After soccer Chinese lunch at Din Tai Fun.
Enjoying the sunny side of the ferry deck.
There's something about the lines of a skyline that call out to a camera.
And a jelly fish floating on the tide this morning.
Oh, I forgot the Saturday market.
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2018
Gramping In And Around Seattle
Not much time for blogging. Here are some pics.
After soccer Chinese lunch at Din Tai Fun.
Enjoying the sunny side of the ferry deck.
There's something about the lines of a skyline that call out to a camera.
And a jelly fish floating on the tide this morning.
Oh, I forgot the Saturday market.
After soccer Chinese lunch at Din Tai Fun.
Enjoying the sunny side of the ferry deck.
There's something about the lines of a skyline that call out to a camera.
And a jelly fish floating on the tide this morning.
Oh, I forgot the Saturday market.
Saturday, August 04, 2018
Political Fan Culture: Democrats And Republicans Are Rival Sports Teams
Good metaphors work well in love poems.
Mixed metaphors work for comedians.
My problem here is that it gives tribalism and tribes a bad name. In the USA, 'tribes' most often refers to Native American tribes. This idea that tribes are ruthless and and irrational surely is a left-over of several centuries of depicting Native Americans as blood-thirsty savages, to justify taking their land and massacring them if they didn't leave it peacefully.
So, rather than tribes, I compare (with caution) many partisans for either Democrats or Republicans or, broader, for liberals and conservatives, to sports fan . But sports fans are us, not some 'other' that we traditionally vilify. And we know people who are die-hard sports fans, whose highs and lows in life are correlated to the wins and losses of their beloved team. A younger me enjoyed the joys and agonies of the UCLA Bruins, so I understand. (But then I went on to graduate school at cross-town rival USC, but I still root for UCLA, but with much less passion.)
When you're a sports fan, you kind of know that you're exaggerating, stretching the truth, lying even, when you brag about your team and vilify fans of the other team. Everything is about winning or losing. It's a game. (Or at least it used to be, before sports became a huge business. I can't find a perfect reference for this quickly, but here's one and here's another.) Being a fan is a form of theater. You are allowed to jump and scream and dress up funny and say terrible things about the enemy. Your manic behavior is understood.
But it's different when people apply those same emotions, loyalties, and behaviors to political parties and to politicians.
We see fans totally emotionally connected to their parties and ideologies - believing only the good about their team and calling the bad 'lies.' (I believe that the Right has a lot more fans who ignore facts they disagree with, or simply ignore facts. College graduates earn more because they have better reasoning skills.* And they seem less likely to be Trump fans. There are studies that show that white males with no degree to be the strongest Trump supporters. But people on the left are also susceptible to believing hoaxes that support their views. It's just, they're more likely to recognize it when their error is pointed out. But the right has no monopoly on emotionally disturbed fans.)
Many commentators and academics tell us that emotion, not rationality, rules people's decisions. But when we do this in sports, most fans don't hate their friends who root for the other team. But in politics today, like in sports, winning boosts our spirits and self-esteem. But the game doesn't end at the end of the day, or even after the election. So turning back into a normal human being doesn't happen.
And as they say about some paranoid people - there really are people trying to get them. And we're at a point where our democracy is in significant danger.
*About college grad reasoning skills. This surely isn't universally true. Some get into (and out of) college because they've learned how to succeed in educational settings, because their parents can help them with thinking skills at home and pay for extra learning experiences, not to mention college expenses. And college grads can get that degree without improving their thinking skills. Or maybe they had better skills before college and college didn't help them. But the skills helped them get into college.
This footnote is here because just about any sentence one writes can be taken apart and criticized. And I'd like to think that trying to minimize the risk of misinterpretation is one reason I write longer, rather than shorter, posts. We're all told to keep it short, because that leads to better writing and more clicks. But good, crisp writing is less important than accuracy. And I'm not penalized here for fewer clicks.
Simple writing works better when we all have the same world views. (When we all share the same erroneous beliefs.) And the political fan culture of today, combined with social media, seems to relish misunderstanding the other team's words.
My love is of a birth as rareAs ’tis for object strange and high;
It was begotten by Despair
Upon Impossibility.
Mixed metaphors work for comedians.
"We can talk until the cows turn blue."
But when metaphors are used in politics, they often oversimplify and, if they catch on, magnify one aspect of the compared idea, creating their own new distortion of reality.
I don't like the tribal metaphor being used for today's politics. We're uncivil because we are only associating with 'our tribes' and everyone else is the enemy. From New York Magazine:
"How do you live peacefully for years among fellow citizens and then find yourself suddenly engaged in the mass murder of humans who look similar to you, live around you, and believe in the same God, but whose small differences in theology mean they must be killed before they kill you?"
So, rather than tribes, I compare (with caution) many partisans for either Democrats or Republicans or, broader, for liberals and conservatives, to sports fan . But sports fans are us, not some 'other' that we traditionally vilify. And we know people who are die-hard sports fans, whose highs and lows in life are correlated to the wins and losses of their beloved team. A younger me enjoyed the joys and agonies of the UCLA Bruins, so I understand. (But then I went on to graduate school at cross-town rival USC, but I still root for UCLA, but with much less passion.)
When you're a sports fan, you kind of know that you're exaggerating, stretching the truth, lying even, when you brag about your team and vilify fans of the other team. Everything is about winning or losing. It's a game. (Or at least it used to be, before sports became a huge business. I can't find a perfect reference for this quickly, but here's one and here's another.) Being a fan is a form of theater. You are allowed to jump and scream and dress up funny and say terrible things about the enemy. Your manic behavior is understood.
