I caught Dan after Deadfall in the Bear Tooth theater Friday night. It shows there tonight (Saturday) at 8pm. In the video he explains the source of the story and tells us a little about his life before becoming a film maker.
His film Lad: A Yorkshire Story is in competition in the feature catogory.
We were in front of the theater and they were setting up for musicians. As we were talking they turned off their lights which you'll see at the end.
It plays a second time Saturday, Dec. 8, at 6:30 at the Alaska Experience Theater.
Saturday, December 01, 2012
AIFF 2012: Vikram Dasgupta Talks About Calcutta Taxi
 |
| Gilles Guerraz, director of Lapse |
They are all playing together
Saturday Morning at
11 am
at the Alaska Experience Theater.
And here's Vikram last night after Deadfall. He was not excited about how close the camera was and when we tried to do it again at a quieter spot it wasn't as natural and he said ok. He is right about the lighting. But you get a sense of Vikram's energy and charm and the after film crowd at the Bear Tooth last night. So, this is dedicated to his mom and his wife.
*I have a lot of video of my chat with Gilles Guerraz. Too much video. I'll try to edit it and post a short bit of it before the film shows again next week.
AIFF 2012: What To Watch? (Most) Films In Competition Saturday
Here's a list of the films in competition I noticed that were being shown today. I haven't checked the animated films and there may be more shorts I missed. The Festival's hard copy guides are available and make finding your way around the conference much easier.
I'm putting these up in order of when they are being shown.
Four of the seven features in competition are being shown, but most of them will be showing at overlapping times. You can see Confine (2pm) and one of the others. They'll all be shown again.
Two of the four documentaries in competition are being shown.
Films in Competition marked with ** showing Saturday
11:00 AM: Shorts: Native Tongue [SHORTS]
Shorts Program | 88 min.
**Mossadegh | Roozbeh Dadvand 2011 Short In Competition
**Calcutta Taxi | Vikram Dasgupta 2012 Short In Competition
Naagahaan, Zinat… (Suddenly, Zinat…) | Navid Azad 2012
**Lapse | Gilles GUERRAZ 2012 Short In Competition
11:30 AM First Peoples Program [SHORTS]
Mixed Media, Shorts Program | 60 min.
Day in Our Bay: A Closer Look
**Hunt | Jordan Tannahill 2012 Short In Competition
Wolf Dog Tales | Bernadine Santistevan 2012
Cry Rock | Banchi Hanuse
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
2:00 PM **Confine
Tobias Tobbell 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 90 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Wed, Dec 05 Alaska Experience Theater
4:30 PM **People of a Feather
Joel Heath 2011 | Documentary, In Competition | 90 min.
screens with...
River | Daniel Janke 2011
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
Note: The short River is about the Yukon and Daniel Janke should be there for Q&A.
SHOWN AGAIN 6:00 PM Sat, Dec 08 Anchorage Museum
5:00 PM Shorts: Expectations
Shorts Program | 86 min.
**Cockatoo | Matthew Jenkin 2011 Short in Competition
It's the 5th of 10 shorts in the 86 minute program of "Expectatioons"
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
It's also in the Love and Pain program showing at 10pm at the Bear Tooth
And again later in the week.
7pm **Aquí y Allá (Here and There)Antonio Mendez Esparza 2011 | Feature, In Competition | 110 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Thu, Dec 06 Alaska Experience Theater
7:30pm **GrassrootsStephen Gyllenhaal | Feature, In Competition | 97 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:30 PM Tue, Dec 04 Alaska Experience Theater
8:00pm **Lad: A Yorkshire Story
Dan Hartley 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
Bear Tooth Theatre
SHOWN AGAIN 6:30 PM Sat, Dec 08
8:30pm **Ping Pong
Hugh Hartford | Documentary, In Competition | 80 min.
screens with...
Cutting Loose | Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
The two features NOT showing today are:
**Between Us Dan Mirvish USA 90m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
5:15PM Mon, Dec 03 Alaska Experience Theater - small theater
8:00PM Fri, Dec. 07 Out North
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
**Shouting Secrets Korinna Sehringer Switzerland/USA 88m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
8:)) PM Sun, Dec 02 Bear Tooth
3:00Pm Fri, Dec 07 Alaska Experience Theater
I'm putting these up in order of when they are being shown.
Four of the seven features in competition are being shown, but most of them will be showing at overlapping times. You can see Confine (2pm) and one of the others. They'll all be shown again.
Two of the four documentaries in competition are being shown.
Films in Competition marked with ** showing Saturday
11:00 AM: Shorts: Native Tongue [SHORTS]
Shorts Program | 88 min.
**Mossadegh | Roozbeh Dadvand 2011 Short In Competition
**Calcutta Taxi | Vikram Dasgupta 2012 Short In Competition
Naagahaan, Zinat… (Suddenly, Zinat…) | Navid Azad 2012
**Lapse | Gilles GUERRAZ 2012 Short In Competition
11:30 AM First Peoples Program [SHORTS]
Mixed Media, Shorts Program | 60 min.
Day in Our Bay: A Closer Look
**Hunt | Jordan Tannahill 2012 Short In Competition
Wolf Dog Tales | Bernadine Santistevan 2012
Cry Rock | Banchi Hanuse
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
2:00 PM **Confine
Tobias Tobbell 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 90 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Wed, Dec 05 Alaska Experience Theater
4:30 PM **People of a Feather
Joel Heath 2011 | Documentary, In Competition | 90 min.
screens with...
