Another film from SF Jewish Film Festival

PROTEKTOR

Protektor is the name of this film and it is from the Czech Republic. The director is Marek Najbrt. This one was also related to World War 2 and Jews going to Concentration Camps. But this one was very artistic and visually captivating. It takes place in "German occupied Prague."

It is centered on a Jewish actress named Hana and her husband, Emil. He has to take all these jobs that are for Nazi propaganda to hide the fact that he is married to a Jew.

This film is about Love, Cinema, Compromise, and anything else relating to those. It also has a lot of artistic aspects that represent ideas. There is a constant image of different characters riding on a bike in front of a green screen like thing, which is like they are always running away from something.

Basically it was a very original and amazing film that is about Jews during World War 2 but it does not hit you too hard until the very end, which is intense. So look it up and watch it because it is also foreign which just makes it better than most American films showing in theaters today! serously.

Video of the Day - watch more of this event too!

one more thing, this man is amazing.

Short Video = Castro Theater in SFJFF

Everytime you go to this theater, at least for opening night, they have this guy come out and play the Organ? I think that's what it is and he plays popular classics like The Way You Look Tonight.

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Opening Night

Every year for the last few years I have gone to the Jewish Film Festival in San Francisco and Berkeley with my family. They always have really interesting foreign films and sometimes American ones that have to do with anything Jewish. They could be funny or sad , documentaries, musical , gangster, cartoony, anything! So last night was opening night in San Francisco and they showed a really touching film called Saviors in the Night from Germany. Directed by Ludi Boeken.

What is really cool about this film festival is that they have some of the actors and director answer questions right after you watch them in the film! So they are right there on stage and with this one they had the woman that this story was based on. It was based on Marga Spiegel's memoir.

This movie was about her and her husband and daughter during World War 2 1943->. They escape their town in Germany right when Jews are being deported with the Nazis. They hide with a family of farmers, who are Catholic and risking their lives to shelter Jews.

I do not want to say too much about this movie but if you can find a way to watch it, hopefully it will be in the Oscars some how, you really should watch it! I like how it does not show concentration camps, it is not that part of World War 2, it is showing what life was like for the Jews who were trying to avoid going to these horrid camps. If you want to read more about it, just look it up because I do not want to give anything away!

Green Day Rock Band

So I am a bit obsessed/in love/addicted to the band Green Day. Right now I just wanted to talk a little bit about Green Day Rock Band. If you did not know this is a game that you play like a video game but you have basically a toy guitar and a toy drum set and a microphone. You use the guitar by strumming so it matches some colors..yeah. and that goes with the drums too. With the singing you just sing into the microphone with you see the words and how the note is.

It is really difficult to make the guitar match up (calibrate) on this Rock Band or maybe it is my TV. I dunno! but it is annoying so I like to just sing and drum mostly. Sometimes it is fun to play the guitar while singing, if you know the song.

This Rock Band has Green Day playing in three different venues to represent their different stages in their career. They have The Warehouse for the early years when they would play at people's parties and the Gilman. Then there is Milton Keynes in England where they shot Bullet in a Bible, a DVD for American Idiot.

The last one is just 21st Century Breakdown in Fox Theater in Oakland, and of course I was at this show! but anyways I am sad because it includes all of Dookie, All of American idiot, some of nimrod and warning, and insomniac but it is missing 6 of the songs on 21st Century Breakdown because you need to get them from regular Rock band i suppose.

It also would have been nice to have all of Kerplunk and all of Warning, which is my favorite album by them. Also shenanigans and their first cd 1039 smoothed out slappy hour. Green Day in an interview said that the tapes for the older songs are very fragile, but they might add them later or something.

But this game is really fun and the drumming is intense, at leas to me! They also have challenges to complete at each venue and you can unlock images and short videos of Green Day in concert or in interviews. It is very entertaining and can take up many hours! It is fun to play with your friends so if you like that sort of thing, then you should go get it!

She & Him

She & Him Fox Theater Oakland May 29th 2010

I absolutely love this theater, I have seen Green Day there, Regina Spektor, and now She & Him, all amazing. So She & Him, if you don't already know is comprised of Zooey Deschanel ( dunno if right spelling to lazy to check) and M Ward. They met during a film I believe and made a song together and then it just worked with them so they made more awesome music!

The video above is of Zooey singing I put a spell on you , a cover, like most of their songs are, or some. It is so nice hearing her voice, not everyone likes it but some do and she is adorable with her dress and dancing. During the concert she kept talking in between songs but no one could hear her! Eventually someone yelled out at her to speak up and then she spoke the rest of the night and was very funny and a little bit awkward.

The songs were all really nice live too. There was an interesting opening act which was these two blonde sisters and a guitar and banjo. They had amazing soothing voices, that reminded me of the sixties. No electrical instruments in the back.

There were a lot of interesting people standing around me and my sister too. They were all having interesting conversations or not talking at all but they were fun to watch during the long standing waits between opening act and She & Him and before the opening act. Lots of waiting around but such a beautiful theater that everyone HAS TO GO TO. RIGHT NOW GO TO THE WEBSITE AND SEE IF THERE IS ANYONE YOU WANNA SEE AND GET GENERAL ADMISSION there is also a bar! http://www.thefoxoakland.com/

There were two encores, and most people seemed to leave after the first encore but we were smart and got to get closer to the stage after some people left for the next encore, which has the song above in the video. The best part. okay then goodnight!

