I was pretty certain February will end without any new happenings on this part of ze intarwebz but I just have to post this.

You see, I've been re-watching a lot of movies because I'm bored (as always). Yesterday's flicks were The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, among others. In the latter, I was surprised to see a familiar face:

 

Batman Begins was in 2005. That little boy with the cute accent is now this annoying brat I so want to punch in the face and kick in the... yeah.

It just amuses me to see actors (from when they were younger or starting out in the biz) in movies I've previously watched but haven't taken notice of until I saw them in "bigger" roles and remember them, or recognize them when I watch the movie again.

And yes, that is all.

Flying books and reeling words

Don't you just love Vimeo? It's impossible not to like (or even love) 4 out of 5 random videos you view. I saw this video, however, from a blog over at Tumblr. I'm so glad I found it.

Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/ illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a new narrative experience that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. “Morris Lessmore” is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” is one of five animated short films that will be considered for outstanding film achievements of 2011 in the 84th Academy Awards ®.
Film Awards Won by “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”
To date, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” film has drummed up fans all over the world taking home the following awards:
· Cinequest Film Fest: Best Animated Short
· Palm Springs International ShortFest: Audience Favorite Award
· SIGGRAPH: Best in Show

I have not much to say aside from THIS IS GUHREEEAAT and IT ALMOST MADE ME CRY. Book lover or not, I'm certain that you'll like this as much as I did, maybe less, maybe more, THE POINT IS YOU WILL LIKE IT. Get it? Now watch.

Bill, what's happening out on the street today?

I've been seeing raves about the documentary Bill Cunningham New York and, though I had no idea who he is or what he does (that is, before I saw them blog posts), decided to watch and see for myself what the fuss is all about.

The "Bill" in question is 80+ New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society charity soirées for the Times Style section in his columns "On the Street" and "Evening Hours."

Bill is such an amusing and fascinating man! He is funny, quite shy, but definitely has an eye for fashion. His lifestyle is very simple and far from the fancy world in which he moves. He admits to loving clothes and can be quite obsessive in what he does, but he himself does not care for donning expensive garbs. He is well-known among the high society circles which events he often chronicles, but doesn't give a damn about money and paychecks (more than once did he rip his paycheck). He doesn't get fazed by them younger photographers with their digital SLRs and 200mm lenses huddled in a certain spot (as seen during the fashion week part of the film), clicking at every single model strutting down the runway.

He moves around the city in a bicycle, his 29th (he already had 28 bikes stolen), with an old Nikon dangling from his neck. When it's cold, he has this dark blue jacket over his signature street-sweeper-blue-shirt. And when it rains, a black DIY raincoat is always on hand. His room at the Carnegie Hall is full of file cabinets of his work. I really really admire his humble, simple lifestyle and his being down-to-earth. I guess you don't see a lot of that in New York, especially if they're as famous and respected as one certain chap of the name Bill Cunningham.

This docu is entertaining, very amusing, and at times heartbreaking. He reminds me of James Nachtwey in the sense that he is a loner, dedicated his life to his craft, and didn't have time for romance/starting a family.

I do love documentaries about photographers. Which reminds me, I have yet to finish the documentaries on Henri Cartier-Bresson. Might get to that later, I think I'll re-watch this first.

LOTR awesomeness

Visited several random blogs and saw this at Geek Out!:

These locally produced sets have exactly the same content as those that were released in the States when the DVDs first came out. Each 4-disc set has the feature films on the first two discs with commentary, a third disc with feature documentaries about the per-production of each film, and a fourth with documentaries on the making of the movie, post-production, and the release.

All in all, there's something like 15-16 hours of extras here, on top of the the extended cut of the films which watched end to end , would run about another 12 or 13.

Be sure sure you include a bed pan and some soda and chips when you gift these (available at Astrovision for about Php 900.00 each) and be prepared not to see your loved one for at least a weekend.

It's one of items listed in their 2011 Christmas Guide for Geeks and boy, am I glad I stumbled upon this. I don't usually visit the blog because it's mostly comics stuff but I searched for something LOTR and that led me to this.

Ah, you'll be mine someday. Just you wait.

2012 movies that make me giddy!

The Secret World of Arrietty, February (Japan release: 2010)

The Hunger Games, March

Men in Black III, May

Brave, June

The Dark Knight Rises, July

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, July

Rurouni Kenshin, August (Japan)

The Hobbit, December

When I first read The Hunger Games Trilogy, which was December 2010, and learned that there will be a movie adaptation this year, I thought that I could never be more excited for a movie, ever. But when I found out that there will also be an adaptation of The Hobbit, I can't...I just can't possibly contain my excitement! Yes, I seem to be more giddy about the latter (at least as of the moment). Don't judge haha. It might be because it's one of my most recent reads, and the time I'll have to wait 'til the movie is released is relatively shorter.

I. CAN'T.

I absolutely cannot contain my excitement over THIS:

It's impossible, I tell you. I have been restraining myself from purchasing a copy (secondhand) of The Hobbit for months, and finally this December, I gave in. More than any other piece of clothing I bought, this book was my ultimate gift-to-self this Christmas.

It was an accidental discovery. As I was browsing one of the book blogs I frequent, a photo post's caption caught my eye:

To make work more fun today I made myself a little book pile of rewards. Everyone’s re-reading The Hobbit now the trailer’s out, yes? Yes.

My heart skipped a beat, or two. I kid you not.

