Calm Before The Storm

Sunday (I'm so far behind here)  in San Francisco was beautiful and I went along with my son's family and two other couples with kids to Mussel Rock - which turned out to be a hang gliding spot.

If you look closely, there's a hang glider in the upper right hand corner. Gliders are easier to see in the next shot. I'd note that we're technically in Daly City and that water curves right at the top and under the Golden Gate Bridge.     

This was also January 1, 2023,  the day after San Francisco had record rains and headlines said things like "California brought to its knees by weather."  Clearly we were fine, the weather was great and we didn't pass any flooded streets.  Beware of headlines, particularly about disasters.  The photos tend to show the one or two extreme examples.  Of course, there are actual disasters where there is widespread damage.  

As you can see from the background, this is the same spot.  

And the first moonrise of 2023 was happening above the houses on the cliff above the beach area.  I'm sure these houses have great views of the ocean.  But I grew up in LA and remember houses like this siding down the side of the hill.  

And another sign nearby showed that the parking lot where I took the first pictures from was right on the San Andreas fault line.  What could go wrong?  But I'm the sort of guy who sees a glass near the edge of a table and I see it getting knocked off the table.  And move it toward the middle of the table.  

Monday more rain was predicted and there was some drizzle as we headed back down to LA.  We had wanted to go back down Highway 1 through Big Sur to look once more for condors and then to the elephant seal beach again.  But there was a rockslide a bit north of the elephant seal beach.  Coming down Highway 101 was easier and we could cut back to the coast to Cambria and be about 15 miles south of the targeted beach.  

It was a bit windy and chilly and there was some rain watching the seals.  But I think it would take a long time for me to get tired of watching them.  There were a lot more and this time we could see lots of little pups. 

 

   

I checked several sites because I'd assumed that the ones with the elephant like noses were the miles and the internet confirmed that.  So this is a male with the baby that was exploring and generated an attack from a nearby female.  The male just put his considerable weight on the pup to keep it from scooting off into trouble.

They work really hard moving on land.  You can see this one's trail up out of the water.

So that gets us to Monday afternoon.  We spent the night in Cambria again.  

 

Croatia Beats Russia

Our guests were trying to watch the World Cup game on their phones, so I suggested we check if the Bear Tooth was showing the Croatia v Russia game.  Yes.

Tickets were free and at 10am it wasn't crowded.  Not the greatest two teams at the World Cup, but a great game that Croatia won on the last overtime penalty kick.  Some Russians near us had a drum and a trumpet, but most of the crowd was rooting for Croatia.


The first picture was just after Croatia's first goal.






The second picture is the Croatian team after winning at the last kick.














We stopped at the library for Little J.  It's not often that it's cooler inside than outside in Anchorage.
While he was checking out the kids' section, I was looking at the new books.






Here are a couple reflecting our current political situation - though writing books is a multi-year project usually, so these were probably conceived and begun before Trump was elected.  


Riddle:  What's the difference between Cost and Price?Answer:  Cost is the author and Price is the title.              

From Kirkus Review:

 Focusing on James Madison (1751-1836) and Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), Weekly Standard contributing editor Cost (A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption, 2015, etc.) offers a revealing look at how their contrasting political philosophies shaped the new nation’s domestic and foreign policies. Although they eventually became fierce opponents, Madison and Hamilton began as allies, sharing a belief “that people were easily led astray by selfish interests that undermined the cause of good government.” State oversight could not be trusted to rein in opportunism and greed. Their proposals for fostering a strong federal government, however, were at odds . . .

If we'd learn our history better, maybe we could argue about the real issues.  Maybe we'd understand that the debate is one of conflicting values and fears.  Maybe more people would understand that our government is basically there to support the wealthy and everyone else gets just enough to keep them quiet.  And that's why they need to keep making lots of noise.

From Pop Matters:

Nesi and Brera open with a vignette from 1999 -- the beginning of the end, they note. They yearn to go back to those good old days, or perhaps a bit earlier, when the mistaken path of neoliberalism could still have been avoided. They're not calling for socialism, but for a kinder capitalism (one which acknowledges the "rights conquered over the course of the twentieth century... a high-quality education available to one and all, universal health care, the right to a job and a home").

