Entry #104: The Yearning of an Art Fag
Yeah, I know I said I'd never write in this livejournal again. I lied. I am a liar. But I figure hey, there's a lot of people who know about this one, and since this is going to turn into a personal ad in record time, what better place to put it than here?
The other day in school I found out about this film festival being held at the Catamount in St. Johnsbury. Now, in the past I've heard of a lot of cool things going on at the Catamount, but had never been able to get over to the Catamount to attend. This, however, was not something I was willing to miss. How often does a collection of short films, ranging from the mediocre to the brilliant, come to the so-called Northeast Kingdom? I decided there was no way I wasn't going.
I wound up talking Josh into going, and after close on Saturday we set off for the Catamount. The first thing I noticed upon walking inside was the vast collection of movie posters on the wall -- they were all independent films, all of which I wanted to see. The Edukators, Murderball, Broken Flowers... yes.
The second thing I noticed was the assortment of junk food at the candy counter. Typically, you go to a theatre and get a Coke and some popcorn and maybe some Reese's, depending on your mood. Here, you get your choice from eight different flavours of Blue Sky cola, and your choice of Tiger Milk or Lindt chocolate. Most theatres have junk food... the Catamount has junk food with class.
Alas, I only noticed two things. Josh and I got our tickets ($5; Jax Jr. can suck a dick), and went into the theatre. Where they had a couch set up, in lieu of seating. I officially loved this theatre. However, there were only two couches, and they were in poor sight lines, so Josh and I went up to the fourth row and took our seats, waiting for the films to begin.
And they were all pretty good. Okay, so there were a few that sucked. One movie, "The Lump", was about a man with a twin brother growing inside of him that he had no idea existed. Aside from the surgery scene, a terrible movie with a decent concept. Another movie, "Crickets", involved Israelis gambling on terrorist attacks. Again, great concept... subpar execution.
But there were so many good films. "The Instructional Guide to Dating" was an absolutely brilliant throwback to '50s-style viewmasters, with the topic being dating in the 21st century. That was the only one that had Josh and I laughing throughout. Another, "The Banker", contained the greatest scene in filmmaking history, in which five men went to a sperm bank to make a deposit, with hilarious results.
But the best film there, by far, was "Hibernation". In it, there are three boys who are all friends. One of them goes through chemotherapy, losing all of his hair. So that the one boy doesn't feel bad, the other two decide that they will all dress up in animal costumes. Then the one boy dies -- but he tells the other two that he is just hibernating. It is similar to Lost, in that it is a concept so out there that you're willing to play along, and it grabs you and takes you for an emotional ride and it's just a spectacular, spectacular adventure to be taking in fifteen minutes.
And through it all, I looked over at Josh and thought to myself, "Man, this would be so much more fun if Josh was a girl."
So if anybody wants to go to the Catamount next weekend, there's this German film, The Edukators, that's supposed to be pretty rad. Just so you know.
- Joseph H.
The other day in school I found out about this film festival being held at the Catamount in St. Johnsbury. Now, in the past I've heard of a lot of cool things going on at the Catamount, but had never been able to get over to the Catamount to attend. This, however, was not something I was willing to miss. How often does a collection of short films, ranging from the mediocre to the brilliant, come to the so-called Northeast Kingdom? I decided there was no way I wasn't going.
I wound up talking Josh into going, and after close on Saturday we set off for the Catamount. The first thing I noticed upon walking inside was the vast collection of movie posters on the wall -- they were all independent films, all of which I wanted to see. The Edukators, Murderball, Broken Flowers... yes.
The second thing I noticed was the assortment of junk food at the candy counter. Typically, you go to a theatre and get a Coke and some popcorn and maybe some Reese's, depending on your mood. Here, you get your choice from eight different flavours of Blue Sky cola, and your choice of Tiger Milk or Lindt chocolate. Most theatres have junk food... the Catamount has junk food with class.
Alas, I only noticed two things. Josh and I got our tickets ($5; Jax Jr. can suck a dick), and went into the theatre. Where they had a couch set up, in lieu of seating. I officially loved this theatre. However, there were only two couches, and they were in poor sight lines, so Josh and I went up to the fourth row and took our seats, waiting for the films to begin.
And they were all pretty good. Okay, so there were a few that sucked. One movie, "The Lump", was about a man with a twin brother growing inside of him that he had no idea existed. Aside from the surgery scene, a terrible movie with a decent concept. Another movie, "Crickets", involved Israelis gambling on terrorist attacks. Again, great concept... subpar execution.
But there were so many good films. "The Instructional Guide to Dating" was an absolutely brilliant throwback to '50s-style viewmasters, with the topic being dating in the 21st century. That was the only one that had Josh and I laughing throughout. Another, "The Banker", contained the greatest scene in filmmaking history, in which five men went to a sperm bank to make a deposit, with hilarious results.
But the best film there, by far, was "Hibernation". In it, there are three boys who are all friends. One of them goes through chemotherapy, losing all of his hair. So that the one boy doesn't feel bad, the other two decide that they will all dress up in animal costumes. Then the one boy dies -- but he tells the other two that he is just hibernating. It is similar to Lost, in that it is a concept so out there that you're willing to play along, and it grabs you and takes you for an emotional ride and it's just a spectacular, spectacular adventure to be taking in fifteen minutes.
And through it all, I looked over at Josh and thought to myself, "Man, this would be so much more fun if Josh was a girl."
So if anybody wants to go to the Catamount next weekend, there's this German film, The Edukators, that's supposed to be pretty rad. Just so you know.
- Joseph H.