I recently stumbled upon something I wrote about two years ago. I’m not sure if it’s a short story or a poem, but I like it:
You asked me a question tonight.
You said, “Do you really mean that?“
Well
let me answer that question with another question:
Do you really want to know?
Last night around 10:30 PM, a cat fell off the roof. Made a lot of noise. Couldn’t get back to sleep. Then a mosquito started hovering around my ears, so I decided to revive a nightly tradition from earlier this month and douse myself in bug spray. It was late, I was tired, I didn’t have my glasses on, the lights were off.
Long story short, I sprayed myself in the eye with insect repellent.
The pain was excruciating, but not intolerable. On a scale from one to ten, I’d give it about a seven. I’d never do it again, not even for a bet… depending on the stakes. $100, no way. Not a chance. For $1,000, though… well… I’d at least have to consider it.
We had our last Cineastas class today, and I fly back to Minneapolis on Saturday. More posts, pictures and video to come soon now that I have less work to do, and I’ll be announcing an exciting new… thingie… in a couple weeks.
Last month Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen was sentenced to six years in prison by the Chinese courts for making the film Leaving Fear Behind, a documentary about Tibetans’ views on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Wangchen was arrested shortly after the completion of shooting in May of 2008, but the producers managed to smuggle the footage out of the country. The film is embedded below.
According to a source cited by Filming for Tibet, Wangchen has no access to independent legal assistance, and his appeal period will expire tomorrow. Furthermore, Wangchen is reported to have contracted hepatitis B in prison and is not receiving medical treatment for the condition.
“My aim for this film is not to make a famous or particularly entertaining film. This film is about the plight of the Tibetan people—helpless and frustrated. Therefore I hope that everyone will pay special attention and support it. That’s my biggest hope.” ~ Dhondup Wangchen
You can make a donation to Filming for Tibet here.
Embedded below: surrounded by midnight fireworks in Granada’s town center, new year’s day.
The audio was recorded in a format known as binaural stereo, which achieves surround-like sound with only two channels of audio–to get an immersive feel for what it was like to be there, listen to this through headphones with the volume turned up ALL THE WAY. It won’t quite be as loud as the real thing, but if you’ve got some decent headphones you might get close.
Somewhere in suburban Colorado last week, a person received a package reeking of onion. Everything was going according to plan.
To recap: First this happened, then this happened, then this and this happened.
Thanks to Vvinni, you can see exactly what happened when that onion-scented box was opened, embedded below:
And here, friends, for the first time, I am proud to present what was on that tape:
This is not over, friends. Sinister insinuations and careless threats have been made. Foul deeds are afoot. The Tape will travel again.
And now a short break from Nicaragua to share with you this film by Vvinni Gagnepain, the nation’s preeminent film/time/puma scholar, About Film, Time and Pumas:
I am very proud to have been the director of photography for this film, employing the groundbreaking technique of “method cinematography.” Many thanks to Vvinni for the challenging direction and allowing me to work on such a bizarre project.
The classes start tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some photographs in and around Granada:
