Out & About – Page 321

Three sentence movie reviews: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Once, long ago, in the throws of a depression, I watched a movie called Last Night and man, did it stick with me in a god-I-hated-and-was-disturbed-by-that-movie kind of way. But it’s also made me continually seek out end-times movies just to see if there is anything better. This was well acted and engaging,* but still left me with the completely depressed feeling that all is not well.**

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

*Although it skimped on a ton of detail. Where were they getting their gas? I can’t imagine gas station attendants would still be coming to work.
**I should perhaps give up thinking that such movies can be anything but depressing.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2012/seeking_a_friend_for_the_end_of_the_world.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Next Stop Wonderland

I ran across this movie on a list of really great romantic comedies you haven’t seen* and I ordered it because the library had it. This movie epitomizes two things: 90s’s independent film** and dating in Boston when in your 20s.*** I remember adoring the soundtrack and the structure of the movie, and, sadly, neither one of those things lived up to my memories.****

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

*Although I saw it in the theater when it came out in 1998. Something went wrong with the sound, so the first couple of minutes were spent getting them to fix the sound, and then listening to people argue with the attendant that they should just start the movie over. He wouldn’t (or couldn’t) and drink coupons were passed around, though I never got one. There was much grumbling. So this viewing, I finally heard what was said in the first few minutes.
**And man, did we put up with some not-so-great film technique when watching 90s independent films. Viewing it from this decade, I found the shoddy film making and iffy acting rather distracting. (Although Hope Davis and Philip Seymour Hoffman were fine.)
***Like Hope Davis’s character, Boston wasn’t a great town for dating for me, either. But I was enchanted with the depiction of smoking in bars–I had forgotten we could do that–and just how not great looking the guys she dated were. Also, I used to drink at the Bern, which is her go-to bar. It wasn’t my go-to bar, but probably second-tier.
****Which doesn’t mean I totally pan it, but I would say it’s a so-so movie, and worth watching as a time capsule.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1998/next_stop_wonderland.html

Three sentence movie reviews: 42

Overall an interesting, well acted movie that illuminates the terrible trials* Mr. Robinson was put through in order to play baseball. Harrison Ford manages not to be annoying.** I felt like it could have been 20 minutes shorter.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

*One of the terrible trials involved the Phillies’s manager repeatedly saying horribly racist things as Jackie Robinson was at bat. I recognized the actor, but couldn’t place him. It turned out to be Alan Tudyk, who I most identify as Wash in the tragically cancelled Serenity series.
**This movie is packed with where-have-I-seen-that-guy? white men. Some of which include the guy who played Billy Riggins on Friday Night Lights (Derek Phillips) and the not-Paul-Walker guy from Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift (Lucas Black)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/forty_two.html

Three sentence movie reviews: The Intern

I expected to like this movie okay, and was surprised to find that I loved it. It’s a meditation on balancing work and family as well as a primer for being a very good old person.* Enjoyable from start to finish, with few clinkers, this is a grownup movie that you can watch with your parents and grandparents.

Cost: free due to gift card
Where watched: Regal Bridgeport Village Theater with my mom. (My first time. Boy, did I hate Bridgeport Village. However, once we got inside, the theater was like every other Regal Cinema)

*There was an essay rolling around in my head inspired by the movie, but I never got it on paper and the moment has passed.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/intern.html
I’m pretty sure Hathaway never wore this dress in the movie. For the head of a clothing company, none of her clothing was very flashy, which I thought worked well with the kind of clothing she was selling.

Three sentence movie reviews: Words & Pictures

This is a slow-burn love story with people who are crusty and have problems.* It’s also a very good teacher movie and written for smart people. Mark this down for the Very Good Grown-up Movie category.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home, after a tough day when there was nothing to do but collapse on the couch with a good movie.

*Overall, I loved this movie. I didn’t, however, love the ending.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/words_and_pictures.html

The sad tale of the beets

They were planted in the spring and managed to grow through a drier-than-normal summer even without supplemental water. I harvested them today, carefully cleaned them and sliced them to roast so I could eat them with goat cheese on a pizza.

Sadly, I forgot they were still roasting when I kicked the oven up to 550 degrees to heat the pizza stone and they became little bits of beet flavored charcoal.

Sorry beets. I wish I would have given you a better ending.

Wordstock 2015

Wordstock is Portland’s festival of books and Portland, being a very book-friendly city, loves Wordstock. It’s been on hiatus for two or so years because it wasn’t really making enough money, but it’s back, sponsored by Literary Arts and hosted at the Portland Art Museum. Previously it was at the Convention Center. Wordstock has been listed in my calendar since they announced the date in the spring. I was very much looking forward to the festival. Sadly, my excitement was not enough to carry me through the many problems I encountered.

Tickets were $15.00 and I bought mine in September. Following the instructions in an email I recieved, I arrived at the venue more than an hour early. I found the line to check in stretched around the block. This was the pre-sale line. Wanting to skip that line, I decided to purchase another ticket inside, where the line was five people long.

I had some time to kill, so after planning my day, I decided to find all the venues so I could move quickly from one to the other. The map in my Wordstock guide was not very clear and I ended up wandering through a modern art gallery until I hit a dead end. On the way I saw a sign that indicated that this would be a pop-up thing at some point in the day. What were these pop-up things?

The pop-up events were not listed in my schedule. There was just one poster listing the many pop-up events. Both times I went by, this is how many people were crowded around it.

I waited in line for my first event, then was told where I was waiting was not the line and moved myself into the actual line. This was a good panel, where David Leviathan appeared to be texting during the panel, but was actually purchasing his book via phone, because he was going to grab one from the sales floor, but couldn’t actually get to the sales floor. This is when alarm bells should have started going off.

