Just for Laughs Comedy Festival July 23, 2009
"EAT MY SHORTS" Short films
Acting for the Camera
Justin Nowell/USA
Pal/Secam
Dmitry Povolotsky/Russia
Instead of Abracadabra
Patrick Eklund/Sweden
Naglin/The Nail
Benedikt Erlingsson/Norway
OK, Now What?
Jeff Bruyère/Canada
One of Those Days
Hattie Dalton/UK
One Thousand Characters SMSing
Ignacia Ferras/Denmark
Santa: The Fascist Years
Bill Plympton/USA
The Deposition of Lou Bagetta
Tommy Smeltzer/USA
Touching The Stairs
Michael Wright/UK

NYC: March 6-12

Chattauqua! at PS122 http://www.ps122.org/performances/chautauqua.html
Now and at the Hour http://www.frigidnewyork.info/shows03/Nowand.html
Heather Nova at Joe's Pub http://www.heathernova.com/
http://www.joespub.com/
Gomorrah at IFC http://www.ifccenter.com/film?filmid=66355
This Beautiful City at Vineyard Theater http://www.thecivilians.org/thisbeautifulcity.html

March 01,2009

New Books on my shelf:

• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
  
• Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani
• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
• The Counterlife by Philip Roth
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
• Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin
• The Secret of Scent by Luca Turin
  

February 28, 2009

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2009
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-oscarnominated-short-films-2009,23758/

At Cinema du Parc

Best Animated Short Nominees:

LAVATORY--LOVESTORY

Russia 2007. Dir.: Konstantin Bronzit, 10 min.

A lonely toilet attendant attempts to uncover the identity of her secret admirer.

LA MAISON EN PETITES CUBES (PIECES OF LOVE, VOL.1)

Japan 2008. Dir.:Kunio Kato 12 minutes

An old man battles to save his house in an attempt to be the rising tide.

OKTAPODI

France 2007. Dir.: Julien Bocabeille, et al. 3 min.

Two Octopi fight for their lives in a comical secape through the streets of a small Greek village.

THIS WAY UP

UK 2008. Dir.: Smith & Foulkes. 9 min.

Laying the dead to rest has never been so much trouble.

PRESTO

USA 2008. Dir.: Doug Sweetland. 5 min.

A stage magician's rabbit gets into a magical onstage brawl against his neglectful guardian with two magic hats.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT NOMINEES:

AUF DER STRECKE (ON THE LINE)

Germany, Switzerland. 2007. Dir.: Reto Caffi. 30 min.

A department store security guard is secretly infatuated with a clerk in the store's bookshop. When he witnesses a love rival being attacked on a train, he abamdons him, a decision that carries with it devastating consequences.

GRISEN (THE PIG)

Denmark. 2008. Dir.: Dorte Hogh. 22 min.

When Asbjorn is admitted to hospital, he finds comfort in a painting of a whimsical pig--until it is removed at the request of another patient.

MANON SUR LE BITUME (MANON ON THE ASPHALT)

France. 2007. Dir.: Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont. 15 min.

What really flashes before your eyes at the end? It's a lovely spring day and Manon is on her way to a rendezvous with her boyfriend when an unexpected bump in the road makes her see life from an entirely fresh perspective.

NEW BOY

Ireland. 2007. Sir.: Steph Green. 11 min.

Based on a Roddy Doyle short story, a young African immigrant struggles to find a place for himself during his first day at an Irish school.

SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND)

Germany. 2007. Dir.: Jochen ALexander Freydank. 14 min.

Germany 1942, a mother convinces her son that the Jewish neighbors are going on a journey to "Toyland".

Books I read over my Christmas vacation: 

Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones

The Outlander by Gil Anderson

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga 

The Pest House by Jim Crace

The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Get a Life! by WIlliam Shatner

Entry #19

It was nearly one year ago that I last posted an entry here. I was in Playa del Carmen with Gordon, staying in a Las Palmas condo on calle 28 and enjoying every day. I think that's why I was so happy last year; I was really living in the moment. I woke up every day happy, nothing could spoil my mood. When I described how I felt I think I used the word "ecstatic" frequently.

