My report: Eva Mendes is in the movie, that itself will make some scenes pleasing to the eye. Luckily enough the movie was all around good. I had no idea the story was going to end up the way it did and I like it that way. Eva Mendes man… I really like her looks.
Rating:
About it: When a man who specializes in cleaning crime scenes washes away the evidence of a murder before the crime is reported, he soon becomes drawn into a deadly mystery in this thriller directed by Renny Harlin, and starring Samuel L. Jackson. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
I’m rooting for the Democratic Party presidential candidate, Barack Obama, for reasons that go beyond his policies. He’s a strong candidate for the Presidency of the United States, yes I know, but even though he’s a democrat and I am a registered republican, he is still braking new barriers that might somehow affect me and that is a strong reason for my support. But I’m starting to think this race is going to be much tougher than what I originally thought it would be.
Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, couldn’t look and sound more like a soccer mom who’s not afraid to wear pants. She made something out of nothing on her introduction speech. I say that because she has accomplished relatively small things: she was the mayor of a small town in Alaska before becoming governor of the same state, this is not a remarkable curriculum for anyone running for Vice President of the United States, but what is impressive is how she can connect with the people.
She’s got 5 kids, the youngest child was born in April of 2008 and how Down Syndrome, the oldest and only son enlisted in the U.S. Army on 9/11 of 2007 and is on his way to Iraq on 9/11 of 2008, one of her daughters is 17 years old and pregnant, and will have her baby. She has been married to the same man for 20 years, her high school sweetheart… do I need to say more? She can connect with a lot of voters. I’m thinking about all the democrats, especially women, who were rooting for Hillary Clinton, who knows if they’ll end up even switching votes to another party, like I did, simply because Palin represents the voice of women across the nation.
My report: first of all, I have to say that even though it was a good movie, the best part was discovering Maya Zapata. She’s a beautiful woman like the ones I like. There was a nude scene of her and she had me wanting more. As far as the movie goes, it is interesting and full of drama. The main guy is stupid for sleeping with his wife’s half sister… in the same house where all three are living, worst yet, he gets the sister-in-law pregnant. I understand Maya looks good, but at least do it once and when she’s moving out…
Rating:
About it: Esteban Ramirez’s melodrama Caribe stars Jorge Perugorria as Vincente a man who has gotten himself into difficult positions in both his personal life and his financial life. He engages in an affair with his sister-in-law, while also fielding offers from large oil companies to buy his land. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
My report: what can I say, another good Asian fighting film. I like the martial arts and the women in these films. Always elegant and graceful. I consider myself so ignorant of the Asian culture that it is something I admire very much. Many things are different about that other Orient, and I like paying attention to the details in the movies. Things like the clothes the people are wearing, the way they look and salute each other, the music, etc.
Rating:
About it: A Wuxia adventure out of South Korea, The Legend of the Shadowless Sword is a handsome martial arts epic by Kim Yung-jun (Flying Warriors). The film’s simple story allows for exceptionally creative action sequences about every three to four minutes, while simultaneously building a noble tale full of faith, love, and sacrifice. A beautiful female warrior named Yeonsoha (Yoon So-yi) goes in search of the last, living prince of the Balhae dynasty and its kingdom, overrun years before by the Geordan empire. The prince, Jeong Hyeon (Seo Jin Lee), has been in hiding 14 years as a black market trader, concerned primarily for his own safety and deeply cynical about any thought of going back to retrieve his family’s throne. Yeonsoha, however, proves persuasive, especially in light of the many attempts on Jeong’s life by a gang of assassins. The shady killers are led by a vengeance-seeking Kun (Hyeong Jun-Shin) and his assistant, (Ki-Yong Lee), another sword-wielding babe who gets into plenty of wild skirmishes with Yeonsoha.
