of cinematic greatness

at the turn of the new year, friends kept asking me what my resolutions were. and i was stumped. i never really thought about making any. probably because it usually takes me 30 minutes into the new year to break them. more so the fact that i realise what i want or need to do throughout the course of the year and not necessarily at the beginning. the only thing i managed to come up with when pressured enough was a logical conclusion to how things sort of ended toward the end of the last semester: don't lose sanity.

but i pondered and then it occurred to me. a promise i've been making to myself these past few years since i started uni in perth: watch a shitload of movies.

yes. nothing beats my cinematic experience back in 2002 (the year before i came to perth) when i caught close to 200 films, attended as many film festivals as i could and scoured obscure screenings, especially the ones held at the alliance francaise. the fact that i've been made to shuttle between two countries and devote a large portion of my time to academia has severely disrupted my cinematic consumption. so yes. 2007 shall be THE mad movie year. break my all-time high back in 2002? u betcha sweet cheeks i will. watch out world!

as i am wont to do annually, i've come up with a list of some of the best films i've caught last year despite the unimpressive (read: pathetic) amount i managed to squeeze into my 2006 schedule. lists are vital! they kinda determine my future dvd shopping. as usual, films are about ideas. ideas that move you. so here are some that made me think and feel, the good, the badass and the downright entertaining.

in no particular order:
le grand voyage
match point
brokeback mountain
hawaii, oslo
rent
water
v for vendetta
borat
brick
the prestige
volver
babel

honourable mentions and pretty dang good in their own right: thank you for smoking, banlieue-13 (district b13), united 93, paradise now, breakfast on pluto, king and the clown, north country, c.r.a.z.y., proof, jarhead and time to leave.

happee 2007

as we left 2006 behind us, i couldn't help but turn around to look for the last time. only one thought rose above the ebb and flow of others, demanding to be heard and remembered as i stepped into the new year.

who'd have thought that things would go and turn out the way they did? who knew that my dissertation would follow me into the early months of 2007. who could've figured out that people who meant so much to me became strangers and strangers became friends. or how i ended up needing therapy. how i miss my nearest and dearest at home and yet grow to love my solitude. or how heartbreakingly beautiful my family has been all the while when i wasn't looking.

2006 wasn't the year i was at my best at anything i did. it wasn't when i was in the best of control either. two things i value a lot. it was however the most i've lived in a relatively short span of time. some great essays were written, some shitty ones were churned out. i've been social and a sociopath. there was abject confusion and yet so many things were made clear. i've been sick and i've never felt better before in my life. i felt full and yet there were times when i felt downright empty. there was love and there was loss.

i will always remember it as the year i kinda lost it. but in pain, the greatest revelations were made. and in so many ways, it answered some questions that've been burning inside but rather forgotten and lost within life's heavy traffic.

so happy 2007 people. viva life and revelations but let us keep the pain to a minimum shall we? all the best for the new year!