Tag: Manhattan

Taking a Moment to Pause and Reflect 2024

Try to remember the kind of September

When life was slow and oh, so mellow.

Try to remember the kind of September

When grass was green and grain was yellow.

“Try to Remember,” from The Fantasticks.

Time passes. I find myself disliking the mantra “Never Forget,” because I’m more concerned about what we learned from remembering. If September 11, 2001, was a nightmare, we somehow came together on September 12, 2001, if my memory isn’t so hazy to recall the attempts to help each other.

I’m not sure if we learned our lessons from September 11, 2001. I don’t even think that we learned our lessons from the Covid pandemic. I don’t think that we have done a great job of working together and doing better, and being resilient. I want all of that, but… I guess reality is the real teacher. Maybe my mood has been affected by the presidential election year, or life in general.

Photo I had taken some years ago, at the Brooklyn Promenade.

23 years ago, I was trying to figure out how to make any use of my final year in law school, and then that Tuesday happened, the horrors marring the perfect blue sky. I didn’t imagine the entirely different landscape that we’ve had since. I never imagined that all the crises and calamities we’d be through.

To this day, I still feel a little creeped out by a perfect blue sky.

On a nice day from the F train station in my neighborhood, I can see the top of One World Trade Center, and it can still feel a little awkward to me. 23 years feels surreal, even if I can feel the passage of time.

In 2021, FC shared this over on Facebook, so I’m passing it along again: “Wake Me Up When September Ends” – Green Day (Cover by First to Eleven):

See here for last year’s post. I’m hoping that I’ll get to the Brooklyn Promenade at some point today. I wish you all a peaceful and thoughtful day. Thanks again for being here. — ssw15

Team Triscribe’s “Better Than Sliced Bread”

For years now (I’ve lost track – it’s probably more clear on the Triscribe blog!), FC’s Team Triscribe or its variants have participated on/off in the Asian American Film Lab‘s 72 Hour Film Shootout, where competitors make a complete short film, up to 5 minutes in duration, during a 72 hour period. I’ve been doing it with FC on/off and we somehow managed this year!

This year’s theme was “Be a Hero.” I think that we keep improving through the on/off years that we’ve been doing this. This year, to our shock during the last several days since the results came out: we won the Best Screenwriting Award!

The biggest credit should go to FC for being our director, film editor, and leader. Without him, I’m never sure how every crazy idea, odd musing, or whatever else becomes something of a fun gem! Always a good time to get laughs, a creative charge, and stress over the process.

You can view the YouTube link to see Team Triscribe’s film for this year (5 mins. of humor and poignancy!). Check the film’s credits to see all of us credited – but a big shout out to all who have been on the Team Triscribe ride of supporting us, being in the prior films, and enjoying or bringing food or supplies, or providing other support.

Team Triscribe’s film for this year is in honor of our friend and hero, the late Asian American photographer laureate, Corky Lee.

Disclaimers: Dr. Apollo is not a real doctor. But, sandwiches are good, and no sandwiches were harmed in the making of the movie, even though a lot of them were eaten. They were not eaten by me. Also, you don’t need a fake doctor to save your relationships. You can still save a relationship. Hopefully! And, why, yes, isn’t that our running gag of the girl named Elizabeth Ong…?

Also: many ridiculous clips were left behind. YKC found a lot of amazing sandwiches in Japan. My wish for a Ken Burns-style documentary on the ongoing Chicken Sandwich War is still but a near-running joke that’s kind of serious. I also don’t think we really answered in the film regarding whether a hot dog is a sandwich, but I still think it is!

And, yes, the film is more than about food. It is about relationships.

Also: very flattering that we got publicized on the AABANY blog! (see link here) Thanks, AABANY!

(And, that’s the Asian American Bar Association of New York, to the rest of you not in the know, of which a bunch of us in Team Triscribe have been longtime members).

During the Asian American International Film Festival 44th edition (hybrid – online and live – from August 11, 2021, through August 22, 2021), you can also still check out Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Film Shootout online/streaming presentation of the Top Ten, and it is worth a watch for the films that made it. We didn’t make the Top Ten, but one had to wonder how close we were!

I’m hoping to eventually put up a post on my viewing of the 72 Hour Film Shootout’s Top Ten (let’s see if that’ll happen!). I still have to get to watching my online viewing of other AAIFF offerings. In the meantime, let’s keep supporting diversity and inclusion in front of and behind the cameras and in all of the arts!

P.S. – I did intend for the – uh – pun in the post’s title. Don’t you think that we’re better than sliced bread, after all? 😉