The story essentially follows Jeong and Yeonsoha’s efforts to get back to a waiting army of Balhae exiles awaiting a king’s leadership. As the hours and days pass, Jeong gets in touch with the man he once was, a fearless warrior whose exploits on the battlefield are well-known to Yeonsoha, whose connection to the prince seems mysteriously personal. The film’s numerous fight scenes are never redundant, employing all manner of props and ideas for exciting fights. But it’s the performances that really hold everything together, the deep if understated emotions and the excitement of watching two mismatched lead characters slowly realize how important they are to one another. –Tom Keogh
Part of the homework I was working on today for my Spanish class was reading an article by Cristina Peri Rossi and she believes that menlovewomen that are superior to them and women also love men that they see as superior. It got me to thinking about it ’cause it just doesn’t sound right. No one with enough self esteem will actually admit that the reason she is with his or her partner is because they are superior. In fact, I think we all prefer to believe that we fall in love with people we see as our equal.
It’s not that we look at someone and feel they are superior, what we see is a person that can bring something to the table. Nobody likes having a partner they feel they are carrying or babysitting. We all want someone we can depend on and will have some qualities we either lack or are not as strong. This is the reason why men and women with money and fame prefer to marry someone like them. It is also the reason why men who have money, but are not very handsome will most likely marry a trophy wife and good looking women with no money are looking for men with deep pockets.
Like I said, it’s not superiority that makes a person fall in love. It’s that feeling of completion the other person brings. I think Cristina has some issues she might need to work on… she never used any names in her story, but she was way off about my feelings as a man.
I’ve always thought that we can all learn a lot from just looking at animals and how they behave. It makes me wonder about things like marriage. So far, I haven’t heard of one single animal, besides humans, that spend more than half their lives with the same companion. On one hand we end up frustrating ourselves, at times we want to “kill” that other person because they get on our nerves and it is expensive. On the other hand, if things to workout then life can get a little easier, having kids is a lot easier and better for the children and hopefully when we get old we’ll still have someone to share memories and good times with. OK that’s the whole concept of marriage and monogamy which is not very popular in the animal kingdom, but right now I was thinking more about courtship.
Look at the way lions court females. Usually the male has to try more than once to get the female. The same concept applies to humans, but when is enough trying enough? When are males supposed to say: “OK, this one doesn’t want me and I better move on”? Right now my thinking is that the decision is completely up to the male. It’s something that I’m still thinking about so I may change my opinion
What makes a person tic? I often wonder why it is that I love business so much, but still I’m not sure why. I know that most people have something they feel passionate about and those who don’t are usually not happy living. I’ve made the mistake of thinking that what I like is truly the most important thing in the world and everyone else is stupid for not feeling the same way, but I’m sure everyone else feels the same way about what they do.
As much as I like to help other people, I know that being a teacher is not for me. I simply look at it as not too effective and it is usually not something I could use for the masses. I also don’t like to just give my money away hoping that it will help in some way. I’d rather take the time to develop systems or tools that can help a lot of people. For example, develop a system to scout for the best teachers around the world and hire them, teach them new techniques and monitor their work to help kids who don’t have the opportunity of a good education. Also develop new tools that are effective for learning. Like more visits to zoos, museums, videos and interviews with leaders in different fields that will leave a mark on a child’s brain. In other words, make teaching practical.
Man… I don’t know what makes me tic when it comes to helping people either, but I know that I feel as strong about it as I do about my business ideas. I really just want to help create positive changes on people that will endure for a life time. That will be the mission of “The Bullen Foundation.”
My report: This is about something we all know, but we are made to believe is not really true. It’s about fighting for the interests of a politician and not a country. The film is split into the story of three characters in three different classes. There is the story of the U.S. senator who knows the war in the Middle East has gone wrong and now he pretends to make things right by confessing to the public the government has made some mistakes and proposing a new battle plan. The second character is about a college student who has all the tools necessary to win, but instead is wasting the opportunities in something else. Then finally there’s the story of the African American and Hispanic friends who were born with very little opportunities and have been ignored, in their own country, by the same government who now wants to recruit them to go fight a war overseas.
This is a thoughtful story. It is a contrast between social and economical classes. It’s about Lions (the poor and the brave) being led by lambs (politicians). This is a wake up call.
