Tag Archives: Wisconsin Film Festival

Apr 26 2023
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Dispatch from the Hideout: Casualties

“Life seems sometimes like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end. That’s the given. How you respond to those losses, what you make of what’s left, that’s the part you have to make up as you go.” ― Katharine Weber

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Laozi

This past Saturday night we planned an event, Last Night at the Hotel Bar, a reunion of sorts, a wake, and sendoff, not for a person but for a place, The Brink Lounge in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a gathering for Madison Indie Filmmakers, friends, and supporters. We referred to ourselves as the Barflies. The Brink Lounge was closing permanently on April 30. Continue reading →

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Apr 09 2023
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Poop Eggs, Orphan Holidays, Home Alone, & Gratitude

“For me, this holiday is a time for reflection, for renewing a spiritual connection, and for experiencing the hope and promise of the new beginnings of the spring season.” — An excerpt from my journal, Perfectly Flawed.

Leading up to Easter this year, I spent a lot of time reminiscing, rereading journal entries from holidays past and Easter-themed blog musings. Holidays, and the family rituals which we grew up with and the memories that remain, are mile markers of our journey in life. They provide a backdrop of the values and traditions of our ancestry and worship, the foundation of our beliefs. From childhood to adulthood, to this third chapter in my life, holiday traditions and rituals have evolved, some things nostalgically remain the same, others changed as I changed, and as the world changed. Continue reading →

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Mar 04 2023
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Dispatch from the Hideout: Endemic Edition

“When the physical threat of coronavirus subsides, as it surely will, we must address the impact to our mental health” — Luciana Berger

Endemic Definition: “…a disease or a condition, regularly found and very common among a particular group or in a particular area” — Cambridge Dictionary

Three years into the COVID-19 pandemic and we are the next stage of its evolution as the virus becomes endemic. It’s now living with us, and for some of you, living in you as Long COVID. To the best of my knowledge, I’m a Never COVID, COVID Virgin, or COVID Target. Yes, I’m still vulnerable, however, I’m grateful. It required three years of isolation including, social distancing, healthy practices, sacrificing time with friends and family, avoiding indoor restaurants, stores, and events, many of which gave my life meaning and pleasure. For some of the past three years, I worked remotely, and when in the office, masked. Continue reading →

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Aug 08 2022
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Posts

For the Love of Movies (& Memories of My Mother)

“Ever since I was a child, films, like good books, served as windows to worlds sometimes unfamiliar or far away due to distance in time or space. Movies depicted characters both fictional and historical, unraveled mysteries or documented adventures; they always engaged my emotions and attention. Some films are more familiar and familial, memoirs or morality tales that act like mirrors to my lived experience, or road maps of my internal journey. I prefer non-fiction to fiction. Most fiction, in my view, is simply reality in disguise, employed to protect the innocent and the guilty. As a memoirist I am most interested in the stories we tell and the stories untold about our lives.” – Excerpt from Stories We Tell/Stories Untold 

Continue reading →

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Apr 21 2021
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A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films of 2020

“A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.” — Pauline Kael, For Keeps: 30 Years at the Movies

Sadly, I haven’t seen a movie in a theater for over a year, though as Kael describes, the experience of watching a film can make us feel alive again and find hope. This past year — filmgoing was replaced by film-viewing in my home —and yes — the experience for the most part fulfilled many needs. Streaming content in my home distracted from the deadly pandemic, entertained and informed, invited people and adventures virtually and safely into my home, and told stories about the past, present, and an imagined future. Movies gave me hope that some semblance of life, as we knew it, would eventually return. Continue reading →

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Aug 23 2020
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Shouting from the Soapbox: A New Series

“Pick a subject you care so deeply about that you’d speak on a soapbox about it.” — Kurt Vonnegut

“I’m furious about the Women’s Liberationists. They keep getting up on soap-boxes and proclaiming that women are brighter than men. That’s true, though it should be kept very quiet or it ruins the whole racket.” — Anita Loos

A blog is many things, a public journal, a conversation with oneself, a showcase for writing and ideas, an exercise in vanity and a soapbox.  Vonnegut’s quote speaks to me. I write about subjects I care deeply about, my relationship with myself, relationships with others, and my place in the larger community. I write from my lived experience, what I’ve learned from others, and what it means in the larger context of the world we live in.

During the past seven years since I’ve launched this blog, I’ve often stood up and shouted from my soapbox, sometimes simply to break the silence, to speak about the unspeakable, and acknowledge that we are only as sick as our secrets. I’ve often written that “The personal is political and the political is personal.” Continue reading →

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Mar 21 2020
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Dispatch from the Hideout: Pandemic Edition

“If you lived here, you’d be home by now.” — Firesign Theater

Yes, I’m home, homebound, socially distancing, not quite in a lockdown, not totally self-quarantining. I’m staying in, doing my civic duty to protect our community and to keep myself healthy. Do I get a Girl Scout Badge for that?

I’ve been socially distancing to some degree since February 28th when I was laid-off from my job which was eliminated due to a company reorganization. In the interim, I’ve conducted a job search, applied and received Unemployment Compensation, registered at the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Job Center, and gratefully, interviewed for a couple of positions before the community spread of COVID-19 changed everything. I also had a few dates with friends for coffee and/or brunch. I delivered birthday cards to my niece Gemma and nephew Quinn. With their mother, my sister, Tami, we visited outside, 6-feet apart, and I elbow-bumped my brother-in-law, Ron. All that has now ended too. Continue reading →

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Jan 19 2020
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A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films of 2019

“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that’s why we’re all interested in movies — those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it’s actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.” — Tim Burton

“A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.” — Pauline Kael

As in other years, first, before I share A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films of 2019, this is a reminder that I’m a cinephile and not a critic. I offer my thoughts and impressions on the films I saw this past year and comment on what worked for me, what didn’t, and what transported me. Movie-going is, for the most part, a solitary experience. Like other forms of art immersion, we respond intimately with the medium, emotionally, viscerally, and intellectually. Continue reading →

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Apr 28 2019
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Posts

Filmgoer’s Wrap-Up: 2019 Wisconsin Film Festival

“A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.” — Pauline Kael

The 2019 Wisconsin Film Festival (WFF) #wifilmfest wrapped up a little over two weeks ago. I feel like I’m just beginning to recover from eight days of filmgoing, seeing multiple films each day, standing in queues to secure a good seat in sold out theaters in what amounted to four seasons of weather (winter returning again today), plotting logistics for travel in between venues, finding parking, coordinating plans with filmgoing friends, and grabbing caffeine or sustenance as required. As a person on the eve of becoming a septuagenarian, it also means getting enough rest while still working a part-time day job.  As a cinephile and not a critic, to mix metaphors, I’m more like a filmgoing weekend warrior than a true filmgoing athlete. Continue reading →

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Mar 23 2019
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Posts

Creatures of Habit: Harbingers of Spring

“What I’ve learned, the lessons from keeping and rereading journals, is that I’m a creature of habit. Though I allow my imagination to wander and travel places like a free spirit, I’m pretty earthbound and sensitive to the changing of the seasons, the length of daylight in a day, the heat of the sun on skin, the relationship of the stars and moon to our planet, the color of grass and leaves, the smell of the breeze as it changes from the smoky potpourri of autumn to the chilled neutrality of winter, followed by the musky odor of newly-turned earth and fragrant scent of flowers blooming in spring. And, finally, the conscious and unconscious cycles of life.” — An excerpt from the introduction of Seasons/Change, one of my poetry chapbooks. Continue reading →

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