i went to the first screening of "mad cowgirl" at the silverlake film festival. it premiered earlier at a film festival in san francisco. naturally i was interested in this film because of james duval's role as one of the main characters. the film is about a girl who gets mad cow disease, hence the title. the girl, therese (sarah lassez), is a health inspector. her brother, thierry (james duval), is a butcher. needless to say, the film featured a lot of beef. you know, i was never one to eat steak but man, if i wasn't vegan before...

at times the film was bizarre, touching, political, and there was kung fu fighting. no, not kung fu, the girl with the thunderbolt kick! a fair amount of the crew and cast were there for the q&a session after the screening. this session revealed a little bit about the film but mostly it showed how pretty much everyone who made it are friendly with each other. using your own apartment, casting friends, not getting permits, etc. that is indie filmmaking. after the q&a was over, we walked over to say a few words to jimmy and time and time again, he proves to be a nice guy. i know that sounds lame but i don't know how to put it. he's one of those people that are cheery, relaxed, unpretentious, and could be anybody's buddy.

what's kinda cool about this film is that it marks of sorts the end of a period, coming full circle. when i took off to new zealand was around the time that i went to see jimmy play in his band and "mad cowgirl" was coming together as well as the panic channel were doing shows (and me attending) and entering the first of their recording sessions for their debut album. now "mad cowgirl" is out and the panic channel's album will be out and i'm back from new zealand. broke as fuck, but back. now i have to kick my arse a bit and get some money together to get to the level of independence i had before seeking my life's adventure. plus i need to fix my video camera or get a brand new one so that i can cut together something of my kiwi trip and also film some shorts. in some ways it's determination and perspiration vs. procrastination and laziness. in some ways it really is about $$$. starting today i'm doing what i can to pinch pennies so that i can fly to okinawa in october because at this rate, i'm going to have to swim it.