14 Days To Love - Kisses No. 3

"Look for the girl with the broken smile, ask her if she wants to say awhile, and she will be loved..."



Now here's a kiss with a dash of real life romance!

I have not seen the movie "The Notebook". But I've seen this kiss a few times already and I'm pretty sure it's just as hot as the kisses that Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams shared in the big screen. I love the background music, I love Ryan's little "come hear" gesture. I love how he gently clutched Rachel's hair while they were kissing. I love that they showed Lindsay Lohan's reaction hahaha. I love how Rachel leaned a little closer to Ryan after they kissed and with him still holding her. Even Paul Walker shouting at Ryan ("C'mon say something!") was quite hot. Yep, still shallow.

14 Days To Love - Kisses No. 1

Julia : Not porno tongue. Church tongue.
Robbie: [laughing] Church tongue. I like that.



My first kiss is from my favorite romantic comedy film and it's their first kiss! It shouldn't be romantic, at least as far as the leads are concerned, but it is, because it was at that moment when they began to feel that what they have is much more than just friendship.

I like this, because it's the leads' first kiss and it's sweet, and Julia got more than the "church kiss" she had envisioned. The awkward start, and the strains of the background music (oh so familiar because it's Robbie's proposal song to Julia later in the movie) made the moment a memorable scene.

Muffliato

I’m re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (surprise, surprise), and I can’t wait for the movie to hit the big screen! Who here is excited to hear Severus Snape’s “unfixed, mutating, indestructible” speech? Alan Rickman’s voice is so going to rock that scene!

I think I already mentioned that one of my favorite, favorite scene in the ENTIRE series was when Harry asked Luna out to Slughorn’s party. It never fails to crack me up! Here’s to remind you of that awesome scene:



"How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?"

The words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop them; he heard himself say them as though it were a stranger speaking.

Luna turned her protuberant eyes to him in surprise.

"Slughorn's party? With you?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like.. I mean..." He was keen to make his intentions perfectly clear. " I mean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to..." He was already half hoping that she didn't want to.

"Oh no, I'd love to go with you as friends!" said Luna, beaming as he had never seen her beam before. "Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as a friend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I dye mine too?"

"No" said Harry firmly, "That was a mistake. I'll get Hermione to put it right for me. So I'll meet you in the entrance hall at eight o'clock then."

"AHA!" screamed a voice from overhead and both of them jumped; unnoticed by either of them, they had just passed underneath Peeves, who was hanging upside down from a chandelier and grinning maliciously at them.

"Potty asked Loony to go to the party! Potty lurves Loony! Potty luuuuuurves Looooony!"

And he zoomed away cackling and shrieking, "Potty loves Loony!"


Too bad Peeves was cut from the movie. :(

But I’m getting ahead of myself! I haven’t gotten to that chapter yet, I’m still on Harry’s first Pensieve trip with Dumbledore, to the Gaunt’s house. I wonder how much of the Pensieve scenes will be included in the film. The book is more expository so I don’t know how much liberty the director took to make the film adaptation more action/adventure oriented.

Reading the chapter on Slughorn’s first Potions lesson, I suddenly remembered an idea I have before. Here’s the deal: assume that we are in Harry Potter’s world. What would your answers be to the following questions:

1. What would your Patronus be?
2. What shape would your Boggart assume?
3. What would Amortentia, the most powerful love potion, smell to you?
4. Finally, what would you see in the Mirror of Erised?

My answers are:

1. I think my Patronus would either be a big cat, like a tiger or lynx, or a shaggy black dog like Sirius Black!
2. Obviously, it’s going to be like Ron’s, a big spider. Ack.
3. The smell of the fresh pages of a new book, mango and sun-kissed skin. I don’t know how to explain the last one, I guess it’s that kind of smell that evokes beach and warm sand on the skin.
4. This is a difficult question for me. I guess my “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts” is not something I can just share to everybody, right? So, here’s a more share-able version: I would see myself back in school, taking up something related to the Arts or History, like Literature or Archeology. The corporate life is often too stressful that I longed for something less practical.

What would YOUR answers be to these questions? :)

(pic courtesy of Mugglenet)

Desert Island Time!

Over at Livejournal, there's this feature called Writer's Block, which features one topic prompt daily, something like a one-shot meme. I like the question for yesterday and today so I'm posting it here!

Writer's Block - March 3
You're packing your bag for that magical desert island that happens to have electricity, a TV and a DVD player - what five DVDs do you take with you?


