Cold Sun at Seven Below

OK, seven below zero Fahrenheit isn't that cold, not for people in Alaska. And it was colder yesterday here and in other spots in town.



The sun was out, but we didn't feel much heat.

Can You Crack the FBI's Code?

I've been spending time looking at the FBI webpages while working on another post. This is a copy of their page. The link takes you to the FBI code page with working links.



The page on ciphers is pretty interesting.

Bear With Me

For those of you who drop by often, I'm working on a bunch of things. Some are posts - trying to say something useful about the FBI whistle blower complaint document. I also got a copy of the charter agreement negotiated when BP bought ARCO which I want to post. And since the post early January last year on Famous People Born in 1908 was so popular, I thought I'd do one on people born 1909, so I'm working on that too. Only this time I want to give a little info on each person on the list.

Plus we're getting ready to leave for Thailand for several months which requires a few preparations. Probably the most important is for J to get totally well from her cough. It's getting better, but she's not yet 100%. We have been trying to straighten things out so there is room for the house sitters.

So please bear with me. Now's a good time to check out an old post, or pick a tag on the lower right. If you've never read the main Victor Lebow post - it seems to be the consistently most popular and has the most comments - check it out. It stemmed from my seeing the internet video Story of Stuff which I see now isn't linked in that post. This post is the original comment on Story of Stuff and links to the video which got me started on Lebow. Other posts rise and fall in popularity, but the Lebow post continues to generate a steady stream of hits.

Or go play with your kids, hug your spouse, walk your dog, take a break from the screen.

And while I'm just chatting with readers in general, some of you out there drop by on a regular basis. I see some familiar profiles when I check sitemeter. So if you come here more than three times a week and you've never said 'hi,' leave a comment. Or, if you're shy you can send an email.
(There's also an email link in my profile)

Folks at a certain hotel in San Francisco for example. Who are you?

And, one more thing I learned today while working on the whistle-blower post - how to do bullets with subheadings in html. Blogspot lets you use bulleted lists, but I couldn't figure out how to make it create subheadings. It's pretty simple to just do it in HTML. You can start using the list button on the Compose toolboard in Blogspot. Then go into the edit Html tab and you can cut and paste in the black tea and green tea examples. And you can do it again for subheadings for those. Then just type in what you want over the tea examples. (It none of that makes sense, probably you should do without subheadings in your lists.)

"I don't get superheroes"

[If you can't read it, double click to enlarge it.]

We were invited to dinner for Christmas with friends. We had a nice night. I found this in a book by Paul Madonna they had on the coffee table. I'm still thinking about it.

And there was incredible homemade apple pie. It tasted even better than it looks.










We got home and I cleared the driveway of about six more inches of snow. Then did a short walk in the neighborhood as it continued snowing.







This morning various neighbors were clearing the snow again. Our new neighbors had once again cleaned the sidewalk and the street around our van. I cleared about as much snow as I cleared last night. My back is fine.

Thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire

[Update: for a much more astute review see Great Bong's review at Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind.]

After the (Anchorage International Film) festival, there were just two movies we wanted to see: Milk and Slumdog Millionaire. I've already posted on Milk, which I think is a very well made and powerful movie. We saw Slumdog the other day.

India is probably one of the more fascinating places on this globe. Even calling it a 'place' is misleading. It's a different world, a different time, a different reality. It's got a huge population. It is a mix of so many landscapes and cultures. It has incredibly rich and unimaginably poor people. It's part of the 21st Century, yet the last ten centuries, at least, continue to exist simultaneously. Perhaps most significant, India probably is the biggest countervailing force to the West's materialism. (The whole idea of the movie - winning on the tv show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire - would seem to belie that characterization, but India is still big enough to swallow up and trivialize the tens, maybe hundreds, of millions of Indians who are caught up in Western materialism.) India, for centuries, has had the most advanced knowledge of internal human capabilities. Indian yogis and the many other spiritual traditions have mastered the discipline, certainly equivalent to the discipline required in Western science, of gaining control of one's own human body. Rather than being a technical fix you can plug in, it requires decades, lifetimes even, of focus and discipline and simultaneously letting go.

The world of English literature has been enriched hugely by Indian writers writing novels in English. Salman Rushdie. Vikram Seth. Arundhati Roy. The Indian movie industry has its own traditions ranging from the austere films of Satyajit Ray or the psychedelic exhuberance of Bollywood.

So, I was looking forward to this British movie told from an Indian perspective, a boy from the slums of Bombay who wins big in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. [update: Yes, the filmmaker is Western, but unlike many other Western made films, the focus isn't on a Westerner in the other culture, such as in The Last King of Scotland, or Blood Diamonds.]

I was only moderately pleased when I left the movie. Probably without the hype it would have been much more enjoyable. Yes, go see the movie. It's fun. It's a good movie. It teaches more about India than most Americans will ever know. It's just not the great movie that is being hyped. It gives glimpses of India. The way the story is woven together - which I won't disclose - is clever and moves both narratives along nicely. The bollywood ending is contagious.

After a couple of days of thought - no, I didn't sit and think about this for three days, but rather, my brain distilled it in the background while I did other things - I can articulate one key issue I have with the movie, which may be the cause of my disappointment.

Despite the fact that the three main characters are children of the slums of Bombay, and that much of the movie takes place in those slums, the movie manages to use the slums as a backdrop only. I'm not sure how it happened, but we don't at all get to know the slum, to feel it, to smell it, to ache with it and for it. Perhaps the rise out of the slum of the three main characters makes it less menacing. Reagan was called the teflon President, none of the problems of his administration stuck to him. The three characters - while enormously impacted by the slums - seem to have that same teflon coating. The problems of the slums - perhaps the outhouse scene illustrates this most graphically - are there, but they slide off and we go to the next scene. It's not that the film doesn't depict horrible situations - rioters rampaging through the slums to kill Muslims, a child's eyes gouged out so he can beg more successfully. But somehow, through the main characters, we seem to be immune from all this.

Maybe conveying the slums is just too overwhelmingly depressing. But I think it can be done. Gregory David Roberts, for example in his book Shantaram seems to capture some of the spirit of the Bombay slums. He makes us feel its oppression, but also to see that despite what looks totally unlivable from a Western perspective, the inhabitants, like everyone else, live rich lives with joys as well as suffering. But he had over 900 pages to make it work. I'm hoping director Mira Nair, with Johnny Depp, can keep that sense of the slums in the film version scheduled for a 2011 release.

I heard in an interview that it was Danny Boyle's (the director) first time in India. Maybe that explains it. We've seen a number of movies that featured India in the last couple of years, most of which seemed more authentic, connected more on the emotional level.

The trailer is so promotional that it trivializes the whole movie. So I'm putting up this clip I found online. This is just one scene, not particularly noteworthy.

Slumdog Millionaire Scene
by ThePlaylist

[Update, 22 Feb 2009 - Thai time: This NY Times article discusses what I tried to get at with my comments about Shantaram - that the slums of Mumbai are really far richer, safer, and more productive than our stereotypes.]

December Anchorage Sun and Snow, Copying 8mm Film

I found some 8mm film labeled Thailand a while back. I wanted to transfer it to digital and put it on a DVD so I could take it with me to Thailand when I return in a couple of weeks. I'm not even sure what's on it, I just know it was taken around 1967-68.
Someone lent me an old 8mm projector and a Copy Kit - a mirror that projects the image onto a plastic screen. Then I'm supposed to video tape the screen. I tried just running the film.



But the projector chewed up my 3 foot leader. Then I got some of it to work, but then the film broke. Again the film was being crumpled up somewhere in the process. I mentioned this to a friend the other day who said he had an old projector that probably wouldn't eat the film. So today I went over and interrupted him clearing his driveway and street to borrow it.



It snowed yesterday and today the sky is clear. These were shot between 10:25am and 10:30am this morning. The sunrise here in Anchorage was officially 10:15am. The picture with the bike crossing the street is looking south on Lake Otis, at 36th. There's enough trees and whatever to hide the just up sun rising from the south.



Here's a peek to the left (east) at the mountains. This is where 36th changes its name to Providence.











Now, later on, about 2:30pm, you can actually see the sun, maybe 6˚ or 7˚ above the horizon. But solstice is past so every day now we're gaining some light.

I'm setting up this new projector and let's see if I can get some of this film digitized without destroying too much of the old film.

FBI Whistle-Blower Document Copy

The ADN was very responsive and quickly added the link to the actual Whistle-Blower document after being notified it wasn't up. Here is that document. You can use the down arrow on the right of the tool bar to enlarge the document.

256-2 Whistle Blower Complaint.source.prod Affiliate.7

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

I'm just putting this up for now without comment, because I haven't had a chance to read it and think about it. I'll either add an update here or I'll do another post.

Political Oxygen and are the FBI Losing Oxygen?

On the show Law and Disorder this morning, Paul Buhle, talking about the current political times, said:

"We have entered a new era, the nation has acquired more political oxygen than it has in a long time."

I recently talked about how "out-there radicals" stretch the political agenda in my post on Milk. There's been "political oxygen" for the Right since the Reagan election. And since that time 'center' has moved steadily rightward, so much so that many of Richard Nixon's policies would be considered far left today, and they've been doing their best to repeal them - Affirmative Action, Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, for instance.

But it looks like the Bush administration's violations have been so outrageous, and the political, social, and economic consequences so extreme, that people are beginning to stand up and say, "No more."

I like the phrase "political oxygen." (But I hope that its use is limited, that it doesn't become a cliche used by everyone until it has no meaning anymore.) I take it to mean that the people who make up this democracy are waking up from their political oxygen deprivation and now will become politically active to demand accountability from their elected officials and the public administrators who carry out the functions of government. But it is clear, we're talking about political oxygen for the left now. This means not simply rooting out the relatively few problems, but also giving support to the honest, competent politicians and administrators who often get trashed or marginalized when they speak truth to power.

This theme of holding politicians accountable was discussed on this morning's Law and Disorder too. The show was aired in Anchorage on KWMD - 104.5 or 87.7 FM. They discussed the necessity of , as well as the obstacles to, prosecuting members of the Bush administration who committed crimes. Without holding the current administration accountable, they argue, there is no deterrent to prevent future administrations from pursuing similar paths. The likelihood that Bush will sign broad pardons to protect both the low level and high level criminals in his administration was a key concern however.

Related to all this, but in ways I haven't digested yet are ADN's lead story today by Richard Mauer about the FBI informant's report alleging misconduct in the FBI investigation on Alaska corruption, particularly as it affected the Ted Stevens trial. I'll try to discuss this when I've read the report, or at least those parts that aren't redacted. The ADN website has a link labeled Court Whistle-Blower Document. I thought it would be the whistle-blower's actual document, but it links to Judge Sullivan's decision to release the document.

My initial reaction is that the rules for dealing with undercover informants is pretty loosey-goosey. Last December I mused on the ethics and rules of surveillance and touched the topic of working with undercover informants who are also players in the criminal activity. If you watch any tv cop shows - I think The Wire is probably one of the best for this - the cops have to play a lot by ear. They have to gain the trust of the informant, they have to be careful not to inadvertently out' the informant, and they have to make sure the informant isn't gaming them. So to claim that the agents broke the 'rules' as this whistle-blower apparently does, well, I'd have to ask, "What are the rules?" Perhaps they're in the document.

New York Times: Ted Stevens' Departure's Impact on Lobbyists

Monay's New York Times has an article on the shakeup among lobbyists as Ted Stevens leaves the Senate, particularly a coterie of former Stevens staffers who left to become rich by lobbying Stevens. (Some did claim to have lots of other non-Stevens business, thank.) I suspect as time goes by, we'll be seeing more and more of what was going on behind the facade of the Uncle Ted image. Here are a few clips from the article. Click on the link above for the whole article.

With Stevens’s Fall, Pipeline for Lobbyists Shuts Off

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: December 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — Until recently, there were few better ways to start a lobbying career than by leaving the office of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. . .

His power made his good will a valuable commodity on K Street, where many lobbying firms are located. During the past five years, just nine lobbyists and firms known primarily for their ties to Mr. Stevens reported over $60 million in lobbyist fees, not including other income for less direct “consulting.” The most recent person to leave his staff to become a lobbyist reported fees of more than $800,000 in just the last 18 months. . .

Mr. Stevens’s preference for one lobbyist over another was big news in industry trade publications, and he did not hesitate to exert his influence. . .

The article acknowledges that other Senators have done the same thing...

But Mr. Stevens — Alaska’s “Uncle Ted” — is in a class by himself. For most of the last decade he was a dominant voice on both the Senate appropriations and commerce committees, which govern federal spending and business regulation.

23 Uses for Your Digital Camera

The film camera used to be good for capturing images - landscapes, faces - to document where we'd been, what we'd done, and people we'd met, things we'd seen. When I was a student in Germany in the mid 60s, my 12 print rolls of color pictures were relatively expensive to print and it would take a while for me to finish a roll and then - I don't even remember how long it took from when I dropped it off at the shop til I could get the pictures. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand a few years later, with my brand new Pentax, I could get black and white pictures developed in town in a day or two. But there were either 24 or 36 pictures on a roll and it could take days to weeks before I finished a roll. My color slides had to be sent to Hong Kong or Australia to be developed and that took at least two weeks before I could get my pictures back.

Digital cameras change all that. Now you can see your picture immediately. It's not on film, so you can take all the pictures you want without thinking about using up film. You can just delete the bad ones. The pictures are digital so you can upload them to your computer, email them, send them on your cell phone. You can enlarge them, crop them, even fiddle with the colors and exposure.

So, this means that the digital camera is a tool with many uses that old film cameras never had. Below is a list of ways I've found mine to be useful - in general categories, and then with specific examples.

The main ways I use my camera are as a portable note pad and a copy machine.



Use Your Digital Camera as a Note Pad

1. What's in those boxes in the basement? Take pictures as you load them up.










2. There's a map on the sign, but will you remember the path when you leave the sign? Take the sign with you.








3. How do you describe the part you need at the computer store or to the plumber? Take it on your digital camera. Of course this goes for all sorts of things that you can't take with you.



4. How do you describe your suitcase to the lost luggage people at the airport? Show them the picture.







5. Keep track of the information on the for rent signs you pass and what the place looks like.


6. Where did I park the car?
















7. Ordering food in foreign countries - take a picture of food you like to show the waiter, or of a menu with things you like marked.




8. Take a picture of your hotel or other destinations to show the taxi when you want to go back





9. Wonder what kind of flower it is? Take a picture then ask someone at a nursery.







10. How will I remember all these people I just met and their names? Sometimes you need to ask them to write it in English though too.

11. Damn, where did I put my to do list? Click.


12. I want a copy of this legal document, but they charge $1 a page to print - just take a picture of the computer screen. Also good for your airlines reservations or that I paid my bill on line.(You can do a screen saver too, but not if it's a public computer.)





13. I really like this camcorder, (jacket, necklace) but I need to check with my wife before buying it. Snap. (get the price tag too.)









14. That's a nice fence, (door, window.) Wonder if I could make/find one like that? Just so I don't forget what it looked like, snap.








15. Meeting notes on the white board. Just snap 'em.





16. Lecture going too fast? Take digital notes.








17. What's the license plate number of your rental car?


18. Document dings and scratches on rental cars before you drive off

19. Audio memos - Use the audio memo function to have some someone give directions in the local language and play it for a local when you need help.



