how to leave a techy company
March 20, 2011
After leaving my last employer three times over the prior five years (two voluntarily, one via a layoff), I picked up a few tips in terms of “how to leave” with the best preparation for your next step. These are rather specific, but I believe they work for Silicon Valley companies in California, and they may also work for other companies in other industries in other states (abroad is a whole different story). I mostly learned these tips from the information packet I got when I was laid off (which I did not get when I resigned), and others come from friends’ tips and my own experience. Here they are:
- COBRA: This is a federal program to make sure recently departed employees can continue to get health coverage. Unfortunately, this tends to be rather pricey (~$400/month if you had a decent plan at the old company, and that’s not including dental or vision). One good thing is that you usually have up to 90 days to enroll, so if you know you’ll be starting a new job in that time frame, you can hold onto the enrollment docs and retroactively file if you end up in the ER- you’ll have to pay the back fees, but it’s better than paying out of pocket.
- Health insurance: Generally, companies pay for employees’ healthcare a month at a time, usually on the 1st of a month. So if you quit on the 1st, you’re covered for 30-31 more days. This is great if you want to take time off between jobs. You can also use accrued vacation time to make the bridge if you want to leave earlier.
- Health FlexSpend: Companies must pay your full elected FSA amount to the government at the beginning of the fiscal year, then the rest of the year, you pay back the company (this is why it’s “lost” when you don’t spend it). So, if you use up that whole amount on the 1st day of the fiscal year and then you leave the next day, the company can’t collect the rest of the amount from you. If you know you’re leaving around the time of benefit elections, you can max this out and not have to contribute much towards it, but you will need to make the reimbursable purchases before your last day (such as doctor fees, contacts, prescription copays, etc). However, the government is getting much more strict about what you can reimburse. In other words, you could buy several pairs of crazy expensive eye glasses in your waning days, but otherwise, there may not be much point here.
- Vacation: Depending on how your company does holidays, try not to leave your job in December- the holidays are basically one big paycheck that you could be leaving on the table. In any case, you’ll get paid out for unused vacation time when you leave.
- 401k: Your money will stay in your 401k after you leave, and it’ll keep accruing value. Some 401k plans charge fees to “manage”, but you’re fine leaving it there for awhile. Eventually, you may want to move the money over to an IRA in order to have more control over how the investment is allocated. But no need to rush. One thing to try while you’re still at the company is that if your company matches your contributions, max out your annual contributions to get as much match as you can.
- Bonuses: If you want your bonus, don’t tell a soul you’re thinking of leaving until it’s actually in your bank account. There’s no way around this. ’nuff said.
- Options: Most option programs will give you some amount of time after you leave to exercise your options. However, if they haven’t vested before you leave, they’re gone. Check the timing of your option grants- if they vest monthly or quarterly, you may want to hang on or use vacation days to stay on the payroll until they vest.
- ESPP: The “Employee Stock Purchase Program” will most likely refund any contributions you made towards this, no more and no less, on your final paycheck. Once you have the stock, it’s yours to keep well after your departure. The key timeline here is whether you can hang on until the next purchase wave and utilize the discount.
- Income tax forms: Chances are, with all of these sorts of investments flying around, you’ll need lots of forms for your tax returns the next year. Track down your company’s finance contacts before leaving so when your accountant requests, for instance, that 3922 (for ESPP), you’ll know who to ask.
- Unemployment: You’re only eligible for unemployment in California if you’re laid off or fired. Firing exposes the company to liability; laying off prohibits the company from backfilling for a year. In other words, if you’re thinking of voluntarily leaving (i.e. your company likes you plus won’t be downsizing anytime soon), don’t expect to get unemployment.
- Exit interview: This is a weird procedure companies do in order to supposedly correct their wrongs so others won’t leave. However, most likely, what you say won’t have any effect, and the paperwork will last. So, don’t burn bridges in case you return. It’s tempting to use the opportunity to vent, but be constructive about it.
