You're taking the bus? Why?

Motivations for my new commitment to take public transportation to work at least once each week:

Environmental
I want to show my support of the environmental policy of the Utah Transit Authority. From hybrid and natural gas vehicles, to beautification of industrial corridors, and massive recycling programs at its vehicle maintenance facilities, UTA a leading environmental stewart by all national standards.

I want to decrease these lazy and embarrassing statistics:
25% of all journeys made by car are less than 2 miles.
60% of all car journeys are less than 5 miles.
70% of all journeys to work are made by car.
* Source: Stockton Borough Council (a site worth reading if for no other reason than it's a Scottish publication advocating smaller cars that are "a lot nippier around town.")

Economic
If I have to explain the high cost of gasoline to you, you live under a rock. How did you get internet access under there? I mean, I try and swipe my neighbor's WiFi signal every so often but now they set up a WEP key and...um, well anyway.

Social
People who claim that Salt Lake City is not diverse need to stop traversing the east bench in their beamers and hop on the #47.

I believe strongly in communal ideals and social structures and engage with my community in as many ways as possible. What better way than sharing a ride to the office with new neighbors I've yet to meet?

Political
I want to do my part to support UTA's ridership numbers and subsequent plea to the legislature for increased funding.

I interact with causes I support and do my best to contribute my energy to their karmic mix. Good breeds good and again, I want to do my part.

Creative/Artistic*
As I see my bus to train to bus commute, I've just stumbled upon the gift of two dedicated hours each week to write, think, read, catch up on podcasts, or do. absolutely. nothing.

* Speaking of the creative benefits, I'm starting a post series titled: "Ramblings from the Route." This past week was week #1 and I took my bus/train/bus commute to work two days in a row. That's all it took. I'm in love. I rarely rent cars when I travel (generally a lame way to experience a city)...so why can't I play tourist in my own back yard? Public transportation is total sensory overload and taking that time to ease into and out of my day provides ample space for creative impulses to percolate. Sitting in rush hour traffic on the freeway with one foot hovering over the break and one hand hovering over the horn doesn't inspire anything but a migraine.

First Friday Films | Take Two

First Friday Films | Take Two
Artists & Cowboys & Jail Bait...oh my!



Avenue Montaigne (French)
Quirky, adorable, charming, tender, funny...think of it as the French version of romantic comedy. While I think most Hollywood romantic comedies are tres lame and contrived, other countries seem to understand that you can have romance and humor -and- depth and plot. Imagine that.

A 30-something woman moves to Paris from the countryside and works as a waitress in a posh cafe. She meets all sorts of famous people, who, by the end of the movie end up all crossing paths and impacting each other in some way. The film is a vignette-style ensemble with really interesting characters. I love vignettes, I love ensembles and I loved this movie.

One thing that strikes me every so often, and struck me again while watching this movie, is that one reason Hollywood is so boring to me is because everyone looks the same. "Beautiful" is so predictable and their narrow definition is tired. The people in this film are beautiful but in totally unconventional ways. The characters have a diversely mis-matched urban feel and I liked that.

Factory Girl
How indulgent, selfish, and vain can you possibly be? I'm too young to have experienced Edie Sedgwick first hand, but I suppose there are plenty of modern equivalents to keep US Weekly staffers on their toes. "Factory" in the title is in reference to Andy Warhol's artists commune in New York City in the 1960s. Sedgwick came from old money and came to New York as a drop out from Cambridge. The film chronicles the arc of her obscurity to fame to rock star status back to obscurity. Tracing throughout this arc are insane amounts of drugs, parties, post-modern art experiments, and androgynous pretty people.

As indulgent, selfish, and vain as the Warhol world seems, the story is oddly compelling. I should also admit that while indulgent, selfish, and vain, it's completely seductive. No small part of me wanted to cut my hair short again and waste away my days creating 3-D metaphors of Mahler's symphony 3 with only a rusted fork and blue paint while playing a lute and chain smoking in the name of world hunger and Bolivian worker's rights.

Guy Pearce has long been a favorite of mine and he is perfection as Warhol. I couldn't take my eyes off him and he definitely stole this movie. Even if the film doesn't interest you, watch it for Guy's performance. Hayden Christensen, on the other hand, while very much looking the part, was trying so hard to be an emotionally earnest and throaty Bob Dylan* that he came off a bit spastic. You still get the point, you get that he's artsy folky, and you read Dylan clearly in his performance, I just think that trying to hold a candle to Guy Pearce is an impossible task.

