I am still adjusting my new Dilbert lifestyle. The upside of my new location is that the view outside the window next to my cubicle is what I like: downtown San Francisco, overlooking the bay — I moved from the West side to the East side.
There have been a few ships in the water lately, and I am sure none of them are the out of control pirates. Isn’t it preposterous that mighty US of A can invade and occupy an entire foreign country, but they cannot prevent these pirates from taking ships in the sea?
I ran out of flour and rice last week. No, it’s not because pirates robbed my food shipment, it’s because I have been too busy to shop for groceries. When my landlord offered to help, I immediately accepted the "bailed-out package" with much gratitude. What’s on the shopping list? I got 50 lbs of rice, 50 lbs of flour. 2.5 gallons of canola oil, and 7.25 lbs of kimchi from Costco. It looks like as if I am ready to open a restaurant.
After I got my "supply," I cooked some steamed buns (馒头). There is nothing inside — plain, so I can eat whatever with them, such as kimchi.
One problem that has been bothering me lately is that I have been feeling quite painful on my right hand’s middle finger. I do use my middle finger a lot, scrolling the wheel of my trackball mouse, not flipping it to other people. However, I have been using the same trackball for years without any problem. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps I should use that middle finger more in some other way to reduce the pain.
Of course, I have been watching films. In fact, yesterday I walked out the third ones after 30 minutes into the film. Partly because the white subtitles are almost unreadable when they fall on white objects (do the filmmaker have any sense of visual?), partly because I am too tired. Here are two reviews I wrote recently.
Although Chiang Hsiu Chiung (姜秀瓊) might be recognized for her Golden Horse Award nominated performance as the middle sister in Edward Yang‘s (film ) epic "A Bright Summer Day" (牯嶺街少年殺人事件), most of her works have been behind the camera.
With that exceptional resume, Chiang Hsiu Chiung’s feature directorial debut "Artemisia" (艾草 | Taiwan 2008 | in Mandarin | 85 min.) is nothing short of excellence. The film is an affectional and beautiful portrait of a loving mother Ai-chao who struggles to cope with her family’s affairs that reflect the changing society in Taiwan.
Ai-chao (艾草) means Artemisia. It’s also the name of this film’s protagonist — a 58-year-old Taiwanese woman. When Ai-chao was young, without her mother’s approval, she married to her mainland born husband who was 20 years her senior. After her husband died 20 years ago, she raised her son and her daughter by herself. Now, not only her children have grown up, the social norm in Taiwan has also changed. It’s Ai-chao’s turn to face the reality in her family affairs. Despite the conflicts and gaps in generations and culture, the bond and love in a family ultimately prevail.
This deeply affectionate and heartwarming film embraces family, love, and the turbulent journey of understanding and accepting each other in a changing society.
Either coming from her own or influenced by directors Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the film definitely has a resemblance in the storytelling style to films by Yang and Hou. The film’s engrossing story and lively characters are naturally developed and effortlessly win over our hearts.
Director/co-writer Matt Aselton‘s feature debut "Gigantic" (USA 2008 | 98 min.) is a quirky delightful treat for those who are in the mood for some serious giggling.
28-year-old Brian Weathersby (Paul Dano) sells high-end Swedish mattress while pursing his "lifelong" dream — adopting a Chinese baby. After art collector Al Lolly (John Goodman) comes to the store to buy a mattress for his back problem, Brian meets Al’s daughter Harriet Lolly, or Happy. While Brian is romantically involved with Happy, he has to constantly fight off a mysterious homeless guy who tries to kill him.
Actually the film’s plot is not important. The most entertaining aspect about this film is the witty and humorous dialogue, and these verbal exchanges reveal the fascinating relationships among these characters. This is a film one must watch several times in order to catch all the lines, because many of the conversations will not be heard due to the giggling in the audience, especially both Brian and Happy always speak softly in the film.
The uniformly strong performances from an ensemble cast deliver many funny lines brilliantly. Paul Dano completely vanishes into a quiet Brian from the charismatic priest in "There Will Be Blood."Edward Asner hilariously steals many scenes in the film playing Brian’s 80-year-old father.
However, I am not very fond of the subplot of the crazy homeless character — not because of its relevance to the main story, but because he didn’t say a word in the film. After all, the dialogue is the gem of the film that is worth of listening and that is funny. Of course not all of the characters have to speak in order to be funny. For example, those masseuses do not say a word either, but how can anybody keep a straight face while watching them working?
FILMMAKER IN PERSON: Director and co-writer Matt Aselton will speak at Lumiere Theatre in San Francisco on Friday, April 10 at 7:00pm & 9:40pm shows, and Saturday, April 11 at Shattuck in Berkeley at 5:00pm & 7:25pm shows.
Silky Tofu, 味道好极了! 