- Leaving itself: I left the hardest one for last. Leaving a company is a lot like breaking up- there’s no good way to do so that won’t hurt someone’s feelings. I believe the most respectful way to depart is to give enough time to transition your projects to your coworkers that works with your schedule (and the tips above), but that’s about it. Once it’s known you’re leaving, it’s hard to do more than transition because you have an expiration date. So accept this, and get out of the way so your now-ex-coworkers can move on themselves.
And a quick note for those left behind at the old company: the key thing to realize is the strength of the non-compete clause. This means the departed employee cannot recruit you for 9-18 months after their departure. Of course, you can still be friends and the ex-coworker can reach out to simply hang out. However, don’t be surprised if there’s awkwardness around asking how the new job is, if the new company is hiring, or even where they plan to go when they haven’t left yet (which could be construed as recruiting). The key thing is that your ex-coworker’s silence if you ask for help applying at the new company is not something you should take personally- they probably secretly want you to join, and they don’t want the new company to get sued in case you do.
things i wish facebook users knew about authing
January 12, 2011
When you’re going through an authentication flow involving Facebook, there are three core types of flows, and these do not intersect. So, if you know what sort of flow you’re about to enter, you can be more confident about what sort of data is getting shared.
1. Login: The Facebook login flow is like OAuth in that a 3rd party site never “sees” your Facebook password- nor should it. The 3rd party site hands you off to Facebook, and Facebook checks your cookies for a valid login, then simply passes you back to the 3rd party site saying “yup, this is the person they say they are,” or “nope- not valid.” You may not even see this screen if you’re currently logged in since Facebook will see you are who you say you are, and immediately pass you back (usually in browser instead of a pop-up):
No other data is passed in this flow, such as your contacts or access to your Facebook Wall.
2. App Approval: If a 3rd party site wants to access more data about you, you have to approve it with one of these funky screens (usually a pop-up):
This screen will tell you exactly what the 3rd party site wants to do with your Facebook data. You can say allow or not allow. This is different from letting a 3rd party site access your contacts, or a simple login.
3. Contacts: If a 3rd party site ever wants to access your contacts, this is a very different auth flow, and it applies only towards accessing your contacts once. In other words, the 3rd party site- even if you’ve approved them to access your contact list once- cannot store that list, and you’ll have to auth for them to do it again. This is very different from the app approval screen which creates a permanent connection between your Facebook account and the 3rd party site (until you deactivate it). Here’s how this screen looks, generally as a pop-up:
They may seem like peculiar nuances, but I find it helpful in terms of knowing when I want to hit that “Facebook Connect” button on 3rd party sites or not. The main thing is, Facebook is protective of your data, because at the very least, their control of the social market depends on it. Keep an eye out for these screens, and you’ll know what data is being passed and what isn’t.
all you need is already in your kitchen
August 2, 2010
The magazine Real Simple has put together a nice guide of all the things you can do with some basic household items, such as:
- baking soda: clean ink and scuffs from the walls
- coffee filters: cover food as you microwave
- lemons: remove stains from a cutting board
- newspaper: keep a vegetable drawer dry and deodorized
- olive oil: instead of shaving cream
- vinegar: remove stickers and leftover goop on glass
is this why there aren't more women software engineers?
July 15, 2010
Ruminating over this fantastic comment/explanation by “ahoyhere”, aka Amy Hoy, in the Y Combinator forum titled “Startup boot camp Y Combinator illustrates dearth of women in tech“. I think it’s dead-on accurate:
“It’s not the programming syntax I think so much as the teaching of it.
Programming books, classes, etc., are led by people who ‘just get it’ – and therefore taught badly – and therefore can only be understood by people who ‘just get it’. And those people tend to look down on people who can’t ‘just get it.’
I, on the other hand, am a girl, and an extremely visual/verbal girl at that… an excellent designer and accomplished writer. I was doing all of that basically from a young age. I also learned BASIC.
