AIFF 2018: Rising From The Earthquake - Salmon, Rising Ocean's, and A Funny Story

We got to the Alaska Experience Theater late and watched the end of Anote’s Ark,  a film about the island nation Kirimati that is predicted to be underwater by 2040.  Perhaps the first nation to disappear because of climate change.  Anote is the name of the island's president and he's followed on film fighting to save his culture.

I didn't realize that it was preceded by Kings of the Yukon, so it took a while to figure out why the filmmaker was talking about salmon and the town of Emonak.  I'm guessing from the Kings impressive website that this was Matt Fox.  Here he is answering questions.

Citizens Climate Lobby (a group I'm involved with) had a presentation as a follow up to the climate change issues raised by Anote’s Ark,







The final movie of the evening (there had also been something at 3pm) was Funny Story.  The director Michael Gallagher was there with two of the main actors - Jana Winternitz and Matt Glave. (They're in that order left to right in the picture.)

There was a good crowd for all the films as the Festival volunteers have worked really hard to recover from the 7.0 earthquake that temporarily shut down Anchorage on what was supposed to be the opening day of the festival.  The Funny Story crew were on the tarmac in Seattle ready to take off when word came in of the earthquake.  They had to wait 5 hours before the flight was cleared to go to Anchorage.

It was great to hear from the crew of the film after the movie.  The film's website says this is a film about good people doing bad things.  I'd say, maybe, 'normal people doing bad things.'  I'd even allow that no one was malicious, but I have a higher bar for 'good people.'  And I'd say what they did was dumb more than bad, leading to very awkward relationships.

So, the festival is on, and actually was yesterday.  I couldn't tell yesterday and my right leg wasn't going to allow me to yesterday anyway.  But by standing through the films tonight I was ok.

The Bear Tooth might get inspected tomorrow by the city to see if they are safe, but from what I heard, the projector was damaged too.  So it's not clear when we'll see films there.  For now they are showing films at the Alaska Experience large theater.

It looks like the schedule pages are now accurate.  You can get to it here.  Three films are set at the Alaska Experience Theater starting at 3pm, 5:30pm, and 8pm.  I'll post more about what's scheduled tomorrow morning.  But if you can't wait, click on the ink.   [I'd note there are two events planned for 3pm at the AK Experience Theater, but today they told me that only the large theater is being used.  But maybe that was for today and not tomorrow.

OK, if you have kids who are off of school tomorrow, one of the 3pm showings is called FAMILY ANIMATION.   Sounds like a great activity for kids.

Earthquake Pain in the Butt

After the main shaking ended, we got out of our 'safe' position in the bedroom doorway.  I mentioned to J that I had a slight pain in my lower back - really upper buttocks.  But I didn't think much of it and figured it would go away quickly.

In the afternoon I even went out to see what things were like.  I wanted to drop off some papers to our insurance agent (the rental car stuff from Maui), but they were closed, like most places.  Home Depot and Lowe's were open.  The streets were empty, parking lots were empty. There was no visible damage anywhere.  Shops had their outdoor signs lit, but inside most places looked dark.  All the traffic lights were working except at Northern Lights and C St.

But later that day, my butt started hurting more.  And by evening I was in quite a bit of pain.  I used ice, naproxen, a muscle relaxant,  and went to bed.  I wasn't a happy camper.  It was pretty sharp pain.

Saturday I stayed in bed with some couch pillows to rest my leg on.  When I did get up, I had pain in my buttocks, and right leg calf, and my toes were tingling.

This was something I'd never experienced before and had to be earthquake related.  But how?  I figure it had to do with how I was braced in the doorway.  I've just taken a picture to recreate that.  Sort of like this, except J was holding on to me tightly.

So, I was pushing against the door frame with my butt - right where it hurt later - on one side and my hands on the other.  Figure we were there for about 30-40 seconds like that.  I was pushing hard.  And probably the frame was pushing back.  Presto.  Earthquake Pain In The Butt.  A new diagnosis.

