Last week, I took a break from the film festival attending mayor's reception for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

It was crowded as always. There are plenty food and drinks, as well as politicians and party crashers, with the City Hall as the backdrop.

I have plenty to write about films at the SFiFF51. However, after two weeks of absence from the nature, I just cannot wait any longer to get back to the mountains.

 Even it was a little foggy this morning, I went back to my favorite beach. Due to the foggy weather in the city, as well as the early hours before noon, I was all alone on the beach.

It was absolutely peaceful and wonderful. I was delighted.

I noticed something very colorful on a big rock. However, I didn't dare to touch it. Perhaps I shouldn't touch anyway.

Couple weeks ago, Peter and I sat on a big rock on the beach watching the sea. Today, I was surprised to see that huge rock is almost buried completely by the sand.

The earth indeed is a living thing. It constantly changes, and breaths.   

Bay to Breakers is only one week away! Don't know what to wear? How about nothing at all? I can't wait to make my camera happy next Sunday.

Kevin had an elegant stunning solo piece during the performance and as always, he danced with a big smile. It's a great show and I hope that I will be able to go back to see it again next weekend.

While watching him dance, I kept wondering what would be like to be his roommate. Will he fly out from his bedroom to the kitchen and the living room like a feather? Will he split his legs when he sits on the couch?

Curious mind wants to know, or imagine.

When I came home on Friday, I got a notice from the US Post Office. I couldn't believe what I was reading:

Yup! The post office refused to deliver me a letter because the sender's postage is 1.83 CENTS short! How in the world does the post office calculate the postage down to 1.83 cents? Even my tax return is rounded to the whole dollars! Not only the post office takes the effort to compute the postage, a post office worker also takes the time to write a note by hand telling me that my letter will be held hostage until I pay up the $0.0183.

How thoughtful! I feel that my tax dollars are well spent at the US post office.

That's how the federal government is running. But what about the local ones?

Couple weeks ago, I headed to Derik's restaurant "Mordern Thai" for Peter's birthday dinner. After I got off the bus, my second step was inside a city water utility box whose cover was missing. I was on the ground, hard, with my right knee's skin and my pants scratched.

I called 311 and reported the missing cover so nobody else would fall again. However, I feel that I should get some compensation for my injury. So, I filed a claim.

On Friday, the same day I got the Post Office notice, I got a letter from the city telling me that the payment to me will be processed upon my releasingthe city from any futher liability from my injury.

Also on Friday, the same day I got the Post Office notice, I got a letter from the city. It says that that the payment to me will be processed upon receiving the releasing form from me stating that the city will no longer be liability for my injury.

I will sign the release form and get some my tax dollars back, because the city didn't do the job right.

Because many films have a "hold review" request, the following is a brief recap about some of the films I have seen so far at the festival. More to come later.

• Alexandra (Александра)

  Watching "Alexandra (Александра)" (Russia 2007, 90 min.) is an absolutely gratifying experience. With beautiful visual, fantastic music score, and flawless performance by Galina Vishnevskaya (Гали́на Вишне́вская) as Alexandra, the film tells a story about war and humanity. 

  The audience will appreciate this film not only for its unique philosophical way of looking at the war and peace, but for its impressive performance and filmmaking.

  

• 1000 Journals

  "1000 Journals" (USA 2007, 88 min.) is a fascinating documentary about a social and cultural experiment. "Someguy" from San Francisco (where else?) unleashes 1000 blank journals to the world. People start to write on them, pass around, make art, pick up fights, change other's entries, and do pretty much everything else. Some of the journals are returned, most of them are not. The projects make graffiti leave restroom walls or classroom desks and travel around the world.

   Are we all artists when we have a secret place to express ourselves?

  

• Fados

  If you don't know what fado is, after the musical documentary "Fados" (Portugal/Spain 2007, 93 min.), you will fall in love with fado.

  From acclaimed Spanish director Carlos Saura, unlike any other documentary, this film does not have any talking heads, nor voice over narratives, nor story lines. It simply puts a few most fantastic fado pieces together, accompanied with splendid choreography and carefully arranged color and background. The film lets fado speak (or sing) for itself.

  And it works, wonderfully.  

  

• In the City of Sylvia (En la ciudad de Sylvia)

  The filmmaker from "In the City of Sylvia (En la ciudad de Sylvia)" (Spain 2007, 84 min.) describes this film as:

  "A boy in a city is looking at one girl.
   Later, he looks at another one, and another one..."

  Well, indeed. That's all this movie is about, with many long shots of this boy (young man actually) following or looking at a girl, one after another one.

  I vividly remember those long shots in many films by Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮). Those standing still long shots in Tsai's film mean something to me and to character developments. However, I need more time to digest those long takes in this "In the City of Sylvia." I don't think I am getting it so far.

  

• You, the Living (Du Levande)

  The funniest film I have seen so far at the festival is "You, the Living (Du Levande)" (Sweden/Germany/France/Denmark/Norway 2007, 90 min.). It's a comedy about the "greatness and miserableness of human beings."

  The characters in the film are strange, yet real; funny, yet pathetic; miserable, yet full of hope. It mixes drams with reality, musical with drama, and stage theater with cinema, to create a film that is extremely fresh and original.

  This is a lovely film that not to be missed, but probably only can be seen at a film festival such as SFiFF.  

