Archive for: August 2010
NetSquared Camp 2010
Okay, now that the film festival’s done, I’m finally free to blog about NetSquared Camp 2010, an unconference of activists, technologists, entrepreneurs, and assorted geeks who want to make the world a better place, in a full-day extravaganza of sharing and networking. It was my first NetSquared Camp ever, and I’m still digesting everything I’ve learned. Here’s a rundown of the talks I attended:
Zombies!
A few photos of the Zombie Walk last Saturday. Enjoy!
Vancouver Queer Film Festival: Final Thoughts
Wow, what a trip it’s been. Going to so many screenings and then blogging about them will really take it out of you, but it was so worth it! I’ve seen some truly excellent movies this year, along with some… not so excellent ones. Well, they can’t all be winners, right?
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: The Fish Child / El Niño Pez
This is the story of Lala, the teenaged daughter of a rich Buenos Aires judge, and her lover Ailin, a maid in her family’s house. The pair plans to to run away together to Ailin’s family home in Paraguay near Lago Ypoa, but when Lala’s father is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Ailin takes the blame to protect her lover. What will happen to them now? Can they escape the law and live out their dreams?
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: From Coast To Coast Is Queer
It’s good to be queer and Canadian! This brand-new installment complements The Coast Is Queer to show queer shorts from all over this fair land of ours. The program included a dozen titles, but I’ll only list the ones that made a strong impression on me.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: Plan B
Well, that was pretty good: an odd little love triangle out of Argentina, with some very cute moments, excellent acting, and nice cinematography.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: Watercolors
Wow, that was… really not good at all. A deadly earnest, by-the-numbers coming out story that felt ripped straight out of an after-school special.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: The Taqwacores
This movie kicked ass! Bursting with energy, funny, some great cinematography, good character development and of course some great music (I’m not into punk, but damn, you couldn’t not like it). Educational, too: The Taqwacores served as a crash course on Islam, and a look into a culture I’m really not familiar with.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: All Boys
This film by Markku Keikkinen is an expose of the Eastern European gay porn industry, focusing on a minor porn studio based in Prague, one of many that sprang up in Eastern Europe in the mid-90′s. It’s a brutally fair and unforgiving look past the fantasies, at the actual business of selling sex and the people who make it work.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: Violet Tendencies
Meet Violet, the last single fag hag in her circle. She has an active social life with a large number of lovely, exciting, eccentric friends, friends who love everything about her… except her pussy. Will Violet ever find a man to fulfill all her needs? Will she ever meet her elusive “fag stag,” or is she looking for love in all the wrong places?
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: The Coast Is Queer
Wow, that was an awesome crop of movies this year! Fifteen short films were showcased, ranging in quality from “pretty good” to “excellent”. I’ll just mention the ones that made a strong impression on me.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: Riffs On The Theme Of Activism
For various reasons I missed The Love That Won’t Shut Up, Rex vs Singh, and The Portside. I’d be damned if I was going to miss the last of the screenings commissioned by the Queer History Project.
Riffs consists of five very short films (about 5 minutes long on average), with the focus being on a panel discussion with the directors. Moving and informative, Riffs is an excellent conclusion to an already fantastic series.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: The Butch Factor
Hm. Okay. This documentary is going to be a tough one to review. From what I’m hearing it was extremely polarising, with people saying they hated it, it made them angry, they almost walked out. I didn’t almost walk out, and it didn’t make me angry; I agreed with the basic thesis, but had definite problems with some of the actual interviews and scenes.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: Mr. Right
I expected a light, fluffy comedy like The People I’ve Slept With, but this movie turned out to have quite a bit of drama and character development.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: The People I’ve Slept With
Oh my fucking gawd, that was amazing. I was a little hesitant to like it, since just before the screening I learned that director Quentin Lee also directed the short Little Love, which I wasn’t that crazy about. But good news, it looks like his forte is light comedy!
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: Pornography: A Thriller
Well, that was a mindfuck and a half! Hot porn stars, a mythical snuff tape and urban legends collide in this creepy nightmarish thriller. From the synopsis I expected weird horror, and at first that’s what it looked like I was getting. The first act, dealing with the life and disappearance of porn star Mark Anton, was really disturbing but had no overtly supernatural elements.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: Strong and Silent Types
My first show of the festival was a collection of five short films about—as the name implies—men and masculinity. A little uneven, it was still a very good kickoff to my VQFF experience.
Learning jQuery: toggleClass( )
I’m still a novice at jQuery, and recently had a chance to learn a little bit more, for a project I’m working on.
Ghosts of Old Victoria
As I said in my previous post, during my recent trip to Victoria I went on a ghost walking tour. It was fairly entertaining (our guide was quite a good storyteller), and I learned quite a bit about the history of Victoria, though of course it didn’t convince me that ghosts are real.
Skeptics in Victoria
It was totally a last-minute thing. Some of the the Skeptics in the Pub crowd had been talking about a weekend trip to Victoria, but that had been scheduled for mid-July, then rescheduled to… later. Then, at New Bright Lights on Friday I heard that it had indeed been rescheduled, for that weekend. Well, fortunately my plans for the weekend had fallen through, so it was an easy decision. Rides, a place to stay, a clean pair of underwear in my bag, and I was good to go.
