A Handmade Nation review & a commitment to community

Last Thursday, I saw the Vancouver showing of Handmade Nation, the documentary that documents the modern craft movement directed by Faythe Levine. I was really taken by The Little Friends of Printmaking, a couple who talked not just about their craft (silkscreening posters) but about the politics involved in the art vs craft movement (plus, I've loved their posters for years). The Buy Olympia guys were fun to watch and I loved how they started their business by the seat of their pants. Jenine Bressner, a glass bead maker, was also a highlight since she was awesomely wacky and she was really great at narrating what she was doing while holding a blow-torch. I found it super inspiring and it reminded me so much of my 20s when I was making zines, making movies, reading Bust magazine, playing bass guitar in a punk rock band, and volunteering at a local underground cinema. The documentary brought up all kinds of nostalgic feelings which is kind of strange since it's a film completed this year.



While I'm definitely a part of the new modern craft movement with my 2 etsy shops & recently participating in craft fairs around town, somehow I feel a bit more removed now than when I was in the thick of it back in my 20s. I guess it's because I do most of my creative outlets by computer now. I work from home running my own business with my husband, I have my popular food blog, I use Illustrator to work over my sketches, I sell online, I respond to people's questions via email and I Twitter.

While I do feel a connection with others online, I'm much more removed from the camaraderie and person-to-person contact that I used to have daily. As a response to that feeling, I recently I made a commitment with myself to meet up with new people - food bloggers, crafters, web designers - and step outside the cushy online comfort zone that I've created for myself in the past few years. And so far, it's been good. I've attended social events, crafty gatherings, and met a host of wonderful people in person. I even got to attend a small but totally rad party to welcome Faythe Levine the night before the film showing. Want to know Faythe's favorite food at the party? My lemony goat cheese stuffed dates! The internet is a great place to bring people from all over the world together and create community, but it's just as important to create those ties in real life as well.

parsley days

I snapped this photo as golden light was flooding into our office. I love golden hour because while it's so pretty and beautiful there's also sadness underlying it all in that the day is over with. It was a rough night last night. I hardly slept and I'm trying to get out from under a bad cold. Yesterday I put on my bravado and decided that "I'm not sick! I'm going to go on a bike ride!". And I did and it was lovely. I got to hang out with friends and drink a beer and wander around the market, and enjoy the stat holiday, but then the rain came and I got soaking wet. I'm sure it did not do wonders for my recovery. But I'm resilient and I'm still plowing ahead.

Visiting my dear friend's blog, I spotted this video and it was so sweet that I had to share.



It's directed by Andrea Dorfman who directed Parsley Days which made such an impact on me when I first saw it. I loved it. I loved the colourful buildings in Halifax, the quirky characters and the indie-ness of it all. I haven't seen it in ages, so maybe I should check it out again and re-live that crazy time in my life when I saw Parsley Days for the first time. Or maybe not. Some memories should stay in the past as memories, don't you agree?

weekend watching

On the weekend, we watched 2 movies. The Dark Knight was pretty good, but not as great as the previous Batman film. In fact, I've only seen the Christian Bale Batman movies...really, why bother with the others? But the movie that I quite enjoyed and was totally surprised by was The Wackness. I had never heard about it and then it landed in my lap. Ben Kingsley is great as always and the soundtrack which is so 1990's hip hop is pretty memorable too. Oh yeah, and the story is sweet and real. A lovely little surprise of a film.

kung fu and the booty-ist

At our place, there's been a lot of kung-fu movie watching going on. Cornelius keeps bringing them back from the library. So far, we've watched King Boxer (aka 'Five Fingers Of Death')which is so beautifully shot and lit. Many of the scenes actually look like they were shot inside our courtyard (we live in a Chinatown co-op) at golden hour. It's a very cool film.

The other kung fu film was The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. It was much slower paced than King Boxer but it was still great cinema. We even watched the commentary for this movie, which was highly enjoyable as it was being commented by The RZA. He's definitely a fan of the movie and it shows. But the best part? Instead of saying "Buddhism", The RZA pronouced it "Booty-ism" which is now my most favorite word.

movies and acclaim

I don't watch the Oscars but I was a bit bummed that Mickey Rourke did not win for his performance in The Wrestler. Yay for Sean Penn's speech, but I did see Milk and I wasn't too impressed. It wasn't a great Gus Van Sant movie and I had seen the brilliant documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, years ago which is ten times more amazing. I did watch Man on Wire this weekend and it was very beautiful. Thank you, documentaries, for making everything so much better. What goes great with documentaries? Cake. I've been thinking about cake for days now. Oh well, at least I have this card (not much consolation).