  

• Standard Operating Procedure

  Just thought we have already heard and known so much about Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, Academy-winning director Errol Morris's new documentary "Standard Operating Procedure" (USA 2008, 117 min.) takes another look at the story behind those horrific photographs.

  It's remarkable and fascinating to hear soldiers who were present or even took those pictures telling their stories first hand. Why did they take those pictures? Why is taking the pictures a crime while torching is not? What's really going on behind these photographs?

  This is a superb documentary even its subject matter is something people try to forget, or already forget.

  

• Up the Yangtze (Canada 2007, 93 min.)

  Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang's documentary "Up the Yangtze" (Canada 2007, 93 min.) takes us to an unforgettable journey up the stream of Yangtze River (长江) on a luxury cruise boat. Using the construction of Three Gorges Dam (长江三峡大坝) as the backdrop and focusing on two young protagonists who work on a cruise boat, the film tells the human side of the story of the changing China. It takes a closer look at the social and economical impact from the rapid development in China.

  

Attending the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (SFiFF) is fantastic. However, at the same time, it's also very mentally and physically demanding. In addition, it disrupts my normal daily routines, such as when to eat, when to go to the gym, and of course, when to go to bed. Even in the dark, I won't forget to take pictures.

Because I have to go to classes on Saturday morning, I couldn't join thousands of other Chinese American protesting CNN in San Francisco.

I find it very interesting that the mainstream media all decide that thousands Chinese Americans' protest is not newsworthy. Therefore, they are not mentioned anywhere in the newspaper or on local network TV stations. The place one can find a report about what's happening in San Francisco is news agency based OUTSIDE the US! Somehow, the media thinks such reporting is not as interesting as pro-Tibetan protests. Go figure.

Luckily, we have other media forums like Youtube to show the world with clips like this or photos like this.  

Speaking of Youtube, I totally forgot to post the video clip I shot during the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade.  I need to figure out how to play the "high quality" version of the video clip by default.

Now head to the bed, before my head explores.

Yesterday was Earth Day. I think every day should be an Earth Day, and to take a look at how Americans are messing up this planet: The US has 5% of the world population but uses 23% of the total energy consumed on this planet. I don't understand why people still complaining how expensive the gas price has become. I think it's still too cheap. Makes it $10/gallon now, and let's see how happy those SUVs would be.  The planet might just get cleaner.

I don't want to be part of the force destroying this planet.

I almost recycle everything, and the rest goes to the bin for decomposable stuff. I try to avoid using or buying items that can not be recycled. For example, grocery bags, plastic take out containers, and plastic utensils. We need to save this planet before everything goes away.

The nature is beautiful, but very fragile, like the fog lingering around the bridge. I took another picture a few days ago from the apartment.

Tomorrow will be the opening night at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (SFiFF). I am looking forward to the opening night film and gala. It took me a long time to come up my screening schedule, and it looks like a great festival.

Here are two more reviews I wrote earlier.

Calavera Highway

"Calavera Highway" (USA 2008, 88 min.) is a new documentary from the Academy Award-nominated director Renee Tajima-Peña.   Renee Tajima-Peña's husband Armando Peña grew up in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, in a family of seven boys. His father Pedro "disappeared" into Mexico when Armando was a baby. His mother Rosa raised the seven boys alone. After Rosa died of cancer in Los Angeles, Armando and his brother Carlos carry Rosa's ashes back to South Texas. Along the way, the seven sons of the family recount the family history, rediscover the meaning of masculinity and fatherhood, and reconnect with their late father Pedro when they travel to Mexico, where Pedro was born and laid to rest. The story is very personal, yet has its universal aspect dealing with family and parenthood. With often poetic visual and the sometimes insightful narrative, the documentary intimately shares this Mexican-American family's odyssey. "Calavera Highway" will be shown at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (SFiFF).

Secret (不能说的秘密)

In Asian, young people might not know who Justin Timberlake is, but I bet they all know heartthrob pop star Jay Chou (周杰伦). After his appearance in Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower (满城尽带黄金甲)," his movie carrer began to take off on top of his success in music. But he doesn't stop there. He presents us his directorial debut "Secret (不能说的秘密)" (Taiwan 2007, 101 min.), a lavish looking melodrama about high school romance.   Jay Chou plays Xiang Lun who is a new prestigious student at Tamkang Secondary School studying piano. He meets another piano student Xiao Yu on campus and falls for her, while another girl Qing Yi has a crush on him. Xiao Yu suddenly disappears after a mishap during a date with Xiang Lun. Unable to forget Xiao Yu, Xiang Lun constantly searches for her and for the "secret" melody she played when they first met. The film already sounds like an episode of endless Korean melodrama series. For most part it is, without much dramatic happenings. Chou perhaps also realizes this weakness, so toward the end of the film, the story takes a sharp turn with an unexpected dramatic twist. However, it's a little too late and disconnected from the rest of the film. Playing Xiang Lun, Chou definitely shows his piano training that he began at the age of four. I am also impressed by his skills in the kitchen. I wish I were equally impressed by his film though. Arguably it's very difficult to figure out the lyrics in Chou's songs by listening to them, but that doesn't bother Chou's mass fan base a bit. Similarly, even "Secret" lacks complex characters and an engrossing story, Chou delights his fans with his impressive production and himself. "Secret (不能说的秘密)" will be shown at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (SFiFF).