Fin de FFF ‘09

The Florida Film Festival’s final film has played, the popcorn has been dropped onto the carpet, the last ticket stub left in the jeans pocket to be washed a week later in the laundry and leaving a mess in your dryer.

There’s still the staff and volunteer party going on Tuesday, but now it’s time for me to hang up my volunteer badge and get back to the growing stack of DVDs I’ve been neglecting.

Awesome times.  Awesome films.  I saw at least one film every day of the festival except for Monday, ate more popcorn than I should have, and left work early to catch documentaries.  Fabulous.  The calibre of films I’d seen were great overall.  A handful of the animated and international animated shorts didn’t grab me, but these were ameliorated by the completely stellar ones I did see.  I got to shake hands with Bill Plympton, animation idol whose work on MTV’s Liquid Television has left an indelible mark on my psyche.  I felt I had grown up with his work, and said so.  I hope that didn’t make him feel old.  Whether I made Mr Plympton feel old or not, I did get to walk  away with his autograph to treasure for all my days.  H’rays!

Another marvelous FFF moment was getting to meet Lev Yilmaz, known for his Tales of Mere Existence.  Last year, the Florida Film Festival screened some of his animated shorts, which appeal to society’s cynics such as I.  The stories told were incredibly hilarious and relatable, and I had gotten back into his work recently online, looking at his websites (new and old) and watching his shorts on YouTube.  So, I was very pleased to not only see his work screened at the film festival again, but Mr Yilmaz was in attendance for the screening of these shorts.  I watched the Wednesday screening of Animated Shorts at Enzian, and had to ask Lev Yilmaz if he would be at the Regal screening on Friday to sell his new book, Sunny Side Down, and DVD.  

“You see, I don’t get paid until tomorrow!”

Lucky for me and my low funds, I was able to run into him prior to the Friday screening at Regal after initial hesitation, worried I might seem a bit crazy to confront this man with cash and demands for products.  But no, on the contrary, Mr Yilmaz was very kind, stopping to pick up a bookmark I had dropped while grabbing my wallet out of my cavernous bag of mischief, and imparting his own experience of being in London, warning me sternly that the British are not like what one sees on BBC America.  Lev smelled of pipe smoke, and I complimented his coat, which was a bit unseasonable in the Florida humidity, but nonetheless was a dashing fashion statement.

Oh, my brushes with fame.

Before I close my discussion of the animated shorts, I have to mention my joy and wonder upon seeing Don Hertzfeldt’s latest, “I Am So Proud of You.”  As a huge fan of Rejected and everything else I’ve seen of his work, this final short on Wednesday night was nothing short of sublime.  If you are unfamiliar with Don’s work, I strongly suggest you look into it.  Really, if you don’t, I’ll drive past your house and give you intimidating glances as I roll past in my car, very slowly.  At the moment, I own a DVD copy of Rejected, but I’m looking to buy the rest of his work, sans “Proud,” on DVD.  This is if I can keep Whole Foods from sucking all my money away.  ”I Am So Proud of You” received the Grand Jury Prize at the Florida Film Festival, just to give you an idea of how remarkable it was.  Per the website:  I am so proud of you will come to DVD later this summer. Or maybe autumn. We’re not quite sure.

I eagerly await its release, so that I may watch it unfettered by people walking in between me and the screen.

Aside from animated shorts, I did see incredible documentaries, such as The Garden, which I talked about in my last blog post.  Anvil: The Story of Anvil was a poignant documentary about Anvil, a band that could have been, should have been, but somehow didn’t quite get propelled into the fame bequeathed to other metal brethren.

Even with all the films I was lucky to have seen, there were still a few shows I am dismayed to have missed for whatever reason.  I didn’t get to see any of the short film screenings, for example, and I heard the CGI Battle for Terra was good.  Also wanted to see Em, but that didn’t happen.  Smile ‘Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story is probably the film I most regret not seeing at the Florida Film Festival, dealing with a motivational and performance group spawned in the ’60s.  I really wanted to see the film, but, alas, it just didn’t happen.  I can console myself with reading the blog.

Overall, I was glad to have the chance to see many films I wouldn’t have otherwise known about, and was happy to have spent time with friends seeing these screenings.  Yay for Hao, Clark, Mike, Marie, Joe, Andrew and Melanie for being my film buddies for some of the movies shown during the Florida Film Festival.  You made watching sexy French film stars, animated violence and advertising executives all the more enjoyable.

