Montana CINE International Film Festival in Missoula, Montana

If you will be in the Missoula, Montana are at the beginning of October and you are interested in issues that impact cultural preservation, nature, and the environment, then you may want to visit the 3rd Annual Montana CINE International Film Festival. This festival will be held on October 5, 6, 7, and 8, 2006, and it is hosted by the International Wildlife Media Center, the same people who put on the International Wildlife Film Festival. For more information on attending please keep reading.

What This Festival Is About

The 3rd Annual Montana CINE International Film Festival is a film festival that explores the cultural issues that impact nature and the environment. Issues like culture, conservation, politics, agriculture, urban sprawl, society, industry, and war will be discussed in regards to their impacts on the natural world. Activities will center on the festival’s mission of understanding these issues better as they relate to the health of the world’s ecosystems.

Events

Like the International Wildlife Film Festival, the Montana CINE International Film Festival will offer several venues of interest for both filmmakers and the public. Public screenings, discussions, workshops, outings, and parties will be scheduled for the festival’s attendees. Schedules for these events, as well as activity descriptions will be made available in mid-September.

The public screenings of the winning films entered in the CINE film festival will be shown at the Historic Roxy Theater. This theatre is located at 718 S. Higgins, Missoula, Montana. A list of times, film titles, and film descriptions will be available at http://www.wildlifefilms.org by mid-September.

Discussion and workshops will also be offered to festival attendees. These programs will focus on specific topics, and they will be moderated by an industry professional. Information about the discussions and workshops can also be found online at http://www.wildlifefilms.org, as information becomes available.

Parties and activities are also a highlight of this festival. These parties will be held at various locations around Missoula, and each will have its own unique theme, attractions, and activities. The festival’s parties are great for meeting with the filmmakers, meeting people who have an interest in environmental issues, and just experiencing western hospitality. Tickets for the parties can be bought at the Roxy Theater, or by contacting the CINE Festival coordinator.

Attending the CINE Film Festival

The price for attending the events held during the CINE Film Festival will vary depending on the type of ticket you buy, your age, and the event you want to attend. General Admittance tickets for viewing a screening will be $6 for adults, $5 for students with a valid student ID, $5 for seniors 65 and older, and $3 for children under the age of 12. If you would like to buy a day pass, which is good for attending all the workshops, discussions, parties, and screenings for a specific day, then the price will be $15. If you would like to just see the screenings during the festival you can purchase a screening pass for $25, which allow you to see as many screenings as you want during the festival. If you want access to everything during the festival then you can purchase a festival pass for $50. Finally if you want to buy a ticket to a specific event or party you will need to contact the Festival directly for prices.

Contact Information

If you have more questions, or if you would like to buy your tickets before the festival please contact the CINE Festival at:

Montana CINE International Film Festival
718 S. Higgins Ave.
Missoula, Montana 59801
(406) 728-9380 phone number
(406) 728-2881 fax number
iwff@wildlifefilms.org
http://www.wildlifefilms.org

The Scope of New York 2006 Art Fair

“Things have gotten so bad, lately, that people are in revolt against life itself.” – Kurt Vonnegut

There is art, and then there is…
That is the overwhelming sentiment guiding the omnivorous visitor as he meanders, craving enlightenment, up and down the cluttered corridors of the Scope New York 2006 art exhibition.

A hairy, overstuffed goon stands guard in one of the first stalls, his faceless head a reminder of the content (or not) that lies beyond the graffiti festooned portals, his celebrity a result only of his creator’s name. The walls are draped in an uneven, oriental-looking cardboard tapestry (one of the better pieces, by the way) offset by a pile of photographs leaning against a flimsy, badly whitewashed partition. These technically competent offerings just might snag the interest of the virginal visitor who has never glimpsed the works of Diane Arbus. A progression of wide yellow stripes on the concrete fortification adjacent to this opening scene were actually painted by the work crew, the same one that will tear a hole in it once the crowds have fully dissipated – so I am told by security personnel as I stare intently at the cement in search of meaning.

