Springtime Budding

A new year, a new day

Not quite yet a brand new me

But can you hear the beating of my heart?

The adrenaline coursing through my blood?

I'm bursting to be a better me

Living in reality, dreaming of possibilities

Not quite yet ordinarily extraordinary

But can you see the lines blurring?

The colors spilling into each other?

Someday soon it's where I'll be

One day soon, I'll be a better me

SDAFF 2010: Fin

I’m so exhausted. Let’s take a nap.
Closing night went well. I got there and made my rounds and hung out for a bit before getting ready for the silent auction and reception at All American Grill. We got there around 7:30ish and started setting up the silent auction space, rearranging the tables and what not. “Make it sexy!”And sexy it was. We auctioned off quite a few DVDs, restaurant certificates, wine, PATRON, zoo tickets, Daniel Dae Kim autographed photo and LOST dvd, autographed photo of Harry Shum and a few other hot items. We also picked the winner of the Harrah’s Rincon Audience Award Raffle – Amelita Badua. Woo! Congratulations! Home Grown Blends was spinning the night away and it was a good night.
If you purchased something from either the opening or closing night auctions and have not picked up your item(s), we’ll be in touch with you.
All right friends. We’ll see you around!

SDAFF 2010: Blurring Reality

Tonight was a full house. Every screening in every theater was packed. And it’s Wednesday. What a crazy night. ANIMATION: ILLUSION OF LIFE was awesome. SDAFF is the only festival in San Diego that is screening stuff in 1080p HD. I honestly couldn’t tell you what that means other than it’s 1080 pixels in high definition, but I can tell you that it looks freakin’ AMAZING! Seriously, the program was SO vibrant and crisp, I had to remind myself to blink. And even though the program sort of froze up near the end, I didn’t even care. I was completely blown away by the graphics of the still picture it was frozen on. I really looked at everything and was like, WOW. You really appreciate the animation so much more when you see it as a still.
MEI LING looked so kick ass. I had originally watched it on my laptop, which is 3 years old and NOT HD, so when I saw it on the big screen, there was so much more I noticed and really appreciated. It definitely added a lot more depth for me because I saw a lot of details I missed the first time.
THE WONDER HOSPITAL was such a trip, especially the ending with the mirror. So crazy. I love how there were so many allusions to classical works like THE WIZARD OF OZ (the yellow brick road and the red shoes) and ALICE IN WONDERLAND (the white rabbit). Such a trip. I don’t know much about the technicalities of the film, but for all the layers of symbolisms, allusions, and themes, it’s not hard to see why this took the Jury’s award for Best Animation. Such a trip.
MOM was an absolute delight—the graphics, the sharpness of the picture, so amazing!!! I cannot believe or begin to describe to you the awesomeness of the visual appeal. Best eye candy ever!
AMAZONIA was super pretty, especially with all that color and how bright the whole film was. I’m so glad we screened this program in HD. You have no idea.
I also enjoyed RIVER IN HEAVEN, especially the style of the artwork. And I liked that the boy’s stuffed animal was a rabbit and not a bear. I think it added a little flair to the overall story.
ODE TO A POST-IT NOTE was so cute. Loved it.
Ugh, this program was so freaking AMAZING! Go see it during it’s encore screening tomorrow at 4:30pm. Get your ticket ASAP and get there early! It’s so worth it.
When I got home tonight, I was looking at my name tag and for the first time realized my name was spelled wrong! Someone completely changed my identity! Why would anyone do that? On my SDAFF badge? Geez. No wonder this reality feels so different!

SDAFF 2010: Love Films

OMG, loved, loved, loved THE TAQWACORES. I especially loved the character with the mohawk. I think it’s because he showed the most growth as a character and really got outside of his comfort zone while most of the other characters didn’t grow as much. And while Yusef did learn to be more open minded, I felt that the character with the really tried to open his mind and grappled with his faith. Personally, I think he stole the show.
And then MACHO LIKE ME was so funny. Admittedly, it turned out to be a little more serious than I anticipated. It was sort of a documentary on how guys interact with each other and how guys suppress their feelings and emotions due to societal demands. I liked how it was took on such a serious topic but kept it funny and light and ended on a good note. I’m just bummed that I didn’t get to catch the Saturday screening with Q&A with Helie Lee. Ah well. Still a great film.
Tomorrow is the ANIMATION: ILLUSISON OF LIFE program and I’m pretty stoked about it =)
And Thursday will be closing night. Get ready for it! =D

