Entries from December 2005 ↓

I failed at posting photos! I sure got a lot of work done today, though. That is a good thing. I want to start 2006 completely bored at work, so all the work must get done this week.

P.S. Not all of South Dakota’s squirrels are roly-poly — just the ones around my parents’ house. Those little red bundles of cute found my dad’s stash of corn (which is intended for them, anyway). I am in love with cute, furry animals today!

Ah, time to go home.

I went to visit Janet this morning. She’s leaving for the airport (to fly to New Zealand for her annual month-long trip) in approximately an hour. Harley, of course, ran away. I think there was too much hustle and bustle around the house and all he could do was hide from me! Dot was out and about, though. She followed us around the house and started rolling around, just waiting and begging for attention. What a cute little cat. She’s all roly-poly like the South Dakota squirrels! I will enjoy having some kitties lay all over me tonight as I try to sleep and probably fail.

So, tonight I begin the cat-/house-sitting gig. Janet returns to Minneapolis the night of January 26th, which means I’ll be returning my parents’ car (which they loaned to me for the purpose of getting between home and the cat-house with ease) the weekend of the 28th and probably witness midgets wrestling for the second time. It’s becoming an annual event in my life, I guess.

Oh, I have work to do. Hopefully this afternoon I’ll get to loading the photos from last night. But I’m not promising.

Barry and Jen are singing the rudest karaoke song ever: Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

So I took 252 photos at the annual Christmas at the Fort event last Thursday. I’m too lazy and distracted to fix it all up pretty for you. I’m thinking about an easier way. But I think it may be the great photo project of 2006. So they’ll come eventually.

If you’re on Facebook, friend me! and you can view about half of the photos there.

Otherwise, I’m out the door now to sing some karaoke with Linsay and Jen and Barry at Pepito’s. I hope I don’t get lost! And I hope I don’t get bad karaoke karma for singing somewhere other than Legend’s.

I will be workin’ it at the Bell Museum this Saturday — New Year’s Eve! I hope to see you there.

Bash at the Bell: New Scores for New Year’s

Following last year’s unforgettable performances by Spaghetti Western and Dosh, Minnesota Film Arts (MFA), the Bell Museum of Natural History, and The Whole Music Club will ring in the New Year on December 31st with the second annual BASH AT THE BELL: NEW SCORES FOR NEW YEAR’S. This year, MFA unearths the 1960 Japanese near silent film The Naked Island and F.W. Murnau’s Tabu, A Story of the South Seas and pairs them with original scores by local favorites the Fog and Traditional Methods.

Kaneto Shindo’s The Naked Island, a near silent film made in 1960, was shot on the virtually deserted Setonaikai archipelago in southwest Japan. The Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit, the only inhabitants of an arid, sun-baked island. Daily chores, captured as a series of cyclical events, result in a hypnotizing and beautiful film that harkens back to the silent era. The film’s stark cinematography will be accompanied by the minimalist soundscapes of Minneapolis’ The Fog. Combining dreamy suspended keyboard noises and sedately grooving acoustic guitar, the Fog’s sound will shed new light on this award-winning gem from one of Japan’s unknown masters.

Tabu, A Story of the South Seas brought F.W. Murnau and pioneering documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty together to create the last film of the silent era. Also Murnau’s last work, Tabu is a tale of forbidden love between a young native fisherman and an island maiden. Murnau suggested that the film was about the way men feel compelled to create tragedies when life goes too smoothly. Twin Cities beloved Hip-Hop group Traditional Methods will bring their raw and instinctive rhythms to this timeless classic of the silver screen.

Sound for the event will be provided by The Whole Music Club. A New Year’s Eve Bash hosted by the Bell Museum will follow in the museum’s historic diorama halls, with complimentary food and drink provided, plus music, and films from Minnesota Film Arts’ Search & Rescue archive.

Doors for the event open at 7pm with Tabu, A Story of the South Seas screening at 7:30pm and The Naked Island starting at 9:30pm. Tickets to the screening are $15 general / $12 MFA and Bell Museum members. The Bell Auditorium is the nation’s only dedicated year-round non-fiction film screen and is located at 10 Church Street SE in Minneapolis inside the Bell Museum of Natural History. More information can be found at www.mnfilmarts.org/bell or by calling 612.331.7563.