Here's a press release I got by email from the Anchorage Airport today. My comments are below.
Cargo Ranking: Up one spot to #5 in the world, remains #2 in the US
(ANCHORAGE, AK) — Airport Council International (ACI) released its Annual World Airport Traffic Report yesterday with 2017 numbers. Last year, more than 2.7 million tonnes of cargo transited through the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Airport Manager, Jim Szczesniak said, “The airport remains a substantial part of the world air cargo system, that’s good for Anchorage and good for the State. We continue to promote our strategic location, and the synergies that Anchorage can provide in air cargo transfer, e-commerce distribution centers, major and minor aircraft maintenance and repair, and aircraft parts warehousing. This all translates to good paying jobs for Alaskans.”
Anchorage Airport is located on transpolar flight routes between Asia, North America and Latin America.
Total cargo volumes handled by airports experienced a record increase of 7.7 percent from the previous year.
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is less than 9.5 hours from 90 percent of the industrialized world and serves more than 5 million passengers annually. The airport accounts for 1 in 10 jobs in Anchorage, accounting for more than 15,000 jobs in Anchorage and a $1 billion in earnings.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 239 airports, 10 ferries serving 35 communities, more than 5,600 miles of highway and 731 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.” [emphasis added.]
Let's look at the wording.
We are told in the headline and first paragraph that ANC went up one spot in the world rankings in 2017 and that we increased by more than 2.7 million tonnes of cargo.
But I'd also note things that the article doesn't mention:
If you click on it you'll be able to read it better. Or go to the original here.
The press release tells us that world-wide air cargo increased by 7.7%. It doesn't tell us (but the chart does) that Anchorage increased only by 6.7%. In fact, of the top 10 airports internationally, Anchorage's increase was the 7th highest, or fourth from the bottom. Of course, to be fair, the less you have to start in actual quantity, the easier it is to get a higher percentage increase. But then again airports #1 (Hong Kong) and #3 (Shanghai) increased by 9.4% and 11.2% respectively.
The Airports Council International's press release, on which the Anchorage Airport press release is based, also tells us that the biggest growth in passengers and cargo comes from Asia. So, in some ways Anchorage's growth is due to our lucky global location equidistant between Asia, Europe, and Eastern US. (The press release doesn't mention Europe, but does mention Latin America which didn't used to be in the airport's publicity.)
International passenger service via Anchorage is way down (since 1990) due to planes that fly longer distances and passengers who want to get wherever they are going faster. (It was great for Anchorage residents who could fly directly to Europe and Asia.) But freight fleets would rather carry more paying cargo weight than fuel weight, so a stop in Anchorage lets them carry more cargo and less fuel and then pick up more fuel in Anchorage. And credit must be given to the airport for being ready to take on more traffic.
I understand that the purpose of the press release is to make their organization look as good as possible. But it's also the role of journalists to point out what they don't say. On that count, I'd like to also note how the press release talks about all the jobs the airport provides. It doesn't talk about all the noise Anchorage residents had to endure this summer and the even more noise they will have to endure next summer. It also doesn't talk about all the pollution that is added to Anchorage's air and water. (I found lots of interesting information and you can easily find studies that downplay the amount of air pollution But check the dates of the studies. And who did them.)
The traffic wasn't moving on Benson as I was heading to the elections office to turn in to registrations and ask some questions about PFD registration and registering homeless folks.
I got onto Benson at Spenard and the left lane wasn't moving shortly after that. The two right lanes were empty. Here I was at Benson and C after the light's been red a while.
The two left lanes weren't moving because the folks in the right lanes were merging because at A street they were completely blocked off. My lane had a dying flare in it, so basically everyone had to move over to the far left lane.
At A Street and Benson, the problem was revealed. I'm guessing someone ran a red light, just can't tell which one.
I think I waited about four or five extra red lights, maybe fifteen extra minutes. This is just normal conditions in lots of parts of LA.
At the elections office I learned
Yes, when you register for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) check, you're automatically registered. Some people, they told me, complained because they had no choice. She did refer me to the Elections website which has a PDF updated August 2018, which answers all my questions.