I literally couldn't sit in a chair for more than a few minutes yesterday without getting severe pain in my butt and leg.  Today I'm feeling like life is worth living again.  I did find a knot on my calf muscle and kneaded it until it was mostly gone.  That seemed to help.  I walked around more and that seems to have helped.

I suspect there are lots of little injuries like this that never get reported.  (This wasn't so little if you consider the pain level.  Sort of like a Charlie horse.  And the pains were like aftershocks, coming and then going.  Like the blood in my veins was heating to burning hot and then cooling.)

I finally found my little camera today.  Right where it should have been.  Sort of.  The shelf in my desk slipped off the hooks that hold it up - certainly during the quake - but I hadn't noticed.  I reached down and felt the front of the shelf, but didn't realize the back had slipped down.  That was an easy fix, and my camera is back.  So we have a Chanukah party to go to this afternoon and maybe we can catch a film festival movie at the AK Experience theater tonight.  (I just called to check and got a recording and left a message.)

I have to say, it's really exciting to be standing here writing with almost no pain at all.

AIFF 2018: Some Movies Today - I Think

Here's a list of films the AIFF Facebook page says are playing today.  Click the link for several days more.

[UPDATE 10:44AM:  BEAR TOOTH (I called) said no movies there today.]

DEC2

The Cleaners Today 3 PM · by Anchorage International Film Festival

Alaska Experience Theater Anchorage, AK

DEC2

Kings of The Yukon and Anote's Ark Today 5:30 PM · by Anchorage International Film Festival

Bear Tooth Theatrepub Anchorage, AK

Get Tickets

DEC2

Funny Story W/ The Cast and Crew Today 8 PM · by Anchorage International Film Festival

Bear Tooth Theatrepub Anchorage, AK

Get Tickets

I also got an email yesterday with this message about another film:

"We just learned that Anote's Ark is showing at the Alaska Experience Theater (because the Beartooth is picking up their mess) at 5:30 tomorrow as part of the Anchorage Int'l Film Festival.  One of the documentary programmers told me that "you really want to see this film -- it is gorgeous".  It's about Kiribati and climate change.  I hope you can make it to the movie.  It's an excellent flick and let's pack the house.  Tim is giving a short talk to go with it."

AIFF website blog from Dec. 1

"2018 Update! We hope everyone is safe after yesterday’s adventure! Sadly Bear Tooth has experienced some set backs, but lucky for us Alaska Experience Theater has jumped in! We are busy getting things set up for today and will be ready to screen our first showing at 6pm today of We Up! Our schedule will change a little tonight. We will do 2 screenings of We Up to accommodate the huge interest. The first screening will be at 6pm and the second screening will be at 8pm. 5 Day Film Royal will announce its new screening date on Monday! This Mountain Life will be scheduled later this week. Bare with us as we work through these hurdles! Thanks for the support! The community has been fantastic. See you tonight at AIFF 2018!!
After Party with Ukulele Russ at The Carousel Lounge! Come celebrate the festival with good music, good people and a cocktail!"

The Aftershock Jitters

It starts with a rumble.  And it may end there.  But then there might also be a few jolts, or just general low level shaking.  Nothing like this morning.  At first I didn't pay much attention, knowing in my head that they were just aftershocks.  But my body isn't always attached to my head, and it's starting to perk up with each initial rumble.  It seems to be viscerally asking, "Is this a nothing, or is this going to be more serious?"

I looked at the earthquake label on this blog.  I found eight posts with a magnitude level listed in the title - from 4.1 to 6.2 - since 2012.  (There were other earthquake posts as well.) My point is that they were significant enough to get me to blog about them.  We've already had more than eight aftershocks in that range already.  

Notice, the listing below was 7 hours after the big quake, or at about 3:30 pm.  It's 1 am as i write this.

