After the storm?? or After the Shattering Sound of Silence Comes...

Hey everyone...
After a long 6 months.. a lot has changed...
I have definitely missed out on a lot of films.. it's become embarrassing to admit how many I've missed out on....
My list is endless, be it from the typical blockbusters or the indies....
My DVD stack is becoming bigger and bigger...

So who's to blame?
time? that doesn't give anyone a chance to breathe these days?
life? that demands so much to survive?
work? that requires you to wake up so early and drill your brain to make the right decisions...
family and friends? who take out that "only" time that's left to myself...
or...
do I just blame myself for not being able to maintain a good balance between all the above...

tricky question.. and I'd rather keep that answer to myself..

so today on a bright, pleasant, Friday morning... I wake up... and decide to give my blog some life again...

and this time.. since I can't blog about a film I've seen recently...
I'm gonna share something different...
a poem.. from a very interesting book I've stumbled across...
so here goes...

I will tell you: I love you
When all old love languages die
And nothing remains for lovers to say or do
Then my task to move the stones of this world will begin.

**

I will tell you: I love you
When I feel that my words are worthy of you
and the distance between your eyes and my notebooks disappears,
I will say it when I am able to evoke my childhood,
My horses, my troops, and my cardboard boats
and able to regain the blue time with you upon Beirut's shores
When you were tired, shivering like a fish between my fingers,
And I covered you
With a sheet made of summer stars.

**

I will tell you: I love you
When I am cured of my schizophrenia
And become a singe person.
I will say it when the city and the desert inside me are reconciled.
When all the tribes leave my blood,
When I will be free of the blue tattoo engraved on my body,
Free of old Arab remedies
which I tried for thirty years
and which told me
To lash you eighty times
For being a woman.
Perhaps I will not say: I love you.
It takes nine months for a flower to bloom,
The night suffers a great deal in giving birth to a star,
Humanity waits a thousand years to produce a prophet,

Why don't you wait then
To be my lover.

Click on the pic to read the original Arabic version (mind the colors, for some reason when I uploaded it, the colors changed to something that doesn't really suit my liking!!)



I have been lucky enough to fall in love more than once in my life...
I have seen the joy, the pain, the wait, and sometimes even the crushing heartbreak..
But isn't that what love is all about.. the experience.. the throbbing of your heart in your throat before you utter a single word...
I used to write poems for myself and for my loved ones.. I read them every now and then and remember how my heart was then and how it is today...

I read this poem that brought back a flood of memories.. some I'd like to remember and some too painful to remember... and some that make me think.. "what if?"
Having said that, I must add that I'm pretty much content with where I am today...

Of course this poem is by a great artist.. a poet some consider to be more than great.. This poem is by Nizar Kabbani...which is why I decided to post it in both languages... the original(Arabic) and its translation...

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

Over and out...
Cosmic..

Tsotsi brings me back to Life!!

Define Tsotsi.. in South African street language, it's a noun meaning thug, gangster, hoodlum.... or so the official site says...


Credits and Awards...
Directed by Gavin Hood
Writing credits by Athol Fugard (novel) and scripted by Gavin Hood
Tsosti..Presley Chweneyagae
Aap..Kenneth Nkosi
Boston..Mothusi Magano
Butcher..Zenzo Ngqobe
Miriam..Terry Pheto
Awards: Best Foreign Film (Oscar 2006) and many others


This film is about a gansta lead, Tsotsi, who has erased his past including his his real name, David. The look on his face mirrors hardship.. and ruthlessness.. being the leader of the pack, his team follows him in everything... in small and and in big crimes...
The gang... compromises of....
Boston... the 'failed' teacher
Butcher.. as the names describes... he's the killer in the group
and Aap... The follower (no questions asked)

No one in this life stays the same.. Our characters, individualities, and personalities are all results of our experinces in life... From childhood upto the day we die... we are what we are today because of the decisions we've made and the mistakes we've made... and we will only change when we are faced with 'life-altering' experiences... some of these experiences hit us hard with immediate effects to our personalities and our perceptions... some of us on the other hand don't learn from the mistakes we commit the first time around... so it turns into a pendulum that goes back and forth until we realise that we are indeed what we are because we allow things to happen to us or we stand in the way of things happening to us...
Through it all... the transformation of one's self... the change that one is willing to do to live his/her life is very often a difficult one... why? Because we've grown accustomed to it... we got used to dealing with things the way we do... we got used to people treating us the way they do... so why change if it's working, if the pieces fit? Well... Life around us changes... People around us change.. Circumstances change...The climate changes... so why can't we? Because it's hard... Because we don't want to.. because we were accepted already.... Because we need to step out our comfort zone... because it means losing friends and at times... losing face...

This story is about change...Tsosti's change.... without realizing how life pushes him to change...when he makes a decision to steal a car...

Little did he know what fate had in store for him...
as he's on the run.. he hears something from the back of the car... a guardian angel maybe? A baby screaming is tears... as if crying for tsotsi for leading such a miserable and useless life...
and this is where the journey of change begins...
First reflex act... abandon the car..abandon the baby .. head back home..as he's walking away, the child's voice screaming stirs something in him... he remembers...


he remembers this...that he was a child once.. a runaway...living in a Pipe and not a home...he remembers David who never had the chance to appreciate what a family meant..He remembers what he used to be and could've been..




