Celebs Invade Seattle: SIFF Edition

"A man's got to know his limitations."
-- Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), Magnum Force (1973)

While in town last July to shoot World's Greatest Dad, actor/director Bob-
cat Goldthwait introduced The Landlord at the Northwest Film Forum.

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I love photography, but I'm not much of a photographer, and I'm not trying to become one. I can always get better, but I'll never be great. I just want to remem-
ber specific people and places that are better served by pictures than by words.

Furthermore, I use the cheapest equipment possible. I've got a 35mm camera and
a digital model—no cell phone—but they've proven to be less than reliable. For a luddite like myself, a Polaroid, Diana, or Lomo device would seem like the best way to go, but they cost money, too, and aren't always that easy to track down, so years ago, I threw my lot in with the Kodak disposable, and it has served me well.

I usually opt for black and white, which gives grey tones the boot, resulting in a high-contrast, Weegie-like look. Sometimes I opt for color. On the downside, faces can look shiny—especially mine—but hues can appear brilliant. I particularly like the way my snap of the Experience Music Project turned out. If you stick to the rainbow-
saturated, copper-plated side of the building, you can get some lovely images.

So, here are a few of my celebrity shots from the past year. Whenever there was
too much shine or glare, I dialed the brightness down until it disappeared, resulting in the 16mm look that characterizes some of these photos. I like the way it makes them seem much older than they really are, and although I don't have a problem with the clarity of digital, the grain makes it clear that these are definitely—may-
be even defiantly—film images. Cheap film, perhaps, but film nonetheless.

Former NWFF Executive Director Michael Seiwerath introduces Bobcat

Bobcat and Michael. Turns out Goldthwait had never seen Ashby's debut. Instead, he spoke to his affection for the late helmer's better known follow-up, Harold and Maude. (Click here for my piece about his visit.) World's Greatest Dad plays the Egyptian on 6/6 at 6:30pm and on 6/7 at 4pm. If The Wire's Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) were sitting beside me at the moment—and I wish he was—he'd surely say, "I'm feelin' the chapeau, and I'm feelin' the specs, you feel me?" Williams co-stars
with Matthew Broderick in Wonderful World, which plays the Kirkland Performance
Center on 6/5 at 7pm and the Egyptian on 6/11 at 7pm and 6/12 at 4:15pm.

Note: As ever, dates, times, and venues are subject to change; I suggest
double-checking the SIFF site before making plans or purchasing tickets.

Graphic novelist/screenwriter Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, Art School Confidential) and editor/publisher/co-founder Gary Groth at the Fantagraphics Store on 9/08. I asked Clowes if he was still working with Michel Gondry on an adaptation of Rudy Rucker's Master of Space and Time. He said they had decided it was impossible. Instead, he, Gondry, and Gondry's son, Paul, are working on an original project. (Click here for
my chat with Michel, conducted at the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival.)

Next up: Sherman Alexie and Barry Jenkins. Unfortunately, my snaps of Ramin Bahrani didn't turn out very well (and yes, Alexie's local, but he's still a celeb!).

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Endnote: Cross-posted at AndMoreAgain ("Reelin' in the Years: Part Four")
and at Facebook. Three years ago, singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock turned
the Callahan quote at the top of this post into the swell song "A Man's Got to
Know His Limitations, Briggs." It appears on his 2006 album Ole! Tarantula.