Rating:
About it: Robert Redford directs this dramatic tale of intersecting lives that weaves together the stories of an idealistic professor’s attempts to inspire a privileged student, a former student of the teacher who is wounded behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, and a congressman whose interactions with a seasoned journalist reveal much about the man behind the public persona. Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Robert Redford star in a film scripted by Matthew Michael Carnahan. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
My report: I was excited to see this movie because I have been thinking about Muslim women and how much free will they actually have, but this film didn’t help much. What happened here? This movie had a beginning, but no end. Cual fue la moraleja? It moved very slow. It seemed like all the scenes were dragging. As if the producers tried to make a movie out of something that should have been a 30 minute documentary at the most. I think there was a budget problem on this film. Everything took place in basically two places: a bus and a space next to a stadium about 20′ x 10′ long. At the end of the movie I was left wondering what happened to every single character in the movie. Really, what happened here?
Rating:
About it: A handful of girls struggle to make their way into the man’s world of an Iranian soccer stadium in this comedy from writer and director Jafar Panahi. World Cup season is just around the corner, and Iran’s team is playing a game against Bahrain that will determine who will be competing in soccer’s greatest tournament. Nearly everyone in Tehran seems to be abuzz with excitement over the game, through officially soccer in Iran is quite literally for men only — no women are allowed inside the stadium, and women’s interest in the game is severely frowned upon. But that doesn’t stop a number of girls from all over the city from trying to crash the game dressed up as boys; while some succeed, others are unable to fool security, and are sent to a holding bullpen in the stadium where they can hear the cheers of the crowd but can’t see the game. One of the policemen watching over the girls (who range from rowdy tomboys to quiet and bookish types) is sympathetic and keeps them updated on the score and key plays, while another is a petty bureaucrat who suffers the mockery of his “prisoners.” Offside received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Man… this is some bullshit. I just woke and I’m hungry. I’ve got nothing in my refrigerator except for a bag of old spinach, butter and jelly. My car is gone ’cause my brother took it, so now I’ve got to walk over to Carl’s Jr.
My dad is coming tomorrow from Panama to visit for a few days. I’ll buy groceries before then and clean my place a little bit. I’ve got laundry to do too.
I wish I could say more, but right now I need to take a shower and get going. That large size Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger combo is calling me.
This is part of the project I’m working on right now for my Marketing class. It’s on ethics:
Company X has been barred from entering the market in a large Asian country by collusive efforts of the local bicycle manufacturers. The company could expect to net $5 million per year from sales if it could penetrate the market. Last week a businessman from the country contacted the management of Company X and stated that he could smooth the way for the company to sell in his country for a price of $500,000. If you were responsible, what are the chances that you would pay the price?
Just by reading this summary it seems Company X has more to gain than to lose from paying the businessman and selling in the foreign country. However, if this was a real life situation, I would need more information before I could make a decision:
1- What does the $5 million represent to the overall profit of the company worldwide? It could be that the company is neting over $100 million a year. If that’s the case then risking being on the bad side of the foreign country is not worth it. Bigger investment opportunities in the future with the country could be lost.
2- Who is this businessman? Is he reliable? What kind of contacts does he have? What happens if this man decides to double-cross the company? Could the company end up paying him more money? And what does “smooth the way” really mean? Will the company be able to enter the market or just be a step closer? I definitely need to know more about this person.
3- How much would Company X have to invest to enter the market? Are we looking to import or set a division in the country? I need to know what the company will be left with after all expenses are paid.
To me this is a numbers decision and not an ethical one. Be ethical to whom? If Company X is entering the market then it means local customers can expect to get same price as before or better. The government will continue to charge their taxes so they don’t have anything to worry about. If anyone is being unethical it would be the local businesses for not allowing a free market to prosper and the local people to get better prices at a greater quality. Company X would be creating new job opportunities, we are the good guys. As for the businessman, if he checks out to be trustworthy, then it’s 100k now and the rest when the job is done. Money.
Dave Smith is developing an advertisement for a new housing development his firm is about to start. The development is located in a low area which has flooded in the past. The company has recently done some work to reduce the danger of flooding in the future. In the preliminary advertisement, Smith has included a statement indicating that the firm has solved the flooding problem. The fact is that if a flood occurs, the homes are still likely to be flooded with up to five feet of water. If you were Smith, what are the chances that you would include the statement in the advertisement?