When it came time to learn more complex programming, though, I got stuck, and nobody could explain it to me in a way that helped. I ended up teaching myself to draw loop diagrams, and procedural diagrams, and object diagrams, to visually THINK OUT the code, what it was doing. For a long time, I had to do this every time, or I was completely incapable of getting any traction on the coding problem at hand.
The thing about programming is that you have to actually BUILD AN INTERPRETER in your head. Some people seem to be born with the ability to do this. They are almost all – but not entirely – male.
I, on the other hand, am now an excellent developer. I know many developers who can write much tighter individual lines of code than me – but most of them can’t analyze and break down a problem, and architect as well as I do. And my lines of code are still very good.
So, I started out with a ‘disability’ but now I’m really great.
That’s because I read programming books, and went to programming classes, and instead of thinking ‘ZOMG I’ll never get this’ I thought to myself, ‘I’m really smart – this class is shit!’ And proceeded to nag everyone to answer my questions about my visual diagrams, until I got it.
That’s why I write and teach code in a visual way.
And amazingly, I have a much higher percentage of women readers and women course attendees than the general coding population… and also many, many grateful men who come from non-traditional backgrounds, like history majors, artists, designers, musicians and linguists.
Comp Sci problems aren’t men vs women, they’re super-crazy-almost-too-left-brain vs normal-or-right-brain.”
my path to running with fivefingers
June 30, 2010
Five months after reading “Born to Run”, by Christopher McDougall, I finally completed a long morning run with my Vibram FiveFingers without a cringe of pain. It took me a long time to get here, but it’s was completely worth it. Here’s what I went through:
Month 0-2: Inspired by the book, I began forefoot striking while jogging in my fairly new super-cushy Asics Nimbus. I didn’t run that much before- maybe once or twice a month when I didn’t feel like a bike ride- because I’d generally feel quite crappy afterwards. Back pain, knee pain, shin pain; just a general beaten-down feeling that held me back from running again for awhile. However, McDougall’s book intrigued me- in particular, how humans could really love running… if they did it the way they were built to, via forefoot striking.
So I decided to give it a shot. At first, I could only go for 10 minutes of forefoot-striking at a time without my calves beginning to cramp up, then I’d hobble around for a week as the muscles screamed in pain (down stairs were the worst). But slowly, I was able to run via forefoot-striking for longer and longer times, eventually being able to lightly run for 30 minutes at a time without cramps the next day.
Month 3: Then, I finally got my Vibram FiveFingers. A coworker of mine who had a couple pairs recommended the KSOs since they keep the dirt out, and I got them in a size 39. I usually wear a size 8.5 Asics, and I’m afraid I got the KSOs a size too small, but they were already sold out on Vibram’s site in the size 40 (in just a couple days!), so I kept them. For my first run in the FiveFingers, I was lucky enough to be visiting a friend’s place up the Sonoma Coast, so we went for a jog on a super soft, lightly-treaded trail through the parks. And it felt simply amazing. It was as though I was flying. My calves didn’t burn at all, my body felt light, and I felt balanced with the surroundings. I stopped after 30 minutes or so when my arches started to ache.
Back in San Francisco, I tried to go for a jog in the Presidio, and nearly fell over from pain. Even though it was a trail, it was packed almost as hard as asphalt, and there were annoying pebbles and acorn hats everywhere that would cripple me when I stepped on them. The pointy ones up into the arch were particularly unbearable. Whereas before, I had to wait a week between jogs while my calves recovered, now I had to wait a week while the soles of my feet recovered. The Injinji socks helped a tad, but I still felt the bottom of my feet get very raw and swollen during the jogs.
However, through all that, there was still something compelling that was drawing me out to run again. I tried to run a couple times in old sneakers instead, forefoot-striking the whole time, and I felt clunky and heavy compared to when running in the Five Fingers. I also tried out the Nike Free, but these also felt too cushy, and the hefty heel got in the way of a clean stride. I perused the forums, trying to figure out what people did about running on pebbles, but no luck. So I kept going.
