The Very Long GAPA Runway and AIDS Walk

An eventful weekend leaves me exhausted and sleepy, as well as exhilarated. If you think the Oscar Award Show is long, try GAPA‘s Runway Show. On Saturday night, the 20th Annual GAPA Runway lasted over four hours. However, the witty, hilarious, and fabulous Tita Aida makes these long hours much more enjoyable and fun. In fact, Tita has become the very reason I go back to the show, besides I can see everybody in the beautiful Herbst Theatre. The show has become repetitive, especially when some contestants come back to compete year after year. Sometimes I can’t even tell them apart due to the lack of individual personalities and distinct characters. I am not sure if I am going to go back next year if the show doesn’t grow up. Twenty years old should be mature enough, right?   After the show, I didn’t go to bed. Like many others, I went to N’touch for the after party. The place is packed, including the newly crowned Mr. Gapa. I surely had a great time, except I didn’t go to bed until 2:30am, after the club closed at 2am. A few hours later, at 8:30am on Sunday, I woke up, washed up, then rushed out of the house to a bus station heading to the Golden Gate Park for the AIDS Walk. Was I tired? Absolutely. But my spirit was high, and I was hyped after a few cups of coffee before the walk started—I kept talking and giggling, couldn’t shutting up. It was very foggy and chilly in the park as a typical summer morning in the park. To keep myself warm, I signed up with three teams so I can put different color t-shirts on me. Peter signed me with Wachovia team, so we could get some grilled chicken when we finish the walk; Ryan signed me with UCSF team, because I like their black color t-shirt; I signed up with A&PI Wellness Center team, so I could walk in the dark red pride t-shirt.   I dragged Stephen out of his dream so he could join us to finish this year’s AIDS Walk. Over six miles, the walk was actually quite pleasant in the beautiful park, although I wish the volunteers had stopped screaming along the route. They are supposed to cheer the walkers, but they overly act on their duty, like the Spartan Cheerleaders on Saturday Night Live. They were overly excited and ridiculously screamed at the calm, peaceful walkers, all the time. As a result, they are quite annoying, instead of being inspiring. Due to lack of sleep and the long walk, I no longer had the ambition of rushing to Dolores Park for a concert by San Francisco Symphony. I headed home, cooked something to eat, had a pleasant chat with Alex on the phone for couple hours, and then finished writing movie reviews. That’s plenty for me in one weekend, I think. I am already looking forward to the next weekend. The Unknown Woman (La sconosciuta) Giuseppe Tornatore‘s heartwarming "Cinema Paradiso" (Nuovo cinema Paradiso) won him an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1990. Since then, few of his work have been widely released except the fascinating "Malèna" in 2000. Luckily, we do not have to wait for another 10 years to see his next major released film. His suspenseful thriller "The Unknown Woman" (La sconosciuta, Italy 2006, 118 min.) brings him back to the spotlight. It won five David di Donatello, the Italian equivalent to the Oscar, for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Music, and Best Cinematography. The "unknown woman" is Irena (Xenia Rappoport), a Ukrainian woman coming to Italy looking for a job as a maid. She does everything she can to become a beloved nanny for an adorable little girl Thea (Clara Dossena) from a wealthy Adacher family. However, that is just the very beginning of this "unknown" woman’s unknown mission. That is all about the plot that I want to reveal because suspense is an essential element about this film. The story is carefully constructed to keep us engaged and intrigued, even though the effort to make the film artificially suspensive is quite evident sometimes. It works, mostly. The film uses numerous flashbacks to indicate that Irena has an unsettling past. However, the mystery surrounding her present quest is even more captivating. Although a few scenes seem to exist for the thrilling effect instead for the logic of the story, in the end, most jigsaw puzzle pieces fall into places where they belong. The haunting music in the film is composed by the legendary composer Ennio Morricone, who received an Honorary Academy Award last year for "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." It is remarkable that he composed the music for this film before the shooting. Perhaps only a master is able to do so. With terrific performance by the lead actors and a top notch production, "The Unknown Woman" is a satisfying engrossing thriller. It will open on Friday (July 25) in theaters. Mamma Mia! Since ABBA released their trademark tune "Mamma Mia!" in 1975, this popular song has become a culture icon. The hit Broadway musical "Mamma Mia!" makes the song even more popular to the new generations. Based on this musical, an exhilarating film "Mamma Mia!" (USA/UK 2008, 108 min.) surely will get more people out their seats, singing and dancing. The story is probably already known to most people due to the musical. Twenty years old Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) lives with her hippy mom Donna (Meryl Streep) on a beautiful Greek island, but she does not know who is her father. In order to let her unknown father give her away at her wedding, Sophie secretly invites all three possible men (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, and Colin Firth) to the island. Their presence turns Donna’s emotion, as well as Sophie’s wedding, upside down. Obviously the plot doesn’t fly very high, nor convincing. However, I doubt that anybody who comes to this film would care. We will smile widely while listening to the familiar tunes, watching the hilarious choreography, enjoying the beautiful Greek scenery, and giggling at Pierce Brosnan‘s singing. The immensely joyful energy from this film will carry us away and we will forgive the flaws in the film. There is no need to spoil a good time by poking at this film. Let’s face it, this is not meant to be a thought provoking or an emotionally touching film. It’s a light hearted comedy, and a musical, with a dancing and singing Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep and her two hippy pals, Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski), are the funniest characters throughout the film. When they bounce around, in bed or not, I wonder if they are practicing before competing in next month’s summer Olympics. "Mamma Mia!" entertains us with its undeniable charm and gets us out of the chair to sing and dance with the characters, especially when the song is "Dancing Queen." "Mamma Mia!" opens last Friday in theaters.