Neverthelessm their book is essential for any critic of the contemporary situation, because they achieve more ably than most a clear-sighted and beautifully expressed explanation of how untenable the present situation is. They're angry at corporations that try to avoid paying their fair share -- Brera, as an investment manager, understands clearly how his discipline has come to engage in the destructive delusion that undermining the social contract in pursuit of higher profits can ever be a good thing.

If you're thinking The Doors, you're right.  

When we got back from the airport tonight my granddaughter told me I could take the training wheels off her bike because she can ride a two wheeler now.

Seattle Basking In Cold Sunshine and Soccer

The clouds and rain took a break for the last few days and we've had sun, since Friday I think.  It's a very different look.

The weekend consisted of three soccer games for me.  I drove the youngest of the three step-grandsons to Olympia for his game on Saturday.  Sunday there were two championship games at Starfire soccer complex near SEATAC.  It was mostly sunny, but being outside in the low 40s˚F weather with a constant breeze was bracing.  But the oldest's team won the US Youth Soccer Championship for Washington.  The game was tied 2-2 at the end, so it went into a scoreless 30 minute overtime. So it was decided on penalty kicks.  Here's a bit of the ballet of the last game.

A very exciting, if chilly day.

The sun continued Monday.  After dropping Z off, I did my walk through the park then drove off the island to get a headlight bulb, picked Z up in the afternoon and took her to theater camp, then home to check out a kindergarten school for next fall.  It's an alternative school in the regular school district, but it's small and students are chosen by lottery.

Today was sunny again, but colder.  Right around freezing.  There was frost on the lawn.

And ice in part of the pond.

And the puddles were more seriously iced up.

My granddaughter's life is pretty full.  There was an astronomy activity at the planetarium Saturday when we got back from the soccer game.  But all the activities give her opportunities to learn through playing and she enjoys them.  And she helped me change the headlight bulb yesterday.  And keeping up with her is cutting into my blogging.  But I'm sure it's much more worthwhile.

A Break From Movies - Watch Live on YouTube US National Boys Under 18 Soccer Championship

I got notice of this game and live presentation because I know someone on the Washington State team.  It starts about now.  You can watch it here.  Or below.

2017 National League - 18U Boys - 

Field 2- 4pm - Day 2 - 

Washington Premier 00 vs. NCFC Elite 

Here's a link to the US Soccer Youth website.    [UPDATE 2pm (Alaska time):  The game ended in a 1-1 tie.  It seemed to be raining pretty hard most of the game, which should have given the Washington team an advantage since they often play in cold rain.]]

I would mention that there is criticism of soccer programs in the US because they are relatively expensive and require a lot of parent participation particularly for driving to games.  The concern is that lower income kids - particularly immigrants from countries with soccer traditions - are kept out of the professional soccer pipeline in the US.  

AIFF 2017: My Guide To Tuesday Dec. 5, 2017

Tuesday Dec 5, 2017 -

More choices makes this another difficult day.  

Short Docs 3 has three film in competition - Ghost of the Arctic, Ten Meter Tower, and The Collection.   But that's just the programmers' choices and there were films not 'in competition' that I liked better than some 'in competition.' 

I've got more on these (and the other short docs in competition here.  Including my personal problem with Ghosts of the Arctic.   

Ten Meter Tower is wonderful.  Despite people's diverse tastes,  I would guess that 90% of viewers will like it.

Click on the purple/pink  Life Hack link below and you'll know as much as I know about it.

The Last Animals is doc in competition.  From what I can tell is a very well funded and marketed film that strongly advocates for saving endangered species.  You can see more about it and the trailer at this post on the docs in competition.

But it's playing at the same time as a workshop by Dan Mirvish.  I've never met him face to face, but I did a Skype interview with him in 2012 when his film Between Us played at AIFF.  It's a loooong video (for me) but if you watch some of it you can get a sense of whether you want to go to the workshop.  I'd recommend the workshop simply because you get to see an accomplished film maker live talking about what he does.  

For me, there's no hard decision at 8pm - AlphaGo, another documentary in competition.
But others might not agree.  

The colored bars are linked so you can see the details - location and short descriptions.  Or go directly to the AIFF Sched for Tuesday,

Tuesday, December 5

3:00pm

Short Docs 3: Compelling Characters LIMITEDLife Hack LIMITED

5:30pm

The Last Animals "The Cheerful Subversive's Guide to Independent Filmmaking" - A Workshop with Dan Mirvish 

8:00pm

AlphaGo Guilty Pleasures: Beastmaster LIMITED

    

Four Time Iditarod Winner Dallas Seavey Denounces Iditarod Board Over How They've Handled Positive Drug Tests Of His Dogs

Watch the video tape Seavey posted yourself. The jury's job is to evaluate who is telling the truth and who is not.



