My Boston

Friday, April 29, 2005

#47 Boston - A Weekend at the Movies - April 29, 2005

Hello All,

Week 47 here in Boston, this time littered with movies and some other incidents of random madness.

The cinematic excitement was due to the 3rd Annual Independent Film Festival (http://www.iffboston.org/index.html), which took place in several locations across the hub - at the Somerville, Brattle, Coolidge and MFA movie theaters. I had signed up with IFFB for a couple of long shifts at the Somerville movie theater near Davis Square and it made for a very exhausting weekend. The festival was definitely compelling - only one celebrity sighting for me - famed African-American actor/director/composer Melvin van Peebles (http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/van_peebles.html). He was wearing a t-shirt with the words "Original Badasssss" on it, referring to his controversial 1970s movie "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song". On opening night, which I did miss, Indie favorites Steve Buscemi and Casey Affleck were also seen in town attending the premiere of their project "Lonesome Jim."

I did manage to see two stimulating pictures, a Canadian flick called "Childstar" (http://www.iffboston.org/2005/film_childstar.html), which was a funny, but darkly bitter comedy on child actors in the film industry. "Rhythm is It" is a documentary on a project done between the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductorship of Sir Simon Rattle (great name for a composer!!), and British choreographer Roylston Maldoom. Roylston took 240 kids and young adults, from elementary school age to about 22 years of age, and taught them to dance accompanying the symphony orchestra's performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps". What an inspiring project and equally motivating and touching movie!!!! (http://www.iffboston.org/2005/film_rhythm.html)

Somerville is a very nice part of the Boston municipal area - home of my favorite Boston pub, The Burren, all very neighborhoody, great restaurants. The Somerville Theater, in one of its previous lifetimes was originally a Vaudeville-style performance theater with a reputation for excellence.
Spending some time waiting for the subway in Somerville, reminded me that a some of the T stations here feature much appreciated diversions. The Davis Square T for example features poems by Emily Dickinson and other women poets on its brick tiles on the platform floors. At the Kendall Square/ MIT stop local artist Paul Matisse installed three sculpture-instruments - Pythagoras, Kepler and Gallileo. "Pythagoras" is a set of long tube bells tuned in B minor struck by a line of pendulum hammers. When passenger move the handle on the station wall, the hammers swing back and forth, striking the tubes, creating the most wonderful sounds.

The weekend started off on a good note, on Saturday morning, I participated in the first ever Back Bay 5 K (http://www.aviewoncities.com/boston/backbay.htm) along the Charles River Esplanade. Organized by the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and the Chi Phi Fraternity of MIT, it was a very community-based, low-key event with about 120 runners attending. The Chi Phi frat boys did a commendable job, and the race was definitely enjoyed by all, in particular because we all put up spectacular running times. This was partly due to the fact that the race was not exactly 5K (3.1 Miles), but according to my own calculations about 2.75 Miles. If my math is correct, I can now applaud myself on a new personal best of 8.45 minutes/ mile!!! Yeah! The weather was perfect for running, cool temps in the upper 40s or so, and just a little windy. My running companions included Ruth, Eric and Elaine - for Ruth this was her first official race, and she did spectacularly.

Sunday was a bit of a messy day, as other kinds of madness kicked in. First, after peeling myself out of bed at the ungodly time of 7:15 AM to meet up with an acquaintance to go bird watching at the wonderful Mt. Auburn cemetery (http://www.mountauburn.org/), I got stood up! There I was waiting in the pouring rain, freezing, tired, and no one showed up (at least nobody I knew)! That pretty much set the tone for the day. Being overtired and grumpy do not make a good combination, I have to tell you. During my afternoon shift at the theater, I walked outside to look for one of the coordinators, only to find some 65-year old psychopath freak out on me simply because I "stepped in front of him." Completely lost it, the dude, screaming on the top of his lungs, his eyes bulging, and he did not stop his rapacious tirade until the end of the next block. The whole day was like this - loonies everywhere - and by the time I came home, I went straight to bed. No use in staying up or meeting more crazy people.

The week has been pretty low-key as a result of my extreme tiredness following this past weekend, the evenings were filled with couch time, movies, books, and an acceptable allotment of exercise. The weather has been less than inviting, warm but mostly rainy. The weekend promises mixed weather - plans include a concert, some hiking, maybe a road race (possible spontaneous moment coming up!). Sunday is National Arbor Day (you know, good for the trees, that kind of stuff). As a nice contrast, Germany celebrates Labor Day on May 1st - everyone usually goes on a hike and gets drunk! My friends, have a beer on me and enjoy the weekend!!


pet:)

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