I was constantly thinking about why nobody made this wonderful story into a movie. I watched the trilogy right after I finished the book. (I started reading it during the first hours of Christmas. I've been constantly tempted to re-watch LOTR again as soon as it was through. YES. UNTIL NOW.) I don't think it's anywhere near the trilogy in the action scale, but it's definitely one heck of an adventure! And now, I am so freakin' glad happy joyful whatever!!! WAAAAAH!

Ahem. Trailer please.

I shall wait for you, December 2012.

. . .

Hunger Games + The Hobbit? Oh my. I love you 2012.

Whatcha watchin'?

I've been watching a lot of (great!) movies and anime/tv series lately (lately being at least more than a year). I just thought I might share them here:


Chuck
My all-time favorite series which is still on air but, sadly, on its last season. I would watch as many episodes as I can daily, forcing my eyes open until I can't take it anymore haha. Oh how I would miss this when it's finally gone.

One Piece
Whole-day marathons as well. Now one of my two most favorite animes! Still on air, already on its 528th episode this week. I used to read the manga while waiting for the next episode to be available for download, but now I'm too lazy to do that.

Studio Ghibli films
I've been seeing a lot of Totoro stuff on Tumblr, and I finally downloaded the movie. I loved it and discovered other Studio Ghibli creations. Naturally, I downloaded 'em as well. This was around the middle of this year. I have now watched ten SG movies! (Note to self: download more) Their stories are unique and very entertaining, characters are so easy to like. Most of the leads are female, which is also nice. I AM IN LOVE.

Walking Dead
A series which only had six episodes on their first season. BUT, those episodes are very satisfying. I can't wait for more zombiessss, or walkers, as they call it in the show. I'm not sure if season 2 is already up haha

Rurouni Kenshin
I first watched the series on Studio 23 back in high school. THIS IS MY FAVORITE ANIME, EVER. (Well, OP and Ruroken kind of share the spot now.) I don't know why, I just do. Also this year, I read the manga version, and boy, I sure am glad I did. I thought the series seem a bit too short, and it is. Only ninety-five episodes, while the manga has 200+ chapters. I would read 'til sunrise daily. Seriously. I am now downloading episodes 11-20.

Makoto Shinkai movies
I'm not sure how many movies there are, but I currently have two. According to an ad I saw on Facebook, Shinkai is dubbed as the next Hayao Miyazaki (of Studio Ghibli!!!), so I downloaded the two, immediately. How were they? Well, the plot's nice. I just think the pace is a little bit too slow. I am also not a big fan of lengthy monologues, which basically comprises his movies. (Why do the Japanese like too many lengthy monologues??) I was expecting films similar to those of SG, so I was a bit disappointed. I'm still on the lookout for good stuff from Shinkai, though.


There you go. :) What have you been watching this year?



P.S. Thanks to B for not listening to me when I told her not to watch Chuck, for making me love One Piece (which I didn't like when I watched it on TV), and for introducing me to Walking Dead. :)

If your pictures aren't good enough, you are not close enough.

This entry's title are words from Robert Capa. These same words are the ones you'll see on the opening of the documentary film War Photographer. 

  

The film follows the life of photojournalist James Nachtwey on the field. From the first scenes to the very last part of the movie, you will see him in action: camera at hand, photographing away. It shows scenes from several of his assignments, what he does post-assignment, as well as interviews with some of the people he worked with.

I had some questions in my mind while watching the film. A lot of the images shot were those of people grieving about lost homes and lives of their loved ones. It was a bit uncomfortable watching him taking pictures of these people crying and in despair. There were times when he was inches from their faces. Don’t these people feel violated or something?

There was another thing on my mind regarding photojournalists, media people in general. What is their intention? Is it to get stories that would get them up their career ladder? It is for the awards and recognition? Is it pure documentation? For the love of gathering and disseminating information? Isn’t it disturbing to be paid documenting other people’s suffering? Then I thought to myself, doesn’t everybody in any field want even a bit of recognition? It is their livelihood, so naturally they’d get paid. Nachtwey addressed these in the film.

Seeing this movie opened my eyes to the real dangers of such occupation. I find myself asking "How do you do it?" How does one operate with poverty, starvation, chaos, death right in front of you? I really like this film for it addresses this concerns, it answered every question that popped in my head.

I watched this for the fifth time today, I guess. It struck me just the same as the first time. It was just plain powerful, honest, true. I admire you, Mr. Nachtwey. I admire you for your work and for your words. You are one brave, compassionate, determined soul. May you continue to inspire and help people with your photographs.

This is one man who got close enough, don't you think Mr. Capa?

The worst thing is to feel that as a photographer, I am benefiting from someone else’s tragedy. This idea haunts me. It’s something I have to reckon with everyday because I know that if I ever allowed genuine compassion to be overtaken by personal ambition, I would have sold my soul. The only way I could justify my role is to have respect for the other person’s predicament. The extent to which I do that is the extent to which I become accepted by the other. And to that extent, I can accept myself.

###

All images are screenshots from the movie.

Coffee and some good music

My sister sent me a link to an online contest in line with Nikon's I am Nikon campaign. That video introduced me to Radical Face and their lovely song "Welcome Home." I've been listening to it since last night. It's beautiful.

Watched Cruel Intentions and got reacquainted with this song because of it. I always liked "Colorblind" by Counting Crows and immediately searched my computer if I have it, and I do.

Listening to these two, on repeat.