The Vampire Diaries. Season 1, Episode 10: The Turning Point

Boring until the last part. They had to make a leeway for the second act's establishment of character and plot development. But it ends with a cliff hanger, saving it from being a total bore.

The Vampire Diaries. Season 1, Episode 9: History Repeating

And the plot thickens. Witchcraft is happyhappyjoyjoy. But note to self--never, ever watch The Vampire Diaries at midnight, ever, ever again. Even if you know what's going to happen. Doesn't make it less scary.

The Vampire Diaries. Season 1, Episode 8: 162 Candles

There's a new vampire in town and I adore her. And then they kill someone. And then, wow. These writers are as ruthless as the evil brother vampire, Damon.

Pinoy Icons: Johnny Delgado

2009 has been a year of great losses, and this month we have lost one of the best actors of Philippine Cinema.

I've known Johnny Delgado since the Bad Bananas, and I thought (and still do) that they were the funniest comedy troupe in Philippine showbusiness, funnier even than Tito, Vic, and Joey.

But my first appreciation of his full acting potential was back in film school, when I saw Mike de Leon's short film Aliwan Paradise. And I already marked him down as the most natural local actor I have ever seen. His acting style is subtle, yet full of energy, and the way he delivers his lines--you would never sense that he was speaking lines from a script, as they are colloquial and natural. I don't know if the directors give him license to paraphrase, or if he just does a damn good job.

Film historians will tell you that Johnny Delgado is the son of director Ben Feleo. But what few people know is that he is the director's adopted son. His natural father is Sixto Esquivias, Jr. He is an Esquivias. My mother's first cousin. My uncle by blood.


Johnny Delgado a.k.a. Juan Marasigan Feleo. 1948-2009.


*some info from Wikipedia
pic from pixelgrain.biz

American Icons: Captain Lou Albano

The only people who will feel great loss upon the passing of Captain Lou Albano will be those who grew up in the eighties.

Lou Albano was a wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation. Some might remember him from the animated series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling.

Lou Albano appeared in several Cindy Lauper music videos, as one of wrestling's most active stars, helping the sport cross over to mainstream consciousness.

Lou Albano also played Mario. Yes, the Italian plumber. This was in the TV show The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, which was the earlier version before John Leguizamo played Luigi.


Louis Vincent Albano. 1933-2009.


*some info from Wikipedia
pic from blog.taragana.com

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Okay, I'll just do this in (silver) bullets. (That's a pun--you know, werewolves.)

• I've never watched Twilight the movie, but I have read Twilight the book. And I think to appreciate the movie more, I should've seen Twilight the movie first.
• I loved the action sequences. I mean, they're in a semi-podunk town called Forks, where the only action they get is cliff diving. And maybe random rides with bearded bikers. So of course, a vampire-werewolf face-off is always welcome.
• I think that the werewolves' ability to keep warm is a lame-o excuse to keep showing their bodies and their six-packs. "It's a wolf thing." I mean, seriously, come on. I understand them having tattoos. But them wearing identical shorts and shoes? And no shirts? The only ones who enjoyed this were the young girls in the movie theater. Because I certainly didn't.
• Kristen Stewart is a traitor. A traitor is someone who doesn't catch your attention at first, but little by little, you realize that she is actually beautiful. The realization slowly creeps up on you, and hits you when you least expect it. My realization hit me around the twenty minute mark. I hate traitors.
• I loved Ashley Greene. She played Alice Cullen. It must be her hair. But I googled her, and realized she doesn't look as pretty in other hairstyles as she did in her Alice Cullen hair.Which was actually a wig.
• I ♥ Dakota Fanning. All those who thought Dakota Fanning was an alien when she was a kid, raise their hand. I admit, I found her creepy when she was young. Simply because she was a really terrific actor at that young and tender age. But now, after seeing New Moon, I have concluded that she is not an alien, and that she is all grown up now.

And of course, there will be no ravings about that guy who played Jacob. Nor will there be any ravings about Robert Pattinson, the guy who played Edward Cullen. Because I. Am. Edward. Cullen.


*some info from IMDb
pic from news.bbc.co.uk


The Twilight Saga: New Moon. USA. 2009.


Rating: Seven out of ten.
Kristen Stewart: Eight out of ten.
Dakota Fanning: Nine out of ten.




