David Suzuki made me cry this weekend...

All in all, it was a pretty decent weekend. On Saturday, I got a much needed haircut and attended the Stone Soup festival on the Drive. The Stone Soup festival is a local harvest festival and people are encouraged to bring vegetables down to put in the soup. There are all of kind of fruit and veggie things for sale, and I bought some bedding plants for the garden, which the roommate is going to plant tomorrow.

After this, I went and hung out with [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and then B* joined us later on. The following day, I headed over to the CBC for the CBC radio book club with David Suzuki. (For those abroad- David Suzuki is an environmentalist and public broadcaster.) The book clubs are fairly closed and you have to enter a contest to attend them. I got to attend because Ricepaper was tabling at this one.

I've heard a lot of things about David Suzuki, including many reports that he's sort of an ass. Personal character aside, I must admit that he is a wonderful reader and speaker. He has the ability to convey his thoughts and ideas in a profound and moving way. He read some parts from his new autobiography, and then took some questions from the floor. I started crying when he talked about his father and his father's lasting impact on his life. David also talked about his wishes for after his death, that perhaps someone would read one of his books, or watch one of his shows. David Suzuki caressess the divine details and notices the little things in life. He answered questions about the environment and what citizens can do.

Then he started talking about how he doesn't like to see himself on t.v. because he grew up with the images of buck-toothed Japs and was placed in an internment camp and when he watches himself, he becomes uncomfortable. I think I teared up during this point and I know that I teared up when he was talking about his father, his father's dying moments, and his love for his family.

The Oscar project- Cimarron

Cimarron is one of the few Westerns to win Best picture. This movie didn't do too well when it was released in 1931. In fact, it was a commercial failure, because audiences during the Depression just didn't have the money to see it.

It's an odd film. It follows a homesteader and his family as they head out and settle Oklahoma. Yancey Cravat is an adventure loving, fast moving newspaper editor. In the beginning of the movie, there's a great scene in which groups of people ride out on their horses to stake out their land. Yancey loses some prime land to the wanton woman Dixie Lee, who pretends to fall off her horse. She begs Yancey to put her horse out of its supposed misery, and while he is shooting it, she mounts his horse and grabs the land. Excellent!

The viewer then follows Yancey and his family through the years. Yancey and his wife Sabra are constantly arguing. She is more conservative, and they fight about Indians, the proper way to conduct themselves and so on. He is a champion for the natives, so it's hard not to like him.

There are some crappy stereotypes in this film. Yeah, I know period piece, time specific, ya da da, but they are still a little hard to take. The most pointed one is the Cravat's black servant, Isiah. He has puffy hair and talks in a drawl. At one point, Yancey says, "Look Isiah! Watermelons!"

Isiah answers back, "I sure is glad I came to Oklahomy."

All in all, this is an okay film. My favourite character was definitely wanton woman Dixie Lee.