But it's different when people apply those same emotions, loyalties, and behaviors to political parties and to politicians.
We see fans totally emotionally connected to their parties and ideologies - believing only the good about their team and calling the bad 'lies.' (I believe that the Right has a lot more fans who ignore facts they disagree with, or simply ignore facts. College graduates earn more because they have better reasoning skills.* And they seem less likely to be Trump fans. There are studies that show that white males with no degree to be the strongest Trump supporters. But people on the left are also susceptible to believing hoaxes that support their views. It's just, they're more likely to recognize it when their error is pointed out. But the right has no monopoly on emotionally disturbed fans.)
Many commentators and academics tell us that emotion, not rationality, rules people's decisions. But when we do this in sports, most fans don't hate their friends who root for the other team. But in politics today, like in sports, winning boosts our spirits and self-esteem. But the game doesn't end at the end of the day, or even after the election. So turning back into a normal human being doesn't happen.
And as they say about some paranoid people - there really are people trying to get them. And we're at a point where our democracy is in significant danger.
*About college grad reasoning skills. This surely isn't universally true. Some get into (and out of) college because they've learned how to succeed in educational settings, because their parents can help them with thinking skills at home and pay for extra learning experiences, not to mention college expenses. And college grads can get that degree without improving their thinking skills. Or maybe they had better skills before college and college didn't help them. But the skills helped them get into college.
This footnote is here because just about any sentence one writes can be taken apart and criticized. And I'd like to think that trying to minimize the risk of misinterpretation is one reason I write longer, rather than shorter, posts. We're all told to keep it short, because that leads to better writing and more clicks. But good, crisp writing is less important than accuracy. And I'm not penalized here for fewer clicks.
Simple writing works better when we all have the same world views. (When we all share the same erroneous beliefs.) And the political fan culture of today, combined with social media, seems to relish misunderstanding the other team's words.
Sunday, July 15, 2018
From Early Airport Run To World Cup To China
Our guests of two weeks had a 6am flight, so we left the house a little after 4am. D's family is family and it was great to have the three here. Despite having a full house including a four year old and five year old, we got along smoothly, eating well, talking serious and fun, and enjoying the kids and keeping them occupied. I've got my daughter and granddaughter for a while longer still.
From the airport to home, unsuccessful attempt to get a couple hours more sleep before heading with my daughter to the Bear Tooth to watch Croatia play well in their final loss to France. When I watched Croatia beat Russia, it was easy to root for the small country over Putin's team. We say sports transcends politics, but not really. In international events people get very nationalistic - US media seem more interested, say, in the medal count than in the events.
Then Croatia beat England. They were now my team. For a while. The political backdrop then interfered as I realized Croatia was an all-white team and France had a mix of colors. Should this matter? If everyone were equal, and race and immigration weren't tearing countries apart (and I don't doubt Putin, once again, has had his hand in this in Europe as well as in the divisive social media campaign in the US), it wouldn't be a factor. But if Croatia won, I knew that the white supremacists would be touting how racial purity (and I have no idea exactly what that is supposed to mean and which tests of such purity the Croatian player would pass or fail) had won. And if France won, those championing the humanity of the those fleeing political and economic oppression would use their victory as proof that immigration made a country stronger.
My compromise was to root for the individual players of Croatia and the French team.
The Bear Tooth was packed this time and when Croatia scored it was clear they were the crowd favorites. They played hard and seemed to possess the ball much more than France. They just couldn't maneuver the ball into the net. France's first goal was a free kick with a boost from a Croatian head that seemed to put it just out of the reach of the goalie. Croatia came back with a penalty kick goal. Then the French got another gift - the ball hit a Croatian hand in front of the French goal. In the second half the French got two more solid shots into the goal. Croatia managed another goal by charging the goal keeper in what should have been a routine ball retrieval on the goalie's part. Sports Illustrated has the highlights. All in all, I left the game satisfied. Croatia played well and France won.
And when I checked Twitter when I got home, the first Tweet I saw was already claiming the victory by the multi-colored French team repudiated Trump's nasty London comment about immigration ruining European culture.
Home for some brief interaction with my granddaughter who then went with her mom to visit mom's old Anchorage friends. I napped and then enjoyed the luxury of just lying in bed reading. I'd picked up The Road To Sleeping Dragon by Michael Meyer at the library when we took Little J there. I'll do more on the book in another post.
From the airport to home, unsuccessful attempt to get a couple hours more sleep before heading with my daughter to the Bear Tooth to watch Croatia play well in their final loss to France. When I watched Croatia beat Russia, it was easy to root for the small country over Putin's team. We say sports transcends politics, but not really. In international events people get very nationalistic - US media seem more interested, say, in the medal count than in the events.
Then Croatia beat England. They were now my team. For a while. The political backdrop then interfered as I realized Croatia was an all-white team and France had a mix of colors. Should this matter? If everyone were equal, and race and immigration weren't tearing countries apart (and I don't doubt Putin, once again, has had his hand in this in Europe as well as in the divisive social media campaign in the US), it wouldn't be a factor. But if Croatia won, I knew that the white supremacists would be touting how racial purity (and I have no idea exactly what that is supposed to mean and which tests of such purity the Croatian player would pass or fail) had won. And if France won, those championing the humanity of the those fleeing political and economic oppression would use their victory as proof that immigration made a country stronger.