You may also want to check out the other reviews for The Twilight Saga, such as Eclipse and Breaking Dawn─Part 1.

Glee. Season 1, Episode 10: Ballad

We don't get to see Sue Sylvester in this episode. Finn and Puck are jerks. Kudos to Mercedes for putting Puck in his place. But Mercedes explicitly admits that the loser kids' lives revolve around the popular ones so that's more loser-y. Plus, though I don't like Juno, that film did a better job on handling teen pregnancy messages than Glee could. Glee is so preachy. And when they talk about teen pregnancy, I want to laugh. Or sleep. Mostly sleep. It has been consecutive episodes of these teenagers bitching around about pregnancy, and bitching is fun when it's funny. Here, it's not even dramatic, just annoying. Still, the sub-story, the teacher-student relationship was funny and showed Will's acting capability. But Glee should really stop with the homophobic jokes. Kurt does not deserve to be token funny. He should be token adorable. Because he goddamn is. Plus, we don't get to see Sue Sylvester in this episode.

Valkyrie

Less than five minutes into the film, I already stopped it in my head.

Why?

Because Tom Cruise spoke English.

I already mentioned in my earlier reviews about effective realism (if I want to coin the word, I'm going to have to do an academic paper on it, which of course I will NOT do), and I wish all movies would follow the same trend. Inglourious Basterds, for instance, also used effective realism. If you're going to do a film about the Germans, then please make them speak German. Or at least make them all look Aryan. I mean, they could at least have dyed Tom Cruise's hair blonde, to make him look more German and less all-American pretty boy. Didn't Tom Cruise look good as Lestat, who had blonde hair?

Also, the story kind of--there's no better word for it--sucked. I don't know if it was director Bryan Singer's fault, or the scriptwriters', but suck it did.

But what saved this film was the production design (excellent uniforms and props, and that annoying eyeball that Cruise keeps in his pocket), and the performance of Tom Wilkinson. He is fast becoming my favorite "fierce old guy" actor. I hope he isn't a fierce old guy in real life.

Oh, and also, Bill Nighy was here. Only I don't know which character he played. He was so damn good, he escaped my eye. I only saw him on the IMDb cast list.


*some info from IMDb
pic from specialcomment.wordpress.com


Valkyrie. USA. 2008.


Rating: Six out of ten.
Tom Cruise's eyeball: One out of ten.

Hitman

How many more films based on video games do we have to endure before they come up with Grand Theft Auto?

Anyway, Hitman, sadly, is not one of my favorite games. Which goes on to say that this is not one of my favorite movies. And although there are a lot of shots slash sequences that pay direct homage to the video game, that is just not enough. Although there are some redeeming factors.

1. Timothy Olyphant. Surprisingly, he can play a cold-blooded killer with little emotion. No pretty boy antics, though. Which is a good thing, really.

2. Olga Kurylenko. The Russian who doesn't look too Nordic. She looks like she has some Asian blood in her. I think most southern Russians look like this, being close to Mongolia and all.

3. Dougray Scott. What a great team player. Dougray Scott is so effective that sometimes you just forget he's Dougray Scott.

4. Robert Knepper. One of my favorite new actors. He just takes every role assigned to him, and he does it good. Just doing the Russian accent alone already requires effort.

And let me just say that if (and that's a big IF) they do decide to make a sequel to this movie, I am definitely NOT watching it. And I wish the big Hollywood studios would get their asses working on that Grand Theft Auto movie instead.


*some info from IMDb
pic from thehollywoodnews.com


Hitman. USA. 2007.


Rating: Five out of ten.
Robert Knepper's Russain accent: Seven out of ten.
Olga Kurylenko's nakedness: Nine out of ten.

The IT Crowd. Series 1, Episode 1: Yesterday's Jam

From the start, you will know that this is a cheap production. But "cheap" doesn't necessarily mean "crap". This show is a beauty. For finding humor in that seemingly humorless department the white collar workers are familiar with--I.T. And after these guys throw a party, you'll find out why they seem humorless.


*pic from theitcrowd.co.uk

The Nutcracker - Pacific Northwest Ballet

(Culturati alert?!!)

A good Christmas memory for me would always be ushered in by the Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy from the ballet The Nutcracker. This is mostly because I was made to dance to this as a kid and because they play this in some parts of Home Alone.

