are you there? it's me, again

i spent an embarrassingly large percentage of my weekend sitting in movie theatres. after work on friday, i went to see the happening. this was a really strange movie. i can't say i really enjoyed it, but i didn't dislike it either. it just left me with an odd feeling. i think that one thing it did do was tap into the feeling that there is something not quite right going on in the world at the moment. be it global warming, war, whatever... mark wahlberg was surely the bright spot in the film; i think he's a great actor, and there were several moments during the movie when he made me laugh out loud. zooey deschanel was really good as his wife (and i realized halfway through that she looked so familiar to me because she plays the sister in almost famous).

the basic premise is that something is going on that causes people to decide to kill themselves. it starts in central park and moves to philadelphia and, eventually, every town in the northeast. at first, the government says that it is some kind of chemical attack, and orders new york to be evacuated. mark wahlberg's character, eliot, lives in philadelphia - he takes his family and leaves the city on a train that ends up getting stranded in the middle of nowhere, and from here the movie becomes an escape story as eliot, his wife and his niece try to outrun "the happening."

here is where the plot holes in the movie started to distract me. while eliot and his family are wandering through a field in pennsylvania, they meet a soldier who says that everyone at his base has been affected by whatever is happening and has killed themselves. yet, despite knowing that that this mysterious illness causes suicide, the soldier does not get rid of his gun. so when he, predictably, comes down with the sickness, he has an easy way out.

this was also the last weekend of the seattle international film festival, and yesterday i went to see a documentary called accelerating america. it is about a school in providence, rhode island, that tries to take kids who are at risk of dropping out of school and accelerate them (i.e. have them complete 2 years worth of work in 1 year) through middle school so that they can, hopefully, be successful in high school. the idea is that a kid who's been held back a lot is not very likely to stay in high school until they are in their early 20s.

this morning, i went to see a canadian movie called the 5 senses. i was excited to see that because mary-louise parker, one of my favorite actresses, is in it. it was a good movie, although at times i thought that it had too many story lines going at once. but while i was in line, a lady came by who was giving out passes to see gus van sant's new movie on wednesday night for free. it sounds quite good so i'm pretty excited: "acclaimed filmmaker gus van sant teams with the incomparable sean penn (!!!) and a supurb supporting cast including emile hirsch (!) to tell the inspiring, thrilling and deeply emotional true story of harvey milk, openly gay and one of the world's most visionary and charismatic leaders who was assassinated in 1978." lady, you had me at sean penn. i love him.

pearl jam countdown: 12 days!!

girls rock!

... that's the name of the movie i went to see this afternoon at the seattle film festival's theatre (i had never been there before, it's in mccaw hall at seattle center. very nice space).
the film is a documentary of a summer camp for girls in oregon. for one week, girls aged 8-18 can attend this camp and play music. they form bands, write a song, and perform at the end of the week in front of other campers, friends and family. it's playing through march, and i would say it's definately worth checking out. and bonus points if you can spot the pearl jam poster hiding in the background during a couple of the scenes. plus, if you see it this weekend, you can enter to win a fender guitar.

so, when did you start getting into music? some of my earliest musical memories are listening to my parents' records. i would wait until they had gone out for the day, and sneak down to the basement (where the record player was) - my mom and dad's collection pretty much consisted of bob dylan, bruce springsteen, leonard cohen, van morrison, joni mitchell and fleetwood mac. not bad.

i started really falling in love with music in 1992. that was the year pearl jam sang "jeremy" on the mtv music awards. i wasn't even allowed to watch mtv, but i remember going into the living room, closing the door, and sitting right next to the tv with the volume down really low. the next year, pearl jam did "rockin in the free world" with neil young on the same awards, and i don't think my life has been the same since.

so, here's my video for today. i bought this band's cd today at easy street, even though i told myself that i won't buy anything this month. they're called bell x1 and they're from ireland. i think i'm a little bit obsessed with everything irish at the moment.:) a quick check of their website tells me that they are playing in seattle march 30 at the nectar lounge. i have no clue where that is. but i might try to figure it out.


my swell season ticket for oakland came today! that makes me ridiculously happy.