Last night we went to see Handmade Nation, a documentary about American indie craft fairs and small businesses, at Mezzanine. The movie interviewed a ton of people in the industry from boutique owners to distributors to the crafters themselves. The subjects were mostly interesting and talented, but occasionally boring. What bugged me wasn't what the movie presented, it was that it didn't ask any interesting questions about this community that's taken off over the past few years.

Perhaps it was the comment by someone early in the film that this was an alternative to consumer culture that got to me or perhaps it was the "do it yourself" refrain throughout. There seemed to be no recognition that handcrafted goods are as much a luxury item as a BMW or a big screen TV. There seemed to be no self-awareness that when you buy something that has been made by someone else, it's not do-it-yourself. There were really no tough questions asked, or any questions at all. It was just a bunch of people in an interesting industry talking about how great they are. The audience loved it.

So I have an irrational dislike for Tom Hanks. As a result I only watched about 20 minutes of Forrest Gump. Even so my first reaction to The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button was "isn't that plot just like Forrest Gump". Apparently yes:

Tonight dearanxiety, Arlene and I went to see The Secrets at the Sundance Kabuki theatre. We were the only people in the theatre, but it was one of the best films I've seen recently. Perhaps so few people were there to see it because they don't really go into much detail on the plot, but that's because it's all about secrets. And I don't want to spoil any - I'll just say that you should all go see it.

The basic setting is among some young Orthodox Jewish women in a seminary in Safed struggling to find their place in their restrictive faith. It was great to see the simple beauty of a land that's in the middle of such ugly complicated violence right now and fascinating to get an insight into some of the more esoteric parts of Jewish religion.

I wish the internet could tell me where else it's playing, but if you're in San Francisco you should definitely try to make it out to the Kabuki.

We went to see Iron Man at the Metreon tonight. We stumbled into the middle of the San Francisco MovieBears showing. So the cinema was packed with bearded men. Luckily these days I've got a well trimmed beard, so I fitted right in.

Movie was good. I didn't get the bit after the credits since I'm not that kind of nerd. Robert Downey Jr was as usual great. Jeff Bridges kept reminding me of The Dude which was a little distracting, but the problem was just that his voice is distinct - he played is role really well. The depiction of the brave American invaders vs the cowardly Afghan defenders was a little annoying, but predictable.

In case you hadn't noticed dearanxiety and I are big nerds. Especially big Buffy nerds.

Race You To The Bottom, a film Amber Benson made a few years ago was opening in San Francisco on Friday night, and she was going to be answering questions with the director at the end. It was showing at the tiny Little Roxie and the theatre was less than half full - so there was only about a dozen of us. I think having it open during the Frameline GLBT film festival while not being part of the festival wasn't the best choice. Anyway, we had Amber all to ourselves.

The film was really interesting and well made. It tells the story of a guy and a girl who go from LA to Napa for the weekend. They both have boyfriends back home and have been having an affair for a few months. Hilarity ensues. Actually, not that much hilarity, it's more like all kinds of emotional drama ensues, but there is some hilarity.

After the film Amber Benson and Russel Brown (the director) came out the front to answer questions. I didn't have any because while I'm a big Buffy nerd I'm not a big enough film nerd to have anything much to say beyond "wow, that was a really great film", and "what did you think when Buffy told you she was sleeping with Spike?" just wouldn't have been appropriate.

Amber's roles in Buffy (Tara) and Race You To The Bottom (Maggie) were fairly different, but there was a self-consciousness that was common between the two characters. Amber herself seemed totally self-confident and comfortable with herself and her very moderate stardom. She was bubbly and funny and very short. I think she only looks tall next to Alyson Hannigan and Sarah Michelle Gellar.