AFF Movie Review: Sparrow's Dance

It turns out that Sparrow's Dance was the AFF Narrative Film Winner.  The movie is about a woman and her struggle with agoraphobia.  The movie was monotonous at times, but that was her life. It was a sweet, simple movie, and we liked it.  There were a couple of scenes that would flash from black to red that were a little annoying.  It didn't help that I couldn't hear/understand the actor in those scenes so I felt kind of lost.

Both Marin Ireland and Paul Sparks gave wonderful performances, even if I couldn't hear/understand Paul all the time.  I really liked the movie, but it wasn't my favorite.

Planche Catch!

On Sunday I went to trapeze again.  I worked a couple of times on my swing, then I had some really good practice set planches.  The first video shows my first set planche catch.  My position isn't very good--I'm not very straight, and my legs aren't glued together.

This second video shows a planche disaster.  I was holding a good position and fell out of it and almost kicked the catcher in the face.

I actually got a third try, where apparently I had great position, and I did catch, but there isn't any video.  I'm not too sad about that.  I'm just happy that I could try--and actually catch--the planche.

How I Know

How do I know I'm in Texas?

1.  The smiles: People are much more friendly here.
2.  The waves: Drivers here are a little more courteous.  They let you change lanes, and they wave when you let them in.
3.  The prices:  Food here is cheaper.  Gasoline here is cheaper.  Unfortunately the houses in the city aren't cheaper.
4.  The weather:  The high today was 90.
5.  The boots:  I see cowboy boots everywhere.
6.  Access roads:  Here there are roads next to the freeway.  That's the way it should be.
7.  Dedicated U-turn lanes: The freeways have dedicated U-turn lanes, so if you missed your exit, you can easily flip a U-y and get back on track.  Even without the U-turn lanes it is a lot easier to switch directions on the freeways.
8.  Big trucks:  Actually, there are less of them than I thought there would be, but enough that I think that Smart Cars shouldn't be allowed on the roads here.  Don't get me started on how "safe" a Smart Car is.  That kinetic energy has to go somewhere.
9.  H-E-B!:  H-E-B is a grocery store.  They actually don't have them everywhere in Texas, but we have one within walking distance.  When I moved to Fort Worth 12 years ago I cried because they don't have H-E-Bs there.  The selection is good, the prices are good.  They also have an upscale version--Central Market.  H-E-B and CM make me happy.
10.  The restaurants:  There are Mexican restaurants everywhere.  And we have lots of BBQ.  We have lots of restaurants period. And the pizza parlors here serve pizza--not pizza and subs and pasta and Greek food.
11.  Taxes: sales tax here is 8.25%, but there isn't any state income tax.
12.  The space between:  Between cars--people don't tailgate here--as much. Between houses:  Some areas have just started building rowhouses, but most homes here are single family, with a lawn between the houses.
13. Litter: People don't litter here nearly as much as they do in Maryland.  I don't see it piled up in the medians at the stoplights.  I've only seen one person chuck a cigarette out the window.  I've actually seen some folks pick stuff up and put it in a trash can.
14. Grackles:  Grackles are birds.  Kinda like ravens.  We have tons of grackles here.  I need to get a good photo or video of when they are hanging out in the trees at dusk, squawking all ominously like something out of a scary movie.
15. Whataburger: Can't really describe this fast food burger joint.  I don't think Ross has had a Whataburger yet.

That is all I can think of right now.  I'll post more as I think of them.

AFF Review: Shorts 11: Animated Family Shorts

After standing in line for more than an hour we got into see the Animated Family Shorts.  The theater was nowhere near full.  At least we didn't have to pay for parking.  Five out of the eight shorts were foreign.  My two favorites were The Gruffalo's Child and Snap.

The Gruffalo's Child is expertly narrated by Helena Bonham Carter.  We both really enjoyed it and it is a great follow up to The Gruffalo, which we watched when we got home.  The Gruffalo is available as a Netflix DVD and I highly recommend it and The Gruffalo's Child if you get a chance to see it.  If you can't see the shorts, you might be able to get the books from the library.

Snap was a cute computer animated short about sea creatures.  The story was surprising and cute, but there wasn't anything original about it.  The sea creatures weren't anything out of the ordinary.  We felt like we'd seen them before.  It was the same with some of the other shorts.  There just wasn't anything special about them.

AFF Adventure

So the thing I don't like about the Austin Film Festival----standing in lines--for long periods of time.  This morning we got to the Alamo Ritz theater before 11 am and the movie was scheduled to start at 12:30.  We have Film Passes--which are basically second class tickets.  Badge Holders get priority.  After standing in line for about an hour we found out that all the seats were taken.  Not even all the Badge Holders got in.  Oh, and there are third class folks--the people who just want to buy a single ticket to the show.

Bummed, as Hyde Park on the Hudson, was Ross's one pick, and having paid for 3 hours of parking, we decided to just walk around. We walked up to the Capitol building, where Richard Dawkins was speaking for the Texas Freethought Convention on the South Capitol Steps.  We walked around to the East entrance and checked out the Capitol a bit. We haven't been there in a loooong time.  We were serenaded by an all-male a capella group as we ascended the stairs as high as we could go.  I checked out the Senate--some of the Senators that were there 15 years ago when I worked for Senate Media are still there.

We then got some slices at Roppolo's  Pizzeria.  The pizza wasn't as good as the one we had in New York, but it was pretty dang good. It was muggy out, and all that walking make me all sweaty and gave me a blister on my foot.  We headed straight from downtown to watch another batch of short films, which we actually got in to see no problem--after waiting in line for more than an hour.

AFF Movie Review: Missed Connections

Last night we went to see Missed Connections at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.  It is one of those movie theaters where you can get drinks (yes booze) and food served to you right at your seat.  This sounded like a movie that could be very funny, or be very, very lame.

Neal's friends come up with a scheme to get him laid and bring him out of his girlfriend-cheating-with-best-friend induced funk.  Neal answers Craigslist Missed Connections ads, and following a brilliant strategy he gets laid, until her runs into Jane, who is running some kind of scheme of her own.

This movie turned out to be really funny, but was lacking something to make it a 5 star movie.  The writing and the acting were not over the top.  We really enjoyed the movie. Ross had a root beer float and I had a Guinness shake.  Oh, that Guinness shake was divine.

AFF Review: Shorts 9: The View from the Outside

The Austin Film Festival shows short film in themed batches that last about 90 minutes in total.  My first batch of shorts was themed The View from the Outside.  One of the great things about seeing a bunch of film at once that I hadn't really thought about is that some of the films are foreign films--and you know I loves me my foreign films.  Four of the seven films were foreign and my two favorites were from Spain and New Zealand.

Voice Over, from Spain, was oddly voiced over in French. It was funny and surprising.  It had a timed element that I appreciated and the voice over reminded me of those Dos Equis commercials about the Most Interesting Man in the World.

Whakatiki, from New Zealand, was my favorite short of the group.  I think it was because I connected with the water scene at the beginning, and I'm a total sucker for the only line Kiri, the main character, has in the film.  This one was moving.  Tears were streaming down my face, and it wasn't just 'cause I didn't take my pills.