end of hot docs; beginning of concert week

Hot Docs wrap-up.

Thursday: The Art star and the Sudanese twins

Chronicles Vanessa Beecroft and her journey, struggles and set backs of the process of adopting a pair of Sudanese twins. Vanessa Beecroft is a contemporary artist showcasing real humans as her artist pieces. Recently giving birth to her youngest child and travelling to Sudan to start research for another piece of art; she offers to nurse these two twins while doing a photo shot. Her attachment grows from the instant connection she develops with these two youngins. The documentary follows her journey and shedding light of the realities of international adoptions. As she sets of on this mission, she's so focused on getting these twins that her other relationships receive less of her attention and seem to suffer at times. Her husband, is not very sure if this passionate and driven artist can handle two more children, while she still raises two of her very own in the suburbs of New York. A Piece more on the interesting life of this artist, her humanistic approach and the art that she creates molds this film into a beautiful story.

Saturday;
Flow: For Love Of Water

Such an important film showcasing the struggles, corporate strangle-hold and ownership rights of a common resource: Water. Directed by Irena Salina, a beautiful 5-year journey through the trials and struggles of developing countries to acquire, maintain, sanitize a basic right of clean water.
Living in N.America, clean water that gushes from our pipes are a luxury to those living in developing third world countries. Boliva, South Africa, India, China were just some countries that major water purification companies (for-profit organizations) try to exploit and reap these poor citizens of a basic need. Humans can survive with no food for several weeks, but without clean water our bodies can not function. Salina provides shocking facts that help us to understand how these for-profit groups, along with WB and IMF, create a voracious cycle that creates more debt for those who need clean waters to survive. Providing alternative means to these large corporations, Salina touches upon water harvesting, UV light technology, water purficiation plants, and the road blocks encountered by many countries that do not have the infrastructure and monetary funds to provide their citizens of a basic human need. Saddening, frustrating , and shocking at times, this film deserves the rave review warranted for a ground-breaking topic that should be on the foreground for everyone to become aware and to stop drinking bottled water. Not only is clean, potable water essential to life, it's essential to human-kind.

So I say STOP buying bottled water; boycott companies that profit on selling water, and visit the website for FLOW. Critically important, and just starting to scratch the surface of this pressing issue.

For more information, read works by Maude Barlow.

Sign the petition @ Article 31

Get more people on board, for companies like Nestle to get out of countries by sucking up groundwater, and treating if with many chemicals (which will never leave the water), and bottling it into plastic (garbage dump filling material) bottles for the mass market to consume. Let's take action and STOP this injustice.

last note: Beginning of concert week, more info later.
thanks Ang, Sizzle, V for the amazing night on friday (besides the TTC strike.... LAME)

docs are my life;

monday was the greatest day eva!
I saw menard return, paper visited, shoping w/bro, saw a DOC, got my book to read, and I chilled.

HEAD WIND:
- documentary about obtaining illegal American/ outside world influence through satelliate signals.
Showed how Iran is pretty oppressed in terms for finding out what the government doesn't want them to find out.

Sunday I watched "all together now" a doc about the Cirque du Soleil's Beatles' influenced LOVE. AMAZING scenes.

Today I went to see MEMORY BOOKS.

Set in Uganda, showcasing the affects of HIV/AIDS and how some parents are starting "memory books" for their children to remember their roots. beautiful, touching, sad... heart felt!

hot docs adventure 1

So now I have a stalker... (much more on that another time)

As many know, I' ve been quite a big fan of the hot docs festivals since I found out in highschool... it's been an amazing ride.

This year, their enjoying the 15th anniversary of the festivals inception. There are many adjectives I could use to describe the awesomeness that embodies the 10days of great movies but I'll just touch upon what was view this afternoon.

First up: shout out to paper for joining me for the first movie! I heart! (ps: you're probably the only reader)

Emoticons, but first up: Kids + Money.

review:
Kids+Money=Gold.

Fast paced, colourful, candid, great comments about kids in LA speaking opening about fashion, trends, social cliques and money. Money, money, money and where they want to spend it. It was a great short film. gold stars all-around.