River | Daniel Janke 2011
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
Note: The short River is about the Yukon and Daniel Janke should be there for Q&A.
SHOWN AGAIN 6:00 PM Sat, Dec 08 Anchorage Museum
5:00 PM Shorts: Expectations
Shorts Program | 86 min.
**Cockatoo | Matthew Jenkin 2011 Short in Competition
It's the 5th of 10 shorts in the 86 minute program of "Expectatioons"
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
It's also in the Love and Pain program showing at 10pm at the Bear Tooth
And again later in the week.
7pm **Aquí y Allá (Here and There)Antonio Mendez Esparza 2011 | Feature, In Competition | 110 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Thu, Dec 06 Alaska Experience Theater
7:30pm **GrassrootsStephen Gyllenhaal | Feature, In Competition | 97 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:30 PM Tue, Dec 04 Alaska Experience Theater
8:00pm **Lad: A Yorkshire Story
Dan Hartley 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
Bear Tooth Theatre
SHOWN AGAIN 6:30 PM Sat, Dec 08
8:30pm **Ping Pong
Hugh Hartford | Documentary, In Competition | 80 min.
screens with...
Cutting Loose | Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
The two features NOT showing today are:
**Between Us Dan Mirvish USA 90m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
5:15PM Mon, Dec 03 Alaska Experience Theater - small theater
8:00PM Fri, Dec. 07 Out North
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
**Shouting Secrets Korinna Sehringer Switzerland/USA 88m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
8:)) PM Sun, Dec 02 Bear Tooth
3:00Pm Fri, Dec 07 Alaska Experience Theater
AIFF 2012: Deadfall Better Than I Expected
I'm not the official blogger of the festival. That allows me to say what I think without worrying about it reflecting on the festival itself. And let me say the festival organizers have been kind to me, helped me out, and even given me a pass. I think it's a good thing that we have a festival and for that reason want to encourage people to see as many films as possible. And while I'd rather focus on what I like, pass over the glitches, my main obligation is to the audience, not to the festival. So sometimes I have to give some friendly, and I hope constructive, criticism.
There was a good crowd at the Bear Tooth tonight for Deadfall. But at 7:50pm people were still waiting to be let in out of the cold. By 8:15 people were in the theater, but there was still a long line at the pub. You know they won't start the movie until everyone has had a chance to get their beer and wine.
The guy who introduced the Aurora film was appropriately respectful to the audience and worded his thanks politely and as though he'd given it some thought. (I couldn't find reference to him or the film in the program. [12/6 - Met him Thursday night. He's Todd Salat and the film is Catching Alaska's Light Waves and he didn't do the music.]) The film's shots of the aurora were beautiful. The music was the typical classical music that often accompanies nature films and I was thinking some Yupik drumming might have been a nice touch instead.
It's important to acknowledge sponsors and volunteers and to give a nod to the film makers in the audience. And I know the people running the festival are working 26 hours a day right now. But a friend I talked to after the film said he left his house at 8:05pm figuring the film would start late and when he got into the theater they were still doing introductions.. For all the work that was put into the festival, it would be nice to keep the opening remarks short and gracious and start the movie within ten minutes of the scheduled time. Or maybe the music and dancer, who played to a mostly empty house after the film while everyone else was in the lobby eating the big spread of pizza and desserts, should have been on stage before the film.
Deadfall itself was better than I expected. I'm not into bloody chase films, triple flip car crashes, gratuitous shooting, etc. Last year I put up with a lot in one late night film, but finally walked out when they started cutting off someone's ear.
But Deadfall turned out better than I expected. There were lots of little things that worked - scenes where I just enjoyed watching how the camera framed a face or Sissy Spacek nicely bringing her character to life.
As one film maker said afterward, it was as though they couldn't figure out which film they wanted to make. The prison movie? The boxing movie? The caper movie? The love story? The heist movie? A comedy? And the villain's Thanksgiving dinner guest role just didn't work for me. Yes, bad guys often do have good sides, but I didn't believe his Thanksgiving dinner guest persona. And while the script made sure the audience knew why Eric Bana didn't bleed to death from his missing finger, I was thinking, while he was flying across the landscape on a stolen snowmachine in a blizzard without gloves, that frostbite would have been a much more serious concern.
And what does it means when the crowd laughs at the seemingly serious sex scene? Was it because the whole act started and ended in what felt like less than a minute?
It's late and I don't have enough to time to think this through. This was quite different and a lot less satisfying than what we're used to for opening films at this festival. And I know I'm being contradictory here because I complained in the past about using films in competition to open the festival and here they didn't do that. And I'm complaining again.
And making a film called Deadfall is like tempting critics to add an 'r' and switching out the 'a' for a 'u'. But it wasn't that bad. It wasn't a waste of my time. But now that I'm focused here on the title, I'm not sure what it means in relation to the movie.
Got to get ready for a busy day tomorrow.
 |
| People waiting for things to start at the Bear Tooth |
The guy who introduced the Aurora film was appropriately respectful to the audience and worded his thanks politely and as though he'd given it some thought. (
It's important to acknowledge sponsors and volunteers and to give a nod to the film makers in the audience. And I know the people running the festival are working 26 hours a day right now. But a friend I talked to after the film said he left his house at 8:05pm figuring the film would start late and when he got into the theater they were still doing introductions.. For all the work that was put into the festival, it would be nice to keep the opening remarks short and gracious and start the movie within ten minutes of the scheduled time. Or maybe the music and dancer, who played to a mostly empty house after the film while everyone else was in the lobby eating the big spread of pizza and desserts, should have been on stage before the film.
 |
| Film Programmer Josh Lowman in Bear Tooth lobby |
But Deadfall turned out better than I expected. There were lots of little things that worked - scenes where I just enjoyed watching how the camera framed a face or Sissy Spacek nicely bringing her character to life.
