Category: personal

7th International Film Festival Era New Horizons ‘2007

It’s been over a week since the 7th Era New Horizons Film Festival has ended. Same as last year, I’ve spent 11 days in the cinema. As always, the time has passed quicker that I could imagine. And as always, it was worth every second of it! Although I must say that the movies selection was not as good as that in 2006.

I’ve watched 51 movies. It was as much as one could watch as there were 10 regular festival days with 5 screenings a day plus the opening day with only one screening. I’ve spent about 1150 zł (circa 420$) on the whole festival (accreditation, accommodation, meals, etc.).

The best movies of the festival (TOP 10):

  1. Ostrov (2006)
  2. Gwoemul (2006)
  3. Niwemang (2006)
  4. Beneath Clouds (2002)
  5. Persepolis (2007)
  6. Sutra ujutru (2006)
  7. Look Both Ways (2005)
  8. Nuovomondo (2006)
  9. Walking on Water (2002)
  10. Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále (2006)

The worst movies of the festival (TOP 5):

  1. Nue propriété (2006)
  2. Kurz davor ist es passiert (2006)
  3. Hamlet (2007/III)
  4. Hei yan quan (2006)
  5. Extranjera (2007)

See you next year? Oh, and say no to French cinema! ;)

Express Kaszubski – my second public Rails app

Express Kaszubski, a local Kaszubian (that’s in Poland) newspaper has just recently decided to stop releasing its printed edition and move entirely to the web. It was my honour to accompany during this move. The online edition took about a month to create. It’s just a basic website at the moment. No comments, no RSS feeds, although the CMS behind the scenes is quite powerful. All in Rails, of course.

Here is the snippet:

Express Kaszubski

And if you haven’t noticed by now, it’s all in Polish.

Kania Lodge – my first public Rails project

To be honest, I’ve been a Rails programmer/enthusiast for quite a while now (something along 1.5 years; I think I’ve first downloaded it in July, 2005) but it’s only now that I can show you my first public project using this awesome framework. So without further ado, here it is, the Kania Lodge:

Kania Lodge

The Rails part on this website is the custom CMS that is backing it all up (based on RedCloth). Most of the hard work was with the design, though (Photoshop, etc.). I know it is a hardly original design as I’m not a full-time designer, yet I’ve done my best for it to look good. I’ve aimed for simplicity, cleanliness and good overall feel/aesthetics. Did I miss or am I right on the spot? :)

WP Movie Ratings featured on the WordPress Podcast

The team that creates the WordPress Podcasts decided that my WP Movie Ratings plugin is good enough to be featured in the newest episode, the 17th. I feel so honored I’m almost blushing. Go, listen to it. Now. There’s also a local copy you can download. The part about my plugin starts at 23:11.

Now as for my surname, I was aware it’s hard to pronounce it right but the way he read it… man, you’ve made my day! :)

Top 10 movies of 2006

Continuing from Top 25 music of 2006 and doing exactly the same for movies. Just like before. Here are the pictures that moved me deeply in 2006. They’ve shattered my mind, they’ve crushed my heart, they’ve made me laugh and they’ve made me cry my eyes out. They are all more than highly recommended.

  1. Bezmiar sprawiedliwosci (2006)
  2. Renaissance (2006)
  3. Plac Zbawiciela (2006)
  4. Syriana (2005)
  5. V for Vendetta (2005)
  6. Leben der Anderen, Das (2006)
  7. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
  8. Brick (2005)
  9. Inside Man (2006)
  10. United 93 (2006)

While I do highly enjoy watching foreign movies (see the TOP 3 aka the cream), my top 10 list consist of 6 USA-made productions. It’s just something that makes Hollywood movies so damn good. Is it money? Maybe the craftsmanship? Who knows. Point is they make them like no one other. And they are usually the best. Period. Although you are free to disagree :-)

Top 25 music of 2006

Just like last year – here are my favourite tunes of 2006!

