Absolutely exhausted. Finished Day 1 of EFMF. Had a great visit with Janis Ian, we spoke about her article, "The Internet Debacle - An Alternate View". Her performance tonight was outstanding, a solo act to complete the night's main stage lineup. Back at the festival hotel, parties happen on Friday, Sat and Sun night. I learned that Los Lobos will be playing at the Sat night party - can you believe this? I hope they play Viking and/or Georgia Slop. I took 70 pix tonight, but you'll have to wait a bit for me to load them. I need to get to bed.
Let it be resolved that: in all further comments or blog entries regarding new movies, if what I write gives away major plot points, I will preface the remarks with the word "Spoiler", or a variation thereof.
Was playing the John Mayer CD in the car, and Chris thought it sounded like Dave Matthews. A little, perhaps, but the sound is refreshing to me. I have visitors at my house for two days - my Auntie Ida, whose appeared in an Oscar-nominated cartoon, her husband Bill, who has a famous cousin, and their two wonderful friends from Birmingham, England. I was treated to a scrumptious dinner tonight at Sicilian Pasta Kitchen (to die for), and then rented Waiting For Guffman for them while I went to the Folk Fest offices to pick up a package for Chris (who is on the Records Tent crew for the first time).
Tomorrow after work I pick up the booze for the riders of some of the artists at the festival. And it's bloody late, and I need sleep. And I apologize for my comments on Signs which contained a major spoiler for those who haven't seen it. The comment was deleted. Anyway, I hope to have some reports from the folkfest if I can find the time in between sleeping and being at the site. I don't plan to be very sentient from now until Monday. BTW, I'm a member of the "Performer Hospitality" Team at the FolkFest - yes, we pamper and take care of the performers, giving them rides to stages, help when they need it, massages (yes, they can book massages with therapists on site), provide a green room with wine and booze and munchies, and make them feel at home.
Admittedly, the previous entry was, well, lame-oh. I don' t know why I left it in, I can still delete it. However, perhaps it belongs there, in its simplicity and honesty. Maybe it's a metaphor for life. How is your life? I dunno, I'm "just testing" today.
As you can see, I loaded comment software onto my blog. It took a while, a few Google searches, but then I was checking Jennifer Piston's blog, and noticed her comment boxes originated with YACCS. I went to the site, and what I saw seemed to be straightforward, relatively, so I loaded it into my blog. It took an hour of tweaking, but if finally seemed to work.
This weekend I saw the two movies below, plus Signs last night, and Tadpole this afternoon. I'm still mulling over these movies. M Night Shymalan sets a great mood in Signs, and he uses his actors well, including the children. There is an enormous suspension of disbelief required, yet despite that, it's difficult to buy into a lot of it. The ending is too Spielbergian for my liking (and I like Spielberg). And it wasn't as scary as I wanted it to be. Despite the above, I can say I liked it and am glad I saw it. Perhaps the best endorsement I can give it is that it comes across as a really good X-Files episode (which for some people, is no endorsement, I know...)
Tadpole is a coming-of-age film that crosses a few boundaries, given that a 15-year old boy sleeps with a 40-something woman in the movie. Had the sexes been reversed, we'd have Lolita. However, this is NYC in 2002, where the level of what might be acceptable has dropped a few notches since 1960. The script is very funny, and the dinner scene is priceless and very well-edited. The film is very short, under 80 minutes. The movie cuts corners given its short running time, and Robert Iler of The Sopranos, in a supporting role, seems wasted. But the other actors, especially Bebe Neuwirth, are wonderful to watch.
Relatives and others from Winnipeg descend upon my house tomorrow, and when they leave, it's Edmonton Folk Music Festival time. I hope to hear some of these artists next weekend (when I'm not working backstage helping them with whatever ...)
I've been uninspired this weekend. I think it's because so much is about to happen: my aunt, her husband and another couple will be staying at my house on Tue and Wed. On Wed evening, work on the Edmonton Folk Music Festival begins. I need to pick up booze for the various riders of some of the performers, bring it to the main site and help set up our area (Performer Hospitality). Then Thu-Sun is the festival itself, considered the premiere event of its kind in North America (sorry, Newport). These musiciansare performing this year. I hope Los Lobos plays Georgia Slop and Viking (a song featured in Season 2 of The Sopranos).
Yesterday I saw Lovely and Amazing, and The Mothman Prophecies. Mothman was interesting, better than I thought it would be. Lovely and Amazing was ok, didn't work for me too much. Emily Mortimer is lovely to watch. The story didn't hold my attention all that well.
visits since 07/15/02