After 6 weeks in PDC, I returned to Montreal on January 10, 2006 and had two weeks to get ready for the next stage of my year off: 6 weeks in Asia with my daughter Z. We left Montreal on January 30 and our first stop was Tokyo to visit my sister. She and her family had moved there in August 2005 for her husband's work. Annie was a wonderful host: she took us out every day to see something special.

In her five months there, she learned to navigate the complex subway and rail systems and scouted out the best places to take us when we finally arrived. A few of the highlights: the Fish Market, Harajuku, an Onsen near the waterfront, Chinatown in Yokohama, Asukaska Temple, and a sushi restaurants with a conveyor belt. There was so much more! Two weeks was not enough time to see everything we wanted to, but it was a complete introduction.


From Tokyo we flew to Bangkok, where in a few days we were to join a tour that would take us to sights within a couple of hours around Bangkok before we'd fly together to ChiangMai for 6 nights. We saw everything in Bangkok that we missed the first time Z and I were there in March 2000. ChiangMai was wonderful. First because it was a small city compared to the megalopolis of Bangkok, it was easy to get around. Second, It was an important center for crafts and textiles and the markets were filled with interesting things. The Orchid Hotel was central and we were able to explore a lot on our own even at night. It would be a wonderful place to spend a month, take a cooking course or a massage course. We spent hours exploring the Night Market and the Sunday Walking Street.

When we returned to Bangkok we explored a little more on our own. We were able to fit in a visit to Chatuchak Market-- the largest market I have ever experienced! It takes over a city park on Sundays and EVERYTHING is sold there, even animals. The things we wanted to buy would just not fit in our suitcases, so we just looked but it was wonderful and wild and CROWDED.

Our next stop was Hanoi, Vietnam. We had prepaid another tour through Collette Tours and we hoped that we would be part of a group as nice as the one we had traveled with in Thailand. However, we ended up with a private tour. We had a guide and a private car with a driver. That was the good part. We took this tour primarily because of the hotel--The Hanoi Hilton which was right in the center of the city's historical district and within walking distance of everything. The local tour company Collette hired switched our hotel at the last minute and put us up at a Sheraton on the outskirts with a view of the river and the rice fields! In addition, I had eaten something at the Sunday Walking Street market in ChiangMai and was experiencing its very negative effects. The day our guide took us to spectacular Ha Long Bay, I was so sick I could only eat a little rice and not a morsel of the 13 course meal that was served to us on our private cruise of the bay. I spent the next day in bed while Z had to argue with the driver who insisted on taking her on a tour of the pottery villages which she had zero interest to see. She finally convinced the driver that she and the guide would stay close to the hotel because I was so sick. That way she was able to shop in Hanoi and take photos of interesting city scenes/ architecture. One of the highlights of the city was Ho Chi Minh's home, which we visited after we saw his preserved body in the mausoleum. He is still very revered by the Vietnamese. So, overall we found Hanoi grey and wet, and disappointing in several ways. Maybe because I was ill, or maybe because the people are just not as warm as the Thais, I don't think I will return to the north of Vietnam. We did however, look forward to returning to Thailand.

We returned to Bangkok for two more nights and then we were off again to Koh Samui for the final leg of our Asian trip. Our hotel was at the eastern end of a long bay. We could walk on the beach from our hotel to the farthest end of the town. A wonderful hot/cold buffet breakfast was included and this was enough until dinner which we ate either in town or on the beach. Grilled tuna steak with salads and baked potato cost less than $5. Internet was readily available and cheap. Some of the best deals were in massages, manicures, pedicures and spa treatments.
The only thing that was odd about our hotel was the tidal action. At low tide in front of our hotel but not anywhere else on the bay, the waves withdrew so much that you had to walk out very far before the water got to your waist.

The airport on Koh Samui is completely tropical: open air waiting areas & cafe, thatched covered roofs and beautiful flowering plants everywhere. It provided a perfect introduction and final impression to a relaxing week in Southern Thailand.

The flight home was long with a six hour wait in Bangkok for our flight to Tokyo, then a 4 hour layover in Tokyo waiting for our flight to DC. It would have been a 5 hour wait for our flight to Montreal if we had not been able to get seats on an earlier flight. Once home it was wonderful to sleep in our own beds again. We were back in Montreal in time to celebrate my birthday in the middle of March. I had two months to recover before the next stage of the sabbatical began: a month in the UK.