Use Your Digital Camera as a Copier

20. Need to have a copy of a price quote, birth certificate, or passport (or any piece of paper)? Just take a picture.



21. This recipe looks great. Snap.


Video - some things are hard to explain in writing, so use the video feature on your camera
22. Want to leave instructions for a house sitter? Video tape where the garbage bags are and how much to water the plants, etc.


23. Video instructions for how to do something - here, how to say 'hello' in the Karen language

Milk

We just got back from seeing Milk, the movie.

I'm not quite sure what to say. I found it incredibly powerful. I think everyone should go see the movie. It has everything a good movie needs - sex, violence, villains, heroes, and powerful acting. I'm trying to imagine someone who feels that homosexuality is evil going to see that movie. I can't imagine that at least a tiny crack wouldn't appear in his or her world view. Maybe my imagination just isn't strong enough.

But while the movie is ostensibly about the battle for gay rights, for me it's about the battle for human rights and justice. (Milk, at one point in the movie gets angry at the other politicians who want to avoid mentioning gays in the fight against an anti-gay rights amendment. They think it is politically safer to talk about civil rights. So I want to be clear, this IS a movie about gay rights. But is also about all human rights.) Any human being who has red blood flowing through her veins has to be touched by this movie on some level. I couldn't help but be affected by a man standing up in the face of overwhelming odds, and simply refusing to accept injustice. Not being timid, not being politic, but standing up and speaking his truth the world.

It causes me to think about my style here. I don't write in declaratory sentences. I try to imagine how someone who disagrees with me thinks about the issue. I try to figure out what someone would have to believe - what facts, what values - that lead him to a conclusion different from mine. Sometimes my gut just wants me to declare "That's bullshit." But then I erase it and start trying to examine the ideas more closely. And sometimes, in my own understated way, I do say, "That's bullshit." But it's pretty rare.

During the Vietnam war protests, I came to see that there is a role for different approaches. The way-out-there radicals who invaded draft boards and poured blood on the draft records pushed the debate into territory it had never been. They were often intemperate, obnoxious, and self-righteous, but they created a lot more room on the debate floor. Others, who would have seemed extreme had the more aggressive protesters not existed, then began to seem reasonable in comparison.

Milk, as portrayed in this film, seemed to be able to do both. He managed to push the debate into new territory, yet he managed to be reasonable and understanding.

I've tended to think that each of us should do what we do best. It is hard for me to stand up and declare truth when I can see lots of different perspectives. On many issues I know which one I think is 'right' but understanding why others think something else is right, seems to be the opening to find non-violent solutions. But Milk also reminds me that we can sometimes use logic and reason as a way simply to be safe, to not take the necessary risks. He shows that if we speak from our hearts, others will hear us, others who are afraid to take that step. He died because he stood up, but if he hadn't stood up, he wouldn't have lived either. He moved civil rights in the US a long way forward.

So this film, for me, raises questions about how I want to live the rest of my life. Milk reminds me how much someone can accomplish when they focus. As I've compared my approach to those of some other bloggers, I've concluded that I tend to have a general goal of pushing people to see things they haven't seen before; that my subject is how we know things, how we come to conclusions - about how things work, about what's right and wrong. Many other bloggers tend to focus on specific issues and attempt to change minds on those issues. I do that to some extent, but my larger focus is getting people to change how they take in and digest information, so that on all the issues they will face in the future, they will be a little more open to seeing things from different perspectives, to questioning the how's, the why's of what they see. I think that's the right path for me, but Milk causes me to consider working harder at it.

Yesterday I had lunch with Rick Benjamin. I first met Rick when I was working with the Anchorage Municipal Board of Ethics as a volunteer consultant when they were revising the Municipal Code of Ethics. Rick was the pastor at an Evangelical Christian church. Yet he didn't behave the way I thought someone like that should behave. He listened to what others said. He was modest, made jokes, and used logic and reason. I don't recall any references to God or any piousness on his part. He was a regular guy. I saw him, maybe once a month, for two or three years at meetings.

Some time after the Ordinance finally passed - and it was a long road - I invited Rick to come over for lunch. I said I wanted to ask him questions about Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism. We had an engrossing discussion out on the deck over sandwiches. He answered all of my questions thoughtfully and candidly and many of his answers were not what I expected. He wasn't doctrinaire, he acknowledged inconsistencies.

So when the Ex-Gay Conference was held at his church this fall (he was no longer the lead pastor if I have my fact straight,) I really wanted to talk to Rick and ask him what the hell was going on. But it was busy times, I was traveling, Sarah Palin was grabbing all of our attention, and I never made my call. But about a month or so ago, Rick called me to invite me to do an ethics presentation at his class at Wayland Baptist University. So I said I'd like to talk to him about the ex-gay conference too. He said, 'sure, let's have lunch.' And yesterday we did. We talked about lots of things. It was an honest discussion between the two of us, and I went as a friend, not as a blogger. But towards the end of lunch, my blogger identity began to wake up, and I asked if I could blog some of the discussion. He said, "Sure."

But while we were talking I hadn't been in record mode and so I suggested we meet again and he agreed. I'm hoping we can do this before I leave for Thailand. I decided not to raise it in yesterday's post, but after seeing Milk, I think it is important to raise. For many, the Rick Benjamins of the world are the enemy. If there are other Rick Benjamins in the Evangelical movement, I think that the differences between Progressives and Evangelicals may not be nearly as great as we've allowed ourselves to believe. Many in their movement have bought the stereotypes of Progressives and many Progressives have bought the stereotypes of the Evangelicals. That meant, in a lot of cases, both sides wrote each other off, and let the media reinforce their horned visions of each other. Obama's campaign didn't make that mistake. And a number of Evangelicals began to wonder whether the Bush administration had used and abused them.

The human heart is a remarkable and complicated organ. Ultimately, combined with the brain, it can do wonders. I strongly believe that most hate is self-hate re-directed at others. (In the movie, for example, Milk believes that Dan White is a very closeted gay.) If we can get more people to raise kids who feel good about themselves, we can greatly limit the amount of hate in the world.

First Annual 30 Second (More or Less) Film Festival - Part 4

Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 had three videos each from Mariano Gonzales' Art 257 class at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The last one here is totally different from all the others, edgier. It's a little too long perhaps, but this student was working her own vision. The first one is also a very different approach from the others.

First Annual 30 Second (More or Less) Film Festival - Part 3

Part 1 and Part 2 had three videos each from Mariano Gonzales' Art 257 class at the University of Alaska Anchorage. These are art students (except for me) and only the last project of the semester was a video/animation project. This first one is one of my favorites. But they all have something of interest. And they're all short.

Ski Pics Fun With Photoshop

I went cross country skiing today after lunch. What a treat to go off into the woods and just glide along through the exquisite snowy wonderland. There were a few other skiers out, like these two with their dog. I even saw a guy on the smaller trail on his mountain bike. The trail was firm enough that he was just leaving a slight track, so that's ok.

But most of the time it was just me and trees and the snow and here, the water.



And everyone looked so healthy with bright rosy cheeks. At first my finger tips got cold, but eventually my hands were nice and warm.



And toward the end, I got onto the bridge near the parking lot and looked down at the mostly frozen Campbell Creek.



The bridge does seem like a bit of overkill just to allow skiers, hikers, and bikers to cross the creek.


This also seems like a good opportunity to show what kinds of manipulation someone can do with Photoshop. The Computer Art and Design class (Art 257) I took at UAA this past semester had us using Photoshop a lot. One form of manipulation is changing the content of the picture - cutting out people you don't want in, adding others in, cleaning up the junk, etc. Obama's First Day in the Oval Office that I posted early is an example of extreme doctoring, though I left the style of most of the added pictures as they were so it would be clear that different people from different times were added into one picture. Though I did colorize Frederick Douglass and Jackie Robinson, and played with the color of some of the others. Journalistically, this is - or was - a big no-no.


Original undoctored picture

But what about the kind of manipulation I do below? I'm just using the built in filters in Photoshop and applying them to the same image. Well, it isn't quite that simple because for most of the filters you can move levers that make the effects more or less distinct. Is it ethical to doctor pictures this way? Make the sky more blue? The contrast better? I suspect that war is already lost. I even do it here - but those tend to be more pictures that don't have a political impact rather than 'news' pictures, and the differences is usually so minor it doesn't seem worth it to add a disclosure. But everything is political in that it affects how we see reality and thus how we act on what we see. So if my pictures prettify my subjects that affects how viewers perceive those subjects. And some of these obviously are not natural photos. So, take a look. Here's the original big, and then the variations of the same picture using different Photoshop filters.










Watercolor filter
















Posteredges filter

















Plasticwrap filter















Cutout filter









Playing with the Hue, Saturation, and Light




























Solarize filter

First Annual 30 Second (More or Less) Film Festival - Part 2

I posted a few videos from Mariano Gonzales' Art 257 class - Computer Art and Design - last week. This was not a film or video class per se, but the last assignment was to use Painter or Photoshop animation to make a video that was more or less 30 seconds. Some did theirs totally animated, others, like me, did a combination. Some just used regular video. You can see the first ones I posted at the link above. Here are three more.

Close to Solstice - Late Sunrise at Thai Temple

I went over to Wat Alaska to meet Jim MacKenzie, the director of Leadership Anchorage, to introduce him to the monks this morning, to help set up a the Leadership Anchorage session there as part of their learning about the different communities in Anchorage. Phramaja (a title for monks) Boonnet was there, but Phramaja Lertsak was in India. With Phramaja Lertsak gone, I learned that Phramaja Boonet's English was much better than I realized. (You can see pictures of the Wat (Buddhist temple) at the Wat Alaska link.)

Phramaja Boonnet is in the picture in the library by the window. I was hoping to get the rising sun in that picture, but that wasn't going to happen without getting the room black, so I took another picture out the window.




Solstice is, according to Archeoastronomy, at 3:04 am on Sunday, December 21 [in Anchorage] this year. You can see we're close because here's the sun just over the horizon at 10:30am on Dec. 18.

After a while, when you're blogging, you realize time is passing because it is solstice again. But I did a post last year on calculating when solstice is, so I don't have to do that again. But since it is such an important date for Alaskans - the amount of light increases after solstice, and given the picture, you can understand why that matters. And as I posted two years ago, the number of minutes we gain per day is definitely noticeable. That solstice post shows how many minutes we gain after solstice. It starts out slow then moves into a gallop. It also has pictures of the earth and the sun to help show how the soltice and equinox work.

Given that we only have five hours from sunrise to sunset now and that J has been home for the last few days with some sort of a chest cold, I decided that on the way home I would stop at the nearby Evalyn's Flowers on Benson to bring some midwinter cheer home.
Like most men, I don't quite understand how flowers work, I just know that they do. And if my wife is happy, I'm happy.

We've got our reservations for our flight to Chiang Mai - January 12 - and house sitters lined up to move in. I'll be going back to the same NGO (Non-Governmental Organization - we'd call it a non-profit) through the American Jewish World Service that I volunteered with earlier this year. Only this time, when I get there, they'll already know me and I'll know them, and my Thai is not as rusty as it was when arrived last February. We've already talked about the job description and I think I can start actually doing something much sooner than last time.

So we have lots to do to get the house in order, to get packed, to finish up projects, etc.

What Makes ConocoPhillips Employee Volunteers So Atypical?

Note: This post wanders, as do many of my posts. It's not because I'm being lazy, though I could spend several more days revising and rewriting this. But blogging isn't academic research. On the other hand, I don't think I should be blogging just off the top of my head without thinking. I'm hoping - but not holding my breath - that my readers may see something that causes them to think a little differently than they did before. But when I write I also learn new things and see things a little differently. So I'm trying to avoid instant posts that reflect nothing but my own biases. The intent here is to look at things and try out new interpretations, not to vent.

That said, this is written in a larger context about the role of large oil companies in the world that I have written about previously. While on the surface, oil companies project an image of responsible corporate citizens, they are rich, powerful players on the world stage who are well dressed and polite when possible, but also in their pursuit of oil are willing to make deals with leaders of countries like Burma and the Congo, leaders who brutally mistreat their populations. In Alaska, all this goes on much more genteelly, but goes on never the less. Some background to my thoughts on all this can be found in the following posts: Economic Hitman and Responding to Trip1050. Trip1050 works for an oil company and commented on my posts on the AGIA forums. He asks why I mistrust oil companies. So, if you are offended by my skepticism about oil companies, read why I feel that way before commenting.

These posts often wander, because I don't think things can be compartmentalized into neat little soundbites. Well, yes, they can. But those are not accurate reflections of the world. They are attempts to neaten the world into pieces we can understand, but aren't usually accurate. So, when I write, I try to capture how my mind wandered into various areas, I try to capture at least a taste of the messiness of reality, and allow the reader to see that nothing is black and white. While I strive to understand why things happen, understanding why someone does something, doesn't mean excusing it. But understanding why may help devise better ways to prevent others from repeating those things. Ultimately, I'm hoping that I and my readers can step back a bit from whatever the topic is, so they can see it in the bigger view, the view we don't get when we are right in the middle of it.


OK, so here's the post:




The Anchorage Daily News has been carrying large ads from ConocoPhillips touting their employees who volunteer in the community.

"Not Your Typical Volunteer" the ads proclaim.

When help is needed, ConocoPhillips employees don't just get their feet wet - they dive in. That's not your typical volunteering and Peter Brakora isn't a typical volunteer.

So, non-ConocoPhillips employees don't dive in? I've seen volunteers at a lot of non-profits who give of their hearts to help out. At Covenant House, for example, I've seen Mentors (people working full time and with families) come to monthly mentor meetings, plus they meet with the young adults they are mentoring a couple times a month, plus phone calls. This isn't just getting their feet wet, this IS diving all the way in.

So yesterday I called ConocoPhillips to find out what makes their employees so much better than other employees. (Wait, you're saying, it says "not typical" it doesn't say "better". OK, so not typical means, what? Different? Different how? The only clue is that "they don't just get their feet wet, they dive in." To me that is saying they do more, they get more involved, they're better. Come on, why would they spend tens of thousands of dollars (they've posted a number of these ads over the last month) to say their employees are just different? They wouldn't. They are saying their employees are better.) First I asked to be connected to the Human Resources Department assuming they would be running employee volunteer programs. That got me to a recording that told me to apply on line. So I called back. The receptionist wasn't sure who to send me to, but settled on Sandy Tusano, who didn't know, but was very nice and tried to forward me to Sheri Jones, who wasn't in, so Sandy sent me to Gina Luckey, where I left a message. (I'm not sure about my spelling of Sheri Jones. When I tried to Google her, I did find a Sherry Jones who once worked with Bill Moyers on an exposé on chemical companies. But this is a common name and I doubt it's the same person.)

In the meantime I went to the ConocoPhillips site to see if I could come up with answers about what makes them special (not typical.)