Seavey certainly sounds sincere here and the facts, as he presents them, logically raise serious questions. But as a former union grievance rep, I learned long ago there are always facts that my client was leaving out and that I had to reserve judgment until I heard from others involved.

I'd also note that everyone denies the charges.  How many years did Lance Armstrong strongly deny the drug charges?  And a series of baseball champions denied allegations too, until they finally admitted them.  

Those things make it harder for someone who is really innocent.  Plus someone does not win four Iditarod races by being timid.  I'm sure Seavey has ruffled a few feathers over the years.  But at this point, I think the Iditarod board is going to be hard pressed to respond as convincingly.

Mario And Marlene After Their 3 Day El Capitan Climb

After watching the slackline walkers at Lost Arrow, we took the shuttle to El Capitan and looked up at the giant rock to look for climbers.  I could only find a couple.  (I did not take my telephoto lens on this trip, so this was the best I could do.)

Let's put this into the context of the whole rock.

I know a lot more now about El Cap (as the rock climbers all called it) than I did when I talked to Mario and Marlene.  I've watched several El Cap climbing videos and realize that where I saw a big rock, the climbers saw various routes and various features that are all named and ranked by difficulty.

At the meadow below El Cap,  I asked this photographer which climbers he was following, he said all of them.

Which leads me to believe, now that I have had  time to poke around online, that he might well be Tom Evans who has a website call Elcapreport.com which I got to because I saw several vehicles with that url on them in Yosemite.  He's got much better shots (yes that telephoto does much better than my camera) there, with a set of photos of climbers on El Cap from this week.



There can't be two photographers who know as much as he did about all the people on the mountain. (Well, sure there can, but I'm betting it's him.) Marlene and Mario (in the video below) are in the background. They had started up the Triple Direct route on Friday and reached the top on Sunday and had just hiked down when I met them.

This is probably a good time to just watch the video.  Remember these two had just spent three days climbing El Cap and a fourth hiking down with heavy packs.  I didn't quite catch what they were saying about their route, but I've looked up the routes on El Cap, and it was clear they were talking about Triple Direct.  So listen for it.




I took this screenshot from Triple Direct El Capitan.

It looks a little different with the shadow, but you can figure it out on my picture above.

We went back to El Cap when we drove home on Tuesday.  Here are some more pictures to help you put this all into some context.  In the one below, you can see some climbers, and you can see what I mean about all the crevasses and other features that, if you take time, you'll get to recognize.

Click on any of these images to enlarge and focus - I saved some in higher res than normal

On Tuesday, I walked through the woods closer to the base.  Here's a sign I passed on the way.

And another:

Here's a look at part of the base from a clearing.

Again, saved this in higher than normal resolution, so click to dramatically enlarge

And here's most of El Cap from below.  The wide angle lens does distort it, but this gives a better sense than the other pictures of how big this mountain (It really seems more like a rock than a mountain) is.  (I googled "Is El Capitan a mountain?"  Wikipedia calls it a "vertical rock formation.")

And here you can see El Cap on the left (and Half Dome on the other side of the Valley in the distance) just before we entered the tunnel out of the valley and headed south.  It was still a bit smoky, but not near as bad as when we got there.  

After talking to Marlene and Mario and watching some YouTube videos of people climbing El Cap, I'm more inclined to see these folks as much saner than lots of people think about climbers.  You have to be pretty well organized to undertake an adventure like this.  These people are not, as many of the tourist observers at Yosemite seemed to think, suicidal.  They have lots of equipment to ensure their safety.

Here are two YouTube videos that get you much closer to what it's like to climb El Capitan.
These are two very different stories of climbers on the same mountain.  Both fascinating stories that fill in a lot more than I got this week.




These videos show us how much more we are capable of than most of us think.  But it takes work.



I think I need to check out the rock climbing wall when I get back to Anchorage.

Lost Arrow And Other Fun In Yosemite Today [UPDATED With YouTube Video]

I have so many pictures of so many things, but I want to give you a preview here.


