"The Greening of Southie" documents the construction and design of the Macallen building in South Boston. Macallen is Boston's first residential "green" building, and the goal in desigining it was to achieve LEED "Gold" certification. The film begins with the foreman briefing the crew on day one and continues through the first residents moving in.

This was a pretty well-paced film, and took time to explain how the LEED point system worked and how several design decisions effected the score. Not only were the design and construction phases shown, but the film also travels to the source of many of the materials, many of which were local to New England, as LEED emphasizes local materials.

One of the things which struck me about this film was how the construction workers reacted to the green mission of this building. Some were skeptical, some embraced it, and others simply didn't care one way or another. Most seemed to acknowledge that green methodologies and design would likely continue to effect their work moving forward. It is in these interviews where the film finds its heart.

This film is airing occasionally on Sundance, so if you are interested in green building or just want to see a solid documentary with great interviews, check it out.

"Nerdcore Rising" is a documentary following the first national tour of the Godfather of so-called "Nerdcore Rap", Damian Hess, a.k.a. MC Frontalot, and his band. Featuring interviews with figures such as Prince Paul, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and Jello Biafra, this film spends some time upfront explaining and justifying Nerdcore as a genre. From the beginning I was skeptical, and honestly, I'm not exactly sure when a genre becomes 'real'. In fact, I suspect some of the musicians themselves are equally skeptical of the label, but I guess in modern marketing, everything needs a classification.

Frontalot's songs lean towards the witty and clever, but as Prince Paul points out at one point, originally rap was about clever rhymes and outsmarting your fellow MCs. Their tour resembles many bands first tours, playing to sparse clubs, but computer nerds tend to be loyal to their own, and there always seemed to be someone at each show who knew the songs. There is a solid mix of live footage with backstage/van interviews, as well as with other musicians and comedians.

I'm still not sold on the viability of Nerdcore in general, but that doesn't really hurt the film. Frontalot is charming if awkward, and his band is a pretty fun funk unit. They are an amusing lot on and off the stage, and this film does a great job of presenting it's story.

"Big Man Japan" is a faux-documentary which follows a year in the life of the current "Big Man Japan", Masaru Daisatou. Japan has employed a members of Masaru's family for several generations as the first line of defense against the plague of giant monsters attacking Japan on a regular basis. Through a process involving an electrical substation, Masaru's size is increased until he is towering over tall buildings. Unfortunately, while Masaru's predecessors were treated like heroes, Masaru is practically discarded.

The special effects in this movie aren't great, but neither were the rubber suits they are replacing. The movie isn't quite logical, but it's fun. The various monsters that Masaru has to battle are hilarious, and the "data sheets" that appear before the battles are great as well. Masaru is greeted by the public with indifference at best, and he seems to exist outside of society. The ending ups the nonsense level to 11 and leaves you wondering if you were actually supposed to understand what was going on.

This movie isn't for everyone, but if you enjoyed Toho-style monster movies, you should definitely be entertained. Even if you are annoyed by the ending, the time leading up to it is full of gems. This isn't a movie you need to hunt down, but when it's available on Netflix, give it a spin.

I'm leaving for Rochester around 4-4:30pm today. It's about a 6 hour trip, so I'll be looking for Nick Tahou's Steve T's around 10-11pm. I'll post to twitter when i'm getting close with a better ETA, so look there if you're interested in meeting me there.

"Second Skin" is a documentary focusing on gamers who play Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs). It follows a few small groups of gamers distributed around the country, all playing either World of Warcraft (WoW) or Everquest II (EQ2). All are rather committed to their games, some consider themselves addicted, with one entering himself into a 12-step program to try and break is addiction

Given how easily these subjects could have been played for laughs, I felt this movie was surprisingly even-handed. There were clearly some moments where humor was at the expense of the subjects, but they were few and far between. It was suprising in the Q&A with the filmmakers after the screening that the first question was basically a complaint that the film showed gamers in a negative light. It seemed clear to me that this person was just bringing their own baggage to the event.

That's not to say that the movie didn't have it's flaws. The "storylines" of the various sets of subjects were intercut, and at times it was difficult to keep track of the relationships and who the various players were. I also would have liked to see more information about the rehab facility. The woman who ran the facility seemed to have a very negative opinion of gamers, accusing them of feigned helplessness and laziness. She didn't strike me as emitting the kind of energy that someone in recovery really needs. And as far as I can tell from the film, her only accreditation is that her son was an addicted gamer. The film presented her as a very negative character, and I wonder how true that is.

Online gamers are often dismissed as anti-social losers, but this look into the lives of gamers and the relationships built between them is an interesting counterpoint to conventional wisdom.

This has been a pretty intense movie marathon for me. Since Wednesday, I've seen 14 movies, with only one left to catch tonight at the Coolidge. By Sunday night I started to feel all that sitting in my back and eyes; I felt like my eyes were going to melt when I went to bed that night. I've seen some great films, though, and have only really been disappointed by one of them. My goal is to write a review for all 15 of the films over the next few days.

FUMN is this weekend, and I have to say that the back-to-back movie marathons might prove to be a bit much for my sanity. As long as people enjoy themselves it will be worth it. Hopefully people in CSH actually are still interested in FUMN and aren't just humoring an old man. :)

The Independent Film Festival of Boston opened yesterday at the Somerville Theatre with the new Brad Anderson film "Transsiberian". Anderson has a pretty good record so far, with Next Stop Wonderland, Session 9, and The Machinist, so I was rather excited to see his new work.