It started to get easier. For one thing, I was getting used to scanning the ground quickly and placing my feet in safe spots. I didn’t have to stare 5 feet in front of me to make sure I stepped on a non-threatening place. I could now casually look 10-15 feet ahead and know my feet will land where they need to without much thought. Another thing I got better at was being nimble. If I stepped somewhere painful, such as a pointy rock or a disguised root that angles my foot weirdly, I would quickly bounce off of it without losing my pace. My stride began to feel stronger despite the smaller forefoot-striking steps, and less obstacles were making me slow down or change sides of the path.
Month 4: While running on a day when I didn’t have anything else to do, I decided to keep going, and 45 minutes later, I emerged exhilarated by the coast. With raw feet. And no idea how I was going to make it back home when the bottom of my feet felt like fire. I hobbled and wobbled back to mi casa, and 2 hours after leaving, I stumbled through the door. I thought I’d never want to run again, but I found myself itching for one the next day. Almost literally. Over time, I found that I craved bumpy roads to flat ones, and soft bumpy trails to hard packed smooth ones. Now that the bottom of my feet were getting used to the rough terrain, bumps now became sources of a deep foot massage. Even while walking to work in flats, I now aimed to place my feet on asphalt cracks or grates- things that would push up into my feet and massage the muscles a bit. And it felt fantastic. Now after a long run, instead of gingerly tip toeing around the house, I could do a deep massage on the balls of my foot to help relax them. Slowly, the skin and the padding was toughening up.
Month 5: Which brings me to today, when I did a beautiful smooth run, without one misstep that caused a shooting pain. It was the same route I usually run, but I double backed and ran a reverse since it felt so good to be out there. And I’m even wearing (low) heels to work instead of cushy sneakers- no recovery needed. I prefer to run on trails instead of roads because I find flat surfaces rather aching for my feet- the balls of my feet crave the uneven now. So in case there’s no trails nearby or the bottom of my feet are too raw for the FiveFingers, I got a pair of cheap cross-country racing flats, like I had in high school, which have just enough thickness in the forefoot to cushion the flat impact or hide a pebble without getting in the way.
It’s amazing how good it feels to run now. I feel lighter, stronger, faster, and- most shocking of all- I’m truly loving it. There’s no back or knee pain, and if anything, there’s less of that than before because I feel my core, legs, ankles, and especially feet getting stronger. My feet are the part I’m really proud of- I used to have strong arches, when I was a kid in pointe class, and now I feel the same energy in them coming back. In fact, shoes I had grown out of now fit again, and I can even stand in heels for longer than before.
It’s funny the sorts of reactions I get to forefoot/simu-barefoot running in Five Fingers. People who don’t run tend to be lightly skeptical, but willing to try it out. People who already run a ton tend to be extremely skeptical, and they don’t want to give up their current m.o. In either case, if you give it a shot, please realize that it may take months to ramp up because the muscles and other structures used need time to build. But you can get there, and I think you’ll love it.
Update 7.15.10 Just got myself a pair of the Five Finger Bikilas (in neon pink!). I went for a run in them on the same nubby trail I’d previously run in the KSOs, and they were much better. I could still feel the pebbles and the ground like the KSOs, but it was a tad more insulated, so those pebbles didn’t hurt but I still got that nice foot massage. In other words, with the Bikilas, I was able to run much faster and not have to be as careful as to where to put my feet. And they felt much leaner than the cross country racing flats I’d bought. So if I could recommend a Five Finger model to n00bs, I’d say get the Bikilas!
