This is the note I saw from someone whose bicycle was stolen last week in Vancouver. I did not know a simple sketch like this could convey so much emotion. The eyes were quivering and so much tears. Yes, losing a bicycle is painful. It is part of city life where people just steal.  Stealing seems to be  such an easy thing to do. Once you put away the moral aspect of it, I guess people can do this. It happens all over the world.

(more…)

I remember seeing the trailer of this film in San Francisco. I missed the screening of this film and it was not available on dvd then. I happened to pick it up from my library.

It is a cooking class with Zen priest and chef. This is a film about Zen chef Edward Espe Brown who has penned many Tassajara cookbooks. It is quite a fun film that talks about food as a way of life. There is a bit of zen advice too. He talks about how long it took him to finally understand the Buddhist ritual of offering food to Buddha, when you know for sure it is not going to be consumed. You make your effort and then you offer it. You say this is my offering and then you leave.

(more…)

(more…)

Ever wondered what happens after we decide a computer is no longer fashionable to own. At least some of them end up at FreeGeek, an ethical computer recycling center. If you live in selected places like Portland, Vancouver (Canada)  or a  few other cities in the US, you can see it for yourself.  It is a happening place, unwanted computers of all ages and shapes turn up here. To be reincarnated as yet another computer. The mission of FreeGeek is to help the needy get nerdy. Strange indeed, the Silicon valley of the world does not have a FreeGeek.

FreeGeek takes in all the unloved computers, tests them to see if they are actually usable or if the parts can be extracted. Reuse before recycle is key.

(more…)

This film starts with Chris Rock wondering what is good hair. His tiny little daughter is unhappy with nappy hair and questions him why she does not have good hair. He sets off on a mission to figure out what this is all about. His questions take him all the way to India, Atlanta and Los Angeles. Although the movie is very funny, thanks to Chris Rock, it deals with difficult issues of conformance and the superficiality of looks.

(more…)

I listen to radio while preparing dinner. There was a mini quiz asking to guess which country has made it to Olympics, which is not really known for Winter sport. I was guessing some country from Africa. It turned out to be India. Shiva Keshavan was so funny, he made my day. He is a luge pilot, I had to look up what it was.

There is still no luge track in India, where Keshavan was born 28 years ago 2,500 metres up in the Himalayas.

“We use the natural facilities, the natural track,” Keshavan explained. “With a few friends we get together. You beat a ski course and you beat a luge course.”

Even after having competed in a few Olympics before, he says he simply puts together his own equipment. He is compared to the Jamaican bobsleigh team that competed in 1988 and went on to become the crowd favorite.

(more…)

I recently watched this film again, may be for the 100th time. Every time someone watches this film, they always tell me what a nut case Timothy Treadwell was and nothing more. Yet to me, this is a fascinating film. Werner Herzog is such a brave director to have made this film even though the first reaction for most people is that Timothy is just a madman.

(more…)

Amreeka is one of my favorite films that I watched at viff. I did not expect myself to be among hundreds of 12 and 13 year old kids. Then I got to know schools had made special arrangements for the students to watch this film.

It is one of the immigrant stories which was fresh, light, funny and sad. Life in Palestine seems like being in a prison and the move to America is not without issues. The confusion between Jews and Arabs cannot be quite explained to the Americans.  It is a well made film and has a sense of humor.

I also learnt that checkmate is an Arabic phrase. Shah mate in Arabic means the king is dead, which is borrowed in English as checkmate.

(more…)