So.. he picks the baby, dumps it in a brown grocery bag and heads home...


The details are truly amazing... you'll have to watch the movie to appreciate what it really means...
A bitter sweet tale that resonates the image of change in every one of us... be it with our own will or not...
A truly amazing cast that leave you thinking long after the credits have rolled...

I end this review with the film's tagline, which I think is the perfect ending...



'In this world... redemption just comes once.'

Over and out...
Cosmic





P.S. Now is that a come back or what?

Ramadan Kareem to all...

Mabrook 3alaikom ishehar...


Cosmic..

My Blog is withering away....

Hello people...
yup.. I'm been a victim of time...
no time.. no time..and absolutely no time...
so once I get around getting the time to watch the (now) pile of DVDs stacked at home, I will come back...
but if you have anything interesting to tell me.. go ahead...
my comments sections is now open for business or pleasure...

Until I find the time...
Cosmic...

Lady in the water - Out Now @ a cinema near you

Ok.. so it's time to blog about a movie that you CAN actually go watch in cinemas...
I got the chance to see it last Sunday...
If you're an M. Night Shyamalan fan.. then I needn't write anymore for you to go and see it...
but if you're not.. well... I'm hoping that by the end of my post I would've convinced you to go and see it..

Cast
Paul Giamatti - Cleveland Heap (yes .. yet another film featuring this talented actor)
Bryce Dallas Howard - Story or I should say as the lady in the water
and of course M. Night. Shyamalan himself..
and many others that I doubt any would know...example would be the black guy from Syriana is in it...

What seemed interesting about this film was the fact that it revolved around the elements of a good story...If you remember that while watching, you'd appreciate the film..Specially if you are into writing...I was in between two books on the subject...'On writing' by Stephen King and 'Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting' so the film described some of the elements that both books were referring to... The characters!!
yes..one of the main elements are the characters... the main character and the supporting characters.. where they all fit together to create a good story..
The Lady was called 'Story' and indeed this was her story...
Cleveland Heap, the lonely s-s-s-t-t-t-uttering caretaker of 'The Cove'.. an apartment block that houses all the characters that will be brought together to save Story...
Story is a 'nymph' or a 'narf' (can't remember, I need to see it again to tell you the exact name).. a creature of the water.. (unfortunately it was translated to '7oriyah' in Arabic which is synonymous to mermaid, which she's NOT)..
Story is from the "blue world' or I should say the swimming pool at the Cove.. She's on a mission.. but nothing goes as she had hoped for her enemies are close.. they do not want her to succeed.. they are the beasts of your worst nightmare.. looking like mutant wolves with red-almost-transparent fierce eyes with a disguise from hell.. their back look like spiky hard grass.... so the best place to hide and wait would be the garden surrounding .. you got it... The Cove's swimming pool...
Lucky for all the characters in this full-of-suspense story.. Cleveland finds out that 'Story' herself comes from an ancient story that one of the Chinese tenants recalls...
though you don't see her much in the film.. she is the key that helps Cleveland to save 'Story' go back to her world... She has one chance now...Will Cleveland be able to summon all the characters he needs to save her? Will he get all the right characters?
You'll have to see to find out...
just another tip... Though this movie has been classified as a thriller... the 'THRILL' was mostly from the sudden movements... And watch out for those sprinklers...(u'll know what I'm talking about when you see it on the big screen)
The cast in general were funny.. you just had to laugh...Giamatti was p-p-perfect.. with his stuttering... another challenging role he managed to ace... watch out for Reggie played by Freddy Rodríguez... that guy was hilarious... he body builds ... but only the right side.. so his right arm is of a body builder and his left scrawny... it goes the same for his legs.. funny... as were most of the characters that were put together to feature in a 'thriller'.. add a crossword puzzle, some cereal boxes and some butterflies and ofcourse a couple of giant scary monkeys to the recipe...and you get yourself some entertainment..so you will have laughs here and there as well as a few frights...

Verdict:
Not for everyone, you either like it or not...Good storyline... definitely for the crowd that appreciates a good story... If you just want to watch a scary movie...I'd wait another week for 'An American Haunting'.. that should send shivers up your spine...the trailer says it all..
until then..
just sit back and enjoy the show!!
Cosmic

Giamatti is American Splendor!!

Ok... time to role back into action....
but first I must get one thing off my chest... this blogger thing is cruel.. I typed in the entire review and then I clicked on a link to test it out.. and there went my review... I had to re-write the entire thing again.. from memory.. to me the first draft was better than this.. but what to do...so here goes...

This is the story of a Harvey Pekar... If you don't don't know he is.. you're not the only one... I didn't either... a file clerk at a local hospital...As is the case... this is the story of a nobody who tried to be somebody... through creating comics of his everyday life... and maybe through creating this movie as well..'American Splendor'


but first... the cast...
well mainly Paul Giamatti playing the weird Harvey Pekar... and you'll also get to see the real Harvey Pekar aswell..
along side a few nobodies... all good actors... but none could even come close to the amazing performance that Giamatti pulled off...
the awards are endless including an oscar nomination for best screenplay..