Emoticons= :-(

Badly titled, mis-leading, just painful to view. Too personable, and not enough story. too much dialogue not enough drama. I apologize... but to make up for it, awesome food @ fresh.. I think so


Then to top off my day of movies, I went solo to see the Last Continent.

GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT MOVIE!!

Taken from hot docs site:

For 430 days, a crew of scientists, sailors and filmmakers live on a schooner in the Antarctic to study the impact of global warming in this gloriously cinematic adventure, full of awe, joy and life-threatening danger. Gale-force winds threaten to dash the crew on the rocks in one of the most nail-biting scenes ever seen in a non-fiction film. Abnormally warm temperatures prevent the formation of the deep pack ice needed to stabilize the schooner and provide a birthing ground for seals. When desperately needed winter arrives at last, the camera goes overland to scenes of unbearable beauty and beneath the ice to a magical undersea world of never-before-photographed species. A marine biologist by training, Jean Lemire's acclaimed 2006 feature The White Planet focused on the Artic. The massive devastation from climate change he shows at this, the other polar extreme, is a powerful reminder of the fragility of our world.

More information check this link.

Thoughts on the movie:

First off, the cinematography is amazing. Editing was fabulous.

Strong messages of climate changes and it's effect on the enitre ecosystem resound throughout the entire film. The rare moments of human nature shine through when the ice freezes over to allow a sensible game of hockey to be played out. Phew, words really can't explain the beauty of this movie. GREAT on all levels. Definitely up for best movie award in my eyes.

If you get a chance to watch this you should. Sunday 12:45 @ bloor.

or when it's released in theatres later this year.

nice sunny day #2

This week is looking more and more fabulous..

I had a nice little bike ride up to Sunnybrook park today.

It's located about Leslie and Lawrence E.

approx. 34km bike ride, but since I got lost getting out of Sunnybrook park (couldn't find the path to the women's hospital) it was probably 38k

Time: almost 2 hours, got stuck in major street traffic on the way back.. :(

sunny sunny

Cranes galore!

Look at the plethora of cranes! Multi-coloured assortment of beautifulness made in the name on Menard. Over the last couple of weeks, she's been tres tres sick. Sick to the point of EMERG. worthy. She's feeling a lot better now, but it's just everything cumulating to a tipping point, and it did tip. Seeing, as my resolution was to be more asian, and recalling a book everyone read in elementary school of a girl with cancer folding 1000 cranes to get better... I decided that last WED I would make her a crane mobile.

So folded about 55 cranes +3 from xie xie and jaybo. WE even stayed late to get it all ready for delivery the next day. It was a fun time. I did it while watchin Juno....
Juno; verdict: SO refreshinly cool, with a hint of realism and point blank truth at its' peak. Very laid back considering the topic at hand: teen pregnancy.


TODAY's weather is 18. SUNNY SUNNY. in celebration I biked to scarborough and back, and read What is the What by Dave Eggers.

To end this; I wanted to tell all my readers.. ie: the few that visit this site....

I"M BACK TO TRAINING!

did some CORE exercises and did 15 min of biking, not running yet, but will hopefully do that tomorrow! A full 45 minutes of conditioning. W00t w00t.

side note: I hate planks!

NO MORE WINTER! MORE BIKING! MORE OUTDOOR TRAILS!

let's bring on the patio parties!

I'll end with a link to some awesome music:

HOT CHIP
ADELE
and lastly: Midnight Juggernauts (MAY 3rd)

Concerts concerts.

Last night I went to a Tape N Tapes concert at The Opera House, in the east end of the city.

The night was filled with mixed emotions as the sound quality mixed with the lackluster enthusiasm of the crowd lead to a less than stellar performance of the guys. A spark for the White Denim, a band from the meanest place in the south. White Denim; from Austin, Texas, performed an amazing set for the few that dared to show up early.

White Denim, played a continuous stream of music that got the crowd slightly riled and excited for the main act Tapes n Tapes. Playing many songs from their latest material, the drum heavy bass-sounding act was a treat for the night.