* Apparently Bob Dylan's attorneys tried to sue the makers of the film to stop it from being released. The film alludes to the theory that Edie's downfall and suicide were based on a botched romance with Dylan. The DVD extra features discuss this conflict extensively and are really well done, fyi.

3:10 to Yuma
Since when am I so hot for cowboys? Seriously. I really really like this movie. Now I want to see the original 1950s version...and every last John Wayne movie I can get my excited hand on. My original motivations for seeing this film, I admit, were quite shallow. I've been in love with Christian Bale ever since he delivered papes' as a precocious newsboy, singing and dancing his way into my heart. Russell Crowe in a Roman loin cloth. Enough said. But all of this eye candy aside, the script is well-written, the structure is complex, it's tense, it's sensual, it keeps you guessing, it's a must-see.

Fallen (Falling) - German
Reality Bites. Friends. Sex in the City. Rent. Anniversary Party. Bridget Jones Diary. Fallen. This film is easily categorized with other wallowing, wandering, wistful GenX dramas catered to the romantically-challenged 30-something set. Much like Time Out (French) begs the assumption that marriage malaise is universal, Fallen begs the assumption that it's not just American 30-somethings that struggle to define themselves, the world, and themselves in the world. One could argue this tension exists at any age, but there seems to be something particular to the poignancy of these feelings in one's 30s.

The story is simple enough: childhood/teenage friends reunite in their hometown for a funeral. The directions their lives have taken are drastically different from one another and this creates both arguments and fascinating conversations. The structure of the movie, however, is anything but simple. The filming technique, as well as the pervasive emotion, is very stark and at the same time, very dense. German films pull off this paradox really well.

The movie feels lost, as though it's wandering around the true story but never really finding it. You wonder when it's going to start, pick up, get to it...and then you realize that each of these women feel that same frustration with their lives. Brilliant. Movies that draw you in and make you a character are rare and delicious finds.

It's also worth noting that the soundtrack rocks. It's impossibly hip urban electronic trance pop. Yeah, when you figure that out, let me know. In the meantime, I'm just gonna rock on. You can find my favorite track in iTunes for a mere $0.99. Song: "We Shall Overcome," Artist: Gustav, Album: Rettet Die Wale.

Notes on a Scandal
My father always used to say, you know, like on the tube, mind the gap...the distance between life as you dream it and life as it is. (Cate Blanchett as Sheba Hart)

I saw this movie in the theatre when it was first released (three times) and I've since purchased the DVD and watched it again (twice). It's so so so good. Dame Judi Dench is a sexy cougar by any standard and yet she completely transformed herself for this role. She's creepy crawly stalker perfection. Cate Blanchett is a vision. She is one of my favorite actors and I enjoyed watching her special features interview as much I enjoyed watching the movie itself. Not to be overlooked, Bill Nighy is a force to be reckoned with in his own right. This movie is smart and sexy and challenging. Phillip Glass composed the score...does it get better? Perfect.

Gomgashtei dar Aragh (Marooned in Iraq) - Iranian

I'm not nearly smart enough to fully enjoy this movie. I related to the classic road trip themes of falling into and out of love, music and singing, robberies, parties, lust, bribes, corrupt police officers, death and redemption. What I wasn't prepared for was understanding the intricate details of the conflict between Iraq and Iran and the politics of Kurdistan.

I learned a lot about the oppression of the Kurdish people and the bombings and chemical weapons employed by Saddam Hussein (which is what he was finally convicted and hanged for, if I remember correctly, a massacre of Kurds in 1982). The film is generally about Iraqi Kurdish refugees fleeing to the Iranian border. Specifically it is about two sons traveling with their father as he searches for his ex-wife who left him years ago for his best friend. Catch all that?

Spoiler warning. The end of the film is heartbreaking. The father, Mirza, finally finds his ex-wife, Hanareh, in a female refugee camp. The best friend/new husband, Seyed, has died and before he passed he requested that Mirza be the person to burry him. Mirza realizes, only after traveling an incredible distance, that Hanareh sent for him for this purpose and not because she wanted to see him or mend their relationship. Hanareh was disfigured in a chemical attack, lost her voice in the aftermath, and she never leaves her tent or acknowledges Mirza. Mirza is given Hanareh and Seyed's daughter, Sanooreh (which means "border"), and the final frame shows the two of them crossing the barbed-wire to enter Iran.

Stomp the Yard
Yup. That's right. The pretentious girl who prattles on about the ethos of German film owns Stomp the Yard and watches it over and over and over again.

Can you keep a secret?

I want to date Cute Artsy Guy who lives in my building.

