Mon 7 Sep 2009
Tonight I got to go to the super swanky Canary Wharf Film Festival Golden Canary Awards! Here’s a quite look at the event:
Sat 22 Aug 2009
A friend of mine said yesterday, “Meaghan, you’re a smart girl but sometimes you do some very strange* things.”
This was in response to my announcement of weekend plans which include possibly the “strangest” choice of activity to date. Yes, today, as of 11:59pm, I will be sitting in the London BFI IMAX theatre, settling in with a couple of friends to watch approximately 10 hours of video footage, namely the three Lord of the Rings films back to back.
I went through a fairly intense stage of Tolkien fandom around the time the trilogy was released the first time in theatres and I have many fond memories of large groups of high school girls camping out at the Shoreline Centruy theatre in Mountain View California for midnight showings of the fantasy flicks. In a rather spontaneous burst of nostalgia, when I saw the BFI offering about two months ago, I thought ‘why not?’, got some friends on board and booked tickets.
Now, a number of weeks later, I’m beginning to question my rash decision to dive into the most epic of movie all-nighters imaginable. But regardless of whether I end up sleeping through the stories or coming out the other side a gibbiling mess speaking half in Elvish and half asleep, I’m quite looking forward to tomorrow morning, stepping out of the Southbank theatre to an all but empty Thames Walk and still being here in London on my own adventure. And possibly grabbing some elevensies.
*Chances are high that this was a quick edit from the preferred adjective “stupid.”
Thu 16 Jul 2009
Busy week, late night but just a quick note to say I just saw the new Harry Potter film and will be providing a full recap soon. One exciting parting thought - I recognised at least ten places I had actually been in the UK during the film!
Thu 18 Jun 2009
It has been an exceptionally busy week, so busy in fact that I had to regretfully skip a night of free drinks, networking and the lovely people of the London tech scene yesterday to attempt to squeeze in a few extra hours of sleep. Tonight I’m off to Taste of London in Regents Park – an opportunity to sample foods from some of London’s top restaurants – and tomorrow it’s a fancy dress club night with a whole lotta blues, jazz and sultry sound called Voodoo Hoodoo.
In the meantime, I took an (abysmally poor quality because I moved too fast) video from the building where MoMo London was hosted – we were 10 stories above ground, directly overlooking the Tate Modern (the giant brick chimney attached to the large blocky building). Behind the Tate you can just make out St. Paul’s dome, the river and the financial district. If the view doesn’t make you ill, I hope this gives a bit of a taste of the view of London from above.
Mon 11 May 2009
International Buddhist Film Festival at the Barbican Pit Theatre
Posted by Meaghan under Tea[3] Comments
Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend the Opening Night Gala of the International Buddhist Film Festival at the Barbican Centre here in London. Now, I like Buddhism. I’m pretty sure in a past like I was a fairly devout Buddhist in fact. I’ve come to this conclusion for a number of reasons. Primarily my life at the moment is so awesome that I probably did pretty well karma-wise in a past life but also because Buddhism has always held a fascination for me, ever since my 10th grade religion project in which I annoyingly got stuck with Hinduism when I made it very clear I wanted to be in the Buddhist group (although admittedly Hinduism was quite interesting as well). In both my Japanese and East Asian art history classes, Budhhism formed a fairly central pillar for the art and culture we studied. In short, Buddhism is pretty darn awesome. Besides, who can argue with a belief system that basically says “be nice to people, not because something awful will happen if you don’t but because better things will happen if you do.”
In any case, the International Buddhism Film Festival selects a series of films with various levels of direct Buddhist influence from documentaries of the sky burials of Tibetan monks and dramatisations of the life of Siddartha to modern film like Donnie Darko and Stay which have underlying themes in tune with Buddhist believes.
On the opening night, I had a chance to see a 1925 silent film Prem Sanyas (The Light of Asia) and you can read my full review on Spoonfed – here is an excerpt:
There is no denying the stunning beauty, scope and power of the film, however, and I am lured into an almost meditative state by the sepia images, ornate sets and costumes and classic story of Siddhartha who became the Buddha. I am surprised when the end credits appear, having been drawn entirely into this masterpiece of classic silent film.