My compromise was to root for the individual players of Croatia and the French team.
The Bear Tooth was packed this time and when Croatia scored it was clear they were the crowd favorites. They played hard and seemed to possess the ball much more than France. They just couldn't maneuver the ball into the net. France's first goal was a free kick with a boost from a Croatian head that seemed to put it just out of the reach of the goalie. Croatia came back with a penalty kick goal. Then the French got another gift - the ball hit a Croatian hand in front of the French goal. In the second half the French got two more solid shots into the goal. Croatia managed another goal by charging the goal keeper in what should have been a routine ball retrieval on the goalie's part. Sports Illustrated has the highlights. All in all, I left the game satisfied. Croatia played well and France won.
And when I checked Twitter when I got home, the first Tweet I saw was already claiming the victory by the multi-colored French team repudiated Trump's nasty London comment about immigration ruining European culture.
Home for some brief interaction with my granddaughter who then went with her mom to visit mom's old Anchorage friends. I napped and then enjoyed the luxury of just lying in bed reading. I'd picked up The Road To Sleeping Dragon by Michael Meyer at the library when we took Little J there. I'll do more on the book in another post.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Croatia Beats England at Thai Kitchen
It was sort of rainy. Z wanted to ride her bike, but I argued the parking lot where she wanted to practice wouldn't be empty today and the wet pavement would be more slippery for her. We're going to a surprise place - somewhere you've been and I want to see if you remember. She wasn't impressed. Put on your boots - it's wet out. No. Mom wanted her to put on socks. No. Grrrrrr. Before I knew it both kids were in the car ready to go. No boots, no socks, just rubber sandal like shoes.
I'm hungry. I'm hungry too.
OK. We're going someplace you've been before but you've never been there. Can you guess where? That's not possible. Yes it is. Tell me.
We pulled into the Thai Kitchen parking lot at just about 11am minutes before they opened. She knew it was Thai Kitchen, where she'd been before, but they've moved several spaces down the
mall to a new location she hadn't been before.
The kids picked beef - broccoli from the buffet. Croatia - England was on the big screen tv. It was 1-0 England. They ate lots of broccoli and lots of beef. And rice too. I needed to get more. Finally they were done. It was now 1-1.
We went next door to the Yogurt Works where they have lots of board games and we watched the game further. And got yogurt with sprinkles. They played Chutes and Ladders and CandyLand while I watched the game. Z's brothers all play soccer, so she's been to lots of games and was sort of paying attention.
Croatia scored again and eventually the game was over 2-1 Croatia.
Now we were off to Campbell Airstrip where Z cross-country skied the first time when she was here in early April. I wanted to see if she'd recognize it without snow. No problem at all. This is where we skied she said as we parked.
As we got out a man with five dogs, some on leashes, some loose, got on the trail too. Z was not excited about a bunch of dogs sniffing, but after yesterday at the Learning Farm, she was much better about it. And there was a big sign at the beginning of the trail.
We walked over the bridge and looked for salmon in the creek below, but there were no fish. But there was another sign.
I thought, even with bear spray, I didn't want to meet a bear on the trail with two little kids. Especially after I asked Little J what he should do if he saw a bear.
Run away. Wrong answer. And even after I explained that was a bad idea, I'm sure that's what he would have done if we saw a bear.
So we went back down the road to the botanical garden, where they rubbed every leaf in the herb garden and declared how good or bad they smelled.
More of the peonies were blooming.
And this spectacular huge red poppy.
They ate the fig newtons at the garden. But they were asking for the apple slices before we got to the car. We all had a great time, and everyone at home was happy to get some peace and quiet for several hours.
I'm hungry. I'm hungry too.
OK. We're going someplace you've been before but you've never been there. Can you guess where? That's not possible. Yes it is. Tell me. We pulled into the Thai Kitchen parking lot at just about 11am minutes before they opened. She knew it was Thai Kitchen, where she'd been before, but they've moved several spaces down the
mall to a new location she hadn't been before.
The kids picked beef - broccoli from the buffet. Croatia - England was on the big screen tv. It was 1-0 England. They ate lots of broccoli and lots of beef. And rice too. I needed to get more. Finally they were done. It was now 1-1.
We went next door to the Yogurt Works where they have lots of board games and we watched the game further. And got yogurt with sprinkles. They played Chutes and Ladders and CandyLand while I watched the game. Z's brothers all play soccer, so she's been to lots of games and was sort of paying attention.
Croatia scored again and eventually the game was over 2-1 Croatia.
Now we were off to Campbell Airstrip where Z cross-country skied the first time when she was here in early April. I wanted to see if she'd recognize it without snow. No problem at all. This is where we skied she said as we parked.
As we got out a man with five dogs, some on leashes, some loose, got on the trail too. Z was not excited about a bunch of dogs sniffing, but after yesterday at the Learning Farm, she was much better about it. And there was a big sign at the beginning of the trail.
We walked over the bridge and looked for salmon in the creek below, but there were no fish. But there was another sign.
I thought, even with bear spray, I didn't want to meet a bear on the trail with two little kids. Especially after I asked Little J what he should do if he saw a bear.
Run away. Wrong answer. And even after I explained that was a bad idea, I'm sure that's what he would have done if we saw a bear.
So we went back down the road to the botanical garden, where they rubbed every leaf in the herb garden and declared how good or bad they smelled.
More of the peonies were blooming.
And this spectacular huge red poppy.