I saw the 1986 stage to film adaptation of the Nutcracker by the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company last night on MGM right after Glee. (So this movie is just as old as I am; and yes, I saw the Wheels episode of Glee.)

The production and costume designs were dreamy, of course. We have Where the Wild Things Are author and illustrator Maurice Sendak to thank for these.

This version's ending could have been more dreamy if it had stuck to the original E.T.A Hoffman short story where in Maria(Clara) marries the nutcracker prince is who is her godfather Dosselmeier's nephew. Instead, the film almost ends abruptly when after a series of dances, the whole cast wave goodbye to a floating Clara and Prince. They later fall from the heavens and Clara wakes up in her bed, a young thirteen year old girl again and alone.

Some of the dances seemed like they were there for the sake of but that's not surprising in a ballet or a classical production.

Glee. Season 1, Episode 9: Wheels

At least episode 8 was funny. If they continue on like this, the hype shall fail to sustain the audience's entertainment. Or maybe not. As Dr. Horrible said, some people can be like sheep-ple. And that's a funnier joke than the funniest joke in this episode. The choreography is at least fantastic as usual. Sue Sylvester is still lovable even if the show is toning down her edge. At last they took out the annoying wife versus the obsessive-compulsive fangirl for one episode but can we have more more LESS of Rachel, Quinn, Finn, and Noah for just one episode? MYGAWD. Please. I am so getting sick of their woes. They get so much airtime that this just counters the show's preaching of we-are-weird-people-hooray! It's still about teh popular kids. And this was supposed to be an episode about Artie, the handicapped kid. And he was damn good in his musical number, yes, but if this is an episode about him, give him freaking more air time. The popu kids stole so much airtime they had to squeeze Artie's love story into... nothing. Artie, what Tina did is yes, in a way, wrong. But you don't love someone just because that person has disabilities. And don't get me started on the gay and handicapped messages they're sending. Again, they could have handled it much more properly. Like they should have with the song "Defying Gravity". And that was the only thing I was sure they'd get right. Shame on you, Glee. To make up for it, I suggest a dream sequence where Will and Sue have sex.

The Vampire Diaries. Season 1, Episode 7: Haunted

Slow, episode-wise. Fast, season arc-wise. Someone, who I thought was a mainstay cast, gets killed. And that always makes a show appear brilliant. Note, the word "appear." This compliment is not valid if the supposed mainstay cast gets killed because said cast member wants to fly away from the nest. Evil vampire Damon gets hotter with his humanist side trying to hide, but clearly surfacing. Internal conflicts are hot. His character getting hotter is the very reason why I am bothered with his bad make-up. Yes, I am still obsessed with their make-up. It is really... not good.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

This is my first book in months. And I enjoyed it.

This book is about two of my dream jobs. Espionage and entertainment. Spies and showbusiness. What more can you ask for?

They say that this is Chuck Barris' autobiography, from which the movie with the same title was adapted from. Yeah, okay Chuck Barris can write, with more wit and humor than most writers today, I might add. But still, this is a story chronicling the life of a CIA assassin. I don't know why the CIA never bothered to stop its publication. Well maybe they did, but obviously, they didn't succeed. Otherwise they wouldn't have come out with the movie. On the other hand, perhaps the CIA thought that no one is going to believe Barris anyway.

what makes this a great read is the ease with which one goes through the whole book. There are none of the big words that literary writers love sprinkling in their stories. This is just simple, straightforward storytelling, told in the language of a layman.

And the second thing that makes this great is the juxtaposition (<--that is an example of a big word used by literary writers) of Barris' multiverses (<--yet another big word used by literary writers). The riotous world of television production, the grand lifestyle of Hollywood, and the cloak-and-dagger danger of the life of espionage, all combine to tell the story of one of the most exciting periods in American history. For the true lovers of literature, you can read this without even seeing the movie. In fact, you don't even have to know that a movie version exists. But for those of you who prefer the magic of movies--get a life. Read a book.


*pic from isbn.nu


Rating: Eight and a half out of ten.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

How do you classify Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? Is it a TV show made for Internet? Is it a short film made for Internet? Am I sounding like a cheesy ad? Or am I sounding like your high school teacher who does not really know how to teach, and stalls around to get a minuscule of a point out.

The minuscule of a point is this:



Even the Emmy's awarding Dr. Horrible do not know where to put it.

