Joyce 的个人资料Where will your journey ...照片日志列表更多  |  工具 帮助 |
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8月23日 About EarnestWas not sure if I should watched the Movie Departures (Okuribito) or not this afternoon. Worried the sadness would make a sunny afternoon a bit too blue. Still did regardless, and really happy that I did spend the afternoon watching this movie.
The movie talkes about death, so can't help tearing a bit, but the director also demonstrate the struggles and harsh reality about this unique "job" in a very humoros way. Reflecting to all "ordinary" jobs that people do not pay attention to, they are "invisible" in the society, but the society cannot function without them. I remember a documentary called "Sleepless City" that I watched years ago - a city that the 9-5/ Mon-Fri people do not know.
Does not matter what kind of job one has, if he/she is earnest, then peace will come.
Departures (Okuribito/入殮者）
Directed by: Yojiro Takita Written by: Kundo Koyama Music by: Joe Hisaishi 3月16日 You Gotta Watch - Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A WhoMovie: Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who
Dirctors: Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino
Writers: Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul
Genre: Animation/Adventure
Release Date: March 14, 2008 (Canada)
Cast (Voice):
Jim Carrey - Horton (the Elephant)
Steve Carell - Mayor of Whoville
Company: Blue Sky Studios
The Ice-age creation team once again showcased their talent in this movie. Much thought has been put into tiny little details that makes this animation amazing.
The story is cute, the message is meaningful. Sevearl quotes that I like a lot:
"A person is a person, no matter how small!" - Horton
"I meant what I said, I said what I meant! That's my code, that's my motto!" - Horton
An enjoyable movie, at the same time also demostrates the idea of Globalization. There is a scene of Horton fighting with his imaginative enemy. The whole part was presented in a very typical Japanese animation style. Even the voice changed into English with Japanese animation accent. If you've watched the English version of Yinuyasha, you will know what I am referring to. The influence is no longer one way - the west to the east. The world is getting flatter.
Had a busy week, did not get much rest during the weekend -worked on Saturday, event on Saturday night, meeting on Sunday. Glad that the week ended with this movie though~
2月25日 Living in Big LiesWatched several movies and documentaries that make me upsetting.. It becomes more and more obvious to me that things we have seen is not what we think we've seen. Just like Nicolas Cage said in the movie "Lord of War", "those who know don't care, those who care -- don't know.." That's a great summary. We read newspapers, wach TV, browse the internet, we think we are, at least try to be, fully aware of things that are happening around the world. Not necessary directly relates to us, but as a citizen on this planet, we'd like to know. However, how many people realize that all the information we are receving, either from an authority figure or a newsreporter could very possibly be a lie, a big fat lie, a lie that is created by those "powerful" players who sit at the round table and will do whatever it takes to make the deal they want.
Just like Nicolas Cage, the arms-dealer (in the movie), knew his "friend" from the upper level would come to release him after he got caught by a CIA officer who chased him over 15 years; 4 years after Eron's bankruptcy Ken Lay, CEO of Eron, started going trial for the case with a very optimistic look on his face... I did not know much about Eron's case before I watch the moive, Eron: the Smartest Guys in the Room. (I doubt I know anything abou the case now.. ) I was shocked when it showed that he had the power to control the electricity supply of California state. Just because he needed Eron's stock price to go up, he could phone to tell people at the controal room of the power supply company that "you are experiencing some technical difficulty" - so the machines were all turned off, all of a sudden, the California State was out of electricity.
Compared to the documentary I watched on-line, Eron case is just a piece of cake. It's a an hour analysis of Sept. 11th tragedy written and directed by Dylan Avery. It is rated as one of the best of documentaries in the 9/11 Truth Movement. The an hour analysis shows how it is more likely than not that the U.S. government was the wire-puller... The evidence is so strong that you cannot just turn your head away without asking the same questions the director was asking in the documentary. It's just scary to think that there is the possibility that thousands innocent people died for a planned incident that was put on by the people who actually are obligated to protect their citizens. The worse part, the possibility is very high..
All of these, real or unreal just almost made me wish that I had not watched them... it might be easier for a naive person to live in today's world... since even we know all the truth, what can we do? Powerless... besides, accroding to the arms-dealer, if we were the ones who knew them all--we would not care?!
Movie: Lord of War (2005)
Genre: Crime/Drama
Dirctor & Writor: Andrew Niccol
Casting:
Nicolas Cage - Yuri Orlov
Movie: Eron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
Genre: Documentary
Director:Alex Gibney
Writors: Bethany Mclean & Peter Elkind
Documentary: Loose Change 9-11
(from video.google.com)
11月1日 The Importance of Education - Iris Murdoch" Education doesn't make you happy ,and nor does freedom. We don't become happy just because we are free if we are, or because we are educated if we have. But education maybe the means by which we realize we are happy. It opens our eyes and ears, tells us where the lights are lerking, convinces us that thre is only one freedom of any importance whatsoever that of the mind; and gives us the assurance, the confidence to work the part of our mind, the educated mind of us..."
This is author Iris Murdoch 's speech about education at her university alumni social function in the movie "Iris". Iris Murdoch, British writer, university lecturer, and philosopher, who produced 26 novels in 40 years. The movie is a real-life story of author Iris Murdoch and her husband Professor John Bayley 's enduring love. Rather than focusing on the passionate love between the two when they just met and got married, the whole movie tried to narrate how their love lasts throughout Iris's struggles against Alzheimer's disease during the last years of her life.
Their story makes people ask what is the secret of long lasting relationship? It's maybe cruel to say, but passionate love does not last very long according to marital studies. When romance and affection declined over time, what are the things got left in the relationship that strengthen the two parties together? That's the question I have to figure out for my psychology term paper... tough thing to analysis.