They ate the fig newtons at the garden. But they were asking for the apple slices before we got to the car. We all had a great time, and everyone at home was happy to get some peace and quiet for several hours.
Tuesday, December 05, 2017
AIFF 2017: Some Of The Film Makers I've Met This Weekend
It's been a film-packed weekend. Not much time to post about everything, but here are some of the people I had a chance to meet. Meant to get this up already, but busy trying to catch up with movies, blogging, sleep, and the rest of my life.
Emily Pando (director) and Jesse Amorratanasuchad (cinematographer - I think I got that right) whose short "8 A.M." showed Saturday morning in the program Love and Pain. It shows again Friday Dec 8 at 7pm at the AK Exp Theater.
"8 A.M." plays on one well used trope - the alarm clock and groggy sleeper - and one well used premise - the audience knows that someone is going to die but the characters don't. But in this case they use an incredible set of twins who act as the Greek Chorus. A very well done film with an important message. You can see a little more - including a screenshot with the twins - on my Shorts in Competition post.
I met Jason Mott between films in a film maker meet and greet session. It turns out he's the winner of the film festival's screen writing contest. His script is called Endings LLC about a company that helps plan people's demise.
Jason's from North Carolina and is a novelist. He mentioned two books - The Returned and Wonder of All Things. I looked them up and they are available at Loussac. Actually, he was being modest. There are several more titles with his name on them.
Here's AIFF director Rebecca Pottebaum hamming it up with volunteer Pablo who sold tickets this weekend at the Alaska Experience Theater..
And here's John Zahs, the subject of the documentary Saving Brinton which played at the Bear Tooth Sunday evening. It was a great film festival film that looked at John's successful efforts to save and restore films of the Brinton family that were found when the estate was sold. These are films from the first decade of the 20th Century and some are the only existing copies. I've got video of his Q&A after the showing along with some of his saved movies. He said it would be ok to post them here. So when I catch up, I'll get them up. You can see more about the film and the trailer at my post on the Docs In Competition.
And, again I think I have this right, here's Dita Gruze who is the co-producer and film editor for the documentary A to B Roller Ski about a Latvian Olympic champion's trip from the Arctic to Baja on roller skis. It plays again Friday Dec 8 at 9pm at the AK Experience Theater.
Here's AIFF President Rich Curtner (right) introducing Yochi Executive Producer Craig Holden for Q&A after the Shorts program Global Village in which Yochi played.
There's more on video, but that takes me a little longer to turn around.
Emily Pando (director) and Jesse Amorratanasuchad (cinematographer - I think I got that right) whose short "8 A.M." showed Saturday morning in the program Love and Pain. It shows again Friday Dec 8 at 7pm at the AK Exp Theater.
"8 A.M." plays on one well used trope - the alarm clock and groggy sleeper - and one well used premise - the audience knows that someone is going to die but the characters don't. But in this case they use an incredible set of twins who act as the Greek Chorus. A very well done film with an important message. You can see a little more - including a screenshot with the twins - on my Shorts in Competition post.
I met Jason Mott between films in a film maker meet and greet session. It turns out he's the winner of the film festival's screen writing contest. His script is called Endings LLC about a company that helps plan people's demise. Jason's from North Carolina and is a novelist. He mentioned two books - The Returned and Wonder of All Things. I looked them up and they are available at Loussac. Actually, he was being modest. There are several more titles with his name on them.
Here's AIFF director Rebecca Pottebaum hamming it up with volunteer Pablo who sold tickets this weekend at the Alaska Experience Theater..
And here's John Zahs, the subject of the documentary Saving Brinton which played at the Bear Tooth Sunday evening. It was a great film festival film that looked at John's successful efforts to save and restore films of the Brinton family that were found when the estate was sold. These are films from the first decade of the 20th Century and some are the only existing copies. I've got video of his Q&A after the showing along with some of his saved movies. He said it would be ok to post them here. So when I catch up, I'll get them up. You can see more about the film and the trailer at my post on the Docs In Competition.
And, again I think I have this right, here's Dita Gruze who is the co-producer and film editor for the documentary A to B Roller Ski about a Latvian Olympic champion's trip from the Arctic to Baja on roller skis. It plays again Friday Dec 8 at 9pm at the AK Experience Theater.
Here's AIFF President Rich Curtner (right) introducing Yochi Executive Producer Craig Holden for Q&A after the Shorts program Global Village in which Yochi played.
There's more on video, but that takes me a little longer to turn around.
Friday, November 24, 2017
AIFF 2017: Shorts In Competition - The Robbery, Temporary, Must Kill Karl, Iron, Whoever Was Using This Bed, Game, Cold Storage, Temporary, Couples Night, Brain Storm, 8 A.M.
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:
Remember, the blue ones are in the program called:
* 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.
Shorts on the Edge
**********************************************
This one should appeal to all Alaskans, especially ice fishers, glacial archeologists, and dancers.
From the film's webpage:
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.
**********************************************
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.
**********************************************
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.
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.
###############################################
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.
8:AM*
Brain Storm* (Remue-Meninges)
Another film that's got few internet footprints. From Augohr:
This is one of the most tantalizing trailers I've seen. It could be a super short all its own.
REMUE MENINGES (2017) - TRAILER from Christophe Clin on Vimeo.
**********************************************
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.
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.
Temporary - A film by Milena Govich from Troy Foreman on 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.
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."Cold Storage :: Trailer from Thomas Freundlich on Vimeo.
