I'm not a Greenwood Seafair Parade patriot. Last year, I watched it for about 12 minutes before leaving to see Mudhoney at a KEXP event. This year, as early as 10am, chairs sat on Greenwood. They were placeholders for attendees staking spots. By 2:30, much of Greenwood between 85th and 95th was chair-lined. Still, I wasn't enticed. At 6 when the parade began, however, I heard a marching band and ventured outside. The Navy group marched by. They kind of rocked--the drums, the horns, the cymbals, the symmetry of the white uniforms and the glinting of the sun off the patent shoes. (Didn't have my camera.)
Many churches participated. Usually, it was a father-and-son team holding a sign detailing the virtues their church offered: A Connection with God. Be a Part of Something Greater Than Yourself.
The Greenwood Christian Church chose to go with flair. The crowd cheered the green and yellow.
You hear the bands long before you see them. The funkier the band, the more the liveliness generated on the sidelines.
They display passion. I tried to find someone who looked like s/he was just going through the motions. It ain't easy. They're performing to an cheering audience. Is there a rush? The marching band gives back with their own brand of flair. (The theme of this year's parade was 'Greenwood Gets Active.' It could've been 'Gracing Greenwood with Flair for 59 Years.)
The Latin cowboys on the trotting horses was a surprise. Horses on Greenwood? (The fact that it wasn't a drill team also helped.)
Not sure about the clowns. Regarding the cop clown..just whose side do you represent? The Bobbies probably won't like the profile. The non-cops won't associate with you. Then, there's Kirk and Spock. Unique--yes--but why? (Anything goes in a parade, especially if you are a clown or...a drill team.)
More marching bands...
All marching bands don't exhibit the same zeal. Considering the short attention span of the average American in the new millennium, the same ole, same ole needs to be special to grab and hold. Enter the creative capitalists at QFC giving Greenwood something different with their glittered-cart choreography.
This car touts an Eastern-looking (Hindi?) script. The music had a world beat. He was smiling and waving as the crowd watched with little reaction. (What does it say?)
Local color
The Vern Fonk walking head inciting hyperactivity
The "real" Vern Fonk
The Seattle Public Library Book-Mobile. (Books rule.)
The drill teams dominated. Some are even recruiting.
In closing, I must add that for as many drill teams that love parades, they are cooking up fantastic choreography and dancing, themes and costumes.
Next year, I will plan to be at the parade, sitting in my very own saved seat. Go Greenwood.
Sometimes the key to enjoying a movie can be as simple as watching it with the right audience. LMDMH has so much going from the start, it's not to be missed, but when the nuts in the peanut gallery are the right mix, a 3+ movie becomes a 5. (Shout outs to Michelle and Brian.)
Strangely captivating garbage man Nikander (Matti Pellonpää) has terrific hair, but not much stirring in his life. When his colleague decides to start his own business, he asks Nikander to join him. Nikander contemplates and decides it's an excellent idea. But, before he can take action, his pal dies. Nikander goes on a bender. He meets a grocery store cashier, Ilona (Kati Outinen). It's love at first sight. He asks her out, but their differences get in the way. They part. They reconnect and navigate their unlikely coupling. Their connection is powerful because they are stoic yet they convey their complex feelings to one another and the viewer.
What if you tracked down a serial killer and had him on film in the act of murder? Would you turn the evidence into the authorities? Or, would you, track him down, blackmail him into starring in your documentary and make him detail what made him into a serial killer? In this low-budget, not-bad movie, recovering addict Mickey Gravatski (Wes Bentley--of American Beauty fame) does the later. Living with his mother, he thinks this documentary could be the break he's been awaiting. He tells the killer, James Lemac (Mark Borkowski), that in exchange for his cooperation on the documentary, Mickey won't turn him in to the cops--not yet anyway. He'll give it to the cops only after Lemac's death. Thus, begins a peculiarly manipulative co-dependent relationship. Lemac turns out more 3-D than Mickey expects but he still has his thirst for blood and violence and just because Mickey is filming him doesn't mean he's going to stop doing what he's compelled to do.
Spanish flamenco dancer/burger joint employee Carmen (Natalia Verbeke) is proposed to by her wealthy and dry English boyfriend of five months, Barnaby (James D'Arcy). Carmen agrees but is uncertain due to how soon it is into their courtship. The eve of her 'hen night,' she shares a lusty kiss with a Brazilian stranger, Kit (Gael García Bernal). Kit wants more and pursues Carmen. He finds out where she works and asks her for a date. Confused Carmen is reluctantly interested and agrees. The love triangle begins. Barnaby's suspicions peak and tension intensifies, especially when we learn that Carmen has bolted from Spain to flee from a stalker.