Here's a map showing the magnitude 7.0 along with all of the aftershocks we reviewed in the 7 hours after the quake. Most aftershocks have not yet been reviewed and are not on this map, but these precise locations give a good overview of the sequence so far. pic.twitter.com/FM7oZL7t4n

— AK Earthquake Center (@AKearthquake) December 1, 2018

(Anchorage is that pig snout just below the lowest red dot.)

A follow up Tweet says:

"The little black dots on the map are just a way of showing what the background seismicity looks like. It's all of the historic earthquakes larger than magnitude 2, not scaled for magnitude."

And then t0here's this, which is base, I guess, on the premise that knowledge is a good thing, that we'll be comforted knowing what's ahead.  Part of me agrees.  Another part says a 4% chance of another 7,0 sway too high.

AIFF 2018: Earthquake Shakes Up Festival - Opening Night Cancelled While Bear Tooth Cleans Up

 I talked today and he said they were cleaning up damage and there'd be no films there tonight.  I even went by to see, but the door was locked and it's hard to see much, but what I could see didn't look damaged.

I can't find anything on the Film Festival Website, but their FaceBook page has this cryptic announcement I just found:

What exactly does this mean?  I called the Matanuska Brewing Company, where the after party was scheduled, thinking they might show films there.  But no.  No films there.  No after party.  But maybe folks will go there just to party.

I did go by the Bear Tooth this afternoon to see if I could assess the damage and whether they might be open tomorrow.  But it was all locked up.

Strongest Earthquake I've Ever Experienced Just Now In Anchorage - Updating Regularly

House shook violently.

Pictures still on hooks, but at slants.

Things fell out of bathroom cabinet, off shelves.

I'll update this.

UPDATE 8:50am

There was an aftershock, not as violent, but still one of the strongest earthquakes I've felt (I grew up in LA and went through the 1971 earthquake, plus numerous ones here in Anchorage)

Some pictures inside our house.

UPDATE:  9:01 - a second smaller aftershock.  Earthquake Center says preliminary estimate was 7.0 10 miles north of Anchorage.  I've been in 7.0 before and this was far, far stronger. But that has to do with how close you are to the epicenter.  We apparently were close.

Update  9:14am -  Another very minor aftershock.  Here's a map from the USGS website:

Click to enlarge and focu

The shaking must be related to how close this was - very.


UPDATE 9:17:  Another Tweet from the Alaska Earthquake Center - I'll just copy the text so it's easier to read:

Tweets
AK Earthquake Center
‏
Verified account

@AKearthquake
 1m1 minute ago
More
Fortunately we are headquartered in Fairbanks, so we're fully operational up here with the exception of the website slowdown. We do not yet have much information about the situation on the ground in Anchorage beyond widespread power outages and non-specific reports of damage.

As you can tell - at our house the electricity is still working - internet connection is ok.  We are just west of the UAA.  Water and gas are working.

UPDATE 9:21 - I had looked out the window just before the earthquake hit and saw - another aftershock as I'm writing, but just creaking - the school bus pull up to pick up kids.  After the earthquake, I looked out again and saw it drive away.

UPDATE 9:29am  Here's a message - apropos my last update - from the School District

Emergency message from ASD, asking parents to pick up students @ktva #Earthquake pic.twitter.com/NaX7SzAiFv

— Daniella Rivera (@RiveraDanie) November 30, 2018

UPDATE 10:09 am - Well we went to check on downstairs.  It looked ok, but the door to the downstairs bedroom was closed and something behind it was blocking it.  There were some old mirrors and pictures behind the door.  After some experimenting, I was able to get my hand through the door and to push them back far enough to open the door.  Here's a picture of them after we got in.









It was the book case that I was worried about.  Attaching it better to the wall was still on my todo list.  But it was fine.  Not one book fell off.

I assume the shaking is more severe on the second floor than on the first floor.  But it also looks like the house shook east/west.  This book shelf is facing north.  But then I went into the garage and two shelves had fallen over.  These were west facing walls that the shelves fell from.