I will end this with a link to Lev Yilmaz’s animated short, How To Cope With Depression.  Enjoy.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This afternoon I watched The Garden at Enzian, part of the movies showing at the Florida Film Festival.  It was an intense documentary about the 14-acre community garden in Los Angeles and the legal fight to keep the land for use as an urban garden between the local farmers and the city.  I won’t spoil the film for you if you haven’t seen it and want to, but if you would like to know what happens, you can go to The Garden or South Central Farmers.  I strongly recommend the film.  Unfortunately, today was its last showing at the Florida Film Festival, but the producer of the film, who spoke at a Q&A session after the screening, stated that The Garden will be showing at major film markets such as New York City, Chicago and so on, so if it does well there, perhaps it will be screened in smaller markets around the country.

Speaking of gardening, I’ve been engaged with my own attempts at creating an herb garden outside my front door.  I’ve talked about this wee garden in a previous posting, Get Your Garden On, so here is an update about what’s going on with it.  I managed to get a few big cans from Stardust and repotted some plants into these bigger vessels.  The area I had laid down some dirt on in the raised area (visible under the basket) has now begun sprouting little plants, though I’ve forgotten whether these sprouts are the cilantro or the chives.  One row hasn’t sprouted at all, which is a bit of a downer, so I may reseed the little patch after a few more days if there still doesn’t appear to be any more activity.  In the picture, you can also see the area I’ve created on the right-hand side facing the little spot, laying down some soil behind, yes, a wall of beer bottles.  It’s shabby-chic with a drinking problem, with bottles provided by the combined alcoholic efforts of Clark, Mike, Marie and myself, with a couple of bottles from the Stardust recycling bin thrown in for good measure.  I planted the lemon-scented thyme in the plot, and now that I’ve gotten paid today (yay!), I’d like tocontinue to add to this area with more mint and basil.  On Corrine Drive, there is a nursery I’d like to pay a visit to for some seeds, plants, soil, gardening tools and the like.  I’ve never been there, but I drive past it pretty much every day, reading the words on their sign.  A recent one said, “Grow your own.  Obama does.”  It references the vegetable garden on the White House lawn, which is very cool.  

I lack a White House Horticulturalist, but I did get a book from the library recently which will help me in developing this small area of plant development.  Written by RJ Ruppenthal, Fresh Food From Small Spaces challenges the thought that city-dwellers cannot grow their own food, and provides a plethora of tips and information for the urbanite who longs to have a green thumb.  With all the information, I wouldn’t be surprised if I wind up buying this book at some point to take with me if I live in a space in London with access to a private garden, like one place I had happened to see when poking around some rental search sites.  If you’d like to read an excerpt from the book, Homegrown.org has a snippet of it on their website.

Get inspired!  It takes something around ten minutes for me to water these plants I have outside, although I expect that time to rise if I continue to add to my little green empire.  Grow, my little minions, grow!

Someday, my sweet Henrietta

It’s been something I’ve been aware of, but it wasn’t until after reading the segment in Jamie Oliver’s book, Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life, that I’ve become enthralled with the idea of keeping chickens.  I guess the excitement Jamie Oliver conveys about raising chickens and how fantastic their fresh eggs are has sold me on the dream of having my own set of hens for egg-laying purposes.  Not that I eat that many eggs to begin with.  Actually, I don’t really care for eggs in general, aside from deviled and hard-boiled eggs.  I don’t even like quiche all that much.

But I want chickens!  When I get settled in somewhere and have a scratch of backyard, I’m going to get two or three chickens, and one will be named Henrietta.  Of course.  They can roost in a tree and cluck and hang out in the backyard.  It will be great!

My history with chickens has been much like everyone else’s.  I had been chased by angry chickens as an unsteady toddler in the Philippines, ate chicken adobo with rice, then abstained from chicken meat and all other meat at the age of twelve, with occasional dining mishaps in which I was fed chicken from a small collection of places over the years.  My uncle Greg in Manila has raised roosters for cockfighting, which is a brutal sport that’s persisted throughout human history not just in developing nations, but here in the US as well, despite it being illegal in all fifty states and in DC. 

I previously had a rather dismissive opinion on chickens until reading the chapter on this humble bird in Altruistic Armadillos to Zenlike Zebras: A Menagerie of 100 Favorite Animals, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson.  It’s a swell book for any animal lover, and my opinion of the chicken was changed to that of respect after Masson’s loving anecdotes and information about the fowl.  It was in Masson’s book I learnt chickens can, indeed, fly.  The reason why those of us not acquainted with live chickens seem to think chickens are unable to fly is because chickens actually don’t fly very high or far, and most conventional farmers clip or pin their wings.

