fantasia

That was kind of like finding a string quartet in the middle of a Metallica album. (Yes, I know.) After two days of gleeful carnage, sudden action, and low humor, Robot Stories came along and provided two hours of gently humanistic science fiction. There’s science fiction as the literature of ideas, in which the driving force is the concept; then there’s science fiction that uses the tropes of science fiction to tell stories that couldn’t exist in the world in which we live. Greg Pak’s movie is the latter. The best of the four independent segments is the last, “Clay,” which tells the story of a dying sculptor grappling with the possibility of uploading himself and finding immortality. It’s a common enough science fictional concept, but the segment is not about the implications of uploading — although Pak clearly understands them — it’s about the implications of the human decision to upload or not upload. ...

Tomorrow I begin the trek up to Montreal for FantAsia. I am so much looking forward to this I can’t even begin to explain. Sadly, I won’t make Porco Rosso, but Cutie Honey is an acceptable replacement. To do: Pack (clothing, toiletries) Update iPod, get rid of 9/11 speeches (good but they take up room), add Germany 70s electronica Charge camera battery Detach USB cell phone charger from keyboard, tuck into laptop bag ...

So that’s settled, then; my pal Chris and I are venturing up to the Great White North (in the form of Montreal) the last weekend of this month to partake in movies. My schedule is basically the same one I outlined earlier, plus Saving Private Tootsie (original). I chose Hillside Strangler and Into the Mirror over my alternative choices in the end. I have tickets and I have a hotel reservation. If anyone happens to be in Montreal that weekend, lemme know and we’ll have beer or coffee or something. My free time will be sparse for obvious reasons, but I imagine… maybe I should say “we’ll have popcorn.” ...

Of course, if I went to Fantasia for a weekend — say, July 30th through August 1st — I could still catch about a dozen movies and have a great time. Say… Hillside Strangler for weird American avant garde serial killer cinema (or Heaven’s Seven for the Thai take on Vietnam, it’s a hard choice). One Missed Call (original) cause who doesn’t love Takashi Miike? This looks like his take on Ringu. Deadly Outlaw Rekka (original). Two hours of Miike is good; four hours is superb! Um. Porco Rosso, Miyazaki, yes. Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace (original), for cheap laughs. Executioners From Shaolin (original), the classic Shaw Brothers movie. Enter… Zombie King! (original), cause masked wrestlers and zombies can’t be skipped. Toolbox Murders (original), because it’s the only thing in that time slot and I like to hurt myself. Malice@Doll (original) (or maybe Freak Out (original)) — ooo, wacky CGI anime! Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles (original), classic machinima, and I would love to see this on the big screen. Robot Stories (original) makes a nice contrast to the machinima. Into the Mirror (original) — Korean horror is not always good but so far in my experience it’s been interesting. The Bodyguard, cause I want to see more Thai martial arts action. ...

Turns out that I’m not, in fact, going to be able to develop a time machine and go back in time and clear off enough of my schedule to make it possible to go to Fantasia Festival 2004. Which is a damned shame. The only silver lining is that I won’t have to make any choices about which movie to see, this way. Pale lining indeed. Well, maybe next year I can arrange to take a month off.