Three things make a SIFF post, plus two book things
SIFF films
Saturday morning: The Primary Instinct had its world premier at SIFF. It's actor Stephen Tobolowsky's concert film. Tobolowsky--whom you may know as Ned Ryerson in "Groundhog Day" or Sandy Ryerson (distant cousin?) in "Glee" or any one of a number of character roles--is a terrific storyteller, and this movie is a record of a show he did in Seattle last year, telling the stories that have made his podcast "The Tobolowsky Files" (which I highly recommend) so popular. This guy tells a story like nobody's business. He's engaging and insightful. The monologue he offers here has, at its core, the question of what we seek as human beings--what's our primary instinct, but he starts by asking the question "What is a story?" It's great question for an actor or a writer--or a human. And he riffs on it from there, telling story after story to get to his main point, offering thoughtful commentary and laughter along the way. This was a terrific hour-and-a-half, and the Q&A with Tobolowsky and David Chen, the film's director, afterward was very good indeed. I recommend both the movie and the podcast. Possibly my best experience of the festival so far.
Sunday afteroon: I thought, for some reason, that Paper Planes was a documentary, not a fiction movie. Turns out it was the latter, an Australian film for families about a boy who enters an international paper plane folding contest. It was actually quite a sweet thing--not what I was expecting but, as the description on the SIFF site says, a crowd pleaser and a pleasant first film of two for the day.
Later Sunday afternoon: Admission: I don't really read The New Yorker; I read it occasionally, in bits and pieces. But I always look at the cartoons. So when I saw that Very Semi-Serious, a documentary about The New Yorker, its cartoon editor and its cartoonists, was going to be at SIFF, I didn't have to think twice. Turns out that it's not a documentary so much as an examination of the art of the single-panel comic, with thoughts and insights provided by David Mankoff, the editor, and many of the artists who contribute. Fun, thoughtful stuff, lots of New York images and the kind of humor that has always appealed to me. I found myself thinking about the New York Times documentary, Page One, that ran at SIFF back in 2011. Though they are very different films in focus and sensibility, yet they share that ineffable New York-ness that makes them both of a piece in some way. Good movie, well worth seeing.
Books
Finished reading Mary Robinette Kowal's "Of Noble Family" this weekend--one gets a lot of reading done waiting in line at SIFF. The fifth and final book in her Glamourist Histories series, it takes our heroine Jane and her husband Vincent to Antigua to get Vincent's late father's estate in order. They are not prepared for what they encounter--which includes a legacy of slavery, the fallout of abuse, and Jane's welcome but awkwardly-timed pregnancy. It is by far the darkest of the books in the series, but it nevertheless still brings some of the fun and interest that Mary always brings to her storytelling. I found it a satisfying conclusion to the cycle and enjoyed it quite a bit.
Started reading "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi. Breezy and fairly lightweight, as Scalzi's work tends to be, it's science fiction of the Old Skool: colonial armed forces off to make the universe a safer place for humanity--but with a twist. As ever, Scalzi's narrative voice is strong and appealing, and I'm enjoying the reading. While I understand that the Sad/Rabid Puppy crowd dislike Scalzi for his politics, I don't think they understand what they're missing by not reading his fiction. It's exactly the sort of thing they claim to prefer. But I think there's as much professional jealousy in their expressed hatred--especially given his new book deal--as there is political difference. Their loss. Scalzi's work is fast and fun, and I'm enjoying this one.
Saturday morning: The Primary Instinct had its world premier at SIFF. It's actor Stephen Tobolowsky's concert film. Tobolowsky--whom you may know as Ned Ryerson in "Groundhog Day" or Sandy Ryerson (distant cousin?) in "Glee" or any one of a number of character roles--is a terrific storyteller, and this movie is a record of a show he did in Seattle last year, telling the stories that have made his podcast "The Tobolowsky Files" (which I highly recommend) so popular. This guy tells a story like nobody's business. He's engaging and insightful. The monologue he offers here has, at its core, the question of what we seek as human beings--what's our primary instinct, but he starts by asking the question "What is a story?" It's great question for an actor or a writer--or a human. And he riffs on it from there, telling story after story to get to his main point, offering thoughtful commentary and laughter along the way. This was a terrific hour-and-a-half, and the Q&A with Tobolowsky and David Chen, the film's director, afterward was very good indeed. I recommend both the movie and the podcast. Possibly my best experience of the festival so far.
Sunday afteroon: I thought, for some reason, that Paper Planes was a documentary, not a fiction movie. Turns out it was the latter, an Australian film for families about a boy who enters an international paper plane folding contest. It was actually quite a sweet thing--not what I was expecting but, as the description on the SIFF site says, a crowd pleaser and a pleasant first film of two for the day.
Later Sunday afternoon: Admission: I don't really read The New Yorker; I read it occasionally, in bits and pieces. But I always look at the cartoons. So when I saw that Very Semi-Serious, a documentary about The New Yorker, its cartoon editor and its cartoonists, was going to be at SIFF, I didn't have to think twice. Turns out that it's not a documentary so much as an examination of the art of the single-panel comic, with thoughts and insights provided by David Mankoff, the editor, and many of the artists who contribute. Fun, thoughtful stuff, lots of New York images and the kind of humor that has always appealed to me. I found myself thinking about the New York Times documentary, Page One, that ran at SIFF back in 2011. Though they are very different films in focus and sensibility, yet they share that ineffable New York-ness that makes them both of a piece in some way. Good movie, well worth seeing.
Books
Finished reading Mary Robinette Kowal's "Of Noble Family" this weekend--one gets a lot of reading done waiting in line at SIFF. The fifth and final book in her Glamourist Histories series, it takes our heroine Jane and her husband Vincent to Antigua to get Vincent's late father's estate in order. They are not prepared for what they encounter--which includes a legacy of slavery, the fallout of abuse, and Jane's welcome but awkwardly-timed pregnancy. It is by far the darkest of the books in the series, but it nevertheless still brings some of the fun and interest that Mary always brings to her storytelling. I found it a satisfying conclusion to the cycle and enjoyed it quite a bit.
Started reading "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi. Breezy and fairly lightweight, as Scalzi's work tends to be, it's science fiction of the Old Skool: colonial armed forces off to make the universe a safer place for humanity--but with a twist. As ever, Scalzi's narrative voice is strong and appealing, and I'm enjoying the reading. While I understand that the Sad/Rabid Puppy crowd dislike Scalzi for his politics, I don't think they understand what they're missing by not reading his fiction. It's exactly the sort of thing they claim to prefer. But I think there's as much professional jealousy in their expressed hatred--especially given his new book deal--as there is political difference. Their loss. Scalzi's work is fast and fun, and I'm enjoying this one.