Wellesley College Screening Recap

Rae walks to the Student Center at Wellesley College

Following the screening at the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association, we got a ride from Phoebe and Shaw over to Wellesley College. It was late when we arrived, but a key was waiting for us at the front desk. We were pretty tired after the screening in Newton, so Rae and I called it an early night. In the morning, I woke up before Rae to walk around Lake Waban. Armed with my EVDO modem, I got caught up with some work while overlooking the beautiful lake. We were really fortunate to have such great weather on this trip. We were joking to people that we brought California’s weather to the East Coast, and that the typical cold weather was on the other side of the country!

After checking out of the hotel at 11:00, we strolled around the campus for a little bit, taking various photos of each other with the iPad. Yes, I really think this device is going to change the way how many people around the world are going to use computers. The first computer that I recall using was the Apple ][ back in the early 80’s. For children growing up today, I can easily see the iPad becoming their first computer. I marvel at how quickly children can pick up an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and within minutes know how to interact with the device. It sure beats typing “catalog” to get a directory listing in ProDOS!

Coming out of high school, I really wanted to go to college on the East Coast. Fate had it that I went to Stanford instead, but I sometimes wonder how things would have turned out had I went back east. I have always loved the architecture of the East Coast campuses like Princeton and Harvard. The ivy covered buildings and cobblestone walkways make me feel smarter just by walking around! At Wellesley there were a mix of old and new buildings. For instance, the Lulu Chow Wang Student Center was a built just a few years ago. The modern style of the building contrasted with the older brick and stone buildings on campus — which reminded both of us of the Lego castle sets we played with growing up. Inside, I really liked the asymmetrical walls, how the light came in from everywhere and the funky chairs and sofas. Rae and I got a snack to eat, took some more iPad photos and even mailed some clothes and documents back to our home in the Bay Area!

Read the rest of this post and view the photos »

Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association Screening Recap

Autumn Gem at the GBCCA

After a great few days in Cambridge and Boston staying, we left Joe’s apartment to go to the suburbs of Boston for our screening at the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association. GBCCA member Betty Chao and her husband picked us up from Joe’s apartment to drive over to West Newton, MA.

One of the benefits of having done this film is that we have been able to bridge the generational gap between our parents and us. Growing up as Chinese Americans, we never heard about Qiu Jin. On the other hand, most people in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, including our parents, learned about Qiu Jin when they were in school. By doing this film, we are at once reconnecting with our parents’ generation as well as helping them reconnect with their own past. Many of them remember admiring Qiu Jin when they were young, and watching the film helped bring back those memories. This is no doubt a critical reason why the older generation has reacted so positively to our film. They are very happy to see second-generation Chinese Americans learning and sharing the stories from their native country.

Read the rest of this post and view the photos »

Goucher College Screening Recap

Autumn Gem at Goucher College

Our final stop in our Autumn Gem double feature yesterday was at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. I definitely liked the name of that city, especially since it’s pronounced the same way — think how now brown cow — my last name is! We were greeted at the university by Steve DeCaroli, Professor of Philosophy at Goucher. He heard about our film from the folks over at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore. Over some Pho dinner, we instantly bonded over various shared interests, including Red Boxes, Ultima (the map of Goucher reminded me of the cloth maps included in the early Ultima games from Origin Systems), philosophy and art history. We found it fascinating that students are required to study abroad (three weeks to a semester or year) in a foreign country. I really valued my time that I spent in Paris during my junior year at Stanford. Studying abroad is one of the things that I recommend to every college student, and it’s great to see a university that agrees!

Read the rest of this post and view the photos »

World Journal Coverage of Autumn Gem

We’ve had a number of articles written about Autumn Gem in recent weeks as part of our Spring 2010 marketing. Check out the articles below (in Chinese):

UNLV Screening Recap

Autumn Gem at UNLV

Our Spring 2010 Tour of Autumn Gem got off to a great start last night at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The screening was held at the Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium / Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies (or MSM/HRC for short) and was sponsored by the Asian Film and Drama Club, Asian Studies Program, Department of Foreign Languages and the Las Vegas chapter of the US China Peoples Friendship Association. We first got the idea to come to Las Vegas after meeting with UNLV’s Joan Mann when she in San Francisco for the USCPFA’s National Convention last September. Big thanks go out to her, Cynthia Tripp and Professor Ying Bao for organizing!

We had anywhere from 60-70 people at the screening. This time, we remember to write down the questions that we got from the crowd. Some of the notable ones included:

Did Qiu Jin see herself as a poet or literary figure? We certainly feel this was the case. Qiu Jin left behind 200 poems and writings following her death.
What prompted us to do the film and how does it relate to today’s sociological issues? Introducing the story of a influential Asian feminist to a Western audience was a driving force behind the project. We certainly feel her example still is relevant to women today.
Are we talking to PBS or the History Channel to get this film shown on television? This is certainly one of our long-term goals for the film.

