My blog

Label... Category... Standard Entry Video Information Press Release Event News

• Bird, wine, and south of the border...

  Monday, Jun 11, 2007 10:21PM / Standard Entry

  A pretty cultural weekend all around. 
  
  Went to see Andrew Bird play @ Scala just before the weekend.  It was just sublime!  That man is so talented, it's beyond words.  He was alternating and looping 4-5 instruments (violin, guitar, glockenspiel AND whistling!) for each song, on top of singing.  And the drummer too was playing the drum AND the piano at the same time.  Just insane!  The house was packed, and I ended up in a squating position in order to get the best view, but it was totally worth it.
  
  
  
  Then went to Lyon for my friends Jean-Luc and Chew's wedding and hung out with their families for the weekend.  As soon as I arrived, JL's father told me that he has just finished working on the new cellar.  So after many bottles of wine, and a really good homemade french dinner, he took a bunch of us down to the cellar and opened 3 amazing bottles from JL's collection.  It pained JL a bit to open so many great bottles in one night, especially since he's even a bigger wine lover than I am, but in the end, he was happy that they were being appreciated with great friends and families.
  
  
  
  Then on my way back from Lyon, I finished reading one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami's "South of the Border, West of the Sun."  It was a great book and reminded me of "Norwegian Woods."  Partly I think Philip Gabriel, who has translated many of his books, did a really good job.
  
  
  
  So all in all, it's been a very eventful weekend.  On top of that, I finished the first draft of my new scrīpt, it's always a good feeling, like a big load lifted off my chest.  The revision will of course be just as hard, if not harder, so I guess I have to get back to work now...
  
  
  
  

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• For folks from / live in the US

  Thursday, Jun 7, 2007 5:49PM / Standard Entry

  Despite our serious global warming problem, the US Congress could vote in the next fews weeks on a bill that would double the greenhouse gas emissions from planes and cars, if a current plan to use "liquid coal" passes.
  
  If interested, you can sign a petition urging Congress to vote no on tax breaks and subsidies on coal:
  http://pol.moveon.org/stopkingcoal/?r_by=&rc=paste
  
  You can also read more about it from this LA Times article:
  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-coal10may10,0,7769228,full.story?coll=la-home-center
  
  

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• Voyage in Italy

  Tuesday, Jun 5, 2007 11:52PM / Standard Entry

  Been writing like a mad woman... nothing much to report as a writer's life consists of staring at the computer, pacing back and forth in the room, and cursing to high heavens why that scene just doesn't work... BUT, I did take a break and watch another amazing Rossellini film, so I thought to share.
  
  Just watched Voyage in Italy (1953).  Different from his earlier neo-realistic films, this one is more about the psychological and spiritual exploration, about the dissolution of marriage between a conservative couple.  
  
  What I loved about this masterpiece is how crafted it was.  Just the opening shot alone sums up the whole film.  It opens with the couple, Alex (George Sanders) and Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman) driving down an empty, dry and narrow road on the Italian countryside.  You just know this marriage is going downhill.
  
  The trip begins to expose the strain of their relationship and the two eventually decide to make independent plans during their remaining days in Naples.  Katherine is left by Alex to tour the town on her own.  Rossellini uses the environment as another character to visually represent her emotions, my favorite ones are the eruption beneath the surface of "small Vesuvius" and the uncovered casts of human bodies at Pompeii.  They basically represent Katherine's inner turmoil and her eroding marriage.  It gave me shivers when I was watching Ingrid Bergman roaming around the uncovered casts, staring at those bodies…
  
  Yet the film ends well.  They find each other desperately searching for each other in a crowd, hopelessly lost, and thus realize their own incompleteness and their need for each other.
  
  If you haven’t seen it, and if you’re a Bergman fan, definitely rent it!
  
  
  

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• On set horror

  Friday, Jun 1, 2007 8:01AM / Standard Entry

  My friend just emailed me this link and told me to watch it before they take it down...  it's not as good as the "I Heart Huckabee" footage, but it's pretty close... you gotta love actors especially when they can give you high, low and "middle" energy...
  
  http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/michael_cera_giving_judd_apatow.html#gs-hp
  
  

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• Studio recording

  Monday, May 28, 2007 8:53PM / Standard Entry

  It's cold and rainy here in London.  I went into a studio to record a few songs for an EP with my uke mates this past weekend.  It was a great experience, but absolutely terrifying.  I'm used to being on the outside with the sound engineers when working on films, so being inside the booth was a completely different experience, I was horrified to say the least.  So hats off to y'all musicians!
  
  Oh yes, in case anyone wonders, I'm in an ukulele band... my ultimate geekiness!
  
  
  

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