Entry #18

Playa del Carmen
December 21 to 

January 14

The condo was comfortable (great bed!) and well equipped. The comments of previous guests helped us discover a few new restaurants—(this is our 4th visit to PDC)-- like El Baretto at the corner of 26th and 5th. The pasta was excellent and the portions were enough for two. We enjoyed breakfast and dinner at Sazon also just down the street on 5th. I think their breakfast was the best of all. Sazon had very tasty and generous fish tacos and their enchiladas mole con pollo were delicious. We also had a good breakfast at El Cuevo del Chango after an early morning at the beach.

We especially enjoyed Café Corazon, where the owner Alison was very hospitable. She has the BEST coffee (from Chiapas) and a free wireless internet connection. She also has daily newspapers, current magazines and a lending book collection.
Other restaurants we liked:
Pizza Renzo—at 10 pesos per slice- tasty and a great deal too.
Sushi Tlan (next to Café Corazon)
Maktub across from Café Corazon—Dinner #1 was a great deal: 2 chicken brochettes, 1 appetizer of your choice and mint tea or coffee for 95 pesos!
Babes2 was almost as good as the original on 10th street, but some portions were half the size (like chicken satay) for the same price. Everything was delicious.

The noise level in these restaurants on 5th between calles 28 & 30 was often unpleasant because each establishment tried to drown out its neighbor’s sound system creating only cacophony. Playa del Carmen is certainly not the place to go for peace and quiet!
The condo balcony and the roof were two places that did offer some rest.

Our strategy to deal with the holiday week crush at the beach was to get up around 6:45 and be at Mamitas by 8am. Although, on Dec. 30th we were running late and by 8:20 all the chairs/palapas were taken except for the back row! The rooftop pool is a great escape from the mob scene at Mamitas.

As for trips—
We went to Tulum for three nights, staying at Posada Magherita in one of its 6 rooms—Heaven with Italian food! For a day trip we enjoy going to El Paraiso Beach Club (heaven again!) about 1 km south of the Tulum ruins. Prices are similar to Mamitas and there is a bar/ restaurant. Beautiful beach with few people. (**Not Anymore! In Dec.06 it was rechristened as Nuddy Beach Club and it was crowded with music playing all day. We left to find an oasis of calm not too far away from the kite-boarding, boozing hordes.)

There is also snorkeling in Akumal or Half-Moon Bays. Go via bus or collectivo, then taxi or walk from 307 to the beach about 2km. Turtle Bay Café, Lol-Ha or Cuervo del Pescador are all good bets for lunch.
We took a day trip with PlayaInfo to the Mayan ruins at Ek Balam. There 

was also a stop at a cenote--Ik-Kil—and lunch in Valladolid. The cenote was really beautiful! The water was much warmer than I expected. It was quite far to go but worth it.

Guadaloupe the housekeeper has taken excellent care of the condo (and us) and Jose the building manager has been very helpful—always there if we needed anything.

There are many places to go in the neighborhood for internet access–the best for price and comfort was Café Corazon—WiFi was free with the purchase of great coffee, desserts, paninis. Next would be Y Tu Café Tambien on 20th just above 5th: 18 pesos/hour. The Point is most expensive (24 pesos/hour) and most crowded, but it is convenient at off hours.

We had a great holiday here, but we hope that not too much more of paradise gets paved over! We did enjoy the birdsongs coming from Hotel LunaBlue's garden, and the crying cats. That big ginger one can almost talk!

********************************

Entry #17





Week of December 11th to 21st

Sunday December 11th
Sunny day--roof top pool at Condo Las Palmas, Calle 26 between La Quinta & Avenida 10.

Monday December 12th o Thursday December 15th
Beach Days-El Tukan or Mamitas Beach Club


Friday December 16th to Monday December 19th

When we woke up it was raining, and had been raining all night. There were deep puddles at the corner of Avenida 10 and calle 26. Today we were leaving for three nights at Posada Margherita http://www.posadamargherita.com/ on the Tulum beach --about 5 km south of the ruins. With any luck, the weather would be different in Tulum. It was about 60 miles away.

We took the 11 am bus from the bus station on 5th & Juarez. The cost for two was 40 pesos! About half way there the sun was breaking through the clouds and we were feeling optimistic about the weather. In Tulum we took a taxi to the hotel which was located on a more isolated stretch of the Boca Paile road.