Read the rest of this post and view the photos »

UC Santa Cruz Screening Recap

Rae at UC Santa Cruz

First off, apologies for the tardiness in getting this entry up. After the UC Irvine screening, I realized that I never wrote about the UC Santa Cruz showing that was held on January 25, 2010. This happened during the big winter storms here in the Bay Area. Fortunately, when we drove down to Santa Cruz, it wasn’t raining too much; it helped that we took Highway 17 when it wasn’t busy with commuter traffic. I’ve driven in that once or twice, and it’s not fun when there’s no rain, let alone a torrential downpour!

Department of History Professor, Gail Hershatter, greeted us when we arrive at the University. We had dinner with several of her graduate students before heading over to Merrill College Room 102. Due to the weather, Rae and I weren’t sure how many people would come, but we were pleasantly surprised to have over thirty students and faculty members present.

At the time of this writing, we’re getting ready to embark on our two and a half week tour to Las Vegas, Arizona, Maryland, Boston, New Jersey and New York. I’ve reread my packing strategy and packing recap posts from our October 2009 tour, and I’ve been making the necessary adjustments to get our load down to just two carry-on items for the entire trip. I’ll have a full post about this before we leave. In the meantime, here are a few photos from our UC Santa Cruz screening.

Here are photos from our screening at UC Santa Cruz.

American Association of University Women Screening Recap

Adam and Rae with Qiu Jin's great-grandnephew!

This past Saturday, we screened Autumn Gem at the Willow Glen Branch Library in San Jose. The event was sponsored by the local chapter of the American Association of University Women, an organization dedicated to advancing “equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research.” Marilyn, Linda, Mary, and the rest of the AAUW staff did an excellent job advertising the event. We filled up the Community Room to capacity with 63 people! Also in attendance was Kien-Wei, our friend who played one of the Qing soldiers in the film.

During the question and answer session, a question was asked about the whereabouts of Qiu Jin’s descendants. I mentioned that we’ve tried to locate Qiu Jin’s granddaughter, but have not yet been successful. “You just can’t enter Qiu Jin’s Granddaughter” in Google or Facebook and hope to get the address!” Imagine our surprise near the end of the Q&A when a Chinese gentleman in the front row raised his hand and stated that he was the great grandnephew of Qiu Jin! Charles then explained that he was very moved and honored watching our documentary. Suffice it to say, we were honored to have him at our screening!

Read the rest of this post and view the photos »

Stanford University Screening Recap and Photos

Autumn Gem at Stanford University

With over a month to prepare for our Stanford screening tonight, we made sure we got the word out about the film through as many channels as possible. The Center for East Asian Studies was the co-sponsor for the event, and they helped flyer the campus, email various mailing lists, and list the screening on Stanford’s Events web site. Stefan from the Palo Alto Independent Films Group brought a sizeable contingent from his Meetup group to the showing. Another Meetup group brought a large group of Asian professionals. This week’s article in the Palo Alto Weekly also produced a big draw tonight. By my estimations, there were over 150 people of all ages at tonight’s screening of Autumn Gem. The lower portion of Cubberley was so packed it reminded me when I was a frosh taking Humanities in the very same auditorium! Thanks to everyone who came out to see our film!

Read the rest of this post »

City College Screening Recap and Photos

We had a couple of firsts at our Autumn Gem screening at City College of San Francisco yesterday. The place was packed, thanks to the combined efforts of the Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, Cinema and Women’s Studies Departments; we had over 90 people in attendance. The second first is one that I’m not all that proud about; we had our first technical mishap during the screening of the film!

Normally, we play the movie off of Rae’s MacBook Pro. Everything was going fine until the midway point in the film when the video completely froze and the audio started repeating! QuickTime X was completely unresponsive and force quitting (command-option-escape) would not work. Fortunately, I had also brought my own MacBook Pro as a backup for this very situation. While Rae answered a few questions from the crowd, I quickly got my MBP set up with the projector and sound system. The rest of the screening went off without any major issues. Phew!

Read the rest of this post »

Packing Recap

Now that our tour is over, we’ve identified some things we would have changed regarding our packing strategy (see photo to right). We often felt like we were a rock band traveling the country during this tour. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any roadies to help carry our gear! So, because it’s just the two of us, we have to be extra vigilant and ruthless with regards to what we bring with us.

If you recall from our previous post, Rae carried our clothes and toiletries in her REI Traverse backpack, and I carried all the computers, mobile Internet, camera flash, and power adapters in a Rickshaw Bagworks Medium Commuter Messenger Bag. We took turns dragging around a single Pelican 1510 Carry-On Case that contained 300 DVDs, assorted cables, papers, and my 5D Mark II camera. So, what worked and what didn’t?

For starters, we would try to leave the Pelican at home next time. While ultra-durable and somewhat capacious, it’s also quite heavy and bulky to travel with. When fully loaded, the 1510 tired one’s arm after prolonged periods. Similarly, the Rickshaw bag held a surprising amount of gear, but it too became very heavy to wear over time, even with the critical cross strap (used to distribute the weight more evenly on my body). For the next trip, I think I would try to load everything into my LowePro CompuTrekker AW camera/laptop backpack. I would have to reduce the number of DVDs that we bring with us, but at least 120-140 would fit comfortably along with one computer, my camera, flash, cables, modem and accessories.