Here's how we first saw the Lost Arrow, though we didn't know what it was called at the time.  A man was looking through a humungus telephoto lens up at this jutting rock high above us.  Here's the start of the legend of the Lost Arrow from the Yosemite library website.

"Tee-hee-neh, a beautiful Indian maid, was betrothed to Kos-soo-kah, a young brave, who was fearless and bold with his spear and bow. At dawn on the day before their marriage, Kos-soo-kah made ready with other strong braves to go forth into the mountains to hunt bear, deer, rabbit and grouse for the wedding feast. Before leaving, he slipped away from the other hunters to meet Tee-hee-neh, his bride, who was waiting nearby.As they parted Kos-soo-kah said, “We go to hunt now, but at the end of the day, I will shoot an arrow from the cliff between Cho-look, the high fall, and Le-hamite, the Canyon of the Arrow-wood, and by the number of feathers you will know what kill has been made.”  [There's an editor's note that says this legend may be fictitious.  I guess that refers to the fact of it being a legend, not the story itself.]

The rest is here, along with other Yosemite legends.



Our second view of the Lost Arrow was from the Lower Yosemite Falls view point where you get a better sense of where it is.  Here's some more history of it from a climbing website, SummitPost.

"There aren't many climbs in Yosemite that lead to a true summit. But of those that do, the Lost Arrow Spire has to be one of the most famous and exciting of all. The Lost Arrow Tip was first climbed in 1946 by a party that used some rope tricks to rig up a tyrolean traverse, a popular way to end the climb today. The first actual climb to the top was accomplished by Yosemite pioneer John Salathe and Anton Nelson in 1946. They climbed the Lost Arrow via the Lost Arrow Chimney ( V, 5.10a ), the first grade V big wall done in the U. S. Today the Lost Arrow Tip and tyrolean traverse return are one of the classic climbs of Yosemite!"

It's at 6912 feet.  And all that is leading to the fact that the man with the big telephoto lens pointed out that there were ropes from the Lost Arrow to the rock to the right and someone was crossing it.  I didn't have my telephoto with me, but in this shot below, you can see the rope and the black silhouette of the climber to the right of the Arrow.  The black spot on the left seems to be, well, a spot.  

click image to enlarge and focus a little bit

This led us to wander further down the valley to see if we could see the "dozens" (we were told) climbers on El Capitan.  That's for another post.


[UPDATE 10/18/17:  When I uploaded a video with two El Capitan climbers, my video got posted with a bunch of El Capitan videos.  Which made me realize I should find a Lost Arrow video there too.  There are a number (obviously since people doing this want to document their feats!)  So here's one from Agustín Copp showing this traverse.





And here's Andy the Slackliner crossing.

Vietnam, Alabama, Puerto Rico, NFL And Rape - We're With Alice In Wonderland

Just some running thoughts.

Ken Burns' Vietnam series is sponsored by David Koch and Bank of America among others.

Watching planes and helicopters fly into makeshift landing zones in the Vietnam series made me scratch my head when NPR reported that planes couldn't land in Puerto Rico because there was no electricity or navigation.  People have forgotten that navigation is nice, but not necessary in emergency situations.

But then Puerto Rico's 3+ million American citizens can't vote for president and their congress member doesn't have a real vote.  And you thought voter suppression was bad in Texas.  Maybe they should establish residency in Alabama, so they can vote  for Doug Jones for US Senate against the new Republican Senatorial Candidate Roy Moore.  You know, the guy who's been kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court because of his insistence on putting up a Ten Commandments sculpture in the Supreme Court.  Go to the link, this guy got support from Bannon and Palin for a reason.  He's way out there.

Blacks make up 25% of the Alabama population.  But restrictions on voting are a serious obstacle.  If you've been convicted of a crime, and blacks are much more likely to be in Alabama than whites, it's hard to recover your vote.  A Mother Jones article says a new law loosens that, but convicted felons are still barred forever.  The article says about 15% of black voters are affected by these laws.  So with an influx of Puerto Rican voters, maybe Doug Jones could win.  The election's in December so there isn't much time for Puerto Ricans to get their residency.

Then there's football.  People kneel when they pray to God, but if they kneel when the national anthem is played that's bad.  Because they are equating the flag and anthem with God?  That doesn't seem to be the logic.  But, in his Jabberwocky way, Trump is trying to change the debate from killing of blacks to honoring the flag.  Distinguishing between symbols of a false reality of America's justice for all and the harsh reality of rampant white supremacy is hard for most Americans.

