Flowers for Mom

It's Mother's Day, and since I'm 2000 miles away from my mom and can't exactly give her flowers, I post these pictures that I took in the village.




My mom loves lilacs. Our house in Pocatello had a lilac bush in the backyard and I used to pick flowers from it and put them on my mom's pillow. Happy Mother's Day!!

The Start of the Summer Movie Season

Warning: Some of the links (Harry Knowles and Michael Bay) drop the f-bomb, so click on them at your own risk! I do not endorse swearing.

Yesterday I boldly went to a place I had never gone before. Yep, I went to my very first Star Trek Movie in a theater. Not only was it my first Trek movie in theater, it was also my first Star Trek movie ever! Even though my sister had found some sort of fascination with the world that is Star Trek, making me watch episodes with her on our single tv and owning all of the films, not to mention her Star Trek: Insurrection poster she hung in her room, I never had any desire to join the ranks of even a casual Trekker.

But then something happened at the beginning of the Summer Movie Season that changed everything. An unfinished print of X-Men: Wolverine was leaked, and although I never watched it, I did read some of the reviews of the work. My fervor was swayed, and I ultimately ended up deciding that it would not be the film for me. Meanwhile, Star Trek was getting some pretty good buzz and reviews. I had already decided that I would wait to see it, if ever, until it went to a dollar theater (and since there are none of those in New York, it'd either have to wait til I was in Utah visiting...or never). But something had to fill the void left by Wolverine, and everyone, from hardcore fans to Harry Knowles to the New York Times were saying it was a good film for newcomers and oldcomers alike.


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

So I fell victim to the buzz and decided, on a whim while walking by the theater, to buy a ticket for the Friday morning show for the $6 Manhattan "matinee" price. The theater filled up nicely, although it wasn't sold-out like the first showing for The Dark Knight last year. And thankfully, there was no one dressed up in full trekkie gear. And while there was some cheering and clapping, it was oddly reserved for a crowd seeing a film on opening day. Maybe it was just too early, but I really love the way an audience can get into a movie and really make it that much more exciting.

And while I wasn't completely mesmerized by the movie like I was sorta hoping I would be, it was a good summer movie that I think will hold up quite well with other summer blockbusters. It's certainly better than a lot of other movies I've seen in the summer months. Being helmed by JJ Abrams, the man behind Felicty, Alias, Lost, and Mission Impossible: III, I knew it couldn't suck completely like some awful Michael Bay pic. Being new to the whole Star Trek canon, I was really fascinated by the relationship between Spock and Kirk, and Spock in and of himself. His use of logic over emotion seemed, actually, quite logical. And I loved the actor's delivery of the lines; so much so that I think I might have a small crush on him. I know that Kirk is supposed to be the leading and ladies man, and he's definitely nice to look at, but he's a bit too cocky for my tastes. Give me those pointy ears and weird eyebrows! And just you don't think I'm crazy, here's Spock and the actor in real life:



So tell me--what movies are you excited to see this summer?

Fruit From the Street

One of the great things about New York is that you can buy pretty much anything right off the street--pretzels, water, jewelry, shoes, books, art, clothing, umbrellas, handbags, scarves, sunglasses, newspapers, kebabs, bagels, coffee, sheets, toys, flowers. But the best is fruit. It's always much cheaper than what you'd buy at a store. Strawberries 2 (and sometimes 3) for $5. Avocados for a dollar. But the best deal is bananas--5 for $1. It just so happened that I had a dollar in my pocket today as I passed by one...

A Desk Indeed

I'm currently sitting at the library, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. I don't have a desk, so instead I do all my computer work on my bed. This is not ideal. The bed is for sleeping, not working, and henceforth I usually tend to not get anything done when I'm at home. Too many distractions while sitting on that bed. And so, since it would be silly to buy a desk at this not-sure-where-I'm-going-but-probably-moving-somewhere stage of my life, I have made a trip to the library to rid myself of distractions. And to get outside in the city and experience the rain-free and warm weather.

Now I can actually sit at a chair while typing. I can have my back straight instead of hunched over. And while there are some distractions (I'm a people-watcher), it's still better than my bed. And it's such a beautiful building and area--one of my favorites of the city--nestled in with the Met, Juilliard and the Manhattan Temple right across the street, that I couldn't ask for anything better. Well, perhaps for the construction noise outside to go away....

Sliding Doors

The Virgin Megastore at Union Square is going out of business, maybe because of the recession and such, and is subsequently having a huge "Going out of Business Sale!" Everything in the store is discounted 20%. I was purposely avoiding going into the store, knowing that if I did I would inevitably buy something and then feel remorseful (I suffer from extreme buyer's remorse on just about everything; I bought a booklet of stamps today and felt remorse). But after talking with my friend Raul, who had just come from there, I decided to make a stop after leaving a hectic day at the theater with the festival.

I'm glad to say I made it out with only spending $4.30. It helped that, even though everything was an extra 20% off, it's still all priced very high. They also didn't have the items that I was really looking for, such as Pushing Daisies season 2 or Sex and the City season 3, which was actually a good thing. And after looking through their vast collection of movies and cds, I realized that there really wasn't anything I had to have. Plus, I'm hoping that if I wait a little bit longer, the percentage off will raise to 40, perhaps even 50% off!