Stop! What is Smith thinking? He has got to think about the long term image of the company. My number one rule is “everything is possible,” and in this case what is possible is not good at all. Sooner or later the development is going to flood. What does he think is going to happen next? Let’s assume for a second the homes never gets flooded, he still has to live with the possibility that it could and the company could be in big trouble then. Unless he 100% solves the flooding problem, he shouldn’t say the problem is solved. Better yet, he shouldn’t say the problem is solved, period! Well… not unless people already know of the problem. Why tell people they would be buying houses in an area that could have been flooded? Smith is suicidal, he needs medical attention, STAT!
The chances that I would include the statement on my advertisement are zero. The chances that I would stop investing in homes on that property are very good, at least until the flooding problem is completely solved. This should have been taken into consideration before buying the land. This is not so much an ethical problem, but one of stupidity. What bank lent money to Smith? This is exactly why we are on a recession.
Joan Brown is vice president of marketing for Tangy Spices, a large spice manufacturer. Brown recently joined in a private business venture with Tangy’s director of purchasing to import black pepper from India. Brown’s private venture is about to sign a five-year contract with Tangy to supply its black pepper needs, but the contract is set at a price three cents per pound above contracts available from other spice importers that provide comparable service and quality. If you were Brown, what are the chances that you would sign the contract?
First of all, there wasn’t a non-compete clause set by Tangy Spices? That was a big mistake. I was a little confused as to the roles Brown and Tangy are playing. If Brown is going to be importing and then supplying the black pepper to Tangy, then he’s got nothing to worry about. On the other hand, if Tangy is the one supplying to Brown, then he should never sign that contract. It doesn’t matter that he works for the company. Whomever is on the receiving end of the deal is going to lose and should not sign. The price is higher yet the quality and service are lower than the competition? That’s a no-brainer.
Ethics… where does it play on this one…? Well, buying low and selling high is not unethical, it’s business. Given that this is B2B, ethics are even less important. Businessmen should know better. Eventually somebody has to go out of business even if it is by getting duped. The party supplying the black pepper has everything to win, but it could also damage the relationship on the long term. Luckily they will have five years to come up with a solution.
Antonio Bullen John Garcia is working in product development for an auto parts contractor. Garcia’s firm received a large contract last summer to manufacture transaxles for use in a new line of front wheel drive cars. The contract is very important to Garcia’s firm because prior to obtaining it, half of the firm’s employees, including Garcia, had been scheduled for an indefinite lay off. Final testing of the assemblies ended last Friday and the first shipments are scheduled for three weeks from today. As Garcia was examining the test reports, he discovered that the transaxle tended to fail when loaded at more than 120% of rated capacity and subjected to strong torsion forces. Such a condiditon could occur with a heavily loaded car braking hard for a curve down a mountain road. While the driver would not lose control of the car, the resulting damage to the car would cost several thousand dollars to repair. The manufacturer’s specifications call for the transaxle to carry 130% of its rated capacity without failing. Garcia showed the results to his supervisor and the company president both of whom indicated that they were aware of the report. If they did not deliver the assemblies on time, they would lose the contract. If you were Garcia, what are the chances that you would notify the auto manufacturer of the defect?
What’s that smell? Smells like something burning… Oh I know! That’s the rubber burning after my Bridgestone tires exploded! Sounds familiar? This is a simple case: Garcia’s company shook hands on 130% not 120%, they need to live up to their word if they plan to stay in business over the long term.
What the company needs to be doing is figuring out how much time it will take them to fix the problem and deliver the parts as contracted. Can’t deliver on time? Fine, setup a call with the auto manufacturer and let them know before the due date comes around, but not before having at least one solution for the problem on hand. After all, Garcia’s company has some leverage on this situation: they could argue that it would take them less time to fix the problem than it would take another company to start from scratch. They can even use this opportunity to build a better relationship with the auto manufacturer by reducing the price, of course, offer only if it came down to it.