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company has approximately 33,600 employees worldwide [from Conoco-Phillips Website]

In 2006, the company matched nearly 3,500 employee gifts for a combined total of $6.1 million.[from Conoco-Phillips Website]

So, I started calculating. This would mean that just over 10% of all ConocoPhillips employees participated in this program. Those who participated gave an average of $1743. ($6,100,000/3500 = $1743) What does that mean? Is it a lot? A little? It depends, in part, on how much ConocoPhillips employees get paid. Checking the internet, there are various sites giving us a peek into CP salaries. Payscale.com has salaries that presumably CP employees posted. Theirs is a small sample, and not necessarily all people who posted salaries were actually CP employees or posted their correct salaries. I would guess that people checking out salaries are those earning less than average, but that's just a guess. We also don't know if this is a representative set of salaries or if it skews high or low. But I think this at least gets us in the ballpark. (This is an example of my rambling, because I'm not just giving you a number, but I'm telling you how I got it, and why I'm using it, and raising questions so you can evaluate its validity on your own.)

[You can double click the images to enlarge them.]

I'm also going to assume that people tend to stay at CP if they can, so I'm going to take the 10-19 year median salary of $87,973. A person earning $87,973 contributing $1,743 is contributing just under 2% of her salary. (The regs allow them to contribute up to $6000.)[Or so I thought when I read the website yesterday. This turns out to be related to volunteer time. More on that later.]

Or we can put this into context another way. Here's a list of the top eight executive salaries at CP Worldwide (filed 4/2/2008): (Again, double click to enlarge the chart.)

These eight employees out of a total of about 33,000 employees of CP earned $109,440,405. That's $109 million. (That's eight people making the same amount of money as 1,224 employees making the guestimated 10-19 year employee median of $87,973.)

The $6.1 in matching contributions that CP makes for ALL its worldwide employees is equal to 5.5% of the income of the top eight employees of ConocoPhillips!

But I really wanted to hear from ConocoPhillips about what makes their employees such atypical volunteers. So I called Gina Luckey again. She said she'd sent the message over to her supervisor Natalie Lowman, Director of Media, so I called her and left a message. (The CP website lists her as Director of Communications.) She called back not long ago.

She helped clarify some things. First, ConocoPhillips does NOT match cash contributions, they give grants up to $1500 to organizations that CP employees volunteer with for a certain minimum number of hours. I looked back at the website and it does say grants for volunteering on one page, but the other page that said "... the company matched nearly 3,500 employee gifts for a combined total of $6.1 million" does make it sound like contributions in money rather than time.

As I look back now while writing this, that $1500 figure doesn't gibe with the average I figured based on the CP Worldwide website figure of $6.1 million for 3500 employees, which came to $1743 per employee. That page of the website says

By volunteering their time, employees in the United States enable organizations to receive up to $6,000 in grants per year from ConocoPhillips to defray costs for programs and events, making a positive and important difference in their communities.

Natalie Lowman wasn't exactly sure how much CP gave in such grants in Anchorage, but thought it was around $60,000 for 2008. They could give up to $1500 per employee. When I pointed out that the website said up to $6,000, she said, yes, if there were four employees at one organiztion.

Answers.com says ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc has 900 employees. At $1500 per employee, that would make a total of 40 CP employees volunteering. If they didn't give the full $1500 per employee, say they only gave half of that - $750 - on average, that would be 80 employees out of 900. So we could guestimate that somewhere between 4.5% - 9% of CP Alaska employees volunteered enough to trigger a grant. Or maybe they did volunteer work but didn't apply for a grant. Or more than four people worked for the same non-profit.

I hadn't done that local calculation when I talked to Lowman, but I did mention that worldwide, given the number of employees listed on the website cited above, that it came out to less than 10% of the employees. That's when she cleared up my misconception that CP matched cash contributions. She said that most employees were really busy, like she is, and so they would rather make a monetary contribution than a volunteer contribution. But, she clarified further, the company does NOT match monetary contributions. She also said that most CP employees contribute through United Way. She said if one in ten volunteered, probably six or seven others made monetary contributions.

I also know that CP makes other contributions to the community such as $100,000 to the Museum in 2007. And there was a $3.68 million gift to the University of Alaska also in 2007. But we need to put an * on that. The University of Alaska press release on the gift also says,

The annual gifts stem from a charter agreement between the oil companies and the state regarding the BP merger with ARCO in the late 1990s. Part of the charter agreement identifies public higher education as a top priority for charitable donations.

So, these donations are part of an agreement negotiated so that BP could merge with ARCO in 1999. The Foraker Group Nonprofit Report December 2006 written by the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Alaska Anchorage (pp. 43-44) gives a bit more information on this charter agreement:

In 2006 two of the largest oil companies operating in the state, BP (BP Exploration Alaska, Inc.) and ConocoPhillips contributed a combined total of over $22 million in cash to various Alaska nonprofits, including the University of Alaska, and other organizations such as local governments. Their annual contribution is based upon oil production and price as defined by a Charter Agreement that resulted from the ARCO BP merger in 1999. Some in-kind donations are not included in this total, and some of their donations fund capital expenditures rather than operations.

So a minimum amount of contribution is required by this Charter Agreement that was a condition for the BP-ARCO merger. I called Scott Goldsmith, the author of the ISER report, to find out how to get access to the Charter Agreement.He wasn't sure if he ever actually saw a copy, but said he'd check for it tomorrow. [Update: I also called UAA Advancement and later the UA Foundation called and said they would find the Agreement and email it to me .] On the internet, nearly all references I find about BP or ConocoPhillips contributions to the University have that standard clause in them.

I also asked Lowman how ConocoPhillips encourages their employees to volunteer. She said that there's paid time off for clean up day and that employees on Boards can go to board meetings on company time because the company wants them to be involved in the community. I think she said there was additional paid time off allowed for volunteering, but I'm not sure.

So, where's this all going? I initially took exception to the idea that ConocoPhillips employees are somehow better than the typical volunteer. Lowman, when I raised that point, said that wasn't what was intended at all. They were just trying to salute their employees who volunteer and they support all volunteers from any organization. I believe that was their intent.

But was "Not your typical volunteer" simply to mean that they are different? "They don't just get their feet wet, they dive in" implies, to me anyway, that typical volunteers just get their feet wet, but do not dive in.

Well, I guess we could say they aren't typical because they are actually getting their regular salary for some of their volunteer work, not like typical volunteers who volunteer on their own time. I don't say this to belittle the ConocoPhillips volunteers, who, I'm sure, spend more hours volunteering than they are reimbursed for. But it does make them atypical. There's a bit less sacrifice if you're being paid your regular salary to volunteer.

Perhaps the ads should say that ConocoPhillips is not your typical employer, because they pay their employees to volunteer. But then some other employers match their employees' financial contributions.

I think we also have to address the question of why corporations give to charity in the first place.

Many economists argue that the purpose of corporations is to make a profit, that any extra money should be given to shareholders, not to charity. GMR, a blogger whose profile describes him as a Republican MBA in Finance who works for a private equity firm summarizes what many feel about corporate giving:

There are a few times when I think a corporation should give to charity. The first is if it's not really charity: on the surface, it looks like charity, but so much good will is generated, that it's a win-win...

The second type of charity that I'd support is if a corporation were trying to reverse an earlier wrong. Even without the PR benefit. (For instance, if a record company distributed a CD that advocated cop killing, which is within the first amendment rights, but then someone followed the advice. The corporation may not have acted illegally, but it certainly didn't act responsibly).

Finally, I'd support general charity to whatever organization if the board truly believed that the shareholders wanted to give to these charities.

Linda Sugin argues in a long article that the tax law should be changed so that charitable deductions are considered business expenses:

In fact, there is significant evidence that corporations generally make charitable donations in furtherance of their business--either with respect to their employees, customers, or the communities in which they operate. Most corporate charitable giving can easily fit within the requirements of section 162's deduction for ordinary and necessary business expenses. (p. 8)

Corporations, she says later, shouldn't be making charitable donations that don't help the bottom line. When they do it leads to abuse:

Both the popular press and the academic literature are replete with discussion of corporate philanthropy that does more to achieve the private interests of managers than either the public interest, which is the concern of charitable organizations, or the shareholders' interest, which is the concern of corporate governance. (27) The problem seems primarily to be one related to executive compensation; corporate philanthropy that allows managers to support their favorite causes and enjoy the prestige benefits of that support is simply a managerial perquisite. (28)

The Supreme Court's interpretation of "gift" implies something given out of "detached and disinterested generosity." (45) Obviously, a corporation never does anything with feelings of generosity. (46) (p. 8)

The above quotes are from a business professor.

I think Alaskans reading these ads should keep this carefully in mind. The big oil companies used to pretty much have their way in Alaska. The merger between BP and ARCO caused some Alaskans to fight for a few concessions, including the Charter Agreement requiring a set formula for charitable giving. Then, in the wake of the FBI corruption investigations, the Legislature did not approve the privately negotiated deal between Frank Murkowski and the oil companies.

Governor Palin set up criteria for the gasline that the oil companies didn't like and they boycotted the AGIA RFP. They still have a lot of power and they don't have to agree to release the gas. They could scuttle the agreement with Trans Canada. They are working together on the so-called and trademarked "Denali Plan" as an alternative. Plus, the price of oil went over $4 last summer and now has dropped under $2.50 in Anchorage (but still much higher than in the Lower 48) which has a lot of Alaskans wondering if something fishy isn't going on.

So this is a good time to make Alaskans think that the oil companies care for Alaskans. That their employees are good community members (and I'm sure many are). But it was the Communications (PR) office who fielded my questions, not the Human Resources office which normally would be in charge of employee benefit programs. Part of me can't help but wonder whether "it's not really charity: on the surface, it looks like charity."

But I probably wouldn't have had anything to say about this if it hadn't been for the implication that ConocoPhillips employees somehow make better volunteers. We know that oil companies put out 'feel good' ads to make the locals think the companies are good citizens, but when they do this at the implied expense of other good citizens, I just needed to say something.

Black Members of Congress Update

I called the Congressional Black Caucus today in a (successful) attempt to finalize my chart on Black members of Congress following the November election. I hadn't been able to confirm the reelection of Virgin Island delegate Donna Christian Christensen. She IS returning. I also wasn't able to determine if any new African-Americans had been elected from districts that hadn't had Black representatives. The CBC said there were no new members, except Martha Fudge who replaces Stephanie Tubbs Jones who died. (Other new Black members who had replaced Black members of Congress had done so early enough to be listed as members of the 110th Congress.)

You can take the link to previous post to see the chart of the members.

This means that the US House now has one fewer Black member because William Jefferson, who was indicted on bribery charges was not reelected. In his place, the first Vietnamese-American was elected to Congress. And the only Black member of the Senate also leaves, but in a more positive way - Barack Obama resigned from the Senate after being elected President.

The link also has a paragraph from a report that lists the number of members who are women, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American in the 110th Congress. It's the last paragraph of the post.

AIFF - The Real Place takes Cam Christianson back to Sundance

At last year's Anchorage International Film Festival, I wrote about my favorite animated film, Cam Christianson's "I Have Seen the Future."

I Have Seen the Future was a very classy animated tennis game in shades of green and yellow. The camera swept around, the tennis court warped, the main tennis player had an interesting face - not some standard look - and it all worked well with the song by the Canadian singer Chris Demeanor. (Who could forget a name like that?) An original look for the whole film(at least for me) and it all fit together nicely.

It didn't win here in Anchorage, but it went on to get picked for last year's Sundance Film Festival.

I just got an press release email that Cam had a second animated film accepted to Sundance for January 2009.

From the Calgary Herald:

For the second time in as many years, Cam Christiansen will be hobnobbing with North America's filmmaking elite in Utah after his animated short won a coveted spot at the Sundance Film Festival.

Earlier this week, the National Film Board announced Christiansen's The Real Place will show in late January at Robert Redford's celebrated festival, topping off an impressive year of achievements for the 38-year-old filmmaker.

His first film, I Have Seen the Future--which was made with Calgary singer-songwriter Kris Demeanor --played the festival last January, nabbed a top prize at the prestigious Los Angeles Film Festival, was selected by the Toronto Film Festival as one of 2007's Top 10 Canadian shorts and is among 36 films short-listed for a 2008 Academy Award in the best animated short category.

"It's fantastic," says Christiansen.

"It really felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. But I guess this makes it twice in a lifetime."

The Real Place, which was directed and animated by Christiansen and written by Blake Brooker and uses motion-capture cameras and digital photography, is a beautiful and lyrical five-minute ode to Calgary playwright John Murrell.

Update - Tuesday Dec. 16: Here's a link to The Real Place Facebook page. One quote about the film that seems particularly poignant is from the subject of the film:

For me, your film is about my spirit. No one else -- no one -- has ever captured it so well" - John Murrell

AIFF - Last Movie is Over - Coyote's Brett Spackman

Hoar frost decorated Anchorage today when the fog lifted. The temp was around 10˚F (-12˚C) as we headed for the PAC to see the Alaska Theater of Youth production of Fiddler on the Roof. (He's not on the roof in the picture.) The voices were really impressive. Then we split during the curtain call, but got to the Bear Tooth so late that Only really didn't make much sense to us. Then back home to rest until the 8 pm showing of Coyote. I'll post the after movie Q & A with the filmmaker later.

Coyote doesn't quite have the polish of a Hollywood movie and that's good. But I would never guess that two guys made the movie on "as much money as two guys can raise" with friends helping out and the writers/directors also the leading characters. Very impressive. One of my movie standards that I think should be used more often in judging movies is a ratio between quality and cost. While Brett was circumspect about how much money this film cost - Blockbuster and Walmart will have the DVD's soon, and they are working on outside the US rights now - he suggested it wasn't all that much.

[I took the picture of Brett yesterday at Out North]

And, as he said in the Q&A, the immigration, particularly the illegal immigration question is morally murky and it's more shades of gray than black and white. So the topic was interesting, important, and they took a relatively neutral stand. Well, they were really probably sympathetic to Mexicans trying to get to the US, but they raised a number of caveats. But this was more an adventure/action film than a message film.

And I could see why it got the audience award for best picture.

Here's a video of Brett I got Saturday when we were both at the animation workshop. [As I'm putting this up Viddler seems to be extremely slow loading. Hope it clears up soon.][Switched to YouTube, Viddler is having problems.]



And then the Festival was over. I couldn't be happier. The Festival was great - there were some really good films - but ten days movie going and blogging is enough. Now I just have to catch up with my video clips and thoughts on some of the films.

AIFF - Streetsweeper by Neil Mansfield

I'd been hearing contradictory messages about Streetsweeper - some loved it and others thought there was nothing there. Quite literally, one friend said, "There's no there, there." So I went into the theater Saturday night prepared to be let down. But also prepared for something very different from a typical Hollywood movie. And I walked out pleased with the movie and with it's being selected as the best feature of the festival.

So, why would someone like it and others hate it? I propose that it depends on someone's idea of a movie. From a traditional movie perspective, we would take it very literally and say:

• It's about a crazy homeless man with a streetsweeper cart who acts out his mental problems by sweeping the stripes in the crosswalks, polishing traffic signs, and lugging his cart up and down stairs, and reading the scraps of paper he picks up.
  

This appears to be how Peter Porco at the ADN saw the movie:

Once we get the general idea that the homeless man is in his own world, reciting to himself bits of poetry, lines scrawled on notes he finds in the street, memories from a wretched childhood; once we fall into the easy rhythm of Keith pushing his broom cart through the margins and empty corners of the tidy, humdrum city, it isn’t long before we’re bored.

