Thursday, January 31, 2008
24
Well, hate it. But life's fleeting. The first white hair in like eons and a few inches there. Jeez, hepi berfdey to me. Meanwhile, the life train chug-chugs, signaling for the next station. Gotta get on it.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Heath Ledger dies (and post-Oscar nom thoughts)
I logged on to one of my favorite sites first thing yesterday to check on the 80th Academy Award nominations. But the first post made me forgot about the usual glee and excitement upon reading the nominees. Heath Ledger died. NYTimes reported yesterday it could be suicide or overdose of prescription medication. This morning the former would likely to be ruled out.
The next posts were semi-tributes to Heath citing his promising performance as Joker in the upcoming Batman sequel, and, as one of the actors (alongside Gere, Blanchett and Bale) playing Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There. Without a doubt, his Joker would resonate for years to come but his broken Dylan was quite a heartbreaking and memorable portrayal as well.
While most would definitely remember him as that rough guy singing “I love you baby” in the stadium to Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You, it was his Ennis del Mar that etched him as one of the most gifted thespians of his generation. His transformation and immersion as a forlorn gay cowboy in the conservative era in Brokeback Mountain will resonate forever as one of cinema’s tragic characters.
While awards-season backlash still looms with the ongoing writers’ strike, it will be as well difficult to applaud this year’s cinematic triumphs without being saddened by the loss of a true talent.
So there.
As I said the noms for the 80th Oscar were out yesterday. I started predicting last year. This time, I got all of the 5 BP nominees. You'd probably scoff at it, but something as remotely mathematical like predicting nominees has largely been influenced by statistics and probability. So aside from usual gut instinct, I have to rely on stats. If you'll look at the guilds and award-giving bodies, you'd basically come up with a statistically-based roster, but believe me, it pays to actually see them.
I saw all BP nominees except There Will be Blood, but the chances of hacking it off from the list, even though I haven't seen it yet, would be similar to trivializing the raves for No Country for Old Men, which is its co-contender as far as nominations are concerned. This year, I think, is tough to call. Juno, Michael Clayton and Atonement -- were also great.
As for directing, I think it is important to note that they're all first-time nominees, if you consider that the Coens are being nominated as a team. Jason Reitman, who helmed Thank You for Smoking in 2006, was a surprise nod for Juno. I hope to see too The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the vehicle which snagged director Julian Schnabel the Globe win.
I got 4 correct names each for acting nods, from lead to supporting. The challenge does not really lie on the number of correct names you predict, which will most likely come out strongly, but that one tricky surprise you won't know its coming.
This year’s rich in strong performances, the kind that wallops you and won’t let go. There’s Julie Christie as a wife drifting away with Alzheimers in Away From Her, Marion Cotillard’s deeply immersed Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, and the splash of ice-cold water that is Ellen Page in Juno.
And I’d say hats off to Mr. George Clooney as a messed-up fixer in Michael Clayton. How did he ever get this good. Forget Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman as an acerbic smart-ass sweeps off everybody, hell, even Julia Roberts, in Charlie Wilson’s War. But the king/queen of them all I’d say is the iconic Cate Blanchett, no, not for playing Queen Elizabeth but Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' I'm Not There. Yes, Bob Dylan, and she nailed it. So creepily that it makes your skin crawl at how amazing this actress truly is.
Though from my standpoint, there have been some misses, still it was a tough year to call. And for chrissakes, this is the Oscars, you can’t really take it that seriously. So get back to work, you freaking slob.
The next posts were semi-tributes to Heath citing his promising performance as Joker in the upcoming Batman sequel, and, as one of the actors (alongside Gere, Blanchett and Bale) playing Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There. Without a doubt, his Joker would resonate for years to come but his broken Dylan was quite a heartbreaking and memorable portrayal as well.
While most would definitely remember him as that rough guy singing “I love you baby” in the stadium to Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You, it was his Ennis del Mar that etched him as one of the most gifted thespians of his generation. His transformation and immersion as a forlorn gay cowboy in the conservative era in Brokeback Mountain will resonate forever as one of cinema’s tragic characters.
While awards-season backlash still looms with the ongoing writers’ strike, it will be as well difficult to applaud this year’s cinematic triumphs without being saddened by the loss of a true talent.
So there.
As I said the noms for the 80th Oscar were out yesterday. I started predicting last year. This time, I got all of the 5 BP nominees. You'd probably scoff at it, but something as remotely mathematical like predicting nominees has largely been influenced by statistics and probability. So aside from usual gut instinct, I have to rely on stats. If you'll look at the guilds and award-giving bodies, you'd basically come up with a statistically-based roster, but believe me, it pays to actually see them.
I saw all BP nominees except There Will be Blood, but the chances of hacking it off from the list, even though I haven't seen it yet, would be similar to trivializing the raves for No Country for Old Men, which is its co-contender as far as nominations are concerned. This year, I think, is tough to call. Juno, Michael Clayton and Atonement -- were also great.
