Univ of Pittsburgh - German Film series
Langley A221 at 7:00 on Mondays. Langley is on Tennyson across from the Holiday Inn. They are free and open to the public.
Klassenfahrt (School Trip)
Henry Winckler, 2002, 86 Min.
IN 1709 16mm
During a class outing to a Polish seaside resort, shy Ronny and a Polish youngster vie for a girl's attention. Their rivalry comes to a tragic end in a test of courage. Winckler’s intuitive feeling for compulsive film images and realism without generalizations or stereotypes make this a must see film
2/4 Cafe Scientifique Pittsburgh: Our Improbable Universe
Speaker: Dr. Mike Mallary, physicist and Research Staff Senior Member at the
Seagate Research Center in Pittsburgh
Topic: Our Improbable Universe (based on his 2004 book of the same name;
see ImprobableUniverse.com)
Date and Time: Monday, February 4, 2008, at 7:00 PM at the Penn Brewery
Ever stop to consider how unlikely it is you're here, now, doing what you are
doing? Our "ordinary existence" is really extraordinary. From the most practical
point of view, we really are "star children": the iron in the blood of our veins
originated in a stellar explosion billions of years ago. How likely is it that
all the myriad conditions for life would come together so precisely? Dr. Mike
Mallary will lead us through the "Fourteen Stepping Stones"--"properties of our
universe that were required to be the way they were for the Big Bang to have
produced anything like us." Please join us as we start up Cafe Sci again now
that the holidays are over and explore this fascinating topic.
Café Scientifique Pittsburgh
www.cafescipgh.org
2/5 Aung Thwin, director of the Burma Project/Southeast Asia Initiative of the Open Society Institute, will deliver a lecture, titled “Musings on the Saffron Revolution: Is There Hope for Burma?” at 7 p.m., 4130 Posvar Hall, 230 Bouquet St., Oakland. This event is part of the Global Issues Lecture Series. For more information, contact Veronica Dristas at 412-624-2918.
2/6 Duquensne University, Ballroom, 3 PM
Free Theather performance, pretty funny, very pittsburgh
Written and Directed by Kimberly C. Ellis, Ph.D., the ensemble production is an intergenerational celebration of the Civil Rights Movement; and is loosely based on the "Raise Your Hand! No Casino on the Hill Campaign" and the Community Benefits Agreement Movement for full and proper reinvestment for the Hill District community from the Pittsburgh Penguins, the City and the County.
The play was recently named "one of the Top 20 Best Shows in the City of Pittsburgh for 2007" by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, out of 125 productions.
Kimberly C. Ellis, Ph.D. / Dr. Goddess is a member of the Hill Faith and Justice Alliance and supporter of the One Hill CBA Coalition. She has been nominated for a Pittsburgh Hip Hop Award for "Mover and Shaker of the Year", "Best Journalist/Writer of the Year" and "Best Poet of the Year". Fellow cast members, Richard Hutchins is nominated for "Best Male R & B Singer" and Ezra Smith is nominated (and competing with Dr. Goddess for) "Best Poet of the Year".
website
2/6 Mark Courtney, a professor at the University of Washington, will deliver a lecture, titled “Building a Profession for Social Justice or Picking Up the Scraps? Whither Social Work in the 21st Century?” at noon, 2017 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. This event is part Pitt’s School of Social Work’s Lecture Series. For more information, contact Rosie Rinella at 412-624-6337.
2/6 Elizabeth Bartman, president of the New York Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, will deliver a lecture, titled “Portraits of Barbarians in Roman Art,” at 4:30 p.m., 313 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. This event is sponsored by Pitt’s Department of Classics and the Archaeological Institute of America, Pittsburgh Society. For more information, contact Edwin Floyd at 412-624-4483.
2/6 Poet Ellen Bass will deliver a reading at 8:30 p.m. in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, 650 Schenley Dr., Oakland. This event is part of the Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series. For more information, contact Jeff Oaks at oaks@pitt.edu.
Wed Feb 6, 7-9 PM
Chinese Movie at Univ of Pittsburgh, Bellefield Auditorium
Shiqi sui de dan che (2001)
Beijing: young men in packs, machismo, class divisions, violence, and indifference. Guei arrives from the country: toothbrushes, hotel foyers, and Qin, a rich neighbor in high heels, dazzle him. He gets a job as a messenger. The company issues him a bike, which he must pay for out of his wages. When it is stolen, Guei hunts for it. A student, Jian, has it; for him, it's the key to teen society - with his pals and with Xiao, a girl he fancies. Guei finds the bike and stubbornly tries to reclaim it in the face of great odds. But for Jian to lose the bike would mean humiliation. The two young men - and the people around them - are swept up in the youths' desperation.