Since the question was about Garcia, I would say he doesn’t need to notify the auto manufacturer. That is not his job. Ultimately it is not his responsibility, but that of his supervisor and the president of the company. What Garcia needs to do is make sure his ass is covered and find a new job. With contract or not, the company is already in bad shape. This Titanic is sinking, grab a life vest while you can and jump! Sooner or later this thing is going to “explode”, and Garcia needs to make sure he has prove he notified his superiors.
My report:Diddy can’t act that good, but I can tell he tried hard and I’m sure he’ll get better at it. It made me wonder how I would approach an acting career if I was already famous in another industry. Probably take very small roles so I can get used to it and grow from there… I wish the movie would have been more about succeeding in a business and becoming a doctor rather than just getting a house. I would have extended the story to include those successes and change the buying of the house to just a big defeat. Then the movie would have been about been knocked down and getting up again, and not becoming a raisin in the sun.
Rating:
About it: Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan, and John Stamos all return to reprise the roles they originally played on Broadway in this made for television take on Lorraine Hansbury’s timeless play about a 1950s-era Chicago family longing for a better life. Walter Lee has died, and now his widow Lena Younger (Rashad) is about to receive a $10,000 check from her late-husband’s insurance company. Everyone in the family dreams about the ways their lives will be changed with the arrival of the money, family matriarch Lena - who longs to retire from her job as a domestic servant for a wealthy white family - in particular. Having lived in a one room tenement apartment ever since she and her late husband originally married, Lena is eager to purchase a house of her own and provide her family with a real home. Lena’s son Walter Lee, Jr. (Combs), currently employed as a chauffer, and has recently become taken with the idea of purchasing a liquor store as a means of solving his family’s financial woes. Like her mother-in-law, Walter’s wife Ruth (McDonald) is also a domestic servant for a white family, and dreams of the day she can walk away from her job. While Walter’s sister Beneatha (Lathan) strives to become a medical professional, tuition is expensive and she is currently being pursued by two men - wealthy but superficial George Murchison (Sean Patrick Thomas) and intellectual classmate Joseph Asagai (David Oyelowo). Much to everyone’s surprise, Lena uses the lion’s share of the money to purchase a home in the all-white residential neighborhood of Cllaybourne, splitting the remainder between Walter (for his entrepreneurial endeavor) and Beneatha (for tuition). Around the same time Walter loses his share of the inheritance to a smooth talking con man who claimed he could help finance the liquor store, the Claybourne “home improvement” association makes the discovery that the Youngers are black and sends emissary Mr. Lindner (John Stamos) to try prevent their neighborhood from becoming integrated by buying the house back. Now faced with the prospect of losing it all, Walter considers making a deal with Mr. Lindner in order to recover his losses. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
My report: this is not the kind of film the average movie person would like. The first half of the film is very boring, or serious I should say. It start getting more interesting on the second half, but don’t expect major action. I liked the end. I think it’s necessary to understand the history behind what was happening in order to really appreciate this movie. The entire movie was in German.
Rating:
About it: A man who has devoted his life to ferreting out “dangerous” characters is thrown into a quandary when he investigates a man who poses no threat in this drama, the first feature from German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It’s 1984, and Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is an agent of the Stasi, the East German Secret Police. Weisler carefully and dispassionately investigates people who might be deemed some sort of threat to the state. Shortly after Weisler’s former classmate, Lt. Col. Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), invites him to a theatrical piece by celebrated East German playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), Minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) informs Weisler that he suspects Dreyman of political dissidence, and wonders if this renowned patriot is all that he seems to be. As it turns out, Hempf has something of an ulterior motive for trying to pin something on Dreyman: a deep-seated infatuation with Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), Dreyman’s girlfriend. Nevertheless, Grubitz, who is anxious to further his career, appoints Weisler to spy on the gentleman with his help. Weisler plants listening devices in Dreyman’s apartment and begins shadowing the writer. As Weisler monitors Dreyman’s daily life, however (from a secret surveillance station in the gentleman’s attic), he discovers the writer is one of the few East Germans who genuinely believes in his leaders. This changes over time, however, as Dreyman discovers that Christa-Maria is being blackmailed into a sexual relationship with Hempf, and one of Dreyman’s friends, stage director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert), is driven to suicide after himself being blackballed by the government. Dreyman’s loyalty thus shifts away from the East German government, and he anonymously posts an anti-establishment piece in a major newspaper which rouses the fury of government officials. Meanwhile, Weisler becomes deeply emotionally drawn into the lives of Dreyman and Sieland, and becomes something of an anti-establishment figure himself, embracing freedom of thought and expression. A major box-office success in Germany, Das Leben der Anderen (aka The Lives of Others) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
My report: I don’t know about this one. It may be because I’m a man, but I do understand that the main character was beaten by her husband consistently before she ever took it upon her to do something. However, is it justifiable that she killed another person because of it? She suffered, he died. Neither one is correct and both should be punishable. If anything, there should be a lesser punishment when there is evidence that demonstrates the accused had no other alternative, but a woman that decides to burn her husband could have also decided to tell the authorities. The only thing is the law needs to be strict about evidence brought against abusive spouses. The people being abused need to feel confident about their protection by the law. Otherwise this whole thing doesn’t work. The story was too much on one side, even if it is true.