1. Lord Of The Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King)
- I'm kind of cheating here because this one is worth 3 movies! I'll never tire of marathon-watching the three films, it feels so satisfying when I finish re-watching all in one day. Plus, dirty, dirty Aragorn is so appealing! (Viggo Mortensen looks hotter the dirtier he gets in his films. Wait, that sounds wrong.)

2. The Ring (Japanese version)
- When you're stuck in an island, you need to practice CONSTANT VIGILANCE! There's no better way to keep me on my wits (and keep me up all night) than the image of Sadako climbing out of that well and out of the TV screen! But if there's a well on that island, I might re-think bringing this DVD along.

(Digression: my family prefers watching TV thisclose to the screen. When I made them marathon-watch the three Ring films, all of them stayed as far away from the TV screen as possible. I might have laughed at that, if not for the fact that I was on the farthest corner of the room myself and totally freaked out when my cousin gently poked me.)

3. Air Force One
- This is such a cheesy action film, but Harrison Ford was full of charisma and very believable as the President of the United States. Plus, Gary Oldman. Fake accent. YUM. This was shown around the time Erap was still the country's President and we laughed ourselves silly imagining if Erap was in Harrison Ford's position ("Kaya ba ni Erap yan?").

4. The Wedding Singer
- I just want to grow old with Robbie Hart, knowing that he can always entertain me and sweep me off my feet with his funny yet endearing songs. His concept of money will never be not funny! ("I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar. That's where you come in.")

5. Ice Age
- I can appreciate the irony here: I'm alone in an island watching a film about how no man (or extinct animal, for that matter) is an island. :D

Runners-up: The Usual Suspects, High Fidelity, A Knight's Tale, The Dark Knight, Memento



Writer's Block - March 4
You're packing your bag for that other desert island - the one with no electricity - what 5 books do you take with you?


1. Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling)
- Ha! I cheated again! This one is worth 7 books, and I could spend my entire desert island life re-reading all 7 books and not get bored by it.

2. Battle Royale (Koushun Takami)
- As much as it sucks to be stranded in an island with no electricity, at least I'm not stranded in an island and engaged in a literal battle for survival against my classmates!

3. A Long Way Down (Nick Hornby)
- A novel about 4 suicidal people should not be funny, but this book just cracks me up each time I read it! It's amazing how the author managed to make 4 losers such compelling and likable characters, flaws and all.

4. I Hate Myself And I Want To Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard (Tom Reynolds)
- I tend to like reading depressing stuffs, don't you think? Well, this book is not really that depressing. It's actually funny. What's kind of depressing to realize, though, is that the some of the songs listed are songs that I enjoy listening to.

5. Foxtrot comics (Bill Amend)
- Yey! Something not depressing! I know I can always count on my favorite fictional family and their misadventures to cheer me up and keep me company.

Runners-up: To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Haunted (Chuck Palahniuk), Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer), Protect And Defend (Richard North Patterson), It (Stephen King)

Who Watches The Watchmen?

What the F**k, MTRCB?!!



Watchmen Cancelled in IMAX

Watchmen Rated R-13 WITH CUTS

Why the cuts??? Just release the film with a different rating rather than mutilate it, damn it!

14 Days To Love - Day 14

Julia: The right one, ah... I always envisioned the right one being someone I could see myself growing old with.

THE WEDDING SINGER (1998)






Notes:

What better way to end this project than by quoting my favorite romantic comedy film? :)

There's nothing complicated or angsty or flashy about this line, but it summed up what I always believed in about love - that the right one is someone you can see yourself growing old with, the one who's with you even after the flash and pomp and fireworks have gone, to be replaced by the ordinary and the mundane, and yet still make you feel excited and grateful for each day that you are together.

14 Days To Love - Day 7

Rose: When the ship docks, I’m getting off with you.

Jack: This is crazy!

Rose: I know! It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it.

TITANIC (1997)

14 Days To Love - Day 6

Sebastian: You spend all your time preaching about waiting for love. Well here it is. Right in front of you, and you're going to turn your back on it. So I guess we're just f***ed. I'll move on. But you are going to have to live the rest of your life knowing that you've turned your back on love. And that makes you a hypocrite. Have a nice life.

CRUEL INTENTIONS (1999)

14 Days to Love - Day 5

Iris: I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn't know you had inside you. And it doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door.