For the record, the Emmy's do not know what the hell they were doing. If they were actually genuine, Joss Whedon would have won an Emmy a long long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. And not just for the technical effects of his groundbreaking shows.

Ooops, fangirl mode resists to be turned off. I shall take a breather and let's just talk about Neil Patrick Harris.

Okay. Okay. I'm calm again and I shall refuse to succumb to incoherent fangirlism typing the usual "asdaasafsdkfjskdjflakjfa."

Okay. Neil Patrick Harris.

If Whedon is not your cup of tea, you might probably check this Dr. Horrible for NPH. He's NPH, dude. My straight man-friends have a crush on him. They'll probably like NPH better as that guy in How I Met Your Mother, the one named after the purple dinosaur, but who cares? It's NPH. He nails his character with his usual charm even more effectively as the dorky guy who wants to be a supervillain. He is perfect as Dr. Horrible--from dorky to sympathetic to lovable to hawtness to even yes, evil. I think NPH should win an award for nailing the song "Slipping." It was creepy, tragic, bad-ass, and cute. All at the same time. I don't think anyone could pull it off better than NPH.

Oh, did I mention this is a musical? Do I even need to mention that with a title screaming "Sing-Along"?

But if Whedon, NPH, and musicals are still not your cups of tea, then watch it for Nathan Fillion. Which I would find weird because you would probably love Nathan Fillion if you have been watching Whedon's work. And I don't know (or remember) why some people think that Fillion can't act. He was fantastic as the ultra-misogynist priest-like Caleb in Buffy. He was fantastic as the funny-yet-studdly Captain Mal in Firefly. And in Dr. Horrible, he nailed the cheesy, charming, laughable, know-it-all, big brother-like bully Captain Hammer--the superhero, yet clearly the antagonist, and Dr. Horrible's Archnemesis.

But if still, you don't like or know whatever and whoever I'm talking about, goddamn search the fartherst of the earth and find a way to watch this brilliant piece. Just because it's funny. And if funny is still not your cup of tea, god, what is wrong with you people? Dr. Horrible is the exemplar of what funny should be, the kind of funny that actually holds tragedy as tragedy should be, the kind of funny that is sustained all throughout the scenes where funny should not be--not the kind of funny that just uses curse words to get their point and passion out, like "goddamn" errr, right.

But if you still wouldn't watch it because of the points I have raised above, just please, watch it just because I am begging you. You can even watch it just so you can tell me how wrong I am. That NPH is not cute, that Fillion is a bad actor, and Whedon sucks. Of course, I would probably kill you with that last bit on Whedon, but I made you watch! And somehow, with that, I healed the word and made it a better place.

Zombieland

Jesse Eisenberg was first noticed for his lead role in Adventureland. This year he starred in Zombieland with Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson. (I hope next time, Jesse Eisenberg stars in a film called Seamonsterland. Ehehehe. Korni.)

Zombieland was a big commercial success and it has to do with its fresh take on the zombie movie. While most zombie movies focus on the horror and gore of being eaten by another brainless human being that was once your mom, a few zombie movies have either focused on the comic relief of the situation or on the very serious question of humanity and communing with civil society. Zombieland combines both by telling the comedic tale of four people who were isolated from everyone else even before everyone else became zombies.

The story is narrated by Columbia (Jesse Eisenberg) and begins as an enumeration of his rules to surviving a zombie outbreak. Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick add wit to Columbia's narration, which wasn't at all annoying or overbearing. Columbia mentions that his dream is to brush a girl's hair over her ears. When he encounters sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) amidst a zombie attack in a grocery store, he thinks "Someone's in danger of having her hair brushed over her ears".

My favorite scene has to be when the four characters meet Bill Murray who is not a zombie but is dressed as one to blend in.

Plus points for not ending the movie by taking the characters to some happy shiny zombie-free sanctuary or finding the cure for the Mad Cow/Mad People disease. Minus one point for not explaining why the sisters wanted to go to a theme park in California. Minus one point for only showing gore at distant angles. Totaling 8/10.

*Picture from ShockTillYouDrop.com

P.S.
We've shown you some zombie flicks we like. Pray tell, what is your favorite zombie movie? And why?

Jennifer's Body

Basically: Jennifer and Needy are BFFs. Jennifer is turned evil by some indie band. Jennifer starts eating boys. Needy, of course, is sad (hell, her name is Needy). Needy fights Jennifer when Jennifer targets her boyfriend.