Another minor rattle as I'm putting up these pics.

But my $90 million David Hockney picture was fine right next to the shelf above.

The pictures on the wall along the stairs were fine (the wall faces east.)

And in the kitchen all was ok - I've been worried about the wine glasses all along.  It's looks like things moved inside the cabinet about 1/2 an inch east, but everything was ok.  The cabinet door was closed.


UPDATE 10:26:  Just had another aftershock - Not terrible, but something I would have blogged about - clearly more shaking but just a few seconds.


UPDATE 10:47 - Getting phone calls and messages from folks outside.  We're ok.  But here's a link to a Twitter feed from Dustin Miller that is collecting Tweets about the earthquake.  There's some serious damage around town.

It looks like the Minnesota Offramp to International Airport Road collapsed.  Screenshot is from a tweeted video on on Dustin's Twitter thread.

UPDATE 12:46PM   Just talked to the manager at the Bear Tooth Theater where the Anchorage International Film Festival was supposed to have its opening night tonight.  The theater has been damaged and there will be NO FILMS today.  They aren't sure about tomorrow.

City Planning Dept Holds Community Meeting On Waldron Lake Planning

Here's Waldron Lake from a 2012 post when the area was flooding.










At the church across the street from the Waldron Lake Park parking lot (where apparently people don't have legal access to park), the Muni held an initial community input meeting.

I put to pics together and you can tell if you look carefully - even not so carefully

Here's a map of the area - I added street names  The park is the area in yellow.


Here's some background from the MOA (Municipality of Anchorage - AKA Muni) website on this project:

"PROJECT OVERVIEW
Waldon Lake Park is Anchorage’s newest park.  In 2015, the Municipality of Anchorage purchased the property from the Boys & Girls Club of Southcentral Alaska for $3.92M with funds from an Alaska State Legislative Grant.
The 16.95 acre park is zoned PLI and will remain parkland into the future.  To ensure that future development of the park meets the needs of the community, Anchorage Parks and Recreation is developing a master plan."

It's hard to think of it as a new park.  My daughter played soccer there 30 some years ago.  But it's new as an MOA official park.

There were no formal presentations.  People could look at the maps and prior comments and talk with MOA employees in charge of this.

If you click on it, it will focus better

Here are some maps of the land over the years.  1960-70 appears to be when the area developed.

If you missed the meeting and want to be involved, here's the MOA web page for this.

Almost Headed Home - Kindergarten, Rainbows, and Poke

Part of volunteering at my granddaughter's school is prep work for the teacher.  Had to copy the numbers onto the yellow paper, then cut them up.  There were also booklets to copy, cut, and staple.  Then sit with a group during reading and be a resource.  I was surprised at what fluent readers some of the kids were.  And they had use of tablets and earphones to listen to someone read as the words turn red as their spoken.

Later in the day I walked to the school bus stop and waited in the sun and rain.  When I figured I should look for the rainbow, I just had to look up.

And we all ate at the nearby Japanese restaurant.  I've been poke spoiled since Hawaii and this poke was good and spicy.

And one of the sushi rolls.




We're at the airport waiting to board.  It's been warm - in the 50s.

AIFF 2018: Shorts In Competition - From Australia To Finland, Canada, Holland, And USA

Films in competition are the film the screeners picked as the best in their category.  The shorts category was the only one I was able to get a list of the films in competition.  So here's a list, a little information, and the times they'll be shown.  Best as I can tell from the schedule, these only show once each.  They are part of programs of several short films, so the starting times are for when the program begins.  The program links below will show the other films playing in that particular program. I've put them

Here are the Shorts in Competition.  