Web Feb 6, 8 PM
Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 op. 19 – Ian Chow, soloist
Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, first movement
Bellefield Hall Auditorium, free
Dept of Music
Wed Feb 6, 9-11 PM
Chinese Movie at Univ of Pittsburgh, Bellefield Auditorium
Kaiwang chuntian de ditie (2002)
This movie is definitely not for everyone. The pace is kept deliberately slow, there are very few fast scenes, and the music contributes well to the mood. The actors are decent - nothing extraordinary, but they do a good job with the given script. Xu Jinglei provides nice eye candy. However, the real value of the movie in my view is that it depicts fairly well a young couple who have been together for seven years and the gradual arrival to the point where they feel the passion is lost. My wife felt the premise is not terribly realistic. While we disagreed on that, we both agreed that the silence, mind-games, and guessing each other is depicted very faithfully. Personally, I've met quite a few couples in China who are very similar to the protagonists in this movie. My only criticism is really a quibble. However, occasionally the movie depicts imaginary sequences, especially in the beginning. While these are used to good effect, they made me question most of the scenes later on, whether they were real or just someone's imagination. All in all, still, I'd give it a 7/10. It's an honest film about a young couple in contemporary China.
Thu Feb 7, 4 PM
Univ of Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh will host a lecture by Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Chris Hondros, at 4 p.m. Feb. 7, Room 501, Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. The free and public lecture, titled “Walking Into a War Zone: Global Conflict in Images,” will chronicle Hondros’ experience photographing many of the major global conflict zones, including Kosovo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Lebanon, Liberia, and Iraq.
His photographic work frequently appears in the media, including profiles by CNN, “The Boston Globe,” “NPR,” “Smithsonian magazine,” and the “Virginia Quarterly Review.” His photography has appeared on the covers of such magazines as “Newsweek” and “The Economist,” and on the front pages of most major American newspapers, including “The New York Times,” “The Washington Post,” and the “Los Angeles Times.”
Hondros is a recipient of the U.S. Agency for International Development Photojournalism grant and completed a Pew Fellowship for International Reporting at Johns Hopkins University. His awards include multiple honors from World Press Photo in Amsterdam, the National Pictures of the Year Competition, the Visa Pour L’Image in France, and the John Faber Award from the Overseas Press Club in New York. In 2004, Hondros was a nominated finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography for his work in Liberia, and in 2006, was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal, war photography’s highest honor, for “exceptional courage and enterprise” for his work in Iraq.
Hondros earned his master’s degree in photojournalism at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communications. He is a photographer for Getty Images, an international photo agency, and has completed 10 tours of Baghdad.
The lecture is cosponsored by the Pitt’s Global Studies Program in the University Center for International Studies, Film Studies Program, and PITT ARTS, with additional support from Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
Thu Feb 7, 5-8 PM
Geek Night
meet the fellow geeks and talk about how horrible it is
Church Brew, Lawrenceville
free food apetizers, but the beer you gotta pay
Feb 7 - 7 PM
Frick Auditorium
Middle East film festival
"Four Women of Egypt" (Tahani Rached, 1997)
February 7, 8:30pm • Location TBA
SECUESTRO EXPRESS
Dir. Jonathan Jakubowicz • Venezuela - 2005
Cinema LatinoAmericano
In a night pregnant with a strange mix of tension and dizzy abandon, lovers Carla and Martin prowl clubs before drunkenly wandering back to his car. While he comes across as crass nouveau riche, she appears more liberal. Their conspicuous affluence, however, makes them ideal targets for kidnappers, and the trio of Trece, Budu and Niga gets a bead on them and promptly sweeps them up at gunpoint. The kidnappers then demand $20,000 to be delivered in two hours. Carla phones her rich father Sergio to procure the money, but chaos soon ensues. A botched ATM robbery is followed by a stopover at the palatial estate of a gay drug dealer.
Feb 8 - 7 PM
Frick Auditorium
Middle East film festival
"Mahmoud Darwich: As the Land Is the Language" (Simone Bitton, 1997)
Friday Feb 8, 7-9 PM
Chinese movie at Bellefield auditorium
Xue zhan Taierzhuang (1986)
The literal translation of the title of this movie is: the Bloody battle at the Village of Tai-Er.
This war movie, like most Chinese war movies, are based on the true story that really happened in real life. What makes this movie unique is that unlike previous denial or willful ignoring, for the first time in the history of post-revolutionary era Chinese film industry, the contributions of the nationalists, the enemy of communists, were accurately acknowledged by the Chinese governments. Everything in the movie was as realistic as possible, the real names of the generals, commanders were used, all the way down to the battalion level, and all the places had their original names. Taiwan purchased the copyright of this movie.
Friday Feb 8, 9-11 PM
Chinese movie at Bellefield auditorium
Fengkuang de shitou (2006)
Three thieves try to steal a valuable jade that is tightly guarded by a security chief. But the security guards are not the only obstacle these thieves are facing. An extremely unlucky internationally known master thief is also trying to get a hand on this piece of precious jade. What would be the final destination of this piece of crazy stone?
So far, the FOCUS: First Cuts series of movies have been rather mediocre. Taiwan's The Shoe Fairy was rather plain, Hong Kong's I'll Call You was concentrated too much on its effects, and Singapore's Love Story was just awful. The three aforementioned movies lacked a compelling story to tell, and I was holding my breath on how a movie titled Crazy Stone will present itself.