But when I came across Sliding Doors, priced at "A New Low Price!" of $5.00, I thought, "Why not?" For anyone not familiar, the movie is about one woman's life and the different path it could go on if she had missed the sliding doors of the tube (the underground transit system in London) or if she doesn't miss the doors. The movie splits into two parallel narratives, one where she did make the doors and got home to find her boyfriend in bed with someone else, and the other where she didn't make the doors and subsequently got mugged, went to hospital, and got home much later, thus missing the affair. Her life goes in two completely different paths based solely on her getting/not getting through the sliding doors.



Being a subway rider myself, and having missed the train by just mere seconds before, I'm always thinking that if I had just walked a little faster, or had not walked back into my room to grab something I had forgotten, that I would've made the train. And then it sets off a domino effect of what would've happened if I was on the train that I missed. Maybe I missed it for a reason. Maybe that train will be the last one before a big track delay. Maybe the train I missed had a friend on it, or a pickpocketer that would've gotten me. Maybe I'll now be late because I missed the train. Maybe now I'll miss some accident that happens. All because I missed the train.

And, wouldn't ya know it, the episode of How I Met Your Mother tonight was also about the little choices that cause you to go a certain way.

I can't get the video to embed, so here's the link so you can watch it.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/video/video.php?cid=544192181&pid=K5zobE7kVfS_hNNRUsAPB5Os2bbL6RBL&play=true&cc=

After this, the whole episode recounts why Ted made the choices he did once he stepped outside--why he almost went right but then went left, why he stopped at the magazine rack, why he went down 77th and gave money to a homeless man--and how those small, seemingly insignificant choices, made it so he missed the light and therefore was there waiting when that chick tapped his shoulder. I love this show for many reasons, and one of them is Ted and I'm sort of like him.

So yes, I believe that the small choices we make, such as going right instead of left, or missing the train, will make some sort of effect on my life. Maybe not in a big, cataclysmic, life-changing way, but maybe...

By the way, I haven't watched How I Met Your Mother for a couple months; I felt like it wasn't quite as funny as it used to be. But tonight was classic HIMYM and I laughed out loud numerous times.

The Festival

The craziness that is the Tribeca Film Festival ended today. For the past eleven days this place was my new home:
But now it's all over, and it's that insane mix of happiness and sadness. You work with these people--fellow PBLs, projectionists, Theater Managers, volunteers, Chris and Sara--for eleven days straight, spending gross amounts of time with them in small projection booths, that you become a sort of extended family. It's like the last day of camp.

This year was different than last year. Not better or worse, just different. For many reasons. I was the only returning PBL from my venue. Although I missed some of the people from last year, the peeps I worked with this year were just as awesome (Raul, Theresa, Mike, Katie and Sean--you guys rock!). Most of the projectionists were all the same, and it was nice to see them and have them remember me. They are all cool guys, if a little crazy (in a good way) from being in a projection booth for far too long.

I still didn't really get to see any movies, (there were a few I tried watching from the window in the booth, but it's not really the best way) which is where Sundance gets a huge leg up. But my work with Tribeca is very different from Sundance. Here my work is behind the scenes; I don't deal with the public, filmmakers, publicists or anyone besides the projectionists and other PBLs. And when I did have to deal with someone from the public or a filmmaker, it was always over the walkie as a relay person. It's very nice to be working Back of House as opposed to Front of House.

The drawback, though, is that you don't get to see any of the famous people out stumping for their films. I'm always up in the booth and hardly ever out on the floor with the theater, and when I need to get to another theater I usually take the back stairs to avoid the crowds of people. But I was the PBL for Rudo y Cursi, a film that also showed at Sundance, starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. As soon as the Q&A was over and my work was done, I headed down to the theater so I could catch them leaving. They walked out and all sorts of people were taking pictures of them on their phones and recording their every moment. I felt a little sad for them. Not too sad, though, because they both looked a little...not all there.


So now I'm done. And once again unemployed, er, in between jobs.

Of Course

Yesterday morning, even though the sky was gray and overcast, I did not grab my umbrella before leaving. The hourly weather report showed that it would not be raining around 6 when I would be leaving work. I decided to really risk it and take my cotton jacket instead of raincoat. So of course it rained pretty steadily as I walked to the subway, when I stopped for some groceries, and still when I got out of the subway at my stop.

This morning, with the sun already a pretty blue, I grabbed my umbrella and wore my raincoat to work because the hourly weather report said there would be rain off and on all day. It was, of course, a beautiful day, I'm not sure it rained even once, and I was left carrying my umbrella and jacket all afternoon/night as I walked around the city.

I always carry my Metrocard in my pocket. But because it was having tendencies of falling out with my walkie and PTT also in that pocket, yesterday I decided to put it inside the plastic credential that I wear around my neck for the festival. Of course this was the one day I left my credential at work, and didn't realize it til I was already at the subway turnstile.
This was also the day I had, of course, decided to do some walking after work, taking pictures and enjoying the nice weather. I had already walked more than enough looking for some lilacs, and was definitely not going to walk the five avenues back to the theater. And so of course I had to pay for a single ride ticket.