Rating:
About it: “Provoked” is the true story of a battered wife who fought back, first against her husband and then against the system. Full of optimism and affection, newlywed Kiranjit Ahluwalia (Aishwarya Rai) arrives at the doorstep of her new home and life with husband Deepak (Naveen Andrews). She would continue her law studies as her family had promised and the couple would start a family. The future offered only pain.The drunken Deepak beats her for the first time and shows remorse. He beats her again. It gets easier. After 10 years of violence, a dazed Kiranjit can take no more. She resorts to a desperate act that kills Deepak. She is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Incarceration tests the outwardly meek Kiranjitâs toughness at every turn, but the mother of two has suffered worse at home. She develops an ally in the mischievous Ronnie (Miranda Richardson), who also doled out the ultimate retribution to her abusive spouse. While Kiranjit acclimates to life behind bars, Radha (Nandita Das), an activist with the Southall Black Sisters, glimpses a tabloid headline about her case and springs into action. A barrister (Rebecca Pidgeon) with limited resources cannot make any headway, igniting greater determination in Radha, who rallies public opinion. Ronnie is denied parole but she has a secret weapon on the outside to help Kiranjit: Ronnieâs estranged brother-in-law Lord Foster (Robbie Coltrane), an influential legal eagle. Kiranjitâs appeal gains momentum when Radha persuades a cop to change his knowingly false testimony that Kiranjit was in her right mind the night of the killing.Arguing passionately before the high court, Lord Foster moves the judge to change the fate of many battered women forever. The court rules that a prolonged period of beatings could cause the victimâs loss of reason in a delayed act of self-defense. The concept of âprovocationâ is redefined and is now a primary defense for the severely abused if a claim of self-defense is not valid. The judge reduces Kiranjitâs crime to manslaughter and orders her released for the 3 years and 4 months she already served. Claiming she felt liberated in prison, Kiranjit is free again. This time, without walls.
Ah yes… I’m finally over the hardest part of the semester. How did I do? I don’ really know yet. I feel like I did pretty well, but we’ll see when the waves come in. I got the last exam exam on Saturday for my Spanish class. Luckily, yo hablo un poquito de español so it shouldn’t be a hard test. I’m kidding, it’s my first language, bitches…
Relationships man… they are the key to a lot of things. People always go easier on you when you’ve got their emotions on your side. I have a reason for saying this, but I promised my professor I wouldn’t tell. Ya dig?
Even if it seems like it, what I’m about to say now is not related to the previous paragraph: I just discovered Facebook. I mean, I’ve had an account for a while, but I never actually gave it a try. Now I see the power it has to connect with old friends. I mainly use Myspace, but what I like about Facebook is that it makes it so easy to find people I know. I just had to put in some major events that go on in my life like high schools and universities and it found a whole lot of people I know from the past and the best part is that it tells me when I may know somebody else.
I had forgotten all about my friends from Panama. Looking at all those faces it makes me realize how much I left behind when I came to the U.S., how many people I actually know from around the world even though I’m always simplifying my life and how good looking I still am. A lot of them have gotten fat. I’m not even going to try to sugar that. Some of them were already ugly so they got nothing to worry about.
