Bon Voyage, Kaiwo Maru!

Wrap up the 53rd SFiFF The two week long the 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival (SFiFF) came to an end on Thursday night. It was a good time at Castro Theater screening the closing night documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" (USA 2010 | 84 min.). However, the Q&A afterwards with the directors and Joan Rivers herself was even more fun than the film. It was entertaining and hilarious. One Asian guy stood up and told Joan Rivers: "I came all the way from Palo Alto to see you, and I want to tell you that you are my world!" Joan Rivers replied: "An old Jewish woman?" The audience laughed to the floor. I took a photo of her when she was leaving the Castro Theater. Honestly, I cared less about Joan Rivers before the screening—to me, she was just a rich celebrity who wants to cheat her age with knives slicing on her face again and again. The film changed my perception about her completely. I learned that she is charismatic, funny, energetic, and strong willed woman, who wants to look young and fabulous regardless the cost. That’s a strong and unique personality that very few can compare. I also want to congratulate Fan Lixin for his superb and poignant documentary "Last Train Home" winning the Golden Gate Award in the Investigative Documentary Feature Category. After the closing night film, I took the bus to the closing night party. I made a mistake to walk through the shabby 6th Street south of Market Street—many homeless looking people loitering on the sidewalks. I walked as fast as I could, kept an eye on my surroundings. I was nervous, especially after recent attacks on Asians by black people, and almost all of these people happen to be black. Perhaps I walked too fast, I didn’t get to stop right the way to pickup my film festival badge on my neck that I forgot to put away after the film screening. A black guy on the sidewalk picked it up and ran away with it#&8212;he must have thought there were money in it. No, only the closing night party ticket and my business cards. Although I had no trouble to get in the party even I lost the ticket, I am still annoyed by the episode. What a pathetic group of thugs. I will remember to avoid that part of the town in the future, as well as Oakland. I Want to Dance Saturday was very windy, but that didn’t prevent me and thousands of others from sitting at the Yerba Buena Gardens to enjoy the opening performance of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival—Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu. The performance is charming and contiguous. It makes me want to dance so badly. Before I find a class, I think I will check out some DVDs from the library to learn some hula moves. Actually, during the performance, the director Patrick Makuakāne taught us a few movements and everybody joint the dance. Terrific experience. http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf The closing song is "I Left My Heart In San Francisco." The elegant movement and soothing music melts my heart. I shoot a video of it, and I will upload to Youtube tomorrow. Bon Voyage, Kaiwo Maru! When I heard that the Kaiwo Maru (海王丸) was coming to San Francisco, I wanted to check it out. I am not sure why, but I simply feels this ship is fascinating. Kaiwo Maru’s three day visit to the city is to commemorate the voyage of the Kanrin Maru (咸臨丸), the first Japanese to visit to the United States 150 years ago. Anticipating many people to visit the ship, I decided to check it out on Friday evening to see if it would be worth to stay in line in case the line is long. Even in the dark, it shows magnificent beauty. I was determined to come to board the ship on Saturday. I am so right—the tour of the ship is immensely enjoyable. With limited English, the sailors were able to tell me many details about the lives on the ship. As always, I took quite a few pictures on the ship. http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf In fact, I liked the ship so much that I decided to come back to send it off today. I feel the ship is my newly met best friend. It’s another sunny day today. I came to Pier 27 to see the ship and sailors, mostly young Japanese students, one more time. The sailors were busy on getting ready to leave the port. When finally the ship started to move, the sailors performed a special ceremony called manning the yards. It was spectacle! It’s amazing to see how brave these young men are. They climb to the top of the mainmast, about 160 feet tall, so fast. They spread out entirely on the yards and say goodbye to us, to the city, and to the US. I am surprised how emotional I was—I was actually in tears, as if a good friend suddenly leaves me, and I know I will not see him for a long time, if ever again. I shot a video of this deeply moving episode until my memory card was full. I will load the video tomorrow as well. It was nice to meet you, Kaiwo Maru! Bon Voyage! Dinner I didn’t go to hiking today because of the windy condition, the changed MUNI schedule, and the Kaiwo Maru’s departure. That gave me some extra time to shop some groceries. I bought some fresh halibut neck and cooked dinner, with some lotus root, pine nuts, eggplant, and mixed rice. I also stir-fried some bitter melon. Not sure if it will help to fight my allergy. I hope so.