I would like to say the loudest HELLO to all those cool and talented comrades who watches my DA page, more or less its gonna be you people whose going to read this entry (unless of course you choose not to activate the automatic update, but then again, its unimportant).

2007 was not a very good year for me. First, i have been sick last year and it took months before i completely recovered. And due to this mainly, i have been out of focus, shattered and i would say, lost throughout the whole year (yeah, i was pathetic).

BUT this year is different. This year will be different. Since January, i am keeping myself on track and focus on my goals, both in my work and in my personal life.

And part of this is giving a special time to DA. The community has given me so much and the least i can do is become a lurker again (yes i have been a major lurker for the past year!). And i say enough to that!

Cheers to my most favorite people here in the community:

I was seven years old when i watched my first movie. Vividly, i still remember my father putting the book like Betamax tape inside our then, technologically advanced Betamax Player. I still remember how butterflies seemed to flock around, flying inside my stomach. I was excited, yes; and probably nervously anticipating what’s in store in the following minutes. Perhaps i have known in my gut that something magical and extraordinary will start to happen; so magical and so beyond my small, confined thinking, that the event would leave a lingering imprint in my memory.

The movie was Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory.

No words would ever be enough to describe how wondrous the effect of such magic happening before a seven-year old kid’s eyes. My heart was so full, my mind racing with thoughts and possibilities. The experience changed me; it awakened something absolutely positive and inspiring, it opened my mind to a different world, so beautifully different to our small country town where amazing things happen, where the streets seem to have a life of its own, where men lived to find their dreams. That such a world existed, that such a world is achievable became the guiding light on which my life’s path began to unravel.

At seven years old, i became a dreamer.

I became a dreamer and a movie addict.

Twenty one years later, that kid who lived in that small country town is still a movie addict. I am no longer just a dreamer though as i have learned throughout the years that dreams are merely the starting point of even greater things; now, i am actualizing those dreams and taking the right path.

Hopefully.

Because at 28, i still am weak. I falter a lot. And i still depend on movies to awaken something magical; i still watch a a good movie to pump up my creative juice; i still go back to watching a movie everytime solitude beckons.

And this is where my list starts.

1. Schindler’s List
I wasn’t able to watch Schindler’s List when it was first shown and won the awards it so richly deserved back in 1993. So when i got the chance to watch it the first time two years ago, i know that i will be swept away. And i was. The depth of the story and the value placed on life, on human life, is extraordinary. The movie is not about war or the Jews or the Nazis. It is about hope and about the triumph of the human spirit. Quote:Whoever saves one life, saves the whole world.

2. Malena
The first thing that drew me towards the movie was of course the beautiful Monica Belluci. Ms. Belluci is one of the greatest beauty i have ever seen on the screen (forgive me, i just have to say that). I could write a hundred poems just describing her beauty. So casting her to play that mysterious and seemingly perfect Malena Scordia who captivates every man who lay eyes upon her, young and old alike, was perfect. It is a movie about sensual awakenings, yes. But to me, Malena is more about the evolution of a young man’s perception of the world; how he has come to realize that the world can be cruel and irrational and unjust and that one must do his best to be positively different, to start something that is good.

3. La Mala Educacion (Bad Education)
I have been a long-time fan of Pedro Almodovar’s film making. His movies are dark, comedic, and yet deep, thought provoking, and moving. Such is La Mala Educacion where Gael Carcia Bernal plays the sensitive and sexy transvestite Zahara (his performance of Besame Mucho while in a very tight dress and full make-up and wig was amazingly believable). Almodovar dwells on what is cruel and unfortunate and builds upon it a beautiful and moving drama about the inconsistencies and painful realities inside the Catholic Church; the movie is about how our childhood experiences greatly affects and defines who we are in the future.

4. Cinema Paradiso
It was only a couple of months ago that i get to watch this movie eventhough i have heard of it when it was released in the US. I have to say that this is one of the greatest films that i have watched in my 28 years of existence. The movie is all things at the same time. It makes you feel and think about so many things, essential things. The experience of watching it and dwelling in its story is magnificent. It is about life and how one must live it with an insatiable thirst for ones dreams; it is about undying love and how it can consume you and define how you shall live your life.The movie reaches something deep and profound and lonely in ones heart.

5. Basic Instinct
The first sexually explicit film that i watched. I remember my mom getting so angry when she found out that i watched the film and gave my father the look when she found out that he allowed me to watch it. Sharon Stone was deliciously amazing as the she-devil cum writer/novelist in the movie. And the sex scenes are, well, simply put, stimulating (an understatement).

6. 300
I think what made this movie beautiful was not exactly the theme about glory and honor and courage, which is kind of staple in this type of films, but the graphic quality of its colors and its tones.

7. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
I was able to watch this film last year and i was enthralled. The movie is about one’s quest for love and acceptance. The cinematography is captivating, you can almost smell the elements on the screen.

8. Shortbus
I am not sure if this is an Indie film but when i got the chance to watch it, boy was i amazed. The movie may well be categorized as a sex flick, it may be said further that it is a gay film but it is more than that. One finds one’s self in every character of the movie, hetero or homo. The characters are so fully developed that all of them contributed to making the film so rich and meaningful. It shows the varied levels of relationships and how we are defined by the partners or lovers we choose. The movie is smart, funny, and endearing. Further, it shows sex as a symbol of freedom and ownership of ones self. Quote:You are so far behind you think you are first.

9. Gattaca
Gattaca is about the power of dreams and how far one can go by just following and pursuing it. It is about perseverance and the power of the human will. Uma Thurman is a goddess. Etha Hawke is a god. Quote:I got the better end of the deal. I only lent you my body - you lent me your dream.

10. All about Eve
If there would be one reason, just one, to watch this movie, it would be because of Bette Davis. Miss Davis delivered a superb performance that is usual for an actress her caliber. Without her, the movie would have been dull and boring. Another wonderful element of the movie is the script; the script has wit scattered all over it. This is one of the classics one should never fail to watch. Quote:Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!

Part 2 will follow on my next journal entry.

These are some of the amazing, amazing art that i have found over the past weeks.