Jenna posted some pics she took at my birthday party!

I’ve been ultra-busy lately at both work and home, but looking back at the journal, I haven’t written anything other than movie reviews in over a month. I’m even way behind on the movie reviews! Christ I wasn’t that busy, I’m just neglectful. I’m sorry journal.

In the past month, I’ve been working on a fun project at work that has occupied quite a few cycles. My plan is to finish it by the end of June, and I don’t think that is an ambitious goal. The sin-laws visited over the Memorial Day weekend, and while it was part social visit, it was clearly also part indentured servitude. coco_b has wanted to better utilize the awesome evening light that was hitting the street side of the house, but much of it was sequestered in the front bedroom (which is her little yoga/reading/working/office/chill space). After some discussions, we decided to replace the lame slab door (in the distance in that photo) to that room with a set of french doors. This way the room was still a defined, separate room, yet open or closed, we still get the beautiful evening light and both rooms seem bigger. Corinna’s parents have done a ton of work on their home, and her stepfather does cabinetry and woodworking as a hobby. Even better, they always seem willing to help us out on whatever crazy projects we dream up. :)

So they drove all the way down (er, over?) from Michigan, arriving Thursday evening… We figured that if they were coming to give us so much free labor and advice, the least I could do was make sure they were well fed while they were here. The night they arrived I whipped up some cheese fondue from scratch and we had some fresh bread from one of the local bakeries. Even if it isn’t hip anymore, Fondue is a great way to eat and socialize at the same time. Over the weekend I also made my signature pasta+cauliflower+cheese+onion dish, as well as some mediocre skewers, swordfish provencal, and I don’t remember what else (if anything). My vacation time isn’t as copious as Corinna’s, so I worked on Friday while they begun demolition at the house. The door was significantly wider and a bit taller than the existing door, and we also had to relocate a light switch. While I somehow optimistically thought that this would be a one or two day project, it ended up taking the entire weekend (not including jointing and painting). We still managed to have fun, watched a few movies, ate lots of food, and just hung out, but I still think it’d be nice if we didn’t enslave them next time they visited. :) Corinna finished most of the finish work this past weekend, and the end result is awesome.

Last Friday, jeffm was in town, and he suggested we all go to Fenway to see the Sox. While this SHOULD have been awesome, the lineup was a little shaken up with injuries, and they got completely destroyed by the Mariners. It was still a fun time, I had never been to Fenway with such a large group (8 people) before.. Afterwards we hit up Precinct in Union Square, which was quite a bit of fun, although it was a little out of the way for roryk and I. Jeff’s friend Christen went to the game with us and works there, so we got a serious hookup. New people, old friends, and good drinks ALMOST make up for shitty baseball. Almost.

“Frontrunner” follows the presidential campaign of Dr. Massouda Jalal, a woman who ran in the 2004 Afghanistan presidential election. The film moves from her impressive performance in the 2002 interim presidental election through her 2004 campaign. Jalal entered a heated political environment emerging from Taliban rule, and seeing the struggles and successes of her campaign was fascinating as an outsider.

While this subject was fascinating, the film itself was a bit disappointing. I just don’t believe there was enough meat for this to be a 90-minute feature film. Sometimes, instead of using other techniques to communicate some of the periods of waiting, the film just showed the waiting. This might have been fine once or twice, but it felt overused in this film. I also would have liked to see more interviews with the public, both her supporters and her detractors.

This wasn’t a bad film, but I think it may have been better as a 60-minute PBS special (or if it had had more of the public voice).

“The Greening
of Southie” documents the construction and design of the Macallen building in South Boston. Macallen is Boston’s first residential “green” building, and the goal in desigining it was to achieve LEED “Gold” certification. The film begins with the foreman briefing the crew on day one and continues through the first residents moving in.

This was a pretty well-paced film, and took time to explain how the LEED point system worked and how several design decisions effected the score. Not only were the design and construction phases shown, but the film also travels to the source of many of the materials, many of which were local to New England, as LEED emphasizes local materials.

One of the things which struck me about this film was how the construction workers reacted to the green mission of this building. Some were skeptical, some embraced it, and others simply didn’t care one way or another. Most seemed to acknowledge that green methodologies and design would likely continue to effect their work moving forward. It is in these interviews where the film finds its heart.

This film is airing occasionally on Sundance, so if you are interested in green building or just want to see a solid documentary with great interviews, check it out.