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Game
Jeannie Donohoe
USA
15 min
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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.
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Iron
Gabriel Gonda
USA
17 min
"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."
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Must Kill Karl
Joe Kick
Canada
12 min
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
It's about a robbery that goes badly. It's well made. It spoofs our national (global?) cell phone addiction among other things.
###############################################
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.
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.
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.
**********************************************
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.
REMUE MENINGES (2017) - TRAILER from Christophe Clin on Vimeo.
**********************************************
Couples Night*
Russell & Robert Summers
USA
4 min
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.
**********************************************
Temporary
Milena Govich
USA
12 Min
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.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
AIFF 2017: Docs In Competition - Saving Brinton, Over The River, The Last Animals, The Cage Fighter, Among Wolves, Alphago
Here are the Anchorage International Film Festival in Competition.
Documentaries are non-fiction feature length films. "In Competition" means, at AIFF, these films have been selected by the programmers to be eligible for awards at the festival. Another way of saying that is these are the films that the programmers collectively liked the best. There are usually other films that appealed more to individual programmers, this list is there collective choices.
I haven't seen any of these. My goal here is simply to make it easy for people to know what's coming at the festival beginning December 1.
My experiences is that the documentary category tends to be very strong at the Anchorage International Film Festival. They're in alphabetical order.
***************************************************
AlphaGo
Greg Kohs
USA
1:30:28
Showing: Tuesday, Dec 5, Bear Tooth, 8pm
Sat. Dec 9, Alaska Exp Small 7pm
This appears to be a man against machine movie - can a computer beat the best human go players?
Here's the Director's Statement: (Watch for the Alaska connection)
***************************************************
Among Wolves
Shawn Convey
USA
1:27:00
Showing: Monday, Dec 4, Bear Tooth 8:15pm
From the beginning of the trailer, my thought was: This is not the movie the title suggests to most Alaskans.
This is a movie about veterans of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, specifically in Bosnia. Here's elaboration on that from the Among Wolves website:
******************************************************
The Last Animals
Kate Brooks
USA
1:31:50
Showing: Tuesday, Dec 5 Bear Tooth 5:30 pm
This is a movie about how rhinos and elephants are being slaughtered for their horns and tusks. Hard to watch stuff. As I wander the internet reading about this film, it's clear it's doing a good job of marketing itself. The website is slick and full of gorgeous photos. There's even a piece about it in Glamor, not where you normally see stories about film festival documentaries.
I doubt though that it will be screening at the White House any time soon, given that the Trump administration has reversed the ban on importing elephant ivory from Africa trophy hunts.
Here's a bit from Screen Daily:
I couldn't find a trailer, but maybe this interview at the 2016 Women in the World Summit in New York City with the director Kate Brooks about the film is a better introduction.
******************************************
[UPDATE Nov 29, 2017: I have a new post on this film with a video of my Skype conversation with film maker Vanina Lappa.]
Over the River
Vanina Lappa
Italy
1:14:00
Showing: Sunday, Dec 3, Alaska Exp Small, 4pm
Sunday, Dec. 9 Alaska Exp Small 5pm
I've learned from the director via FB, that this film has been seen in Europe and Kathmandu, the showing in Anchorage will be its North American premiere.
As I looked this film up, I forgot we are in the documentary category. It has the look of a feature. But it's not. Which will make it interesting.
From Film Italy:
**************************************************************
Saving Brinton
Tommy Haines & Andrew Sherburne
USA
1:27:30
Showing: Sunday, Dec 3 Bear Tooth, 7:30pm
This feels like a film makers' film - it's about the finding and restoring of turn of the (20th) century films in Iowa. Last year we had an Indian film, The Cinema Travelers, about a business that traveled the festival circuit in India showing large reel-to-reel films as DVD's and online downloading were starting to challenge this old film showing tradition. It won best documentary.
We can get a sense of things by looking at where the film comes from: Northland Films:
From an interview with the filmmakers at the American Film Institute (AFI) where the film premiered June 17, this year:
**************************************************************
UPDATE Nov. 18, 2017: A film that was in this list before dropped out because of 'distribution.'
Documentaries are non-fiction feature length films. "In Competition" means, at AIFF, these films have been selected by the programmers to be eligible for awards at the festival. Another way of saying that is these are the films that the programmers collectively liked the best. There are usually other films that appealed more to individual programmers, this list is there collective choices.
I haven't seen any of these. My goal here is simply to make it easy for people to know what's coming at the festival beginning December 1.
My experiences is that the documentary category tends to be very strong at the Anchorage International Film Festival. They're in alphabetical order.
| Docs in Competition | Director | Country | Length |
| AlphaGo | Greg Kohs | USA | 1:30:28 |
| Among Wolves | Shawn Convey | USA | 1:27:00 |
| The Last Animals | Kate Brooks | USA | 1:31:50 |
| Over the River | Vanina Lappa | Italy | 1:14:00 |
| Saving Brinton | Morgan White | USA | 1:27:30 |
***************************************************
AlphaGo Greg Kohs
USA
1:30:28
Showing: Tuesday, Dec 5, Bear Tooth, 8pm
Sat. Dec 9, Alaska Exp Small 7pm
This appears to be a man against machine movie - can a computer beat the best human go players?
Here's the Director's Statement: (Watch for the Alaska connection)
"Early in my career I worked at NFL Films. That experience, of being able to see the drama on the field while having access to the people and stories unfolding off the field, has always been a fascinating intersection for me. In my recent film, The Great Alone, I was able to explore the epic scale of the Iditarod through the comeback story of a single competitor. In AlphaGo, the competition between man and machine provided a similar backdrop, albeit with far larger consequences.