As one film maker said afterward, it was as though they couldn't figure out which film they wanted to make. The prison movie? The boxing movie? The caper movie? The love story? The heist movie? A comedy? And the villain's Thanksgiving dinner guest role just didn't work for me. Yes, bad guys often do have good sides, but I didn't believe his Thanksgiving dinner guest persona. And while the script made sure the audience knew why Eric Bana didn't bleed to death from his missing finger, I was thinking, while he was flying across the landscape on a stolen snowmachine in a blizzard without gloves, that frostbite would have been a much more serious concern.
| The Quick Freeze Prompts were announced:
Sunrise
Duct tape
Hostess
|
It's late and I don't have enough to time to think this through. This was quite different and a lot less satisfying than what we're used to for opening films at this festival. And I know I'm being contradictory here because I complained in the past about using films in competition to open the festival and here they didn't do that. And I'm complaining again.
And making a film called Deadfall is like tempting critics to add an 'r' and switching out the 'a' for a 'u'. But it wasn't that bad. It wasn't a waste of my time. But now that I'm focused here on the title, I'm not sure what it means in relation to the movie.
Got to get ready for a busy day tomorrow.
Friday, November 30, 2012
AIFF 2012: Lots of Films In Competition Today (Saturday Dec. 1)
Here's a list of the films in competition I noticed that were being shown today. I haven't checked the animated films and there may be more shorts I missed. The Festival's hard copy guides are available
I've put them in order of when they are being show.
Four of the seven features in competition are being shown, but most of them will be showing at overlapping times. You can see Confine (2pm) and one of the others. They'll all be shown again.
Two of the four documentaries in competition are being shown.
Films in Competition marked with ** showing Saturday
11:00 AM: Shorts: Native Tongue [SHORTS]
Shorts Program | 88 min.
**Mossadegh | Roozbeh Dadvand 2011 Short In Competition
**Calcutta Taxi | Vikram Dasgupta 2012 Short In Competition
Naagahaan, Zinat… (Suddenly, Zinat…) | Navid Azad 2012
**Lapse | Gilles GUERRAZ 2012 Short In Competition
11:30 AM First Peoples Program [SHORTS]
Mixed Media, Shorts Program | 60 min.
Day in Our Bay: A Closer Look
**Hunt | Jordan Tannahill 2012 Short In Competition
Wolf Dog Tales | Bernadine Santistevan 2012
Cry Rock | Banchi Hanuse
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
2:00 PM **Confine
Tobias Tobbell 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 90 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Wed, Dec 05 Alaska Experience Theater
4:30 PM **People of a Feather
Joel Heath 2011 | Documentary, In Competition | 90 min.
screens with...
River | Daniel Janke 2011
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
Note: The short River is about the Yukon and Daniel Janke should be there for Q&A.
SHOWN AGAIN 6:00 PM Sat, Dec 08 Anchorage Museum
5:00 PM Shorts: Expectations
Shorts Program | 86 min.
**Cockatoo | Matthew Jenkin 2011 Short in Competition
It's the 5th of 10 shorts in the 86 minute program of "Expectatioons"
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
It's also in the Love and Pain program showing at 10pm at the Bear Tooth
And again later in the week.
7pm **Aquí y Allá (Here and There)Antonio Mendez Esparza 2011 | Feature, In Competition | 110 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Thu, Dec 06 Alaska Experience Theater
7:30pm **GrassrootsStephen Gyllenhaal | Feature, In Competition | 97 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:30 PM Tue, Dec 04 Alaska Experience Theater
8:00pm **Lad: A Yorkshire Story
Dan Hartley 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
Bear Tooth Theatre
SHOWN AGAIN 6:30 PM Sat, Dec 08
8:30pm **Ping Pong
Hugh Hartford | Documentary, In Competition | 80 min.
screens with...
Cutting Loose | Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
SHOWN AGAIN 11:00 AM Sat, Dec 08 Out North
The two features NOT showing today are:
**Between Us Dan Mirvish USA 90m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
5:15PM Mon, Dec 03 Alaska Experience Theater - small theater
8:00PM Fri, Dec. 07 Out North
**Shouting Secrets Korinna Sehringer Switzerland/USA 88m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
8:)) PM Sun, Dec 02 Bear Tooth
3:00Pm Fri, Dec 07 Alaska Experience Theater
I've put them in order of when they are being show.
Four of the seven features in competition are being shown, but most of them will be showing at overlapping times. You can see Confine (2pm) and one of the others. They'll all be shown again.
Two of the four documentaries in competition are being shown.
Films in Competition marked with ** showing Saturday
11:00 AM: Shorts: Native Tongue [SHORTS]
Shorts Program | 88 min.
**Mossadegh | Roozbeh Dadvand 2011 Short In Competition
**Calcutta Taxi | Vikram Dasgupta 2012 Short In Competition
Naagahaan, Zinat… (Suddenly, Zinat…) | Navid Azad 2012
**Lapse | Gilles GUERRAZ 2012 Short In Competition
11:30 AM First Peoples Program [SHORTS]
Mixed Media, Shorts Program | 60 min.