(I would note here that Porco wants to speak for everyone, replacing his first person perspective and claiming to represent all of us with the use of "we" throughout. He doesn't represent me or most of the people at the Bear Tooth Saturday night who stayed for the whole movie and the Q&A afterward.)

So if we don't look at this as a typical Hollywood movie with a plot line, how else can we look at it? There are several overlapping ways to watch the movie that brought me a great deal of satisfaction.

• Streetsweeper can be seen as a visual concert. Just as the symphony is sounds without verbal content, this was a series of visual images (with the added sense of sound). In his visual composition, Mansfield challenges us to look at things so ordinary that they have become invisible. We normally walk [drive] past them without seeing them - the patterns of railroad tracks, of cracks in the street, of the all angles and curves of urban settings, but he shows us the beauty that is all around us that we don't see. If it were a series of spectacular shots in brilliant color, this wouldn't work. Instead he takes the totally mundane and asks us to reconsider what we usually pass right by. The streetsweeper is a device as significant as, say, giving a piece of music a title like, "Pictures at an Exhibition" or "The Flight of the Bumblebee." It gives us a reason to be looking at these images, but there is no exhibition, there is no bumblebee, just notes. Probably there is no streetsweeper either, it's just an excuse to wander around Newcastle and look at it with fresh eyes.

• Another way to think about the movie is as visit to a gallery where we look at photos of urban landscapes. But these are more than photos; they move too. And there's sound. Just as someone could easily lose herself for an hour or two looking at pictures (at an exhibition?) that don't have a story line or even content, she could just sit back and enjoy the visual stimulation and soothing of Streetsweeper, and even relive the excitement of seeing the beauty of the patterns of lines made by railroad tracks that most of us haven't seen since we were first exploring the world as little children. When everything was new and didn't have names and contexts and we could just enjoy how the images tickled our eyeballs.

• One could also think about this as a walking tour through Newcastle, Australia. Wandering this way and that, past signs, up steps, down steps, by the river, crossing streets, past trees, just wandering without a clear plan, to get a feel for the place. I think this alone wouldn't carry the average viewer without the more generalized rediscovering of the invisible beauty experiences mentioned above. But I thought about how this would be an interesting way to explore Anchorage as I was watching, and even toyed with the idea of going off to some unknown city, getting a cleaning cart and broom, and exploring, say, Buenos Aires or Barcelona or Budapest, by sweeping and cleaning my way through town.

I found the movie allowed me to relax. If I skipped a few images, it didn't matter. I wouldn't miss some important clue in the plot, I wouldn't miss someone's head being blown off. I didn't have to listen carefully to every word. First, there weren't that many. Second, they didn't really matter. And the pretext of the street cleaner evaporated as his stops to clean zebra stripes became less frequent and precise, as time between his dusting off a street sign became longer and longer and he just pushed his cart along, and as the broom eventually disappeared altogether. Like at a concert, my mind could drift, could think of other things, and then come back to enjoy new images and sounds. I even slid, a few times, into some unconscious interactions with the streets of Newcastle and then rejoined the journey taking place on the screen.

But if you were headed to the theater expecting Brad or Meryl in some dialogue heavy Hollywood formula of character development with plot with dialogue, and didn't know how to 'see' this movie, it would be easy to be bored. I think of a perception game I've used with students. I show them several series of numbers and ask them to give me the next number. The first few series are figured out by looking at the mathematical relationships between the numbers. Say, add 2 to the previous number. Or multiply the first number by the second number to get the next number. But then I ask for the next number in this series:

2, 3, 5, 6...

I get all sorts of responses and mathematical justifications. But the next number is 8, because it is the next number with curves.

Then I give them

16 5 18 3 5 16 20 9 15 ...

This drives them crazy. The next number is 14. These are the numeric equivalents of the letters that spell the word perception.

Just like we first are looking for mathematical patterns and then can't see the visual patterns, or the symbolic use of numbers for letters, I think people go into movies looking for what we are programmed to see, and cannot easily switch to see a movie using a different way of organizing images and sounds.

I enjoyed Streetsweeper because its film used a different model than the standard we normally see, a model which focused on the visual images, which, for the person willing or able to see differently, gave a chance to see the beauty in everyday things. It showed us the poetry in words on lost or tossed pieces of paper. It isn't for everyone, particularly for those going to see blood and body parts, or just to have one's rational brain cells stimulated. This is a very non-verbal movie. And since this isn't part of our tradition, it's the kind of movie that doesn't have good commercial prospects. But it pushes us to see differently and is precisely the kind of movie that Film Festivals should be about.


Somewhere on my disk are some visuals to help illustrate this, but I'm not sure they are necessary. We'll see. If I have time, I may add them later. Thanks Neil for a great show.

[Update: Sunday night - Here's Neil answering questions after the showing Saturday night.]
[Update: Monday night - I've been having trouble viewing the videos I've posted since yesterday. I'm on a Mac using Firefox. I switched to Safari and it was fine. If others are having problems seeing the video, try changing to another browser. Also let me know if there are problems and what system (pc, mac, linux) and browser you're using. Thanks.]

AIFF - Awards

It's Sunday morning, the next films start in about 11 hours. The Awards Ceremony at Middle Way Cafe waited for the crowd at Streetsweeper to get over there before things were announced. We already knew that Streetsweeper got best feature and Last Days of Shishmaref got best feature documentary. But I didn't know the others.


So here are the winners:
Best Short Documentary: Leave Her To Die
Best Super Short: Spider
Best Short: Open Your Eyes
Best Animated: Distraxion There's a short clip at the link, definitely worth it to get a sense of this delicious animated film.
Audience Awards were given for
Best Feature: Coyote
Best Feature Documentary: The Wrecking Crew

[Update: The official list, with runners up, plus the Snowdance (Alaska related films) winners are up at the link.]
Wrecking Crew will be shown Sunday at 5:30pm at the Bear Tooth
Coyote will be shown Sunday at 8:00 at the Bear Tooth

I really didn't see much in the way of short documentaries, but I wanted to see Leave Her to Die simply because it takes place in Thailand, and we're headed back in January for three months.

Best Feature: I finally saw Streetsweeper tonight. I was getting mixed reviews from people. I enjoyed it thoroughly. But it is easy to understand why some might not like it. I heard from one person whose taste I respect: "There's no there, there." So I was prepared to be sorely disappointed. But the was the there, just not the one he was looking for. But this deserves its own post. Later.

Best Documentary: I've already commented on Shismaref and posted over ten minutes of director Jan Louter at Saturday's workshop. Good Alaska movie.


Best Short Short: Spider Everything about this is well made. Including the surprises. But aside from being technically well made, does it have any deep lasting meaning? I think I ended up seeing it about four or five times because it kept popping up in places I didn't expect it. In this category, the one I instantly bonded to was: No Regrets. The music, the humor, the whole thing just worked for me.

Best Short Documentary: Leave Her To Die. I've got nothing to say about this category because somehow I didn't get to see any of these.

Best Animation: Distraxion. I loved this film. Kenny G is one of my pet peeves, and so I could totally relate to the poor put upon employee who was hounded by his boss' taste in music. And while I'm not a heavy metal fan either, I thoroughly love his getting revenge through Yngwie Malmsteen. When Mike puts this online, I'll put it up. This one did everything right. But there were just so many imaginative, creative animations. Definitely the most competitive category. Jeff Chiba Stearns' Yellow Sticky Notes was also great, and totally different. And his workshop today was outstanding. I've got lots of video of that coming eventually.

AIFF - Jan Louter Workshop

I liked "The Last Days of Shismaref" very much. The photography was stunning. The last scene - the all white screen and then two people walk off into the distance was a piece of visual art all in itself. The scenes with the families were real. I haven't been to Shishmaref, but I've spent a few days in Wales. Clearly Jan had gained the trust of the people in the film - not an easy thing to do. The Alaska Native villagers I've met are very open, trusting, and sharing. They have often given to Outsiders who didn't understand that giving was a two way process.

And I've written here in the past about the problems of Outside journalists trying to tell the stories of Alaskan Native villagers. So I had a lot of questions. I had a sense from the film what the answers would be, but I wanted to hear it from Louten himself. I was concerned when he said after the showing last week, that when he first read about Shishmaref, he knew there was a story there. And that Shishmaref was a metaphor for global warming.

The idea of him having "the story" before going to Shishmaref leaves the door open for him to use Shishmaref and its people to tell Jan Louten's story and not Shishmaref's story. To a certain extent, when he began today to say that he scripts his documentaries very carefully before he shoots, that concern wasn't mollified. But overall, what he said and the film itself, suggests to me that he did listen carefully to the people of Shishmaref. He said he took the film to Shishmaref and showed it to the people and told them if there was anything that they felt should be out, he would listen to their arguments. That they had nothing they wanted cut was reassuring.

He talked today about making documentaries almost like making a fictional feature - he does lots of research and then scripts it all carefully. He gave an example of a film he did on American writer, John Fante. He didn't want talking heads, so he had a person he was interviewing drive the car while he talked. This way he could get Los Angeles into the film. And they drove to the cemetary where Fante was buried. This way he could let the audience know Fante was dead without actually saying it. He simply showed the grave stone.

Here are some unedited clips from today's workshop. The film will be shown again tomorrow (Sunday) evening at the Bear Tooth at 5:30, for people who have not seen it.

AIFF - Yellow Sticky Notes Maker Jeff Chiba Stearns

I got to talk to Jeff last night at the museum, just before his video Yellow Sticky Notes was played at the Museum. But we spoke about a previous film - What Are You Anyway? - which is about his growing up half-white (and half-Japanese) in Kelowna, British Columbia. Since I'm on the steering committee of Healing Racism in Anchorage, I found the video a great tool for using in workshops looking at racism. Though I had a question about a part near the end where Jeff says his new girlfriend's behavior showed him that if he was proud of his heritage, the disturbing words and questions wouldn't bother him. I agree that is a good strategy if you are subject to prejudice, but in a training session with people of the dominant ethnicity, you need to discuss that this doesn't mean that the victim should be blamed. This perception on Jeff's part is good in unintended insults based on ignorance, but doesn't address the structural basis for discrimination built into society that causes people to have negative or just inaccurate preconceptions about people of different ethnicities.

You can see "What Are You Anyway" at the link. Trust me, it is well worth it - funny and informative.

Jeff explained that he made the movie as an expression of his own experiences and was suddenly called on to talk about the issues of people of mixed heritage by schools and universities, and that he's learned a lot about the subject. Anyway that's the context for the bit of video I got of our discussion.



Jeff will give the filmmaker workshop

TODAY (Saturday, Dec. 13) at OUT NORTH at 3pm








Here's a link to another YouTube of Jeff talking about making Yellow Sticky Notes.

AIFF - Martini Matinee, The Video

Here are a few clips (unedited so I could get it up quickly) from the afternoon session at the Mixed Grill in the Inlet Tower. People were all having a good time. I'm still having intermittent trouble downloading the video from iMovie to .mov, but if I do it at lower quality, it works. So the quality is even bad by my already shaky standards. But you can get a little sense of how it went.

AIFF - Friday

s
It's 10:18pm at the Bear Tooth for the 10:10 showing which is going to be way late. The line was long. We got in late.

Started the day's movies at the Mixed Grill where they had the "Martini Matinee". That too was jammed and we saw great animation. They also introduced some of the film makers there and announced that Last Days of Shishmaref won the best documentary. We'd already heard that Streetsweeper won the best feature. Though I'm hearing from some people that they were disappointed. I'll get to judge tomorrow night.

Then to the Museum, with a stop at the PAC to get tickets for Fiddler on the Roof Sunday afternoon. It's the last performance, it's in the middle of the film festival, but I want to see what Christian Heppinstall has done with it. At the museum we saw Rachel: A Perfect Life. It was good, if you like watching brain surgery. Well there was brain surgery, but it was good, despite that. But this is a rush post before the late shorts/animation begins. Then we saw one of my favorite films of the week - The Wrecking Crew. When I first saw it in the schedule I figured it had to be good if just for the music. The Wrecking Crew was the backup band for most of the big hits in the late 60s pop music in California. It turned out to be an interesting movie that filled in a lot of gaps - these guys and one woman - played in literally every big hit. It was sort of like a public television fundraiser oldies show, but much, much better.

Also got to talk to Jeff Chiba Stearns. I'll add some video later.

First Annual 30 Second (More or Less) Film Festival - Part 1

While the Anchorage International Film Festival has been going on, in Mariana Gonzales' Art 257 class - Computer Art and Design - we had our own mini festival. Actually, it was our last assignment. And Wednesday we saw everyone's videos - many of which included animation. So, for the next couple of days, I'm going to post a couple of the class videos. These are from art students (except mine) most of whom had not done animation or video before. I was impressed with the variety of things people did, though it seems for my fellow students, the music video is a pretty strong influence.







More tomorrow. Mine's not in this bunch.

AIFF - Sky in December Discussion

I guest lectured at a class at Wayland Baptist University this evening, so I missed the 5:30 films and barely got to the Fireweed to see Sky in December. The students seemed bright and I'm sorry I had to rush off. I don't have the energy, nor am I ready, to write about the film now. Suffice it to say, I'm glad I went. The black and white look was jarring in a new movie, but the characters were engaging, and a slow (by US standards) moving pace was a nice change. Peter Porco, writing for the Anchorage Daily News, does a good job of giving the basics of Sky in December.

After the movie I got a little of a discussion among three people with somewhat differing ideas about the film.

AIFF - Annetta Marion talks about short films

Monday night I met Annetta Marion and she did a brief video pitch for Donut Heaven. The next day I got to see Donut Heaven and briefly discussed it in a post that also talked about short films and why people do them. So last night after Dream Boy I ran into Annetta again. I'd also written that I wished I'd seen her after I saw Donut Heaven so I could ask her about whether the main character wore a fat suit at the beginning (she more delicately called it a prosthetic). So, yes, she did. And it was heavy and hot in Florida in July. When they took it off, water gushed out.

But she also answered some of my questions about why people make shorts. Here's a snippet of our conversation.



Donut Heaven plays again Saturday, December 13 at 8:00 PM - Anchorage Museum as part of Subjective Subtleties.

AIFF - How To Be and Dream Boy

How to Be didn't work for me. I'm sure there are people like the main character whose father doesn't pay attention to him and whose mother is constantly saying things like, "There was always something odd about you." The kid is trying hard to overcome this, but he's whiny, kicks things a lot, and just doesn't fit in anywhere.

Lots of people have made good movies about people like that. And the story line - the kid finds a book called "It's not your fault" and invites the author to move into the house and observe the family as part of his therapy - is original. But the film just didn't come together for me. There has to be (for me) some reason to sit and watch this basically decent, but thoroughly childish, character rant for an hour. That reason never came. I didn't get any real insight into what was wrong with him or what sorts of things might help. The self-help author was - in my mind - a total quack.

If this had been a documentary, documenting someone's psychological issues it might have worked. If we got some insight into something (more than the mother saying the boy reminded her of her obnoxious older brother) it might have worked. And I don't mind a plotless movie either, except then the parts have to be worth watching and these, for me, just weren't. There was scene after scene - the skateboard park, some of the bar scenes - where I have no idea what those scenes added to the movie.

