airport.

The rest of the last week has mostly consisted of wasting time by doing a variety of activities, such as watching movies, attending a hockey game (Canucks lost yet again), going to pubs, meeting up with various people (Luke, Shaun, and Debbie to name a few), getting wet in the rain, finishing Halo 3 at HMV, reading books at Chapters, and generally hanging out at the hostel like everybody else. It's been fun, but it's good to finally be going home tomorrow night.

Better be home soon

I go home in eight days. I'm quite excited. Despite having enjoyed my time here in North America, I'll do the cliched thing and say that, after almost eleven months of work and travel, I quite miss home. While I have become accustomed to staying somewhere for less than a month at a time (at least, in the past five months), and living out of a suitcase, I am looking forward to finally being free of the need to think about the next place.

My last day in Tofino got progressively wetter as it went on. It began a bit cloudy, with patches of sunshine, and ended in a spectacular thunderstorm. A whole busload of people with a tour company showed up in the evening, making the quiet hostel busy again. Throughout all this, I ran into Pat, one of Mike's friends from the Banff Centre, with whom I snowboarded with. This made it three people that I had run into at the hostel, four if you count the German girl from the Vancouver hostel that I also ran into later in the day.

I was afraid of waking everybody up this morning when I was to get ready for my departure, but instead it turned out that everybody else woke me up. I was the last to get out of my bed, at around 8am. I ate some Pop Tarts and boiled an egg to take on the trip before heading over to the bus station. The weather was kind enough to clear up a bit while I walked the short distance to the station. That was about it for Tofino. It was a nice little place, and I can see myself making a return some time in the future.

Tofino overview

Days spent: 5
Familiar faces: 4
Fish and chips: $10 (minimum)
Theme song/s: The Strokes - You Only Live Once

My moderately good luck continued when I got back to Vancouver, as the rain stopped just as we pulled into the Greyhound station. Tonight, I'm meant to meet up with a few people at the pub downstairs. It should be good.

Island life

Tofino is one of those strange places that has that unmistakable small-town feel while also having a healthy tourism industry. As a result of all the whale watching, surfing, and kayaking (to name a few of the things that you can do here), prices at food establishments are quite inflated. I've found myself cooking for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Since I was dead tired on the day that I arrived, I only really got one full clear day to enjoy the outdoor activities of Tofino. The original plan was to go kayaking, but I was tempted by some other people to go on a whale watching/hot springs tour, so that ended up being the activity of the day. It was almost worth it just being on that boat, going at high speeds while surrounded by beautiful scenery. After an hour or so, we got to see a bit of a gray whale and also spotted a few sea lions. However, the main point of the trip was to visit Hot Springs Cove.

We landed on the dock just past midday, and walked along a fairly long boardwalk onto the natural hot springs. On the way there, we were treated to a lush forest just by the sea. The boardwalk had carvings of the names of the various ships that had visited the cove. The smell of sulfur became evident the closer we got to the hot springs, and the steam was visible as we approached the little hut beside the hot pools.

The pools themselves were something else. The water was very hot right underneath the waterfalls, then got progressively cooler towards the ocean. If you lay at the right place, you would get a really warm current from the spring, interrupted by the waves crashing into the pool area. The hot-and-cold sensation was unbelievable and is something that has to be experienced. It was perhaps the most relaxing hour of my life.

Everybody was feeling rather lethargic afterwards, and there were a few people taking a nap on the boat ride back to Tofino (myself being one of them). Just before reaching land, we spotted a bald eagle sitting on a tree, which topped off the trip quite nicely.

Yesterday, it was considerably cloudier, leading up to the typical rainy weather that has returned today. Still, I did manage to catch a great movie at the Tofino Film Festival. Assuming I won't be going to any more for the next couple of months, this makes it film festival number five for the year (the others being the Tribeca Film Festival Drive-In in New York, the alFresco filmFesto in Halifax, TIFF, and VIFF).

Oh, and new photos are up.

Tofino

I am so damn glad that I decided to go to Tofino despite the bad weather forecast. I woke up at 6 in the morning after very little sleep, and lugged my bags (including my now very heavy snowboard bag) downstairs for check-out. I once again stashed my snowboard bag in storage, then caught a cab to the bus station. The bastard driver decided to keep two dollars tip from an eight dollar fare, but being very sleepy, I was in no state to argue, and just let it go. It was a fairly clear morning, and I hoped that it would continue to be that way for the entire day.

