Last Year in Marienbad

For a while, having believed that real cinema as we know it is dying, I have stopped searching for films that would be earth-shattering and life changing. I have been indulging myself in blockbuster action, sci-fi and fantasy films and can't remember when was the last time I was truly moved by the artistic aspects of a film.

Until yesterday when I watched "Last Year in Marienbad (1961), a film by Alain Resnais. 

How do I even start? It is so far and beyond everything I've ever seen. The Seventh Seal and The Silence may come closes, but The City of Lost Children and Fallen Angels have just dropped from 5 stars to 4. The steadicam sequence shot of Russian Ark is no comparison to the fragmented yet powerful camera work and storyline. I want to write a book and dedicate it to this film.

I wouldn't have understood it this well were I to watch it a few years back, and I would probably feel different again when watching it in a few years.

It is that powerful. So watch it if you haven't.

Love at First Sight - One Year Ago

By mid-September 2008, I have been in St. Louis for half a year, and have been looking for lofts. In the beginning it was mainly for fun - a good summer activity especially when Mom was here.

It was quite hot and I was passing by the Syndicate on my way to Taste of St. Louis from the office. We had gone to see some two-bedrooms but I was bored and wanted to see the them again. I was shown an one-bedroom-plus-study arrangement in between, and I fell in love with it when I first walked in.

What happened next was of course many conversations, financial decisions, etc. And having just moved six months ago and having been moving literally every 9 months for the past 4 years, I decided to move again since I love this place so much.

Now a year has passed and I still love it. I come home everyday feeling happy. I wish I can find other kinds of love in my life to feel similarly - but for now I dare say I've lived in one of my dream homes, check.

Presidential

It was almost midnight when I arrived at Omaha. I was sleep-deprived (having slept for less than 4 hours for two consecutive nights before), nervous for a major proposal presentation the next day (my first, to be precise), and was planning to work a few extra hours to have the presentation perfect.

Having no knowledge of what mysterious workings the universe has been conjuring up, I walked to the end of a long dark hall way and there it was - 2009, with a big sign below labeling "Presidential Suite." The whole thing was so surreal that I cannot recall the sequence of my movements in the first five minutes. I think I must have ran up and down the stairs at least five times, and opened all the closet/cabinet doors. And then of course I took out my camera and started photographing the duplex which has a ceiling height of at least 20', a fireplace, two televisions, too many sofas and chairs, a large tub, and view out to the courtyard.

This must be some mysterious divine reward for the work I had done for this presentation, and how sweet it was especially when I was least expecting. At the end, really, it wasn't the luxury, but the unexpectedness that overwhelmed me, all part of the the surreal life I have in St. Louis and chances of traveling to unlikely places.

More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanhsiho/sets/72157622374529736/

Begin

Being a typical procrastinator, the reason I used most frequently for not having a blog is the inability to write bilingual posts and be able to procure *all* of those who I care about as audiences.

Now, looking back at all the years: the photo and project collections have accrued without any text to accompany them, other than some mechanic systematic titles given and some vague memories. I’m gazing upon a crisis of footsteps and thoughts becoming fragmented and hence difficult to recount. So as I grow weary of fading recollections, I decided to take the advice which I often give others: “You have to start somewhere at some point, and that might as well be here and now.”

So hello, I am Han Hsi’s first blog. (Han Hsi is also known as Hancy to some who knew her outside of school and chat with her often using online messaging programs.) Ironically, because of how blogs are, I may very well end up being the last post you’ll see, if you ever get this far. But if you do (and that would be sometime in the future), I hope you have had a good journey through future posts which led you here.

Bon voyage.

In the picture: Frontier Exhibition at MACBA, summer 2007 - a great example of the fact that accompanying thoughts should have been written down or somehow documented, and a valid reminder justifying going back and documenting memories. Yes, documenting.