Women Filmmakers

Charlotte forwarded to me this extremely interesting article about women filmmakers and the perpetual glass ceiling that floats just above them, still. The topic is, as you can imagine, very relevant to me and a lot of my talented female friends.

When was the last time you watched a film by a female director? Can you recall a single female director off the top of your head? How about after thinking for a bit? Are you resorting to google at this point?

Something to think about...

Filmmaker Ela Thier

Excerpt:

"Twenty years later, I sit to write this letter, facing two shelves filled with over twenty screenplays. Modesty aside, I would need many pages to recount even a portion of the positive feedback that I've received over the years; the enthusiastic phone calls, the awards, the requests for meetings. A judge at the IFP Market told me that of the 150 scripts she read that summer, mine ranked among her top three favorites; another judge resigned in protest after the jury didn't select my script as one of their five finalists; a manager called to say that he couldn't get my script out of his head; an agent told me that my script had her laughing out loud; a producer of hit movies implored me not to revise my script because it was perfect. When I began to direct short projects, the response was the same: "Shorts this perfect are so rare, I just want to weep" was a comment I received from a festival director.

And yet, the past years were marked with tears and heartaches. One enthusiastic response after another would lead me to hope and end with a bout of weeping on my husband's shoulder. No matter how familiar and by now, routine, the disappointments would be, the tears would come each time. And after a good cry, or two, or several, I would get up, wipe my knees, and keep going.

I often tell other filmmakers who lose heart: when it comes to pass letters, you're in great company, from Van Gogh to the Beatles to Stephen King to J.K. Rowlings.

But the million dollar question remains, as one of my writing students asked after reading two of my scripts: "Why are these scripts not made? What better scripts could people possibly be reading?"

Eagle Creek

Hello, again!

Last week I learned that my knee was finally fit to use for adventuring, once again. Immediately I rang up my best hiking buddy, Theresa, and we made plans for a low-key hike out to Eagle Creek.

The weather called for rain showers and clouds but we trusted our hiking weather juju and sure enough, bright sunshine, warm breezes and cloudless skies greeted us at the trail head.

Sunshine plus blooming flowers equals butterflies! Why hello there, Senor Butterfly. Do you enjoy my macro settings? You are fuzzy! Whoa!




Shortly after we began our hike, we noticed this elaborate cairn in a dry creek bed off the trail. I'm not sure if it's supposed to signify anything specifically and research is not turning up interesting details. So, we'll assume it's an example of Oregonians being creative.





Of course it wouldn't be a hike in Oregon without some sort of waterfall along the trail! Stay tuned for more...





Another cairn along the trail. Imposing from this angle, no? It was actually only a few inches off the ground. This is an example of my artsy skillz! I fooled you, didn't I?!?




Parts of the trail were a bit desert-like. I love this picture because you can see the beams of filtered sunlight peeking in at the top-right corner. Pretty!




The trail was a bit treacherous if you're not a fan of heights and dizzying cliff drops. Theresa stands with her feet firmly planted along the rock wall. I take a different approach.



OMG another waterfall! Check out that picturesque setting. Oregon is really beautiful, did you know that?



Yo, Theresa!



The work of a very creative caterpillar or amusing hikers? You decide!




To cross the stream to get to Grandma's house, you have to jump from chocolate chip cookie to chocolate chip cookie. Where's the toll house? Ha!




A few miles in, we took a lunch break on the banks of the stream and contemplated dipping our toes in the water. Look how cool and sparkly that water is!




Someone created a little path of rocks out to the middle of the stream so that you could peek around the cliff for a waterfall surprise without getting your feet wet. How thoughtful! Check me out, I walk on water, did you know?




So does Theresa. Theresa, why aren't you smiling? I swear she had a good time!



Ah ok, there's her smile. This is our new hang out, we've decided. Did you know that boulders actually take pretty good pictures?



On our way back up to the trail. We pause for a breath and because these flowers are too pretty not to document.




This is Theresa, looking a little hot from all the hiking. Hey Theresa, how about you scramble up some of the rocks along the creek to cool off a bit in the spray? I'll stay back here to document your journey.


Theresa: "That sounds like a good idea. Hmm, let's see how to do this.." hop.. hop..



Hop-WHOOAAAA!! *splash*



Well, that's one way to cool off, I guess! Do you like how I took a picture at the exact moment things went wrong? I take pics first, ask if you're OK later! (She was fine, btw.)




Let's consult the judges on that graceful mid-air 180 maneuver that resulted in drenching our friend:


Judge number one liked it! Look at that score!


Ooh not so much love from judge number two. It's going to be hard to compensate for those thumbs down in the next round. Can judge number three save her score?


Hmm, perhaps not. That's a bit on the low side for what we'd expect. Better luck next year, Theresa!



Ok, enough fooling around! Wring out your jacket and let's get back to hiking!



Quite a bit later we're still laughing as we encounter a change in the trail that nearly gave us vertigo!



