The Voyagers

Hello my dears, I’ve been gone a bit. Did you miss me? As I mentioned before Shawn and I spent the majority of last week at AFI Fest. We saw over 14 films and a handful of shorts. It was a transformative experience for both of us. Even though we were still here in Los Angeles, we were transported to the dream world of cinema for a week. We saw by far some of the best films I’ve seen all year and in the theater surrounded by people who love film.

It was inspiring to say the least to be able to see such touching films with honest and creative storytelling. I feel so lucky to have been there. The coolest thing was that the whole thing was free and open to the public. While some screenings, like the gala events, were harder to get into, nearly everything was easy for the public to see.

We did manage to get tickets to the gala screening of Shame shown in the majestic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (where Shawn worked as a projectionist back in the day). It was touching to see the director, Steve McQueen, nervously repeat how big the theatre was. As the movie started, there was murmur of crunching popcorn and it hit me how important it is to see movies in the theater with an audience on a gigantic screen. There’s something powerful about seeing a film with others, something about experiencing it in a group that is untouchable and important.

The whole experience really lit a fire in my heart to be true to my love of film in whatever form that may take. And I have some ideas.

Over the next week I want to share with you some of the films that I saw that I believe are not to be missed. I’m not here to critique them, I just want to give some attention to the ones I thought were truly amazing.

To start, I wanted to show you my favorite short film from the selection we saw…

The Voyagers by Penny Lane is a beautiful piece about space and eternity and love and the unknown. The film is constructed mostly of amazing stock footage from NASA overlaid with a narration by Penny Lane. I found it captivating and touching. It has the perfect balance of beauty, science and romance that makes me swoon. Lucky for you, you can watch it above. I hope you love it as much as I did.

Pumpkins

I know Halloween has past, but I couldn’t help but share a few of the amazing carved pumpkins and decorations we saw this year. Oh and an adorable black cat.

November is here and already our month is full of big things. Over the next few days we’ll be trying to see as many film as possible at AFI Fest. There is such an amazing selection and so many that I want to see, I can’t wait. Then, in a few weeks our two good friends, Baxter and Alicia, are getting married. Hooray! Then it’s my birthday. Then it’s Thanksgiving. That’s pretty much all of November! It’s going to be a busy month.

Halloween Tidbits

October has almost come to a close and we’re having a very relaxed final weekend. It’s nice to celebrate without feeling pressure to indulge in too many festivities. In fact, I haven’t even truly made a costume this year.

I did realize I never shared all of our decorations, like our veiled lady, which I think we’ll keep up for the rest of the year as well. Or our floating pumpkins.

We spent Friday evening watching more horror movies while I made a black velvet cape for Shawn.

I’ve had the same black cape for the past 14 years and it’s served me well (I even wore it to our wedding), now Shawn has one of his own that will surely last longer as my sewing skills have improved in those years. There is something wonderful and comforting about being able to shroud yourself in a cloak. I hope to make more, different capes to wear on a more regular basis.

We wore our matching capes to the Hallovegan event at Verdugo bar this year. I was pleased that they played The Shining all evening. Not to mention the delicious vegan food they had.

Looking forward to going to check out one of the most beautifully decorated neighborhoods in Los Angeles tomorrow. It’s so exciting to see all the kids trick or treating. Can’t wait to dress up some kidlets of our own.

Vegan Zombies

Just wanted to share this fun video Shawn made, since it is full of flesh eating zombies, very appropriate for this time of year.

Oh, and I think it’s cool.

Halloween Movie Party 2011

This weekend we had our 4th Annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon. When it started out a few years ago, it was just a sleepover where we’d watch scary movies, but has since turned into something much crazier, as we watch horror movies for over 24 hours straight. Watching horror movies for so long with so little sleep definitely does some strange things to your mind and it starts to feel like you’re living in a horror movie yourself.

So here’s a glimpse into what it’s like… Get ready for a lot of photos.

To set the stage, we turn our living room into a screening room, blacking out all the windows and adding some creepy mood lighting. We even brought our spare bed out to add some comfy viewing spots.

We continued the creepy lighting throughout the apartment. Here are the beginnings of our snack table. Snacks are vital for getting though the night.

We hung a velvet curtain to keep the light from our kitchen down since there isn’t a door. Dining room chairs were moved to the living room for extra seating. We had about 15 people throughout the night, although only a handful made it till morning.

Initially Meeme was excited about the party, hanging out on our new carpet. She and Mochi got scared though and spent the rest of the evening watching movies in their own room. They particularly liked Beetlejuice.

We made our bedroom into a second screening room for our friends who don’t like scary movies as much as we do. Everyone toughed it out though and the cats had the room to themselves.

This hallway is definitely horror movie material.

So we’ve set the stage, shall we get to some of the treats?

I had to make sugar cookies as it has become a yearly tradition. This year I opted for pumpkins to go a long with my pumpkin theme.

Shawn requested that we make some healthy things instead of all sugary treats and we came up with some  scary looking drinks. While kale, celery and ginger juice, might be fairly common, it still has the look of a strange brew.

Or how about some blood? I mean, carrot beet juice.

There were popcorn balls made with Dandies.

Apples with caramel sauce for dipping.

There were pita chips with black bean dip and hummus as well as crostinis with spinach dip.

I ran out of time before guests started arriving and hastily frosted the pumpkin cookies. Not too cute but still deliciously sweet.

As a later night snack, I made some quesadillas jack-o-lanterns. I found some green cactus tortillas and knew they would be perfect for a Halloween. During the night we also made tons of tofurky dogs with lots of toppings, pizzas and even coffee cake. Oh and lots of coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

Kim stopped by and brought these amazing lady fingers. How creepy?

Like I said, we watch straight through the night and well into Sunday. This is the remaining 6 of us some time on Sunday afternoon. Jenny L., Shawn, Me, James, Jennifer Y. and Kyle. Without a doubt this has been the best year yet, so much fun! Already I can’t wait till next year.

Want to know what we watched? Here goes:

1. Coven
2. Phenomena
3. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
4. Amityville Horror
5. Martyrs
6. We Are the Night
7. Harpoon
8. Troll II
9. Sheitan
10. Dead Snow
11. The Burning
12. Rosemary’s Baby
13. The Shining
14. Silence of the Lambs
15. Cannibal Holocaust
16. Sleepaway Camp
17. The Lost Boys
18. The Company of Wolves
19. The Hunger

In fact, we’re still watching as I write this…