Oh yeah, and take a peek at my new cloudy blog header!

the exiles

Last night we trudged through the wet snow to see The Exiles, a great lost film from 1961. It documents the lives of a group of natives in Los Angeles. Sadly, the LA of the film is all gone yet the plight of the natives remains the very same.

Tonight is the last night to catch it in Vancouver. See it if you can. At the very least, watch the trailer.

I'm feeling very run down today and I'm hesitatant to call myself sick. All that wet snow reduced my boots to mush and my feet were swimming in ice water for the entire walk home. Busses were not running and all the cabs were busy. I can't wait to get my new boots in the mail. They can't come fast enough!

the upside to low expectations

It seems like every single movie I've watched lately, I've actually liked. What's up with that critical eye I like to think I have? Maybe I'm just lazy because of the heat or my expectations are so gosh darn low, but man, I've seen some good movies lately.

Here's a list of a few movies that I've watched recently.

• Batman Begins. This is the very first Batman movie I've seen. I really liked it and now I can't wait to see the new one.
  
• Eagle vs Shark. When this came out I really wanted to see it and then I heard bad things about it, so I didn't. Low expectations whatever, I liked it. Plus it stars my favorite big-lipped New Zealander, Jemaine. Swoon!
  
• The Future is Unwritten. This movie made me like the Clash just a little bit less, Joe Strummer, especially. I saw another Clash doc a year ago that I liked better, but this was still a good movie.
  
• My Kid Could Paint That. A really good documentary. Saw it twice.
  
• Shoot 'Em Up. LOVED this movie. Didn't know a thing about it, but it was totally fun and exciting to watch.
  
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Thought it wouldn't be that good, but I really liked it a lot. So funny, especially if you think penises are funny (who doesn't?).
  
• In Bruges. Truth is I only saw this movie because I actually loved Bruges when we visited last year. I came for the tourism but stayed for the whole movie. Not a comedy, not a drama. Enjoyable.
  
• Billy Childish is Dead. This is a really great documentary of artist/punk musician Billy Childish.
  

Care to share any good movies that you've seen recently? Comment with your picks! Okay, now why isn't there a Good Reads/Library Thing for movies?

tears of the black tiger & other nice things

This weekend Cornelius brought back Tears of the Black Tiger from the library. So fun and colourful!


It's going to be a hot summer in the ol' shop. This past Monday I introduced an old favorite to my etsy store. This has always been my favorite card and I hope it sells well too. Buy it, why don't you? My cards are now printed on super lovely thick 100lb uncoated cardstock. I hand-score and cut them too.


And speaking of cards, it's still officially birthday month, so cards are still trickling in. My brother and his wife sent me a cool card of him singing happy birthday. Unfortunately the gizmo that enabled him to record and play got damaged in the mail. At least I have Pomme Man to remind me of my sweet bro.

cake lovers love it

This weekend I posted a new card at my etsy shop. Someone you know having a birthday? Love cake? This just might be the perfect card!

In other weekend news, I watched Waitress which is pretty much my definition of a perfect movie. I now want to eat and bake a ton of crazy-named pies. I've loved Adrienne Shelly ever since I laid eyes on her in Hal Hartley's The Unbelievable Truth and was so shocked to read about her murder in 2006.

beautiful film week: harlan county usa + daybreak express

Continuing the beautiful film week, I've taken Abby's lead and went with a couple documentaries. The first is Harlan County USA. If you haven't seen this amazing film, get to it! It's one of my favorites.




Daybreak Express is a short experimental documentary by D.A. Pennebaker. If you've watched his other films, you know he makes film beautiful. This film is especially great because of the soundtrack and it's a nice little portrait of a long forgotten New York City morning. Highly recommended.

beautiful film week: 3-iron & days of heaven

Okay, so I'm a definitely late-comer to this party, but I love the idea of posting a beautiful film for each day of the week. And to start things off, my beautiful film for this grey day is 3-Iron (Bin-jip), a Korean love story. The story and cinematography is beautiful, subtle and quiet. Perfect.




And I'll post one more today to make up for lost time. My most favorite movie ever is another quiet and oh-so beautiful movie, Days of Heaven directed by the master director of the beautiful shot, Terrence Malick. I could lick the screen on this one.

busybusybusybusy

Work is busy and my blogging time is going out the window. I'm sure I'll still find windows of opportunity but I'm finishing old projects and beginning new ones and there is no end in sight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining one bit! Isn't it great that I love my job?

And just so that I post something relatively worthwhile, here's a list of all the movies that I've seen so far this year. Only one of them was seen at a movie theater...the rest were all dvds from the library. Free library movies, I love you!

Last Days. Better than I expected but generally too random for me to get behind it. I hated the mumbly-ness of the lead actor. He'll be starring as one of the thugs in Michael Haneke's remake of Funny Games. I think I kind of hate Michael Haneke for wanting to remake his own movie for American audiences.