The complexity of the game of Go, combined with the technical depth of an emerging technology like artificial intelligence seemed like it might create an insurmountable barrier for a film like this. The fact that I was so innocently unaware of Go and AlphaGo actually proved to be beneficial. It allowed me to approach the action and interviews with pure curiosity, the kind that helps make any subject matter emotionally accessible.
Unlike the film’s human characters – who turn their curious quest for knowledge into an epic spectacle with great existential implications, who dare to risk their reputation and pride to contest that curiosity – AI might not yet possess the ability to empathize. But it can teach us profound things about our humanness – the way we play board games, the way we think and feel and grow. It’s a deep, vast premise, but my hope is, by sharing it, we can discover something within ourselves we never saw before."
***************************************************
 |
| Image from Among Wolves Kickstarter page |
Among Wolves
Shawn Convey
USA
1:27:00
Showing: Monday, Dec 4, Bear Tooth 8:15pm
From the beginning of the trailer, my thought was: This is not the movie the title suggests to most Alaskans.
This is a movie about veterans of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, specifically in Bosnia. Here's elaboration on that from the Among Wolves website:
"A paramilitary leader at the young age of 20, Lija helped defend the town while neighbors fell to the invading forces. Now he heads the Wolves, a motorcycle club that resembles the stereotype in rough image only. Under his leadership, this wild crew has become a positive force for good with a self-defined humanitarian focus. As their numbers grow, so do their successes, like holding charity events for the neediest in their community and securing badly needed supplies for hospitals in Livno an Srebrenica.
One mission, though, rich in symbolism, captures their spirit more than any other. On what was once the front line, they now tend to and defend a herd of wild horses that society has similarly deemed expendable. A harsh environment, poachers, and urbanization continually threaten the herd. Stirred by their strength, the Wolves are determined to control their own fate and finally emerge from the shadow of war."
******************************************************
 |
| From The Last Animals website |
Kate Brooks
USA
1:31:50
Showing: Tuesday, Dec 5 Bear Tooth 5:30 pm
This is a movie about how rhinos and elephants are being slaughtered for their horns and tusks. Hard to watch stuff. As I wander the internet reading about this film, it's clear it's doing a good job of marketing itself. The website is slick and full of gorgeous photos. There's even a piece about it in Glamor, not where you normally see stories about film festival documentaries.
"Kate Brooks may be missing the fear gene: At age 20 she was infiltrating state orphanages in Russia to document child abuse, work she published in The Boston Globe and *Newsweek*. By 25 she was capturing the American invasion of Iraq for Time. Ever since, she’s lived in war zones, sending back images of bombings in Pakistan, conflict in Syria, and amputees in Afghanistan.
In 2010 she finally took a much-needed vacation and headed to a national wildlife reserve in Kenya. “I was lounging by an infinity pool,” remembers Brooks, now 39, “and out on the horizon this herd of elephants walked by. It realigned everything inside of me. I left knowing I wanted to give the animals back some of the peace they gave me.” She returned to work, but the memory of those roaming giants stayed with her, and in 2012 she began looking into why such a staggering number—30,000—are killed every year for their tusks. When she learned the reason was related to terrorism, she set out to tell the world. The result is her eye-opening documentary, The Last Animals, which takes viewers on a journey into the violent epicenter of the ivory trade."
I doubt though that it will be screening at the White House any time soon, given that the Trump administration has reversed the ban on importing elephant ivory from Africa trophy hunts.
Here's a bit from Screen Daily:
"What distinguishes The Last Animals from other films on the subject (in particular last year’s Netflix doc The Ivory Game) is the raw urgency of Brooks’ direct conflict reportage: she is a war correspondent who lets us understand that what is happening here is nothing short of an all-out battle. This investigative mission, coupled with her painterly eye, elevates this doc – for the most part – into something filmic, often elegiac, and hopefully galvanising. After all, who are we, she asks, as guardians of this planet, if we allow the slaughter of these mystical, beautiful beasts to continue."
I couldn't find a trailer, but maybe this interview at the 2016 Women in the World Summit in New York City with the director Kate Brooks about the film is a better introduction.
******************************************
[UPDATE Nov 29, 2017: I have a new post on this film with a video of my Skype conversation with film maker Vanina Lappa.]
Over the River
Vanina Lappa
Italy
1:14:00
Showing: Sunday, Dec 3, Alaska Exp Small, 4pm
Sunday, Dec. 9 Alaska Exp Small 5pm
I've learned from the director via FB, that this film has been seen in Europe and Kathmandu, the showing in Anchorage will be its North American premiere.
As I looked this film up, I forgot we are in the documentary category. It has the look of a feature. But it's not. Which will make it interesting.
