Hello everyone,
We're back! After 22 days of inactivity on this blog, we're returning to posting regularly now. The hiatus kind of just grew from a week to two and then Charlie and I just gave in and put the blog in the back of our minds. All we can say is we're really sorry for such a long hiatus, at least we're not that big of a blog that we caused an integer overflow right? So what exactly have we been doing? The real answer is nothing really, after all that's what summer is for.
To all the readers that actually missed our long-winded posts, you may indulge yourself in our detailing of the exact kind of nothing-ness below. Anyways it's good to be back.
Charlie:
My summer so far can be summed up in three words; movies, medium format, and music. Yeah those are some of the reasons why I haven't been really writing here. Unlike, Anne, I don't have a part time job to keep me busy and I haven't been attending summer shows. I've just been keeping my summer occupied by watching endless movies. I'm not talking about your usual summer blockbusters that includes transforming robots and what not, more like foreign films.
If you know me well, you know I like my foreign films, from French, Spanish, and now Japanese and Cantonese, I just love them. For the past couple of months, friends and pen pals have recommended several of their favourite Japanese and Cantonese films, old and new. I really enjoyed all of them so I'm going to share them with you guys and recommend you add them to your netflix queue. :)
Kamome Shokudo (2006) (Japanese/Finnish w/ English Subtitles)
It's a lighthearted Japanese comedy about a young Japanese woman, Sachie, who moves from Japan to Finland to start her own Japanese diner. The diner doesn't do so good in the beginning until she gets her first customer, a Finnish manga fan (Tommi) who eventually befriends Sachie. Soon after that, Sachie meets two new Japanese women who just arrived in Finland and have their own reasons for being there. They eventually start working at the diner which slowly starts aquiring customers later in the film. Not a lot of people like this movie because they think it's a little slow and nothing much happens, but I really enjoyed it because of the relationships that developed throughout the course of the film. It's a laid back film that'll be perfect for a nice and lazy sunday afternoon.
Days of Being Wild (1991), In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004) (Cantonese, Mandarin w/ English Subtitles)
Probably my most favourite trilogy ever! These three movies are an informal trilogy from one of the best directors ever, Wong Kar-wai. Informal trilogy meaning they weren't really marketed as a trilogy, the three stories just all go together. I won't even dare try to summarize each film because that will probably take up 2 or 3 posts because of the number of characters involved in all 3 films and its very intricate plot. What got me into these movies in the first place was the movie 2046, which came out a couple of years ago. A lot of people suggested I should watch Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love first before seeing 2046 or else I won't understand and enjoy it. Boy, were they right, I downright understood what was going on in 2046 because I was so familiar with the characters that were already introduced in In the Mood for Love. I just have to say, Wong Kar-wai's films are just beautiful, each scene is a beautiful photograph and puts him up there in the ranks of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.
When I'm not at home watching movies, I'm out with my cameras doing what else, taking fotos of course. But while the masses are enjoying the digital world, I'm slowly leaving it and moving to medium format photography. I've fallen in love with the feeling and atmosphere of 120 film and I just wanna keep using it. Added to my arsenal is my unpredictable but dependable Holga, and a recently purchased Seagull 4A TLR. Shooting medium format is fun and just rewarding, but it can get expensive, with the rolls of 120 and processing that's only available at some pro photography shops, not your local drug store. Here are some medium format shots I've shot with my holga, I don't have any TLR shots yet cause I just got the camera, so once I finish the roll of slide film I'm using right now, definitely expect them on the photoblog.
As for music, I've been listening to a lot of Basia Bulat, this lovely Canadian singer-songwriter from Ontario. She has one of the loveliest voices I've ever heard, she might be new but I rank her voice up there with the big guns such as Chan Marshall, Feist, and Regina Spektor. I've also been listening to 8mm sky, a post indie band from Taiwan that Anne introduced briefly here on Camera Crowd last January. They're a perfect nightly reading companion and they usually keep me company whenever I'm out shooting fotos. I won't go into much details about these two and other artists I've been listening to because I'm planning to write about them more later on.
Links:
» Kamone Shokudo
» Days of Being Wild
» In the Mood for Love
» 2046
Other recommended movies...
» Paris Je T'aime
» Chungking Express
Music...
» Basia Bulat
» 8mm sky
Photography...
» What is medium format?
Downloads + Purchase:
Snakes and Ladders | Basia Bulat
Finders Keepers | 8mm sky
Anne:
It's so strange how fast summer goes by, even though I haven't been doing much. It's pretty hot and humid down here so no one really ventures out of the house except to run into somewhere else with a working AC. These days I can be found straightening racks, doing go-backs, rushing around in the fitting room, folding and picking up hangers on the floor at a huge clothing store in the Willowbrook Mall wearing a perfected customer-friendly expression amidst all-out chaos. On the better days or rather nights, I'm witnessing fantastic shows, Menomena at the beginning of summer, catching Voxtrot, Brazos and Tacks, the Boy Disaster all in one fell swoop at the Proletariat and St. Vincent with Scout Niblett at good old Walter's two weeks ago.
And for the rest of the days in between I've been watching Seinfeld, I can't resist a good rerun. There was also my long term project of re-reading the Harry Potter series before the seventh book came out, which I managed too quickly and left myself open to restlessness a full week before the release date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Then when it finally came out at midnight, I took the chance to further my already ruined sleeping habits...and finished it without so much of a pause or breath till 3pm later that afternoon. Brilliant, that's all have to say!
I also took a vacation from reading music blogs and keeping up with all the "buzz bands", though I still read Pitchfork's news feeds, skimming the headlines for my favorite artists. What hasn't left my stereo is Feist's latest full-length, The Reminder, it's perfect to wake up to and end the day with. I sometimes practice sketching and drink coffee, but mostly it's work work work and a quick game of solitaire or two on the computer.
Anyways, photography-wise I haven't been shooting much other than live shows and until then with exception to the possibility of August 11th, you won't see any photos till August 23rd. So here are some photos I shot at the St. Vincent show at Walter's on Washington. Her debut album, "Marry Me" is breathtakingly beautiful and it's as edgy as it's pretty.
Anyways, till next time!
Songs I've got on repeat:
Brandy Alexander | Feist
The Start of Something (100dBs + Brennoir Remix) | Voxtrot
End Scene Fade (Daytrotter Session)| Sparrow House
Love, Camera Crowd
(Charlie and Anne)