For me, the one element I think is missing from this festival is a series of optional post-film discussions with someone who can describe and lead a debate on the Buddhist films in the series. I’ll accept that Donnie Darko include Buddhist themes but I’d much rather be able to discuss that after seeing the film with others knowledgeable on the subject.
But perhaps that would be a little more academic than most involved in the festival mean to make it. At the end of the day, some private meditation on Buddhist themes and their place in films – modern or classic – is probably exactly what they meant to create anyway.
The International Buddhist Film Festival is at The Barbican from 7th-17th May, 2009
For more information, visit the Barbican’s IBFF website
Or the Festival’s official site.
Sun 8 Feb 2009
This past weekend I had a chance to see the new Tim Burton film Coraline in theatres. The ticket for the movie, made in the increasingly popular 3D, came along with my very own set of 3D glasses and I must say they were definitely a step from the paper eyewear we had picked up for the Superbowl.
The movie was really fantastic, although what else might you expect from the amazing Tim Burton working in collaboration with one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman who wrote the original novella Coraline. It definitely contained the right amount of creepy to be thoroughly enjoyable but much more fun than your typical run-of-the-mill horror story. Of course it also helped a wimp like me that it was made for kids.
What I find interesting is the new excitement surrounding 3D movies and television programs. The recent NBC Superbowl ad and 3D episode of the TV show Chuck may have introduced a lot more people to 3D entertainment, but the popularity of the medium has been growing for a while. I remember seeing my first 3D film at Disney World almost a decade ago.
And now it’s the ‘it thing.’ After the Superbowl ad and Chuck, there’s Coraline as well as the upcoming Aliens Vs. Monsters by Dreamworks and a new addition to the Ice Age series that will also be released in 3D later this year.
As with all new technology, but especially in entertainment, there will most likely be a ramp up time when the novelty is exciting enough to encourage others to mimic the style but not common enough to know whether or not it will be successful throughout the market. The one major drawback of 3D entertainment is the required glasses – which may be uncomfortable, a poor fit or difficult to use over other eyewear but without which the screen is blurry and the experience is ruined. HD television may have experienced a similar phase, during which television networks attempted to add their own HD programming but only a small portion of the population had HDTV sets. With the new television broadcast laws, HDTV is now the norm rather than the exception but there won’t be any similar breaks for 3D entertainment.
Will the new 3D movies and shows be interesting enough to engage the whole market? Will the novelty hold the public despite the silly glasses? Will we someday carry 3D glasses in our cars and bags for movies out, lose them as easily as the remote in our living rooms and expect to have them provided during teen slumber parties? It seems unlikely but perhaps the beginning of the 3D revolution will bring additional entertainment technology that we can’t even imagine.
Sun 5 Oct 2008
I have a pretty soft spot for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I read it, of course, for enjoyment when I was young; I read it academically in a Victorian literature class; and I based my novel for my novel-writing course at uni on the original plot, creating a modern re-imagining of Alice set in the internet age (don’t expect to see it on bookshelves any time soon - it’s only half finished and I’m not sure when I’m going to get back to it).
I also really like Tim Burton. I think this started when my sister, and some ridiculously young age, decided that The Nightmare before Christmas was her favourite movie and deserved to be watched every single day for three months. His newer films are pretty awesome too.
So imagine how excited I am to hear that Tim Burton is filming a live version of Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter. They’ve just started filming here in the UK (I missed the extras casting call by a few weeks which would have been fun!) and there have already been some leaked pictures of Mia Wasikowska, the actress playing Alice:
Although certain die-hard fans of the original are already nervously speculating about why Alice seems to be on a boat (a scene not taken from the text), I’m pretty excited to see how this turns out. As someone who has already subjected Carroll’s classic text to a modern reworking (and with no where near the skill or creativity that Burton is sure to manage) I’m just excited to see another take on one of my favourite stories.
Alice is set to be released in March of 2010, and the cast is also set to include Michael Sheen and Matt Lucas. Helena Bonham Carter has also been seen around the set and is rumoured to be playing a role as well.
Want to take a look at more upcoming movies? Check out the heavy hitters of the British Film Festival to see what else is hot right now including (god save us) Hamlet 2.
