2012 dallas international film festival

CINEMA SIX

our first film of the festival. i understood and felt some emotions with this film. its about a small group of coworkers that work at a theatre. they all have different lives but the only thing that keeps them together is the fact that they work here, at the theatre. they don't really want to work there but have no other way out. to understand it you have to be in the same situation. in the end when they seem to be stuck there forever things turn around for all of them when some get fired and some quit. no one now works there and that feeling of leaving a job that doesn't in any way make you move forward in life is so uplifting. its like saying that if you are in a place because it becomes routine you need a way out but can't find it then the best thing that ever happen to you was to get fired. I'm not saying that getting fired is a good thing but it gives you a sigh of relief. they are now wondering o crap just got fired, okay then i quit. you realize that it's not the end but only the beginning of another chapter in your life. your life needs excitement don't make it ordinary(routine). in the end they all get together and trash the place, man that was a spiritual feeling saying I'm done with this.

a comedy and life changing experience.

THE PACT

this was a midnight showing. it is a scary movie(horror). the pact is tricky. it's about two sisters that are now grown up and have to go back to their childhood home because their mother has died. they hadn't been there in years because something happened to them when they were kids, something that you just can't ever speak of and this is what was implied. one sister ends up vanishing in the house while the other sister tries to find her. she is scared to go back into the house but that is where her sister disappeared so she has to go back inside. their police gets involved, a medium gets involved, and a serial killer gets involved. throughout the film you are trying to figure it out and it doesn't hit you till 15 minutes before its over and that my friend is just plain horrific. the pact i believe is made from human to spirit. the spirit helps the human by making a pact to help each other. i don't want to give the ending away but i can tell you this. you have to be seriously sick in the head to abuse your children while your brother watches and then kills them. the pact isn't sickening just wrong. this movie could actually be true but never got to stay and ask. have you ever questioned who has ever lived at the house you live in now? i have and maybe you should too.

a horror and question what happens behind walls.

KID-THING


what really is a king thing? it's what a kid does. its about the life of a little girl with a father and no mother. the story of a girl with no rules and lives day to day without any supervision. she is probably around 12 years old and her dad is pretty much in his own world. she is destructive and bad. she makes an imaginary person to try to cope with the loneliness. its pretty sad if you think about it. here is a girl with no mother and dad stays in bed til when he wants to get up. she goes and makes trouble because she needs attention. she is really smart but does it matter?  it has a sad ending. her life means nothing so why matter. kids need love and this is a perfect example. even though its sad it has its funny moments.

a drama and parents need to give attention.

SATELITTE OF LOVE


one of my favorites at the festival. yes , it's about love and wine. a couple in love but she ends up with his best friend. what happened? what went wrong? it's no typical teenage love story but mature adults. their friendship so strong between the three of them but love is strange. it takes place in a beautiful place in Texas where there are vineyards. to think that this place exists in Texas is just crazy. it's filled with so much emotion its hard not to pick sides. they try to keep their friendship but something happens that will question whether they can continue to even be in the same place again.

a romance and when you least expect it love can change.

BINDLESTIFFS


three friends are set out to find what they would consider "love" I'm going to use this word because i just feel weird typing it on here. its a funny stupid film. you have to be open for anything. i found myself with my jaw wide open. well to tell you that some people had to leave the theatre because they got offended, that should tell you. one of the boys falls in love with a homeless woman. hey we all need love. the movie ends with a funeral in a backyard for the homeless woman that the three friends have put together.

a comedy and if you don't have a twisted funny muscle in your brain it's not for you.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL


no it's not the movie E.T. but it is about aliens, well one alien. this was a Spanish movie with English subtitles. its nothing like a sci fi but just regular looking people like you and me. it's about love. what one man will do for the love of a woman that he just met. what he will have to give up to just say i love you. this one was for me an original and beautiful love episode. how one man managed to confuse everyone to believe in him and leave it at that, just to realize that who he loves will not ever be with him. he accepts his loss and stirs up a story to prove he came from another planet because he wanted to learn from us but told her that he came because he from afar came to love this woman. it's sad but a happy shed a tear kinda sad.

a foreign film and remember to make your own story to love.