But there were lovely little cacti blooming among the rock slides! This is where we turned around as planned - the trail changed from an "easy" rating to "moderate" and I didn't want to push my knee too much (also Theresa's socks were squishy.)



Nearly back to the trail head, I paused to cool off in a little spring. So refreshing!



Along the road back to the car - such pretty flowers!

All together we hiked about 6 miles. Not too shabby!

The End.

American Gothic

Over Memorial Day weekend, Kenneth and I drove out to Ft. Stevens near Astoria. Scroll back a few entries for pictures of Ft. Stevens, itself! We hit the beach for a bit in attempts to stage a modern take on American Gothic (without the frowny faces). Normally gloomy, the coast turned out to be experiencing an early summer preview and we had lots of sunshine - great for morale, not so great for portraits. We'll go back on a cloudy day but in the meantime please enjoy our "first draft" portrait, complete with shadows (somewhat removed in Photoshop) and squinty eyes.

Hello, again.

Sorry I've been away for a bit! I haven't been hiking at all in the past month or so as I injured my knee (from TOO much hiking, go figure.)

In the meantime, here is an at-home project I worked on. Being out of work really gives you a lot of time for such things.

Check out our new kitchen!


Before:

We think the previous owners went to a bargain paint sale and picked up the $1 per gallon junk because this color is just hideous. I don't even think hospitals would want to use it! Is it green? Brown? Yellow? Who knows?


After:

Pretty much any color would be an improvement but I'm very happy with how this turned out.

Hello, again! After a few weeks of bad weather, bad timing and general scheduling difficulties, my hiking buddy Theresa and I were finally able to get back on the trails.

We drove out to Cascade Head on the coast which is just outside Lincoln City. Cascade Head is not only the winter home of a local elk herd but is also a spot where extremely rare wildflowers can be found. Alas, it was a bit too early in the season to spot many flowers but we did interact with some wildlife! This was a 6.8 mile hike with 1300 ft elevation gain. Much of that gain occurred during a short stretch, fast enough that our ears popped on the way up and down.

Almost immediately we came across the elk herd in a field near the trailhead. We quietly peeked at the animals and took pictures but they all turned to stare at us.

"Um, yeah this is our turf."

A few moments later it was like a silent signal went out between them to be wary of us strangers. As if on cue, they all stood up to face the largest elk (I assume the male of the group.) It seemed as though they were waiting for instructions. We decided to leave them alone!


The trail climbed through an old growth forest with Sitka spruce lining the path. Early spring makes everything a vibrant, fluorescent green! The skunk cabbage was blooming and so the entire forest had a slight stinky odor mixed in with the sweeter smell of the wildflowers. Skunk cabbage look like alien plants!

Feed me, Seymour!!

The older spruce canopy gave way to smaller-branched trees that formed arches over the walkways. The path had some really lovely bridges spanning small streams and mini waterfalls.

Theresa crosses a stream.

We didn't see many of the famous wildflowers but we were just in time to greet the Trillium!

Playing with new filter effects and macro settings.

Eventually we came out of the forest to a breathtaking open expanse overlooking the ocean. I of course was inspired to spin like Maria in the hills.

The hills. They are alive with the sound of music.
Too much spinning...

Now, this is where the REAL hike began. The trail led through an open field atop an enormous cliff and climbed rapidly. Our ears popped every few minutes and we had to pause for breaks very frequently. This gave us a chance to grab some nice scenic shots though!

Taking a breather. Can you see the path where we started in this picture? Here, I'll zoom in and point to it for you:

Yeah. One heck of a climb!

Here's another part of the path behind us as we climb further up.

My turn for a breather!

That is quite a long way down!

Snail crossing! He reminded us to take it slow and steady.

Finally we reached the upper viewpoint and continued our climb ABOVE the cloud bank!

Just beyond the upper viewpoint the trail dove back into the woods for a spooky, misty trek that could inspire many ghost stories:

Nope, not a ghost this time. just Theresa.

Theresa thought this looked like a triceratops in the ground. Very interesting patterns in the forest!

The trail ended on an old logging road and we headed back down the path the way we came. For the record, it took us about 3 hours to climb to the top and only 1 hour to get back down!

Entering the lower forest again we came across a deer relaxing in the brush.

"What?"

It didn't seem to mind me taking its picture but eventually it got up and crossed to a higher and more hidden area.

"Geeze, can't I eat in peace? I'm going home."

As if that weren't enough wildlife for one day, on the way back to the trailhead we discovered that the elk herd had moved further inland, merely steps from the trail.

"I've got some elk, here..."

"Yeah, me too!"

"Sigh. Anges, they're back again."

To cap off a pleasant day, we took a detour home and stopped at a small public beach because you can't go to the coast without stepping onto the sand! Theresa, always prepared, happened to bring a kite. WIN!

There's something very Oregon about flying a kite in misty, rainy weather. The kite is a bit incongruous with the clouds but in a pleasing, mysterious way!

The End.