" chock full o' blisses "

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watching movies is one of the single most satisfying thing i know of. sure you're just sitting in front of a flickering screen, or television set; your eyes stimulated by the light photons hitting nerves which translate into image and substance.

there's something deeply fulfilling about being able to enjoy the time spent doing such an activity. it's one of life's great releases. and when i find that i have the time to enjoy this activity, i always leave sated, no matter how i felt about the particular movie. it's happiness in tiny increments.

(this is of course not including the vast socio-cultural isms that come along with audio-visual presentations. that is another train of thought entirely)

today i finally had a day off. a real day off. not one of those fake ones where you make plans, then become busy with other things. this was one day when i made a plan, and carried it out just so. and then some.

1. farenheit 9/11 - michael moore, documentary, usa

- watching this doc just twists the knife in everything i felt and continue to feel about the fact that bush got re-elected by that part of america. i mean come one people, fo reezy yo! is it that hard to know facts, and then be able to take said facts and come up with a vision of truth? i think not. maybe the problem is that too many americans feel that it is easier to make a stand, a bold statement against truth, to not view such materials. it's not as if michael moore had to search long and hard for these facts either. they were there and almost in plain sight. the story told itself, and he just fashioned them into a piece is all. if we as a people, are to begin to move towards a truer definition of peace, freedom, and democracy, then we will just have to realize that our president is false and wrong, and a liar, and so many other descriptive words that he[bush] does not even realize exist in the known english venacular.

2. nobody knows - kore-eda hirokazu, drama, japan

- you talk about the details, and the perfected moments captured to display these details, and you get to the foot of the body of work that is hirokazu's films. it's the story of a group of small children with a disappearing mother, and multiple absent fathers. this movie is so beautiful and sad in it's plain and voyeuristic beauty, that i had to give in to the film, becoming an avid and engaged viewer. it's in the nail-paint chipped away on a finger, the perfect moment of a young child looking up to a brother, the feet and how they arch and stretch while resting on the ground, the short clocking sound of shoes hitting tiles, the deafening silence of the pain that is maternal rejection and how it needs no words to express that emotion. hirokazu's movie hits you so hard with it's seeming simplicity, that you almost have no clue how to react, other than your emotions have already chosen how to feel; quietly and subconsciously anticipating the next beat.

3. kill-bill 2 - quentin tarantino, drama-camp/pastiche, usa (VCD)

- say what you will about the obvious egotistical attributes of this maker, but he has something to say. he may be blunt and un-p.c. he may hurt your feelings or challenge your brain, and he may confuse and annoy, but you gotta give it to the guy, he knows how to entertain. all i've been hearing from the mass of expectant babies about this film, were "where's the story? why are there two parts? why is it so long? where's the fighting and blood?" blah blah blah. whine, whine, whiney whine-whine. it's a story for god's sake. c'mon people. let the story be what it is. it's not going to change cause you disagree with it. it just is. i personally enjoyed it. yay.

after watching those two flicks at SIAM/LIDO theatre in bangkok, i went shopping for dvdvd's. i got six of them for the amount of one new release in the states, (about 1000 Baht/$25.00)which kicks ass. i heard that you can purchase out-of-region dvd's and still be able to play em on a dvd drive/player through a computer...so i'm sorta counting on that.

the dvd's in no order but its own:

a. dirty pretty things - stephen frears, uk
b. ong-bak - prachaya pingkaew, thailand
c. japanese story - sue brooks, australia
d. last life in the universe - pen-ek ratanaruang, thailand/japan
e. frida - julie taymor, usa/canada/mexico
f. kill bill 2 - quentin tarantino, usa

tonight's homework:

watch a movie with a friend. it can be any movie of any sort, that is if you can agree on the selected title with your friends. cause that's also part of the fun; the "picking out" of a movie. going to a video rental store and trying to agree on an emotion or an actor/actress and the inherent can-we-please-go-jesus-christ-can-you-choose-something-ness of it all. make sure to get some snackies too. gotta have snackies.

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