I really loved the way the film was made... the script was very original and maybe did Harvey more than he deserves.... The guy is an absolute dork... and I'm not being nice here... really... The film is narrated by the real Pekar in the flesh.. no cameo roles but an actual one... the movie moves back and forth between Giamatti playing the role and the real Harvey sitting in the Studio adding his comments in... which, in my opinion, was brilliant... It kinda gives you a nice break from the movie but it really isn't.. it's more of an emphasis that truly Giamatti is this guy he's portraying... another point to mention is that in these brief intermissions of a sort... Harvey's friends who featured in his comics are in the film.. One of his friends is an absolute NERD and I couldn't emphasize more on the word NERD.. now you'd think that this is only acting and the actor MUST be exaggerating the role... the guy can't be like that in real life... but.. in comes harvey with his real friend... and guess what... he was exactly as the actor... speaking through his nose... big glasses... and apparently is very passionate about the movie "Revenge of the nerds III'.. go figure...

The movie also had the interviews.. Harvey was a guest (more than once) at Letterman's... the real footage has been fit in... the last one was acted out.. but if the previous ones were real.. I'm guessing that the acted one was as good... no question about it...

An artistic touch... as the pic above.. the film is shot as a comic book... so basically as Harvey is thinking a bubbles appears by his head with his thoughts scribbled in... or the top left hand corner would have a yellow box.. with the words 'Meanwhile...'.. very very original.. so what you see in the pic does NOT apply to the pic only but the entire movie...

Overall... Harvey is a character and half... it's his story on how he started the comics... got married... got cancer... and making this movie...
Giamatti was brilliant... it was this role that got him critically acclaimed.. I like him.. and after watching him in this movie.. I have high hopes for him... he had acted out almost the first half of the movie without a voice.. since something was wrong with Harvey's vocals from screaming too much... add that to the body language.. the posture.. the eye movements... gives you a Harvey Pekar original...

Verdict: a story of a 'wannabe' who managed to become a 'be'... great script... great acting...and worth watching for the acting and the mix between fictionalized graphics and the movie...
just don't buy the comics.. apparently it's not great...
but as Harvey says...
'Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff' for which you can write comics about...

Over and out...
Cosmic..

I'm Back!!

Hellooo People..
yes.. I had disappeared.. but now I'm back...
I've seen some movies none of which are worth reviewing really...
'Lovewrecked' is one of them.. I sat through the first five minutes and predicted the entire movie.. true enough... what I predicted more or less did happen... 'if you've seen one you've seen them all'... another chick-flick movie for the teenagers or for the girls who still believe they are teenagers...
next thing..
an interesting thing happened to me yesterday... I ran out of gas... and I mean I ran out of gas... at 2:30 in the afternoon... on the side road between Ibn Battuta and Sh. Zayed Road... so my car refused to budge and I could see the petrol station.. it was around 15 meters away... my car is stuck between lanes... (going and coming).. but that's not the story... I put on my hazard lights.. I couldn't leave the car in the middle of the road...or I would've walked to the gas station to get some just to make it for the 'fill-up'..

what to do what to do what to do.. so I wait.. until someone pulls over to help...

NO ONE STOPPED for around twenty muntes... and remember it was at around 20 to three by then...

what struck me about the whole situation was the fact that no one even bothered to stop... instead people were HONKING as if to imply MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!... the people in the opposite direction could see that there was a woman in the car but didn't bother to ask and just drove by with a sarcastic look on their face...
HELLO!! if my car would move I would MOVE IT... FINALLY.. a taxi driver (from SHJ) stops his car right infront of me and offers to help...
so now I'm HOT, irritated, desperate and clearly couldn't concentrate.. I step out of the car.. tell the guy what the situation is.. he says that his taxi is from SHJ and he can't pick up passengers from Dubai, as it's not allowed...
ok..
Fair enough... take this 100 dhs.. go to the pertrol station get me half a gallon gas to put in the car.. after he leaves.. I realize that this guy can just go with the money.. and I didn't even take the taxi number... ok the heat is getting to me...
5 minutes...Nothing and no taxi in sight...

10 minutes...Nothing and no taxi in sight...

15 minutes...Nothing and no taxi in sight...

20 minutes...Thank God... I can see him...

he come out of the car.. hands me a bottle of cold water.. two receipts.. for the gas and the water.. and the change..and starts filling in the petrol...
I am saved..
By the most unexpected person...
I took the fifty note from the change that he had given back to me.. and gave to him.. and thanked him.. he first didn't want to take the money.. but I insisted and told him that NO ONE had stopped for me except for him and that he really deserved it...
so my friends... my paradigm shift?
after having always cursed the taxi drivers SPECIALLY the ones from SHJ.. from that incident.. I'll always remember that there are some decent drivers (though most seem to be aggressive and bad drivers).. basically not to judge them and hate them just because they are bad on the road...decent because they do lend a helping hand when you need it the most..

and that's my story for the day...