The indie rock classicist known as Tapes N tapes from Minneapolis, MN, played a mediocre set. The beginning played the lucks of their new album, with mixes and new compliations of the hits from the loon (2006). Yet even with the mishaps of the sound levels, the guys ended with demon apples. At times the crowd was dancing along, while other times the crowd was less than receptive of their new material. Given the fact that they released the latest album less than a week prior to the performance, only loyal fans had gotten the new album. There was some momentary bright moments, when Guitarist and lead - Josh and Bassist Matt did a little dance number and created a melodic twists of chords that entangled the crowd and transformed them into a wave of dance. Yet, the night was certainly only soured by a group of hipsters unfamiliar with Monday night concerts.

The normal concert going experience is usually tainted with a few overly drunk, obnxious people in your surrounding area. Recently, it has come to my conclusion that I've become a douche-bad magnet. The following is a rant, and a play-by-play of the situation that went down.

I'm at my usual spot. DEAD CENTRE 3 rows from the stage enjoying my spot, since there aren't any super TALL people in front of me, still allowing some space for people to move around, dance their heart out.. you name it.

A couple of songs into the show, 4 very drunk 20somethings decide that they want to be in row 1.5 and 2 in front of the stage. Except their more along the lines of row 2.5 and 3 and clearly in my personal space. As a stubborn person that I'm not but wanting to enjoy the concerts sans douches around I found myself not budging at all and standing my ground firmly, hoping that they would move. These 4 drunks youngin's consisted of 2 5' stuck up blonde and brunette girls. the Other 2 were their male counterparts or annoying friends, both wearing ballcaps. Now I'm not against ballcaps, I'm just against those that are clearly in my personal space blocking my view of Josh the Lead vocals....

How annoying was it when not only did they proceeded to dance obxinously but doing gangstar hipster moves into my line of sight. ANNOYING! To cap it off, they started to CHAT and yell quite loudly and discuss non-Tapes n tapes related topics. WOW, did this piss me off. This continued for 2 songs before I got really really upset. I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that they'd be respectful and quit the chatter as I opted to do dirty looks at them and thought the dirty looks were enough to keep them from starting up their chatter.
Clearly, it wasn't the case, as the 4 ineberated folks decided that they would try and push me aside and kick me out of my spot that my friend and I had for the entire Concert. PEEVED was I?
So I tried to tap on one of the guys shoulders and proceed to ask them to stop talking.
"can you guys stop talking, please. I'm trying to listen to the music over your chatter"
" Seriously can you guys stop, I'm trying appreciate the music."

Something along those lines... it got them to mock my asking them to stop talking..they proceed to momentarily say lines "shhhh, you're tooo loud." "keep your level down"

2 songs later those drunks decided they needed more booze in their system on a monday night, so they left but gave me cut eye, and were mimicking the "shhh" sign...
In petty retaliation, I decided to clap loudly, and shouted cheers of screams into their ears. TAKE THAT BIOTCHES.

I was able to block up the area and proceed to enjoy the rest of the show.

BOY was I wrong. they decided to hang out 10m to the RIGht back of me.... and continued to make fools of themselves and talk loudly. THEN to top it off, they try to dance their way in... oooo did they mess with the wrong person. I quickly danced the blonde one out.
They continued to be overly drunk and annoying.

At the end of the show as the crowd was unreceptive of their performance, we knew they weren't going to play an encore for a lackluster, uninterested crowd... So we were about to head out on our merry way, well those 4 A-Holes came into our spot. As we were leaving, I heard whispers of ooo let's not be too loud, and she's so rude.

wtf! talking behind my back?! This might have been very immature and confrontational, BUT
I stared back at them and asked them, what their problem was and whether they'd like to say anything to me.... then they gave me 4 shocked looks.... puullleeze! (insert eye rollings).

Can't beleive they were even that low too give me dirty looks for asking them to shut UP during a concert.

ANNOYING, DOUCHE bags are attracted to me. HELP. I need a repellent.

knee is still not better

I went to see some physio treatment....
and it turns out that I've aggrevaited a ligament in my left knee... which sucks balls... (quite literally) because it entails me to sit on the sidelines. Such is the time to be thinking of other things.... like making sure I get enough mile-age before the FULL marathon in Ottawa.... this is really hampering on my finish time, if it even happens.

MAY 25th look out for panda claws.
Hoping to get my first workout in 3.5 wks into, I'll do weights. I've been too depressed with my knee to actually do anything weight bearing or sweat-barring. OH how I love it.