Iris (2001)
Dirctor: Richard Eyre
Starring:
Iris Murdoch (Elderly) - by Judi Dench
Iris Murdoch (Young) - by Kate Winslet
John Bayley - by Jim Broadbent
Genres: Drama and Romance
Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
(Iris poster- cited from movies.yahoo.com)
10月31日 Trick or Treats?Didn't go out and asked for candies.. I am too old for this (sigh~~ )
Instead, I stayed at home all night and waited for the kids to come - Kids in cute costume with a big bag in their hands.
You can totally see the excitment in their eyes... Nothing bothers them as long as at the end of the day they get a full bag of candies. How much I envy them... for they still believe in fairy tale.
Watched a Halloweeny movie with my homesty family last night -Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Such a great animation movie. The characters, the Gothic scenery, the well-composed songs in the movie and the story itself made the movie so wonderful. It's one of those classic movies that for all ages to watch and can never go out of date.
If you want to know what would happen if the king of the pumpkin took the job of Santa; If you are a Broadway musical fan, and you like animation. This is the movie you must watch.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Director: Henry Selick
Story: Tim Burton
(Picture are cited from Disney.go.com)
7月26日 March of the Penguins"In the harshest place on earth, love finds a way. This is an incredible true story of a family's journey to bring life to the world." -- as told by Morgan Freeman
It's been so long since the last time that I have the desire to go to the Moive Theatre to see a movie. After I saw the trailer, I decided that I had to go to see it. And I am glad that I did. Like all the National Geographic feature films, March of the Penguins provides the closest angles for people to see how Emperor Penguins live in the very end of the world, a pure land just like heaven.
Before seeing the movie, I did not know much about Emperor Penguins except knowing that they are one kind of birds but cannot fly, they live by the ocean but cannot stay under the water for too long and they wears "tuxedo" all the time.
Seeing hundreds of Emperor Penguins standing in line and walking towards the place they were born was incredible. Ice covered most of the land, the temperature was so low. They walked slowly but surely to reach the place in their heart. They followed each other and always stayed together. They walked night and day without a rest, only when the winter storm came, they stopped and stayed closely to keep everybody warm. Scientists still do not know how the penguins find out their way back to the place they were born since the landscape changes every years and it is all white. They suggests that it's part of their instincts that they can figure out the way home.
The whole movie was focusing on how incredible the commitment between two penguins, and how they bring a new life to the world. Keeping a egg in the the harshest environment in the world is not easy. What touched me most it's the determination penguins demonstrate. During the whole process of having a new baby, the penguins, both the male and female, have to walk hundrends of major(several times for different purposes). What motivate them keep walking in the darkness or in this extreme environment? Why they chose to stay in North pole?
Move: March of the Penguins
Director: Luc Jacquet
Story Told by: Morgan Freeman
Original Music: Alex Wurman 4月22日 The moment to liveYeah! Finally this stressful whole semester is over. Sitting in the family room, watching TV with my homestay family, and having the feeling that nothing needs to be worried about... I miss this feeling, really bad! Isn't that great when you are going to bed and knowing that there is no unfinished projects you have to continue working on tomorrow? Isn't that wonderful you wake up not because of the alarm clock but the singing of the birds outside your window? That's all what I am asking for, isn't that simple? Line for Today: "Life is not the amount of breath you take, it is the moment that take your breath away." --- From Will Smith in "Hitch"
"Hitch" Cast: Directed By: Andy Tennant
3月28日 It's about waiting and promise.In this crazy world, the more modern we get, the less patient we have. People forget the taste of waiting. In this insecure world, the more promises you make, the more you break. Scinere doesn't mean sincere, a promise does not stand for forever. However, there are some one who believes in promise and does not mind waiting for keeping the promise. " I make promise for my dad ...to come to New York and ask Benny Golson to sign for him and put it in the can", Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) said to Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones) in his broken English. Navorski waited at the airport for nine months for getting the US visa and making his father's left dream come true. Can't forget the scene when Navorski saw the news about his country in TV, but he couldn't understand a thing, the frustration and tears tell how much he loves his country. Can't forget when Navosrski finally found Benny Golson in a Hotel Jazz Bar and asked him to sign for his father, who was a great fan of Benny, his eyes were so devout. He is about to make his father's left wish come true. Terminal is a place that people come and go. Every minute there is a story happening. Each ordinary people has a different story behind him/her. No matter what kind of a "small photo" you are, the terminal is a platform for you.
The Terminal (2004) Directed by Steven Spielberg Story by Andrew Niccol and Sacha Gervasi Cast Highlights: Viktor Navorsk -- Tom Hanks Amelia Warren -- Catherine Zeta-Jones
3月26日 "No thinking, that comes later"In movie "Finding Forrester" "No thinking, that comes later." William Forrester (Sean Connery) said to Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) "Write you first draft with your heart, and revise your draft with your brain", Author Forrester said this when he taught Jamal how to write with a typewriter correctly. "The object of question is to obtain information for no one else but you. " William said. A small budget film, with no action scenes, no violence and sex. It's not a fast food type food that only makes you watch the whole thing without thinking. And the fact it is based on a true story makes the film even more touching. Really like the scene which Sean Connery,in scottish suits and hat, is riding his old fashion bike in the late evening in New York city. The backgroud music it's "Over the Tainbowl" (guitar version). The music goes so well with the pictures. Clear and toughtful... It's great to watch things like this, especially during this stressful time of my life.
"Finding Forrester" (2000) Drected by Gus Van Sant Writing credits Mike Rich Cast Highlits William Forrester - Sean Conery Jamal Wallace - Rob Brown Prof. robert Crawford - F. Murray Abraham
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