SDAFF 2010: Sunday Wind Down

Ah. What a weekend. Finally decided to catch the interpretations panel and it was great. Loved the moderator, Phil of YOMYOMF. He was very candid about how he felt and revealed a little bit about what he did the night before. They showed us an exclusive video of CAR TALK WITH SUNG KANG. I gotta say, it’s pretty funny. Then they played a few of the sample shorts that were posted on the interpretations site. It was awesome seeing it on the big screen, not going to lie. Finally, they showed us the top five finalists and dude, they were awesome! I think my favorite one was SHINE.
Then the directors and some of the INTERPRETATIONS people came up for the Q&A which went quite fabulously. My favorite question was about the budget the filmmakers were working with. Danny Pudi’s answer was awesome, but I think the director of BOTTLED UP takes the cake.
Afterwards, stopped by the Toyota booth to chat with the homies April and Pamela. Then headed over to Maria Maria’s for dinner with friends. Good times, good food and since we had an all fest pass, we scored a discount. Woo!
Then we headed back to the theater and while they went in to see IP MAN 2, I hung out for a bit before catching THE PHOTOGRAPH. It was pretty good. I loved the part where Mr. Johan said we choose which truths and lies to display in a photograph. I thought that was particularly touching and very applicable to the things going on in my life.
Tomorrow, I think I will try something new and watch THE TAQWACORES before catching MACHO LIKE ME. I’m super stoked!

SDAFF 2010: Panels vs Films

Working the gala last night was kind of nuts, not going to lie. Lee joked that with all the running around I was doing, I would earn my hiking badge tonight. But it was all good. Ran into Paul Dateh during rehearsal and got to say hi and catch up for a sec before I had to go. It was such a pleasant surprise seeing him again. I’m just kind of bummed I didn’t get to watch him perform. But while I didn’t really get to sit down and actually watch the gala, everything went very smoothly.
At the conclusion of the gala, one of our attendees sat down at the piano and started playing all kinds of jams and it was epic. People were jumping in and singing along. LOVED it.
And while I was planning on going to Blowfish, I didn’t quite make it from the ballroom to the outdoor pavilion. A group of us just spontaneously started talking about how the gala went and how the festival is going and how it compares to previous years. And we even got into tossing ideas around about how to move forward with the foundation, working with new programs and improving current ones. By the time we realized how late it was, Blowfish had already concluded and we were so exhausted from such a long day that we called it quits and went home. Sleep and vitamin C are currently my best friends.
Today, I have to give a very special thank you to Jimmy Lee, our community outreach liaison and overall awesome guy for staying up all hours of the night to work on our back up plans to the technical/equipment difficulties. You rock!
Today will be primarily a panel and film day. I’m so torn between the INTERPRETATIONS screening/panel and seeing FINDING FACE. Gah, decisions, decisions!

SDAFF 2010: Don’t this ish make a ninja wanna jump jump?!

Oh man, another crazy night at SDAFF. NINJA, ARE YOU CRAZY?! was a hit. If you missed it, you can catch it tomorrow (Sun, Oct 24 at 12:30pm). Got to catch up with some friends I haven’t seen in a while after the movie was over. And I got to kick it with some filmmakers for a bit before we headed out to Thin Bar/Onyx. That dj last night was HOTTTTTT. I approve his (or was it a her?) song choices. Definitely a good playlist to shake off the stress, but now I have Busta Rhymes’ Pass the Courvoisier (pt 2) stuck in my head. Ah well. Good times regardless. And Toyota had this flipbook making booth—coolest thing ever! You and your friends would stand in front of this blank screen and I guess they would take this speed-shutter camera and take a bunch of pictures as you do some stuff (like have a mini fight scene) and they would print all the pictures they took and collated it together to make a flip book. IN COLOR! Can I just say, that is freakin’ awesome?
Afterwards, I met one of our board members, Jeet. This guy is OG. Started volunteering for SDAFF back in 01 and after a hiatus, he’s back as a board member. Can I just say, that is some real SDAFF love. Then we kicked it at the hotel for a bit. Hung out with some more filmmakers, John and Phil, and CS Lee and they’re pretty down to earth guys. Really funny too.
Ok, I have to make a few shout outs and announcements.
Much love to our patrons for being so patient with us. We’ve been using some very new and some very old technology/equipment and are experiencing some problems. We hope you understand that this has never happened before in SDAFF history and we’re doing everything we can to make your festival experience better and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Happy Birthday to Edward, one of our facilities coordinators!
Big, big, big thank you to our drivers last night. You are very appreciated!
Phil papi, we love you and we miss you. Please get better soon. SDAFF is not the same without you =(
Tonight, head on over to the Mission Valley Marriott for an evening of sights and sounds at our Blowfish Music Party. It’s a free event, presented by Toyota and Verizon and DJ ICEY ICE will be spinning. Woot.