  1. Largo – Tango Passion
  2. Randy Crawford – When I Get Over You
  3. Métisse – Boom Boom Ba
  4. Sharam – Patt (Party All The Time)
  5. Nelly Furtado – Say It Right
  6. The Jet Set – Just Call Me
  7. Ferry Corsten – Holding On
  8. Morandi – Love Me
  9. Bob Sinclair – World, Hold On
  10. Andru Donalds & Eugenia Vlasova – Wind Of Hope
  11. Therapy – Diane
  12. Pussycat Dolls ft. Snoop Dogg – Buttons
  13. Mory Kante – Yeke Yeke
  14. Kasia Cerekwicka – Na Kolana
  15. Arash ft. Aneela – Bombay Dreams
  16. Pati Yang – Reverse The Day.
  17. K-Maro – Les Frcres Existent Encore
  18. U2 & Green Day – The Saints Are Coming
  19. Chicane ft. Tom Jones – Stoned In Love
  20. Ivan i Delfin – Jej Czarne Oczy
  21. Ласковый Май – Белые Розы (Biełyje Rozy)
  22. Akcent – Kylie
  23. Malu – Fotonovela
  24. Shamur – Gonna Make it
  25. Long & Junior feat. DJ Wiesłaff – Bo Ja Tańczyc Chcę (Style Mix 2004)

It should be no surprise that half of those tunes come straight from my dance class.

31st Polish Film Festival ‘2006

It’s been a while now since the 31st Polish Film Festival has ended and I was kind of too busy to write anything besides the movie reviews from the festival but now the right time has come and here is my private summary of this event. It doesn’t matter that it’s been almost a month now since it has ended as it’s a purely personal entry.

6 days, 2 cinemas, 8 simultaneous screenings. I’ve seen only 22 movies, which makes an average of 3,66 movies per day. Not much, you might say, especially comparing it with the accomplishment at 6th Era Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival this year’s summer. This time, unfortunately, besides having a great time watching the movies I was also working. Both as a reporter and a photographer.

Here are my daily reports from the festival (in Polish):

and here are my pictures:

Now as for the festival, it is no surprise that I love Polish cinema. Even its less acclaimed works. That’s why there won’t be a list of TOP 5 worst movies. Not because I don’t want to write one, but because in my opinion none of the movies qualify to be there! Year after year movie critics all over Poland say that Polish cinema is at its knees and nothing good comes out. This is, of course, entirely not true as every year there are small masterpieces to watch. And here are this year’s best movies (according to my taste, of course):

The best movies of the festival (TOP 5):

  1. Bezmiar sprawiedliwości (2006)
  2. Z odzysku (2006)
  3. Przybyli ułani (2006)
  4. Jasminum (2006)
  5. Statyści (2006)

Outside of the competition is Leben der Anderen, Das (2006), which had a special screening at the festival. It would be my number two on this list as it’s a truly remarkable piece of work. But as the above list is Polish-only it’s not there.

And btw: I really do love Polish cinema very, very much!

Damn, I love imdb

I’ve just finished watching Silent Hill and I could swore I’ve almost understood it. Almost makes a difference, though. First thing I did was opening the imdb board for this movie. Surprise, surprise at the very top of the list is the post called Complete Guide to Understanding Silent Hill. After reading it (don’t do that if you haven’t watched the movie!) I’ve bumped the rating from 9 to 10 as this is truly an excellent work (and everything makes so much sense!). Not to mention that I was a little bit off from the true meaning of the story. At moments like this I really do love imdb.

6th Era Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival ‘2006

Era Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival is over. 11 days in the cinema have passed quicker than one could imagine. Two years ago I wrote a summary report (in Polish) of the 4th edition of the festival, which took place in Cieszyn. This year’s edition, the 6th, took place in Wrocław. Over 100,000 viewers, 675 showings, 522 movies out of which 120 had its first-night showing. 5 screenings a day in 14 cinema halls at the same time (sometimes it was very hard to choose the best available movie to watch).

So was it all worth it? Hell, yeah. I’ve had one of the greatest vacations in my life. It was the third film festival that I’ve attended and it was surely the best. Mainly because of the great titles that Roman Gutek (the organizer) managed to show to us (lots of titles were from the recently ended Cannes Film Festival).

Here are some of my personal statistics: 49 watched movies (5 out of 18 in the main competition, including La Sagrada Familia which has won by popular vote) which gives the average of 4,45 movies per day (that includes the first day that had only one screening of Volver). Most of the time I was able to watch 5 movies a day. I’ve spent about 1050 zł (circa 330$) on the whole festival (including accreditation, accommodation, meals, etc.).

The best movies of the festival (TOP 10):

  1. Plac Zbawiciela (2006)
  2. United 93 (2006)
  3. Doskonale popoludnie (2005)
  4. Slunecní stát (2005)
  5. Volver (2006)
  6. Ryna (2005)
  7. Jak to się robi (2006)
  8. Buena vida delivery (2004)
  9. Crónica de una fuga (2006)
  10. Enfer, L’ (2005)

The worst movies of the festival (TOP 5):

  1. Parapalos (2004)
  2. Leyenda del tiempo, La (2006)
  3. Picado fino (1996)
  4. Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (2005)
  5. Paheli (2005)

See you there next year!