Field Guide to Being a 12-year-old Girl

Directed by Tilda Cobham-Hervey
Country of Origin - Australia
(20 M)
Opening Night - Fri. Nov. 30, 2018  Bear Tooth  6:30pm

This is a film about 12-year-old girls, made by 12-year-old girls, for 12-year-old girls, or anyone that has been a 12-year-old girl, or will be a 12-year-old girl, or wishes they were a 12-year-old girl.

"Created by Tilda Cobham-Hervey with twelve 12-year-old-girls, this film is a cross between a documentary and a theatre piece, where real girls articulate what they hope for, what they remember and what it feels like to be 12. Performing themselves as part of a filmed field-guide, together these specimens investigate their own species."  (From the Lowdownunder)

Fauve (Canada)
Directed by: Jeremy Comte
16 min

Global Village Program Sat. Dec. 1  Ak Exp Theater  3pm
Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer.

This is a powerful and difficult film.  The video below is the whole film.

About The Birds and the Bees (Finland)

Directed by: J.J. Vanhanen

12 min
Global Village Program Sat. Dec. 1  Ak Exp Theater  3pm

A quiet farmer father and his son set out on a trip to the pharmacy after the teen has a little accident with his girlfriend.

About the Birds And the Bees - Trailer (English subtitles) from J.J. Vanhanen on Vimeo.

Emergency
Directed by: Carey Williams
Country of Origin: USA

12 Min

Martini Matinee Thursday Dec. 6 Bear Tooth 2:30pm

Faced with an emergency situation, a group of young Black and Latino friends carefully weigh the pros and cons of calling the police.

This film has won a number of awards, including Best at Sundance.  

"EMERGENCY" Teaser from CDUB on Vimeo.

Here's an interview with the director and the producer last February

Sirene
Directed By: Zara Dwinger
Country of Origin: Netherlands
26 min
Year of the Woman Shorts Program Sat. Dec. 8, 3pm AK Experience 

SIRENE is a film about confusion, friendship and becoming who you are. The 15-year old Kay lives a boy's life in between roaring motorcross bikes.When the enchanting Melody sails into his life on a big boat, their flourishing friendship lures him towards this dormant feeling. When it turns out they both had a different idea about their friendship, Kay doesn't know what to feel and to do anymore. He decides to drastically go against his feelings and Kay gets even more tangled up in his own confusion...

Teaser SIRENE from Zara Gina on Vimeo.

Sirene's website is here.

Waiting For The Shoe To Drop: "[Trump's defense] so far is not recognizable to an attorney as any sort of legal defense at all"

I got this email teaser this morning. It's for a book that keeps Trump's lies alive.  (Sure, it's worth someone checking out just to see if there's anything there that can help understand all this, but one person can buy one copy and tell us about it.)

I'm wondering why they are featuring a book by apologists for the president.  I guess that's part of 'being fair' and offering 'both' sides to every argument. I learned long ago - sometimes there is only one right side and the other side is wrong.

Another book came out last week that I started reading.  I'm only into the first chapter, but this book promises to paint in a lot of the missing background to the indictments and other news bits occasionally escaping the Mueller investigation.

The title of Seth Abramson's new book Proof of Collusion:  How Trump Betrayed America  tells us Abramson's conclusion.   But that doesn't necessarily mean the book is biased or hype.  After all a book titled  Charles Manson: Proof of Murder wouldn't be questioned.

As I've written and rewritten this post, I've cut out some quotes that I surely need to share with you, so I'll just drop them in here. I also need something interesting in the title.

"[My work here is made easier] by the almost historic absence  . . . of any exculpatory evidence suggesting the president of the United States did not conspire with our enemies to violate federal law." 

"...the defense he and his team have mounted so far is not recognizable to an attorney as any sort of legal defense at all"

I wonder if the quote about the lack of a legal defense simply reflects Trump's disregard for any rules or laws that confine him and that he believes that he can win this politically.  Or perhaps those pursuing various policies and appointments hope simply to gain as much as they can from him before he crashes.

Now, to the book.