THE HOLIDAY (2006)

14 Days to Love - Day 4

Rob: It made sense to pool our collective loathing for the opposite sex, and while we were at it, you get to share a bed with somebody at the same time. We were frightened of being left alone for the rest of our lives. Only people of a certain disposition are frightened of being alone for the rest of their lives at the age of 26, and we were of that disposition.


HIGH FIDELITY (2000)

14 Days to Love - Day 3

Vada: Weeping willow with your tears running down, why do you always weep and frown? Is it because he left you one day? is it because he could not stay? On your branches he would swing, do you long for the happiness that day would bring? He found shelter in your shade. You thought his laughter would never fade. Weeping willow, stop your tears. There is something to calm you fears. You think death has ripped you forever apart. But I know he'll always be in your heart.


MY GIRL (1991)

14 Days to Love - Day 2

Dan: I fell in love with her, Alice.

Alice: Oh, as if you had no choice? There's a moment, there's always a moment, "I can do this, I can give into this, or I can resist it", and I don't know when your moment was, but I bet you there was one.

CLOSER (2004)

14 Days To Love - Day 1

Geoffrey Chaucer: There she is, William. The embodiment of love. Your Venus.

William Thatcher: And how I hate her.

A KNIGHT'S TALE (2001)






Notes:

I did not promise romantic, okay? But hey, this IS romantic. Funny, too.

At first I wanted to quote William's "My dearest Jocelyn" letter, but after rewatching this movie, I decided the dialogue above is more awesome.

William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) is a con-knight and Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon) is his strong-willed damsel. He tried to impress her by vowing to win the jousting tournament for her. She challenged him to LOSE the tournament, instead, to prove his love.

To the surprise and horror of his loyal band, he voluntarily lose his first match. Jocelyn then requested that if he really loves her, he will NOT LOSE any more matches. Hence, the lines above!

For me, the way William said "And how I hate her" is romantic precisely because he doesn't really hate HATE her. It's merely frustration that he got caught in her spell and that she knew it and knew how to use it to her advantage. And face it - women can be hard to understand sometimes, and men in love are only too willing to go with what will make their ladies happy.

Can't Wait For These Movies!

This is really late, but I saw a poster of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and decided I still want to do my list of my most anticipated movies for 2009!

2009, for me, is going to be The Year of Movies Featuring Hot, Gorgeous Men. I’m not saying I’m watching just for that, I just noticed it while compiling my list. :D

So, here we go!



Top 8 Most Anticipated Movies of 2009

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Is anyone surprised at all with my choice? This has been my most anticipated film of 2008 – I already made my plans around its supposed November release date – and what did the producers do? Delayed it until July 2009! My rage, let me show you it. The penultimate book in the HP series wasn’t the best, but who wouldn't want to see Snape kill Dumbledore on-screen? And just because my fave scene in the book (POTTY LURVES LOONY!) won’t be in the film, doesn’t mean I don’t look forward to hearing “WON! WON!”

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Hugh Jackman! Hugh Jackman and his biceps! GAMBIT! Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool! Daniel Henney! Liev Sch-however you spell his last name! Hugh Jackman!

3. Public Enemies

This movie stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. They could have the two wash laundry for the duration of the film and I'd still watch it. But this film has a good plot and I'm watching it for it. Really. Really. Depp plays John Dillinger, public enemy #1 during the Great Depression and Bale is the FBI agent tasked to capture him.

4. Watchmen

The production of this movie was mired with legal battles between Fox and WB. I sure hope that the issues have been settled already because everyone's looking forward to this! Everything I've seen so far points to this movie being awesome. The League of Extra-Ordinary Gentlemen, this certainly is NOT.

5. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Optimus Prime is back! Giant robots! I can't wait for the sequel to Michael Bay's best film yet.

6. Terminator Salvation

Another Christian Bale starrer. It's hard to imagine a Terminator without an Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Bale has proven that he can take on an iconic movie franchise and turn it into a blockbuster. Not even the fact that McG directed this film can dampen my anticipation.

7. 2012

Two words: John Cusack. Didn't I say I'm watching movies this year for the eye-candy? Okay, something else to convince you why this is worth watching: the movie is a post-apocalyptic thriller set around a Mayan calendar prophecy predicting that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Now THAT should draw your attention.

8. Sherlock Holmes

Based on the classic fictional character, this movie stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, the sexiest crime-solving pair. I don't think this will be your typical action film and like everyone else, I'm curious as to what RDJ will do after his success as Iron Man.