top 10 fave restaurants in san francisco
April 5, 2010
I am an unapologetic live-to-eat (as opposed to an eat-to-live), and San Francisco is a dining heaven for peeps like me. The close proximity to fabulous farms as well as a foodie populace has incubated a uniquely scrumptious restaurant scene. Among the many delicious options, I have favorites, and here’s my top ten:
- Sushi Ran : The best sushi I’ve ever had was here at Sushi Ran. Not only is it the kind of place that has 7 different types of tuna on a weekend night (many from the Tsukiji market in Tokyo), it’s also the only sushi restaurant in the area to score a Michelin star. To fully experience it, be sure to sit at the sushi bar and order the Omakase Sushi menu. The amazingly skilled and kind sushi chefs will whip up the most scrumptious sushi bites you’ll ever have, including my fave from last weekend, cherry wild salmon with cherry leaf. Also, the back kitchen does amazing cooked plates as well, including a truffle, sunchoke, and crab soup I still dream about.
- Frances : Melissa Perello is one of my favorite chefs, and she recently opened her own restaurant in the Castro. Her cooking takes Californian cuisine to the next level, putting together unique combos of fresh local ingredients, more so than other restaurants. I love dining at places where I walk out feeling “clean” from the food, not heavy. This is one of those places. I recently had her ricotta gnocchi with fava beans, morels, and green garlic- you’d think it would be a greasebucket but instead, it was the perfect light plate of pasta. And don’t get me started on her desserts, which included my favorite chocolate mousse in the city.
- Mom’s Tofu House : This is the best Korean food I’ve had in a restaurant in the US. It’s a tiny place near the airport, but their soon dubu (tofu stew) makes the drive there worth it. They use tons of silky fresh tofu in their stews along with lots of other fresh ingredients, and they get the flavor without much fat, which is what most Korean restaurants have to rely on. Also, during the summertime, they have My Favorite Dish In The World, nang myun, which is an incredibly refreshing simple spicy soup, served chilled with buckwheat noodles and cucumbers.
- Bar Crudo : Combine a huge artisan beer list with spicy crudo and phenomenal fish tacos (the best in the city IMHO), and you have a happy hour that is worth leaving work early. Also, their uni and avocado toast along with their spicy creamy fish chowder would make anyone’s day mellow down to perfection.
- Universal Cafe : A San Francisco brunch has lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, with light eggs and unique combinations. This is the reason Universal’s kicks butt. Their fruit plate has a generous amount of seasonal local fruits plus a toasted slice of crusty sourdough, topped with creme fraiche, honey, and cinnamon. My other favorites there are their soft scrambled eggs and toasted banana bread with cream cheese spread.
- Samovar : Chai shouldn’t be a super sweet, overly spiced drink- it should be a wonderfully creamy and subtle mug of goodness, and the closest I’ve found to that is at Samovar. Pair that with their egg bowl with smoked salmon, which includes two perfectly poached locally sourced eggs over tea steeped brown rice with a ginger soy sauce, and you have the perfect teahouse meal.
- Little Star Pizza : When I crave Chicago-style deep dish pizza, with tangy fresh tomato sauce, oodles of melted cheese, and a crunchy buttery crust, I head to Little Star. Or more likely, I order their vegetarian deep dish for pickup, and then have the perfect Sunday watching football/baseball/ice hockey eating pizza.
- Pauline’s Pizza : When I crave a much healthier pizza, I head to Pauline’s and order a pizza that’s half their veggie special, half their meat special. Their toppings are grown on their farm in Berkeley, and combine that with a fresh thin crust and you get the perfect foil for unique combos such as cauliflower, garlic, and some-sausage-I-never-heard-of-before. And you have to get their house salads, which are also in funky seasonal combos, such as beets with blood orange and ricotta cheese on top of microgreens.
- Fish : The best cooked fish I know of is Fish in Sausalito. Imagine fresh and sweet dungeness crab, over housemade linguine with ginger sauce. Or get their Saigon Sandwich over a salad instead of bread. They not only locally source their fish in a sustainable manner, sometimes you’ll even see a fisherman trundle in with a wheelbarrow on which is a huge fish on ice that they caught that day. I’ve sometimes been disappointed with their specials (generally with sizing for the price), but overall, it’s fabulous.