I guess this is the key question, all the others, clarify this one:
"Why is the Division of Elections sending me mail? The law requires the Division of Elections to send each PFD applicant that is eligible to vote an opt-out mailer giving the applicant/voter the option to opt-out of being automatically registered to vote or have their voter registration record updated."
I take this to mean that everyone who applies gets a letter from the Division of Elections, either to opt out, change information (namely address), or do nothing. If I got such a notice, I've totally forgotten it. If you do nothing, and you're already registered, everything stays the same. If you aren't registered and do nothing, you get registered to vote.
I'd note that in October 2016, when the initiative to add automatic PFD registration was coming before the voters in November, Paul Jenkins had an opinion piece saying it was a waste of money, that people already had lots of ways to register if they wanted to. But then his real opposition to the initiative is revealed when he writes near the end:
"To argue the initiative is not about advancing Democrat fortunes at our expense is nonsensical. If the left wants to register voters it should pick up the check and not pass it on to a cash-strapped state while pretending it is for the civic good."
I would have to do some more research to see if his predictions that more Democrats will be signed up is true. I suspect that would be hard to determine since people are automatically registered as "undeclared." They would have to opt to change their party registration and I'm guessing most won't.
My guess is that Republicans wouldn't have any problem with spending money on this if they thought it would add Republican voters.
"Nine southern states previously had to get approval from the Department of Justice to change voting policies under a provision in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court struck down that measure in 2013. “Across the board, formerly covered jurisdictions increased their purge rates after 2012 more than noncovered jurisdictions,” the report found. The center highlighted Texas, Georgia and Virginia as states impacted by the 2013 Supreme Court ruling with higher rates of voter purging."
Actually there were 16 states overall that had to get preclearance from the Department of Justice before the Supreme Court ruling and Alaska was one of them.
But with the PFD registration (more people get PFD's than drivers licenses) Alaska has to be one of the most aggressive states actually getting people onto the rolls instead of off.
And it's nice to live in a state that's making it as easy as possible for people to register to vote. Unlike states where they are now aggressively purging the roles.
I'm curious what this means for voter registrars. How many people aren't registered. Of the two I registered last Friday, one had moved from out of state, so he clearly hadn't registered yet. But the other seemed to be someone who would have gotten a PFD check last year. But they checked and he wasn't registered. And, of course, all the people turning 18 before the election.
Homeless Registration?
People can use Bean's Cafe, or any other place they regularly eat at as their address. If they are living in a homeless camp off the bike trail through the woods, they can give the closest intersection or whatever description that will allow the elections office to determine what district they are in. Of course that won't work too well for mail-in only elections. But you can still go and vote early at various locations.
There are lots of spots along Turnagain Arm to stop and explore. On the east side (away from the water) they tend to go up pretty steeply and that's less and less appealing as we get older. On the west side are favorite spot is a small parking spot near Indian where the bike trail starts. But where you can get over a small chainlink fence and then over the railroad tracks down to a rocky beach.
Though we discovered yesterday that the rocky part is much more limited than it used to be It's mostly mudflats now.
Yesterday there was only a thin area that was rocky, right along the where you climb down the boulders from the railroad tracks. Then it turned quickly to mudflats.
Here's a picture from September 2012 at this same beach. While it's not the same exact spot, you can see the same mountains in the background. You can't even see the rocky slope on the left where the railroad tracks are. The area between the railroad tracks and the mudflats was much greater.
But let's enjoy the amazing textures of the mudflats.
This one is from the road. I can't remember such a low tide where I couldn't see any water except for in the deeper channels.
As we got over the railroad tracks we found a couple and their dog enjoying a picnic overlooking Turnagain Arm. It was warmish (high 50s F) and no wind at all.)
And here we are on the railroad tracks (looking south) as we head back.
An LA Times columnist, Steve Lopez, answers this question in a story on the problems on Baxter Street in LA's Echo Park. It seems that driving short cut apps like Waze are routing people onto this street and lots of people have trouble navigating it, especially when it rains.