Three menacing, punkily clad, life-sized and high-powered-weapon wielding papier-mâché figures (secular Iraqi insurgents, perchance?) occupy a stage that warns the unwitting voyager of what is yet to come. A glance to the right reveals the disproportionate oral sex series, artfully done but equally artful in its lack of substance – an internet porn site must have inspired the proficient sketcher. Painfully distorted, tear stained puerile faces take up yet another space in oversized photographic zeal that may have been more appropriate in a magazine titled: “How to Deal with Your Spoiled Brats,” perhaps a suggestive subtitle for the whole Scope affair, as well.

A few labored steps forward and voila! The masterpiece unveiled: A crude oil rendering of a certain Nazi Chancellor fornicating with a swine to which an astute observer behind me, certainly just barely legal for barroom admittance, remarked enthusiastically: “Awesome!” Astonishing, indeed, was the “artist’s” audacity to present this image as though it possessed a single iota of originality or, the vaguest resemblance of simple forethought.

Few and far between were works from which one might, in fact, catch a glimpse of artistic talent coupled with a search for substance. A series of drawings with abstract geometric and topological qualities (vaguely reminiscent of Klee), a sequence of non-figurative paintings on wood and an excellent collection of acrylics inspired, in equal measure, by orchids and ancient Chinese technique were especially noteworthy. Nevertheless, the outright violence and wanton hostility of the great majority of regurgitated junk culture supplied by the “exhibitionists” helped make the experience one of indelible disgust. But what can one expect from a mindset that looks to Fear Factor and South Park for cultural direction? What can one say when artistic endeavor is pulverized to the obscene ogling of wretched lives alongside the elevation of hopelessness and topped with the idle pursuit of momentary gratification?

The old adage garbage in, garbage out seems to fit as snuggly as a lambskin glove the hands of these tots of trivia. Were there reason and rhyme for the outbursts of gratuitous cruelty disguised as art, then one might even be left to ponder. There are countless examples of art employing carnage as a mere medium to put forth a broader and more significant message. However, the absolute want of rationale seems to be exactly the point: “we are doing this because we can” is proffered in the true spirit of the spoiled adolescent who thinks he is entitled to something other than a swift kick in the rump.

Talent is never enough. Talent without core is a waste of time, space and energy for both spectators and artists. One would hardly praise Graham Greene for writing brilliantly tailored laundry lists. The hackneyed approach to pointless violence is neither a social statement nor a cultural observation; it is an excuse not to think for oneself; it is the scatterbrained copycatting of a devil-may-care, pseudo anti-intellectual pose popularized by the irresponsibly frivolous, make-believe world of the affluent strata. Random brutality exists in our society and it is the duty of art, as an ultimately human manifestation, to speak out against it, deterrent that it is to the evolution of our species, but never to trivialize and glorify it, so as to wind up co-opted by the same system that they, the self-proclaimed artists, pretend to despise.

<i>Seabiscuit</i>: A Fantastic Film for Any Type of Movie Viewer

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Seabiscuit is an inspirational film that stars Tobey McGuire in an even better acting job in my opinion that Spiderman. The film is great in the setup because it really tells about the history in the time which the film was meant to be set in. When the film describes the Great Depression Era that ordinary citizens had to suffer through, the film uses black and white picture with a background voice instead of using the actors' voice. 

The film starts off with the story of Tobey McGuire who plays the role of horse racing jockey Red Pollard. He started off by betting on horse racing and win. He then became a jockey. He has to work very hard to make ends meet as he races horses as has very little success initially. When he looses a race by the nose of a horse, he is beaten by the horse's owner and loses his job. 

The other ongoing story is that of Jeff Bridges, a wealthy man who starts off making his fortune in the car business. He is able to perfect the parts of a car and make it run better using the Model T engine. He is liked by the public and has a loving family. However, tragedy strikes when his son drives one of the cars and is killed by he runs into a ditch. Bridges' wife also passes away, causing him great sadness and grief. 

He closes his car business. His fortunes change when he meets a woman at a horse racing track and falls in love with her. On one night, he also meets a trainer in the woods, played by actor Chris Cooper. Cooper cares deeply about animals and knows how to take care of horses. He and Bridges' character, Charles Howard become good friends and Cooper helps Howard pick out a horse to buy. He settles on a horse named Seabiscuit who is a wild horse who a lot of attitude but has been unable to win any track races. 