Earlier this year, I had read an article from NPR, City Folk Flock to Raise Small Livestock at Home.  The idea of a young man walking around LA with a fat, happy chicken in his arm amused me, and I was interested in this movement of keeping chickens, whether due to financial strains or a desire for a humane, sustainable source of food.  Also, some of the comments on NPR’s website for this article are truly inspiring, such as Nancy Pullen’s:

I’m a backyard chicken keeper. I have two lovely hens, Clementine and Buttercup. Not only do they furnish us with fresh eggs daily, they are hilarious. They’re as curious as any cat and as eager to greet you as any dog. A fifty pound bag of feed costs about eleven dollars and lasts months. In return you get a dozen eggs a week and free entertainment. I have a Rhode Island Red and a Barred Plymouth Rock. They’re hearty, easy to care for (ten minutes a day) and truly a delight. I live in a subdivision on a half acre lot and my neighbors enjoy my girls as much as I do. The kids like to scatter feed and the adults know who to borrow eggs from.

Although I have to wait on getting my own little brood of feathered ladies, if you are intrigued, there are several websites online that will help you get started on learning the basics of chicken care, what to look for in a chicken, what sort of home your chicken needs, and soforth.  The City Chicken seems to be a grand start, with an extensive FAQ section on how to fight City Hall if they try to smack some law down on your backyard brood, common chicken diseases, how to introduce new feathers into the existing flock, and more.  You can also find information on WikiHow on how to keep chickens for an idea.  Another great link is BackYardChickens.com, featuring an active Chicken Forum.  Some cities already have developed a chicken-raising community, so you may want to see if your town has one; Duluth, Madison and Seattle are just a few places where people are raising chickens in their backyards (or maybe even apartments, considering this group in NYC).

There are also quite a few books out on how to keep chickens.  Pick your favourite bookstore or library to see what they have in stock.  YouTube is also loaded with videos of people filming their pet chickens.  

I told my roommate about my feathered aspirations, and about how chickens will roost in trees (yes, chickens can fly a bit) and they like to be around people whose company they enjoy, and he told me, “You just want little friends.”  

Perhaps I do, and what’s so wrong with that?  Like Jamie Oliver, I’d like to reach the good life, with chickens in the yard, a couple of beehives here and there, edible plants in the garden, and, well, an urban ideal based on sustainable, locavore living.  I can’t reach it now, but  I’d like to be ready for the moment when it comes.

Sunday at Stardust

This afternoon I went to Stardust Coffee & Video to read the book I’m currently enjoying, Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel, and to work on my application essay for the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London.  I am looking to start their MA program(me) in Anthropology of Food in the fall.  Perfect subject for me, isn’t it?

Now, some people don’t like to write, read or do homework in public spaces such as cafes, but for me, a place like Stardust is the perfect spot for such activities.  At home, I am often too distracted by mundane tasks, or wind up fettering away my time online or playing video games.  I’m usually not very productive.  In the environment of a third space, though, I can focus enough on my work (or my leisure, as the case with the book), with the perfect amount of distraction to alleviate writer’s block.  If I’m hungry, instead of putting effort into sussing out my fridge and preparing a meal, I can simply ask for a sandwich and work or read until the Five Easy Pieces appears.

Interestingly, Alain de Botton touches on a similar topic in his book, The Art of Travel.  In chapter 2, “On Travelling Places,” de Botton discusses halfway places such as airports, airplanes, service stations, train cars, hotels and the like through the lenses of Baudelaire and Edward Hopper.  Part of his writing focuses on loneliness.  De Botton writes, “In roadside diners and late-night cafeterias, hotel lobbies and station cafes, we may dilute our feeling of isolation in a lonely public place and hence rediscover a distinctive sense of community.” When observing some Stardust patrons, with laptops open and the surrounding chairs empty, this idea of communal loneliness is rather strikingly appropriate.  Within this communal loneliness, however, we can be removed from our home environments of distractions and tackle the tasks that have been dogging us for days, weeks, or months.  In discussing his experiences on trains, the flow of consciousness is aided “by the possibility of looking out the window, locking on to object and following it for a few seconds, until a new coil of thought is ready to form and can unravel without pressure.”  I find this applicable in a cafe setting as well, where one can watch a couple eating sandwiches or overhear another couple discussing Michelle Obama’s outfits, or simply pausing to drink a cup of coffee or take a bite of food.

Stardust’s ready stock of tasty food and beverages were appreciated today as they were back when I was going to school at Rollins.  I would stop by there as I rode my scooter to class, taking in a beer or IZZE before class while working on homework that was due that day or reading a chapter on anthropological or literary theory to be discussed that day.  After class, I would stop in for another beer or IZZE and work on short story assignments from my writing classes or read one of the zillions of books Dr Pequeno liked to assign for his classes.  It was nice, because I would talk to people behind the counter and the regulars about all things wonderful and weird, and at the same time be wonderfully productive.  This afternoon I finished a fourth draft of my application essay that was good enough for me to retype (and reedit) on the computer at home earlier this evening and send it out to a few friends who offered to have a look at it (well, really two who offered, and two who didn’t…).