Day in Our Bay: A Closer Look
**Hunt | Jordan Tannahill 2012 Short In Competition
Wolf Dog Tales | Bernadine Santistevan 2012
Cry Rock | Banchi Hanuse
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
2:00 PM **Confine
Tobias Tobbell 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 90 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Wed, Dec 05 Alaska Experience Theater
4:30 PM **People of a Feather
Joel Heath 2011 | Documentary, In Competition | 90 min.
screens with...
River | Daniel Janke 2011
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
Note: The short River is about the Yukon and Daniel Janke should be there for Q&A.
SHOWN AGAIN 6:00 PM Sat, Dec 08 Anchorage Museum
5:00 PM Shorts: Expectations
Shorts Program | 86 min.
**Cockatoo | Matthew Jenkin 2011 Short in Competition
It's the 5th of 10 shorts in the 86 minute program of "Expectatioons"
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
It's also in the Love and Pain program showing at 10pm at the Bear Tooth
And again later in the week.
7pm **Aquí y Allá (Here and There)Antonio Mendez Esparza 2011 | Feature, In Competition | 110 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:00 PM Thu, Dec 06 Alaska Experience Theater
7:30pm **GrassrootsStephen Gyllenhaal | Feature, In Competition | 97 min.
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater
SHOWN AGAIN 8:30 PM Tue, Dec 04 Alaska Experience Theater
8:00pm **Lad: A Yorkshire Story
Dan Hartley 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
Bear Tooth Theatre
SHOWN AGAIN 6:30 PM Sat, Dec 08
8:30pm **Ping Pong
Hugh Hartford | Documentary, In Competition | 80 min.
screens with...
Cutting Loose | Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
SHOWN AGAIN 11:00 AM Sat, Dec 08 Out North
The two features NOT showing today are:
**Between Us Dan Mirvish USA 90m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
5:15PM Mon, Dec 03 Alaska Experience Theater - small theater
8:00PM Fri, Dec. 07 Out North
| Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
**Shouting Secrets Korinna Sehringer Switzerland/USA 88m Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
8:)) PM Sun, Dec 02 Bear Tooth
3:00Pm Fri, Dec 07 Alaska Experience Theater
AIFF 2012: Eric Bana in Deadfall Opens Festival Tonight Plus Saturday Overview
Temps between 0˚F and 25˚F as the Anchorage International Film Festival opens tonight at 8pm at the Bear Tooth. Deadfall, the opening film, is an invited film and is not in competition. This is good, because in the past many of the opening night films turned out to be the winning movie. (Though last year this was not the case.)
As I looked at the trailer with a car crash, lots of stolen money, some blood, I wasn't particularly excited. This is not the sort of movie I'd go to see. It's not what I think of as a film festival film. Instead it's a Hollywood movie. While these do play at a lot of festivals, they don't show up - fortunately - that often at the Anchorage International Film Festival.
Here's part of what a writer for Entertainment Weekly wrote about it at the Tribeca Film Festivale:
[Eric] Bana plays a smooth-talking thief who, along with his sister (Wilde), is involved in a casino robbery gone wrong which forces them to flee into the snowy terrain near the Canadian boarder in whiteout conditions. They split up to better to reach Canada without detection, and through a series of twists and (violent) turns are destined to cross paths with a boxer just out of prison (Humnam) and his parents (Spacek and Kristofferson).Maybe it's the blizzard that makes this seem appropriate for the Anchorage Festival.
It’s a tense 94 minutes set in blizzard conditions that sports one insanely thrilling chase scene on snowmobiles.
I do think that tomorrow's 11 am showing at the Alaska Experience Theater of four shorts (about 20 minutes each) will prove to be a satisfying film experience. I've already written about these films here and about one of them - Mossadegh - here. And I've yet to post on the Skype chat I had with Gilles Gurrez in Paris on his film in that program, Lapse.
I recommend getting into the Festival Genius (a software program for film festivals) and poke around. You can look for specific categories of films, countries, venues, days, etc.
Here's what Saturday (tomorrow) looks like from Festival Genius:
Saturday, December 1st
|
|||||
|
Shorts Program | 88 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Mixed Media, Shorts Program | 60 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Shorts Program, Snowdance Program | 94 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Tobias Tobbell 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 90 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Snowdance Program | 101 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Joel Heath 2011 | Documentary, In Competition | 90 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Shorts Program | 86 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Andrew Simpson | Documentary | 90 min.
|
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center | + add to cal | |||
|
Antonio Mendez Esparza 2011 | Feature, In Competition | 110 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Stephen Gyllenhaal | Feature, In Competition | 97 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Dan Hartley 2012 | Feature, In Competition | 96 min.
|
Bear Tooth Theatre | + add to cal | |||
|
Hugh Hartford | Documentary, In Competition | 80 min.
|
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center | + add to cal | |||
|
Director-Sean Branney, Composer-Troy Sterling Nies | Feature | 104 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Zsolt Pozsgai 2010 | Feature | 100 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | + add to cal | |||
|
Mixed Media, Shorts Program | 94 min.
screens with...
| |||||
Tired of the 21st Century? Go Back In Time Sunday
Time travel at the University of Alaska Anchorage Sunday as the Music Department takes you back a few centuries.
John Lutterman, the cellist, and a member of the new faculty group I'm working with, tells me:
John Lutterman, the cellist, and a member of the new faculty group I'm working with, tells me:
The instruments are all modern reconstructions of instruments from the 16th-18th centuries. The first half of the program is mostly short pieces from the 16th & 17th centuries by lesser-known composers: Milano, Ortiz, Hume, Simpson, Frescobaldi, Mico, de la Barre, Berteau. The second half is mostly German high-Baroque: Telemann, Bach, and Handel.