I couldn't get any sleep on the bus ride to the ferry terminal, except for the short waiting period to board the ferry. I finally caught a bit of snooze on the actual ferry, which was a smooth ride. The view of the mountains over the sea was incredible. However, it was nothing compared to what awaited on the actual island. Vancouver Island, I had been told, was a really nice place. It was not until the bus ride to Tofino that I realized just how true this was. Autumn has really brought out the colours in full force, with the deciduous apple greens, yellows, oranges, and flame reds standing out in the sea of evergreen trees. This was especially prevalent through a stretch of forest, where the road narrowed to barely two lanes, and you could almost touch the woods.

I arrived in beautiful Tofino where it was slightly different. Evergreen trees dominate here, with barely a sign of falling leaves among the huge forested areas. I walked a few blocks to the hostel (getting lost once), then had a stroll around town, taking in the sights and the atmosphere. A nice town indeed.

It is absolutely gorgeous here.

Filmfest diary 2.05: I suppose this is goodbye

After 15 days and 23 films, it's time for me to say goodbye to the Vancouver International Film Festival. I really enjoyed this one. I think the fact that I don't have to commute for every day of the festival really enhanced my experience.

My favourite film of the festival would have to be the very first that I saw, on that first morning. It was Jaghunde, or Hounds in English. I just loved how elegantly understated it was, being fun to watch without being too pretentious until the poetically beautiful ending, which hits you suddenly. Nothing I've seen since has been able to top it. Bravo.

Here are my final three reviews:

Taming Tammy
Director: Tracy D. Smith
Country: Canada
VIFF link

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
Director: Brett Harvey
Country: Canada
VIFF link

Le voyage du ballon rouge
English Title: Flight of the Red Balloon
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Country: France
VIFF link

VIFF overview

Screenings: 23
Films viewed: Far too many to count at this late hour
Stargate actors spotted: 1
Theme song/s: Stars - Reunion

Filmfest diary 2.04: I'm still not getting tired of this

Despite being sick, and despite already having been to twenty screenings at the festival, I've still been able to enjoy myself. I guess I just really like movies. Here are the reviews of what I've seen since the last entry:

Breakfast with Scot
Director: Laurie Lynd
Country: Canada
VIFF link

Just Buried
Director: Chaz Thorne
Country: Canada
VIFF link

Staub
English Title: Dust
Director: Hartmut Bitomsky
Country: Germany/Switzerland
VIFF link

Steep
Director: Mark Obenhaus
Country: USA
VIFF link

Outsourced
Director: John Jeffcoat
Country: USA
VIFF link

Yume jūya
English Title: Ten Nights of Dreams
Director: Various
Country: Japan
VIFF link

Autism: The Musical
Director: Tricia Regan
Country: USA
VIFF link

Profit motive and the whispering wind
Director: John Gianvito
Country: USA
VIFF link

Storm Surge
Short Film Series
Country: Canada
VIFF link

Cloud Seeding
Short Film Series
Country: Canada
VIFF link

The Stone Angel
Director: Kari Skogland
Country: Canada
VIFF link

Relative Humidity
Short Film Series
Country: Canada
VIFF link

That's Grouse!

Man, am I feeling sick right about now. I would probably place the blame for this largely on the change of climate. It seems that there is a lag of a few weeks every time I change from warm to cold and vice-versa. Seeing as Toronto was relatively temperate when I left, and the northwest has been cool/cold and mostly wet, I think it's safe to say that the weather has finally gotten to me. It's happened a couple of times before, most notably when I began working at Panorama. I remember being sick for so long during the infamous "Pano Bark" breakout, and that started a few weeks after going from the heat of the Sydney summer to the freezing cold of the Alberta winter. I hope that this doesn't get as bad or last as long as that time. But enough of my whining... on to the stories! There has been too much good happening for me to be complaining.

