Greetings from Beijing

By kate on August 4th, 2004

Just a quick hello to let you know we arrived safely in Beijing yesterday evening. Our hotel is quite nice.

Today, we spent the day walking around and saw Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City / Palace Museum. We discovered a cool park near the Forbidden City that had three pagodas on top of a hill – and there was a great view all around the city from there.

Pictures:

There aren’t very many people here who speak even a little English, so we’re getting by with a lot of pointing and gesturing. We managed to have a kind of conversation with a restauranteur just by pointing to things in the language section of our guidebook.

Tomorrow, the Great Wall!

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We’re off!

By kate on August 2nd, 2004

If you didn’t already know, Steve and I are leaving for Mongolia tomorrow. We’ll be gone the entire month of August, so if I am not so responsive on the email front, that would be why.

And please, nobody else ask me why we chose to go there. I’ll have a better answer when I get back, anyway.

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Wanted: Good, Long Books

By kate on July 19th, 2004

Steve and I are heading to Mongolia in about two weeks, so we’re working on what to bring. One thing I’ve been trying to figure out is what books to pack.

Reading is a very integral part of travelling for me. It’s how I pass my time while on buses, planes, trains, etc. (as well as when waiting for them). I read at night in my hotel room. I read on the beach. I read more when travelling than at any other time.

And while books are often considered escapism, I find that in my memory, WHERE I read the book is often brought back when I remember the book itself. The two are always tied together, and help keep each other vivid in my memory.

That’s why it’s important that I bring good books on our trip. And, since English-language books will be pretty hard to pick up along the way, I’m going to have to bring a month’s worth. Therefore, I’m looking for a specific kind of book: the long, juicy, dense kind that when you’re halfway through, you feel like you’ve read two books already but are excited that there’s still so much to go.

Here are some examples of these books that I’ve read:
– Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
– The Brothers K by David James Duncan
– The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
– Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco

I’m sure there are more, but I can’t think of them at the moment. Anyway, today I hit upon the idea of Neal Stephenson’s newest book (in paperback), Quicksilver. That’s a good one because Steve will read it, too. (Travelling with him is like having our own mini book club.)

I need one or two more such books, though. Please give me your suggestions!

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*snicker*

By kate on July 3rd, 2004

http://www.johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com/

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SIFF Journal #4

By kate on July 3rd, 2004

Yeah, I know this is a bit belated, but I wanted to put up my last couple of reviews…

Garden State
An indie movie with Natalie Portman can pretty much guarantee that I’ll go to see it. And I thought this movie was entertaining, but solidly mediocre. Portman and Zach Braff, who plays her love interest, act their parts well, but ultimately the writing leaves the viewer less than interested in their lives.

My main complaint was that Braff’s character is supposedly going through a lot of growth as a person during the film. However, it comes across as “telling” rather than “showing”. You watch his growth as exposition, rather than feeling it along with him.

I didn’t hate it, though. It was a fun movie, and both main characters are easy on the eyes.

Rating: 3

Love Me if You Dare
This was one fucked-up movie. In a good way. I don’t really know how to describe it that will convey the premise without making it sound cliched (which it isn’t). It feels like a game of chicken, where the two main characters (a boy and a girl, who grow into a man and a woman) defiantly dare each other to be the one to blink, to step out of the game as the stakes continue to rise. Do they step aside and finally let the game be in the past? Or do they collide because neither will yield? Until the end of the movie, you can’t figure out which way it will go.

It was beautiful and horrible. I only gave it a 4 instead of a 5 because it is a difficult emotional roller coaster to ride. But I recommend it, if you dare!

Rating: 4

Overall SIFF Experience
I saw 15 movies over four weekends, and I rated them an average of 3.4 out of 5. I had such a great time, though. I saw no movies that were BAD. The less good movies have faded away in my memory already, and the good movies still glow brightly. If I had to choose one movie as the best, it would probably be The Five Obstructions (my review) because it had such a strong intellectual component along with humor and a human story.

It seems like I was experiencing SIFF in a parallel universe from the majority of the audience. I didn’t even see any of the award-winners (except Cavedweller, which I didn’t think was that great). However, it’s likely the award-winning films will come back in a general release, and I can see them eventually.

I can’t wait for next year. I’m definitely planning to see about the same number of movies again. Next time, I will try harder to avoid any movies that will probably have a general release and focus on the more rare/indie/international ones.

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Non-partisan props

By kate on June 28th, 2004

Let me start by saying that, as a general rule, Dick Cheney freaks me out. I don’t like him, and I think he’s one of the main people with his hand in the Bush puppethead.

Nonetheless, I want to say “you go!” to Dick for his refreshing stand on profanity. Senator Patrick Leahy was giving him a hard time about his Halliburton connections, and eventually Dick had it and told him to go fuck himself. What’s refreshing about this is that when the incident began to get the stupid, undue media attention that it did, Cheney basically shrugged. Yes, he said, I did swear at him. He had it coming, and I felt better after I did it.

Isn’t that how we all feel after swearing at someone? It really bugs me when the pundits get all sanctimonious and judge public figures based on a standard that nobody else is held to. (The incident did not take place during a Senate session, I should point out. I might feel differently if it had occurred in that context, where rules of decorum are taken seriously. It was just two guys talking.)

This is the only time I can remember feeling anything positive about Cheney. And now, to counterbalance the warm fuzzy above, here’s a little picture I’ve been saving for the right moment:

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