Today at the Dust, I saw and overheard a few regulars, like Gary (hello!), and spoke with Bret, who gave me an open-door with regards to baking again for Stardust, which was awesome to hear.  Thanks to the acupuncture treatments I’ve been getting from FICM, my left wrist and elbow has felt much better, despite being told I have the beginning signs of carpal tunnel (wooo…).  Because of my condition, I’ve been hesitant to approach Bret and the Stardusters about starting again with baking on weekends, but it is something I enjoy, and with Bret’s laissez faire approach to my employment, I may just have another go at it sometime soon, provided my wrist holds up.  These x-rays shown were taken last year in the fall sometime at an orthopedist who was in the running for the worst doctor ever.

Applications for SOAS are due on the 30th of June for fall semester (seriously!), but I want to have mine turned in prior to March to make the deadline for a couple of scholarships. Once my application essay has been looked over and I make some changes suggested by my proofreaders, I’ll be ready to send out my application… provided I figure out where my degree from Rollins is.  Apparently, the University of London wants a photocopy of my Bachelor’s degree, and I can’t remember where I put it.  I wish my father had taken me seriously when I asked if we could hang it in the bathroom.

If you would like to know more about Alain de Botton’s thoughts on loneliness or Edward Hopper, you may be interested in this article from Tate Etc., The Pleasures of Sadness.  The article includes images, such as Hopper’s 1927 painting Automat, which I love, love, love, so it’s well worth a look.  After The Art of Travel, I have at least two other books by de Botton lined up to read, killing the fiction kick I had previously been on with Jonathan Carroll’s The Ghost in Love and The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers.

oh, i want a hippopotamus for christmas

So, yes, it’s that holiday season where people stress about what to get their loved ones, and later are subsequently disappointed when they realise that no one bought what they wanted for them.

Granted, I want a Nintendo Wii like everyone else who doesn’t already have one, and a MacBook and an iPod Touch, but really, I don’t think I could handle someone, even my parents, dropping that much money on something for me.

So, this list of what I want for Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hannukah/Boxing Day is a list of items I would really appreciate, each $50 or under.  We are in a recession, after all, and I don’t really care to have someone charge his or her credit card to present me a token of esteem and camaraderie, although I admit I’m doing such a thing myself.

Anyway, these are things I could really use, or would really enjoy.

Books
Okay, I do sort of need a bookshelf (or two) before I get any more books.  And my mother seems to think I actually need to get rid of my books (never!).  But I really want some books, especially some for what will hopefully be my years of graduate-level study beginning next year.  NPR is such an enabler when it comes to books and music.  I was reading their Best Graphic Novels of 2008 article, and am now completely crushing over a few selections: Skyscrapers of the Midwest by Joshua W Cotter, Yoshihiro Tastumi’s Good-Bye, and Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly (no need for the deluxe version).  

Another nice book to have would be Seonna Hong’s Animus.

Also, for my planned studies as a graduate student next year (providing that I get accepted… providing that I hurry up and apply!), there are a few books I would like to obtain.  A History of Japanese Religion, edited by Kazuo Kasahara, would be very helpful in continuing my Japanese studies, as would these titles by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney: Culture Through Time: Anthropological Approaches; Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms, Rice as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time.  I would also appreciate copies of A Dictionary of Japanese Food by Richard Hosking, Modern Japanese Cuisine: Food, Power and National Identity from Katarzyna J Cwiertka, Michael Krondl’s The Taste of Conquest, Food: The History of Taste by Paul Freedman, Food is Culture by Massimo Montanari, Revolution in Eating by James McWilliams and The Essence of Japanese Cuisine: An Essay on Food and Culture by Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob.  With academic titles, and many other books, I’m perfectly fine with used copies.  AbeBooks is a good used book vendor, and Barnes & Noble’s website often has used  book vendors the corporate giant partners with as well.

True, I do work at the local library, and I could check all these titles out, but some things you just would like to own, as the titles would be easier to later share with someone else.  With books for study, I really would like to have them on-hand for any future papers and dissertations I may write.

