Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Beaches and Film Festival
Yesterday I walked to St. Kilda and St. Clair Beach with Gavin. It was about 40 minutes from the Octagon. They are really the same beach but for some reason have different names. It was raining but it was beautiful. The poles at St. Clair really do look quite cool. There was also a signpost reminding me how utterly far from home I really am. Gavin needed to be back at the Octagon at 4 to meet Amy for a Film Festival movie. I waited with him until she showed up (which wasn't long) and then they talked me into seeing Man On Wire with them (it wasn't hard, I was sort of interested anyway). I got the 5 movie festival pass for $50 which will save me maybe $5 in the end. Any money is good money! The movie was most excellent. It was a documentary about a Frenchman who wirewalked between the Twin Towers during the '70s. After that, I walked home to cook dinner. Amy and Gavin went to a kebab place but I felt I should stay in for dinner. I made pesto pasta (delicious!) and Amy's friend Michelle (she's also Ashleigh's flatmate) texted me about seeing a film festival movie at 8. It felt at first a little overwhelming to see two movies in one day, but I realized I had already paid and had an hour to work on my Māori Society essay. So, I went and saw A Complete History of My Sexual Failures with Michelle and her friend Laura. It was also extremely good. I walked probably around 15 km in that day, and got a blister, but it was worth it.
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Extra stuff on this: "I walked approximately 15 km today, mostly in the rain, and got a blister. le sigh. It was so worth it though. First, I walked to the beach with Gavin. That's about 6 km each way. The weather was alright at first then it started raining. We got to St. Kilda beach and there was 'no beach access' but they didn't do a good job keeping us out (you could easily walk around the sign or step over the 2 foot fence). We walked down the beach to the part that's called St. Clair beach (it's really all the same beach, clearly, but I guess the different names are for the different access spots). There are cool poles on that side, and a hot salt water pool which was not open. And the beach access there was open (so really, what's the point of closing the beach further down?). We then walked back, walking by a high school letting out kids on the way. Gavin was meeting a mutual friend of ours, Amy, at the Octagon to see the film Man On Wire. I wanted to get some essay done, but I figured "what the hell" and so I went. I got the 5 movie pass for the film festival, because there were at least 5 films I wanted to see. Man On Wire was about a French guy who wirewalked between the Twin Towers in the ‘70s. It was an amazing documentary – it explored the reasons the guy wanted to do this, what he had done leading up to it (Notre Dame and Sydney Harbour Bridge), and his relationships with his girlfriend and his friends and how they changed as time went on. He saw that the Twin Towers were ‘going to be built at some time’ when he was 17, and it was his life’s dream to walk on a wire between them. The movie was beautiful, funny (he got arrested each of these times and it was kind of hilarious – like the police report for his Twin Towers request said “Description of Complaint – MAN ON WIRE”), and extremely interesting. I am really glad I saw it. It is an EXCELLENT documentary."
And: "So then I walked back to my flat and made myself dinner (Amy and Gavin went out but I felt I shouldn’t since I went to the supermarket yesterday). Amy’s friend Michelle texted me because I had said I was interested in seeing “A Complete History of My Sexual Failures” and I was kind of like ‘hmm… should I?’ and then I did. I still had an hour before that and I got 2 paragraphs done on my essay! It’s now 273 words and just over one page. I still have things to say, so that’s good! It isn’t due until Friday but I had just wanted to get it done… oh well. So I went back to the Regent Theatre with Michelle and her friend Laura from Vancouver. This was another EXCELLENT documentary. It was about this guy who attempted to interview all his exes (he had a lot) who had all dumped him. The first part of the movie is just all his exes rejecting his request, until he gets his mom involved and a couple say yes to his mom. So he interviews a few, learns a few things about himself (one ex tells him he needs professional help) then he concludes he attracts crazy women. Then he goes on some dates with new girls he meets on Myspace, and gets one back to his flat but can’t get it up. Then he realizes he has a problem since this has happened for 3 years… and tries to fix it through various methods. Notable ones include going to a dominatrix, where we see him get penis-whipped (OWWW). Yes, there’s nudity! He gets in touch with his longest-term ex (they went out for 4+ years and were engaged) and finds out she’s pregnant and doesn’t take it too well and decides to try Viagra. He takes 7 or 8, and runs drunkenly around the streets trying to find someone to have sex with. He meets actually a decent girl but she is busy. He eventually realizes he’s not over that one ex, and that is his problem, and he finally goes to interview her. He realizes what he really wanted out of this project was to get back with her, but of course she is starting a family with another man. The really sad part is she’s clearly not over him either. But then he gets in touch with the nice girl he met during the Viagra incident and starts dating her. When the film came out at Sundance it seems he was still with her. It was extraordinarily good: hilarious, endearing, a little sad, but happy at the end. I don’t know if there’s anyway you could watch it but you should (now that I’ve told you everything… oops, oh well, it’s not like it has twists).
I just got back from that. It was cool, I met new people and saw a great movie. I had met Michelle once before, my first day in Dunedin, but didn’t remember that for a little bit."
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