Exiting my first session, I joined the line to get into the next session. It had started to rain (and it was a cold, hard rain) and there were too many people trying to get in and out of the same doors. Several people cut in line, saying “I’m not buying tickets” and then ignoring us when we said we weren’t buying tickets either. Nothing was done about any line cutters.

I eventually made it inside to the inside line for Wendell Pierce, but when the presentation started, I was still standing outside.

Because I only needed one seat (the plus of attending on my own) I eventually got a seat in the actual venue.

Though they had crowd control in the venue itself there were people pressed into all of these bays listening.

This guy had apparently been out with Mr. Pierce drinking the night before. He took several poor quality photos with his phone. I wished I could have given him my camera so he could have had some good ones.

My next session was in the same building, so I figured that I would be able to make it. I again encountered a very long line. I again encountered line cutters. I was told that I probably wasn’t going to make it into the venue. Frustrated, I took a break at this desk, thinking maybe I would go upstairs for a while to see what the book market looked like. But the line to go upstairs was just as crowded as the line to go into the room I wasn’t going to get into. I was frustrated and angry and I came to the conclusion that I could be this frustrated and angry for the rest of the day, or I could go home.

I chose going home. On my way to the Max stop, I caught this picture of the line for another venue. It was 15 minutes into the presentation and the line was still a block and a half long.

Ironically, while waiting for the Max a bus went by with an ad for Wordstock.

I heard later that they sold 4000 presale tickets, plus the tickets sold day-of. All four stages together couldn’t hold 4000 people, not to mention they didn’t have crowd control for that many people. The news coverage I read was mostly laudatory and the only thing I could think was that the reporters didn’t have to wait in any lines. Perhaps next year I should go with a press pass.

I’ve rarely been so disappointed. Which I guess means I’m lucky overall, but doesn’t take away the sting of missing out on a bunch of sessions I was looking forward to.

The old neighborhood

That “luxury” apartment tower on the left occupies the same space of my beloved first residence in Portland: the Rose Friend* Apartments. What was a five-story (maybe six?) building of studios and one-bedroom apartments that were in good, if bland 70’s refurbishment, condition have been replaced by studio and one bedroom apartments renting for much more than I could ever afford. Right now a 500 square foot studio is priced at $1365-1525 per month. My 342 square foot cost $500 in 2002 and had risen to $525 when I moved out in 2005.

In the foreground is the Sovereign, which is moving all its current tenants out by the end of this year. Such tenants include a gentleman who has lived in the building since 1980 and currently pays $750/month in rent. He’s not going to find that anywhere else downtown. As a grocery store checker, he won’t have much room in his budget to afford other things.

I loved living downtown, but I think downtown doesn’t have room for people like me. Not the me who rented an apartment with only a temporary job, and not the me of today with my modest salary. It’s a shame.

*Also sometimes called Rosefriend and Rosefriends. Even when I lived there I was never quite sure how to write my rent check.

A study in contrasts

From Time Magazine, an article about top teenagers. What struck me first was the difference between the two young women. Kylie Jenner, looking just like the fashion icon she is, contrasted with Olivia Hallisey who looks like a very nice girl, one who I want to whisper to her to stand up straight. And which young woman do you want your daughter to be? The one who developed a better way to test for Ebola, or the one with cosmetically enhanced lips who has 60 million social media followers? I’d love to see more coverage of young women with flat hair and no makeup who need to throw back their shoulders. And maybe less of young women who are models and reality TV stars.

Wordstock Refund

The first thing I did when I came home was change into dry clothing. The second thing I did was write this email to Wordstock. They contacted me on November 10 to say that the Portland Art Museum would be processing a refund, which I appreciate. As of this writing I have not received the refund.

7 November, 2015

Literary Arts
925 SW Washington St.
Portland, OR 97205

To whom it may concern:

I put Wordstock on my calendar months ago, when the date was first announced. I bought my ticket on September 13, as soon as I knew they were available to the public. This morning, I printed my ticket, exchanged the pens in my bag for pencils and made sure to arrive more than an hour before the first presentation, because I was told there would be lines.

When I arrived at the venue, the line for pre-paid tickets stretched around the block. Seeking to avoid that line, I purchased another ticket because there was no waiting for people who didn’t plan ahead. I then attempted to find the various venues in the Mark Building but got lost in the museum due to the poor map. I gave up my search and went to stand in line for the McMenamins stage at the Whitsell Auditorium.

Because I was in line 30 minutes before the 10:00 session, I was able to attend that session which was great. I stood in line in the rain for the 11:00 session, then stood in line inside to get into the room, then listened to the first 15 minutes of the presentation outside the room while I waited to get in. I noted that several people chose to jump to the front of the line and were not turned away for their efforts.

As with the 11:00 session, I immediately got in line for the 12:00 session, which was in the same building. The room exceeded capacity before I could get in. Facing wall-to-wall people, with no clear path to go anywhere, not to the bathroom, not to the Book Fair, not to any session I had planned on going to, I gave up and headed for home. Walking to the Max train, I saw the line for the First Congregational Church had stretched around the block to Broadway, and this was 10 minutes after the session had started.

I enjoyed a previous Wordstock experience, and waited patiently for the next one. I bought my ticket as soon as I could, and I expressed my excitement about attending the event via social media. As with the last Wordstock, I expected to attend the sessions I chose in their entirety, then walk to the next session of my choice and have reasonably easy entry into the next session of my choice.

Your event did not meet my expectations and I am requesting a full refund of my $15.00 ticket. (Note that I never got my book voucher, not that I could have gotten to the Book Fair to spend the voucher in the first place.)

Sincerely,
Patricia Collins