Babel March 8, 2007

I saw Babel last night. This movie is very intense, emotional, and gripping. In a small isolated village in the Moroccan desert, two brothers are involved in an accident. The two brothers challenge each other to shoot at a tour bus. The younger one does so and in the process hits an American tourist (Cate Blanchett). Her husband (Brad Pitt) is frantic and struggling to survive. Meanwhile, their children are in the United States with their Mexican nanny who needs to attend her son’s wedding. Since she cannot get anyone to watch the two kids, she ends up taking the children illegally to Mexico. In Tokyo, a Japanese man is sought after by the police: he sold the hunting rifle to a man in Morocco, who later sold it to the father of the two boys who started the domino effect of events.   

Babel is an intense and emotional film about how one single, seemingly insignificant, act can change the course of events.  Personally, I could not pull myself away from watching it. Usually, my attention span is pretty short when it comes to watching movies. This film is 2 hours and 22 minutes and I managed to sit through the entire thing.

Fashion Exhibition: Paris Collections 2006 February 17, 2007

A friend of mine and I went to the MFA this afternoon to check out the Fashion Show Exhibition: 2006 Paris Collection. It was really cool to see the different creations. Here are some pictures from various websites such as the New York Times and the official MFA site. Also, here is a link for the slideshow of the exhibit: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2006/02/27/fashion/20060228_FASHION_SLIDESHOW_1.html

Blood: Water Mission February 15, 2007

The concert tonight for Blood: Water Mission was a success. For those of you who don’t know, Blood: Water Mission is an organization started by the band Jars of Clay that is striving build 1,000 clean wells in African villages. Clean water is the foundation for health and clean blood is the freedom from HIV. Brandon Vara performed with his band. He is so good live. I love his voice and he’s just an all around nice guy; he’s down to earth and easy going.

Reading February 9, 2007

It is 1:37am and I’m taking a break from reading The Bostonians by Henry James. This book has been growing on me. I didn’t care for it too much before because I thought the writer was too dense, but I like it now that I understand what is going on. It’s about this young woman named Olive who is an advocate for women’s rights. Her cousin, Basil Ransom from Mississippi, is a traditional Southern man who believes women are meant to stay in the home as mothers and wives. Verena Tarrant is one of the key speakers and advocates for women’s rights, and Olive takes Verena under her wing. Basil ends up falling for Verena and believes he can reform her into a more “traditional” women’s role. I do not care too much for Olive because she is so possesive of Verena. She doesn’t want Verena going out alone because she is afraid the young girl will meet men. Olive keeps track of how long Verena is gone from the house and worries herself sick if she (Verena) is late. Basil is just a walking stereotype, so I find him humourous.  I should start reading Heat Wave, Complications, and research on professional chaplain care in the United States.

Hello world! February 8, 2007

Testing.