Honorable Mentions:
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs; Arrested Development; A Christmas Carol (Gary Oldman!); This Side of Truth; Inglorious Basterds; Dragonball Evolution; Crank 2: High Voltage; Friday the 13th; Shutter Island; Ninja Assassin; Star Trek, Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

"There's also the metaphor - a flower in the storm"

Finally watched Hana Yori Dango Final and… okay, it’s very cheesy and contrived and feel-good, but I like it! :D

This movie reminded me why I love the jdrama so much and why Matsumoto Jun will always be THE Domyouji for me. I love how he and Inoue Mao have so much chemistry together, I love how despite all the craziness and the presence of Hanazawa Rui (quite a leading man in his own right), I still and will always want Domyouji and Makino to end up together and live happily ever after – because you know they will be happy together, for always, constant bickering and Domyouji’s horrible Japanese notwithstanding.

And yep, even after finding the movie cheesy, I was a bit teary eyed at the end when Makino gave her good news to Domyouji. Domyouji’s reaction (“That’s UNBELIEVABLE!”) was so cute!

I… I, I think I might be in love with Matsujun again?

Tramps like us, baby we were born to run

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
But there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when
We’re gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go
And we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run"

I found myself hooked by the novel “Battle Royale” by Koushun Takami that an officemate jokingly said “I expect a reaction paper tomorrow”. (I was surreptitiously reading in the office last Monday. What?) Well, I took that as a challenge and decided to post a review of both the film and book.

Spoiler Alert! You know what that means.

I saw the movie first and loved it. I never planned on reading the novel but I saw this one lonely copy at National Bookstore last week and I could not resist! I started reading Sunday night and I couldn’t put the book down so I brought it at the office to finish.

(Sidebar: It always happens this way, it’s no longer funny. I get the urge to read/watch/play something on a Sunday night and I almost always end up liking what I read/saw/played that I start the week with a new addiction and a massive headache.)

The basic premise is this: a high school class was randomly selected to participate in Battle Royale, a game created by the government, where the students were isolated in an island and instructed to engage in a deadly survival game in which there can only be one winner. Sounds disturbing, right? Well, both the film and novel were highly controversial. In this age and time when school killings are news staple, I can understand why.

Both the film and novel were graphically violent. Then again, the blood fest in Hostel or even the Scream trilogy was more gratuitous than Battle Royale and I can name various action or slasher flicks that were way more violent and brutal. Same goes for the book – Stephen King has written more gruesome scenes than the ones depicted in the book.

I guess the more disturbing aspect of the violence is not the frequency of the deaths nor its brutality, but because these were committed by teenagers. More than the socio-political undertones (the movie and book were set in an alternate universe where the nation is ruled by a dictatorial/militaristic government), I was struck by the way the kids were unceremoniously thrust into a dog-eat-dog world. How do you expect a teenager to react to the news that he has to kill in order to live?

The unfortunate class selected to participate in the game was class 3B of Shirowa High School. The class is made up of 42 students of various stereotypes and cliques. There are the jocks, the delinquents, the otakus (nerds), the popular girls, the class clown, the entitled.

The story focuses mostly on Shuya Nanahara, the student who excels both in athletics and music. He’s quite popular, especially among the girls, but he’s oblivious to the attention. In the book, Shuya grew up in an orphanage with his classmate and best friend Yoshitoki Kuninobu. The fate of the latter early in the game determined the former’s strategy and motivation, which was to protect Noriko Nanagawa, another classmate and Yoshitoki’s crush. Shuya was a good person, too trusting for his own good, who managed to stay in the game with big doses of luck.

I like Shuya, basically because he’s a bit dim with regards to girls (I find that quality in a guy quite attractive, don’t ask me why) and the actor who played him in the movie was cute (haha). But my favorite character is Shinji Mimura. His personality was not explored that well in the movie but I thought he was cool in the novel. He is another jock, in the same league with Shuya ability- and popularity-wise. He’s smarter than Shuya, though, and Shuya repeatedly stated his desire to look for Shinji during the course of the game, knowing that Shinji would come up with a plan. Shinji was a quick thinker and has a better rein on his emotions, but like any other kid, he hold trivial grudges and was prone to irrational choices.

The author tried to give each of the 42 students a distinct personality, but it was a bit hard to keep track of who’s who during the first parts, and some of the similar sounding names didn’t help, either. The movie was not as exhaustive in introducing all the students to the viewers. The participants’ personalities and backgrounds affected the actions and choices they made during the game, and that’s what made the whole story click. Some acted the way you expect them to, others made surprising choices, and most reacted with tragic results.