This one friend I found was always tall and skinny. The kids used to laugh at her because she was so skinny. Now I see her photos and I know nobody making fun of her now. I remember she was so excited to ware a bra. In classroom she told me once that she was and let me take a peek. She used to let me watch her get undressed in the ladies locker room after gym class. One time I got caught coming out of there and the professor gave me a detention. That meant I got to stay in school doing some bullshit for however many days my punishment was. It was one of my first detentions and I must have been in 7th grade. Having to stay in school extra long on birthday wasn’t fun. I remember that. Ha!
I see some of my old friends are married. Some pursued their dreams and are actually making them happen. Some I can tell have the same personality they always used to have… shy, friendly, cool, whatever… Some have also moved to other countries and still study just like me… It’s good to see everybody doing well.
I am who I am
I am the man who crawls into your bed in the middle of the night
And the same way I come, I leave when I like
I am the moon light you need so you can see at night
I am the sun that brightens your skies
Don’t ever think of me as your other half
Nor come to me when you need advice
I am not your friend nor your father
I am not your creator nor your messenger
I am not your brother nor your lover
I am who I am
I am the man who comes to you in the middle of the night
With a mood that supersedes my actions
I can be gentle or rough, but never expect me to act with hesitation
I make you feel good… and then I leave you to cry
I do not want your love nor do I need it
You know what I want and you will keep on giving it
Why keep asking for my name when you already know the answer
Wanting another answer is simply asking for more pain
I am who I am
And you must leave it at that
If you ask me one more time I will never again cross into your path
You see, in a relationship like this only one can have the feelings
The other is simply the perfect definition of a realist
I am the honest person that you’ve ever come across
I never lie to you, I don’t put anything on a cusp
If you have to leave me because I didn’t lie to you
I understand, and best of lucks to you
My report: this was a great story. Proof that you don’t need to say much to get points across. I would have never watched this movie if it wasn’t for the 2007 Best Actor Academy Award. Before I knew about the award I kept looking at this movie rental store and thinking I’d like to see someday, but didn’t want to take my chances just yet. The cover was weird enough to call my attention, but not to rent it. The best thing is how the entire movie is wrapped around what people would do for money, anything from deceiving families, to accepting or denying Jesus.
Rating:
About it: Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson steps outside his contemporary world of dysfunctional Angelenos to explore a very different dysfunctional man — an oil pioneer whose trailblazing spirit is equaled only by his murderous ambition. There Will Be Blood is Anderson’s loose adaptation of the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair, and it focuses its attentions on Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a failed silver miner who happens upon black gold during a disastrous excavation that ends in a broken leg. Pulling himself up from the bowels of the earth, both literally and metaphorically, Plainview embarks on a systematic and steadfast approach to mastering the oil business. Using plain-spoken and straightforward language, and accompanied by his young son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), Plainview launches a campaign to convince small-town property owners they should let him drill their land. Without him, they won’t have the equipment to access the profit beneath their feet. He builds an empire this way — and gradually becomes obsessed with the intrinsic value of power, growing increasingly irascible and paranoid in the process. Plainview meets his match in Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a teenage preacher in the small California town of Little Boston, whose brother tipped Plainview off to the town’s plentiful supply of untapped oil. To fully reap the benefits of the land, Plainview must suffer the opposing whims of this “prophet,” whose legitimacy is questionable at best. And it’s unclear either man is prepared to pay the humiliating price the other wants to exact. There Will Be Blood features an anachronistic percussive soundtrack by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, and it was shot in the same town where the James Dean epic Giant was filmed. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
My Report: It was a good story. Many things made me think about how things are in Panama, like how all houses have steel fences to keep away strangers and intruders. It could be a true story about corruption, but not one to remember. It was missing the extra drama effect. It would have been good if the movie would have had more details on the drug business. Like how the drug packages were picked up from the seas and who picks the up in the U.S., things like that. Also include scenes with the actual bribes of politicians would have been good.
