Random Thoughts

WFC Micronesia: Who I Am

This documentary short is on Youtube.

It’s more of an American film than a Micronesian film, but it’s about a “student missionary” (?) who’s stationed in Micronesia. (He wanted to go to South Korea or China or basically anywhere in that area, but (surprise surprise) those places were too racist to accept him, so he ended up in Pohnpei.)

I suspect that this may have been produced as an inspirational video for other “missionaries”, and as such I think it’s probably successful? It’s shot pretty well, and the editing is mostly fine, but there are some really awkward bits, too.

So, I dunno. It’s a kinda pointless thing to watch.

Who I Am. Andrew Lloren. 2015. Micronesia.

Flaming Coconut

a whole fresh drinking coconut
pineapple juice
dark rum

Chop the top off the chilled coconut. Pour some of the coconut juice out and pour pineapple juice and dark rum into it. Dry the top of the coconut and dab some rum over it. Light the rum on fire. Douse the fire and then serve with a straw.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC Nauru: Nauru 1973

Nauru has the

Bizarrely enough, when I looked it up on the tablet (to do the balcony die shot shown below), Youtube claims that the film is unavailable, but it shows it just fine on Linux…

Anyway, it’s a home movie? What can I say?

Nauru 1973. Unknown. 1973. Nauru.

Nauru Iced Coffee

ground coffee
water
milk
sugar
rum

Pour the coffee and the cold water into a container and stir. Let sit at room temperature for eight hours. Filter the coffee. Pour into an ice-filled glass, about half-way up. Add sugar, milk and rum to taste.

I added the rum to the recipe.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC South Sudan: Ten Minutes is Two Hours

I found this on Vimeo. Finding films from South Sudan isn’t easy, and this is more of an American experimental/documentary short than South Sudanese (that’s a word, right?) film. But it’s shot in South Sodan, so

I liked the film: It’s inventive and affecting, but I also wonder what the people who appeared in it would think about it. It seems like they might be assuming that they’re appearing in a straight-up documentary, and instead it’s a … I’m not sure what. Exploitative experiment? A personal psycho-drama? Just farting around?

The film-maker is talented, though.

Ten Minutes is Two Hours. Patrick Kennelly. 2013. South Sudan.

Kerkede

hibuscus flowers
sugar
rum

Soak 1 part of hibiscus flowers in 2 parts of room temperature water for three hours. Add six more parts of water and 1 part sugar (or according to taste). Pour into an ice-filled glass and add rum to taste. Stir until cold.

I added the rum to the recipe.

The cold-brewed hibiscus certainly gives it a smoother taste than the other hibiscus drinks I’ve been concocting from this region.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC Oman: Operation Oman

I found this documentary on Amazon, and it’s really more of a British film than an Omaranian (that’s a word, right) film. But

It’s a straight-up propaganda film about scrappy, idealistic British mercenaries (and soldiers? the film is vague on that point) protecting Oman (and thereby, the rest of the world) from the spread of evil, eeeeevil Communism.

It’s not very effective as propaganda goes, I think, because it’s so ham-fisted: The only voices we hear are British. I mean, literally.

Operation Oman. Tristan Ofield. 2014. Oman.

Mint Lemonade

lemon juice
simple suryp
water
mint leaves
rum

Run everything through a blender with ice. Pour into a glass.

(The original recipe was without the rum.)

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC Tajikistan: سکوت‎‎

I guess this is more of an Iranian film than a Tajikistani (that’s a word, right?) film, but

And, wow! What an unexpected delight! An honest-to-goodness avant garde film! Yay! If I had known that this was an Iranian film, this wouldn’t have come as such a surprise, seeing as Iran is really the cultural power house of the region.

I don’t know whether the actors are purposefully stiff or whether they’re just not, er, actors, but the stilted quality lends a further sheen to the strange proceedings. Very Bressonesque.

But to be honest, most of the film I was going “Don’t fuck it up! Don’t start making ‘sense’!” And it almost made it all the way; deliciously obscure. If it had only stopped before the very last scene, which was hokey in all the wrong ways.

But it’s otherwise riveting.