4pm, UAA Theater/Arts Building Sunday, December 2, 2012
Studying Chinese in 2012 is a Lot Easier than It Was In 2003
Last night was our last session of the UAA Confucius Institute's community Chinese class until spring. The teacher, Teng Fei, has been terrific, pushing us more than is comfortable, but not too much more. Most important is that the two Confucius Institute teachers we've had used a great teaching method - lots of oral repetition, good grammar drills, and almost no English in class.
I'd say that this is pretty elementary stuff - a dialogue about people going to someone's birthday party.
A: Wang Peng, what are you doing now?
B: I'm reading.
A: Today is Gao Xiao Yin's birthday. This evening we're going to have a dance party at her place. Can you come?
But elementary in Chinese is relatively advanced in a lot of other languages. You've got the tones to learn (what tones are) (hearing the tones) and more than that, you've got to memorize each character. Counting through the back of the book's glossary it looks like there's about 350 characters that we're supposed to know now.
How much could you say if you only knew 350 words of English? [Here's a list of the 300 most common English words to give you an idea of both how much it is and how limited it is.] Actually, speaking Chinese with just 350 words is probably easier than English because there is no conjugation of verbs for present, past, and future tense. Some of that gets conveyed with words like today, next week, etc. And there are some words you stick into the sentence that shows it's happened already or it's happening now. (The character 呢 at the end of line one of the dialogue in the photo is supposed to show that she's asking about what he's doing right now. Or you could just say "right now" instead.) So you don't have to fuss with I am, I was, I will be, etc.
But, there's always the characters. And while there are some basic repeated parts of the characters - radicals - there's no real phonetic way to know how to pronounce each character. You have to memorize each one. But, knowing the radicals and their meaning can help in that task.
There is so much more online help today than there was in the past. Chinese dictionaries are ingenious, but also painfully slow to use. If you were looking up a character you had two options:
Option 1. Stroke count.
a. count the strokes in the character;
b. then in the front of the dictionary there is a list of characters starting with one stroke, two stroke, three stroke, etc. If the character you want to look up has five strokes, you go to the five stroke characters. They're listed in stroke order (there's a set of rules for which stroke comes first, second, etc.) Or you can just go down the list until you find the one you are looking for.
c. find the character you are looking for
d1. in some dictionaries it then has a page number to go to
d2. in other dictionaries it has the pinyin (phonetic alphabet) and then you can look it up alphabetically in that dictionary.
On the right is a page from a Chinese dictionary. First you have one stroke characters. One is a horizontal line 一 and two is two horizontal
lines 二。You can see there are only two one stroke characters listed and you can find them on pages 1037 and 1049. Then there are more two stroke characters. The first stroke in a character is the horizontal line stroke (if there is one). There are four such two stroke characters listed. Then the characters that start with the second stroke - the vertical line. Just one listed, on page 60. Then a diagonal stroke to the left. These are just the two stroke characters. Imagine trying to see the 10 stroke characters. I often needed a magnifying glass.
As you can imagine, this took a while. New students don't always count the strokes right. Then you you have to go through long lists of characters to find the one you are looking for. (There are a lot more three, four, five and more stroke characters than one and two stroke characters.)
Option 2. Radical
This is similar, but instead of starting with the number of strokes, you start with the main radical in the character, then go down the list of all the characters with that radical. This assumes you can figure out the radical.
I spent more time thumbing through the dictionary to find the characters in the past attempts to study Chinese than learning the characters.
But now you can look up characters online. Yellowbridge.com let's you find the character
a. by writing the English
b. writing the word in pinyin (the phonetic alphabet)
c. writing the Chinese character - yes the have a little box (you would click the brush on the real page) where you can make the strokes with your cursor. But you have to be close enough that the computer can figure out some characters it thinks you made, then you have to pick out your character from the list it gives you. But that's true of each of these.
And once you get the character you can listen to the pronunciation, see the etymology, see examples of other words that use the character. Yellowbridge even has an online flashcard system that uses the vocabulary lists from the most used Chinese textbooks identified by each lesson. So I could pick my book and chapter and do the flashcards online. Here you can see the flashcards for the chapter we worked on today in class - this is just the vocabulary for the second dialogue of the chapter.
ArchChinese, which I found looking for the stroke order rules above, also looks like a lot of help. It says it's been put together by Chinese teachers for K-12 and university student in the US.
So, things are much easier now. And there are lots of different websites that offer great help. And there are lots of YouTube videos so you can listen to the sounds. But none of that substitutes for memorizing the characters and learning the dialogues and the grammar patterns, in writing and orally, which use very different parts of the brain. It just makes it a little easier.
So, since last night was the last class until the spring, I thought I would recover that part of my life spent preparing each week for Chinese class. But no. We got homework to keep us busy until we start again, which, fortunately is not until late February. (This is a community class, not a credit class.) But much of what we need to do is review all the vocabulary, dialogues, and grammar that we've covered so far. But we're also supposed to look ahead to the next six chapters (to the end of this book.)
But, I have to say, while my Chinese is very rudimentary, I am finding myself thinking in the patterns we've been learning and the vocabulary seems to be sticking a little better than in the past. I think I've laid down enough tracks in my brain that this time it's working.
A: Wang Peng, what are you doing now?
B: I'm reading.
A: Today is Gao Xiao Yin's birthday. This evening we're going to have a dance party at her place. Can you come?
But elementary in Chinese is relatively advanced in a lot of other languages. You've got the tones to learn (what tones are) (hearing the tones) and more than that, you've got to memorize each character. Counting through the back of the book's glossary it looks like there's about 350 characters that we're supposed to know now.