Just as the Vietnam series is showing us how killing innocent civilians was  seen as ok to get better body counts,  to show we were winning when we weren't, Americans still believe that killing innocent black American citizens is ok, because - well I guess, you can't tell the good ones from the bad, like with the Vietnamese.

Betsy Devos is showing us the real values, by changing Title IX so that innocent men don't get besmirched by wrongful accusations of rape or sexual harassment.  Yes, that's not good, but it's not as bad as being raped. ["Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 2 minutes."] and it's very difficult to get justice.  But we protecting men from being falsely accused of such crimes is more important.  As I say, Alice in Wonderland, we're there.  Just like it's better to be outraged that black men don't stand up for the anthem, than be outraged over innocent blacks being killed by police.

Trump Is The Joker In Peter's New Deck Of Cards

Anchorage cartoonist Peter Dunlap-Shohl has created a truly wicked deck of cards.  Peter retired early from the Anchorage Daily News* as his early onset Parkinson's diagnosis hit him and he thought he might not be able to continuing drawing and that his life was significantly shortened.

But technology has made it possible for him to continue drawing and he has two blogs.  One, Frozen Grin, continues his political cartooning, and it's where this deck of card was just revealed.

The other is a Parkinson's blog where he first began to post cartoons about his adventures with the diabolical villain PD.  Those cartoons ended up in a book - My Degeneration - which last year was highlighted in the Journal of the American Medical Association as the one of the top 2016 Graphic Medicine offering.

So I'm not at all surprised to see this spectacular deck of cards.

And, yes, they aren't just on his blog (where you can see all the face cards), but they are also available for purchase here.   





And yes, I know Peter as a friend and fellow Anchorage blogger, but I get nothing out of this other than the satisfaction that his work might get the recognition it deserves and that people who might find this deck of interest have access to it.



*Anchorage Daily News is now Alaska Dispatch News.

AIFF2016 Documentaries In Competition Tibetan Nomads, Tuvan Throat Singers, Slanty Eyed Mamas, Thai Boxing, And Those Ruby Slippers

Here are the documentaries in competition with descriptions below.

Docs in Competition	Director	Country	Length
Best and Most Beautiful Things	Garrett Zevgetis	USA	90 min
Drokpa	Yan Chun S	China	79 min
Goodbye Darling, I’m Off to Fight	Simone Manetti	Italy,Australia, United States	73 min
SHU-DE!	Michael R Faulkner	United States	85 min
Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda	Carrie Preston	United States	75 min
The Slippers	Morgan White	USA	min
The Cinema Travelers	Shirley Abraham	India	min

Best and Most Beautiful Things
Garrett Zevgetis
USA
90 min

Tuesday December 6, 2016 5:30pm - 7:30pm *** Warning - one showing only!!
BearTooth 


From the film's website:

"In 2009 director Garrett Zevgetis googled the word “Beauty.”
He had been working on a number of darker-themed documentaries and was determined to find an uplifting story for a future project. The search returned a poignant Helen Keller quote that led Garrett to Perkins School for the Blind outside Boston, a renowned institution where a feature documentary had never before been made. He began volunteering at Perkins. On the last day of his scheduled term, a bubbly student introduced herself – Michelle had found him.
BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS is a celebration of outcasts everywhere, following a precocious young blind woman who disappears into quirky obsessions and isolation. With humor and bold curiosity, "

The Cinema Traveler
Shirley Abraham
India
96 minutes
Thursday December 8, 2016 5:30pm - 7:00pm **WARNING - Just one showing
BearTooth 

This film debuted at Cannes last May where it won a Special Jury Prize.  This seems to be one not to miss.  I did get see some films shown in rural Thailand on a sheet across a dirt road in Thailand in the 60s, it wasn't quite what this film seems to be documenting.  The annual visit by the Chinese opera troupe probably was more like this.  From the reviews, it sounds like the film captures the excitement of these events.

From a much longer article at the Guardian:

"In Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya’s understated documentary, we’re given intimate access to a unique experience: two travelling cinemas that travel across rural India sharing films with people who would otherwise have limited access. It focuses on the lives of the men who put the show on the road, faced with a changing medium and a demanding audience.
Shot over five years, we follow a set of men with different key roles in the process of the two companies. There’s the easygoing manager trying to provide for his family while on the road, the 70-year-old projector mechanic whose weathered hands have helped bring the joy of cinema to thousands and the many serious-minded cineastes who work around them."

