Tania and I went to the Dance Camera West Dance Film Festival on Saturday night in downtown LA. They have events occurring all month. Friday was the opening night and Saturday night they had a viewing of short movies (4 – 10 minutes). People submitted shorts that were suppose to be outstanding examples of dance on screen. There were two showings, one at 6:00 PM and one at 8:00 PM. It was only $10 so we went to both.
It took place at the REDCAT which is connected the Disney Theater in downtown LA. We decided to get there a little early and walk around, enjoy the architecture and get something to eat before the show.
The Disney Theatre is one of the coolest buildings in LA.
They are trying to revive down town LA. I don’t how you revive a place that was never vived in the first place, but down town LA sucks compared to New York, Chicago or San Francisco. It was early Saturday night and the place was completely dead. Half of the restaurants and most of the shops were closed. The first restaurant we found had appetizers starting at $22. I didn’t even bother looking at the rest of the menu. The second place featured an 8 course meal for $185 – we kept right on walking. We eventually found a California Pizza Kitchen a few blocks away. There were only about four or five other parties there besides us when we showed up, but it started filling up a little by the time we left.
These types of things (Dance Film Festival) always attract the cool, hip crowd – guys with hats, most of which matched their jackets which didn’t match their pants and were always jeans with holes in them. I think I was the only guy there wearing socks. Everyone was overly excited to see one another – greetings were done with a lot of screams and hugs. (omygod! Look who’s here! EECKKKK!)
The fun part of the event was that you got to vote for your favorite film. The bad part was that half of them were completely lame. Someone needed to inform the committee that chose the films that just because a film is weird, and has quirky shots put to music does not make it a dance film. A lot of the films had no dancing at all but the ones I hated the most were the ones with no absolutely no plot or purpose -- trying too hard to be artsy usually ends up being just stupid. However, with film festivals you gotta expect a certain amount of junk, that’s what you signed up for. For that matter, half of the “real” movies I go to these days are junk so why would this any different? At least they were only a few minutes long and not 2 ½ hours of junk.
A handful of films were very enjoyable. But the best part of going to this event is that after wanting to go for years and years (but able to because she worked weekends) Tania finally got to go this film festival and now realizes that this was not something that should have been on her list in the first place… I won’t have to go again.
Then just to keep theme going, on Sunday we went to the Thousand Oaks Art Walk. I happened to notice this was happening on my way to the gym in the morning. (yep I am able to do some short swim sessions). Artist from all around bring in their wares for view and sale. Paintings of all type, ceramics, glass blown art, jewelry and a few music booths for entertainment. The weather was perfect; cloudy with a slight breeze, not too hot, not too cold.
Tania’s primary goal was to find someone who offered classes on glass blowing. She wants to learn how to make glass beads. Her latest hobby is jewelry making and she also wants to learn how to make glass beads because they are expensive. She found a few people who provided lessons and was able to find someone who had just the type of class she was looking for.
Art shows like this are always fun because the artists are usually there and after sitting all day long dealing with looky-lou’s they are bored out of their minds and don’t mind talking to you about their work. Tania’s favorite question to the jewelry artist was “How did you do this?” Some were reluctant to divulge their secrets but most were very nice.
All-in-all, a pretty nice weekend.
They are trying to revive down town LA. I don’t how you revive a place that was never vived in the first place, but down town LA sucks compared to New York, Chicago or San Francisco. It was early Saturday night and the place was completely dead. Half of the restaurants and most of the shops were closed. The first restaurant we found had appetizers starting at $22. I didn’t even bother looking at the rest of the menu. The second place featured an 8 course meal for $185 – we kept right on walking. We eventually found a California Pizza Kitchen a few blocks away. There were only about four or five other parties there besides us when we showed up, but it started filling up a little by the time we left.
These types of things (Dance Film Festival) always attract the cool, hip crowd – guys with hats, most of which matched their jackets which didn’t match their pants and were always jeans with holes in them. I think I was the only guy there wearing socks. Everyone was overly excited to see one another – greetings were done with a lot of screams and hugs. (omygod! Look who’s here! EECKKKK!)
The fun part of the event was that you got to vote for your favorite film. The bad part was that half of them were completely lame. Someone needed to inform the committee that chose the films that just because a film is weird, and has quirky shots put to music does not make it a dance film. A lot of the films had no dancing at all but the ones I hated the most were the ones with no absolutely no plot or purpose -- trying too hard to be artsy usually ends up being just stupid. However, with film festivals you gotta expect a certain amount of junk, that’s what you signed up for. For that matter, half of the “real” movies I go to these days are junk so why would this any different? At least they were only a few minutes long and not 2 ½ hours of junk.
A handful of films were very enjoyable. But the best part of going to this event is that after wanting to go for years and years (but able to because she worked weekends) Tania finally got to go this film festival and now realizes that this was not something that should have been on her list in the first place… I won’t have to go again.
Then just to keep theme going, on Sunday we went to the Thousand Oaks Art Walk. I happened to notice this was happening on my way to the gym in the morning. (yep I am able to do some short swim sessions). Artist from all around bring in their wares for view and sale. Paintings of all type, ceramics, glass blown art, jewelry and a few music booths for entertainment. The weather was perfect; cloudy with a slight breeze, not too hot, not too cold.
Tania’s primary goal was to find someone who offered classes on glass blowing. She wants to learn how to make glass beads. Her latest hobby is jewelry making and she also wants to learn how to make glass beads because they are expensive. She found a few people who provided lessons and was able to find someone who had just the type of class she was looking for.
Art shows like this are always fun because the artists are usually there and after sitting all day long dealing with looky-lou’s they are bored out of their minds and don’t mind talking to you about their work. Tania’s favorite question to the jewelry artist was “How did you do this?” Some were reluctant to divulge their secrets but most were very nice.All-in-all, a pretty nice weekend.
3 comments:
What a fun weekend. I was in LA last week and saw the Disney Concert Hall for the first time...It was pretty amazing. But it's funny how it is right in the middle of a bunch of old ugly buildings. It's too bad they couldn't of built it on a hill or on the edge of the city so you can see & enjoy it from a distance.
Film festivals, Art shows...you are so cultured.
That really is a cool building. What a fun date! The dance film festival sounds like a great alternative to the standard dinner and a movie.
I commented on your mothers day post. Sorry, I should have put it up here. What a fun weekend!
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