Already May

May 1st, 2010 · No Comments

I feel like most of my blog post titles refer to time passing quicker than expected. Maybe it’s just that I’ve run out of titles for posts that aren’t about some sort of event. Anyway, it’s been nearly a month since I returned from New Zealand, and it’s high time I get caught up on what’s been going on.

It’s been a month of film festivals, actually, beginning with the World Cinema Showcase I attended in Wellington, continuing on to this year’s installment of the Film Noir Fest at the Egyptian – just one double feature for me this year (plus a $50 parking ticket, thanks Hollywood!) – and then to last weekend’s Turner Classic Movie Classic Film Festival. We provided some material for the screenings, so we got four passes to share among the staff, and I attended screenings of Breathless and North by Northwest at Grauman’s Chinese. There were firsts all around: I think it was the first time I’d ever seen either of those, two of my favorite films of all time, in 35mm on the big screen, and I’d never been to Grauman’s, four years after moving here. If you’d asked those films’ stars if they’d be around to celebrate their films’ fiftieth anniversaries in 2009/2010, I wonder if they’d have said yes. While Cary Grant and Jean Seberg are no longer around, Jean-Paul Belmondo spoke before the screening of Breathless and Eva Marie Saint and Martin Landau did the same before North by Northwest. Both films looked great, and both screenings were very memorable.

We’ve been doing a lot of work around the house lately, and I’m happy to say I finally got the electricity working in the shed, which now has both a light and a newly-wired set of outlets near the workbench. I don’t think it should have been as much of a challenge as it was, but I’m glad to have figured it out, and I’m now ready to finish off and paint the walls.

Griffith Park

We also started on our weekly hikes again, and visited Griffith Park last weekend to check out Amir’s Garden. I think it might have taken longer to find the start of the hiking trail once we got into Griffith Park than it did to actually do the hike, but it was a nice little spot, and had some great views. Neither of us had ever been to that part of the park, so it was nice to see more of the area, even if it was mostly golf courses.

Photos here.

Lizard

We also took a walk to our local Clover Park for a picnic last weekend, and got there just as the sun set.

Dusk at Clover Park

Over the course of yesterday and this morning, we had our windows replaced, which was long on our to-do list for energy efficiency, noise reduction, and the ability to open windows without letting insects in. The combination of new windows and no shades makes the house feel much brighter and lighter; Aimee’s tempted to keep the shades off, but do we really want everyone to watch the movie along with us from the sidewalk? Either way, we’re really happy to have our new windows in and done.

New windows

New windows

Tags: Film · Los Angeles · Photos