As for directing, I think it is important to note that they're all first-time nominees, if you consider that the Coens are being nominated as a team. Jason Reitman, who helmed Thank You for Smoking in 2006, was a surprise nod for Juno. I hope to see too The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the vehicle which snagged director Julian Schnabel the Globe win.
I got 4 correct names each for acting nods, from lead to supporting. The challenge does not really lie on the number of correct names you predict, which will most likely come out strongly, but that one tricky surprise you won't know its coming.
This year’s rich in strong performances, the kind that wallops you and won’t let go. There’s Julie Christie as a wife drifting away with Alzheimers in Away From Her, Marion Cotillard’s deeply immersed Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, and the splash of ice-cold water that is Ellen Page in Juno.
And I’d say hats off to Mr. George Clooney as a messed-up fixer in Michael Clayton. How did he ever get this good. Forget Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman as an acerbic smart-ass sweeps off everybody, hell, even Julia Roberts, in Charlie Wilson’s War. But the king/queen of them all I’d say is the iconic Cate Blanchett, no, not for playing Queen Elizabeth but Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' I'm Not There. Yes, Bob Dylan, and she nailed it. So creepily that it makes your skin crawl at how amazing this actress truly is.
Though from my standpoint, there have been some misses, still it was a tough year to call. And for chrissakes, this is the Oscars, you can’t really take it that seriously. So get back to work, you freaking slob.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Saturday, January 05, 2008
It's a shitty, fcuked up world after all.
1 hour and 14 minutes says the timer of my computer in this thriving internet cafe in our kanto. I'm in this renovated expanded room of theirs secluded from the gaming room which noise has been increasingly intolerable. Thank God for the improvement, it certainly fits well with the New Year.
Shit, it is 2008! This has got to be one of the most boring Saturdays in my entire life, not that I take note of all those gloomy Saturdays. Or maybe because I just feel like shit today and I wanted to do something else than stare at the crumbling ceiling of ours that I swear would crush us any moment all the people in the upstairs rooms stomp their feet all together. (Wait, it is really 2008, right?) I wasn't intending to write an entry and since the last time I wrote and kept on returning to my home page and seeing it like that, surprisingly, I didn't give a fuck whether I get back to writing. Which is seriously pathetic. And sick. Whatever happened to the therapeutic claims.
I was watching Season 1 episodes of Six Feet Under this morning, and fuck, what a slap of reality in my tiresome feeling-identification game. It was Nate who nailed it. After failing the funeral services licensure exam, Nate, the eldest of the Fishers, wails that he doesn't know what to do with his life anymore, that he isn't sure whether going back to take care of the business his father left them was really right. I am not 100 percent sure whether I'm in that uncertainty stage because I am not sure whether I don't really have the choices or that I am just trying to act stupid and chickenshit by not opening myself to these choices. Hell, they're even fucking impossible when I come to think of it. But what the heck, the choices aren't the problem, it's the chooser. Now, fucking choose or stay miserable and feel shitty as you always did.
This isn't a perfect world and we got to live with that and we got to live with the fact that we have to keep reminding ourselves of that, but like the short-time mortician of the Fishers who shortly replaced talented Federico, in describing the Fisher home, "this is depressing". Here's to 365 days of attempt at direction, fulfillment, patience, dedication, perseverance, persistence and happiness.
Jeez, Happy New Year to you.
Shit, it is 2008! This has got to be one of the most boring Saturdays in my entire life, not that I take note of all those gloomy Saturdays. Or maybe because I just feel like shit today and I wanted to do something else than stare at the crumbling ceiling of ours that I swear would crush us any moment all the people in the upstairs rooms stomp their feet all together. (Wait, it is really 2008, right?) I wasn't intending to write an entry and since the last time I wrote and kept on returning to my home page and seeing it like that, surprisingly, I didn't give a fuck whether I get back to writing. Which is seriously pathetic. And sick. Whatever happened to the therapeutic claims.
I was watching Season 1 episodes of Six Feet Under this morning, and fuck, what a slap of reality in my tiresome feeling-identification game. It was Nate who nailed it. After failing the funeral services licensure exam, Nate, the eldest of the Fishers, wails that he doesn't know what to do with his life anymore, that he isn't sure whether going back to take care of the business his father left them was really right. I am not 100 percent sure whether I'm in that uncertainty stage because I am not sure whether I don't really have the choices or that I am just trying to act stupid and chickenshit by not opening myself to these choices. Hell, they're even fucking impossible when I come to think of it. But what the heck, the choices aren't the problem, it's the chooser. Now, fucking choose or stay miserable and feel shitty as you always did.
This isn't a perfect world and we got to live with that and we got to live with the fact that we have to keep reminding ourselves of that, but like the short-time mortician of the Fishers who shortly replaced talented Federico, in describing the Fisher home, "this is depressing". Here's to 365 days of attempt at direction, fulfillment, patience, dedication, perseverance, persistence and happiness.
Jeez, Happy New Year to you.
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