How much could you say if you only knew 350 words of English? [Here's a list of the 300 most common English words to give you an idea of both how much it is and how limited it is.] Actually, speaking Chinese with just 350 words is probably easier than English because there is no conjugation of verbs for present, past, and future tense. Some of that gets conveyed with words like today, next week, etc. And there are some words you stick into the sentence that shows it's happened already or it's happening now. (The character 呢 at the end of line one of the dialogue in the photo is supposed to show that she's asking about what he's doing right now. Or you could just say "right now" instead.) So you don't have to fuss with I am, I was, I will be, etc.
But, there's always the characters. And while there are some basic repeated parts of the characters - radicals - there's no real phonetic way to know how to pronounce each character. You have to memorize each one. But, knowing the radicals and their meaning can help in that task.
There is so much more online help today than there was in the past. Chinese dictionaries are ingenious, but also painfully slow to use. If you were looking up a character you had two options:
Option 1. Stroke count.
a. count the strokes in the character;
b. then in the front of the dictionary there is a list of characters starting with one stroke, two stroke, three stroke, etc. If the character you want to look up has five strokes, you go to the five stroke characters. They're listed in stroke order (there's a set of rules for which stroke comes first, second, etc.) Or you can just go down the list until you find the one you are looking for.
c. find the character you are looking for
d1. in some dictionaries it then has a page number to go to
d2. in other dictionaries it has the pinyin (phonetic alphabet) and then you can look it up alphabetically in that dictionary.
On the right is a page from a Chinese dictionary. First you have one stroke characters. One is a horizontal line 一 and two is two horizontal
lines 二。You can see there are only two one stroke characters listed and you can find them on pages 1037 and 1049. Then there are more two stroke characters. The first stroke in a character is the horizontal line stroke (if there is one). There are four such two stroke characters listed. Then the characters that start with the second stroke - the vertical line. Just one listed, on page 60. Then a diagonal stroke to the left. These are just the two stroke characters. Imagine trying to see the 10 stroke characters. I often needed a magnifying glass.
As you can imagine, this took a while. New students don't always count the strokes right. Then you you have to go through long lists of characters to find the one you are looking for. (There are a lot more three, four, five and more stroke characters than one and two stroke characters.)
Option 2. Radical
This is similar, but instead of starting with the number of strokes, you start with the main radical in the character, then go down the list of all the characters with that radical. This assumes you can figure out the radical.
I spent more time thumbing through the dictionary to find the characters in the past attempts to study Chinese than learning the characters.
But now you can look up characters online. Yellowbridge.com let's you find the character
a. by writing the English
b. writing the word in pinyin (the phonetic alphabet)
c. writing the Chinese character - yes the have a little box (you would click the brush on the real page) where you can make the strokes with your cursor. But you have to be close enough that the computer can figure out some characters it thinks you made, then you have to pick out your character from the list it gives you. But that's true of each of these.
 |
| Screenshot from Yellowbridge.comhttp://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/chinese-dictionary.php |
And once you get the character you can listen to the pronunciation, see the etymology, see examples of other words that use the character. Yellowbridge even has an online flashcard system that uses the vocabulary lists from the most used Chinese textbooks identified by each lesson. So I could pick my book and chapter and do the flashcards online. Here you can see the flashcards for the chapter we worked on today in class - this is just the vocabulary for the second dialogue of the chapter.
ArchChinese, which I found looking for the stroke order rules above, also looks like a lot of help. It says it's been put together by Chinese teachers for K-12 and university student in the US.
So, things are much easier now. And there are lots of different websites that offer great help. And there are lots of YouTube videos so you can listen to the sounds. But none of that substitutes for memorizing the characters and learning the dialogues and the grammar patterns, in writing and orally, which use very different parts of the brain. It just makes it a little easier.
So, since last night was the last class until the spring, I thought I would recover that part of my life spent preparing each week for Chinese class. But no. We got homework to keep us busy until we start again, which, fortunately is not until late February. (This is a community class, not a credit class.) But much of what we need to do is review all the vocabulary, dialogues, and grammar that we've covered so far. But we're also supposed to look ahead to the next six chapters (to the end of this book.)
But, I have to say, while my Chinese is very rudimentary, I am finding myself thinking in the patterns we've been learning and the vocabulary seems to be sticking a little better than in the past. I think I've laid down enough tracks in my brain that this time it's working.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Did You Walk Today Without Thinking It Was Remarkable?
I went out today and walked to the University library. I felt incredible. I was walking without pain, without a limp. For those of you who haven't marveled at your simple ability to walk without noticing that you are walking, I suggest you give a small thanks for that.
We tend to focus on the things that aren't working and forget to be gratefull for all the parts that are. We take for granted all the amazing gifts we have - like walking.
It does seem that the doctor's guess of plantar fasciitis is the more likely than the gout diagnosis. From the Mayo Clinic:
Heel That Pain offers this list of factors that can cause injurty to the plantar fascia:
But I'm wondering if the bruised foot I got from bike fall - I think I slammed my foot into the pedal - had a delayed action. (Yes, it's the same foot.) The doctor didn't think so when he looked at it last week. But I don't know what else would have brought it on. Maybe I'm a "rare case." (I know people who would agree and are thankful.)
Or maybe the slippers I've been wearing around the house were too flimsy, but most of the time I'm barefoot, or rather sock footed.
I was a little hesitant to go the mile each way to the library today, in case it was too much and might cause this to come back. But it feels fine. I guess tomorrow I'll find out.