a film festival is really an opportunity to see films that are made that might never get to be played in theatres because of lack of funds. they cost the same as a regular movie ticket but are only being played no more than two weeks every year for the month of April. every year they are different because new ones are being made. i love films (movies) so it's extra special for me. if you have never done this you should give it a try. it's an experience. you can actually speak with the directors or meet the actors or actresses to the films. it's like having our two week of Hollywood here in Dallas. yes you will see people in gowns but you will see us in t-shirt and jeans because believe it or not they could care less what you wear all they care about is whether you came to enjoy the film.

mix it up a little throw in a comedy, a horror, a romance, a drama, a funny stupid, or a foreign.  we had a great line up this year can't wait for next years.


we might get lucky and see these films in dvd or get funded to be in theatres so keep an eye out for them. i wouldn't mind seeing them again or buying my favorites on dvd.

remember if you love film, love film.

love

it's been a little over a month now that i got my tattoo but i wanted to tell you how it came about.

we are visiting heathers family in missouri and come to find out that chelcie, bri's girlfriend, is becoming a tattoo artist. automatically heather says she has to have one done so chelcie says cool i'll bring my tools over and will make it a fun night. so there is chelcie preparing to get it together and heather asks me if i want one. then her mom, bri, and chelcie all tell me yeah get one.

i've always wanted a tattoo since i was in junior high. i wanted one to represent me you know like the ones on your neck that are huge and in print. i wanted it to read ELGUEA big all anywhere on my neck. for everyone to see. deep down i considered myself  badass. i was in junior high in a school where it was a fighting battle between blacks and mexicans so i figured i would represent.

man i am so glad that the brain cells in my brain lit a light and said no. i would have regreted it now. i mean now it would be a look at me, draw attention this way.  i always seem to cause ruckuss so i don't need the extra attention but deep down i did still want one. as i grew older i would say what could i put on my skin that would mean something to me? i didn't want to put something on and then down the road put another one on because i didn't like what i had.

i even suggested me and heather have a tattoo that only us would know what it meant. i even told my sisters that us four should share a tattoo to have kind of a unique bond. heather and i hadn't decided on one yet and my sisters thought i was playing they didn't take me serious and were a little chicken. they thought you gabby want a tattoo no that is not like you. the one rule that i share with people that i know is that you never i mean NEVER put your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend's name tattoo on your skin. why? you just branded yourself and that leads to a path of unhappiness. kids are another story they will forever be your babies.

so what leads to this point was i at 33 years old and am i seriously ready? there is also a plus i know the soon to be tattoo artist and will do it for free so as heather sat getting her tattoo. this would be her third one and my first one. i kept thinking what i was going to get and my whole body was burning up just thinking whether it was going to hurt. i finally came up with the word LOVE and for it to be placed on my arm. LOVE means so much in just this four letter word. i believe that everyone deserves to be loved and in love. it also in my part stands for To Write Love On Her Arms. so many people commit suicide everyday because of many factors but the most would be depression. i can see how someone's life can be so horribly wrong and it leads to this point but ..............that is still just being selfish and tomorrow is always better.

it's my turn so i try to get comfortable. i see the needle i'm okay. i hear the drill i'm okay. when the needle drills in my skin it hit me. it felt like if the cough was trying to push me up and my body was fighting it. as i tried to keep my arm still my body kept moving. she stopped so i thought thank god she's finished. i looked at it and was like are you freaking kidding me you have only done the red.  NO MORE NO MORE. heather said are you sure it looks okay if you want to keep it this way. then i said okay i'll finish. then the drill started up again and that's when my somewhat of arm muscles twitched and i said oh man DON'T STOP DON'T STOP KEEP GOING yes i remember trying not to yell. it was over it felt like forever.

yes i was a wuss yes you can laugh. it was funny to everyone else. as i look back on that night i can actually say that i don't regret it. will i get another one? probably not. not because of the pain but no craving for it. i'm just glad that i have not gotten tattoo crazed. i don't want to get old and have color faded ink on me and be too old and weird to get touched up ink. if thats you more power to you.

so for all you friends that are still on that path of thinking about getting one. it will hurt but the pain that soon will pass. i do think that you should get something that means something to you don't just start putting stuff on you. yes it's a form of art but don't ruin the canvas.

fingers?