From the Hollywood Reporter:

"The traveling cinema world, mostly based around Maharashtra, the vast state whose capital is Mumbai, has been bringing the magic of the silver screen to remote villages for some 70 years. Setting up tents in rural fairs that often are several hours from anything even approaching a local multiplex, the screenings draw hundreds, who line up to see the latest Bollywood hits, old Hindi classics and even the odd dubbed Hollywood title.
But it’s a tradition that is nearing extinction. "There are very few of these cinemas left," says Shirley Abraham, who together with her co-director Amit Madheshiya, has spent eight years tracking those remaining in the industry for The Cinema Travelers, screening in the Cannes Classics sidebar on May 15. 'It has been petering out over the years. I don’t think they’re going to survive the march of time and technology.'"

The film's website's press page has lots and lots of links to articles about the film.
The video below features a discussion with the film makers talking about the film. The video isn't great. I haven't found a trailer.

Screenshot from Dropka trailer

Drokpa
Yan Chun Su
China
79 minutes

Saturday December 3, 2016 2:00pm - 3:30pm 
Anchorage Museum
Saturday December 10, 2016 12:00pm - 1:30pm 
Alaska Experience - SMALL

The site only lists three other festivals in addition to AIFF so we're some of the first people to see this film.  From their website:

"DROKPA (Nomads of Tibet) is a portrait of the lives and struggles of nomads on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau. Through intimate individual stories, the film reveals the unprecedented environmental and sociopolitical forces that are pushing the nomads to the edge of their existence. "

Goodbye Darling, I’m Off to Fight
Simone Manetti
Italy
73

Wednesday December 7, 2016 8:00pm - 9:30pm 
BearTooth
Sunday December 11, 2016 2:00pm - 3:15pm 
Alaska Experience - SMALL


The trailer of this Italian movie is in English with Italian sub-titles. The trailer has the title in English, Italian, and Thai.  It's about boxing.  And that seems to be confirmed in the English description I found at DocsMX:

"After a painful break-up with her boyfriend, Italian actress and fashion model Chantal Ughi discovered that Muay Thai was the only way to confront the violence she suffered as a child. She went to Thailand to train for four weeks, but ended up living there for five years—training and fighting, becoming stronger than a man."

Happy Lucky Golden Tofu 

Panda
Carrie Preston
USA
75 min

Saturday December 3, 2016 1:30pm - 3:00pm 
Alaska Experience - SMALL 
Saturday December 10, 2016 6:00pm - 7:30pm 
49th State Brewing Company 

Where do I start this?  There's a duo called Slanty Eyed Mamas.  I'll let their own words from their website explain:

"TWO GOOD ASIAN GIRLS GONE BADASS.
Thoroughly modern, urban, sexy sounds from the very fresh, street infused Asian-American duo that always causes a stir...You've never seen anything quite like it--part hip hop, part rock, part electroclash, from two rock n roll asian chicks. Slanty Eyed Mama sees the world through the searing electric violin and beats of virtuoso Lyris Hung and the iconoclastic rants from Kate Rigg, aka. Lady K-Sian. Kate is also a Juilliard trained actor/playwright and a well known comedian, who has been on Fox's Family Guy, 2 seasons of the Dr. Phil show where she talked about the Asian American Experience to 5 million people, and has toured extensively as a stand up comic. Electric violinist Lyris Hung is also a Juilliard graduate who also has a metal band called HUNG, tours with The Indigo Girls and has played with Jay Z, Bono, Quincy Jones, and many others."

And the movie?  On her website, Kate writes about the movie:

"In addition to keeping busy with theater and TV work, 2016 sees the release of the thoroughly original, mind bending, but gusting, comedy music and spoken word mashup film Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda Dragon Good Tie Fun Fun Show- The movie. Shot on location in New York and directed by Emmy Award Winning actress Carrie Preston. The movie captures the downtown New York spirit with live portions filmed in an East Village Club, with musical numbers and sketches blown up and shot on location throughout the City. It examines the "East meets west experience" ways in which we see "Asian-ness" in the West through culture, media, commodities and familiar images-- Hello Kitty, Nail Salons, Chinatown bargain shopping, Pokemon, bowl cuts. Kate's Stand up weaves the show together, with sharp observational, political and outrageous out-there jokes."