Transsiberian follows Jessie (Emily Mortimer) and Roy (Woody Harrelson) as they return from an aid mission in China. Roy, as a huge train nerd, wants to take his wife on a bit of an adventure, so they take the Transsiberian railway from China to Moscow. They share a cabin with Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and Abby (Kate Mara), a couple who appears to have some secrets. As you may guess, some bad things ensue during this week-long journey.

The previous paragraph sounds makes this film sound cookie-cutter, but I'm happy to report that every time I felt I had the movie figured out it threw me a great curve ball. There were times where I felt the pace bog down a bit, but just as I started to think about it I would get surprised by a twist. These twists didn't feel contrived, they weren't bricks over the head, they were subtle surprises that drew you further into the story.

The movie wasn't perfect, but it was really good. Mortimer was clearly the star, and she delivered a fantastic performance. The supporting actors were all solid as well, although Harrelson's character was more of a caricature, being the comic relief in a rather serious film.. Unfortunately, his levity felt shoehorned in at times... When the film ended, my first instinct was that it needed about 10 minutes trimmed, but I think this was a kneejerk reaction. In all reality, if it weren't for the moments of feeling slightly bogged down, I don't think the payoff of the twists would have felt as special.

After the film, the director, co-writer, and Sir Ben Kingsley himself did a very nice Q&A session, even in the face of some rather rude audience members who were talking over them and getting up and leaving en masse mid sentence. But the three of them gave pretty good, considered answers to all of the questions asked.

• Wednesday, April 23rd
• 7:30pm - "Transsiberian" - Somerville Theatre
• Friday, April 25th
• 6:45pm - "Second Skin" - Somerville Theatre
• 9:30pm - "Big Man Japan" - Somerville Theatre
• Midnight - "Nerdcore Rising" - Somerville Theatre
• Saturday, April 26th
• 1:00pm - "Greening of Southie" - Somerville Theatre
• 2:30pm - "Frontrunner" - Somerville Theatre
• 4:00pm - "We Are Wizards" - Somerville Theatre
• 7:45pm - "Turn the River" - Somerville Theatre
• 11:30pm - "Beaver Trilogy" - Somerville Theatre
• Sunday, April 27th
• 12:00pm - "Crawford" - Brattle Theatre
• 2:30pm - "Jump" - Somerville Theatre
• 7:00pm - "Mongol" - SNFC - Coolidge Corner Theatre
• 10:00pm - "Time Crimes" - Coolidge Corner Theatre
• Monday, April 28th
• 8:00pm - "My Winnepeg" - Coolidge Corner Theatre
• Tuesday, April 29th
• 8:00pm - "Encounters at the End of the World" - Coolidge Corner Theatre

• 10:20 i prefer to eat jelly beans in matched color pairs. when I take a handful back to my desk, I make pairs and eat any stragglers first. #
• 15:35 "Ortiz [..] was able to sum up his thoughts with a single expletive before adding "I don't pay attention to any of this." #
• 15:59 yay for del.icio.us extension for FF3 #

• 10:21 listening to "The Director's Cut". I forgot how awesome this album is. Even if Mike Patton fucked up the lyrics to "The Omen" (Ave Satani) #
• 10:42 is there concrete all around or is it in my head? #
• 13:36 @matthewjweaver I know, RACE OVER, DON'T MESS WITH BRUCE #
• 14:38 Second Life : Compuserve :: (something which doesn't exist yet) : AOL #
• 15:00 @iGexome What does facebook have to do with 3d worlds? NOTHING. try again. #
• 18:10 man, it's pretty awesome outside. #
• 22:24 @notasausage I'm not happy with the game either, but I don't see the yankees cheating at all. #

• 08:02 managed to find my private key hiding on some 2002 backup discs! #
• 12:23 finally took the time to document my mediawiki upgrade so hopefully I don't have to work so hard to remember what patches I made to the code #
• 14:17 @yorgle: I agree 100% re: "Battleflag" #
• 17:19 @notasausage Ben Heck builds those machines for money, not in his free time. You should contemplate who has the disposable income to pay!!! #
• 18:22 @notasausage coco says that all the time about all the celebutards who get caught drunk driving: If I can afford a taxi, hire a driver/limo #
• 22:51 tacoby with the sick foul grab! #

• 09:14 i think I might have lost my GPG private key at some point #
• 15:14 @notasausage am I supposed to take away from that that you wasted too much money on a chair? #
• 15:18 tinyurl.com/5jxqb3 #
• 15:21 @notasausage to each his wasteful own! #
• 23:08 cinco ocho drops some papelbombs #

• 10:40 this weekend could be a few days longer, imho #

• 16:10 at six pack and a laptop at @luke0x's place #
• 16:33 @notasausage Because drinking shitty wine and listening to a washed up bogomusician is better than hanging out with friends. #

• 10:00 @notasausage www.xkcd.com/378/ #
• 15:04 @lmacken git seems cooler and cooler the more I read about it #

• 07:37 @waxwing: is it as good as her solo at the end of the star wars holiday special? #
• 13:47 @waxwing: classic awful: tinyurl.com/5pswlh #
• 14:12 boston residents: don't go outside if you have to come back in. It is ridiculous out. #
• 17:32 shotglass just rickrolled me via paypal #
• 17:33 @jeresig: don't blame the recruiters, blame Sun and Netscape for choosing a deceitful name. #