The problem is that Baxter, with its Himalayan double dip between Allessandro Street and Echo Park Avenue, is not a normal street, and it was never meant to be a thoroughfare.
It was designed for goats, not people or cars.
Whoever built it, more than 100 years ago, must have gone on to design roller coasters. A video of a daredevil skateboarder blasting down Baxter has had nearly 1.2 million views on YouTube.
The Times has reported that Baxter ranks as the third-steepest street in Los Angeles with a 32% grade, behind 28th Street in San Pedro (33.3%) and Eldred Street in Mount Washington (33%).
Still, it’s on the list of the 10 steepest streets in the United States, seven of which are in California, and four of which are in Los Angeles, with Fargo Street in Silver Lake joining the others. Only two of the top 10 streets are in San Francisco, which is often thought of as a city of hills, and the famous Lombard Street (27% grade) doesn’t crack the list. The steepest streets in the U.S. are in Honokaa, Hawaii, (45%) and Pittsburgh, Pa. (37%).
OK, I'm embedding the skateboard video just so you can see this street. The soundtrack is a bit raunchy so if you're showing it to little kids you probably should turn off the audio.
Being a nomad screws up any sort of regular routine. Since mid-November we've been in Anchorage a little over three weeks. But the trade off is time with family, particularly grandkids, mostly the one in Seattle.
This week my routine was to drive her to her school by 8:30 and then spend about 30 minutes walking the loop in the park across the street. And so I've been noticing the most obvious birds:
mallards
widgeons
geese
robins
gulls
I can't tell if there is one flock each of the water birds that are spread over the park, or more smaller ones. The geese and widgeons spend time in the water and on the lawns.
As we left Anchorage last week I was looking at the cases with the stuffed ducks and geese and noticed that the greater and lesser Canada geese looked very similar, but one was larger. Another man pointed out which ones he'd hunted and said he'd gotten a greater Outside, that the ones in Anchorage were lesser. I'd always thought they were pretty big, but now I'm not sure.
This pair announced itself from a distance as they flew to this pond. There was already a flock in the pond and one goose started honking in response. After they landed one of the new geese and the responder goose swam towards each other necks out low along the water. They seemed to have a little challenge match and then everyone seemed to get along.
The American widgeons move from pond to pond and also wander out on the lawn. They also seem to mix with the mallards. Just eyeballing it, I'd say there are more geese and widgeons than mallards.
The mallards seem to stay mostly in the water. I find myself dismissing mallards because they are so common. But when I look through the camera, I'm always reminded how beautiful they are. If every human were really beautiful, would we stop noticing?
The robins run in crowds (are they a flock?) on the lawns, poking through the leaves for worms and other tasty bugs.
There are other birds. Most notably the other day there were buffleheads and ring-necked ducks. If you look above at the mallard, they are true ring-necked ducks while the ring-necked ducks have rings on their beaks, not necks.
The buffleheads are in the back and the ring-necked duck is up front. I thought it was a scaup until I looked more carefully on line. I'm not that familiar with the ring-necked ducks which have a similar color scheme to the scaup.
Here's a better picture of the ring-necked duck.
There are also lots of smaller song birds that flit around or sing from the bushes or trees. But they are much harder to get on camera. This one isn't a bad picture, but it's not much good for me to identify. It was singing away up there.
I also got a couple of bike rides in to a small beach on a tiny road where you can sit and listen to tiny waves and find nice shells and rocks. Yet another similar duck - black with a white belly, was swimming out in the salt water - a golden eyes.
And from that beach I could see downtown Seattle about 9 miles across the water. With an Evergreen container ship in-between.
Enough for now. Tomorrow the three boys each have soccer games in different locations. I'm driving the youngest to Olympia for his game and luckily, some old friends from Anchorage live nearby and will come out to join us.
And I had to check up on this rule about stopping for school buses. I did stop, but I wasn't sure if I had to when I was on the other side of the street. This is for Washington State.
"If you're on a two-lane road, both directions need to stop. If you're on a road with three or more lanes, you need to stop if you're traveling in the same direction as the bus. If you're traveling in the opposite direction, you can keep going."
