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FanTasia day 2: bicycle kung fu
Jul. 9th, 2008 12:35 pmI don't think I've ridden a bike in at least ten years. There's no better way to jump back into things than to rent a bike in a big city, and travel with a bunch of hardcore bikers. Right? Montreal has some good bike lanes (but some of us found them too constricting) so my chance of getting plowed over by a driver was smaller. My eyes were riveted to the road in either case. Heatray warned me that my knees and butt would be sore, but I only really felt the pain in my wrists. We biked about ten miles (I'm not exactly sure) to a public gardens with an insectarium. Mostly dead bugs, but a number of live exhibits. My favorite was the leaf cutter ants: Long lines of ants bearing tny clips of leaf back to their lairs. It was interesting to see that only certain trails were filled with ants, other routes had no traffic at all. Perhaps they were haunted vines.
We had to rush back to get to our next movie, which was
Disciples of the 36th Chamber: This was a digitally remastered film, and I have to say it looked amazing. Several scenes looked like I could have been watching a live theatrical production. Gordon Liu was incredible in the movie, as were all the fighters. Mr. Liu was a guest at the festival this year, and did a Q&A session after wards (including a little live kung fu). Thirty years or so after it was released, this classic Shaw Brothers movie can stand toe to toe with any modern action movie.
By time time our group was pretty fired. Well, I was fried, I don't think the heat and biking affected my friends as much. Dinner was held at a cute little restaurant below street level, which was decorated as a garden. Then we went our separate ways: everyone else went to see Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer while I watched
Before the Fall - During an especially dark part of Angel, our broody vampire remarks "If nothing we do matters, then the only thing that matters is what we do.. If there's no greater meaning, then the smallest gesture can be the greatest thing in the world." This statement best sums up Before the Fall. Breaking news: a meteor is going to hit the earth in three days. All attempts to stop it have failed, and it's five times as large as the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. The Party is Over. Against this bleak backdrop, a man looks after his brother's children, hiding the truth from them as the clock ticks down to the end. Add an old flame, and a serial killer who's out for revenge against the family, and you have a taught, well told tale in the middle of everything. The story unfolds nicely, with a minimal of effects, and you see that even in the face of extinction,there's still room for love and healing.
That was the last movie of the day, but our adventure wasn't over. We ventured out to find another nightclub, so wound our way though the streets around midnight, having north on St. Denis. Out destination ended up being an abandoned building, so we tracked down a small cafe owned by the members of the band Godspeed You Black Emperor. My attempt to get cider was foiled, so I nursed a glass of wine over some samosas. We biked a little further for some bagels at St. Vitale's, but there were out of all the ones I wanted. Sacre bleu! We decided to call it quits and took the long bike ride back to the hotel (about ten miles, round trip?). Heatray tells me I was asleep in about ninety seconds.
We had to rush back to get to our next movie, which was
Disciples of the 36th Chamber: This was a digitally remastered film, and I have to say it looked amazing. Several scenes looked like I could have been watching a live theatrical production. Gordon Liu was incredible in the movie, as were all the fighters. Mr. Liu was a guest at the festival this year, and did a Q&A session after wards (including a little live kung fu). Thirty years or so after it was released, this classic Shaw Brothers movie can stand toe to toe with any modern action movie.
By time time our group was pretty fired. Well, I was fried, I don't think the heat and biking affected my friends as much. Dinner was held at a cute little restaurant below street level, which was decorated as a garden. Then we went our separate ways: everyone else went to see Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer while I watched
Before the Fall - During an especially dark part of Angel, our broody vampire remarks "If nothing we do matters, then the only thing that matters is what we do.. If there's no greater meaning, then the smallest gesture can be the greatest thing in the world." This statement best sums up Before the Fall. Breaking news: a meteor is going to hit the earth in three days. All attempts to stop it have failed, and it's five times as large as the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. The Party is Over. Against this bleak backdrop, a man looks after his brother's children, hiding the truth from them as the clock ticks down to the end. Add an old flame, and a serial killer who's out for revenge against the family, and you have a taught, well told tale in the middle of everything. The story unfolds nicely, with a minimal of effects, and you see that even in the face of extinction,there's still room for love and healing.
That was the last movie of the day, but our adventure wasn't over. We ventured out to find another nightclub, so wound our way though the streets around midnight, having north on St. Denis. Out destination ended up being an abandoned building, so we tracked down a small cafe owned by the members of the band Godspeed You Black Emperor. My attempt to get cider was foiled, so I nursed a glass of wine over some samosas. We biked a little further for some bagels at St. Vitale's, but there were out of all the ones I wanted. Sacre bleu! We decided to call it quits and took the long bike ride back to the hotel (about ten miles, round trip?). Heatray tells me I was asleep in about ninety seconds.