But then we saw Dream Boy. This was a beautifully made film, lush as its Louisiana setting, about young gay love - sweet and genuine - in a hostile environment. I was immediately sucked into the story. At first I wondered if this could be told just with film. It seemed there was so much inside Nathan's head that we needed to know for this to work. But somehow the story was all revealed - only a bit through few flashbacks. [Dream Boy picture link -pictures rotate.]And James Bolton, whom I got very briefly on video the other night, answered questions after the movie. Some questions he addresses:
How has the film been received in Europe?
How could the 17 year old drive the school bus?
How'd you get Rickie Lee Jones in the movie?
Was the cast preselected, or did you open it up, or?
Were the lead actors gay?

Viddler was down, so I've uploaded this one on YouTube.





This YouTube clip I found has a couple of scenes from the movie.

AIFF - Streetsweeper named Best Feature at Festivial

I'd been hearing rumors while I was checking on the festival about which film had been chosen for the best feature award. The festival people were caught between getting promotion for people to see the best feature at the Saturday night showing and keeping it secret until the awards ceremony. Publicity won out. I knew the winner was supposed to be posted today, so I emailed to check. I had to decide if I was going to Dream Boy or Streetsweeper at 8pm tonight. If Streetsweeper was the winner, I'd go to Dream Boy. They were going to post the winner on the website at 6pm. I checked with Tony before the 5:30pm movie tonight so I'd know which movie to watch and wrote a post announcing the winner to go up at 6:15pm.

But after the first movie, How To Be, I checked the website and there was nothing there. So I took my post down. But I talked to Rand and he said he was so busy with visiting film makers and doing Bear Tooth business that it didn't get up. But apparently it will be in the ADN tomorrow, and he said to put it back up.

So Streetsweeper was named the best feature. That means it will show again Saturday night at the Bear Tooth at 8pm.

I understand the director Neil Mansfield was supposed to arrive from Australia today and should be at tonight's showing of the movie at 8pm at the Museum. But I'll catch it Saturday night, because tonight is the only time I can watch Dream Boy.

Congratulations Neil.

AIFF -Dilemmas for film Critics

We met RA at the Fireweed to see the Singaporean movie, Carrot Cake Conversations. (The website - at the link - is clever and worth a look.) When I proposed this as the movie we go to see together before dinner, he responded that he was looking at the same one as a good choice. Well, he is originally from Malaysia and Singapore borders Malaysia. It also turns out his sister lives in Singapore and she said it had been released in Singapore to decent reviews, but she hadn't seen it. As an added benefit we saw the short Donut Heaven before the movie. I have a short video from the director of Donut Heaven, Annetta Marion, in the previous post.

I'm struggling with the role of the movie reviewer. As a retired professor, my main experience with 'reviews' was grading papers. It seemed to me that the point of commenting on papers is to let the student know what you thought they did well (everyone needs outside confirmation that there work is good) and to show them ways to improve the parts that need work. I wrote about my criteria for evaluating movies last year, but there are other issues - like the purpose of the review and the relationship of the reviewer and the reviewed.

So Peter Porco's Anchorage Daily News review of the shorts he saw the other day, while pithy and more or less accurate, were sometimes pretty stinging. "Tepid acting and a lame script kept this film's amusement at the level of a groaner." That's like a punch to the stomach of the director, and while I'm afraid it is more true than not, I don't know that it will help the director do a better job next time. Granted, in a newspaper article that reviews six short movies, you don't have much space to say anything. But Porco spent more time in his review of the film "One-Two Punch" on a synopsis of the story, which ruins the movie for people who haven't yet seen it, and doesn't enlighten people who have seen it already.

But this also raises the issue of how relationships between reporters and their subjects affect what the reporters write. I met Tim Anderson, who made "One-Two Punch" (there's a video of Tim here) the second day of the festival. And I was able to talk to him briefly after I saw the film. I told him that I thought the acting was weak at times, but we also talked about the dilemma of capturing ordinary speech without being boring. The opening phone conversation between a couple having relationship problems is not brilliant conversation, but it is probably what two people might actually say. To what extent should writers elevate everyday conversation to a more literate level of talking? (People raised those issues about vice presidential candidates too I recall.)

The issue also came up in Andrew MacLean's filmmaker workshop. His film portrays a day of seal hunting. He said actually it was three days. And the killing of the seal, which happens at the end of the film, took place early in the first day. But the story narrative, influenced by his New York University faculty, required that the killing had to come at the end. I asked if an Inupiaq narrative style would have done the film differently. Andrew said, probably the end result was his own combination of those two styles and his own mix of cultures. When I asked if he would have made a different movie had it only had Barrow as its intended audience, he paused and explained in some detail why it would.

One issue here then is how our predetermined story lines and narrative styles cause us to reshape reality to fit culturally defined standards. And if we do that enough, do we create a separate reality in our recreations of reality, ones that cause us to see what isn't really there?

Porco could, rightfully, respond, "Hey, this is the bigtime. People who throw their films up for the world to see, need to be ready to face the fact that some of their films aren't very good." (Of course, while I'm making like I'm being fair to Porco, I'm also creating his lines which may not be nearly as good as what he himself would offer.) And I'd respond, first, film festivals are a venue for new film makers, and second, Anchorage's film stage is hardly the bigtime.

Now if the point of the criticism is to serve as triage for potential viewers, then one could argue one should be pointing out the gems AND the dogs so viewers don't waste their time with a bad movie when a good one is showing in the next theater. But that assumes that any one reviewer represents the tastes of all film goers.

Another role of the critic is to help film makers improve or at least think about how they might improve or the impacts of their films that they may not have considered. That tends to be my style. Rather than talking with the voice of God, it seems more appropriate to raise questions, point out areas which "from my perspective" seem weak seems both more humane and more productive than passing judgment from on high. I don't think my former students would say I was a pushover at grading, but I think most would say that my purpose was to point out where they could do better rather than to humiliate them. (For some it took longer to reach that perspective than others. And not all stuck it out long enough to get there.)

All this is a preface to why I haven't done any serious reviewing so far for this Festival. A good movie takes a while to parse. A bad movie takes even longer to constructively critique. When I talked to Tim Anderson about his film we talked about the basic theme - when the truth is so bizarre that people don't believe you. I asked if he knew why he wrote the film. He didn't have a ready answer, hadn't delved into his childhood for a clue, but did say that there was a time when he often picked up friends at the airport. (The main character assures his girlfriend in the phone call that he'll be their to pick her up when her plane comes in.) And sometimes he would think of what might be legitimate excuses if he couldn't make it. Being tied up by two men in bunny suits who invade your home and then invite their friends over to party wasn't one of them, though that's what ends the relationship in the movie. Writing a short review doesn't let you get into this level. Writing a review doesn't give you a chance to hear the filmmaker's side either. Now you can say the piece of art should stand on its own. But what is a short film for anyway these days? There isn't really much of a market for them except as parts of a television show, maybe, and film festivals. Perhaps theaters can be convinced to add them before features, like they used to do with newsreels and cartoons. But now that they've crossed commercial line, that isn't likely. So I suspect that shorts are often done by people without the resources to do feature length films. They are a chance to try out some techniques less expensively than in a feature length film. They can be a showcase for up and coming film makers. And some things don't need more than ten minutes to say, but this can be a pretty expensive project if there are few ways to pay your costs. MacLean said his second film cost $30,000. Tim Anderson said "One-Two Punch" cost $800, if I recall correctly. I think it is not unreasonable to have one way of evaluating films is against their costs. For $800 "One-Two Punch" is a helluva film compared to some Hollywood movies with multi-million budgets.

Of course, there is at least another purpose of criticism - to show off the cleverness and hipness of the reviewer. And certainly any decent reviewer wants to write the review in a way that provokes thought and redounds positively on the reviewer. But ultimately the focus should be on the subject of the film, the ideas that the film raises.

[picture from Donut Heaven website]


So, with that said, what can I say about the two movies tonight? I liked "Donut Heaven." I wish I had talked to Annetta after seeing the film instead of before. Was the weight loss of the mother real or was she just wearing a fat suit at the beginning? (Now that gets right to the deep psychological issues of the film doesn't it?) The basics - the photography, the acting, etc. worked for me. (One of my grading criteria for papers was "writing." Generally this was something you lost points for if there were more than a couple of grammatical or spelling errors or the style was particularly clunky. Sometimes if it was really outstanding you could get points. Points being more figurative than literal here. The basic technical parts of the film, for me are similar. You need to avoid gaffs. Ideally, the technical parts should be good enough that you don't notice them. And they shouldn't draw attention to themselves and away from the story - the way some music and photography can do.) The characters were real to me, though I'm a little skeptical of the mom's ability to suddenly curb her eating. The daughter's sneaked smokes was more realistic. It was also a good mother-daughter (parent-child) movie - where both wanted to be better to the other, but couldn't help but dig into the other. Especially those things they didn't like in themselves.

Dare I attempt Carrot Cake Conversations? Having spent five days visiting my son in Singapore last April, (he's back in the US now) I did want to see this film set in Singapore and made by Singaporeans. It was an Altman like style of four main characters, plus a few more folks, whose paths, in the course of 16 hours or so, cross in different ways. Carrot Cake from what I learned in the film, is a stir fry dish with lots of soy sauce and chili. While my son took me to eat at the Newton Hawker Market, where they ate in the film, I didn't have carrot cake. There's a video of the hawker we bought from here.

There wasn't anything special about this movie, except that it had a Singaporean setting and point of view. But I did like all of the characters, despite their flaws, and for me things dragged a bit. At times I saw the actors (meaning they seemed to separate from their characters enough that I saw them as actors reciting lines) but I thought Adrian Pang who played Matthew was right on the money all the time. The issues covered were universal issues - relationships (husband-wife; mother-daughter), the link between career success and happiness, and control vs. spontaneity. Nothing terribly new or insightful, but perhaps some of the ideas would seem fresher for someone much younger them I.

RA, J and I went to Tofu House afterward to talk about the movie and life. We've got several more inches of snow this evening and we passed the cyclist on Fireweed. He did have a light on his backpack, but it needed a new battery, which we were able to tell him as he caught up with us at the light.

I spent most of the day finishing my video for class tomorrow. I was working on the animation and then the sound. It came out ok - the music helps enormously to fill in the slow parts. The assignment was for 30 seconds with an understanding it could go over. Mine is just under 90 seconds. And I'm still having problems saving from iMovie (o6) to a .mov file. The second clip freezes the video as the audio goes on its merry way. I guess I'll have to get out the old iMovie disk and reinstall it.

[Carrot Cake pictures from the website.]

AIFF - Three Filmmakers Talk about their Films - Bolton, Marion, Hulbert

After Vanaja, we zipped over to the Fireweed to see The Moon and Other Lovers(Der Mond Und Andere Liebhaber). Both this one and Vanaja took us into different worlds. Both are definitely worth seeing and I'll probably talk about them later. Both were about strong women making their way in the world - two very different women at different ages, one in Germany and the other in Southern India.



The Moon and Other Lovers plays again:
Sunday, December 14 at 2:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre

Vanaja plays again:
Saturday, December 13 at 4:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre

After the movie we ran into some of the film makers, two of whom reluctantly allowed me to catch them on camera. After all, these guys put the cameras onto others all the time, they deserve to be on the other side now and then.

First, James Bolton who directed the feature Dream Boy which plays
Wednesday night at 7:45pm at the Bear Tooth. This film was both an official selection and an invited selection.


Second was Annetta Marion who directed the short film Donut Heaven. It plays again
Saturday, December 13 at 8:00 PM - Anchorage Museum as part of Subjective Subtleties.



The last video I did Sunday of Ward Hulbert coming out of the Andrew MacLean workshop, and he told me about his short film The Oracle which plays
Saturday, December 13 at 12:45 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre

(Grrrrrrrrr. I'm still having trouble with the video. I'll post this one and try to get another version where the video doesn't freeze.)

AIFF - Audience Member Liked "Sky in December" and "Diamonds in the Rough"

Waiting to see Vanaja at the Bear Tooth this evening, the woman sitting next to me was excited about two movies she'd seen already in the festival -

Sky in December
Diamonds in the Rough

Sky plays again Thursday, December 11 at 8:00 PM - Fireweed Theatre

I don't see that Diamonds - one of the documentaries in competition - is scheduled again.

I realized this morning that my head got overloaded with all the weekend watching. I don't want to write synopses of the films or just say, "I really liked this one." So until I digest the movies a bit more, I'll just mention that I went and a general sense of the film. Some I hope to be able to discuss at length later.

When your video is a lemon - and the theater was really dark - go for the special effects.

AIFF - Andrew Okpeaha MacLean Workshop Video

Well, it turned out I needed to shut off my computer and reboot to get my iMovie and Quicktime back in synch. But I wasn't sure, so I only used a couple of clips from the workshop here. I try not to think about the fact that filmmakers might be looking at these videos. But that though slipped into my consciousness, so let me just say I'm doing these with a Canon Powershot digital camera that has a video option, built in mic, etc. And doing quick edits - when my computer isn't fussing - to get these up in a few hours. And I believe in available light rather than flash. I also see myself as shooting as a member of the audience rather than as a reporter moving up in front of the crowd. So that's why there are some pretty dark images in some of the videos. And while this one is a little dark, at least Andrew stood in the spotlight.

Andrew's film Sikumi, which won a Jury Award at Sundance, will play again on Saturday, 12/13 at 12:45 at the Bear Tooth as part of Snowdance Shorts. He showed two other short films he made as a film student. The first is about a father teaching his son how to hunt seal in Barrow. The second takes a traditional Inupiaq story and puts the main character, a mad shaman, in New York City, where Andrew was a film student. You can see the other upcoming workshops here.

AIFF - Busy Sunday - Andrew Okeaha MacLean

Started today at Fireweed to see shorts, then to Out North to see Andrew MacLean's film maker workshop. Then more shorts at the museum- the last part of that group. And now I'm at Bear Tooth for The Last Days of Shismaref.

Well, my video is having the same problem I had the other night - the video is freezing.

The shorts at the Fireweed were hindered by bad projection - the films were way to dark and the sound was low. It was hard to watch. There was a great short Canadian animation - Profile - of faces being identified electronically. It very simply portrayed the ominous dehumanization in the name of 'security.'

Susan Cohen's Open Your Eyes was next. I'd met Susan a couple of times at earlier showings. Her film takes a nugget of life as a way of conveying the psychological impacts of having breast cancer. A wedding shower - lots of women in low cut tops only emphasizing to main character - wearing a very high cut dress - how she is now cut off from normality. But the darkness of the projection seriously detracted. The next one - Cocoon - was totally messed up by the darkness. You couldn't see faces for much of the short film.

I took off then to see Andrew at Out North. He showed two short films he'd made - one a documentary the other narrative.

We just saw Last Days of Shishmaref which was stunning and compelling No time now. The director Jan Louter was here to talk about the making of the film.

Here for the Queer Duck the movie and Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll now. As you can tell, I'm getting tired and the video problems are frustrating me.

Democrats elect Republican First Vietnamese-American Congressman and Say No to Corruption

Despite predictions to the contrary, Louisiana Democrats ousted indicted, black Congressman William Jefferson, and elected the first Vietnamese-American Congressman yesterday in an election that was postponed by Hurricane Gustav. Actually, the Hurricane pushed the primary election to Nov. 4 and the final election to yesterday.