There were a couple of days we came upon the school bus with flashing lights on the other side of the street. On a two lane road.
Our flight was supposed to leave at 1pm (Alaska time). They were just starting boarding at 12:20pm when they abruptly stopped and said there was an IT problem and we should sit down.
After a bit I tweeted asking why they couldn't use our boarding passes since planes seemed to be flying and landing.
Just wait a tad, they tweeted back.
At 2pm I asked again why we can't board and wait for the computers to come up again while we fly instead of at the airport.
Got another tweet saying the system was up briefly but went down again. They're considering using paper to board. I should hold tight.
Not a lot of choices. I understand computers go down. But if it's just the passengers info, why can't we use paper? They should have a backup. Now, if the computer controls more than that and it would jeopardize flying, that's another story. But since planes have landed and people got off their flights ok, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Well, here's the latest tweet - and the system wanted to know if I was satisfied with the answer.
"Thanks Steven. I'm sorry, since you know some of our systems have gone down. We want to make sure we can fly you safely first. -Tara"
There's an announcement saying they will look at our boarding passes in about 5 minutes. A Kodiak flight - the announcement says - will board too.
Is the computer up or are they resorting to paper. I guess you'll have to wait til I land.
[UPDATE 10:50pm (Pacific Standard Time): We finally left about 3:30pm (Alaska Time) and had an uneventful flight. Had a text message from Alaska Airlines when I turned my phone back on in Seattle: They added a $75 discount on my next account to my discount codes. I guess you have to be in their frequent flyer program to get it. Person sitting near us also got one. Here are a couple of pictures from the flight.
Now we're back in the rain in Seattle, but after 0˚F this morning in Anchorage, 40˚F feels balmy.]
The State Department of Transportation, etc. (DOT) is having a public hearing to talk to the community about congestion in midtown, particularly related to the Seward Highway. You can find out more at a website with the url of www.midtowncongestionrelief.com.
3-7pm (presentations at 3:30pm and 6:00pm) Loussac Library
Draft Goals:
Connect commerce and community
Improve multi-modal transportation efficiency
Improve safety to all users
Align with city and state planning documents
Realistic implementation play
You can see there real specific here and focused on using language that everyone can understand. (Sarcasm alert)
The return address is DOWL the engineering company that seems to get all the contracts for public participation for DOT. The do an excellent job of making maps and charts and offering options, and being friendly. But my experience - especially with the Bragaw extension through UAA greenbelt - was that it's basically show and tell and very little listen.
But, there was an earlier plan for 36th and New Seward. I never got to any of the hearings - timing was wrong for me - but I was appalled at the plans which included an offramp in the middle of the highway. I know that happens places sometimes like LA, but in Anchorage with all the offramp to the right, it seemed user-unfriendly to have one that was different from all the rest. The even bought the land where Nico's was on 36th just west of the highway. But it seems that the plan has been scrapped and they are rethinking now the corridor from Tudor all the way to 20th.
The Sun
The Sun is out yet once again. I'm talking about the big fiery ball in the sky which has been in town pretty much every day since we got back last week. It's beautiful. And odds are good that tomorrow's early morning lunar eclipse will be visible.
The Drawer Boy
Finally, The Drawer Boy is playing tonight. The Drawer Boy was, in my mind and in the minds of the Anchorage International Film Festival judges (we don't always agree), the Best Feature film at last December's festival.
Here's what the Festival is sending out about tonight's showing:
Anchorage International Film Festival is with The Drawer Boy at 49th State Brewing Co Anchorage, AK · Tuesday January 30th - Back by popular demand 2017 AIFF First Place Winner for Narrative Features - The Drawer Boy will be screening at 49th State Brewery! This is a free screening. Doors open at 6pm andthe show starts at 6:30. Come in and grab a beer and dinner and sit back and enjoy the show. AIFF will have a drawing for an official AIFF17 Tshirt and throw your business card in the bowl for a chance to win an all access pass after our winter series at 49th State. We will do the drawing for the all access pass to our 2018 festival in April.