we are at the fort worth community arts center while taking a break we took this picture. i can't remember who took it me or heather but didn't realize it till later that something was there. i looked at it closely then told heather to look at it again it's kind of blurry but i don't know if you see the same thing that i did. it looks like a little hand trying to touch my face. i told my sister about it but she didn't want to look at it because she lives in the middle of the woods and didn't want to get scared but when she finally saw it she said it looked like little fingers. i told her why she was scared if it was my face that it wanted to touch or maybe it did. 

i hope it was good, that little hand that wanted to touch me if not i'm in deep trouble. so i'm going to say that it was a little angel taking care of the left side of my face since for some reason that side always seems to give me trouble, after having a minor accident awhile back. so to my little angel thanks for letting me see you even though you'd been there all along.

so yes even though you may not see them they are always there, at least that's what we hope for.

paying it forward

a couple of months ago heather and i were eating at an ihop in arlington. as we came in i noticed the hostess had a balloon shaped like elmo. i said cool balloon then noticed that there was a guy making balloons for the kids there. as we were seated i wondered was i to old to have a balloon. i probably was since he never made it to the table.

there was a table next to us that had a little girl maybe four years old with a baby brother not even a year old. the balloon guy made his round and asked the parents of the little girl if she wanted one but they said no, thankyou. i thought why not. i wasn't upset just wondered why the little girl couldn't have one. she kept looking at everyones and had this sad look on her face.

i waited a little longer to see if the guy would come around. i'm thinking maybe adults are to old for balloons. i asked the waitress to ask him to come to our table. he came over and i asked how much were his balloons. they are $2.00. i said i would like to buy one. heather already knew the moment that we walked in that ihop that i was going to leave with one so yes you can imagine the look on her face when i said i wanted a balloon. if it can be done i always ask for something different or hard to do so i got me an elephant.  after he was done i gave him $2 extra dollars and i told him to please go to the table next to us (i pointed) and asked him to make the little girl a balloon. so he walked over and told the little girl which one she wanted and he was going to make it. the parents said o thankyou but we didn't have any cash. i just smiled back and said that's okay.

which brings me to my next story.

i don't remember what me and my dad were talking about but i ended telling him the story about the little girl and the balloon. it probably wasn't important but in the end it made cense. he told me that when me and my sister monica were little. he took us to traders village and he bought us both a balloon.  i wondered how much it would have cost back then but me and my history thinking. all he remembers was that monica somehow let the balloon go on accident and he just saw her eyes get big and watch her balloon fly into the air. i asked if she started to cry i guess because i assume that a kid would. he told me no but the next thing he knew was that a couple had already bought a balloon to give to her.

i'm thinking maybe a 30 year gap that this happened. how something so simple can happen again, a cycle. someone buying my sister a balloon and i 30 years later buying one for a little girl. if i hadn't brought it up i would have never known this episode of our lives. i wonder if my sister remembers.

the question is will the little girl at ihop repeat the cycle 30 years from now. call it what you want. whether its paying it forward, an act of friendliness, or something triggering my mind to keep the cycle going who knows. maybe the actions that we do being small have something to do with what we don't remember of our past.

friends be it whatever it maybe just keep it going.

underhill family orchestra

underhill family orchestra? what? who? underhill family orchestra is a music group that originated from a small town in alabama. it started with three members and it now has nine. started with family members then the group expanded. they play indie rock. you are probably wondering why i'm telling this to you but let me explain a little more.

last month us and two friends were down deep ellum had gotten something to eat. had went to the vinyl show. the vinyl show is another story. it was late and i had to work the next day. i was pretty much tired and wasn't feeling myself.

i took out my camera and snapped a picture of this cool looking van. it was cool because it had been graffitied out. when a guy saw me and approached us. he gave me a sticker and said if you like the van you should come check out the band. i didn't want to tell him that i was tired so i just said that we would think about it. that it sounded like a good idea.

i felt a little bad, didn't make the show. here was a guy that came across the street to reach us to check out the band and i didn't feel up to it. come to find out later he was the lead singer of the underhill family orchestra.

later listened to the music and liked it. would have wanted to turn back time to attend. what came to my mind later was that who does this now a days. how many lead singers whether it be a small local group or big come up to you and tell you to come listen to their band (some don't even acknowledge the audience). he was modest didn't even let us know he was the singer.

i know very few local bands and well this hardly ever happens. bands forget that ordinary people make the shows. he got my attention next time their in town we will be attending the show. why? he took time to get my attention and that my friends is how it works.