Contrast this to Alaskans who almost reelected Ted Stevens despite his being convicted. Alaskan Republicans voted for Stevens. But in an overwhelmingly black and Democratic district in New Orleans, voters elected Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao. Now Alaskan Republicans can say, "But Jefferson had $99,000 in cash in his freezer." My response would be that Stevens had $150,000 in improvements in his house. What's the difference?

WWLTV.com

Associated Press

Joseph Cao

NEW ORLEANS - In a stunning victory, a little-known Vietnamese-American Republican candidate defeated nine-time Democratic Congressman William Jefferson in a majority African-American district with a very small number of Republican registered voters.

Anh ‘Joseph” Cao received 33,122 votes, or 49 percent to Jefferson’s 31,296, or 47 percent in the race for the Second Congressional District seat from Louisiana. He becomes the nation's first Vietnamese-American Congressman.

[Picture from wwltv.com]

AIIFF - Chronic Town - Post 1

Chronic Town is the first movie I've seen in the film festival so far, where I felt completely satisfied. Maybe if I mull on it a while I'll come up with some quibbles. But it's 12:36am as I'm typing now, so I'll just say a little while I wait for the video of the before and after film discussion. Do watch the video. A crew member says very nice things about the people of Fairbanks (not the ones portrayed in the movie.)

After watching Chronic Town, it is easier for me to talk about the other films I saw today - AL's Beef, One-Two Punch, and Bart's Got a Room - and yesterday. It's sort of like when I would grade papers. Often, it was easier to show students a really good paper than try to explain why theirs wasn't an A. When they saw the good one, they could see how much better it was. Watching Chronic Town helped clarify for me what was missing in the others. (last year I wrote up the criteria I seem to use when evaluating a film - they're at the end of this post on winners and my criteria.)

At this point, what I can clearly articulate about the film is that all the characters were real, there was no separation of an actor from his role - I never thought about the acting or that these were actors. The story drifted along like real life, yet the filmmaker made it interesting and gave us genuine peeks into other people's souls.

More tomorrow after I get some sleep. Not everyone liked the film as you'll see near the end of the video.

AIFF - Tim Anderson - One Two Punch

Talked to Tim before the movie One Two Punch just showed. Will talk about it later. Bart Got a Room is starting.


Update: He said after it was shown again that they fixed the problems he was talking about.

AIFF - AL's Beef

I had a little trouble getting up this morning, plus I had a 2 o'clock meeting with the Healing Racism in Anchorage steering committee, so I was going to miss the afternoon showing of Streetsweeper. But I managed to get to Bear Tooth for the last of film of the Subjective Subtleties. Well, there was NOTHING subtle about AL's Beef.

And now I'm back at Bear Tooth - after my meeting - waiting for Bart's Got a Room, so I actually have a moment to blog and there's free internet connection here.

AL's is my idea of a student film or a prototype film where the film maker is demonstrating the ability to do certain kinds of cinematic events - in this case with a Western back drop - but the film maker wants to do it 'different' so it isn't just one cliche after another. The answer: spoof. So we see the spurs before we see the cowboy - but the feet are barefoot, and the cowboy turns out to be a cowgirl. There's a sheriff/preacher (I wasn't totally clear about all the preachers) who practices throwing knives into a tree, but none of them stick. And then there's all the shooting, and all the bullet holes (in people) and gurgling blood. Not exactly my thing.

But all in all, it was funny and reasonably well done.

UPDATE: I found a couple of the visiting filmmakers who'd been discussing AL's Beef. One question was whether it was serious or not. I left the theater certain it was a spoof. but they said it had one Best Drama at another festival. I'm saying that doesn't matter. How could you have someone barefoot wearing spurs in a serious film? And a little kid walking around beating a drum while people are shooting each other and washing the blood off? Then the question came up, why was she all bloody at the beginning? So I checked - it was the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival, formerly the Sometime in October Film Festival, where it got best drama.

AIFF - Opening Night Gala at Aviation Museum - Film makers speak

We eventually made it to the Aviation Museum - several old hangers with an old Alaska Airlines 707 in front. Inside people were spread throughout the museum, eating, drinking, talking, and looking at airplane parts.

Shortly after we got there people gathered in the first room and some of the film makers talked a little about their films. A few even had trailers shown on a wall with a propeller on it. My tiny Canon Powershot valiantly attempted to adjust to the dark room. I can just say, it's better than nothing. You get a little sense of what it was like.

Outside it was slightly above freezing, but the snow wasn't too messy.


[OK, I've got a new problem - second time it's happened - but this time there might be some filmmakers looking who can tell me how to fix it. The movie works fine in iMovie, but after almost a minute (in this case) the video freezes in Quicktime version I saved it to, but the audio is good. How do I fix it. First time it ever happened was last week. I cut out the clip that it froze on. It went further and froze on another clip. I cut that out, and it seems to be ok. Any ideas?]

AIFF - First Films Begin at Bear Tooth - Symphony and Camille

I wasn't expecting much from Camille, so I was pleasantly surprised. A good movie isn't about the plot - though a good plot helps - but about how it all fits together. If you know it's got a guy on parole, a girl with red, red hair, and a blue horse and Niagra Falls, that's all you need to know. For the most part the acting was solid and it kept my attention. If there were any deep messages, I missed them completely. Definitely needed some polishing here and there - when the lady pointed out that Dad had forgotten the wallet, for example, we all had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

The animated short that opening things - Symphony (pic above, head not part of movie) - was a beautiful black and white of some sea creature who just misses being someone else's dinner several times to all in synch with the symphony. With my own short animation due Wednesday, I couldn't help but wonder how they did this. [Update: you can see a trailer of it here. Well worth it.]

AIFF - Animated Films in Competition Schedule

Here's the schedule for the animated films in competition.

Distraxion

USA • 2 min.• In Competition

By Mike Stern

An office worker’s job is made extremely difficult because of his boss’s taste in music.

Symphony

USA • 5 min. • In Competition

By Erick Oh

The topic of this abstractedly crafted animation applies to anything that struggles to be free. It can be a phenomenon occurring deep within the mind, or an individual confronting the standardized masses.

Mock ‘n Boyd

Canada • 4 min. In Competition

By Chris Dainty & Rita Street

Boyd was living the good life until Mock came along. Boyd’s new cage-mate is out to shake his tail feathers like they’ve never been shaken before.

Sebastian ’s Voodoo

USA • 4 min. In Competition

By Joaquin Baldwin

A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death.

The film maker is scheduled to attend the screening.

Yellow Sticky Notes

Canada • 6 min. In Competition

By Jeff Chiba Stearns

Twenty three hundred drawings on 4x6 inch yellow sticky notes with a black ink pen, Yellow Sticky Notes is a small internal reflection on one’s role as an artist manifests into a discussion about major political and environmental crises.

The film maker is scheduled to attend the screening on Saturday, December 13 and he's presenting the animation workshop Saturday at 3:15pm at Out North.

Headwinds

Canada • 2 min. • In Competition

By Brian Sinasac

Ready for his base jump, Dan, perched high above the desert floor, leaps into the open sky. Malfunctioning equipment means doom for our daredevil, who can only be saved by the use of his head.

Operation: Fish

USA • 11 min. In Competition

By Jeff Riley

After a series of mysterious goldfish abductions, a secret agent is dispatched with a time displacement gun to bring the criminals behind the “fishnappings” to justice, and possibly save the world!

AIFF - Short Documentaries in Competition Schedule

The short docs in competition only get one showing each. It's possible one or two might be added to another feature, but don't bet on it. Click the chart to enlarge it.




Here again, just to get this up at all, I'm stealing the list from the AIFF site. Remember, on that site, the snowman in the upper left corner is a link back to the main page. Just click on it.

City of Cranes

UK, 14 min. – Documentary short - In Competition

Directed by Eva Weber

Date completed August 2007

An unparalleled and unique view of London - through the eyes and words of crane drivers.

Health, Peace and Happiness

Singapore - 24 min. - Documentary short - In Competition

Date completed 2008

Details an endearing story of friendship between two terminally ill women involving their families and the staff of the hospital.

Leave Her to Die

Canada, 49 min. – Documentary short feature - In Competition

Directed by Antonia Thomson

Date completed August 2008

An HIV-infected child was abandoned in an orphanage in Northern Thailand Her medical chart read: Leave Her to Die, but one remarkable woman’s story proves that love itself can and is... saving lives.

Reefer Madness

Canada – 23 min. – Documentary short - In Competition

Directed by Steve Hanson

Date Completed: May 2008

Reefer Madness follows Canadian graffiti artist, Fatso, on a journey across the continent to track down the rarest refrigerator boxcars shedding some light on the most recent and unlikely movement in freight train graffiti.

Monster Dudes

USA – 22 min. – Documentary short - In Competition

Directed by Lance Bauscher

Date completed 2008

Documents Boise’s avant-garde noise rock band Monster Dudes.

Splitting Hairs

Germany/USA – 28 min. – Documentary short - In Competition

Directed by F. Stone Roberts

Date Completed September 2008

Splitting Hairs is a documentary about the American invasion of the World Beard and Mustache Championships.

DELTA Meeting and ...

I've been on a statewide steering committee putting together a plan to help prevent intimate partner violence in Alaska for a couple of years now. We're moving along. Yesterday afternoon and today we met at the Sheraton - piggy backing on another education/health conference that members were going to.

Intimate Partner Violence is a broad term to cover people in relationships - whether high school kids are a married gay couple and everything in between. It does not necessarily mean sexual relationship - not all high school kids are sexually active with their boy friends or girl friends. But it also focuses on these relationships rather than other situations of violence. The prevention people focus on developing communities that promote healthy relationships - promoting conditions that lower the risk factors of intimate partner violence, rather than traditional programs that intervene once violence has occurred.

(view from meeting room yesterday)

Anyway, our project is funded with Center for Disease Control money. A key goal is to have some sort of infrastructure in place to help link people working on prevention, facilitate cooperation on developing programs and materials, finding the resources that are already available, getting better data on what is actually happening, and a few other related things. Each one of these can stir up old wounds, suspicions, misunderstandings. We're looking for ways to take advantage of existing state agencies but also giving the people working across the state access and say without this becoming seen as (or de facto) an arm of the state. We want to slightly formalize the already existing informal networks and make them a little less accidental. Sort of a non-cyber Facebook so people can keep in contact and multiply contacts and access to tools, expertise, and resources.

We were done today a little after noon, so I stopped by the Film Festival hospitality suite at the Inlet Towers. This is available for All Film and All Events pass holders and filmmakers. Rand and Tony were getting things ready. Here Rand is adding some short films to show along with scheduled feature length films.

At the Gala tonight at the Aviation Museum they will be showing three shorts continuously - The King and Dick (The real Elvis meets the real Nixon); Nibbles (something about fishing and mosquitoes I think); and Spin, about a dj.

AIFF - DAY 1: Bear Tooth at 7pm for Camille

Tonight is the opening of the Anchorage International Film Festival with a showing of Camille at the Bear Tooth at 7pm. This is the easy day. There's only one movie to see so there are no agonizing decisions about which venue to go to.

Starting at 9pm will be the "Gala Opening." I never did quite get the word "Gala" but that's what they're calling it. At the Aviation Museum. Entry is $18 (Free with an All Events Pass) to the Gala. You get food and you get to rub elbows with local and visiting film buffs and makers. And you probably get to see the exhibits in the museum as well.

Camille

Official Selection

USA - 91 min - Black Comedy - 2008

Director: Gregory Mackenzie

Cast: Sienna Miller, James Franco, David Carradine, Scott Glenn

Young love has rarely been so twisted. Silas has just been blackmailed into marrying Camille. On their honeymoon, an accident leaves Camille deceased and then inexplicably revived, setting the stage for an undead romance as the couple flees from the cops toward the Canadian border.

Friday, December 5, 7:00 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre

There's a trailer here, but it does have an ad first. (It actually didn't work on my computer.)

Anchorage International Film Festival - UFAQs

I'm not sure its cricket to have FAQs if no one has asked any questions so these are UFAQs - Unasked Frequently Asked Questions. This is information people might be or should be asking for. Below are links to posts with general information about the Anchorage International Film Festival.

Where's the official AIFF site?

What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc. )


Workshops - Link goes to a list of the special workshops and a bit about the visiting film maker presenters.

Special Schedules - the official schedule is big and crowded with stuff, so I'm developing some specialized ones to focus on specific groups of films.

• Features films in competition
  
• Documentary films in competition
  
• Shorts in competition
  
• Documentary shorts in competition
  
• Animations in competition
  

What are your criteria for a good movie? When I made my picks for last year's best films, at the end of the post I outlined my criteria. The link takes you to that post, scroll down to second part.

Is there any public transportation in this town? If you're here for the festival from out of town and you don't have a ride to the next venue, just tell people around you and I bet they'll find someone going your way. Really, people will help out here, especially if you are a film maker. I'm told the Festival was loaned several vans that will help visiting film makers get from venue to venue.

What about family films?

The Program Guide - the link takes you to a PDF of the Program Guide the festival used to have on their website. It is what they sent to The Anchorage Press which printed it as an insert last week (Nov. 26). So, if you have that fine. If not, you can get one at the link. I also suspect these will be available at the venues.

Videos of the Festival
-At the First Movie of the Festival - Camille at Bear Tooth Dec. 5
-Opening night video at Aviation Museum Gala

Who Are You Anyways? - who's paying you to do this? does your brother have a film in competition? What is your connection to the festival? From an earlier post here's my Disclosure:

The eagle-eyed might notice that this blog is linked on the AIFF main page. What's up with that? Well I blogged the festival last year and they liked what I did and asked if I would be the official blogger. They promised me I could say what I wanted, but I decided it was better to blog on my own and then if I write something that upsets one of the film makers, the Festival isn't responsible. They also threw in a free pass for me this year.

I probably won't say anything terrible about a film, but I did rant about one film last year that I thought was exploiting its subject as well as boorishly demeaning a whole country. I mentioned in an earlier post that if I sound a little promotional at times, it's only because I like films and I like the kinds of quirky films that show up at festivals, so I want as many people to know about the festival as possible so the festival will continue. Will I fudge on what I write to get people out? No way. There are plenty of people in Anchorage who like films. They're my main target. To get them out of the house in the dark December chill when inertia tugs heavily if they even think about leaving the house. But if others who normally don't go out to films hear about a movie on a topic they're into, that's good too.

AIFF - Shorts in Competition Schedule

The Short films will be shown in groups with other short films and they have names that, perhaps after we see the films, will make sense. I've looked through the groups to find out when the ones in competition will be shown. I'm told they will be shown in the order they are listed. So if one you want to see is first at one venue and another is last at another, you could possibly pull that off. Good to get a pass of some sort rather than pay all the separate admissions if you're going to try that.

In any case, I've gone through them and tried to pick out the Short Films in Competition - those eligible to win prizes at the Award Ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 13.

But, it's possible I missed one or two, and that I haven't gotten all the details exactly right - so when you find something you want to see, double check the official Festival Program Guides at their website. Also, there will probably be a few changes now and again. Click the chart to enlarge it.




I've stolen the descriptions right from the AIFF website. I just don't have time to do more at this point.

Spielzeugland

Germany – 14 min. - Short In Competition

Directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank

Date completed: September 2007

Germany 1942: In order to protect her son Marianne Meißner tried to make him believe that the Jewish neighbors are going on a journey to “Toyland”.