Like many others, I thought it was about a boy found in a drawer. But it's actually about someone who draws. Here's a link to the post I wrote after I saw it. I tend to be low key and to understate things, so my enthusiasm for the film is telling. There's also video of the director talking about the film after the showing.
My mom's house isn't big - about 1200 square feet, three bedrooms, one full bathroom and one with a sink and toilet. But when my parent's bought it back in 1956, they did a great job with the location. Since my mom died in 2015, we've spent a fair amount of time cleaning things out, giving things away, selling a few things, donating lots. It seemed like however much we pulled out, the closets didn't seem to get emptier. Then there were drawers and cabinets and, drum roll, the garage.
I'm not complaining. My mom knew where things were and she always had something to use for whatever situation, whether it was gift to take when visiting someone, a bag to hold something in, the old waffle iron, and on and on. She didn't want us moving things around because then she wouldn't be able to find them. She did say, repeatedly, "When I'm gone, you can do what you want."
So the last two and half years, our trips here were focused on cleaning things out. People have been telling us to to rent it out while we're not here - most of the time - and so we are required to get it
more up-to-date - like getting rid of the popcorn ceiling and painting pretty much everything. There's now a dishwasher and dryer after all these years of washing by hand and hanging the laundry out to dry in the sun. We've go a new deck in the backyard - which was getting bedraggled because of various droughts. The gardener keeps things from getting overgrown, but not from dying. So what long ago used to be a lawn in the back had become a patch of dirt. The deck takes away that eyesore and adds an outdoor room. All this has happened in the last two weeks and we've been living in the middle of it.
When we head out this week, the carpet will come off the living room floor and the old hardwood floors will be sanded and polished.
That means we've been getting everything into the garage so the floors will be cleared. We still have a little table in the kitchen (no hardwood there so that's ok) and an air mattress bed that we can move out ourselves before we leave. Bathrooms have been in and out of service as they get various upgrades - new grout, paint, and fixtures. One bathroom got a whole new vanity.
I'm still finding things I didn't know were here. An old cream and sugar set was wrapped in old
newspaper. Not sure why they had the Chicago Sun Times from June 6, 1989 - two days after the Tiananmen massacre.
"After we had hung up our poster, we heard news that Deng Xiaoping had suddenly died and that Premier Li Peng had been wounded in an assassination attempt. That afternoon firecrackers were popping all over campus to celebrate Deng's death. But we soon discovered that these "news reports" were baseless rumors. In fact students from Jaotong University had not been run over by tanks, Deng Xiaoping was alive and well, and Li Peng had not been wounded."
Publishing unsubstantiated rumors, as this headline shows, isn't new. But neither is attempting to fool the public with false stories. Yellow journalism was taught in the American history classes I took in high school. But there's a new sophistication in the creation and spreading of the new brand of fake news we see today.
We try to drive as little as possible - J walks and I ride the bike all I can. But if you need to go far or fast or carry a lot, you need to take the car and traffic can be frustrating. Public transit is ok for a few destinations, like the airport.
Some of my old bedroom furniture was snapped up by a young man with a square beard and tight jeans who was excited about picking up 'mid-century' stuff for a token price. I was happy it was going to an appreciative home. Various people have been leaning on me to get rid of, or do, this and that. I think they are mostly right, but I don't want a generic house in the end so I'm holding my ground on some things. And listening to reason on others.
And we are in LA, where the weather has gone from nice to rainy to very nice. And we've eaten lots of good food. As we were coming home from house-related errands we stopped on a block of Venice that had a Brazilian cafe, a Caribbean place, a Thai place, and a Himalyan place. We ate at Tara's in part because of the garden like setting on a busy street.
Domo Plate at Tara's
And yesterday when it got into the eighties (F) even at the beach, we decided we needed a break. J walked and I biked the two miles to Venice Beach.
After playing in the surf with my granddaughter when she was here in December, I was seriously thinking about catching some waves. I watched the few would-be body surfers not catch anything and I remembered our bathtub was out of commission while the resurfacing dried. But I did go into the water part way and it felt great to have the surf rushing between my legs. The water didn't feel terribly cold (about 60˚F).
