DVD of the Week

El Orfanato.
Rated R.

If you're looking for an eerie film full of twists and creepy happenings, you've got to catch this. From famed Mexican producer, director, and writer Guillermo del Toro, comes a film about a woman named Laura who purchases the orphanage she grew up in. The idea is to restore the abandoned institution and open it for disabled orphan children. The place is filled with lots of history and as an old woman comes forth to warn Laura of its eerie past, Laura realizes that she's got to fight hard to live out what she set out to do.

Together with her husband and her son in tow, Laura faces one of the hardest things any parent ever has to face. In a race against time, she tries hard to fight off demons by uncovering the past and figuring out the games ghosts sometimes play.

In the end, there's a twist that's sure to blow your mind.

An English language adaptation is forthcoming so see this before Hollywood ruins it with a less than stellar remake.

- [click for trailer.]

Hiatus

I've been away. Not entirely but halfway. I'll be back. I just need to regroup and collect myself. My mind is everywhere. My health hasn't been too good either. It's this crazy Winter weather here in New York. It's knocking a lot of us down. I'm not depressed though. I'm OK in the head. In case you were wondering. I love you if you're reading this. I'm sorry if there's nothing new to report or to share. But come back soon. OK? I don't want to lose you.

Unprotected.

I thought I wanted it
because I didn't care anymore
but now I'm scared of it
and I'd like to know if I can return it
Dear God
or Devil down there
whoever of the two handles this kind of thing
take it back please
if I am tainted
and it's too late

I made a mistake.

DVD of the Week

Torch Song Trilogy.
Rated R.

In 1988, Harvey Fierstein adapted his Tony award winning play Torch Song Trilogy and brought it to the silver screen. The movie revolves around the life of Arnold, a gay man trying to make ends meet and searching for a man to love. In the film, Arnold faces tremendous obstacles. He falls for a taken man, fosters a child, experiences the death of a loved one, and has to deal with a very traditional and mean spirited mother. Arnold has good intentions. He just wants to live and love. He means well. But since he's gay, it's a lot harder for him to get things done, to live out his life without ridicule, disdain, or attacks from those who just don't get him. He's funny, lovable, caring, and fatherly. But we can't forget how deranged he can be at times. It's all a good mix though. It's real. That's how people are.

In lieu of the trailer, here's the opening scene. It's a poignant five minute monologue. Listen carefully and loudly. Afterward, go out and rent the film. You'll be glad you did. If you're a writer, a lover, a gay person, or a performer this is the kind of thing to see and learn from. There's a good bunch of eye candy to enjoy too, particularly Matthew Broderick who plays Arnold's young lover. He's adorable in the film.

- "It takes a lot of guts and a helluva sense of humor to live life in Arnold's shoes."

My Radio: What I'm Listening To

"Move and shake to it."

Smoke Without Fire - Duffy
Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding
Written All Over My Face - Kris Allen
Rock & Roll - Eric Hutchinson
Traveling Like the Light - V.V. Brown
Hey, Soul Sister - Train
That's Where It Is - Carrie Underwood
Pick up The Phone - Dragonette
Glitter in the Air - P!nk
Kitchen - Mary J. Blige
Vida - Nicole
In My Head - Jason Derülo
The Ills - Mayer Hawthorne
Major Tom - Tiny Toy Guns
Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
Soldier of Love - Sade
Hurtful - Erik Hassle
21 Guns - Green Day
Luvsik - MoZella
Are You Here - Corinne Bailey Rae
Cousins - Vampire Weekend
I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe - OK Go
Find My Way - The Gabe Dixon Band
Doncha Know - Alicia Keys
Fill My Cup - CeCe Winans

Magdalena

When you're stuck, it's never good. If you've got dreams, goals, and expectations, it's time to go out and get to it. You don't want to waste any time, right?

Oh, I know it's easy to say this. It's so simple to think it and feel it. But how hard it is for us to jump the gun and do it. I wonder why. How hard it is for us to let go our heavy feet and run run run. Maybe we're all just too afraid of failure. What's this thing which keeps us from going out and pursuing our dreams? What stops us from living our life freely like we want to? Why does it get so hard to breathe? What makes us numb?

In this clip from the movie Little Ashes, the lovelorn Magdalena tells her writer crush to go out and live. She loves him but she knows that she must let him go because he doesn't want her. He wants something else in life. Something much more different. He's stuck in a world that censors total freedom but he harbors hidden desires to be set free. With his broken heart, he commits to poetry but lives with fear. He conforms and embraces what's handed to him. But that can be dangerous. Magdalena tells him so.



"Look
I'm not saying it's going to be easy.
But I don't think you can carry on like this.
I mean, you can.
Of course you can.
But it has a price.
I think sometimes we just have to risk it.
Live the way we feel.
And you know
it might not turn out well.
Sometimes it doesn't turn out well at all.
But we have to try.
We have to keep on trying.
Otherwise, we just become puppets,
all painted smiles
where inside nothing but sawdust."

What is wrong with this picture?

For Vanity Fair's annual "Hollywood Issue" 9 blue-eyed starlets were selected to grace the cover. Among them, Twilight star Kristen Stewart, Mamma Mia! star Amanda Seyfried, An Education's Carey Mulligan, Up in the Air's Anna Kendrick, and The Wrestler's Evan Rachel Wood.

These are fine actors who have done a considerable amount of respectable work. They've been making headlines lately for their acting roles so it's no surprise that they've been chosen to represent the new faces of Hollywood.

Still, I can't help but wonder: what happened to Precious' Gabourey Sidibe or Star Trek's Zoe Saldana? Why aren't there any women of color here? Is the new Hollywood all about the Anglo-Saxon?