I suppose it really started a few days before I got sick. I heard from Ian and Gary (two Brits and Panorama alums) that they were in Vancouver for a day. This also happened to coincide with the hostel's pub crawl, and since they were staying at a different HI branch within the city, they came along. We caught up and had a good time out, and I also met a few people from the hostel. This planted the seeds for the Wednesday, when those people (and a few more) and I decided to do a bit of a pub crawl of our own. Corey told me that she was going to be going to a karaoke night downtown, and this seemed to be a popular choice among the group, so after a bit of pre-drinking, we headed over to this bar.

The official "gang" was Australian Sally, Canadian Isabelle, Canadian Mike, English Vikki, Scottish Adam, and myself (this later became an ad-hoc group throughout the week). We walked in and checked out the place. It soon became apparent that it was a gay bar - not that there's anything wrong with that - and we settled into some seats and picked a few songs. Only Adam seemed a bit uncomfortable in the environment, but this didn't last long, and he even befriended some of the other customers playing pool by the end of the night. I ran into Corey halfway through the night, and joined us all in the festivities. I was a bit annoyed that I put in a song request early on but didn't get called up to do it. Apart from that, it was a fun night. The next morning, I was feeling a bit worse for wear, probably partly due to the drinking and dancing, but I'd say mostly because of the cold and wet weather.

We decided to rest up for much of the next day and only left the hostel to escort Isabelle to the bus station (as well as a couple of movies for me). Most of us slept early so that we could enjoy Friday, predicted to be the first sunny day of the week. The plan was to go to Grouse Mountain and do the Grouse Grind, the famous hike up to the peak. We woke up to almost blinding sunshine (especially after all those cloudy and rainy days). After waking up Mike from deep slumber, the condensed gang (missing Isabelle, who left the day before, and Adam, who had already taken the easy way up the mountain - the gondola), we journeyed across the water to North Vancouver then onto Grouse Mountain.

We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into, and soon after the bus driver told us how hard it was to do the Grouse Grind, we discovered for ourselves the physical work it required. I think there were two defining moments for the hike. The first was when, after hiking for about 25 minutes, we reached the 1/4 way marker. We were out of breath and completely exhausted. I can't really express, with my own words, how hard it was to walk up this hill, so I think I'll quote some statistics from the hike's website:

Often referred to as Mother Nature's Stairmaster. This rigorous 2.9 km (1.8 mile) hike takes you straight up the face of Grouse Mountain. By the time you reach the plateau, your ascent will have gained 853 metres (2,800 feet) - one and a half times the height of Toronto's CN Tower!

The second defining moment was when we finally reached the top of the climb. I yelled the obligatory "woohoo!" then stopped to take in the sights. It was absolutely incredible. I think the view in itself was beautiful, but it looked so much more gorgeous after such a grueling hike. I took some photos, but nothing will compare to the memories of that view, and that sense of achievement. Many people have done much more than what I (or I should say 'we') had done, but it does not diminish it one bit. It was one of the most challenging and rewarding things I have done to date, and I am thankful that we didn't give up after being so disheartened at that quarter way point. WOOHOO!

I really hate to counterpoint this feat, but lately I've had a horrible knack for telling stories chronologically, so you'll have to bear with me for just a few moments. I wasn't feeling too sick after the climb, but it began to hit me again later that night when I was attending my first ever ice hockey game. It was the Canucks season opener against the San Jose Sharks, and it ended in a 3-1 loss for the home team. This in itself was fine - it was still a great experience finally being able to see an hockey game live - but I think that the cold of the hockey stadium was not a lot of help, and I was once again feeling like crap this morning. I think that, until I start to get better, I shall limit my activities to attending the film festival films to which I already have tickets.

Filmfest diary 2.03: Now those are comfy seats

Today, I had my first screening at the Vancity Theatre, and I was hugely impressed. It was like they intentionally sacrificed capacity for comfort and convenience, resulting in a strong feeling of class. The seats are incredibly comfortable, and raised quite high so that each tier of seats does not obstruct the view of any audience members. The screen itself is covered by a very nice looking red curtain, which raises to reveal a nice bordered screen, which is the perfect size for the theatre.

In stark contrast, I also had a screening at the Pacific Cinematheque earlier in the day. In my previous filmfest diary entry that I didn't like my experience at the Empire theatres (being the main theatre for the festival). The Pacific Cinematheque makes that seem great. I can probably find one or two spots that would give me unobstructed views at the Empire theatres should a screening be sold out. This is not the case at Pacific. The seats are somewhat staggered laterally, but not so much in terms of level, so the only way I can see myself getting a good view on a full screening would be to sit at the very front, which is always an annoying experience. Alas, I cannot do anything to change this, so I will cease my rant.