And really, I'm not whining. Complaining about my personal health, or lack thereof, is not what this blog is about. Any personal health posts have to have some redeeming reasons that benefit some readers.
So my main message here is about appreciating all you can do with your body parts that you generally don't even think about - except when they stop working. Can you see? Can you hear? Can your fingers easily pick up a fork without even thinking? Or fly across the keyboard? Can you run downstairs to get a book you left there without pain shooting through your foot? These are all miracles we should be thankful for.
Walking today was joyful. And there's that little bit of info on plantar fasciitis, which might be of interest to someone.
Film festival begins in less than 48 hours.
We tend to focus on the things that aren't working and forget to be gratefull for all the parts that are. We take for granted all the amazing gifts we have - like walking.
It does seem that the doctor's guess of plantar fasciitis is the more likely than the gout diagnosis. From the Mayo Clinic:
Plantar fasciitis (PLAN-tur fas-e-I-tis) involves pain and inflammation of a thick band of tissue, called the plantar fascia, that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes. Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain.It started last Thursday and then was terrible on Friday when I went to the doctor. I'm not at all sure what might have brought it on. The doctor said if you push yourself too much, it can come on. But I hadn't really even done much walking since the previous Friday. I'd been inactive because my ribs are still sore from falling off my bike two weeks ago when I hit a bit of ice.
Plantar fasciitis commonly causes stabbing pain that usually occurs with your very first steps in the morning. Once your foot limbers up, the pain of plantar fasciitis normally decreases, but it may return after long periods of standing or after getting up from a seated position.
Screen-shot from Plantar Stretch video
Plantar fasciitis is particularly common in runners. In addition, people who are overweight, women who are pregnant and those who wear shoes with inadequate support are at risk of plantar fasciitis.
Heel That Pain offers this list of factors that can cause injurty to the plantar fascia:
[Turns out this website sells heel seats for people with plantar fasciitis.]
- Biomechanical factors, such as abnormal inward twisting (pronation), high arches, flat feet, or tight tendons at the back of the heel (Achilles tendons)
- Repetitive foot use, walking or running on hard surfaces, or excessive exercise
- Being overweight, or having sudden weight gain
- Shoes that are unsupportive or are poorly cushioned
- Arthritis in the foot, which develops mainly among middle-aged and elderly persons
- In rare cases, a single, traumatic injury to the foot, or plantar fascia, can lead to a number of painful ailments
But I'm wondering if the bruised foot I got from bike fall - I think I slammed my foot into the pedal - had a delayed action. (Yes, it's the same foot.) The doctor didn't think so when he looked at it last week. But I don't know what else would have brought it on. Maybe I'm a "rare case." (I know people who would agree and are thankful.)
Or maybe the slippers I've been wearing around the house were too flimsy, but most of the time I'm barefoot, or rather sock footed.
I was a little hesitant to go the mile each way to the library today, in case it was too much and might cause this to come back. But it feels fine. I guess tomorrow I'll find out.
And really, I'm not whining. Complaining about my personal health, or lack thereof, is not what this blog is about. Any personal health posts have to have some redeeming reasons that benefit some readers.
So my main message here is about appreciating all you can do with your body parts that you generally don't even think about - except when they stop working. Can you see? Can you hear? Can your fingers easily pick up a fork without even thinking? Or fly across the keyboard? Can you run downstairs to get a book you left there without pain shooting through your foot? These are all miracles we should be thankful for.
Walking today was joyful. And there's that little bit of info on plantar fasciitis, which might be of interest to someone.
Film festival begins in less than 48 hours.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
2012 Benghazi Press Release Versus 2002 Yemen Bombing Betrayal
In November 2002, to boost Republican chances in the midterm elections, according to Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen, the Bush administration blew the cover story on a bombing in Yemen, badly embarrassing the Yemeni President and hurting the US position there. (See Johnsen interview below)
Did you hear anyone complaining about this use of confidential information and souring US long term interests in the Middle East to affect the November 2002 election? Me neither. And I can't find anything on McCain's website listing his press releases for November 2002 and December 2002 that mentions this serious breach of national security. But he has three press releases on Benghazi for November 2012.
From what I can tell so far, the Obama administration's announcements on Benghazi were a mix of lack of information during a crisis, an attempt to reassure the public, and a possible spin just before an election. But I haven't seen any evidence that what was done jeopardized US policy, strategy, or lives. There is evidence that the administration had asked Congress for more money for embassy and consulate security, and been turned down. We'll see.
But Senators John McCain's and Lyndsey Graham's attacks on Susan Rice look like the Republicans are going to continue their rabid attacks on the Obama administration over anything. There's no 'we'll see' in their language. There's lots of judgment and condemnation. And what are they claiming? That she should have said "I don't know" instead of reading the information she was given. Did they tell Colin Powell that after he told the United Nations Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which led us to war?
Whether their bullying is simply a tactic to distract the administration into wasting time defending itself against trumped up charges, or it's Republicans still living in their own fact-free and/or fact-distorted ideological bubble, I can't say. Maybe they're sure Obama had Rice do this because it's exactly what they would have done and can't believe he would have acted better than they. But it's disturbing. I suspect it's a mix of all those. Create a crisis that doesn't exist to weaken the president. If they had the country's interest in mind, shouldn't they be working on a bill to avoid sequestration and the automatic end of the Bush era tax cuts?