Square Pegs

USA – 20 min. - Short In Competition

Directed by Ben Hicks

Date completed: May 2007

A teenage girl, her childish mother and her younger sister find themselves in a strange restaurant.

Reality Show

Mexico – 16 min. - Short In Competition

Directed by Federico Schmucler

Date completed: 2007

Can a TV reality show change the course of your own life?

Open Your Eyes

USA – 15 min. - Short In Competition

Directed by Susan Cohen

Date completed: May 2008

A journey of self-discovery begins when a woman diagnosed with breast cancer finds herself locked in a bathroom with a stranger during a bridal shower.

The film maker is scheduled to attend the screening.

Cocoon

Belgium – 19 min. - short In Competition

Directed by Jeroen Bogaert

Date completed September 2007

Martha is a passionate dancer. She and her company are at the verge of international success. A coming tour will make her ambitions come true. However, she is 7 weeks pregnant and keeps this delicate matter secret from her colleagues and boyfriend.

Land Gewinnen (Gaining Ground)

Germany – 20 min. - Short In Competition

Directed by Marc Brummund

Date completed: June 2007

A young illegal immigrant couple spends their time furtively avoiding the German authorities, until the wellbeing of their young son dictates that they resolve their untenable situation.

Animated American

USA, 15 min. short In Competition

Directed by James Baker & Joe Haidar

Date completed: May 2008

:

A 'toon hating executive has a hare raising experience when he meets an out of work toon rabbit.

The producer, Susan Cohen is scheduled to attend the screening.

Ripple

UK – 18 min. - Short In Competition

Directed by Paul Gowers

Date completed: January 2008

A black comedy. One small random act of malice forces an ordinary man off the safe road and on to a dark journey that he'll never forget.

AIFF - Film Makers Coming to the Festival

Here's a list of film makers who will be at the film festival sometime during the next ten days. This was posted on the AIFF website yesterday. [When you're on their site and can't find the link back to the main page, try clicking on the snowman in the upper left corner.] I don't have time to go through and identify them all more. You can click on the links to learn more about the films. A number, naturally, are Alaska related film makers, but a number are coming from as far as Australia and Holland. The first four are films in competition either for features or full length documentaries.

Greg Kern - Chronic Town

Brett Spackman – Coyote

Neil Mansfield – Streetsweeper

Jan Louter – The Last Days of Shishmaref

James Bolton – Dream Boy

Ingrid Veninger – Only

Ryan Piotrowicz – The Project

Matt Yeager - Resurrection County (opening night gala only)

Rory Magnus – Robot Dreaming

Mike Stearn – Distraxion

Jeff Chiba Sterns – Yellow Sticky Notes

Joaquin Baldwin – Sebastian’s Voodoo

Peter Dunlap-Shohl – XT & Me and Susitna Story

DeWayne Austin – Misadventures of Moon Kitty

Camille Ezzell – The Magistical

Andrew Okpeaha MacLean – Sikumi

Susan Cohen – Open Your Eyes and Animated American

Ellen Frankenstein – Eating Alaska

Joan Juster – Alaska, Far Away

Levi Taylor – Way Up North

Troy Henkles – In the Wake of Belgica

Skye Borgman – Junk Dreams

Brad Swenson – Stop and Go

Hanah Kaplan – Tits and Skatin’

Buzz Schwall – Butterfly’s Evil Spell

Tim Anderson – One, Two Punch

Don Reardon – Skid Marks

Donal Foreman - You're Only What I See Sometimes

Walt Monegan at UAA

Walt Monegan talked about integrity and ethics and leadership. He spoke softly - I hope it comes out on the video - and the words came from his heart. You could tell. And he knew what he was talking about.

Phil Munger asked him about the Rural Domestic Violence Prevention program he was working on, and it was clearly state of the art, recognizing that this was not simply a police issue. It included a Trooper cadet program for 18-21 year olds in rural Alaska. They would take on some of the community outreach tasks and other work that would free up Troopers to focus on other issues. It included teams of retired, but well qualified officers and judges.

He also fielded questions about running for higher office. He didn't say no. He said things like - "I like that kind of challenge - new things coming at you all the time" and "My wife and I are discussing it."

The video is about 13 minutes of the 70 or so minutes he spoke. By now I'm sure the television station there has broadcast the best soundbites, so I'm going to just play the whole thing. I think it's better that way anyway. This is not a superficial soundbite guy. I think we're about to see a lot more of Walt Monegan.

But also a note of caution. We tend to think what we need in leaders, in new employees, by what we didn't like in the last one. The Sarah Palin we saw in her VP candidate role seemed to morph into a person who was far more interested in furthering her own career than looking after the people of Alaska. I don't think that will happen to Monegan. Also, since Palin fired Monegan and then her minders tried to trash him (I think I heard the word rogue a couple of times), there's a natural tendency to compare the two. After all, we are still left with which one you believe - Palin or Monegan?

Watch the tape, then watch any tape you want of Palin and see which one you have most confidence in.

NOTE: The video freezes around 5:40, but the audio goes on fine. I'll post it as is for now and try to get a corrected video up soon. But it's a busy week.

AIFF - Documentaries in Competition Schedule

UPDATE Dec 7: Note two changes I've made to the schedule. Last Days of Shishmaref plays Saturday Dec. 13 at the Fireweed (originally I had Museum) and

Upstream has a Tuesday Dec. 9 showing at the Museum that I missed the first time around.





Here's a list of the documentary films that are in competition (for awards in the festival - more on what the categories mean here).

Short Documentary
Reefer Madness
Leave Her To Die
Splitting Hairs
Health, Peace, and Happiness
Monster Dudes
City of Cranes


Feature Documentary
Crawford
The Last Days of Shishmaref
Ballou
Upstream Battle
Nashville State of Mind
Diamonds in The Rough
The Wrecking Crew

Below I've simply copied the text from the AIFF Website, but I've taken only those documentaries in competition, the ones on the schedule above. I'll try to make a schedule for the short documentaries too.

NOTE: Diamonds in the Rough and Upstream Battle (N. California Salmon fisheries) are only shown one time each! The others all get two showings.

	A Nashville State of Mind USA • 88 mins.• 2008 - In Competition Directed by John Martin-Vogel and Eric La Rocca Samantha Gibb, daughter of Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, and her band move to Nashville after her father’s death. They enter Nashville’s Alternative music scene with some of the best local musicians on the scene. This peek into the lives of musicians/song writers who struggle to follow their dreams features guest appearances by industry professionals like Hank Williams III, Jody Williams, Dan Keen, Doc McGhee and Scott McGhee. Monday, December 8 at 5:30 PM - Anchorage Museum Wednesday, December 10 at 5:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
	Ballou USA • 83 mins. • 2008 - In Competition Directed by Michael Patrei The talented Ballou High School Marching Band overcomes a negative environment filled with guns, drugs and violence through music, dedication and personal sacrifice. On their way to a national band competition, band members must first learn how to play instruments and overcome personal losses due to the neglect of an impoverished community just three miles from the Capital. Celebrities including Rev. Jess Jackson and Colin Powell speak to the importance of a small marching band that becomes an award-winning band. Thursday, December 11 at 7:45 PM - Anchorage Museum Saturday, December 13 at 2:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
	Crawford USA • 74 mins. • 2008 - In Competition Directed by David Modigliani Months after arriving in Crawford, Texas, population 705, George W. Bush declares his candidacy for President and uses the town as the perfect set-piece to project a folksy image. Crawford explodes overnight. Souvenir stores open. Their Baptist pastor calls it a miracle. But with the Iraq War and the arrival of 20,000 protesters in Crawford’s backyards, conflict mounts in the town itself, pushing a progressive teacher and her student to the brink – and beyond. Soon, tourists stop coming and the stores are boarded up. But the human impact of political stagecraft is far graver. Now, through the eyes of Crawford’s colorful, dynamic people, comes a unique reflection on the last seven years. Thursday, December 11 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Sunday, December 14 at 5:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
	Diamonds in the Rough USA • 72 mins. • 2008 - In Competition Directed by Brett Mazurek Narrated by Michael Franti A group of young rappers in Uganda use hip hop to spread awareness about the political and social troubles engulfing their country, and to bring about positive change. Silas and Krazy Native are the two members of the Bataka Squad, rapping in their native language. Silas’s family was forced to flee to Canada when he was twelve, with his father subsequently falling victim to politically motivated murder. During Silas’s exile, Krazy Native rises to become one of Uganda’s most successful contemporary hip hop artists. When Silas returns to his homeland to set up a charity foundation for young people, he and Krazy reunite for the first time in ten years. Their journey goes from the riot-torn streets of the capital, Kampala, to the smallest villages in the countryside; from the Pearl of Africa Music Awards to the Global African Hip Hop Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa; and finally back across the Atlantic as Silas and Krazy bring their music and their message to the United States. On the way, a host of other young rappers tackle subjects ranging from genocide to AIDS in their music. Sunday, December 7 at 12 noon - Bear Tooth Theatre
	The Last Days of Shishmaref Netherlands • 88 mins. • English - Snowdance selection - In Competition and Iñupiaq with English subtitles • 2008 Directed by Jan Louter While politicians, scientists and environmentalists debate the effects of global warming, the Iñupiaq Eskimo community of Shishmaref in Northwest Alaska, just under the Arctic Circle, faces the real world consequences of climate change every day. As the ice beneath the small village melts, homes fall into the ocean. The situation is so severe that it has been predicted that the entire village will disappear within the next 10 years. How can you move an entire way of life? And should these villagers go to the edges of a city, or retain their rural ways? The transience of the Iñupiaq’s traditional way of life becomes apparent in the face of climate change, satellite television and mail order shopping. Here, the icy landscape — its water, smoke, steam and sky — is beautifully photographed, as are the village’s inhabitants. Sunday, December 7 at 6:15 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Saturday, December 13 at 12:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre The director is confirmed to be in attendance at these screenings.
	The Wrecking Crew USA • 98 mins. • 2007 - In Competition Directed by Denny Tedesco “The Wrecking Crew” was a group of Studio Musicians in Los Angeles in the 60s who played on hits for the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Jan & Dean, The Monkees, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Mamas and Papas, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson and Johnny Rivers. They were Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. Sometimes they would lay down some instrumental tracks and if the song became a hit, they would record an album and put a group together to hit the road. This happened many times — the Marketts, Routers, and T-Bones — and the next day they would do the same thing and call it another name. Just call them “The Wrecking Crew.” Friday, December 12 at 7:45 PM - Anchorage Museum Sunday, December 14 at 12:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
	Upstream Battle Germany • 97 minutes • English • 2008 - In Competition Directed by Ben Kempas Native Americans in Northern California fight for their fish and the survival of their culture. An energy corporation is messing up their river with a series of hydropower dams, contributing to one of the worst fish die-offs in U.S. history. To confront their opponents, tribal members first travel to Scotland, then to the second-richest man in the United States. The dam owners praise hydropower as a low-cost, climate-friendly source of energy, a valuable resource they say they can’t afford to lose. Yet, the tribes at the Klamath River may trigger the largest dam removal project in history. A long-term documentary with incredible access to tribal members, utility managers, and farmers in the basin — all fighting for water. Saturday, December 13 at 3:15 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Tuesday, December 9 at 7:30 PM - Museum **(added 12/7)

AIFF - Free Movies for Families Saturday at Loussac

For parents who want to go to the Anchorage film festival, Saturday is an opportunity to go to movies, with your kids, for free. Loussac Library will be the venue all day for movies for the family. I've copied the list below, but if you want it in color with pictures and links, go to the AIFF Mixed Media page.



Iron Giant

USA 86 min. • Animated Feature

Directed by Brad Bird
A giant metal robot falls to the earth, scaring the townsfolk of a small town in Maine in 1958. After befriending a boy named Hogarth, the unlikely duo ultimately saves the residents from their own fears and prejudices. Based on Ted Hughes' 1968 novel The Iron Man.

10:30 AM


Family Animation Program

An eclectic mix of animation films make up this collection, which is designed for a family audience, including young children. It is a mix of films with entertainment and educational value, most of which incorporate humor. Parents will enjoy the film programs along with their children. Some of the films have subtitles, but are still accessible to younger audiences through imagery and action.

Come Back Sweet Heart - The filmmaker Chang-Pei Wu states, “My art work is always about the search for an answer in my life. By creating this animation, I’d like to explore the meaning of give and take between the people I love and me.”

Maggie and Mildred - Maggie and Mildred have been best friends their whole lives. Well, at least one of their lives.

12:30 PM


Little Miss Dewie: A Duckumentary

USA - 29 min - Documentary

By Mira Tweti & Sarro

A funny and insightful story about life with the grandest of ducks, and the animal welfare consciousness living with her entailed, is ready for the world.

2:00 PM


Eating Alaska

Alaska/USA - 56 min

Directed by Ellen Frankenstein - Snowdance selection

Public Broadcasting
A documentary about a vegetarian, who moves to Alaska, marries a fisherman and hunter and begins to wonder what the “right” thing to eat is on “the last frontier.” What ensues are humorous and enlightening adventures in eating as the filmmaker heads to the woods and mountains with women hunters, communes with the Alaska vegetarian society, talks moose meat with a group of Alaska Native kids in a public schools in the Arctic and more, all in search of a meal that makes sense politically, socially, spiritually and tastefully. This wry look at what’s on your plate explores ideas about eating healthy sustainable food from one’s own backyard, either urban or wild, versus industrially produced food shipped thousands of miles. The 60-minute film is a collaboration of an independent filmmaker with KTOO-TV.

2:30 PM


Student Film Forum

Please join us for a mix of local short film productions from students and young adults. Student filmmakers from Mediak, and Service High School will be present to introduce the films and field questions about their films.

4:15 PM

AIFF Volunteers Get Ready

Tonight was a volunteer orientation for the Anchorage International Film Festival. I didn't count, but I'd guess there were at least 50 volunteers, probably more.














People got to sign up for various tasks. The conference organizers looked relatively calm considering things start in a couple of days.

AIFF - Features in Competition Schedule and Notes

In a previous post I wrote about the different classifications of films. The "Films in Competition" are the ones selected by the pre-screening committees to be in the running for awards - Golden Oosiks. Below is a table of the Feature films that are in competition - when and where they will be shown. You can double click the image to enlarge it. The intent here was to help people who want to focus on the Features in Competition and figure out to see them all.


Below is an eclectic collection of information about the six Features in Competition. I've tried to match the title colors to the colors in the chart above - but the light colors don't show up that well on the white background. I haven't seen any of these films. In any case, this should give you some ways to get a sense of the films.

[Technical note: I feel kind of dumb. I've never put a link in a picture before. Never thought about doing it. But I needed to here, so I tried, and it worked. So, most of these pictures link to the sites they came from rather than enlarge. (The schedule above enlarges!) If you see a little hand when you move the cursor over them you know it's a link.]

Features in Competition:

1. Bart Got a Room
USA 80 min • Comedy • 2008 • In Competition
Saturday, December 6 at 5:45 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Thursday, December 11 at 7:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre

Here's the director Brian Hacker explaining the film at the Tribeca Film Festival.
For a more entertaining discussion of the film, see this video of minor actor in the film Brandon Hardesty talking about being in the movie.

