Tallgrass Film Festival

This weekend was the annual Tallgrass Film Festival held in Wichita, Kansas. Yes! a film festival in the nucleus of America's Bible belt. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver, it screens over 100 movies every year. For what its worth, Tallgrass is decent. The diversity of movies is impressive and the turn out encouraging. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a huge fan of cinema so what do you do on a weekend with no homework or student papers to grade? crash a film festival.


9 in the morning, ready for the first feature

R.I.P Lena Horne

I had the biggest crush on Lena Horne when I was in high school so my heart sank this morning when I found out she died yesterday at the age of 92. Her life story is incredibly inspiring and she was very elegant in every endeavor she undertook. R.I.P



I've included a clip of her performing "Stormy weather"



“My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free. I no longer have to be a ‘credit.’ I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody; I don’t have to be a first to anybody. I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else. "

- Lena Horne ( NY Times)

Scooby Doo and wickedly hilarious wikipedia commentary

Growing up Scooby Doo was my favourite cartoon, without a doubt. I like to attribute my fascination with mystery and adventure, which started at a very young age, to shows like Scooby Doo because they gave my imagination an opportunity to wonder. I would sit on my bed everyday and envisage all the mysterious adventures my invisible best friends and I were going to embark on.



Anyways, I was thinking about Scooby Doo today so I decided to find some information on the internet about the franchise: When the series originally started, what was the first episode that aired, the names of the actors who voiced the original characters etc etc I visited Wikipeida of course and stumbled upon some LOL-worthy comments. They are wickedly hilarious so read at your own risk.

"During many of the episodes, Fred and Daphne spend time off screen while Velma, Shaggy and Scooby usually end up encountering the villain. This has led to assumptions that Fred and Daphne are off having sex instead of finding clues."



Fred and Daphne? shacking up? how scandalous. Wait! there's more. This one is about Velma.

"Velma has been called a lesbian "icon", although the Scooby-Doo series and direct-to-video films depict her as presumably heterosexual."



Oh man, I am literally rolling on the floor and laughing my ass off. Do you think I'm done? oh no, there's more. This one, debatably the most hilarious of them all, is about Shaggy and Scooby.



"Both Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are readily bribed with Scooby Snacks due to their nearly insatiable appetites, and have tendencies toward goofing off and cowardice. They justify their constant hunger by saying, "Being in a constant state of terror makes us constantly hungry!". However some believe the pair's constant eating is a subtle reference to munchies, a result of marijuana consumption"

Scooby? a pot head? This is too much. Laughter is shredding my lungs apart. I can't even go on anymore. I have to stop.

The Brothers Bloom

So I finally got around to watching the movie The Brothers Bloom written and directed by Rian Jackson and distributed by Summit Entertainment. It wasn't a box office hit but it is an incredibly enjoyable movie which deserves more attention than it received. Quirkily written and beautifully acted, it left me thoroughly intrigued and genuinely inspired.



Below is an audio clip of the main theme song of the movie written by Nathan Johnson and aptly titled "Penelope's theme". Penelope is a character in the movie played by the lovely Rachel Weisz. The song does a good job in capturing her vulnerable yet subtly adventurous spirit. Anyways, please listen to the song. There's something indescribably magical about it...



Lovely ain't it?? if this doesn't inspire you then hell, I don't know what will. The movie also stars the massively talented Japanese actress, Rinko Kikuchi, who should have won an Oscar for her riveting performance in Babel.



Adrien Brody is also brilliant in this and Mark Ruffalo, who plays his older and conniving brother, is effective and complements the rest of the cast. I should warn you, the movie is slow at certain parts. It does pick up steam every time it slows down so if you are patient, the overall experience won't be a disappointment.

"Tonight..."

"Tonight most people will be welcomed home by jumping dogs & squealing kids. Their spouses will ask about their day. Tonight they'll sleep. The stars will wield forth from their daytime hiding places, and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over."

- UP IN THE AIR

Words cannot even describe the extent to which I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. In my on opinion, it should have won best adapted screenplay at the Oscars because it was beautifully adapted into film. If you guys haven't seen it, you should.