Introduction: A Theory Of The Case 

After pages of background and context, Abramson offers us this:

"In the case of the ongoing Trump-Russia probe, the only plausible theory of the case that coordinates with all the existing evidence is that Donald Trump and a core group of ten to twenty aides, associates, and allies conspired with a hostile foreign power to sell that power control over American's foreign policy in exchange for financial reward and - eventually - covert election assistance.  This theory doesn't contend that anyone in the president's sphere participated in any hacking or even knew about Russia's cyber-intrusions in advance;  it doesn't allege that the conspiracy many members of the Trump team were involved in was finely wrought, as opposed to chaotic, amateurish, and quickly capable of producing a mountain of incriminating evidence;  it doesn't require that all elements of its grand narrative take place in private, as indeed many of them occurred in the plain sight of millions of Americans;  and it doesn't allege that any of the actions involved rose to the level of statutory treason - a federal criminal statue that applies only if America is in a declared state of war.  What this theory of the case  does do is explain decades of suspicious behavior by Donald Trump, his family, and his closest associates, behavior that suggests that these bad actors expected and received a massive financial reward for taking policy positions friendly to the Kremlin and adverse to the interests of the United States.  The theory further maintains that once Trump had sufficient knowledge of Russian crimes to be legally responsible for not aiding and abetting them with promises of policies unilaterally beneficial to the Kremlin - a point Trump reached on August 17, 2016, a the very latests - any additional actions taken to advance Russian interests were criminal."
 

Chapter 1 is in three parts.

1.  The summary - About half a page and it begins like this:

"After fifteen years of financial failures in Russia - failures born not  of a lack of desire to succeed, but a lack of access to the people in Russia who make wealth creation possible - the Trumps discover that the key to making a fortune in real estate in Russia is greasing the skids with influential Russian officials.1  [I've left the footnote in and linked it, because Abramson tacks a source on most every claim.  That doesn't make it true, of course.  Someone else could have made it up.  There are three in this short summary]

2.  The Facts - Eleven pages of specific history, that covers Trump's failed attempts to do business in Russia, how his US businesses were funded by Russian mobsters when banks would no longer take the risk, and how things got better for Trump in Moscow after the Miss Universe contest in 2002 where the Trump picked winner was the girlfriend of a 'Russian gangster' and the object of Putin's 'secret admiration.' (At the bottom of the last page of facts is footnote 92.)

3.  Annotated History - 18 more pages (ending at footnote 193) of excerpts from the fact section, where Abramson expands on the meaning of those facts.



Abramson is like the Vin Scully of the Mueller investigation, giving color and background to the Trump-Russia investigations and other related questionable acts. When (I'm going with when, not if) the Mueller investigation starts becoming public, I suspect Proof of Collusion will be the  program used by many to figure out who all the players are.

So far in the book there's a lot of circumstantial evidence.  A lot of people whose spheres of influence overlap the worlds of Trump and of Putin.  This format results in a fair amount of repetition, but there is so much information, that's repetition is helpful.  And going back to the summary for this post was also helpful - being reminded what Abramson thinks is important.  I'd note that I had intended to focus on Chapter 1, but then the "Theory of the Case" seemed important too.  As an indication of how much is here, I'd forgotten that at the end of the Introduction, Abramson offers us a theory.  And so, I spent unnecessary time trying to reconstruct what his theory was from the first seven pages of the introduction.  His actual theory of the case only shows up on the last two pages.  But the exercise gives me more insight.

And I'd remind everyone that Abramson is not some flake writer simply gathering all the details that others have produced and organizing them.  He's got unique qualifications which you can see  at his wikipedia page.  He's got an interesting educational background.  For starters:

"Abramson is a graduate of Dartmouth College (1998), Harvard Law School (2001), the Iowa Writers' Workshop (2009), and the doctoral program in English at University of Wisconsin-Madison (2010; 2016).[1]"

You can read the Introduction (The Theory of the Case) and Chapter 1 here.