2. Chronic Town

USA/Alaska - 94 min. - Dark Comedy • 2008 - In Competition
Directed by Tom Hines
Written by Michael Kamsky
Saturday, December 6 at 7:55 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Friday, December 12 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre

This is an Alaska themed movie, shot, at least in part, in Fairbanks. The director was born in Fairbanks when his father was stationed there in the Air Force, but did most of his growing up Outside. What I saw of the trailer seems to have some of that “Outsider gee whiz I’m in Alaska feel” but it also looked like a real movie. And we have to give him lots of credit for really shooting it in Fairbanks. Here’s a bit from an email interview when he was headed for the Sundance Film Festival.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in either developing the project or making the movie?

We faced a lot of challenges in making the film, but I think that's what made the film so worth making. Most of our crew was from LA, but we had some great Alaska crew that kept all of us LA knuckleheads from freezing to death. Our Gaffer, Greg Kern, was from Anchorage and he brought his Key Grip, Billy Marr, over from Valdez, AK. Billy is not only a Key Grip; among other things he also picked up survivalist skills from a past career. When we were shooting JR with his shirt off during one scene, it was about 25 below freezing. Billy informed us that we had about 45 seconds until the exposed skin cells would begin to die.

3. Coyote (Coyote)
USA • 95 min - Action/Drama • 2007 • In Competition
Written & Directed by Brian Peterson
Producer, Writer & Editor Brett Spackman
Friday, December 12 at 7:45 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Sunday, December 14 at 7:15 PM - Fireweed Theatre

From the Coyote website blog, this is actress Marina Valle:

COYOTE holds a special place in my heart because I feel it sheds a new light on the humanity behind the immigration issue. This issue is important to me because my parents came to the U.S. from Mexico, where my dad started as a migrant worker. I grew up very aware of this issue and have always looked for ways to share the stories I heard growing up.

Growing up in South Texas, I remember hearing in school about “wetbacks” and “illegals” being caught and sent back to Mexico. As an 8-year old, the thought of having my family ripped apart was unsettling to say the least. I would hound my poor mom endlessly for proof that they would not be taken away. She always reassured me that they had papers and permission to live in the states. This is where I learned of the intricacies involved in permissions, governments and paperwork in order to chase the American dream.

4. Half-Life
USA • 116 min • Drama • 2008 • In Competition
Written & Directed by Jennifer Phang
Saturday, December 13 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Sunday, December 14 at 4:45 PM - Fireweed Theatre 




The website looks really classy, but ultimately doesn't have much hard information. This is NOT the New Line Cinema feature of the same name. The IMDB site says

As troubling signs of global cataclysms accelerate, a brother and sister react to their father's desertion and the powerful presence of their mother's new boyfriend

and a commenter who apparently saw the film at Sundance compares it to Donnie Darko and Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Best of Sundance, 16 February 2008
7/10
Author: chuck-391 from United States
The film explores major-themes in Multiculturalism and the human angst for the 21st century. What is specifically startling is how vibrant the aesthetic approach is in production value. Although reportedly not a high budget project, Phang's mis-en-scene is breath-taking. Also worth noting is the extremely likable performance by Alexander Agate, who rivals any child performance to date (reminded me of the powerful performance by Anna Paquin for THE PIANO.) While the pacing may not be for everyone, I think this is a film for the type of audience who enjoys a cerebral experience similar to DONNIE DARKO or Pink Floyd's THE WALL. The original score takes a post-modern approach of incidental music, which is very innovative in keeping the film from being too sentimental.

5. How To Be

UK/England • 85 min • 2008 • In Competition
Written & Directed by Oliver Irving
Produced by Justin Kelly
Wednesday, December 10 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Friday, December 12 at 7:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre 


There are good actors in this, the trailer looks interesting, but the website and blog are more promotional than insightful. Here's the trailer.


How To Be Trailer from How To Be on Vimeo.


6. Streetsweeper (Streetsweeper)




Australia • 77 min • 2007 • Arthouse • In Competition
Directed by Neil Mansfield
Produced by Toby Ralph
Saturday, December 6 at 2:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
Wednesday, December 10 at 8:00 PM - Anchorage Museum

The website describes this movie as:

Streetsweeper is an idiosyncratic Novocastrian feature film. Shot in three days and made for virtually nothing, it is a bold portrait of an eccentric pedestrian in an urban Australian landscape…

I was wondering what sort of post-modern school of philosophy Novocastrian referred to so I looked it up. It means: "A native or resident of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia."

From a July 17, 2007 interview by Anthony Scully

I guess it’s what archaeologists do, they go and they try and piece together what a society is like from the fragments that are left behind

In the film’s credits Mr Mansfield thanks “the people of Newcastle for being themselves”, as many of the scenes include exchanges between the actor and pedestrians. It was an approach the director was worrying about up until the night before the first day of shooting.













“I actually started to panic and think ‘hang on, we’re about to make this film with only one actor, and maybe I need to get some other actors to pretend to be pedestrians and set up more conventional encounters’,” he said.

Fortunately additional actors were not enlisted, resulting in a film in which chance encounters with the public enhance and even change the way the story unfolds.

“Part of my philosophy was if you go out on the street, and stand there long enough, something interesting happens,” he says. “The timing of some of these pedestrians was absolutely incredible.”

Something about the website tells me that this film is going to be quirky and different - the kind of film I like. (There are shots from the film, but I couldn't get their Quicktime player to work on my Mac.) It is a well made website, but it has much more authenticity about it than say the one for How to Be which is blatantly promotional. This looks like the kind of film, film festivals were made for.

And the filmmaker is coming to the Festival. From his blog, Nov. 29, 2008:

Domestic Economic Crisis averted. Just. So, yes, I’ve finally paid for my return ticket to Anchorage, Alaska. I am going next Sunday and will be back in just over a week. (Yes, I know.)

The price of the ticket/s kept fluctuating whilst I was waiting for my new passport to arrive, which also cost me… Anyway, I ended up having to take my money box down to the bank to get all my coins counted just so I could cover the return air fare. And I ended up with about $1.50 to spare (including a New Zealand 20c piece, an Indian Rupee and an American Dime!?) and at this point in time this is all the money I have: so it’s going to be a quiet weekend indoors listening to the rain pour down the gutters I still can’t afford to fix. NM

[After all these years I still end up having to “shop with coins” at least once a year: bring on the recession.]

Note: There is another movie called Streetsweeper coming out in April about a guy on a giant sweeper machine in San Diego. A much different film. There's a review on Worldsweeper - a website with the logo "World's Largest Power Sweeping Resource."

AIFF - "Official Selection," "Films in Competition" - What Do The Film Categories Mean?

If you look at the program guide for the Anchorage International Film Festival, the films are divided into different categories. I get the

• Features - 'fiction' films over about 55 minutes
• Documentaries" "non-fiction" films over about 55 minutes
• Shorts - 'fiction' films under 55 minutes
• Short Documentaries - 'nonfiction' films under 55 minutes
• Animation - Animated films - these can be feature length or short, and while most are 'fiction' I guess you could have an animated documentary - a biography of Mickey Mouse maybe? No, this would be a interesting challenge.
  

But there are other distinctions I didn't quite understand, so I've been emailing and talking to several of the people running the Festival (Rand and Tony and a one of the documentary coordinators from last year) to find out what these terms mean exactly and how it all works. All the highlighted terms will be explained, though so show up before the explanation. Patience.

• Pre-screening Committees - Committees are selected early on to view all the movies submitted to the Festival in the specific film categories. So, there is a committee for documentaries, for features, for shorts, and for animations. These committees select the films that will become official selections. There are five to ten people on a pre-screening committee. They've completed their work some time ago.

• Official Selections - An official selection is any film that was submitted to the festival, was accepted by the appropriate pre-screening committee, and paid the entry fee.

• Special Selections - Special selections are films that the festival invites or solicits after the submission process has ended to round out the program, usually they have to pay a screening fee for these films and often times these films are already in theatrical release and this category applies to classic films as well, such as Chinatown that will be shown next week.

• Films in Competition - The pre-screening committees are given a rough guide about how many films they can accept as official selections. Of those, they pick what they consider the best. These are then the films in competition and get sent to the jury panels. These films are the contenders for the Golden Oosik Awards. Now, there is some negotiation between the coordinators of the pre-screening committees and director of the film festival to insure that ultimately there is a good balance of genres (they'd rather every not have every feature be a comedy for example) and national representation, etc. They have to narrow it down so that the jury panels have time to watch the films and make their choices.

• Jury Panels - Once the Films in Competition are selected the pre-screening committees are done and the films are given to jury panels. The jury panels get together as a group in a theater and watch them all together. I think these also tend to be five to ten people who haven't been involved the selection process before this. They choose the best films for each category. I think they're supposed to have this done by the middle of the next week. These best films win the Golden Oosik awards at the Saturday night awards ceremony.
  

• Audience Awards - All feature length films (over 55 minutes) are eligible for the audience award which is voted on by . . . well, you know who. This is new this year. The best audience award feature film and documentary will be screened on the last day of the festival, they will be announced at the awards party on Sat. December 13. I'm not quite sure the logistics of how people will vote, but we'll find out. Other film festivals must have figured out how people who don't see all the films can vote reasonably fairly.

Last year I didn't understand any of this. When I was picking my own favorites, I hadn't taken into consideration the category of films in competition. I'm pointing this all out here so others can understand it. Before the Festival begins I'm going to first focus on making it easier for people to know what the Films in Competition are for each category and what the schedules are so you have a chance to see as many as possible. I'll post the schedule for the Feature Films in Competition soon.

But other people will be more interested in films of specific genres - comedy, drama, etc. Other people will just want to see shorts or animation. And some will be interested in films from certain countries or about specific topics. They won't care if the films are in competition or not. And there are the special presentations which have been invited and may prove to be better than the films in competition. But I'm going to start with the films in competition, then, if I have time left over, I'll go onto some other focus. Once the festival starts, I'll report on what I go to.

I'm also going to try to set up a temporary box on the upper right hand corner of the blog that will have a guide to some of these general posts like this one.

Ahhhhh. Fresh Snow

It was a bit chillier today - about 10˚F (-12˚C) when I walked to class today, but the sun was out. It's getting lower on the southern horizon, so if there are any big trees or hills south of you, you end up in the shade. Here's a bit of woods as I walked the bike trail across campus.










The creek is moving fast enough to keep flowing and doesn't usually freeze up unless it stays really cold for a long time.







But I wouldn't want to dip my foot in it.






See, there's the sunlight, up in the tree tops.







And there were several bikers taking advantage of the well groomed trail on campus.





Finally, I got to the Art/Theater building. My fingers getting pretty cold from pulling off the gloves to take pictures.



Some of the other students are doing really spectacular animations. One has a hummingbird flying - he's really nailed it. I guess I just have to do a lot more frames so the movement isn't so jerky. Someone else has a woman walking/dancing. It's sketched out and really looks natural. Well, mine isn't nearly as polished. I need to do more work, but it will never be like theirs. But the point will get across.






On the way home, a few hours later, I chose the indoor route. You can get most of the way across campus inside. There's also a shuttle bus - I should have gotten a picture - but I figure I can walk almost as fast and I need the exercise. Anyway, as I was taking this picture of the hockey team practice (it's for you especially Ropi) I heard a voice asking, "Is that going on the blog?"





And there was PJ, still getting used to being retired, who was moving books. So, this one is for Mimi.

How many Black Members of Congress? Update

[Update Jan. 24, 2009 Thai Time: Roland Burris was appointed Illinois' junior Senator on January 15, 2009 to replace Barrack Obama. The appointment of Burris, an African-American, means that there is still one Black member of the US Senate. (I see that I missed this because it occurred while I was at the Petchabun meeting and out of internet contact for several days.) Today's announcement that Hillary Clinton has been replaced by Kirsten Gillibrand means the number of women in the US Senate stays the same as well.
[Update Dec. 16, 2008: I got through to the Congressional Black Caucus office today to confirm that Donna Christian Christensen, delegate from the Virgin Islands, will return in the 111th Congress and that no new Black representatives were elected from districts that didn't previously have Black representatives. That means that after this election the number of Black members of the US House of Representatives is down by one (William Jefferson lost his election) and the US Senate lost its only Black Senator when Barack Obama was elected President. By my count that means there are 39 African-American members of the US House of Representatives, plus two more African-Americans who are non-voting delegates (from Washington DC and the Virgin Islands).]

[Update Dec. 7, 2008: Black Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson was defeated yesterday in his bid for reelection by Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao. That means one less black congress member, but it also means the first Vietnamese-American congress member.]

Short, not completely confirmed answer, is 40 39 [see update on Rep. Jefferson above.] But there are a number of qualifications. Read on for the details.

In February I posted about the difficulty in getting a simple number count of African-American Congress members. I went through several lists and put together a table where I calculated there were 40 voting House members and one US Senator. That Senator resigned recently so he could concentrate on being president-elect and his replacement is still to be appointed.

After the November election, I thought it was time to attempt to update the table. It wasn't easy. The Congressional Black Caucus site, the one I would expect to have the information, still has the 110th Congress listed. That's fine, but it would be nice if they had something about who were reelected or whether there were new members. Maybe that's too political and they wouldn't want to have to mention if someone lost an election.

In any case, I could find that all but two members have been reelected. In a couple of cases the member had died and been replaced by an African-American since I last posted. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was not replaced until after the November 4 election, by a later special election. Her successor - Martha Fudge, also an African-American - was elected to fill in the rest of the term on November 18 as well as starting the full term in January. The exceptions were Donna Christian-Christensen, the non-voting member from the Virgin Islands. I simply couldn't find any information online on that election. The second is Louisiana Congressman Willian Jefferson. Although he's under indictment, that isn't the reason he wasn't reelected. Hurricane Gustav caused the cancellation of the primary in his district. The primary was postponed until the regular election day. Jefferson won the Democratic primary and the final election will be Dec. 6, 2008.

I had to check each candidate's election separately. I used my list of Congress members and relied on Sourcewatch to see if they had been reelected. Sourcewatch had a nice state-by-state breakdown with pictures of all the candidates. I did not, however, go through all states to see if there were any black faces that were new. It was tedious enough as it was and that seemed a dubious task.

They are listed in order of seniority which was how the original encarta list had them.

[Run your cursor over the top tool bar for controls to print, email, magnify the chart, etc.]
Black Members of 111th Congress

Publish at Scribd or explore others: US Federal Government

While searching I found this August 2008 report on from the Congressional Research Service on African-American Congress members. It has more information about each member beginning in 1870.

While double checking that last link, I found another CRS report on the members of Congress dated May 2008 which says of the 110th Congress:

A record number of 90 women serve in the 110th Congress: 74 in the House, 16 in the Senate. There are 42 black or African American Members in the House, including two Delegates, and one black Senator, the same as the record number in the 109th Congress. There are 30 Hispanic or Latino Members serving: 26 in the House, including the Resident Commissioner, and three in the Senate. Eight Members (five Representatives, one Delegate, and two Senators) are Asian or Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. There is one American Indian (Native American), who serves in the House. This report will be revised at the commencement of the 111th Congress.

[Update: January 30, 2009 Thai Time: Ragini at Just Jackfruit has put together the information I was originally looking for when I found myself having to create this table to figure things out. H[Sh]e gives the percentage of Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Pacific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaskan Natives, as well as women in the US and in Congress.]