From Film Italy:
"'We are too old, that's the problem. We look at the moon, look at too many things ...'. So it's been said to Angelo, a young waiter who lives in Caselle in Pittari, a small town that lies on a river basin Bussento in southern Cilento, at the foot of a sacred mountain, where there is the St. Michael's cave, inside which , the legend says, there's an ancient guarded secret."Here's from an Italian review of the movie, you can get the whole review here:
"Angelo, giovane cameriere di Caselle in Pittari, nel Cilento meridionale, vive nel tempo sospeso e fuori dalla storia che sembra caratterizzare l’intero paese. La comunità, ancorata a rituali più o meno antichi, è insieme nutrice e gabbia per il giovane; e tale è anche per il suo omonimo Angelo, barista più anziano di lui, con uno sguardo sulla vita più radicale e disilluso. I due dovranno decidere tra la permanenza e la fuga: ovvero tra due, contrastanti, idee di esistenza. [sinossi]Here's how Bing.com/translator renders this in English:
C’è costantemente una doppia dimensione, la percorrenza di un doppio binario, a guidare lo svolgimento di un lavoro come Sopra il fiume. Il documentario di Vanina Lappa, regista e montatrice italo-francese, è infatti saldamente ancorato alla terra che racconta, ai suoi rituali, al carattere misterico e al potere aggregante delle sue simbologie, ma contemporaneamente punta a mettere in scena la tensione con l’esterno, la pressione della modernità, la voglia di fuggire di alcuni abitanti del paesino che è teatro del film (quello di Caselle in Pittari, nel Cilento meridionale). La regista approccia qui il genere del documentario etnografico mettendo sempre in primo piano questa dialettica: lo fa fin dalla sequenza iniziale, che racconta il territorio attraverso un’antica leggenda che viene narrata al protagonista quand’era bambino, a illustrare lo sguardo sul fiume e sugli incontaminati territori che sovrastano e cingono il paese; poi, l’obiettivo si sposta sulla vita quotidiana della cittadina, sulla concretezza delle sue i(n)terazioni, sempre uguali a se stesse, su un tessuto sociale che sembra demograficamente condannato, incapace di favorire il ricambio tra generazioni, e quindi la sua stessa sopravvivenza."
"Angelo, a young waiter of boxes in Pitters, in southern Cilento, lives in the suspended time and out of history that seems to characterize the whole country. The community, anchored to more or less ancient rituals, is together nourishment and cage for the young; And such is also for his namesake angel, bartender older than him, with a look on the most radical and disillusioned life. The two will have to decide between permanence and escape: that is between two, contrasting, ideas of existence. Synopsis]
There is constantly a double size, the journey of a double track, to guide the conduct of a job as above the river. The documentary of Vania Lappa, Italian-French director and upright, is firmly anchored to the earth that tells, its rituals, the mystery character and the aggregating power of its symbology, but at the same time aims to stage the tension With the exterior, the pressure of modernity, the desire to flee some inhabitants of the village that is the theatre of the film (that of Caselle in Pitti, in southern Cilento). The director approaches here the genre of the ethnographic documentary always putting in the foreground this dialectic: it does so from the initial sequence, which tells the territory through an ancient legend that is narrated to the protagonist when he was a child, to To illustrate the gaze on the river and the uncontaminated territories that dominate and surround the country; Then, the goal moves on the everyday life of the town, on the concreteness of its I (n) teras, always equal to themselves, on a social fabric that seems demographically condemned, unable to favor the replacement between generations, and therefore its Same survival."
**************************************************************
 |
| From Box Office Mojo |
Tommy Haines & Andrew Sherburne
USA
1:27:30
Showing: Sunday, Dec 3 Bear Tooth, 7:30pm
This feels like a film makers' film - it's about the finding and restoring of turn of the (20th) century films in Iowa. Last year we had an Indian film, The Cinema Travelers, about a business that traveled the festival circuit in India showing large reel-to-reel films as DVD's and online downloading were starting to challenge this old film showing tradition. It won best documentary.
We can get a sense of things by looking at where the film comes from: Northland Films:
"Northland Films are non-fiction storytellers in the Upper Midwest devoted to producing challenging and engaging films on timely social issues. Working throughout North America, the filmmakers work boldly to uncover themes of nature, history & community and in unexpected places."
From an interview with the filmmakers at the American Film Institute (AFI) where the film premiered June 17, this year:
"AFI: What inspired you to tell the story of SAVING BRINTON?[TH is Tommy Haines, AS is Andrew Sherburne, and JR is John Richards - Director of Photography]
TH & AS: The common threads through all of our feature documentaries are notions of community and place and the interplay of tradition and modernity. This story had all of those elements.
TH, JR & AS: On top of all that, we’re film nerds. So here are 130 films, many of them unseen for a century, and we get to be a part of bringing these back into the public consciousness. Of course, we were in from day one.
AFI: How did you find Michael Zahs?
TH & AS: Our last film, GOLD FEVER, was about gold mining in Guatemala, and we were looking for something closer to home. Our eyes lit up when we got a call about a man, in a small town just south of us, who had discovered a basement full of nitrate films from Thomas Edison and Georges Méliès. Our first reaction was the same as most everyone: “In Iowa? Really?” That was the beginning. But in that first visit to Mike’s house, we sensed that the man who had saved these things was the real story — you can see it in the opening scene of the film. I think we left that day and told Mike 'you’ll be seeing a lot more of us.'”
**************************************************************
UPDATE Nov. 18, 2017: A film that was in this list before dropped out because of 'distribution.'
Thursday, November 02, 2017
Up Against The Wall
Regular readers will recall, I wrote about El Capitan. That led me to check the Anchorage rock climbing gym. And last night I went with a friend for the intro class.
The intro class meets 7pm - 9pm M,W, and F. For $20 you get a lesson and equipment. And as I mentioned last time they suggested bringing a buddy. Though that didn't really turn out to be necessary, there were people who needed partners in the group of folks.