I liked it. I almost loved it but there were parts where I wanted to sleep. And honestly, there was only one good scary-give-goosebumps scene.

But I liked it. I like it because I do agree with this blog post, saying that it's the horror flick that should be post-Buffy. I like it because as someone who grew up watching scary and teen flicks, Jennifer's Body actually felt like a warm embrace that I belonged to. I like it because the wit and the jokes weren't in-your-face, like the overrated Juno (sorry, stinglacson, I think it was mostly because of Ellen that it got that Oscar).

And more however, I feel I partly like it because I have to defend it from these people.

I believe that Jennifer's Body doesn't really aspire depth. At best, I see it is a montage of every Hollywood teen and horror element from every Hollywood teen and horror flick I've ever watched. It was bordering on camp. Before watching it, I thought it was going to be camp. But it wasn't. It had become much more original that that. By being a montage, it actually managed to produce something different altogether. And it surprised me. Because I hated Juno being overrated and I was expecting this good premise of a flick to disappoint me, and you don't usually get something different altogether from montage. You get... a montage, not something fresh.

But amidst the Hollywood obsession of Hollywoodizing Asian horror flicks, Jennifer's Body, fresh in its glorification of all that has been used up, should receive a nice welcome. (I remember feeling this way about the first Pirates of the Caribbean. That flick─with the swordfight scene─was a very, very nice welcome amidst all the Hollywood Kung Fu exploitation.)

But I don't want to be obsessed with the form, like this post did. Not that there's anything wrong with forms (I like forms). I think this flick can also merit from the angle of this-is-not-a-horror-flick but more on this-is-actually-a-story-about-two-bestfriends, or this-is-much-more-feminist-than-Juno-can-ever-be.

First off, boys were objectified as much as Jennifer's body. And I'm not only saying that because she's literally eating them. Each boy stereotype was nailed to its one dimension-ness: the dumb jock, the emo kid (he even whimpers "Do you even know my name?" before sex), the good boy-next-door boyfriend, and even the foreign exchange guy. It was a girl, also, who tried to save these boys.

Second, sure, that lesbian sex scene seemed uncalled for. But that would probably reinforce Adrienne Rich's theory on lesbian continuum (or was it another feminist? I should learn to namedrop properly). But that sex scene actually epitomizes all the years they were there for each other, now more than ever--with Jennifer turning demon and all. I mean, don't heterosexual relationships do that? If this were a boy and a girl bestfriend, and they finally give the audience the satisfaction of ending the sexual tension--that of course, proves that they somehow love each other in a romantic level too--would people protest and say, oooh, lesbian exploitation (which of course, is another layer, for in the discussion of form, this lesbian exploitation is actually a satirical poke on porn objectifying lesbian relationships [girls fight then they have sex], the same way the audience were supposed to objectify Jennifer's body)? Besides, the sexual tension between them had been established from Fox' first appearance.

MY Amanda Seyfried of course handles her Needy's purpose very well. As men continue to drool over Megan Fox' only purpose of being the shallow Femme Fatale, MY Amanda Seyfried holds up to her role of "saving" Fox from these drooling men. In the flick, it was men who exploited Jennifer (it was a double exploitation, if the ritual of offering her body to the dark demony depths of hell didn't feel like a funny yet depressing, creepy parody of gang rape--they were laughing and singing to her, mocking her before killing her-- then I'm overreading again or I've been reading too much news) and used her to achieve stardom. It was Needy who tries, first, to save her, and then second, to try kill Jennifer amidst her love for her (oh those childhood bestfriend flashbacks actually work and tug the heart), and then third, to avenge her bestfriend. And MY Amanda Seyfried did all that with just this pretty look in her eyes. She shows off great admiration and loyalty for Jennifer but does not border on creepy obsession. She holds up to the role of beauty subdued by her consent to make Fox stand out more than her.

This is really Needy's story, more than anything else. It cannot be too emphasized how much her life changed after the indie band exploited Jennifer. How the can of worms were opened--when she finally let out how Jennifer had never been a really good bestfriend, and how they still loved each other, how they were still BFFs after opening that can. After trying to kill each other.

By the way, I am so not overreading. I just make it sound heavy. Which it is. The flick is for light watching like a stroll on some capitalist-owned park, but it has more depth than it aspires to have.