 It premiered in New York in June, but I can't find much except their own promotional stuff.  Eclipse Magazine mentions it in passing when discussing what people will find at the SOHO film festival:

"intriguing oddities like Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda Dragon Good Time Fun Fun Show" 

Here's the teaser.

SHU-DE!
Michael R Faulkner
USA 
85 min

Saturday, Dec 3, 2016: BearTooth 6:00 PM Sunday, Dec 11, 2016:Alaska Exp - SMALL, 
4:00 PM

I remember first seeing live Tuvan throat singing 20 or 30 years ago at the Fly-by-Night Club in Spenard.  It's other-worldly.  So this one piques  my interest.

From the Shu-De website:

"Khoomei (hoo-may) or Tuvan throat singing, is an ancient vocal tradition originating in the remote Republic of Tuva, which is located in the center of Asia in Siberia, and now, part of the Russian Federation. Considered to predate modern linguistics, Khoomei, involves a remarkable technique for singing two or more pitches simultaneously. The sounds are said to come from the land and harmonize with nature itself. The Alash Ensemble are masters of this vocal art and have been touring the world, sharing their music with other cultures, for years.
Shodekeh, a beatboxer and vocal percussionist from Baltimore, with a vision for creating an "oasis of unity through musical collaboration," has spent his life mastering new sounds and using them, while fostering seemingly unlikely collaborations. SHU-DE! is the story of what happened when these artists came together, utilizing their common instrument: the voice and body."

The Baltimore Sun did a profile of the film maker, Michael Faulkner.  Here's a snippet from it:

" . . .The resulting film, "Shu-De!" – Tuvan for "Let's go!" — was one of the crowd favorites at May's 18th Maryland Film festival, where it had its East Coast premiere (its world premiere was a few weeks earlier, at the Nashville Film Festival). Its mix of local interest and exotic locales, not to mention its haunting melodies, proved a crowd-pleaser of the first order. It's since screened at several other festivals, and will be going on a seven-city tour in October
"It's amazing to see your work on a big screen — especially me being a cinephile, someone who loves movies and story in general," says Faulkner, a freelance location manager and film producer who moved from Kalamazoo, Mich., to Baltimore in 1998. 'I was really happy to notice — it's a real movie. It's there; it stands up on the big screen.'"

There's something very film-festivalish about this film, and I mean that in the best possible way.

We don't learn much about what the film is about in the trailer, but we learn a lot about what it feels like.

The Slippers

Morgan White

USA

90 minutes

Saturday December 3, 2016 4:00pm - 6:00pm 

Anchorage Museum 

Sunday December 11, 2016 12:00pm - 1:30pm 

Alaska Experience - SMALL

From Letter Box:

"THE SLIPPERS pulls back the Wizard’s curtain on the unbelievable story and cultural impact of Dorothy's Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz.  Through first-hand accounts and archival interviews, THE SLIPPERS will detail the life of the Ruby Slippers after their sale at the famed 1970 MGM auction. Discovered by costumer Kent Warner, it is unclear how many pairs were found and how many pairs exist. That mystery has only helped to propel the shoes to the forefront of the Hollywood memorabilia market. They have been bought, stolen, and coveted by many. They are considered the most important piece of Hollywood memorabilia and the catalyst for the creation of Hollywood memorabilia collecting."

From an interview with director White at Hammer To Nail:

HtN: So how about access? Did you have any issues there, interview-wise, or footage-wise?
 MW: Footage-wise wasn’t so hard. I spent a lot of time trying to collect stuff. So I became very obsessed with the idea that I should collect as much of the material that’s in the film as possible, because I’m making a movie about collecting. So a lot of the things that are in there come from 16mm prints that I bought, on eBay, or on the black market of 16mm-print collecting. Or I bought magazines and newspapers and articles and…whatever I could find on eBay. So in terms of that stuff, it was just me spending time looking for it. Access-wise, for interviews, I mean, everybody was pretty great. Michael Shaw, who was one of the owners of the shoes, he was a little bit complicated to get, because he’s a little bit complicated of a person…

From the interview, it's clear this is movie is about collecting movie memorabilia, not just the Ruby Slippers.