Rating:
About it: Functioning as an unofficial Spanish-language equivalent of Steven Soderbergh’s muckraker Traffic (2000), co-directors Ricardo Mendez Matta and Poli Marichal’s meller Thieves and Liars traces the web of drug money-related corruption inherent in the Puerto Rican socioeconomic climate. As in the Soderbergh ensemble picture, Marichal and Matta interweave a number of socially relevant stories on various levels of Puerto Rican society - all about the movement of drugs from the Third World to Puerto Rico to the States. In one substory, Puerto Rican man Oscar (Steven Bauer) - in an attempt to gain revenge for the death of a friend - rubs out a drug boss, and thus sinks to a level every bit as dirty and shameless as his victim. In another, two young men, Cheo and Miguel, use drug money to support their needy grandmother. In a third, single mother and airport worker Wanda Velez (Magda Rivera) attempts to navigate her way through the byzantine Puerto Rican legal system, taking on the fly-by-night company that manipulated and conned her. And in still another substory, adolescent Luisito (Carlos Paniagua) teeters on the verge of self-destruction with illegal drug use, despite the constant admonitions of his concerned mother. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
My report: It’s the best Bonds movie I’ve seen. This one is more real. He’s not the pretty boy that always wins and gets the pretty women. Well… he did get both, but not without suffering. The story was also good.
Rating:
About it: Actor Daniel Craig assumes the role formerly occupied by such screen greats as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton to set out on the character’s very first 007 mission. James Bond has earned his “00″ status by masterfully executing a pair of death-defying professional assassinations. Now assigned the task of traveling to Madagascar to spy on notorious terrorist Mollaka (Sebastien Foucan) for his maiden voyage as a 007 agent, Bond boldly goes against MI6 policy to launch an independent investigation that finds him traversing the Bahamas in search of Mollaka’s notoriously elusive terror cell. Subsequently led into the company of the mysterious Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) and his exotic girlfriend, Solange (Caterina Murino), Bond soon realizes that he is closer than ever to locating well-guarded terrorist financier Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), the man who has personally bankrolled some of the most prevalent terrorist organizations on the planet. When Bond learns that Le Chiffre is planning to partake in an upcoming high-stakes poker game to be played at Montenegro’s Le Casino Royale and use the winnings to establish his financial grip on the globe, M (Judi Dench) assigns beguiling agent Vesper (Eva Green) the task of watching over the fledgling agent as he plays against Le Chiffre in a covert attempt to destroy the nefarious gambler’s well-established monetary stronghold in the underworld once and for all. Bond will need more than his legendary gambling skills in order to win this dangerous game, though, and after allying himself with local MI6 field agent Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and CIA operative Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), the endlessly suave super-spy puts on his poker face for a high-stakes game of cards in which the stakes are not measured in dollars, but human lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
I’m still reading “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” I haven’t been writing because I wanted to finish reading and then get to writing, but in my readings today I came across a statement Malcolm made that got me thinking about the true nature of men and women. This is what it says:
…being that the true nature of man is to be strong, and a woman’s true nature is to be weak, and while a man must at all times respect his woman, at the same time he needs to understand that he must control her if he expects to get her respect.
I disagree with the first part of that statement. I don’t think being weak or strong has much to do with the sexes. I think it has to do with the personality of the individual. To say that this is the true nature is generalizing a bit too much. I do think that a stronger woman might prefer to have a stronger man and that has to do with a feeling of protection. Not because a woman can’t protect herself, but because she’d rather have a man that can protect her better than she can.
As for the second part, well… every person must respect and control others who try to disrespect. When a person is disrespected and fails to control the offender, things start slipping eternally out of control. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. Of course I will put my girlfriend in place if she disrespects, and I expect her to do the same to me. I don’t want someone I can control, I want someone I consider my equal and I can respect as such.
Comparing one’s self/kind to others and feeling superior is not hard. Being strong enough to compare and praise others for their good qualities while still being able to maintain a good self esteem is what I consider dignifying.
My report: Eva Mendes is in the movie, that itself will make some scenes pleasing to the eye. Luckily enough the movie was all around good. I had no idea the story was going to end up the way it did and I like it that way. Eva Mendes man… I really like her looks.