- Slanted Door : I was lucky enough to taste their classic chilean sea bass at their original location… before that fish became endangered and the Slanted Door was one of the first to remove their signature dish from the menu out of respect for sustainability. I’m happy to share that the food has not diminished at all in their new location at the Ferry Building. I could wolf down gallons of their papaya salad, with a perfectly tangy dressing and crunchy onion bits, but then I wouldn’t have room for their delicate crab noodles or steamed vegetable buns (which is the closest to the Korean steamed mandoo dumplings I’ve found here).
As you may notice going through this list, the criteria that spells out an amazing restaurant for me is one that’s healthy (not too greasy- and yes, Little Star Pizza isn’t all that greasy despite being thick crust!), conscious of sustainability (locally sourced, organic, seasonal), and prepares dishes that I couldn’t cook myself after a trip to Whole Foods, Sur La Table, and Amazon.
What do you think? Any I missed? Any other plates you’d recommend?
a snippet from "a year after flight 1549"
January 14, 2010
from NYTimes.com “A year after Flight 1549: Many Promises to Keep” by Michael Wilson
“One passenger, Barry Leonard, 56, the chief executive of a home fashion company, heard the now famous announcement from the cockpit — ‘Brace for impact’ — and did not think about asking God for anything. Rather, he thought he was getting an answer.
‘My wife was getting tests back from a result for cancer,’ he said. The day before the flight, he prayed and asked God, “If you’re going to take anybody, take me,” ‘ he said.
‘When the plane was struck by the birds and it started to go down, I actually thought about that,’ he said. ‘For some reason, he decided to react much quicker than I thought he would.
‘I remember, as the plane is going down, thinking about that and getting a smirk on my face. I was O.K. with that. I would take that deal for my wife or my children any day of the week.’
Asked, in hindsight, what his fellow passengers might have thought about his ‘deal,’ which could have inadvertently cost them their lives, he laughed. ‘We have a tendency of personalizing this for ourselves,’ he admitted.
His wife’s tests came back negative.”
a permanent flyby
October 16, 2009
On the drive back from a climbing weekend at Pinnacles, as my friend S and I sang along to old skool rock songs at 60mph, I took random photos out of the car window, just playing around with camera settings. Not only did one of them actually turn out okay, but my friend Kerry Wingeier painted it as well, and it was showcased at last weekend’s Art Explosion open studios. Check out what a fabulous job she did. 
world's shortest fairy tale
October 11, 2009
I just received this unattributed “fairy tale” through email forwards, and it’s hilarious. And so true:
‘Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl “Will you marry me?” The girl said ”NO!” And the girl lived happily ever-after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn’t get fat, traveled more, had many lovers, didn’t save money, and had all the hot water to herself. She went to the theater, never watched sports, never wore friggin’ lacy lingerie that went up her ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants and was pleasant all the time. The End.’
sfiff 2009 thoughts
July 12, 2009
Since my favorite films of 2008 were mostly from the San Francisco International Film Festival, I tried to see as many as I could this year. Due to a blown back during the first week, this manifested into 19 films packed into just the second week. Needless to say, I overdosed, and it took me a mere two months before I am finally able to contemplate my favorites. There were some winners, though overall, I wasn’t as blown away as I was last year. To give the SFIFF 2009 some credit, watching four depressing documentaries back to back did drain me a bit and perhaps affected my final impression. Anyway, here are the ones that made an impact on me and my followup thoughts:
- “Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country”- Rather than simply telling a story, like most documentaries, this one was relayed from the point of view of a reporter trying to tell the world of the horrors that occurred in Burma during the 2007 protests. The footage stunned me; it seemed that I could feel the emotions of the citizens as they watched the monks take up their cause, then get brutally beaten and murdered. To sense their hope that the protests would not be for naught then realize the world has forgotten them frustrated me. With similar events in Iran recently, as well as many other countries on a smaller scale, what can an American do to help?