I have a stellar radar for semi-geeky specs-clad artsily-desheveled men but I've not seen Cute Artsy Guy until now. Although I work a fairly standard 9-5 I'm not known to leave for work each day at the same time or arrive home like clock work. This fact gives my encounters with Cute Artsy Guy a seductive sense of serendipity.

Encounter #1:
Parking lot. Just prior to morning commute. Mutual smile.

Encounter #2:
A couple days later. Parking lot. Just prior to morning commute but not at same time as encounter #1. Mutual smile. He raised his eyebrows in recognition. We both chuckled at the coincidence and continued to smile.

Encounter #3:
Very next day. Parking lot. Just prior to morning commute but not at same time as encounter #1 or #2. Mutual smile. He waved. I was parked right next to him and as I maneuvered into my car I quipped, "We seem to be on the same schedule..." (If you didn't read that with a breathy voice and wicked grin, you did it wrong. Try again). His face immediately registered a charmed surprise. He raised his eyebrows and smirked, "Yeah...it seems so..." I smiled one last time and I sat down in my car as he took the last word, "Have a great day."

Encounter #4:
Yesterday, a few days after encounter #3. Parking lot. Coming home from work in the evening. He was retrieving his yummy leather messenger bag from his car. I was walking up from the bus stop and had an iPod stuck in my ears. He was quite animated, to the point that it surprised me a bit, as he waved and smiled. I smiled and removed my headphones. "Hi..." I said with a big smile. "Hello..." He replied, also with a big smile. "How are you?" I said while flashing an even bigger grin. "Good...Good..." he said while visibly laughing at yet another coincidental meeting. "Good...Good..." I lamely replied. Umm...Doh! I retreated from the parking lot fumbling through my bag for my keys. (Note to Dorky Self: next time try, "The parking lot has been great...but we should arrange our schedules for dinner.")

Congratulations & Bon Voyage!

Dawn & Michael

Married 15 September 2007
Congratulations! Safe travels on your honeymoon!

The wedding ceremony, dinner, dancing, and reception were all held on the 17th floor of the Tower Club in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The weather was bright and sunny, the view exquisite, the food amazing, the bride beyond gorgeous...a perfect day.

And yes, you do see panties that read "I'm a Fox" in glitter puff paint. Between the campy arts and crafts project, sexual mad libs, and gifts both "naughty & nice..." the lingerie shower the night before the wedding was a fun edition to the weekend.

What? Naked Mormon Missionaries?

Naked Mormon Missionaries. Now that's not something you hear every day. Well, any day, for that matter. I don't particularly enjoy hairless pretty men and I don't particularly care to purchase the 2008 calendar that, in local/regional news, rivals the shot heard around the world; but I also don't particularly care to boycott the calendar either. I'd much rather sit back and watch the flailing beast this little project has unleashed. I'm utterly confused by the controversy and outrage** this publication has stirred; however, the naked missionaries were anticipating, in fact hoping for, the uproar.

In their own words: "The shock value of what these traditionally conservative young men have helped to create has the power to build a dialogue that encourages people across every belief system and walk of life to defy stereotypes and embrace tolerance." Wowzah. The power to build a dialogue. All these years I've been approaching social justice in such a naive and shallow way. Turns out I should've just taken off my shirt years ago. All that time. Wasted.

I tease these young idealists with floppy hair and greasy chests, but whether or not I agree that topless calendars will change the world, I do respect their thought process (ie: they have one) and their desire for change (again, they have one). In their own words: "The Men on a Mission calendar is intended to be a light-hearted and fun spin on a social taboo. Far too much fear, hatred, anger and violence is committed in the name of religion. By showing these missionaries as regular people, we hope to build a common thread that can break down some of the barriers that have been built up."

** While Googling this phenomenon I stumbled upon these choice comments posted to the blog "This Mormon Life"

• What have you done, Elders? How can you possibly justify this? The damage that will come from this type of ridiculous behavior will totally negate any type of good you have done on your mission and what you could accomplish now.
• Please---this is the beginning of pornography without a doubt---and then to have it done by our own return missionaries who have made covenants to dress a certain way---c'mon we can have fun without demoralizing our bodies in the name of a "calendar" so sad to see how satan creeps into every situation.

One of the men featured in the calendar posted this in response: "Wow, thank you people for reminding me why I posed for this calendar. Holier than thou mormons like yourself place judegment upon anyone and everyone. Thats exactly why people leave the church after joining because of people like yourself." Spot on.

Make up your own mind...
& enjoy the gay disco tune brought to you by a savvy marketing team.