Below is the account of how Wolfowitz claimed Bush administration credit for killing an al-Qaida leader in Yemen just before the US election and after Yemen's President had repeated to various international media outlets the agreed-on cover story that the terrorists had detonated the bomb themselves by accident. The cover story was intended to protect the US and the Yemeni governments and keep the loyalty of most Yemeni people.
We can argue the ethics of the government lying to cover up the US participation in the raid for strategic benefit and to protect a local leader cooperating with the US. But we often hide our strategy during war. But what the Bush administration did at that time to help win seats in Congress is far more egregious than what I've heard Rice and Obama did in the days after the Benghazi attack.
Can we trust Johnsen's account? There are other accounts of this. Time magazine mentions it in 2010, for example. Read key parts of the Fresh Air transcript yourself:
You can read the whole transcript from the whole Terry Gross' Fresh Air interview today. Or you can listen to it.
Did you hear anyone complaining about this use of confidential information and souring US long term interests in the Middle East to affect the November 2002 election? Me neither. And I can't find anything on McCain's website listing his press releases for November 2002 and December 2002 that mentions this serious breach of national security. But he has three press releases on Benghazi for November 2012.
From what I can tell so far, the Obama administration's announcements on Benghazi were a mix of lack of information during a crisis, an attempt to reassure the public, and a possible spin just before an election. But I haven't seen any evidence that what was done jeopardized US policy, strategy, or lives. There is evidence that the administration had asked Congress for more money for embassy and consulate security, and been turned down. We'll see.
But Senators John McCain's and Lyndsey Graham's attacks on Susan Rice look like the Republicans are going to continue their rabid attacks on the Obama administration over anything. There's no 'we'll see' in their language. There's lots of judgment and condemnation. And what are they claiming? That she should have said "I don't know" instead of reading the information she was given. Did they tell Colin Powell that after he told the United Nations Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which led us to war?
Whether their bullying is simply a tactic to distract the administration into wasting time defending itself against trumped up charges, or it's Republicans still living in their own fact-free and/or fact-distorted ideological bubble, I can't say. Maybe they're sure Obama had Rice do this because it's exactly what they would have done and can't believe he would have acted better than they. But it's disturbing. I suspect it's a mix of all those. Create a crisis that doesn't exist to weaken the president. If they had the country's interest in mind, shouldn't they be working on a bill to avoid sequestration and the automatic end of the Bush era tax cuts?
Below is the account of how Wolfowitz claimed Bush administration credit for killing an al-Qaida leader in Yemen just before the US election and after Yemen's President had repeated to various international media outlets the agreed-on cover story that the terrorists had detonated the bomb themselves by accident. The cover story was intended to protect the US and the Yemeni governments and keep the loyalty of most Yemeni people.
We can argue the ethics of the government lying to cover up the US participation in the raid for strategic benefit and to protect a local leader cooperating with the US. But we often hide our strategy during war. But what the Bush administration did at that time to help win seats in Congress is far more egregious than what I've heard Rice and Obama did in the days after the Benghazi attack.
Can we trust Johnsen's account? There are other accounts of this. Time magazine mentions it in 2010, for example. Read key parts of the Fresh Air transcript yourself:
GROSS: . . . You write about how during the Bush administration, the administration got the cooperation of then Yemeni President Saleh to cooperate with, you know, airstrikes against terrorists and presumed terrorists. And got the Yemeni government to cover-up the U.S. role in those strikes, so the U.S. wouldn't look like it was actually behind those airstrikes. And so there was like some airstrikes and the Yemeni government told the BBC and the Associated Press that the bomb was actually the bomb that militants were transporting and had accidentally exploded killing them all.
JOHNSEN: Mm-hmm.
GROSS: OK. So cover story in tact.
JOHNSEN: Correct.
GROSS: But then the Bush administration wants to take credit for that attack because it's right before the 2002 midterm election...
JOHNSEN: Mm-hmm.
GROSS: ...and people in the Bush administration think it'll be good for the party if the administration can take credit for this. You know, good work in the war on terror. So Paul Wolfowitz, who was then deputy secretary of Defense, goes on CNN and takes credit for those attacks, saying that the Hellfire missile strike was a very successful tactical operation from the U.S. So what kind of position did that put the Yemeni government in after the Yemeni government had, you know, went along with this cover story?
JOHNSEN: Right. I remember this very well. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan at the time that this happened in November 2002. In fact, this is really the moment when I first had the idea for the book, almost a decade ago. And you're exactly right. There was a cover story in place. There was a U.S. drone strike that took out the head of al-Qaida in Yemen at the time. A Yemen spokesperson told the BBC, the Associated Press, all of the news and wire services that a bomb the militants had been transporting had exploded. And then what we have is a situation where the Yemenis really felt as though they were sold out for domestic U.S. political concerns. So this happens right before the midterm elections. The Bush administration wants to use this to give its congressional allies sort of a leg up to show that the Bush administration is really serious, this is an early victory in the war on terror. And essentially what happens is - I mean, there's a scene in the book in where this Yemeni political official is just screaming at the United States, and he's saying, you know, this is why people really hate to work with you. This is why it's so difficult to work with the United States, is because you take one victory and you attempt to exploit it. And you can't give the enemy; you can't tell the enemy what's going on. And this is really the moment where that initial period of goodwill between President Saleh and then President George Bush came to an end. It's after this that you see President Saleh being much more cagey about his interactions with members of al-Qaida and assisting the United States. So this is one of those old things that our mothers and our grandmothers used to tell us, sort of penny wise but pound foolish.
You can read the whole transcript from the whole Terry Gross' Fresh Air interview today. Or you can listen to it.
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