Here are the films that I have seen since my last update:

Koroshi no Harawata (and other short films)
English Title: Masters of Killing
Director: Shinozaki Makoto
Country: Japan
VIFF link

Matsugane Ransha Jiken
English Title: The Matsugane Potshot Affair
Director: Yamashita Nobuhiro
Country: Japan
VIFF link

Shattered
Director: Mike Barker
Country: Canada/UK
VIFF link

Caramel
Director: Nadine Labaki
Country: Lebanon/France
VIFF link

Imahe nasyon
English Title: Imagine Nation
Director: Various
Country: Philippines
VIFF link

Obbah: A Girl's Elder Brother
Director: Kim Jongguk
Country: South Korea
VIFF link

Grand final weekend

On Friday, I moved home from the classy WorldMark suites to the glamorous Hostelling International on Granville St. I kind of left the day free, as I wasn't really sure what my schedule was going to be like. It turned out that I got out of the WorldMark and into the HI pretty smoothly, which gave me most of the afternoon to relax. I ended up sleeping until I got a call from Amy saying that she was going to have a farewell dinner.

A few of us met up at a vegetarian place called Foundation, which appeared to be quite the popular joint. It had a nice vibe to it, and the food was good too. I don't usually eat vegetarian or vegan food, but I did quite enjoy the nachos that they served me. We had a few drinks, then the remaining four of us went down to the train station. I rode on the back wheel of Corey's bike with Corey steering up front, which was a load of fun. We eventually made it to the station where we all crammed into a photo booth and took some photos. It must be duly noted that photo booths are a lot more fun on the inside than they are on the outside (that is, a huge metal box).

It was finally time to bid farewell to Amy at the end of the night, though Shaun and I continued over to the a bar downtown where they were broadcasting the AFL grand final between Geelong and Port Adelaide. Geelong won by a ridiculous margin (in fact, it was a record), and it wasn't that fun to watch. Some people have claimed that watching Geelong play so well in unison with Port Adelaide getting beaten so badly was a joy to watch, but I disagree. Perhaps I'd have liked it a bit more if I were a fan of the Cats, but watching a final in which I support neither team, and in which one team just completely dominates is not nearly as exciting as, say, the last two grand finals, when both came down to the last minute. Still, it was good to see a bit of Aussie sports on TV for the first time in a long time.

Filmfest diary 2.02: Let's do this again...

VIFF officially started today, and the understated continued with the first film having very few audience member (the theatre was less than half full). It was really nice to see everybody having a conversation before the film started, and it was great to see that the theme of comical advertisements from the sponsors prior to the movie was once again present. The second movie had a few more people in attendance but it still was not a packed house, leading me to believe that daytime matinée screenings are similar to the Toronto daytime screenings - not often sold out. The theatre complex itself is okay, but it doesn't meet my standards in terms of seat arrangement. I managed to find some seats that gave me a good view of the screen, but I can see full screenings being a hassle.

Here are links to the reviews of the two films that I watched today:

Jagdhunde
English Title: Hounds
Director: Ann-Kristin Reyels
Country: Germany
VIFF link

La Fille coupée en deux
English Title: A Girl Cut in Two
Director: Claude Chabrol
Country: France/Germany
VIFF link

The first is an early favourite of mine for the festival, and I suspect that it will be hard to topple.

You may have noticed that my reviews have been getting shorter and shorter. I would attribute this to my tiredness. The long journey and the immense amount of movies that I have been seeing has really drained me. This is not to say that I am sick of it, but I am simply just tired.

Harvest moon

The season in North America officially ticked over into autumn on the 23rd (as explained here), though you could have sworn that it's closer to winter than it is to summer. The temperature has been lingering around or below a comfortable 15 degrees, and the sun has found its way through the clouds on a couple of days, but it has otherwise been overcast or rainy. Being the start of fall, it also happens to be the harvest moon tonight. Couple that with a pre-season hockey game for the Canucks, and it's a perfect recipe for loud people out in the town (and restless nights due to the resulting noise).