8/10

28 Days Later

Gone are the days of the clumsy, lumbering zombies, popularized by Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. The new zombie is fast, furious, and full of...rage.

Incidentally, the name of the zombie virus here is also called "rage". And it suits them quite well. All the infected here have the ability to run like Olympic sprinters. That should be enough to freak anybody out.

So Danny Boyle shows us his range as a director. And for pulling off a successful horror flick slash zombie fright fest, Danny Boyle cements his status as one of my favorite directors. Ever.

Great cinematography from Anthony Dod Mantle, who seems to work pretty well with the digital video medium. No wonder he had Slumdog Millionaire perfected. He's had years of practice already.

All the girls will be getting a treat in this film, seeing a few seconds of Cillian Murphy's schlong, and several shots of butt exposure. For the guys, there's no treat at all. The black girl never showed anything remotely sexy, and the young girl Hanah was...too young. But these are not the reasons that you should be watching this in the first place. You should watch this because it's 1) a zombie flick; 2) Cillian Murphy is in it; 3) Christopher Eccleston is in it; and 4) it's directed by Danny Boyle. Actually, just the fourth reason should be reason enough.


*pic from best-horror-movies.com


28 Days Later. UK. 2003.


Rating: Eight out of ten.
Cillian Murphy's hair: Nine out of ten.


**Because it was Halloween, a zombiefest was appropriate. Thank you to my friend Camsy for hosting it, although it was quite late.

This is It

This is it, really. The King of Pop's last moments alive.

As far as documentaries go, there is nothing really special about this particular film. And since I've started on that note, let's get the not-so-good stuff out of the way.

First of all, this documentary has no plot. Well of course, that is to be expected, as this is not a narrative. But still, sometimes you just get the feel that it's just footage pasted together. Then again, the filmmakers didn't make any promises on this. They just said at the onset that this will be a film chronicling the dress rehearsals for Michael Jackson's comeback tour.

Second...wait, there is no second not-so-good stuff. Everything else is good from here.

And the one thing that this documentary can offer that other documentaries can't: the multiple sides of Michael Jackson. Not just Michael Jackson the King of Pop. There is more to him than that.

First, there is MJ the performer. All the rigs, the effects, the visual cues---these are all Michael. You will see his total devotion to his craft. And although they form a big part of it, it's not the dancers that make the show a success. As director Kenny Ortega said, the dancers are extensions of Michael. They are extensions of the Man.

Second, there's MJ the singer. At fifty years old, he should be conserving his voice during dress rehearsals. Yet he couldn't help himself, and gave excellent vocal performances for some of the songs that had the dancers and crew cheering in the background.

Third, there's MJ the musician. For those of you who still doubt Michael Jackson's songwriting, you will hear him say it himself: "That's how I wrote it." So he did write his own songs. And he knows his songs inside-out. He knows how funky he wants the bass line for "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", and how lethargic he wants the piano for "The Way You Make Me Feel". And of course, the musicians must yield to the Man. He wrote those songs anyway.

Fourth, there's MJ the artist. Just seeing the tricks MJ had up his sleeve will make you really disappointed that the world would never, ever experience another Michael Jackson concert. The videos he shot for this would've gone to waste were it not for this film. He remade the "Smooth Criminal" opening number to have himself digitally inserted into old film noir footage, and he also had "Thriller" re-shot---in 3D. Oh, what I would've given to see his show.

And lastly, there's MJ the prophet. Michael Jackson has been doing his "Save the Earth" advocacy long before Al Gore even conceived of An Inconvenient Truth. And with his Church of Rock approach to life, from his "God bless you" and "Love one another" messages, it becomes clear that with his death, the world has lost a messiah named Michael.

Upon leaving the theater, you would either be 1) wiping a tear from your eye; 2) smiling fondly at memories of Michael; or 3) moonwalking across the cinema lobby. And I personally would light a candle for MJ, for it's like I lost...a brother.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson.


*some info from michaeljackson.com
pic from nydailynews.com


This is It. USA. 2009.


Rating: Eight out of ten.

Meet the Natives. Season 1, Episode 2.

This is obviously a great show. There is a lot to learn from these natives. A lot. And on their visit to working class Manchester, we realize that Western culture cares more about pets than about humans. Which is crazy, really.


*pic from tvblog.it