There's still work to do when we're gone - the floors, and when that messy job is over, new blinds will be put into most of the windows. We're headed to see our Seattle granddaughter before touching base again in Anchorage and then more Seattle time before coming back here to see what we still have left to do.
... was out getting garbage and recycling into our cans and two neighbors' cans. Neighbors up the hill have moved into their house about a year after we moved into this one. The neighbors to the south moved in much more recently and became very good friends with my mom. And the LA sanitation department picks up bulky items like carpet and sinks if you call a day ahead - and they were open Sunday to take my call.
We took the 8:45 am ferry from Bainbridge Island into Seattle Wednesday. The sun was sneaking past the clouds, it felt much warmer than it's been. (A sign at one point said 66˚F.)
The day held promise. My son and family were headed into Seattle to see an old friend and our other granddaughter was with us all too. We were headed to see other friends.
The sky was mostly cloudy, but another ferry headed back to Bainbridge was sunlit.
We walked from the terminal. Caught a bus. Then took the monorail. M is a big vehicle fan at 3 years old and hadn't been on a monorail.
Then another bus and a walk through the park to the Elliot Bay bookstore where we were meeting. A lot of political stuff on the new books counter.
Our friends got us at the bookstore, the kids were at a story hour and we said good bye.
First to the Seattle Art Museum to see the Andrew Wyeth exhibit.
At first I was conflicted - I wanted to just talk to our friends, but I also wanted to absorb the Wyeth exhibit. I must admit, I haven't been that big a fan of Wyeth. The stuff was nice, but didn't really talk to me. But I saw a lot of different styles and was much more impressed. For instance, this early water color lobster is NOT something I would have identified as a Wyeth.
This picture of Siri is more familiar. I couldn't help thinking about the current debates on sexual assault and also on child porn when I saw the nudes of Siri. From a 1981 Time magazine article on Wyeth:
". . . teenage Siri Erickson, another Cushing resident, from 1967 to 1972. The paintings of her were also withheld, until she turned 21, and their release in 1975 caused a little of the same stir that the Helgas have. Siri, now 32 and the mother of two girls, recalls no embarrassment or awe about posing nude for Wyeth when she was 13. 'He would get totally involved in his work. It was as if you were a tree,' she says. 'He's a normal, everyday person. He does paint good, but he's just Andy.'"
Here are two folks regarding another Wyeth painting.
The exhibit was well laid out - with introductory posters discussing different groups of pictures. My initial feelings of being overwhelmed lessened and I could wanter and view. Sometimes looking at the descriptions of individual paintings, other times not. While we ought to be able to appreciate a painting just by looking at, in theory, the background information helps me get a deeper sense of the each piece
But after two hours or so we were hungry. And while I wished I could wonder around and look at other parts - like this modern section with this Andy Warhol "Double Elvis" . . . I too was interested in eating.
Someone wants to go to Boka to eat. When we got there, we found out it is now All Water, in the lobby of Hotel 1000. I was curious about the name All Water, when P pointed out this explanation on the menu.
Since the picture isn't that clear (but it is if you click on it), I'll help you out.
"In the 1880s the all water route would take prospectors from Seattle across the northern Pacific to the Alaskan coast. In the gold rush era this route created the trade in salmon and halibut industries. . . "
It was a little after 2pm and we were told lunch was until 2pm and Happy Hour began at 3. When I said, "So this is the unhappy hour?" we were told, "I'm sure we can get the kitchen to still do lunch."
It's only been open a few weeks. We were all happy with our choices.
Then the group agreed to go see The Florida Project. By this time, we'd had clouds, sunshine, drizzle, rain, more clouds, and more sunshine. As we walked to the SIFF theater the sun was out and it was raining. And a vibrant rainbow cleaned up the drab buildings.
There was a lot I liked about The Florida Project, particularly the visual richness and the way the young kids had adventures. I wandered my neighborhood like that with friends and wee also got into all sorts of mischief. But the brashness of the mom, which got her out of some jams, made other ones worse, was painful to watch. Willem Dafoe's character Bobby was wonderful. Justin Chang at the LA Times liked it a lot more than I did.