Seabiscuits history is told by the film as a horse that was used as a training horse, to build up the self esteem of other horses by losing races on purpose by being held back on the track. When Cooper and Howard go looking for a jockey, Cooper finds Red Pollard who has attitude issues of his own after he has to walk a horse in order to get paid. 

Cooper immediately likes Pollard's attitude despite the fact that Pollard is a little too big to be a horse jackey.  Cooper is able to train Seabiscuit by having him roam free to see how long and how far he can go which amazes Cooper. Seabiscuit and Red Pollard are able to have some initial success. However, when Pollard looses a race by a close margin, Cooper finds out that Tobey McGuire is blind in one eye from his days as a fighter to earn money. 

Instead of getting a new jockey, Mr. Howard sticks with Pollard and makes him part of his family. Pretty soon Seabiscuit is winning races again and Mr. Howard is back in the public eye. To stir up some drama, Mr. Howard creates talk of a match race which is a one on one horse race. Mr. Howard wants Seabiscuit to face War Emblem, a horse that has won a triple crown. 

War Emblem's owner from New York feels that his horse is in an entirely different class than Seabiscuit and his horse is far superior. He denies all of Mr. Howard's requests for a match race even after Howard calls him out in the newspaper and radio. 

Mr. Howard enters Seabiscuit in all of the races that War Embled is on to try and get the two horses to race each other but War Emblem dropped out of all the races. Finally, the owner of War Emblem agrees to a match race. The horse racing track is to be opened to the public to accomodate the mass amounts of people who are anxious to see this show down. 

To prepare for the race, Cooper decides to retrain Seabiscuit from being a horse that would make a late surge towards the end of the race to being a horse that gets out of the gate quickly and gets a lead early in the race. They practice this at night with a fire engine bell so that the media doesn't notice their strategy for the big race. 

Days before the race, Red Pollard is approached by a friend of his asking if he could just ride his horse to get media attention since he is in desperate need of money. Pollard agrees but when he rides the horse, a car engine backfires, scaring the horse and causes Red Pollard to fall off the horse and break several bones. 

This makes him unable to ride Seabiscuit in the big race. Red Pollard's friend who is a fellow jockey is brought in to race Seabiscuit. On the big day of the race, the horse race is initially close. However, towards the end, Seabiscuit pulls ahead and wins by many strides. Seabiscuit goes on to win another race or two before the horse breaks a bone in its leg and is unable to race. 

Inspiration is gathered from Seabiscuit and Red Pollard as they learn to heal from their injuries and slowly return to racing form after everyone says that their racing careers are over. Seabiscuit and Red Pollard ride into the race with joy upon Tobey McGuire's face.

Seabiscuit is an inspirational film about overcoming the odds and challenges that life presents to you. It deals with the Great Depression and how it affected everyone in poverty. And it also deals with horse racing and how it is more than just a game where betting takes place. I loved this film and recommend it to any movie viewer.

The Best Baby Showers Gifts to Give

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When your friend announces the wonderful news of a new arrival the thought always turns to what you want to buy the baby that will be of most use. Having had my first baby and 2 showers I received several gifts that were total life savers and am forever in debt to the people who bought them.

The coolest thing I received was a Fischer Price Oceans of Wonder cradle swing, this is the best gift I could've ever asked for, it has 2 ways to swing, plays melodies has lights as well as 10 different speeds. I was able to use this from day 1 up until my little guy got 25 pounds. This was truly awesome as the baby was able to nap and the fish and lights held his attention long enough for mom to get housework done.

Diapers are always a great gift because parents go thru so many, the trick is to give a few packages in the larger sizes as many new parents receive so many smaller sizes and babies grow so fast. A case of diaper wipes is also helpful as they tend to last longer.

The Fischer Price Deluxe Jumperoo is also a great gift, the baby can start using around 4 months of age, it helps strengthen their legs and provides plenty of entertainment. I found this to be a great way to get a moment of peace when having a hectic day.

The Womb Bear is also great to help baby sleep at night, it makes the sound of a heartbeat and reminds baby of time spent in the womb.

Gift cards are also great as their are many last minute things that parents need or want, and can be used to buy many different things.


These are some great suggestions and good luck with the shopping