Speaking of which, I bought a ticket to see the Canucks season opener on the 5th of October against the San Jose Sharks, so I'll finally get to see an ice hockey game, and a Canucks one at that. Once again I screwed up with scheduling (I seem to be good at doing this when it comes to festival time), having already bought a ticket to see a film festival movie that same night. However, unlike last time, I'm not too fazed as the cost of the movie ticket was not too great (as opposed to the $20 tickets in Toronto), so even if I can't offload it to somebody else through Craigslist (or some other means), I'll only be losing a nominal amount. Plus, I did manage get the season opener ticket for the regular price instead of needing to buy it at a premium, which was what I was expecting.

Last night, I saw They Might Be Giants live in concert at the Commodore Ballroom (which is only a few minutes walk from the hotel). I'm not a huge TMBG fan, but I have heard a few of their songs and like what I've heard, so I decided to see them, and it turned out to be a very good decision. The support band, Oppenheimer, a duo from Northern Ireland, started things off to a good start, with witty banter in between songs, which set up the mood for the headline act. They Might Be Giants came out to positive cheer from the audience and played for about two hours, including three (yes, three) encores, which were absolutely mind-blowing. I don't think they planned on coming back onto the stage that many times, but the crowd didn't let up on their applause, and they seemed more than happy to come back a few times to play more songs and have fun with the audience.

As you may have noticed, the banners on the blog now rotate around between several different pictures. I did that when I was bored, and I have this site to thank for giving me the code to allow me to do this.

Filmfest diary 2.01: Cheap, accessible, and friendly

As much as I liked the film festival in Toronto, there was the issue of the high prices and low availability. This is not the case in the Vancouver International Film Festival.

When I arrived at the box office to purchase my tickets, what initially struck me was the lack of people. There was only one person filling out a form for tickets, and another person at the actual box office. There was also a very helpful and friendly volunteer who would look up codes for the movies in order to fill out the forms properly. We had a nice chat about the difference between the Toronto and Vancouver festivals, as well as some other things.

Another thing I noticed was the availability of the screenings. I got every ticket that I was looking for (24 of them, so I won't list them at this present moment), and had another friendly conversation with the person at the computer who was responsible for bringing up the order. I also got charged slightly less than what I did in Toronto for twice as many movies - apparently, the advertised prices already included tax, which pleased me quite a bit. I haven't yet seen the quality of the theatres, but I am so far impressed by this festival. It's smaller, but it's definitely more accessible than Toronto.

Vancouver

Showers, Showers, Partly Cloudy, Showers, Showers, Few Showers, Showers, Showers, Showers, Showers. That's the 10-day weather forecast for Vancouver. Still, I'm in high spirits, despite the weather and a couple more things.

I'll get the annoyances out of the way. My internal alarm clock woke me up at around 6 in the morning, so after being awake for more than thirteen-and-a-half hours, I'm feeling quite tired at the moment. That's not the worst bit though.

That award goes to customs, who harassed me at the border due to a miscommunication. When asked where I lived, I answered "Australia", assuming they meant my country of residence. However, I was apparently meant to answer "Canada" due to my working holiday visa, despite not having a permanent address because, and despite the purpose of a working holiday visa being an extended vacation with the possibility of work. This slight confusion with semantics prompted the officer to check my bag, which would have been okay but for the fact that he took out half of the contents of my backpack, leaving me to repack everything when he determined that I was fine to cross the border.

But, as I said in my intro, I've been happy to put this behind me, as everything else has gone quite smoothly since - a lot more than I had planned, in fact. After catching a taxi to the hotel (it was far too wet for me to bother with public transport), I got checked in to the hotel expediently, and it was a really nice room. Then, I booked my stay at the nearby HI hostel (for when I check out of this hotel), and checked the bag that I left there almost five months ago - still intact with all its contents. Finally, I ate some sushi then went to the box office for the Vancouver International Film Festival. I'll post my very good first impressions of VIFF later on.

Sleepful in Seattle

I guess the good thing about this weather is that I've had more than enough time to try to get rid of my jetlag. Apart from that, I've more or less been staying inside, roaming around the Internet. There was a period of sunshine yesterday, in which I took the chance to have a stroll around the city. It's a pretty cool place, though I had one of those "you know you're back in the USA when..." moments as I got off the bus on the first day and noticed the lack of cleanliness, as opposed to Canadian cities, which tend to be rather clean.