On a related readable note, Monocle, my favourite magazine of the moment, is offering 6-month subscriptions at £38, which is just over $50 at $55.82 with the current exchange rate.  I know it’s over the $50 money limit I stated in the beginning of this post, but… *ahem*

Music
Yes, I’d like music, and, like books, I’m low on room for new CDs, but I want some anyway.  Like books, my list is endless, but here is a little segment of what I would really enjoy receiving: CSS’s Donkey release, Volume One by She & Him, Fleet Foxes’s eponymous album, These New Puritans’ Beat Pyramid, the Sigur Rós album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, Flight of the Conchords’s full-length, Light & Magic by Ladytron, and At Mount Zoomer by Wolf Parade.  Park Ave CDs should have these in stock, maybe even some in the used bins.

Chocolate
Not just any chocolate, but extra-tasty chocolate!  Hard-to-find, but Dolfin’s Milk Chocolate Bar with Hot Masala goes beyond delicious.  Also very good is the Dark Chocolate Bar with Earl Grey Tea.  For something a bit easier to find, Dagoba Organic Chocolate can be found in places like Borders, Chamberlin’s and in the big Whole Foods off Turkey Lake.  Or, if you’re a web shopper like me, you can buy online.  I’m a huge fan of the Chai, and welcome trying out Xocolati, Hazelnut, Nibs and Superfruit.  

Also, while I was in Seattle, I was exposed to Theo Chocolate, and fell in love with their Coconut Curry Milk Chocolate, and their Chai Milk Chocolate, Nib Brittle Dark Chocolate, Coffee Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Crunch Milk Chocolate all sounds equally delectable.  Do consider the 3400 Phinney “Fantasy Flavor Flight”.  Not a bad deal at $20.00.

Kitchen
Although the kitchen I share with Clark is pretty full, there are still a few things we could really use.  A box grater would be particularly useful in grating cheese for pasta dinners or chocolate for desserts.  I like the one made by Oxo GoodGrips, as it has a box underneath to catch what you grate, and the reviews on Amazon seem favourable.  It would also be nice to have a trifle bowl, so I can make trifle and banana pudding.  Clear, simple trifle bowls can be found on Amazon.com, and likely in stores such as Bed, Bath and Beyond.  If I may also ask for an easy-to-clean bread knife, like the one I used to have made by J A Henckels International, that would be lovely as well.

Nothing says the holidays like getting sharp, pointy things as gifts.

Food and drink
Foodstuffs to fill up my kitchen would be heavily appreciated as well.  Real maple syrup, not the fake corn syrup stuff coloured to look like maple syrup, is a prized commodity, in my opinion.  If it’s organic maple syrup, all the better.  Not only is it a great pancake topper, but I also drizzle a bit in my oatmeal to make it extra-tasty.

I love ginger products.  Crystallized ginger is something else I like to use when I can.  This is a key ingredient in making some rockin’ gingersnaps.  The Ginger People put out many different products from ginger, featuring a creepy Ginger Man who seems to delight in the prospect of being eaten.  I use the Baker’s Cut Crystallized Ginger Chips, and would also appreciate pickled ginger.  Over the course of many days, I ate a whole bag of pickled ginger on my very own, so yes, I quite enjoy it.  All of the products from The Ginger People sound good to try, so I’m pretty much game for any ginger gastronomical adventure.  You can buy many of these products and products like them at Williams & Sonoma and at Whole Foods, as well as the website.

Buy me tea!  I’ve been drinking mostly Rishi Tea, which I buy from Whole Foods, but Infusion has lots of good tea as well.  I could really use some green tea, especially genmaicha or “popcorn” tea, osthmanthus and Dragon Well.  If Infusion ever brought back its Blueberry Green tea, I would love some of that as well.  I prefer loose tea, not tea bags, as tea bags often have tea that’s been pulverised to a uniform shape, so you wind up with tea dust instead of whole leaves.  Another source for tea includes Numi Tea, featuring an Aged Earl Grey I would like to try (so far, Rishi Tea’s Earl Grey is my favourite), along with their Morning Rise Breakfast Blend and Monkey King green tea.  I can never have enough tea, considering I drink at least two cups a day, and often more than that.  

Other useful things
Printer ink in the form of the HP 56 black ink cartridge and the HP 57 Tri-color inkjet cartridge (or the two-pack) would be very helpful to have once the current ones I’m using run out of ink, which will likely be at the most inopportune moment possible.  I could also use small-storage boxes and containers from IKEA, like the FLYT or SKRIFT magazine files; lidded boxes like the LINGO, NOSTALGISK, or STRIKT; and SKUBB clothing and linen storage case for under the bed.  Anything similar from another store would be perfectly fine.

That’s all I’ve got so far that I want or could use for the moment.  For those of you who don’t know me, perhaps you may be able to find some gift ideas in this little post.  Cheers, and have a good holiday.