When Gordon was researching hotels in the area, he had narrowed it down to two: Piedra Escondida and Posada Margherita. Piedra Escondida was one hotel amid a cluster of bars, stores and about ten other small hotels. The beach there was narrower and perhaps rockier. He chose Posada Margherita because the beach was stunning and it was in a quieter location. In addition, it was an eco-resort, with solar-generated electricity for lighting and hot water. If we wanted to go to another restaurant like Zamas' or Piedra Escondida's we could walk there. They were only about 10 minutes away.

Our room at Posada Margherita was on the upper level and it had a large balcony. There was a king size bed in the main room with large French doors to the balcony. There was a twin bed in an alcove with a large window and I used it at night as a reading corner. There were two hanging light fixtures in the room but no outlets. If we needed to recharge anything it could be done at the office. The room was decorated with original art by a local painter and some other African or Polynesian pieces. At night the grounds were illuminated by large candles--some three feet tall. While we were at dinner, one of the owners lit the candles in our room. It was romantic and relaxing. Everyone there spoke in low voices or whispers. No one smoked.
The music was provided by An iPod connected to a Bose speaker system, and the selection was eclectic, international and always interesting.
The hotel was owned by four Italians who designed and built it about 18 months ago. They were the hosts as well as the chefs. With their Mayan cooks, they were in the kitchen at 6am preparing the day's fresh pastas and foccacia. Fish and shellfish were delivered by fishermen during the morning.
The lunch and dinner menu was simple: fresh pasta, two or three kinds, prepared with any combination of olive oil & garlic, vegetables or seafood; there was fish grilled or steamed in salt water; there was grilled shrimp and lobster. Every meal was preceded by a wooded tray of appetizers: 2 each of the 4 different kinds of foccacia, a couple slices of hard cheese, a small bowl of spicy black olives and another of pistachios. Three white wines and three reds were available, as well as traditional and national mixed drinks and several brands of beer. Dessert was either "chocolate sausage" with vanilla ice cream or lemon or raspberry tart. The coffee was excellent.

We had sun and generally clear skies every day in Tulum, the last day being the calmest and clearest. The sea was smooth and the waves small. Swimming was easy and we would often be the only ones in the water as far as the eye could see in either direction. One could really relax in a place like this--a world away from the commercialism and frantic crush of Playa del Carmen.

We ate well and were served with subtle attention. Every day around noon, one of the staff, as a courtesy, served us a fresh fruit smoothie or a tray of sliced fruit to enjoy under the palapa. Every aspect of the hotel was agreeable and met our expectations. If only we could afford to stay there for more than three days at low season rates! The day we left, their rates more than doubled for the Christmas-New Year high season.

Monday December 19th and Tuesday December 20th
When we arrived back in Playa del Carmen it was raining heavily off and on. We read, went food shopping, checked email and drank coffee in cafes. Dinner Monday was at Babes2 and on Tuesday I prepared at home fresh shrimp in garlic. I finished another book--Chronicles: part 1 by Bob Dylan. In Tulum I had finished Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. I am averaging more about 2 books a week---one important measure of a good vacation.

Wednesday December 21
The weather has unexpectedly cleared. It was supposed to be another rainy day but the sun is out and it is only a little cloudy. We will skip the beach today and get the sun up on the roof at the pool. Then it is over to the Internet cafe to download pictures to my Yahoo albums and update this blog.

Entry #16

Week of Dec 5th to 10th
Tuesday, December 6th
I was awake at 645 and decided that it was time to soak my sore feet in salt water. Getting there around 845, I had my pick of El Tukan Beach Club palapas and selected one at the far southern end of their area near the dive shop. There would be fewer people walking past and it had an unobstructed view of the water at the top of a small rise of sand that caught a nice breeze from the ocean. I had everything I needed for the day: a clear, sunny sky, and a good book: Small Island by Andrea Levy.