“Nerdcore Rising” is a documentary following the first national tour of the Godfather of so-called “Nerdcore Rap”, Damian Hess, a.k.a. MC Frontalot, and his band. Featuring interviews with figures such as Prince Paul, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Jello Biafra, this film spends some time upfront explaining and justifying Nerdcore as a genre. From the beginning I was skeptical, and honestly, I’m not exactly sure when a genre becomes ‘real’. In fact, I suspect some of the musicians themselves are equally skeptical of the label, but I guess in modern marketing, everything needs a classification.

Frontalot’s songs lean towards the witty and clever, but as Prince Paul points out at one point, originally rap was about clever rhymes and outsmarting your fellow MCs. Their tour resembles many bands first tours, playing to sparse clubs, but computer nerds tend to be loyal to their own, and there always seemed to be someone at each show who knew the songs. There is a solid mix of live footage with backstage/van interviews, as well as with other musicians and comedians.

I’m still not sold on the viability of Nerdcore in general, but that doesn’t really hurt the film. Frontalot is charming if awkward, and his band is a pretty fun funk unit. They are an amusing lot on and off the stage, and this film does a great job of presenting it’s story.

“Big Man Japan” is a faux-documentary which follows a year in the life of the current “Big Man Japan”, Masaru Daisatou. Japan has employed a members of Masaru’s family for several generations as the first line of defense against the plague of giant monsters attacking Japan on a regular basis. Through a process involving an electrical substation, Masaru’s size is increased until he is towering over tall buildings. Unfortunately, while Masaru’s predecessors were treated like heroes, Masaru is practically discarded.

The special effects in this movie aren’t great, but neither were the rubber suits they are replacing. The movie isn’t quite logical, but it’s fun. The various monsters that Masaru has to battle are hilarious, and the “data sheets” that appear before the battles are great as well. Masaru is greeted by the public with indifference at best, and he seems to exist outside of society. The ending ups the nonsense level to 11 and leaves you wondering if you were actually supposed to understand what was going on.

This movie isn’t for everyone, but if you enjoyed Toho-style monster movies, you should definitely be entertained. Even if you are annoyed by the ending, the time leading up to it is full of gems. This isn’t a movie you need to hunt down, but when it’s available on Netflix, give it a spin.

I’m leaving for Rochester around 4-4:30pm today. It’s about a 6 hour trip, so I’ll be looking for Nick Tahou’s Steve T’s around 10-11pm. I’ll post to twitter when i’m getting close with a better ETA, so look there if you’re interested in meeting me there.

“Second Skin” is a documentary focusing on gamers who play Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs). It follows a few small groups of gamers distributed around the country, all playing either World of Warcraft (WoW) or Everquest II (EQ2). All are rather committed to their games, some consider themselves addicted, with one entering himself into a 12-step program to try and break is addiction

Given how easily these subjects could have been played for laughs, I felt this movie was surprisingly even-handed. There were clearly some moments where humor was at the expense of the subjects, but they were few and far between. It was suprising in the Q&A with the filmmakers after the screening that the first question was basically a complaint that the film showed gamers in a negative light. It seemed clear to me that this person was just bringing their own baggage to the event.

That’s not to say that the movie didn’t have it’s flaws. The “storylines” of the various sets of subjects were intercut, and at times it was difficult to keep track of the relationships and who the various players were. I also would have liked to see more information about the rehab facility. The woman who ran the facility seemed to have a very negative opinion of gamers, accusing them of feigned helplessness and laziness. She didn’t strike me as emitting the kind of energy that someone in recovery really needs. And as far as I can tell from the film, her only accreditation is that her son was an addicted gamer. The film presented her as a very negative character, and I wonder how true that is.

Online gamers are often dismissed as anti-social losers, but this look into the lives of gamers and the relationships built between them is an interesting counterpoint to conventional wisdom.

This has been a pretty intense movie marathon for me. Since Wednesday, I’ve seen 14 movies, with only one left to catch tonight at the Coolidge. By Sunday night I started to feel all that sitting in my back and eyes; I felt like my eyes were going to melt when I went to bed that night. I’ve seen some great films, though, and have only really been disappointed by one of them. My goal is to write a review for all 15 of the films over the next few days.

FUMN is this weekend, and I have to say that the back-to-back movie marathons might prove to be a bit much for my sanity. As long as people enjoy themselves it will be worth it. Hopefully people in CSH actually are still interested in FUMN and aren’t just humoring an old man. :)