Her one thought, ‘will he want me?’ All she did from 6:30 pm onward based on this premise. The hair, the makeup, the dress. All meant to please him. All based on some arbitrary notion of what would please him. Never mind that he was oblivious to it all. All that mattered to him was that she was there. That she was with him, for him only. He didn’t notice the strategic dress; the strange colors painted on her face only confused him when he thought about it. So he didn’t think. Only felt - the rhythm of the music, the grazing of her hands on his arms, his torso. That was all he really needed to tell him she wanted him. Even if it was wishful thinking it was all he had to go on. And so he would take it, and he would take her. And she would give herself to him.

In 2005, after lamenting that I had not traveled any place new in many years, and that most of my traveling was work-related, I decided to give myself an assignment. I would venture to visit every state capitol building in this country. No deadline was given for completion, and photo essays were to be made for each visit. This February, I saw my 10th state capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina. I am a fifth of the way to my goal!

When I visit a capitol, I take what I hope to be interesting photos that capture the essence of each building.  So far, I’ve witnessed a couple trends, and now I take note of these things at each subsequent visit. Namely, capitols tend to be made from marble, and there is often an inset drinking fountain that looks very much like a urinal. Because I ate enchiladas during my first capital visit - Salem, Oregon - I also try to eat enchiladas in each capital city.

I keep a log of my journey online. The pages for each city are linked together, so that one can scroll through the cities in alphabetical order by state - my own little web ring! As I visit a capital, a page is inserted into the ring. On the main page is a list of all the capital cities, along with a graphic guide to my familiarity with each.  This is measured by the time I’ve spent there - was I passing through on a train? did I have a layover at the airport? did I spend the night?

I’ve found that my reports are a nice way to keep in touch with distant friends and family, as well as a way to let non-travelers experience places they’ve never been. My capitol tour has been interesting and quite rewarding thus far, and I look forward to continuing and someday completing it.

By the time this week is over, I will have lived in Seattle for ten years. To celebrate, yesterday I hosted the First Annual Mac-n-Cheese cook-off. Unfortunately, some sort of weather event in the Puget Sound made yesterday the hottest day of the year.  It got up to 87 degrees Fahrenheit, and there was pretty much no breeze.

Nevertheless, a few of us slaved in our kitchens and brought our unique concoctions to the table. Alisa’s was the most like what you expect mac-n-cheese to look like - orange and creamy. She used pasta shells and a whole mess of cheese types - I remember hearing asiago and gorgonzola named, among several. Annabelle used no less than 22 ingredients for her “Pepita Crusted Cheddar Jack Southwest “Chicken” Mac”. Tizzy’s was probably the most elegant, an overall white and creamy blend with spiral pasta. Mine was inspired by a beer and cheese cooking show I saw recently - my sauce was made with mushroom broth and two bottles of Hoegaarden white ale.

I’m still gathering the votes, but to me it is difficult to pick a winner. Everyone’s was so different, and all were good in their own ways.

For all you old-schoolers, please read the title of this entry in the style of a Quake drowning.

Time has escaped me, which is really rather frightening.

I’m trying to finish my mini-comic this week for my Autobigraphy and Comic Books class I’m taking. We’re supposed to try to have a finished product to show the class on Saturday, which is our final meeting, and I’m still in the “storyboard” stage. So I must buckle down and get something done.

So it’s back under my rock. See you all soon!

Yesterday I watched the 2005 indie flick Film Geek, and I can’t get it out of my head. Not that it was some grand masterpiece of pure cinematic genius, but it was actually much better than I expected. It’s a low-budget film set and made in Portland, OR (some was shot in Vancouver, WA) about a guy who knows almost everything about film and very little about anything else. He has virtually no social skills and gets fired from his video store clerk job because he annoys the customers. This leads him on a sort of journey of self-discovery, as well as different sites around town. Portland is just as much a character in this film as any of the people.

What surprised me is how well this movie was put together and the quality of the acting. With such a sensational lead character, a small-time film like this can really go over the top, and be in serious need of an editor. But this film was very effective. I watched it on Netflix instant watching, and I will probably watch it again someday.

So, recently I decided to watch the old FOX TV series The Lone Gunmen, a decidedly more silly spin-off from The X-Files. I’ve got through 10 of the 13 episodes and two crazy coincidences have shown themselves.

One, in the pilot episode, original airdate 4 March 2001: A hijacked airliner was being piloted into the World Trade Center in NYC.

Two, in episode ten, original airdate 27 April 2001: Some top secret software was about to be handed over to some unscrupulous people. When it is discovered by the Gunmen what the software was for (a radar cloaking system), one of them says something to the effect of “Saddam Hussein could put this on a Cessna and fly it right into the Whitehouse.”

Perhaps this is why the series was canceled before a second season could begin in the fall.

Or maybe it was just a dumb show.

Wednesday was my final film for SIFF 2008. Italian film The Girl by the Lake is a modern day murder mystery set in and around Udine, a town northeast of Venice, close to the Austrian and Slovenian borders. This means nothing, really, except great scenery. It’s a classic whodunnit, with a myterious victim, a town where everyone knows everyone’s business, and a curmudgeonly inspector. Aside from the woman next to me who reeked of pot, this film was a very nice end to my festival.

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame is a new film by Hana Makhmalbaf, the youngest of a family of Iranian filmmakers. She directed the film, which was written by her mother, when she was 18 or 19. The film is set in the foothills of Afghanistan where the giant statues of Buddha were destroyed by the Taliban. It is about a very young girl’s attempt one day to go to school and all the obstacles she faces in doing so. It can be frustrating at times. For example, she tries to sell some eggs in the market in order to buy a notebook for school. The sequence is inordinately long - perhaps on purpose it takes a little bit longer than what is necessary to make the point. For a large part of the movie, the little girl is hounded by the boys as they play their game emulating the adults, the Taliban. This is no slick production, but considering most of the actors are very young children it is not a bad effort.

Sunday’s movie was The Great Buck Howard about a law school dropout played by Colin Hanks and his experience working for a has-been “mentalist” played by John Malkovich. Hanks’ character is partially based on writer Sean McGinly’s own past dropping out of law school to become a writer and getting a job as personal assistant to The Amazing Kreskin, upon which Malkovich’s Buck Howard is based. Malkovich does a marvelous caricature of the magician carrying on past his prime. And while that storyline kept me interested, I never quite figured out the point of the film. It was about Hanks’ character, this was made clear by the narrative voice over by Hanks. But there were no dyamics with his character, there was no “aha!” moment.

Tom Hanks, whose company produced the film, is on screen for a few minutes as the younger Hanks’ father.

Writer/director Sean McGinly was on hand afterward for a short Q&A. This is where I learned that he also made the extremely low-budget film Two Days, starring Paul Rudd as a failed Los Angeles actor preparing to commit suicide, and by far a better film this new one.