And finally we wandered down to "a Czech German beerhall."
Through these doors we walked into another world - a big warehouse like space with rows of communal wooden tables, a live band that was playing jazz (not polkas) when we walked in, and lots of beer.
Down the table from us the guys had 2 litre boots of beer. (The two refers to the number of liters not the number of boots.) Queen Ann Beer Hall is the official name, but doesn't really capture the mood for me.
Later J and I got in a good walk back to the ferry after rescuing our grandson's jacket from a restaurant where he'd left it.
Shorts are fiction 10 - 55 minutes. In competition means they were selected to be eligible for a festival award. Super Shorts are under 10 minutes.
Shorts are generally shown in groups, called programs. The shorts in competition this year fall neatly into two programs. The first is "Shorts on the Edge" but it's also called "Opening Night Soirée."
The second program is called "Love and Pain." I've color coded them to make it even easier.
BUT, I've combined the shorts and super shorts on the chart below, since they are showing together in the programs. The super shorts have an * after them.
To make it easy for you to figure out when and where to see these films, I've divided the list of shorts in competition into two groups so you can see what program they're in, and when and where each program is shown.
[NOTE: I try to be completely accurate here, but there's a lot of details and I can make a mistake. To be safe, double check the times and locations before you go. If you see an error please let me know in the comments or via email - in right column above blog archive.]
The first program is:
Opening Night Soiree
Fri Dec 1 Bear Tooth 7 pm
Shorts on the Edge
Sat Dec 9 AK Exp Sm 9 pm
Shorts In Competition
Director
Country
Length
Cold Storage*
Thomas Freundlich
Finland
9 min
Game
Jeannie Donohoe
USA
15 min
Whoever Was Using This Bed
Andrew Kotatko
Australia
20 min
Iron
Gabriel Gonda
USA
17 min
Must Kill Karl
Joe Kick
Canada
12 min
The Robbery
Jim Cummings
USA
15 min
8:AM*
Emily Pando
USA
5 min
Brain Storm*
Christophe Clin
Belgium
6 min
Couples Night*
Russell & Robert
Summers
USA
4 min
Temporary
Milena Govich
USA
12 min
Remember, the blue ones are in the program called:
Love and Pain
Which shows:
Sat Dec 2 AK Exp Large 12 pm
Fri Dec 8 AK Exp Small 7pm
* means it's a Super Short.
###############################################
This first group of shorts in competition all are part of the Opening Night Soirée which repeats as the program "Shorts on the Edge." I've done it this way to help you identify which films are shown together so you can easily find when and where to see them. If they are in red, they are together in this program. Also, both Shorts and Super Shorts* are together in the same programs, but they are eligible for separate awards. The * marks the Super Shorts. These are films under 10 minutes long.
Opening Night Soirée
Fri Dec 1 Bear Tooth 7pm
Shorts on the Edge
Sat Dec 9 Ak Exp Small 9pm
**********************************************
Cold Storage* (*Super Short)
Thomas Freundlich
Finland
9 min
This one should appeal to all Alaskans, especially ice fishers, glacial archeologists, and dancers.
"Thomas Freundlich is one of the leading practitioners in Finland’s vibrantly growing independent dance film scene. Mr. Freundlich’s work ranges from dance shorts, documentary work, performance videography and 3D projects to music videos and projection design for the stage. His work has been seen at dozens of film festivals worldwide as well as broadcast TV both in Finland and internationally. From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Freundlich was the co-artistic director of Finland’s Loikka dance film festival."
This story takes place during tryouts for the high school basketball team. It's a very well made film. To add a little moral crunch to all this, the Weinstein Company was involved with this film. Just yesterday (Nov 20), I read an article from the Paris Review, "What Do We Do With The Art Of Monstrous Men?" I suspect that the Weinstein Company, particularly Harvey Weinstein had little to do with the making of this film. But it's something to think about as you watch this gem of a film. I know this film is good because you can watch it online, and I did. Below is a trailer. I'd note, watching it online probably won't take anything from the experience of seeing it on the big screen opening night of the festival. There's lots I'm sure I missed the first time.