The rules of the game added twists and unpredictability to the game. The students were given day packs that contain limited food and water, plus a random weapon which ranges from the useless (tiara, pot lid, fork) to the downright nasty (Uzi, beretta, potassium cyanide). After every six hours, the instructor would announce the forbidden zones. Anyone caught on these areas will be killed instantly. This rule discouraged a hiding out strategy and forced the students to move around. In the novel, if within 24 hours no one dies or gets killed, then everybody gets killed via the collar fitted to the students’ necks at the start of the game. The collars also enabled the organizer to monitor the players and punish those who broke the rules.

Yes, the whole premise was quite twisted and there were moments when I feel guilty for enjoying the book/movie. But it’s an engaging story; you know it will not end beautifully but you just want to see what these 42 young ones will do. You want to find out who would choose to play the game and kill and their reasons for doing so. You want to find out who would try to be the voice of reason, who would figure a way to escape, who would sacrifice so that another can live, who would just lose their minds. Then you get an uneasy jolt of realization - these people brandishing grown up weapons were just high school students: they have crushes, they have their cliques, they look for a leader, they bully the weak, they make rash decisions. You realize that these are not just random people forced to kill a stranger - these are a bunch of students who have formed a bond with one another, who have fond memories of their triumphs and adventures as a class. You find some scenes heartbreaking: when a boy tried to look for his classmate to confess his feelings, when the class sweethearts jumped together to their deaths. You feel for them when suddenly they become suspicious and distrustful, when a friend betrays a friend, when a slight action becomes the catalyst of a tragedy.

I wish I knew how to speak Japanese: the book I got was an English translation of the original novel but it was really good, yet somehow I feel that there were nuances that were lost in the translation. There were puns and inside jokes that someone familiar with the Japanese language and culture would easily understand. As I said, the movie and novel are both graphic, but it’s not just one whole gore-fest that’s meant to shock and exploit; I think, in this instance, the violence was just a tool to tell a bigger story. The effects in the movie were not even polished and Hollywood-esque, sometimes the scenes were even bordering on comical. Some of the dialogues and fight scenes were awkward, but these are teenagers and we all know how awkward those years were.

The book and the movie are not for everyone. If you’re looking for something “feel good”, then don’t pick this up. But if you can take the violence and if you want something that you can ponder about after reading or viewing, I suggest that you give Battle Royale a try.

What's Wrong With Dumbledore?

I have a problem with the latest promotional pictures for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, particularly with Dumbledore:

(photos courtesy of Mugglenet)

Why is he not flamboyant enough in the first picture? And why does he look like Gandalf in the second one?!

At least young Tom Marvolo Riddle is appropriately creepy. Can’t wait for the movie!

Destination: Quiapo

I went to Quiapo last Saturday to buy pDVDs. I was quite excited because it was my first time to go there on my own.

The best thing about going out alone is that I have the liberty to do what I want with my time. I can afford to linger longer and walk at my own pace without worrying about a tired companion. I also get to meet new people.

My agenda for the day was to look for copies of Battle Royale and Lust, Caution. My first stop was at the stall selling animes and Asian dramas. There was a bunch of guys in the stall and they were buying a lot of stuffs. Among them was an Asian guy who was in a pDVD shopping spree as he was leaving for Singapore. Unfortunately, both the DVDs I was looking for were not available. I bought new titles (Warlord, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Bank Job), the Death Note live-action films, and the only Akira Kurosawa title available, The Seven Samurais. One of the guys recommend a film to me (“Miss yung katabi nung Seven Samurai maganda din!”), and I’m not sure, but I think he thought I knew how to read Japanese because the film he was recommending didn’t have an English title and I asked him what the title was and he just grinned sheepishly.

“Ano ba story nun? Parang Seven Samurais din?”
“Uh, hindi love story siya.”

My best find for the day was the DVDs for Maskman! And, okay, I did bought two more jdramas.

My next stop was at the stall selling Blue-ray and HD DVDs (can I just say I love the packaging of these discs?). While browsing though the titles, a middle-aged lady arrived and asked the seller if he has a copy of City of God. I was already holding my copy of that movie and told her that they have it and gave her another copy. I was curious with her choices (she was now looking for Cinema Paradiso) and I asked her if she likes foreign language and arthouse films and she said yes. I don’t know but I feel sort of embarassed that my preferences were more mainstream and was glad that time that I was holding copies of City of God and Donnie Darko instead of Speed Racer.