Due to the aforementioned weather, I've only seen a limited amount of the city's sights, though one gets the impression that there isn't a lot more to see beyond what I've already seen. The first major attraction I knocked off the list was the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum, both of which were incredible, although more so the Science Fiction Museum for its sheer number of artifacts from the sci-fi world. Another cool place I visited was The Elliot Bay Book Company, which was the coffee shop/bookstore that loosely inspired Café Nervosa, one of the main settings on the TV sitcom Frasier. The place was huge, and I could have easily spent a fortune there (if I had a fortune to spend). The last place I went to was the Central Library, which had some nice modern architecture for a library.

That's about it for Seattle. I'm off to Vancouver tomorrow, hopefully in the morning.

Seattle overview

Days spent: 4
Overcast days: 3.5
Gourmet coffee shops: Almost 1 per person
Theme song/s: Pearl Jam - Present Tense

I've also copied my TIFF reviews onto my new sub-blog, headless reviews, where I will post any future reviews - I will now only link to reviews, as opposed to placing them within blog posts in verbatim. However, as well as appearing on the new site, past reviews will also remain in their respective posts as I am too lazy to edit all of the posts to fit the new format.

Seattle

Once again, the weather proves that it likes to follow me around... I got rain on my first day in Seattle. However, it did allow me to sleep a bit. I got very little sleep in transit, you see. Nothing much of note to say apart from that. I'm glad to finally be back in the west coast.

There are also new photos up. You may notice a slight drop in quality in some of the latest ones. This is most likely due to the ISO setting, which appears to cause noise to appear after a value of 200, meaning that the 400 setting, which I was using, was making the pictures look bad. I shall remember not to use it again. I think I started using it during the Salty Bear Tour, and it shows. I'm not even going to bother posting any pictures from the TIFF Q&A sessions, they look positively horrible.

While on the topic of photos, I've uploaded some photos from St. John's as part of a "Director's Cut" series, in which I will be posting up previously unposted (or altered) photos.

Filmfest diary 1.08: Wrapping up

The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival draws to a close today (well, technically, tomorrow morning at around 1:30), and I was there in the afternoon to watch my last movie of the festival. Before it all started (which seems so long ago), when I was picking which movies I wanted to see, I decided that I wanted my last one to be a fairly big movie. For the most part, I tried to avoid the movies which were guaranteed to get a wide release in Australia. However, I did feel that I needed to spoil myself a tad bit. The first of such movies was George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead (which is now officially my pick of the festival). The last was the movie that I viewed today, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Director: Sidney Lumet
Country: USA

In this modern film noir, Hank (Ethan Hawke) and Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are two brothers involved in a heist gone wrong. As they try to cover up their tracks, they are forced to make decisions that slowly lead to their lives spiraling out of control.

Writer Kelly Masterson and director Sidney Lumet craft this story in a very well-paced fashion, splitting up sections of the film to follow each individual involved one at a time so as to reveal events slowly and deliberately. The story itself is very gritty, and profiles three lives in turmoil. The three characters in question - Hank, the divorced father of one in need of child support money, Andy, the drug-abusing corporate accountant, and Charles, their father - are all handled skillfully by accomplished actors (Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Albert Finney, respectively).

This is a very good film that explores the psychology of desperation realistically without condoning or condemning it. Sidney Lumet shows why he is still a great filmmaker after his debut effort (the classic 12 Angry Men) 50 years ago. Philip Seymour Fans (of which I am one) will be glad to hear that his superb acting skills continue to amaze with this performance. Highly recommended.

Final film festival findings

There were many things I liked about the festival. The Q&A sessions (when they were held) were almost always interesting, the inevitable "yarr!" coming from the audience whenever the anti-piracy message showed up before a movie always produced laughs, the applause for the volunteers at every screening (and they did one hell of a job helping out in running such a huge festival) was quite noteworthy, and, of course, watching the great films on show was an absolute pleasure.

