End on a high note

Music and Movies. Have I had time to compile a top ten list? Yes I have.

I will combine both film fest and general releases here because I haven't seen as much stuff as I wanted to. If I would have had more time to see films at the Vancouver Film fest this list would be a bit longer but working at the Hotel and the Docs doesn't leave time for much.

Little Miss Sunshine: Nietzsche and Proust don't usually make it into road trip comedies but they did here and that why I love it. Literate and dumb in all the right places.

A Scanner Darkly - a mind-fuck with great animation for people who flee from Pixar rendered nonsense at at every opportunity.

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - After Hero and House of Flying Daggers I thought Zhang Yimou had lost his soul. Zhang shows it is possible to do intimate and opulent with equal zeal. With this personal tale he showed Raise the Red lantern and To Live were not just the kind of films he used to do. Ken Takakura, who plays a parent struggling to connect with his dying son, evokes the grace and dignity of all the great father figures in OZU's movies. Also, China has never looked better.

The lives of Others - Amazing story about East Berlin in the eighties and how art thrived and infected the hearts of those trying to crush free thought. A great, almost wordless, performance by Ulrich Mühen as the Stasi agent who puts aside his politcal beliefs to help a talented playwright.

Radiant City - A hybrid doc about urban sprawl. Set in Calgary but it could be anywhere USA. A funny and informative vision of our every expanding neighborhood dystopias.

Brick - Film Noir set in High School with those kids from Third Rock from the Sun and Witness. A great concept expertly executed. One of it's many strong points is the slang and how they employed it without it sounding stilted.

Sketches of Frank Gehry - Inspirational and informative. For a first documentary Sydney Pollack did an amazing job.

Recent Discoveries
The Weather Man - A miracle it got made within the Hollywood system. I usually hate Nicholas Cage but he really was fantastic in this mid-life crisis epic.
Don't Move - Penelople Cruz is always great in non-english roles. In this one she uggs herself up and really breaks your heart. It really got to me the way only Bergman usually does. It thought about it for weeks after seeing it.

Music
I've been listening to lots of good music this year (I can do that while doing other things) so it's easy to come up with 10. Only a few new artists on the list. Mostly it's established bands coming up with near-career topping achievements.

The Greatest - Cat Power:
Hard to follow up "you are free" but she did it here with the help of the Memphis blues band. It came out early this year but when I put it on I still feel all those emotions I did in February.

Let's Get out of this Country - Camera Obscura:
Their others albums are great but this is simply magnificent. Doing what Belle and Sebastian should be doing (and getting paid substantially less). Lloyd are you ready to be Heartbroken? had me going back to the Lloyd Cole catalouge. I had forgotten about him but thanks to this song he's a staple in my itunes library.

Shut up I am Dreaming - Sunset Rubdown:
Holy shit, it's still a piece o' magic. Even after all these months.

Rubies - Destroyer:
Most accessible Destroyer and a timeless rock record to boot.

Mr. Beast - Mogwai:
Never been a Mogwai fan but this album made me go back to their back catalogue to find out how they got here. Even if Miami Vice is a lame turd, they aren't guilty by their association to said dud. They didn't write the album for the movie they wrote it for me.

Band of Horses- Everything All the Time:
A new band that just kicked my ass. Why do they care so much? It's only pop. The same question I ask myself all the time.

Axis of Evol - Pink Mountaintops:
More greatness from the Hive. I am biased but it looks like the rest of the people in the know are as well (from all the top tens they are on). They reference the greats yet wrestle originality out of every note they steal.

I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass - Yo La Tengo: Renewed my interest in them. Makes up for the Summer Sun CD, which wuz dull to the second power.

Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio: Took me a while to get into this one but after seeing them live and taking it out on the run with the ipod I was taken in by these Brooklynites.

Almost on the list - need a few more listens

Bonnie Prince Billie - The letting go
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Peter Bjorn and John - Writers Block - Full review to come
Beast Moans -Swan Lake - Destroyer + Frog Eyes + Sunset Rubdown = a dense miasma that makes no sense on paper but in practice it shines. Mixed at the hive and still being untangled by many a scenester's brain.

The importance of titles and Wii

Why am i so obssesed with a title for the Dr. Tomorrow project. I want it to be named anything but Dr. Tomorrow. A lot of my favorite movies have horrible titles yet they made their way to me anyway (i.e. In the Mood for Love). This issue should be put away for now and dealt with during the edititing process, which will come in about a year.

Had a pretty good christmas party this weekend. Byron and Sonya brough over their Wii console. It was fun using those motion control wands. Although now my arms are sore. We played boxing, bowling, golf, baseball, Tennis and Zelda. I am seriously thinking of getting one of these in the spring. I still might get a PS3 though because that has the blu-ray player built in and you know I'm all about the movies.

Now the real work begins

The high of Whistler is over but so is the post-partem depress fest. David and I are now onto writing, writing and then a lot of re-writing. We also have to come up with a budget. I guess I knew all along there would be tons of work after Whistler but I was just so focused on the pitch that I couldn't see to next week. Tonight I've been writing some Dr. Tomorrow treatment stuff and I've come up with a few good ideas. When you finally see the film you'll know what I'm talking about.

The great thing about Doc Talk being held at whistler was that everyone was in the same confined area and we all had to interact. I got to know a lot of great people in the Canadian broadcast world (an oxymoronical statement, I know) and got to further loathe the myopic ones I met last year. They know who they are so I won't legitimize their sorry ass lives in this here blog.

I have 3 interesting projects that I'm excited to be a part of and I won't let these soul crushing broadcasters get me down.

Whistler and Doc talk

Mona and I just got back from Doc Talk which was held in Whistler. Seems that all that hard work has finally paid off.

Our pitch went great and we had some amazing meetings with Broadcasters and Distributors. All three of our doc projects now have some money people involved. David is really impressed with the progression of the whole situation and likewise I'm glad to be working with him. After talking to 15 different entertainment representatives my voice was shot by Friday.

I'm so glad I went down to 2 days a week at the Hotel. I believe positive thinking got me here. You just have to do it until you think it's beyond rational thought and then something good happens. I'm getting closer to 40 and I am happy that on my 40th birthday I will be considered a success (in my eyes as well as others).