“Ikaw miss, ano hinahanap mo?”
“Battle Royale po.”
“Ay, meron ako nun.”
“Talaga po? Saan po niyo nabili? Kanina pa ko naghahanap dito ala daw po sila.”
“Internet. Download lang.”

“Sobrang violent (ung Battle Royale),” she added matter-of-factly. I hope I can be as cool as her when I reach her age.

I bought City of God and Donnie Darko, plus the Special Editions of Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, Collector’s Edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Leon (Gary Oldman!!!).

I stayed for a while inside the “mall” because it was raining outside. When the rain stopped, I hailed a pedicab to take me to Quiapo church since the streets were flooded. From the church I walked to the LRT station in Carriedo. I was a few hundred bucks poorer, tired and a bit dirty, and I failed to find the movies I was originally looking for, but it was a good experience that I want to repeat another day.

Anybody Wanna See A Pencil Disappear?

OMFG.

The Dark Knight - wow. I won't even attempt to make a review of the film. Everyone's been raving about how great Heath Ledger was as the Joker and I definitely agree with them. If Jack Nicholson's Joker was iconic, Heath's Joker is, well, whatever is better and bigger than iconic! When he said something to Batman along the lines of "you and me are quite a team; let's do this together again!" (I forgot the exact lines) I was like - "Oh no, Heath, I would like that, too" and almost tear up.

Everybody knows how much I love Gary Oldman and even if I already had an idea that his death was a fakeout, I was still "please don't let Gary Oldman die in ALL of his movies!".

I found myself laughing alone at some scenes. I don't know why, I don't know if there's really a joke there that others didn't get or I just got a sick sense of humor. Maybe for me it's like you're in this really tense situation and all you can do is laugh. But the line "You complete me"? Fucking win.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is gorgeous and way better than Katie Holmes. But the men are prettier than Maggie. Sorry, I'm really shallow.

About the news that Patrick Dempsey will replace Christian Bale in the sequel to The Dark Knight - NO. JUST NO. Let this be one of the Joker's sick, sick jokes.

50-50 Update

Updated from my entry last February. Items in red are the books/movies I’ve read/seen from March to May.

The year is almost half-way through and I’m only 6 items short to complete my 50 movies! Sadly, my books list isn’t doing so well. Only 7 new books read during the year! Still a long way to go…


Books

21. Degree of Guilt – Richard North Patterson *
20. The Innocent Man – John Grisham
19. Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony – Eoin Colfer
18. Protect and Defend – Richard North Patterson *
17. Along Came A Spider – James Patterson
16. Camp Foxtrot (A Foxtrot Treasury) – Bill Amend *
15. Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling *
14. Second Chance – James Patterson *
13. Desperation – Stephen King *
12. Book Thief – Markus Zusak
11. Harry Potter And the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling *
10. Angels And Demons – Dan Brown *
09. Maximum Ride: Saving The World and Other Extreme Sports – James Patterson
08. A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby *
07. Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
06. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer *
05. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby *
04. Lost In A Good Book - Jasper Fforde *
03. The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials Book II - Philip Pullman
02. The Balance of Power - Richard North Patterson *
01. Your Momma Thinks Square Roots Are Vegetables (A Foxtrot Collection) - Bill Amend *


Movies

44. Sex and the City
43. Hana Yori Dango ****
42. 9 ½ Weeks
41. Rain Man *
40. School Ties
39. One Missed Call
38. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
37. What Happens In Vegas
36. Interview with a Vampire *
35. The Lake House *
34. JFK
33. Superman Returns *
32. Catch And Release
31. My Girl ***
30. Crash
29. High Fidelity *
28. A History of Violence *
27. Sweeney Todd
26. Michael Clayton
25. No Country For Old Men
24. The Hitman
23. Evan Almighty
22. Wrong Turn
21. The Jacket
20. Reservoir Dogs *
19. Cutting Edge *
18. Edward Scissorhands *
17. The Green Mile *
16. My Girl *
15. There’s Something About Mary *
14. Syriana
13. Lions For Lambs
12. Super Bad
11. Juno
10. Karate Kid Part 2 *
09. Titanic *
08. Little Miss Sunshine
07. Seven *
06. Zodiac
05. Eastern Promises
04. Eight Below *
03. X-Men: The Last Stand *
02. She's The Man *
01. Hana Kimi **

* re-read or re-watched, as the case may be
** technically a Japanese television series, but it was worth 12+ straight hours of my life so I'm including it.
*** Korean telenovela
**** another Japanese live action drama!