Two events headlined Saturday, May 18, 2002. The first was a BBQ held by the Sze sisters, Amabelle and Felicia, at Ocean Beach on the corner of Lincoln Way and the Pacific Coast Highway. The BBQ was followed by a wonderful musical performance by Jen Shyu and Art Hirahara at Eric’s in the City.
My cousin Cynthia is here in the Bay Area for a summer internship, and she came along with me for the evening. I thought I was hardcore having seen ATOC on opening day, but she’s already seen the movie twice, once on opening day and again on Friday (at a digital theater no less!). Star Wars movies need to be judged on a different level than most other movies. After all, Lucas is the ultimate independent filmmaker; he can do whatever he wants, since he’s not a puppet of the big Hollywood powerbrokers. Perhaps when Anakin says “Well, I should be! One day I will become the most powerful Jedi ever!” he was talking about himself? The box-office Force is certainly with him, and I’ll go and see the movie a few more times before ATOC’s run is over. After reading about some of the cut scenes, I’m anxious for the Director’s Cut or Special Edition DVD. I hope that Lucas reincorporates some of that footage into the final movie, as it will make the political and social themes much stronger.
BBQ at Ocean Beach
There weren’t as many people at the BBQ as there were last year, but I still got lost trying to find the place! Among the online journalists, Mike, Rita, and Amabelle were there, and I think that Chris and Dave were there when Cynthia and I arrived, but we never were properly introduced to each other. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what another online journalist looks like without an accompanying set of photos on the web site. Either that, or tow.com lies far beyond the Outer Rim of the Online Journalists Universe and they didn’t recognize me.
Unlike the previous night, where I froze my butt off at the Port of Oakland, I prepared for the cold Pacific breeze along Ocean Beach by wearing multiple layers of clothes. Bill, dressed in a sweater and shorts, didn’t fare as well, but at least there was a hot fire to keep him and everyone else warm! The food was yummy, and both Cynthia and I gorged on hot links, burgers, and chicken before we had to leave for Jen and Art’s performance.
I tempted Mike to the Dark Side by letting him use my 28-70 and 70-200IS lenses with his EOS-D30. Rita tried to stop me from giving him my lenses, but she too went under the spell of the lenses from Canon! Here are some random photos from the BBQ:
Amabelle posted some pictures from last night.
Jen Shyu and Art Hirahara
Jen and Art gave an absolutely lovely performance of “originals and new arrangements of an eclectic mix of jazz standards and lesser known works – from Brazil to Taiwan.” They’re building up to a duo CD project that I’m sure is going to be great. Saturday turned out to be the first time that I’ve heard Jen sing since her days at Café Night over at the French House at Stanford. I’m trying to wrack my brain to find a more recent event, but nothing’s coming to mind right now.
Out of all the people who came to the performance, I only knew two, Issac and Angela, both of whom I went to school with. They’re engaged (yeah!), and I hear that Angela is teaching dance with Richard Powers at Stanford.
tow.com 