What irked me a bit were the exorbitant (almost extortionate) prices that were being charged for screenings (and the ticketing system in general) and a few of the cinemas (in particular, the ones with bad seating arrangements that greatly detriment the view of the screen for short people). I think I'll also include "nitpicky guy", as there seems to be one at every other Q&A session. However, all in all, I thoroughly my first full film festival experience (not counting last year, when I attended the first-ever Tropfest to be rained out, though that too was enjoyable, but for different reasons), and would love to return to Toronto some time in the future to do it all again.

TIFF overview

Films viewed: 12
Well-known celebrities spotted: 3 (all at Q&A sessions)
Thumbs up: 2
Theme song/s: Feist - I Feel It All

Filmfest diary 1.07: Chaos

Today I saw two films at the festival that were told in somewhat unconventional ways. I first watched Tracey Fragments in the early afternoon, and then went to another theatre to watch Eastern Promises (a non-festival screening – it came out today). Going by the screen time and the length of the movie, the timing seemed to be pretty convenient – I had around 35 minutes after the movie to get to my second festival film of the day, Chaotic Ana, and it only took around 15-20 minutes to get in between the theatres. Alas, things don’t always work out the way you plan.

I knew I was going to be cutting it close when Eastern Promises only started after a good 15-20 minutes of advertisements and previews. The movie itself was fairly bland (I had been expecting more from Cronenberg, though I suppose the weakness was more in the script than anything). After the movie, it was raining, which made me think that my luck was not going to be turning any time soon. I was right, as there was a long delay at the connecting train station, prompting me to run out of the station and to the theatre. It was actually quite cool frantically running to the theatre – I felt like I was in some action movie, weaving through human traffic on the wet concrete as rain fell. I got there on time, just as the movie was being introduced by a festival programmer, and sat down at the back, panting heavily as I caught my breath and cooled down.

Anyway, without further adieu, I present today’s reviews.

The Tracey Fragments
Director: Bruce McDonald
Country: Canada

The Tracey Fragments follows Tracey (Ellen Page), a 15-year-old girl who has run away from dysfunctional home in search of her missing brother, Sonny. The basic premise is pretty simple, but the story is told from Tracey’s perspective, and so we get a lot of disorganized memories as she recalls the events of the past few days.

What makes this film unique from other films with a disjointed narrative is that it is shot almost entirely in split screen segments, meaning that, most of the time, there is more than one shot on screen at the same time. Often, there are multiple shots, and it was not uncommon for these images to come and go rapidly, and in quick succession. I loved how Tracey’s story was told, and the fact that there was so much going on in every single minute of this movie, its short length (only 77 minutes) did not at all detract from it. Canadian Ellen Page depicts teen angst masterfully in this movie, and it is no surprise that she is one of the emerging (and I hate to use that word because, in my mind, she has already proved herself in several performances) talents in cinema today.

This is one of those films that really stand out from the rest for its style that is beyond the norm. Not only that, but it is a great story (adapted for the screen by Maureen Medved, based on her novel of the same title) too. I highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys movies.

Q&A: Bruce McDonald answered several questions about the movie and made several jokes (which may not have been jokes) about doing drugs during the editing process, which took 7 months (the filming only taking around 14 days). One of the things that he mentioned was that they have released all of the footage that they filmed for the movie on the website for people to re-edit and are soon holding a competition for the best use of the footage.

Caótica Ana
(Chaotic Ana)
Director: Julio Medem
Country: Spain

Ana (Manuela Vellés) is a young artistic talent from Ibiza that is taken into the big city by Justine (Charlotte Rampling), a talent scout of sorts. As she begins to expand her horizons in art and in life, she soon discovers that her daydreams are more than what they seem. Reluctantly, she tries to decipher what these images mean through hypnosis, and at the same time she tries to make sense of her own life.

This is, essentially, a coming of age film. It seems that it was told in such a way that it parallels the hypnosis that Ana undergoes during the film – it begins with the number 10 being shown on the screen, and then starts to count down after every few narrative sequences. I didn’t completely understand certain aspects of this, so I can’t really explain it in more detail at the moment, but the film was interesting enough to make me want to watch it again to fully comprehend what Julio Medem was trying to do.

This is a daring movie, and is not for everybody. At any given point in the movie it can be fun, shocking, surprising, philosophical, and dramatic. Overall, I enjoyed it.