Thursday December 8th
Like Tuesday and Wednesday, I was up early and at the beach before 9am. At Mamitas Beach Club adjacent to El Tukan, construction continued on the new facilities. Mamitas was almost destroyed by Hurricane Wilma, and the new buildings were going to be bigger and nicer than the old ones. Sawing, hammering and drilling went on all day but I didn't mind. At El Tukan, the only thing that eventually did bother me was the lip-syncing mariachi who arrived in the afternoon. That was my signal to leave.
Then I went to Cafe Corazon, but I could not get a signal at all. I went to another internet cafe--Ah Cacao--a few blocks away and could not connect on their wireless network either, so I tried to adjust my settings. That was a bad idea because I only succeeded in completely messing up my settings and as a result could not connect with Cafe Corazon's network when it was back online. I gave up and decided to try to reach my school's IT expert in the morning. He would surely get me back online.

Friday December 9th
Yesterday my heel felt really sore-must have had some sand in the wound. So today I decided to stick around the condo and save the beach for Saturday morning. I also wanted to solve the problem with my wireless access, which I messed up last night trying to get on the network at Ah Cacao. From a nearby Internet Cafe I sent our IT expert an email and we went back and forth until the settings were re-established as they were before . I went back to Cafe Corazon to make sure it was ok and spent almost 2 hours sitting there in the Ole bar area working on downloading pictures to my latest blog entry. Then around 1:30 I went back to the condo, put on my bathing suit and went to the roof, had a dip in the pool and then sat in the sun for about an hour. around 3pm I took a walk to the new Wal-Mart and bought sunscreen, lens solution and some other things. On the way back I checked email and called Gordon (50 pesos). I used 15 min out of the 10 hours I bought (9h.45min. remaining).
Back at the condo I watched Almost Famous not remembering much of it at all. It has a great soundtrack and a good story. Then around 6:30 I went out for dinner. At Sazon I had enchiladas mole(68); they were filled with moist white meat, very tasty- spicy but also chocolatey as it should be. And beer was only 15 pesos. I'll go to Cafe Corazon later to check msn & email.
Sitting at Cafe Corazon, after dinner, I could not get an internet signal. But I watched the lights in the sky just to the south. It looked like two searchlights, but where are they coming from? There was nothing to the north, just in that one part of the sky. Could it just be moonlight behind the shifting clouds? It reminded me of Northern Lights.

Saturday, December 10th
Gordon would be arriving today!
I decided not to go to the beach; instead I went up to the rooftop pool. It was a beautiful day, and I had a comfortable chair and umbrella. The family across the hall was packing up to go home and gave me all their unused food. There were nachos, condiments, limes, cereal, two jars of jam, two large packages of cheese, juices, and even some coconut rum! It was so nice of them! I expected Gordon, whose flight was due to land at 11:45, to arrive after 2pm, and started to get anxious when he hadn't arrived by 3pm.
He was bringing me a new suitcase since the one I had was damaged in transit to Mexico in October. I am sure it was abused by the baggage handlers in Chicago. The stitching of the zipper was ripped out in three places and I was afraid that the whole bag would burst open on my way to Cancun. I had searched all over San Miguel for duct tape and found some "DUCKED TAPE" in a paper shop in Plaza Civica. I also brought the suitcase to a luggage shop on Calle San Francisco. It was impossible to replace the zipper but the owner stitched the zipper closed so that the lid would only open two-thirds of the way around.
Gordon was bringing two suitcases---one inside the other. Did his checked luggage get lost? Is that why he was late? I realized that he would have to wait to go through customs. Sometimes that took us an hour in the past! And then he'd have to wait to get the collectivo to Playa del Carmen. On December 3rd I had to wait over a half hour for one when I arrived in Cancun.

At 3:10 I was sitting on our balcony when I heard a familiar whistle--one we used to call the cat at the cottage. "Where was that sound coming from?" I thought. I looked down the street in the direction from which I expected Gordon to come. There was no one there; then I heard the whistle again from the other direction. There he was!

He had worried also that the checked luggage would be lost. He saw a young couple at the airport baggage area looking so forlorn, as they watched the bags go around on the carousel. Where would he even go to report a lost bag in the Cancun Airport? But to his surprise, his bag was first off the plane! That was probably because his Montreal-Toronto flight was late arriving and the departure of the Toronto-Cancun flight was delayed because the pilot waited for late bags to be loaded. Gordon's bag was probably the last bag loaded on the flight. So he was really relieved to arrive without any problem and was happy to see how nicely I had prepared the condo for him.
Now our holiday could really start.