Random Thoughts

I couldn’t find any Ugandan DVDs, so this is from the Youtubes.

As this er edition of the film explains, the director didn’t have any expectations of people outside his city seeing this film: It’s more of a fun hobby project than something meant for the general public, I think.

I thought it had an interesting quirk in that there’s a voiceover breaking in all the time making fun of the film: Kinda like Mystery Science Theatre 3000. But these are apparently made by a “video joker”? VJs talking over films is apparently a thing on Youtube? Oh, VJ Emmie just said “You are watching Who Killed Captain Alex and the first VJ in English. Ever. From Wakaliwood: This is how we enjoy movies in Uganda”.

I think it’s clear that the director is talented, and I was entertained while watching this. Lively editing. But it is, perhaps, a stretch to call it a good film. So:

Who Killed Captain Alex?. Nabwana I.G.G.. 2010. Uganda.

Pineapple Buganda

• 4 parts pineapple
• 1 part brown sugar
• 2 parts milk
• 2 parts light rum
• some vanilla extract

Run through a blender with ice cubes. Pour into a glass and garnish with pineapple chunks.

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

Oops! My research department has let me down. Again! This isn’t a Ghanese film: The director is Werner Herzog (not from Ghana), it’s based on a novel written by Bruce Chatwin (not from Ghana) and starring Klaus Kinski (not from Ghaha).

But it’s filmed in Ghana, allegedly.

Anyway, I didn’t realise that the Herzog/Kinski partnership continued into the late 80s. In many ways, this feels like a throwback to the 70s… not that that’s a bad thing, really. It makes me want to look up their films that I’ve missed. Hmmm… Oh, they’ve only made five films together?. And I’ve seen them all.

As expected, it’s a strange, feverish film with great cinematic moments surrounded by amorphous scenes. I don’t think it’s one of Herzog’s most successful films. After the first third it kinda meanders and weaves and boobs… I mean bobs.

Cobra Verde. Werner Herzog. 1987. Ghana.

The Midnight Rum

• 2 parts white rum
• 1 part grenadine
• 4 parts coke

Stir the rum and grenadine in a glass. Add ice and coke.

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

I mean, I don’t really know German, but the dialect they’re talking here is even less comprehensible than usual.

Anyway, it’s a kinda old-fashioned film. An “issue” movie. The issue this week is: Is putting too much pressure on a child prodigy a good idea?

(I’ll let you guess the answer.)

It’s all a bit uninspiring. Pedestrian cinematography, plodding actors and an eye-roll-inducing plot. It’s not completely charmless, though.

It wasn’t obvious at the beginning, but I think it tries to aim at making a mad-cap feel-good fantasy, but it’s all so plodding.

It’s at least three hours too long.

Vitus. Fredi M. Murer. 2006. Switzerland.

Swiss Cocktail

1 part Dubonnet red 1 part kirsch

Shake with ice and strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

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

I knew there was going to be a number of Youtube films as I got close to the end of this blog series, because there’s a number of countries where either no “commercial” films have been made or none have made it out of the country.

So I was originally planning on doing as many long-form films as possible and then doing a sweep of the rest of the countries via Youtube at the end (I guesstimate that this’ll be about 25 films), but then I thought: Why not start now?

So this is the first youtubian thing; you can watch it here.

Speaking of Youtube, while searching for films there, I stumbled onto a number of these things. Apparently this group of people have uploaded 90 minute films for all film names that exist on IMDB or something, under a plethora of user accounts. They’re all the same extremely low bandwidth thing (presumably to save on upload time), and virtually none of them have any viewers.

Still, this sort of Youtube spam must… somehow… be worth something for somebody…

It boggles the mind.

Anyway! Zambia! Imiti ikula.

This is a documentary short. It’s shot very stylishly, and it’s heartbreaking.

Imiti ikula. Sampa Kangwa, Simon Wilkie. 2001. Zambia.

Lady Passion

• 4 parts gin
• 2 parts Triple Sec
• 2 parts lemon juice
• 2 parts simple syrup
• 1 part passionfruit juice

Shake with ice and strain into an ice-filled glass. Top up with soda.

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

Part XIV In The Quest To Watch Films Via Amazon Video:

So, I couldn’t use my large Ipad to watch these films, because the Amazon app didn’t allow screenshotting. (So very DRM.) And besides, the Apple screenshotting thing is really, really annoying: Flashing the screen and all that. (It’s a very typical Apple thing: Create an interface that makes you go ‘whoa’ the first time you see it, and that makes you want to kill everybody who’s ever worked at Apple the tenth time you use it: Optimised for the showroom.) Using an external HDMI thing wasn’t an option either, because then the Ipad is just a remote, and no screenshotting at all is possible.

So: Android.

*sigh*

On the good side: Android has excellent third-party screenshotting apps (I use Screenshot Touch) that are convenient to use and are completely non-obtrusive. Getting the screenshots off of the devices is also trivial: I settled on old-skool polling via FTP with FTPServer because that’s just the least amount of setup necessary.

So I touch the screen on the Android device, and it magically appears in this Emacs on the laptop.

So that’s all nice… But then there’s the question of getting stuff from the small Android devices to my big TV. So we’re talking MHL or Slimport USB to HDMI adapters. And here the pain begins.

There’s at least four incompatible “standards” for this stuff. My phone supports Slimport, and my Sony Xperia Z4 tablet allegedly supports five pin MHL adapters. So, naturally, I first bought an 11 pin adapter, which doesn’t work on either device, and then I researched more and bought a five pin adapter, which doesn’t work on either devices, and then I bought a Slimport adapter, which works on my Blackberry Android phone. But only if the HDMI cable is less than three meters. Which it isn’t.

And I needed a solution stat, because Easter is approaching and I wanted to watch a ginourmous number of films over Easter. So I broke down and bought yet another Android device: The absurd 18 inch Galaxy View “tablet”, no longer in production because nobody bought it, because it’s absurd. And had it FedExed here, and it arrived in time!

This is the first film I’m watching on this device, and I have to say that it’s better than I expected. It’s only 1080p, so there’s not a lot of pixels, but… it’s fine. The screen is very reflective, though, so I spent much of this dark film staring at my own face, admiring my new hairdo. (And, no, none of the three MHL/Slimport adapters worked at all for this device.)

Modern life is so complicated!

Anyway, I really liked the pacing and slightly off-centre way of developing the storyline in this film. You never quite know where it’s going. And the actors are pretty good, but somehow it didn’t quite connect with me.

Loved the poetry thing at the end.

Munyurangabo. Lee Isaac Chung. 2007. Rwanda.

“The Starter” – Kigali Mélange

• 1 slice of fresh papaya
• 3 cl coconut nectar
• 6 cl tequila
• 3 cl Grand Marnier
• 9 cl guava purée
• juice of half a lemon

Muddle the papaya with the coconut nectar. Add the other ingredients and shake with ice. Strain over a salt-rimmed, ice-filled glass. Top off with soda.

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