A Piece of My Mind

which one do you like best, is it this one:

or this one:

or this one:

Hello, guys, just wanna post some entertainment buying guide for you.  All of the followings have been my absolute favorite these last few weeks, I thought you might wanna get a taste too.

THE BIG SCREEN (CATCH IT ON DVD ALSO)

Don Juan De Marco – Marlon Brando had a life-altering experience when he took a mental patient, acted brilliantly by Johnny Depp, under his custody.  Depp believed that he’s the legendary Don Juan de Marco.  Depp gave a v ery remarkable performance as De Marco, bringing the suave and charismatic character alive and left Brando – and us – wondering : is he really Don Juan?  The best thing about the movie is you get to experience what it is like to be swept off your feet by the greatest lover on earth.  The song Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman by Bryan Adams was actually a soundtrack of this movie.  Good luck in finding the DVD thought, the first and the only time I’ve watched this was in 1996 – ages ago! – and still can’t forget it since.  I heard that the DVD was released in 2002, so it’s probably a very rare piece right now.  Kalo nemu, gw titip beli satu ya!

The Holiday – Cameron Diaz has been my favorite actress shince her amazing performance in There’s Something About Mary – it’s still my favorite movie of all time – and I’ve seen every movie she has made since, from A Life Less Ordinary with Ewan McGregor, Feeling Minnesota with Keanu Reeves, Being John Malkovich with John Cusack, My Best Friend’s Wedding with Julia Roberts, to Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise (why didn’t I mention Charlie’s Angels?   Not my personal favorite).  Jude Law has knocked off Brad Pitt from the number one spot of my favorite actor of all time, because he never seems to fail to shine in every movie that he did, from Gattaca, The Talented Mr. Ripley, to  Alfie.  How can I resist The Holiday?  In this feel good movie of the year, you will be charmed not only by Jude and Cameron, but also by Kate Winslet and Jack Black as they answer the question: how much of your life would change if you have the chance to trade places with someone?

Babel – you know the saying that everyone’s life is connected somehow with other’s, even across the world, and how you never know that taking a chance or meeting someone would change the course of your own life?  I always like ensemble casts, and I think Tom Cruise’s Magnolias was genius, Matt Dillon’s Crush was really in your head for a long time, and Babel really glued me to my seat.  The story was so powerful that you don’t really think that it was Brad Pitt or Cate Blanchett who got you hooked on the screen.  Remarkable directing, great editing, touching performance, call me egocentric but I really wanna tell Martin Scorsese to hand the Oscar for Best Motion Picture to Babel.

THE SILVER SCREEN (BUY THE DVD AND YOU CAN HAVE A SERIES MARATHON)

Heroes – Tim Kring is a fucking genius!  We all have been familiar with the story of a superhuman living amongst us since the era of Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, to Mutant X.  But they all fail miserably in bringing up the whole emotional conflict and self-doubt when somebody wakes up one day realizing that he or she is blessed – or cursed? – with a special ability.  Heroes makes you think the impossible, even question the people around us, as every character appears so normal until their superhuman ability takes them over.  Genius writing, excellent casting, and you can’t help being curious what’s gonna happen next.   Too many main characters usually get the viewers lost, but I – and I’m sure any of you too – can remember perfectly every one of our heroes and what kind of strength they possess.  Whether you relate more to Nathan, Peter, Hiro, Niki, or matt, Heroes has something for everyone.  And for me, it leaves a question: when will I be able to write a story as engaging as Tim Kring?

Dexter – There’s something about the life of a serial killer that fascinates us when they bring it to the screen: Jack The Ripper, American Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, to Talking Lives.  Dexter is a whole new game though.  Dexter, our main character, is a forensic expert specializing in analyzing the cause of daeth from the pattern of the blood splatter.  Dexter is not your average CSI kind of guy, he is also a serial killer.  He’s been pathologically diagnosed with a tendency to commit a killing spree since he was a kid, so his adopted father – who happens to be a police officer – tried his best to control Dexter’s dark desire by channeling his murder passion to the people who they think deserves to be killed.  Yes, Dexter is a serial killer, but he only kills criminals, child molesters, rapists, and other serial killers.  This critically acclaimed FOX drama is written brilliantly, bringing you inside Dexter’s head, and actually making us like and understand him because he is actually a protagonist in this world full of monsters.  I really recommend you to see this mind-bending series.  American Psycho freaks me out but Dexter has a twisted, engaging appeal that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Grey’s Anatomy – Another wonderful performance of an ensemble cast.  For a medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy really doesn’t get you lost in translation, as it deals more with what’s going on inside the heads of the surgical interns at a Seattle based hospital.  It has this rare mixture of drama, romantic comedy, to dark comedy quality in it, and you will be sure to pick your favorite character, whether it’s the model-turn-doctor and emotionally fragile Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), the smart yet romantically challenged Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), the nice Irish guy who everyone thinks is gay and tired of being taken for granted Dr. O’Malley (T.R. Knight), to the handsome attending surgeon everyone called McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey).  Grey’s Anatomy has anything from strange medical cases, quirky love story, inter-office dating and affairs, to the no-holds-barred competition to handle the most difficult patients.  I nearly faint at any sight of blood, but Grey’s really wanna make me trade my business suit with scrubs.

I saw Grey’s Anatomy last night, and it was a bad day for the resident surgeons.  A bomb was gonna get off any minute, and it was inside the body cavity of a living patient, and everybody’s struggling between their Socrates oath to save lives and the human desire to save themselves and ran away from danger.  And they stayed to finish the surgeries, to deliver the baby, to strive to save lives at the expense of risking their own.

Would I be able to do the same if I were in the same situation?  Honestly, I don’t know.  But that one episode does bring up a question: what would you do if you know that today is the last day that you’re gonna be alive?  How would you spend the last day on earth before you take your last breath?

I can think of a thousand things that I should do before I die.  Climb a mountain, ride a Harley, stand on the top of the Eiffel Tower, drive an Aston Martin, bungee jump, publish a best-selling book, travel around the world, the list is endless.  But the deeper side of me just want simple things that I’ve taken for granted: say I’m sorry for all the things I’ve done that might hurt my parents, be more receptive to my loved ones, treat people better, and have a meaningful conversation with my father, something that we haven’t done in years.  I just want to stop being emotionally shut off most of the time.

And to my 5 o’clock shadow, quoting Keane,this could be the end of everything so why don’t we go somewhere only we know.