Far left was Dorothy's house landing on the Wicked Witch of the West, whose legs you can see sticking out beside the Yellow Brick Road. I guess the sparkler was just for added visual punch. The next one in was a very clever diorama of a woman being burned at the stake, with little sculpted pumpkin-flesh logs in a pyre shape over an LED candle simulator. My team did a Frank Sinatra pumpkin, complete with a recording of "Witchcraft" playing from within. And the winner on the right was a cauldron that didn't require any extra props and utilized all parts of the pumpkin in very clever ways, including the guts as ooze boiling over the side. A very successful contest, over all.
After work, Ali and I went out for Thai food and a movie, in celebration of our anniversary. Mystery Train was playing for free at the Dalhousie Art Gallery, as part of an ongoing Jim Jarmusch film festival every Wednesday night. It was as good as I remembered it, but unfortunately someone neglected to turn on the English subtitles which are meant to accompany the storyline of two Japanese teenagers who visit Memphis, comprising the first third of the movie. As a result, sometimes you could tell what they were talking about, but other times there were long soliloquies where you could make up just about anything. I asked esteemed Halifax critic, Ron Foley MacDonald, the man in charge of the event, about the subtitles afterward, and he claimed there are none, and, more ridiculously, that Jim Jarmusch never puts subtitles in his films and that's half the fun of them. Remembering parts of some of the more soliliquizational bits from when I first saw the movie in the theatre some twenty years ago, I called his bluff and had him check the subtitles menu of the DVD we had just watched, only to see the options: 1. Italian, 2. French, and 3. None. I still haven't figured out what the heck happened, but I hope the problem is solved before they show Night on Earth next week! (Explanation for non-nerds: Night on Earth takes place in five different cities and contains dialogue in French, Italian, German, and Finnish.WUNH-waaahh!)
- Andrew
6 comments:
Wow! Those are amazing pumpkins. What talent. How long did your's take?
Eri.
We were all given half an hour, but I have to admit we ran a little late.
- Andrew
How could you possibly have carved Frank Sinatra in half an hour?! I can't figure out how you did it in the first place, I would have thought it would take hours! Very original ideas, they're all great, who has too judge such a tough competition?
Dana
Sorry Dad and I missed wishing you a Happy Anniversary. I'm sure you understand this past week has been unreal. Hope it was a great one. Talk to you soon.
Love Mum
Sorry to butt in on your blog....but I have to comment that Night on Earth will be good in any language, as I am sure you will agree and I need to ask: where do you work...?
Boss's wife and co-owner of the company (same person) judged it. She's an artist. I can't say that I agree Night on Earth would be good in any language, as it's definitely not my favourite of Jarmusch's films, and the whole movie is nothing but dialogue in enclosed spaces, with no possibility for action of any kind. I work at an ad agency, hence the creative pumpkins and general bitterness toward advertising.
- Andrew
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