The Fires of Central Texas

Scary, horrifying, lost homes, lost lives, uninsured folks with little support.  The air smells of singe.  Thousands of acres of lost forest, 1,000 homes lost, animals attached to those homes with no place to roam.

And an asshole   Governor who comes running back from campaigning and requests federal help ASAP.  A Governor who cut the volunteer fire department budget by 25%!  He, the demonizer of the Feds, who repeatedly denounces federal govt but accepts all of the money offered and demands more.  Austinites rant and rave about this governor yet Texans re-elect him.Why do they re-elect this man?  I am awaiting the moment when we learn about his dirt. His unpleasantness. He must have bumped somebody's or some animal's foot in a stall.  I frankly don't care whom, but where are you???  Speak up already...get him out of the race.  Talk about scary! 

DAYS OF BEING WILD/AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY

Essential Cinema Series is back at Alamo S. Lamar with films from  Hong Kong.  Tonight we saw this film by Wong-Kar Wai, who is best known in the US for CHUNGKING EXPRESS.  The most striking element of this film is its beauty.  The shots, the actors, the sets, the terrain are all visually beautiful.  That being said I found myself lost at times regarding storyline but never cared much because it was a beautiful film to watch.  It reminded me of what Liz has told us about Hong Kong: the bold directness of people and the language they use when talking to one another, the old apartments, the streets, the bars, the alleys.  Of course Chale's 4 pages of notes saved the day for me and Abe in turns of story, history and analysis.  So this is a film about longing and a man's detachment from others due to early abandonment by his natural mother.  Once I got that,  much of the movie made sense.  It's like having an interpreter after the conversation.  Nevertheless, it worked for us.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

This evening I headed up to campus to rehearse a scene from this magnificent film.  The red dress scene where Sarah tries to convince her son that she will be on television wearing the red dress she wore to his H.S. graduation.  The director is Jamaal Felix and I act the scene with Alex ( ?).   I met these two young men when I worked on a film for a UT Directing student last semester.    Jamaal contacted me after seeing REQUIEM and asked me if I would work with him on it for his Directing For Film  class.  It is my pleasure.  Jamaal is intelligent, analytical, humble,  and communicates like a soft spoken gentleman.  His directions are well thought out and he is open to interpretation.  Alex is a good partner in this scene.  The work is intense, the scene  is deeply emotional and moving.  The subject is loneliness and what Sarah does to fill the hole.

The day was spent at Town Lake where I play with other peoples' dogs and Abe reads.  A life that Sarah could only dream of.  Night y'all.

Grupo Fantasma at the Long Center

This Austin based group has been described as Latin funkmasters and tonight they did not disappoint.  A free concert on the terrace at Long Center was packed with all kinds of Austinites on their collapsible chairs.  A musical treat we both enjoyed.

Today I headed up to Campus for the first rehearsal of AN AMERICAN MISSION directed by James Pinedo.  It's a pretty big cast  of 8 including kids, teens, a couple of young adults and then there's me, much much older.  James offered insightful direction and clearly loves directing.  A pleasant experience with intelligent points made.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

Oy Vey.  Abe saw Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce on Charlie Rose discussing this film and made me feel real interested.  Abe LOVES horror films...I'm eh.   Oh well.  He really liked this film and thought it was scary and well acted.  He jumped out of his seat a couple of times.  He really liked the child actor.


On the other hand.  I was bored out of my mind.  The horror was predictable, the child actor was VERY un- childlike and the whole thing was silly.  It got great reviews.  Just not my cup of tea.  But no bad mouthing Mr.Del Toro.  He should live and be well.

MIRO Quartet

An Austin gem is this string quartet who play classical and contemporary music and is in residence at UT Butler School of Music.  They teach students, coach chamber music and maintain a worldwide tour schedule. They are highly acclaimed throughout the world.  William Fedkenheuer has joined them this year as a violinist.  Tonight we heard a program up at Bates Concert Hall with works by Schubert, Glass and Brahams.  We both loved the Philip Glass piece, it was extraordinarily emotional.  Abe described it as macho.  I still can't tell if he was teasing but nevertheless he enjoyed the concert. 

Slacker 2011 and Miro Quartet in one week.  My kind of town.  Night y'all.

Living with a 24 Year Old

Not just any 24y.o. and not just any place.  Austin and Brooklyn converged in this child of ours to help her on her unique journey through the worst economy one could imagine for college grads.  We came home from SLACKER 2011 last night to learn  Liz bicycled East side  Austin in 105 degrees (20 miles she figured) to bring her photographs to studios for exhibition in the East Side Art Tour.   This week  she applied for  and received an internship for Arts and Labor because "she can learn so much."  She landed a job as a photographer's assistant shortly after arriving from Hong Kong.  She bicycles in Social Biking, karaokes at EGO's, recites her  poetry at  Poetry events, dances wherever to whatever, plays her harmonica, sings off key while she's working , swims, hikes, rock climbs, reads paper bound books voraciously, does not ever ask for money, and brings such happiness to her parents who have not lived with her since she was 17.  We sent her to Austin days before she turned 18 with two duffel bags and not knowing a soul.  Four years later she left UT with honors, got employment quickly at Foundation Communities, spent the next year at the Hong Kong Design Institute as the English coordinator and Fashion Blog creator. In the worst economy imaginable  this young woman makes her way, finds her way, is a wonderful friend to her friends and a great daughter.

Now if she'd only learn to clean her room!