The Asphalt Jungle. A fun noir caper film starring Sterling Hayden. I liked a lot of the characters in this film, especially Hayden's long-suffering gal pal because she was just so damn kooky, like a lovable meth-head. A very young Marilyn Monroe has a bit part that is total sexy. Enjoyable on all fronts.

Christiane F - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. It's funny because I remember the poster for this movie hanging outside the New Yorker Repertory Cinema in London, Ontario when I was in grade 6. It totally drew me in. Pretty girl, sex, drugs, David Bowie, big city equalled excitement to this small town girl. But because you had to be 14 to see it, I could only wonder what excitement lay beyond the doors. When I noticed that the library got in a copy last month, I put a hold on it. It's a gritty little film about heroin use and the life of teenage junkies. Unfortunately, the dvd doesn't come subtitled, only dubbed into English, which makes the drama slightly cheesy, but I liked the film regardless.

A History of Violence. I really wanted to love this movie. I thought it could be very much like a Haneke-style film and I was quiet disappointed that it wasn't. Good but not great.

The Constant Gardener. Based on a John Le Carre book, I was expecting a good espionage flick, a "taut thriller" (back of the box). In parts it was pretty gripping, but on the whole a let down.

Children of Men. Really intense with some great long takes which really added to the intensity, but the story was kind of weak. But we saw it at the Rio Theater on Broadway near Commercial and I loved it. It's now my 2nd favorite theater next to Tinseltown. Seats were comfy and new, the sound was awesome and it's an old single screen which is nice. So while I can't really say the movie was great, I fully recommend the Rio.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Watched this many, many times before. This time, we watched it with commentary. Enjoyable.

The Clash: Westway to the World. I was pretty excited to see this dvd after seeing the extra dvd footage on the London Calling cd that Cornelius brought back from the library a few weeks ago. This has a lot more footage of the Clash in NYC during the 80's when they were very influenced by the hiphop scene, graffiti culture, and breakdancing. I really like the Clash, what more can I say?

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. This was seriously bad (I know, what was I thinking!). The "hot Greek guy" the Gilmore Girls chick falls for? Dude, he was Russian and wore turtleneck sweaters. The music was horrible and the whole thing fell pretty flat for me. Want a good coming of age movie? 13 Going on 30. Seriously.

All About Eve. It's taken me ages to see this movie. I don't know why I hadn't seen it before now. Bette Davis is awesome, she's got a lot of great lines and it's a pretty good story. Marilyn Monroe has a bit part and what can I say, she's a foxy number and a bit of a pastiche, but throughly enjoyable. Recommended.

Thieves' Highway. Run right to your library or arty video store and get this dvd now. It's filled with working class strife, truck driving, sexy french/italian hookers with a heart of gold and...apples. It's well paced with lots of action and a wonderful setting in post war San Francisco's marketplace. And hey look, the title has the correct punctuation!

junebug

There are movies that I fall in love with right from the get-go. Junebug is one of them. A small and understated film that doesn't fall prey to grand gestures or posturing. In Junebug you can gain more into each character by a glance or an off-hand remark than by complicated plotlines. I don't want to say too much except that it's wonderful and made me smile, laugh and cry all at once. Plus, where else can you find The South, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, and Outsider Art all in one smart movie?

i *heart* the library

My next door library was closed for the month of August. It's the only branch in the whole Vancouver system that takes a long break like that and it's probably the only library that sits within an elementary school. So when Tuesday, September 5th rolled around I was so pleased to receive my huge bounty of holds that had been waiting around just for me! What's in my library goody bag? Let's take a peek inside:

• Murderball (dvd)
• Munich (dvd)
• Rollercoaster (dvd)
• The Man with the Golden Arm (dvd)
• North Country (dvd)
• Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 (short stories)
• Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger (non-fiction)

As you can see, I'm putting my new tote to good use!

the king

I love to see matinees in the middle of the day...it's one of the serious perks of working freelance. Last week I wandered into The King not knowing very much about the movie other than it starred hottie actor Gael Garcia Bernal and had pretty lovely poster art. I was pleasantly surprised! The movie was small and slow and while those two things might bother some people, I fell under the film's spell. I could go on about plot, but that's not what this movie is about. It's about character and every character in this film is given a chance. No one is pure evil or plain good. Instead of playing each character to their perceived type (born-again preacher, souless drifter, dutiful wife), the film treats each one as an individual and lets the drama unfold in it's own personal way. The King's quiet nature really reminded me of Terrence Malik's film Badlands and David Gordon Green's George Washington and All the Real Girls. Even actress Pell James who plays Malorie, Elvis' 16 year old love interest in the film, seemed so reminiscent of Sissy Spacek's character in Badlands.

It's a shocking film filled with questions that don't necessarily get answered. I loved it.