Eventful Week

I am at lost to figure out what season it is right now. We got the record rainfall last week, almost like we were already in the winter. Then the rain vanishes and it gets quite warm, which brings me back to the summer. The weather is also playing a trick on events around the city. Last Saturday, the low fog made Blue Angels to abandon their air show. I am quite happy about it—not only less noise in the sky, also much less pollution. I was actually at the water front on Saturday, so I walked over to the Pier 39 to visit sea lions. There are thousands of them! I know there are unusual number of sea lions showing up at Pier 39, but I am not expecting that many. I stood there for a long time watching them roaming on top of each other and smelling the fishy air. They just made me smile. I shoot a video as well, but I failed to load it to Youtube, because of "unknown error." The next day, it was still cloudy, but the clouds were higher. Since the fighter jet were supposed to fly low to show off, so that worked. It’s funny that year after year, even I hate the noise of these airplanes, but when they pass me over my head, I can help but to take pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf I cannot explain why. Although they are annoying, they are still cool. I actually began to take pictures since Friday from my office. On Sunday, I just looked out from my apartment window watching them come and go. At one point, they flew so low that my windows and floor were all shaking like during an earthquake. All the cars parking on the street started to scream after they passed. I just hope they are not burning tax payer’s money. As if that’s not enough excitement, many streets were also blocked on Sunday for Italian Heritage Parade. http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf I enjoyed the parade and took these pictures till my camera ran out of battery, but I never think I celebrate Columbus Day, and never get this day off at work. I think there is nothing to celebrate about Columbus. I think one day, this "holiday" will be removed. It has been a busy week. I have to skip a few films to be able to catch my breath and attend a few other things. I was supposed to go double features on Thursday when Obama came in town for a visit—GQ cocktail reception at GUESS first then go to a film screening. I ended up having too many drinks at the event, where I met Brandon. So, the movie became a casualty. http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf I really enjoyed "New York, I Love You," although many critics think the characters are not diverse enough, and some other neighborhoods are underrepresented. I don’t get it. This is not an election. Why should this movie cover every corner of the city or even represent the "true" New York City? It simply tells love stories, and I am a sucker for love stories, especially when they are entertaining. New York, I Love You Unlike many other tourists, I never bought a T-shirt or a coffee mug that prints: "I ♥ New York." To me, New York City is indeed exciting and fun to visit. However, I simply cannot associate this sleepless city with the word "love," because the city gives me the impression that everyone is in a hurry and they are too busy to slow down for love. That impression is changed by a delightful film "New York, I Love You" (France/USA 2009 | 110 min.). Following "Paris, je t’aime", this film is the second installment of a series of "City of Love" that tells love stories in each city. New York City will be followed by Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai next year, then Mumbai and Jerusalem the year after. Eleven directors (Jiang Wen, Mira Nair, Shunji Iwai, Yvan Attal, Brett Ratner, Allen Hughes, Shekhar Kapur, Natalie Portman, Fatih Akin, Joshua Marston, and Randy Balsmeyer for the transitions) and an all-star ensemble cast tells a sequence of love stories that happen in these neighborhoods of New York City: Central Park, Chinatown, Greenwich Village, SoHo, TriBeCa, Upper East Side, Upper West Sides, and Brighton Beach. Each director has 48 hours to shoot a short story about 10 minutes long in a neighborhood. Each story tells a love story that could be touching, or surprising, or charming, or poignant, or witty, or poetic, or enchanting, or simply fun. Although not all stories hit the mark, they certainly entertain me and change my view about love in the big apple. Chinese director Jiang Wen‘s (姜文) segment opens the film with a story about a thief. Ben (Hayden Christensen) not only tries to steal a wallet, he tries to steal the heart of Molly (Rachel Bilson), but he ends up in a skill match with Molly’s boyfriend Garry (Andy Garcia). The segment is sharp and precise, as if the characters are performing a three way tango. French director Yvan Attal‘s segment brings back the talkative Ethan Hawke from "Before Sunrise". He plays a writer who tries to seduce Maggie Q‘s character when they share a smoke on the sidewalk outside a restaurant. Somehow I think this might just happening on the sidewalks in San Francisco, even people might not talk as these characters do. The film closes with a heartwarming and hilarious story directed by Joshua Marston. Both over 80 years old, Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman terrifically play an elderly couple who struggle to walk to the beach to enjoy their quiet moment. It truly tells me what a lifetime partner is like. I am particularly delighted to hear Zhou Xuan‘s (周璇) "The Wandering Songstress" (天涯歌女) is played in director Fatih Akin‘s segment about an artist an artist’s encounter with a young girl (Shu Qi) in Chinatown. The song strikingly transforms the Chinatown neighborhood back to Shanghai in 1930s. Unlike "Paris, je t’aime," segments and characters in "New York, I Love You" are loosely connected throughout to make the film more like a feature film instead of a collection of shorts, even these segments have different styles from different directors. It works because it makes me feel like the city is connected by love from these neighborhoods. After all, New York is a city filled with love, according to this film. The film makes me want to buy an "I ♥ New York" T-shirt while it warms my heart. "New York, I Love You" opens on Friday, October 16, 2009 at Bay Area theaters.