- “Bullet in the Head”- People walked out during this film. I stuck it out, but it’s one of the films that drained my energy due to its highly unusual cinematography and conclusion. It also left a strong impression on me- that you never really know who is sitting next to you, what their motives are, and how fast things can change.
- “Crude”- Before this film, which was one of the more popular ones at the festival, I happened to sit next to a law student who had studied the Chevron case that the documentary was about, and she was so passionate about the cause, she had driven in from Sacramento just to see the film. As we waited for it to begin, she gave me a quick ten-minute overview of the injustices suffered by the people due to the contamination of their land by Texaco (now Chevron) and the complexities of the international law behind which Chevron has been hiding. So I began the film with an expectation of seeing proof of how terribly Chevron has disregarded the environmental damage and health problems caused by their wells, but despite the San Francisco audience’s jeers and cheers, I left feeling that the filmmaker didn’t conclusively prove to me that Chevron was responsible. He spent more time discussing the magnitude of the lawsuit than how much the villagers were suffering or the extent of the damage. It was during the Q&A that I finally learned of the burning sensations on the villagers’ skins and the extremely high rate of skin cancer due to the polluted water (claimed during the film, but never proven with numbers). I asked my seatmate if I could read her term paper about the case- I felt she proved the case on behalf of the people better than the documentary, which is a shame, especially after last year’s phenomenal “FLOW: For Love of Water”, that- by the way- has successfully kept me from bottled water ever since.
- “Kimjongilia”- I had hoped for more footage of life in North Korea, but the director’s stylistic flourishes and interviews with escapees compensated for the understandable lack thereof. I didn’t realize there were still concentration camps in North Korea, nor that the country’s policy was to “correct” three generations of a criminal (parents and children), so many children and elders are tossed into concentration camps without committing a crime themselves or even knowing why. These concentration camps have the devastatingly familiar modus operandi of little food, hard labor, and capricious murders by firing squad in front of the whole camp, including their family members. As for “crime”, these could be something as small as letting a picture of Kim Jong Il touch the ground. During the Q&A afterwards, everyone wanted to know what they could do to help. The filmmakers recommended supporting the relief agencies in China that are receiving the refugees and helping them continue on to South Korea, since if they’re caught in China, they’re sent back.
- “My Neighbor, My Killer”- Imagine living in a village where the man who hacked the arms and heads off your children as he herded them away from you just returned from prison. Now imagine that nearly every man in the village was guilty of this, and there was no more justice to seek since the amnesty courts determined the time already served will suffice as punishment. The women in the village portrayed in this documentary not only had to deal with this, but are dealing with it everyday- sitting next to their husbands’ and childrens’ murderers during resting hours, having to pass them several times a day. I can’t fathom such emotional torture. They have no choice.
- “Small Crime”- This was an adorable film, set on an island in Italy near Santorini. It’s a comedy around a policeman trying to solve a murder mystery, and the acting and sets are so pure and enjoyable. If you can’t go to Italy for a vacation, this could be the cheapest alternative.
- “Summer Hours”- I’m quite sentimental, and I could strongly relate with the eldest son in this film, who had to handle his mother’s estate after her death. To realize certain items that meant so much to you were slipping outside your grasp poignantly brings about the question of the value of things and the accuracy of memories.
- “35 Shots of Rum”- Quietly, this film portrays the love between a daughter and her father, and their neighbors that filled in their family. The working class life in Paris is nicely captured here with the grit and the small moments of beauty seeming authentically balanced.
The films I wish I watched are “Nomad’s Land” (for the beautiful vistas), “The Paranoids” (for the comedy of errors in Argentina), “La Mission” (for its portrayal of the Mission District), “500 Days of Summer” (a romantic comedy), and “Unmade Beds” (just supposed to be amazing). I’m hoping these will make it into the regular schedules for the local theaters.
Which films were your favorites? Any I missed?
