2046 by Wong Kar Wai

They say a person's preference reflects her character. When we write about our favorites, we unknowingly impart a little bit of ourselves. Now, I don't think I'm ready for that kind of openness. Kidding! (But yes, although I will write about the books I read, I draw the line at blogging about every material thing I acquire. It's so. Just. No.) Anyway, back to the movie...

I'm unable to explain why 2046 is my favorite film. It's infamous, it's iconic, it's a masterpiece. I did find this clip on YouTube while trolling for funny vlogs though. So I thought I'd share. See for yourself. I've seen all the great American and European movies¹ but I still think 2046 is on a class of its own. You'll have to watch the movie itself to know how rich and fluid the screenplay is, of course. But this clip should give you an idea on just great this film is. If you liked Hero and Lust, Caution, you'd like 2046. So well-written, so well-executed and the costumes. The costumes!

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¹An exaggeration but for my age, I'd like to think I have seen most of the "pillars" of film. (Mostly because I like movies, studying the most trivial things and feeling smart about myself)

God save the Queen

I don't have a lot of favorite singers from MY generation. My favorites are usually from my father's time or his father's. Until, of course, I found Adele--who turns 23 today (but who are we kidding, she has the depth of a 40 year old). I'm sure you know her by now as she is taking the mainstream entire music industry by storm, getting rave reviews from the kids of Glee to the snobbiest indie listeners. My eight year old sister, for one, just loves Adele's Rolling in the Deep. I know that at 8, she's not cognizant enough to recognize the hurt, despair and misery in the song but I just know she knows Adele has incredible talent. I love that song myself. I'm glad Adele's talent resonates to all.

The magic of Adele's music proves that talent knows no genre. She is truly a spectacular performer and I just love how she banks on talent alone. No eccentricities. No elaborate dance moves (well, her music is not really danceable). No frills. And definitely no gimmicks (I do love me some Lady Godga but Adele is just on a highly different class of her own). I especially love her honesty, both in her music and in her interviews. She's just so transparent but classy. My friends and I closely follow Adele and judging from stories of her admitting that she "smokes and drinks more than a lot" and that she's "scared of moving to bigger venues because she wants to keep her performance as intimate as possible", one knows that she really IS Queen. All cool, calm, and collected. Of course, another reason why I look up to her so much (aside from her ability to beautifully put into words all the emotions in her heart of hearts) is the fact that she never really cared about society--with all that unsolicited (and sometimes, very demeaning comments) advice about her weight, her vices, her craft. I hope she stays the same for a long, long time.

Happy birthday to the Queen!

PS: Here's another performance of Adele that I just love--a special performance of an Etta James original, I Just Want to Make Love to You. Such a sexy song, such an exceptional cover!

Preach, sister, preach!

Flipped

“Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss….” He turned to me. “But every once in a while, you find someone who’s iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare."

I absolutely love this book-turned-movie. In my humble opinion, the movie was way better than the book (no offense to the author who did a really wonderful job in writing such a simple but truly touching story, it's just a from good to better thing). I love that the movie was set in 1960's. I adored the soundtrack (although most of the songs were from the 1950's-early 60's). It reminded me of long drives with my father. I just loved, loved, loved singing along to Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace, Pretty Little Angel Eyes by Curtis Lee, Da Doo Ron Ron by The Drifters, The Chiffons' One Day and He's So Fine, Crying in the Rain by Nancy Sinatra and one of my favorite love songs, You've Really Got a Hold on Me by The Miracles. Of course, I have the musical sensibility of a grandmother. Does it bother me? Nope. Not one bit.

If you loved Little Manhattan as much as I did (still do, actually), you will love this film. Go watch it. Go read the book as well! :) Happy weekend!

“You have to look at the whole landscape”

“What does that mean?”

“A painting is more than the sum of its parts. A cow by itself is just a cow. A meadow just by itself is just grass, flowers. And the sun, peaking through the trees is just a beam of light. But you put them all together…and it can be magic.”

PS: How gorgeous is Bryce Loski?

I know, right? :D