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Whoever Was Using This Bed
Andrew Kotatko
Australia
20 min
Go to the the film's website. Scroll through the credits and connections of the cast and the director and others. This is NOT a film by new faces showing what they can do in hopes of making it. But the fact that these aren't newcomers to the film industry tells us something about the competitiveness of the world of film-making.
"Iron is a short period drama set in the Pacific NorthWest inspired by the true stories of women railroad workers during the early 1900’s.
Lily Cohen escapes the the crowded tenements of New York to take on a demanding railway job. Determined to work on a steam engine, a position not traditionally held by women, Lilly faces the hostility of her fellow railroad workers while finding her own inner strength.
While America is very familiar with the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter, the women laborers of the First World War are mostly forgotten by history. The American railroad represented freedom and adventure in a time when most women had very little opportunity for either. These opportunities disappeared when the soldiers returned home."
I haven't seen the whole movie, but the trailer . . . judge for yourself. I had it up here for a day or two as I worked on the rest of the films. I decided to take it down because I thought the thumbnail was gross and I didn't see any redeeming features that would make it worth keeping up. I'm not censoring it - you can go watch it here. Remember, the programmers thought it was worth being 'in competition'. I'm waiting to be pleasantly surprised.
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The Robbery
Jim Cummings
USA
15 min
Cummings won the best Short Award last year at AIFF with his film "Thunder Road." It also won at Sundance which led to a slew of opportunities which are described in this IndieWire article. The article also includes a full version of of The Robbery. I don't recommend seeing it now if you plan to see it at the festival. I'm not sure how much it offers with additional viewings.
It's about a robbery that goes badly. It's well made. It spoofs our national (global?) cell phone addiction among other things.
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This second group of shorts in competition all are part of the program "Love and Pain." I've done it this way to help you identify which films are shown together so you can easily find when and where to see them.
If they are in blue, they are together in this program Also, both Shorts and Super Shorts* are together in the same programs, but they are eligible for separate awards. The * marks the Super Shorts. These are films under 10 minutes long.
In this group, all but "Temporary" are Super Shorts.
Love and Pain
Sat Dec, 2 12pm AK Exp Large
Frit Dec 8 AK Exp Small 7pm
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8:AM*
Emily Pando
USA
5 min Can't find much on this film, though it was at the festival in August 2016, the Cleveland International Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival's Shorts Fest this year if I'm reading the Facebook page right.
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Brain Storm* (Remue-Meninges)
Christophe Clin
Belgium
6 min
(Also Showing at Martini Matinee - Friday December 8, 2017 2:00pm - 4:00pm)
Another film that's got few internet footprints. From Augohr:
"What happens in our heads when we are about to meet someone on the street? Anguish, prejudice, expectation, surprise, disappointment … These few very brief moments are the nest of a real brainstorm!"
I had to look much harder to find Christophe's Vimeo page. (His Youtube page was blank. You really don't need a link to a blank Youtube channel.) But it was worth the effort. (Actually, if you only google his name, there's more, mostly in French.)
This is one of the most tantalizing trailers I've seen. It could be a super short all its own.
This is a four minute movie. What do you want? A ten second trailer? Christophe Clin found a way to do a trailer for a six minute movie (above) but . . . And why would you want a description? This is part of a program of other shorts. Just sit back and watch it. I can give you one hint - it's been in some horror movie festivals.
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Temporary
Milena Govich USA 12 Min
The first few minutes of this probably tells you what you need to know about this film. It comes from her Kickstarter page and I found the embed code at Vimeo.
I'd also note there are other Shorts programs. Global Village has a series of international shorts.
There are Made In Alaska shorts. And Martini Matinee will play a mix of narrative shorts, short docs, and animation. I'm not totally caught up (and probably will never be) with all these programs but I did want to give you an alert that the narrative shorts and super shorts in competition aren't the only shorts.