I bought into it, hook line and sinker, within the first ten minutes. The opening scenes were a class act in editing, presentation, with a mixture of humour, and wastes no time in introducing the ensemble characters of the movie - an ex-cop turned Chief Security Officer, his Toto-fanatical sidekick, the arrogant crony of an unscrupulous real estate developer, a skirt-chasing photographer, a trio of bumbling crooks, and a professional thief who just has no luck.
Directed by China's Ning Hao, Crazy Stone is one heck of a heist movie with deft touches in presentation. Never too flashy with its special effects, or repeating its non-linear narrative technique too often, it just about presents itself almost perfectly, keeping the audience constantly engaged throughout the movie. I can't finger a dull moment in any scene actually, and the real reward is when you pay attention to the little details, as these will be used at some point to deliver that awaited punctuation to the story. There're plenty of irony infused, which somewhat brings about certain pleasure in recognizing them. The sets are beautifully urban, and at times just plain ugly - the toilets just have to be seen.
The casts are a joy to watch, and although relative unknowns, they bring out just about the best in the story, which is something like a Spy Vs Spy, cat and mouse, cloak and dagger game between the protectors of a piece of valuable jade, and the crooks who want to steal it for the various motivations they have. The story's akin to the guessing game of correctly selecting which cup amongst three, is a coin hidden under, once the cups are shuffled randomly with sleigh of hand, and to the characters, presents itself like a huge maze, set to an eclectic soundtrack.
I don't get the opportunity to watch that many Chinese films (and here I mean those made in China), and I'd say that if this is how a heist movie can beat, in my opinion, some of the fare that Hollywood churns out in the same genre (not that they were fantastic, but I enjoyed them nonetheless), then I would be eagerly waiting for another Chinese movie from another genre proving itself to be amongst the best. This movie doesn't look expensive, and it's an apt reminder that it almost always boils down to the quality of the story, to make it a hit with a viewer.
As with the other First Cut movies, a touch of Andy Lau is included, and though he did not star in a cameo here, his song "Wang Qing Shui" was featured in part (I believe twice) in the movie, though only in passing, but enough to ID it.
Looks like his venture with these 6 films has uncovered a gem, and I'm secretly hoping the remaining films in this series - Malaysia's Rain Dogs (Yasmin Ahmad in a role you know?) and Hong Kong's Parental Guidance, will also prove to be as entertaining, and refreshing. Crazy Stone will go into my list as a contender for one of my favourite movies of this year. It's a pity it's only screening at ONE theatre in Singapore, so make every effort to watch it, soon!
Friday Feb 8 - 6 to 8 PM
Mellon Park - Center for the Arts
Art Gallery show (small donation requested)
Sat Feb 9 - noon to 5 PM
Union Project, Highland Park
I Made It craft show
Sat Feb 9 - 2:30 PM
run with the Hash House Harriers in Coraopolis
Sunday Feb 10 - 2 PM
Sunday arts series at the Carnegie Main Library - Oakland
Music performance by The Working Poor
Covering country from Circleville to Wilmington*, from a humid center of rolling hills, with rock n' roll songs born of the greater Pittsburgh land mass and waterways, chthonic, pagan responses to the vexing terrain and social climate of the area. Lo-fi rock n' roll, classic country ghosts, the folk blues ghosts of the ghosts, girl group high romance, late expressionism, comic old world poetry, desperate literature from urban dust.. We have recently lost our drummer Thad to cupid, visual art avenues and wanderlust. He is dearly missed as music collaborator and friend. he will always be with us, and his Circleville stamp remains all over our music. At the same time, we are tickled to welcome new percussion maestro Zach Harris, who recently stepped down from the drum throne of pop dynamos theTelefonics; one of our favorite bands and...it's a totally fam. affair, so welcome to new/old fam fatale Zach. 7000 cheers to both of these blokes. And best luck to Thad and his main partner in crime J. Mac in Chi town. Smooch smooch. All that said, we have a new EP for sale Eat the Middle Class. A popular music rip up. 6 of our best songs recorded and mixed live to stereo in the studio by our co-conspirator John Johnston(also of the Telefonics). The cd covers were handprinted by Third Termite Press.. one of the classiest outfits in Pittsburgh. Our third collaboration. Thanks Alisa. pick up your copy at Paul's, Desolation Row, the Big Idea, or contact us. *North to South from Erie to McClure. http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/bschles/My%20Webs/index.htm
band members
Alan Lewandowski (guitar,vocals),
Lee Smookler (vocals, rubber chicken and keys),
Brian Dean Richmond (bass, bass ale),
Greg Pierce (guitar),
Zach Harris (drum, percussion, tuned bells),
Thad Kellstadt (drums)
influences
Jack Teagarden,
Louis Armstrong,
Leadbelly,
Ma Rainey,
The Seekers,
the troubador tradition,
the Bumps,
Edna St. Vincent Millay
sounds like
Townes Van Zandt,
Jack Teagarden,
Barbara Lewis
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