About

I’m a Film Studies grad student at Carleton University in Ottawa, writing a thesis on the presence of the motion picture camera in films.  I’m the TA Mentor for my department (School for Studies in Arts & Culture) which includes Art History, Music and Film Studies.  I also co-organized a graduate student symposium that showcased the Artistic and Executive directors from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Canadian Film Institute (CFI) and Ottawa International Film Festival (OIAF).

This Blog: is a means for me to improve my writing and thoughts on cinema – as such, comments and critiques are absolutely welcome.  I don’t really write reviews but I do write about how films could affect people.

My non-academic life:

I have never known how to answer the question “where are you from?” because the answer is loaded.  I was born in Toronto and since then have lived in Taiwan, New York, Japan, Hawaii, San Francisco, Philippines, New Jersey and Ottawa (this does not include repeat moves).  I’ve lived in Ottawa the longest now, but I still don’t consider myself from here.

I love sitcoms from the 70s and 80s: Good Times, What’s Happenin’, Maude, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, Taxi and more…

Fave director: Hal Hartley

Fave film: Way too many to name but I lean primarily towards oldschool Hollywood (The Thin Man series), “indie” and French films.  

I have a passion for film commentaries, a few favourites have been: The Squid & The Whale (Noah Baumbach, 2005), Garden State (Zach Braff, 2004), Pieces of April (Peter Hedges, 2003), Once (John Carney, 2006).

I am also a massive music junkie, I love but do not limit my love to: Magnetic Fields/Stephin Merritt, Black Flag, Henry Rollins, Deathcab for Cutie, Dave Matthews, David Bowie, Broken Bells, The Chemical Bros, Elbow, Erykah Badu, Iron & Wine, Jurassic 5, Puccini, Beethoven, Wagner, Paul Simon, Sondre Lerche, Stars and my friends Amanda Keeley & Markus Lloyd.  After a bit of a hiatus, I’ve been getting back into vinyl – particularly with the likes of Ella, Blossom Dearie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, etc..