Dear Vancouver International Film Festival,
Oh, are you still around?
I'm sorry. I've disappeared.
I wish to apologize to you for the way I have slowly let you slip out of my consciousness over the last few years. I'm sorry, but I've had to let go of those glorious days with you. I've moved on. I've grown up. I don't have the time to see two movies a day anymore. I can't remember the last movie I saw in a theatre but something tells me it was of the lowbrow variety, well beneath your standards and taste, possibly Sex and the City, or Transformers.
But I just want you to know that I sometimes miss those times, VIFF, I really do. I invested so much in you, watched so many films, both wondrous and ghastly. Remember how I sat through the utterly incomprehensible Gozu, not even leaving when that woman on the screen gave birth to a full-grown man? Or the time I squirmed through the torture scene in Audition? But I also remember how my life felt changed after seeing Megacities, After Life, Hana-Bi (Fireworks), To Be and to Have, and Suzhou River. I miss your Dragons and Tigers films and talking about how mature Asian cinema had become, unbeknownst to all those "mainstream" moviegoers. Oh, how lovely it was to be a film snob, but being so tremendously entertained by South Korean movies like Attack the Gas Station and Volcano High (they were still foreign films!). I loved clapping in ecstatic raptures over some genius or another answering inane questions after their movie. And who could forget the time I made a drunken ass of myself to Don McKellar at the volunteer after-party because Last Night had just become my favourite film ever? Oh, Don, forgive me but it was my momentary brush with Canadian fame. I still think about it to this day, a decade later.
VIFF, I wish I could hold on to some tendrils of our past but I think its too late. Gone are the days when I could dedicate 32 hours of volunteer time to get a free pass. Gone are the days of attending matinee movies. I just don't have the time anymore. Maybe you can forgive me, and one day I'll come creeping furtively back into your arms, when my children are grown and I need a way of filling my empty days. You can cradle me in your uncomfortable movie seat arms, and rock me to sleep in front of a black and white film submitted by an unpronounceable Central Asian Republic. I promise to be engrossed.
Love and nostalgia,
Tina
posted by Tina on 10/02/2008 | 0 comments | #
taking pictures of the tourhttp://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_sports/tourdefrance08/depth_of_field_tour/
posted by Tina on 7/29/2008 | 0 comments | #
the cobra is struck downhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/17/tourdefrance.cycling3?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
"'It's completely shocking,' said the International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid."
What? It's shocking that a cyclist on the Tour de France is taking a banned substance? A cyclist who left the other riders in the dust in Stage 9? I thought we knew that all these guys are on something.
But then, he goes on to say, "It would strike me now that someone would have advised those guys to take some form of EPO thought to be undetectable because we haven't caught guys in this fashion for a long time."
Oh, wait, I see now. He is shocked that Ricco was on a banned substance that could be detected. He is berating him for his stupidity in getting caught, not for taking the substance in the first place. Yet another example of how cheating is endemic and normalized within pro cycling.
posted by Tina on 7/17/2008 | 0 comments | #
seek the peakI did the Seek the Peak race on Sunday morning, and you know what? It was painful. Three days later, it still is. But! I almost didn't do it, so convinced was I that I would be slower than I was when I did the race two years ago. I hate competing against myself and losing. However, I cut my time by four minutes over 2006, completing the full race in 2 hrs 16 minutes (2:16:15)! I was slightly faster in all four stages, including a 54:03 time on the Grouse Grind itself. My cardiovascular system has been pretty conditioned from all the recent bike training, but my running legs were rather surprised by the endeavour. My quads are now paying the price.
posted by Tina on 7/09/2008 | 0 comments | #
team.ohsah.bc.caThere probably aren't very many people who still periodically drop in to visit this site. But, for those of you who still do, this is what is occupying my time these days: www.team.ohsah.bc.ca. My husband and I are part of a team that is going to ride 835 kms (519 miles) in 44 hours this September in Utah. Yes, it sounds weird and stupid, because it is. Every day that I have to go onto my bike for a training ride, I ask myself WHY WHY WHY? But, as one of my coworkers says, I may regret it now, but I will never regret it later.
Our team is also raising funds for the BC Cancer Foundation and are looking for donations. If you haven't donated money this year to anything, then this is your opportunity! It goes to a good cause, plus you get a tax receipt. You can even donate directly in my name (yes, dorkiest photo of me ever - it's just bad). So please do! And tell your friends too - it would be hard to find someone whose life hasn't been touched by cancer. If you live in BC, the BC Cancer Agency makes cancer outcomes much more positive than anywhere else in the country, thanks to the funds you donate.
For updates on the team's fundraising and training efforts, you can follow our progress on the Team OHSAH Blog, updated by yours truly on a much more regular basis than this old thing.
posted by Tina on 6/25/2008 | 3 comments | #
wasteWell, I think its clear that this is a big fat waste of space.
posted by Tina on 3/15/2008 | 3 comments | #
britney fathttp://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/62637/
I couldn't have said it better myself. Maybe its because I had a baby too and it would make me a heifer if Britney is considered fat.
posted by Tina on 10/17/2007 | 2 comments | #
letter writing manhttp://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,470114,00.html
posted by Tina on 3/21/2007 | 1 comments | #
can't get no satisfactionhttp://nymag.com/news/features/24757/index.html
I was struck by many of the hypotheses in this article, and it made me think for a moment about when I was traveling and feeling the very symptoms of burnout described in this article. Yes, boohoo, poor me, all burned out by traveling, but based on the descriptions in this article, it aptly describes how I was feeling.
posted by Tina on 12/11/2006 | 1 comments | #
is sex necessary?http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/08/cz_af_1008health.html
posted by Tina on 10/26/2006 | 1 comments | #