There's a long iPad form to fill out and initial waiving all sorts of things, mostly about if you get hurt. And climbing shoes, despite looking really comfortable, aren't. I started with a size 8. Way too tight. A size 9. Still too tight. When I got the size 10 I realized others weren't wearing socks. But even without the socks it squeezed my toes.
Then we checked out the boulder room upstairs. And then we went back down to the big climbing walls. There are different climbing routes up the wall, each with its own color, a sign that designates its level of difficulty, and which rope (hanging down from near the ceiling) goes with that route.
We had been given harnesses which we had on like shorts made of straps. Since I didn't take pictures I'm linking to an REI page on how to pick a harness. Then we got shown how to tie the double eight knot for the climber and how to attach the carabiner and the belaying device. I should have taken pictures, but I was caught up in the class. The links will fill you in. I'd note the way we learned to make the double eight knot was different.
Then we watched the instructors climb - actually the attention was on the belaying, not on the climber - and then it was our turns.
It wasn't really hard. The belaying device holds the climbers even when they are hanging free and you can let them down slowly or more quickly. So after the class was over and we got our belayer certificates, we went back and tried some more difficult routes. Not too much more difficult.
Finally, I remembered to take some pictures. Here's my partner up on the wall part way.
He looks so much more agile than I do in the picture he took of me. But, then, something I only thought of afterward, was that his name is Cliff, so he should be more at home on the wall. And he's climbed before.
We were going up a green route.
It was fun and after being in Yosemite and learning a bit about climbers, I just really wanted to learn about how the ropes and belaying works. Climbing up was not too difficult on the easy paths, though you have to work harder on the more difficult ones. Letting go of the wall and holding on to the rope and letting your partner belay you down was probably the coolest part. It takes some faith to just let go.
Will I go back? Probably not. I got what I wanted. And it's kind of like swimming indoors. I so much prefer the ocean. This is much easier than climbing outside - everything is there and ready for you to just climb.
What I got was the most basic experience in climbing and a better appreciation for the safety measures climbers take and the feel of being way up on the wall. If I were forty of fifty years younger, I might have decided to try some real climbing. But I am thinking about next time my granddaughter visits Anchorage. There were kids climbing the boulders.
[UPDATED Nov. 2, 2017 4:30pm - When people worry about the danger of mountain climbing, I'd note that mountain climber Fred Beckey died the other day at age 94. Here's the start of an LA Times obituary:
The intro class meets 7pm - 9pm M,W, and F. For $20 you get a lesson and equipment. And as I mentioned last time they suggested bringing a buddy. Though that didn't really turn out to be necessary, there were people who needed partners in the group of folks.
There's a long iPad form to fill out and initial waiving all sorts of things, mostly about if you get hurt. And climbing shoes, despite looking really comfortable, aren't. I started with a size 8. Way too tight. A size 9. Still too tight. When I got the size 10 I realized others weren't wearing socks. But even without the socks it squeezed my toes.
Then we checked out the boulder room upstairs. And then we went back down to the big climbing walls. There are different climbing routes up the wall, each with its own color, a sign that designates its level of difficulty, and which rope (hanging down from near the ceiling) goes with that route.
We had been given harnesses which we had on like shorts made of straps. Since I didn't take pictures I'm linking to an REI page on how to pick a harness. Then we got shown how to tie the double eight knot for the climber and how to attach the carabiner and the belaying device. I should have taken pictures, but I was caught up in the class. The links will fill you in. I'd note the way we learned to make the double eight knot was different.
Then we watched the instructors climb - actually the attention was on the belaying, not on the climber - and then it was our turns. It wasn't really hard. The belaying device holds the climbers even when they are hanging free and you can let them down slowly or more quickly. So after the class was over and we got our belayer certificates, we went back and tried some more difficult routes. Not too much more difficult.
Finally, I remembered to take some pictures. Here's my partner up on the wall part way. He looks so much more agile than I do in the picture he took of me. But, then, something I only thought of afterward, was that his name is Cliff, so he should be more at home on the wall. And he's climbed before.
We were going up a green route.
It was fun and after being in Yosemite and learning a bit about climbers, I just really wanted to learn about how the ropes and belaying works. Climbing up was not too difficult on the easy paths, though you have to work harder on the more difficult ones. Letting go of the wall and holding on to the rope and letting your partner belay you down was probably the coolest part. It takes some faith to just let go.
Will I go back? Probably not. I got what I wanted. And it's kind of like swimming indoors. I so much prefer the ocean. This is much easier than climbing outside - everything is there and ready for you to just climb.
What I got was the most basic experience in climbing and a better appreciation for the safety measures climbers take and the feel of being way up on the wall. If I were forty of fifty years younger, I might have decided to try some real climbing. But I am thinking about next time my granddaughter visits Anchorage. There were kids climbing the boulders.
[UPDATED Nov. 2, 2017 4:30pm - When people worry about the danger of mountain climbing, I'd note that mountain climber Fred Beckey died the other day at age 94. Here's the start of an LA Times obituary:
"Legendary mountain climber Fred Beckey, who wrote dozens of books and is credited with notching more first ascents than any other American mountaineer, has died. He was 94.
Beckey died of natural causes in Seattle, said Megan Bond, a close friend who managed his affairs.
“He was an extraordinary mountaineer. He also had a personality and humor that almost dwarfed the mountains around him,” Bond said. “He was a brilliant writer. He was a scholar. He lived based on what was important to him, and he was not going to sell out.”
Beckey was known as much for his eccentric personality as for his singular obsession with climbing."]
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