Video of the Day

Last One Tonight I promise

A Quote plus more videos

just something to think about : "Lust begets lust, begets lust, begets lust- over and over again. That was the thrill of it." John Irving, A Widow for One Year. He is my favorite author. Now more short videos.

some stoked screaming right there " wooooooo

Some Short Videos of Joe Cocker and Tom Petty

Almost Forgot about Tom Petty!

Oakland Arena with an A's game going on next door. June 5 2010

Here to your left is a badly fuzzy picture of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Joe Cocker Opened for them.

Joe Cocker: I only knew about him because he sang a song in the film Across the Universe directed by Julie Taymore. It was the cover of the Beatles song Come Together of course. He did more Beatles covers and other songs that all were very entertaining and rocking! It was great that at the last beat of every song he would do a little hop with the last bang on the drum set to show he was not too old to rock out!!! He also had many females in the band with him. There were two lovely backup singers that were dancing with soul with each song. There was also a woman playing maybe some kind of electric guitar ( sorry I am bad with what kind of guitar) but it was awesome to watch. It was a solid good performance before Petty came out!

Every part of the show was perfect. I was worried that Tom Petty was going to play mostly new songs from their new album but they said at one point that the rest of the show was just going to be hits. And I knew all of them pretty much or really enjoyed ones I did not know before.

Setlist:

Kings Highway

Listen to Her Heart*

I Won't Back Down *

Free Fallin' *

Oh Well ( Fleetwood Mac cover)

Mary Jane's Last Dance*

Drivin' Down to Georgia

Breakdown*

Jefferson Jericho Blues

First Flash of Freedom

Running Man's Bible

I Should Have Known It

Good Enough

Learning to Fly*

Don't Come Around Here No More*

Refugee*

Encore : Runnin' Down a Dream *, Mystic Eyes (Them cover), American Girl *

What was even more entertaining was these late 20s to early 30 year old guys sitting in front of us ( or standing). They were hell of stoked for this show. After every single song they would yell and high five each other. They just could not believe they were seeing what seemed like God playing in front of them on this sacred stage in Oakland. It was quite magical with the different scenery on stage behind the band too.

Short Video to come...

sorry it's been a while

okay I will try to add something to this every day for the next few weeks because I have not really been doing much so ...

PAUL MCcARTNEY CONCERT IN AT & T PARK SAN FRANCISCO : ABSOLUTELY FANTASTICALLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!

Below is a video of Paul singing All My Loving a Beatles Classic:

I was very worried or much expected that he would sing mostly his own songs after the Beatles, of which I don't like as much or know. But the ones that he did that I hadn't heard before were very rocking! He also sang much more Beatles than I thought he would.

He was also very adorable, it was like he was still in his 20s, not that I knew him then but I have seen videos. After the fireworks, he kept putting his fingers in his ears and mouthing : "too loud" and shaking his head. He just kept saying random things about San Francisco and so much love from him and joking around. I am very honored to have seen a Beatle perform, if you ever get the chance to see this guy, try your hardest to do so!

There was also a woman sitting in front of me and my family, that apparently saw the Beatles last time they came to SF, she was very talkative and excited!

The Setlist :

Venus and Mars

Rock Show

Jet

All My Loving*

Letting Go

Got to Get You Into My Life*

Highway (The Fireman cover)

Let Me Roll It

Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)

The Long and Winding Road - ( not my favorite Beatles song but good performance)

Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

Let 'Em In

My Love

I'm Looking Through You *

Two of Us

Blackbird *

Here Today

Dance Tonight (cute song)

Mrs Vandebilt

San Francisco Bay Blues

Eleanor Rigby (very nice) *

Something

Sing the Changes (The Fireman cover)

Band on the Run

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ( my dad wanted this one played and it surprised us all that it was ! )

Back in the USSR

I've Got a Feeling

Paperback Writer

A Day in the life / GIVE PEACE A CHANCE ( John Lennon of course) it was a great moment for John

Let it Be

Live and Let Die ( AMAZING SPECTACULAR FIREWORKS SHOW) picture above

Hey Jude ( of course)

Encore: Day Tripper, Lady Madonna, Get Back,

Encore 2: Yesterday, Helter Skelter ! * , Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ( reprise)

The End ( a song?)

Sex and The City 2 movie review

I know this is kind of a weird or even uninteresting thing to talk about to start out with but it was the first entertaining thing I did this summer so.

I went to my friend's mom's Sex and the City birthday party. Which included going to a bar in San Francisco and then going to a theater to see this sequel to Sex and the City the movie.

The movie was a big theater full of girls dressed up in dresses that seemed to all of had a few cocktails before the film. So they were very excited at every little joke in the movie. This made the movie really entertaining, which it was no question. It was still a little bit ridiculous.

It randomly had the girls going off to some country far away and spending some time there even though Carrie was having marriage problems. They were able to just leave for a few days and she ran into an old flame which was weird.

The movie was very long, like the first one. I think they should have just left it with the first movie because that was a lovely movie.

I liked the first movie because it went through all the seasons. It had Halloween, New Years Eve, and even Valentines Day was in there. It had ups and downs and then a good conclusion.

But if you like watching these actors running around in their flashy clothes and silly sex jokes then you will love it!

Goodnight, I will have something better than this later, I Promise

if anyone cares to read.

-Anya