Monday night of local artists

Last night was a night celebrating local queer artists (or at least, locally-made queer films).  First up was the Queer History Project last series, Riffs on the Theme of Activism, which consisted of 5 short films all dealing with activism in one way or another.  Some were more enjoyable than others, but I don’t feel I should review them because they’re my fellow filmmakers and it makes me a little uncomfortable to be criticising their work.  I will say that the audience seemed even friendlier than usual, probably because it was local filmmakers, which was really cool.

Next up was the Coast is Queer Program, and man, I was excited.  It was the world premier of my short film, Stay — how could I not be?  I was told from friends that the tickets had been sold out online since the weekend and that there were either little or no tickets left at the doors.  I had no idea people wanted to see these films so badly!  I thought that was really cool.  Really cool.

Again, I don’t feel I should review the shorts in the program but that I enjoyed and understood pretty much all the films, which I didn’t last year.  I will say that my favourites in the program were my good friend lisa g’s Sleep Tight, about her and her girlfriend’s fight with bedbugs, Cal Garingan’s well-made (there was obviously a budget!) and humorous Waiting 4 Goliath (which everyone seemed to like), the delightfully funny Ms. Thing, by Karen X. Tulchinsky, and I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy The Heist, a dance video with an actual plot.  Congrats to all the filmmakers and writers and everyone who helped make these great films.

I also just wanted to say that the one person I really wanted to come last night to see the film didn’t make it, and I was kinda disappointed.  Sure, I have it on DVD and I could always show it to him after but I was sort of counting on last night to really make a difference.  Maybe I think the big-screen is more influential than a tv set, or maybe it’s the large audience, and it’s not his fault he couldn’t get in when all the tickets were sold out, but… I guess I just thought it was the night, you know?  I keep thinking about last night, and how it might’ve changed things if I had given the extra ticket to him instead of my sister, or if I had bought a ticket for him in advance and left it at Will Call so he could get in… what would’ve happened?  I know it’s probably useless to dwell on this since obviously I can’t do anything about it, but I can’t help it.  It’s just what I do.  I have to keep reminding myself that yeah, he wasn’t there, but I met this super awesome guy at the afterparty who I may not have met otherwise and that has to count for something, right?

Well, I’m going to see a couple movies tonight with mon ami that I met just last night and more reviews will be coming!

10 Defining Moments of My Life (so far) — #7: Music

7.  I had managed to snag my friend to come along with me to this coffee shop in Burnaby I had never been to.  I phoned earlier to ask about signup times and was told that it started at 8:00.  We both got there at around 7:30, in awe of the small setting and the music equipment on stage.  My friend saw this chalkboard of times and told me to sign up for a time.  I wrote my name down for 8:20, the first act after the host played at 8:00.  The waiting and anticipation was incredibly hard to handle.  My friend was extremely nervous, for both of us, as we didn’t know what would happen.  Finally, when my time rolled around, I was called to the stage.  Because the café already had a piano there, and most people that performed were guitarists, the host asked me, “Are you doing spoken word?” to which I shook my head and pointed to the wooden piano.  After I played my 20 minutes, I received positive comments by a few audience members and I was filled with such humility and I genuinely felt like a real musician, despite always being told from my family that I sucked at everything.

Tag

Related to my last entry about being alone.

Tag

Let’s play a little game
Where every outcomes the same.
Ill be the one
While everyone runs.

And every soul at my touch
Friends and strangers as such
Flee while they can
Leaving with another in hand

Chorus:
Cause they all find each other
As I grasp for a dangling/strangling hope
Reach out with every ounce in my body,
And pray they wont go/say no.
But why complicate things?
I know the road is always done/Knots always come undone.
Footsteps fading into the gray,
As I wait for the next one.

Let’s play the game, let’s play the game, let’s play the game… X2

As new players join the round,
And others leave for good,
I keep using the same play
More than I ever should.

But when the time is up,
And they all head home,
Im on the field with nos at my feet
Just as the rules say, alone.

Chorus

One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do,
Yes, it’s the saddest number that you’ll ever know.

Let’s play the game, let’s play the game, let’s play the game… X2
It’s just a game, it’s just a game, it’s just a game… X2

Chorus

Let’s play a little game
Where every outcomes the same