Celine

Just learned that the fiancée of a very close friend of mine has cancer. Cancer of the tongue. Prognosis is bleak. She is 26. Makes me feel ridiculous with my little health problems, always whining for nothing. My prayers go out to you Celine. Be strong.

Apocalypto

Apocalypto is a very good movie. When you seat down to watch it you’re in for a wild ride. Gibson does an incredible job at sending us back in time, in a merciless jungle filled with reeeeeally scary locals. And for me that’s what cinema is all about. Seat back, relax, forget about reality and enjoy. It is a moving story, the action is breathtaking, you really feel for the hero, the actors are great, the score perfect and the images mesmerizing. The vision of the Maya city is just haunting. Finally it raises some very interesting questions about the rise and fall of civilizations, what makes them great or evil. For all that I gave a thumb up and I’ll probably go see it twice. BUT, the movie is not perfect, it could have been but it is not. I’m talking about two gore, over the top images (not even scenes) that pull you back into reality. When you’re about to bite your nails to bleeding from anxiety and tension then, you’re suddenly thinking special effects and stunt puppets: there is a jaguar literally tearing off the skull of a guy, and another guy whose head gets slashed and starts spewing blood like a geyser. At that moment, the audience goes beurkkk, ah ah ah. … this is too much, we don’t believe you, you’ve lost us, we didn’t need it. There are more ultra violent moments in the movie but there are “ok”, credible. Those two are not. I recommend this movie, but not for everybody.

Maya decadence

I’m Jewish and I’ll go see Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. First of all because I’m a big fan of the guy and his work, but also because I’m fed up with all this hysteria against him. Give the man a break! Sure, he screwed up and I didn’t appreciate the remarks but he has apologized many times since last July. So… it’s fine with me and I don’t think he is an anti Semitic sob. As of today (opening week end), Apocalypto is number one at the box office. I’ll go see it tomorrow and you’ll have my review right afterwards.

WTC Cough

I saw a great documentary on Discovery about the people who worked near or at the WTC on 9/11 after the towers collapsed. The workers who cleaned up Ground Zero are still complaining (five years later) of respiratory problems. Apparently they inhaled some very toxic stuff from the debris – like lead, mercury or asbestos. Their illness has even a name now, it’s called the "World Trade Center Cough." But it is not a simple cough and things could get worse according to doctors. The high level of metal found in the lungs of some patients could possibly lead to cancer.

Weather

It was one of these days in LA… I didn’t even think about my asthma. The air was so dry, not a cloud in the sky, everything was limpid, I could perfectly breathe, it was beautiful. I love this city. I jogged for 20 minutes and went to my yoga class. Not a good day for my writing though. Hard to concentrate, lack of inspiration. There is this little scene that's been bugging me for two days. Very frustrating because I know that when I'm done with it, everything is just going to flow.

Rivalries

It was the week end of all rivalries in LA and a good week end for me since my favorite teams won. First UCLA beat the crap out of USC in college football. It was soooooooooo good to see the sorry faces of the Trojans and their fans. We ruined their season. They won’t play for the national title, YEAAAHHHHH!! Then the Lakers won their second game against the Clippers. I’m quite amazed by their level of performance so far, we may have a good surprise with them next spring. Finally, there was a hockey game, LA vs Anaheim. LA lost but I don’t care, I’m not really into hockey.
What else??? I've improved my golf game: a short back swing and a good follow through can give you the edge, at least it works for me.
And... I was eating my rice pudding on my couch yesterday afternoon, watching Fox and thinking that this is the best period of the year for football fans, Sundays are heaven. Go Colts, this is the year.

Kobe rocks

Went to see the Lakers vs the Clippers at the Staple Center last week. Like every game between these two, it was intense and the crowd responded enthusiastically. The Lakers won 105/101. Kobe was huge with 40 points and scored some amazing shots. I’m not a big fan of the Lakers’ strategy that basically bet on Kobe against everybody else two years ago. I’m not ok with it simply because basketball is a game of five but I’ve got to admit that Kobe is in a different league. That’s where the strategy might make sense or more precisely business sense. There are maybe two or three other players like him in the NBA, on top of my mind I would say, Dwayne Wade (Heat) and LeBron James (Cavaliers). So with a guy like this, even though you’re not automatically going to be champion, people are still going to watch the team on TV or crowd the stadiums and the sponsors are still going to pay. Maybe that’s what matters as far as the Lakers management is concerned. On a celebrity note, the great Jack Nicholson was there, as well as Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Ujai Breath

I’ve been practicing yoga for almost a year now and I realized today that I wasn’t breathing right. In yoga, your mouth is closed and you're supposed to breathe through the nose, it’s the Ujai Breath. I was doing the exact opposite. With my asthma, breathing only through the nose is not a piece of cake. I would even say it’s a hell of a challenge and I confess that I cheated a couple of times during my morning practice. However, I made a great deal of efforts and the results are amazing. I had no idea whatsoever that the breath was so important to our balance. I learned to move my body with my breath, to my own rhythm. Awesome. I even held a headstand longer than ever. Big thanks to my teachers, Joan and Sarah.

Darren Aronofsky sucks

I’m usually a gentle, very tolerant moviegoer. I like clever indies as well as good big budget Hollywood flicks. But I saw « The Fountain » yesterday and my natural zen like attitude turned into raw anger. Don’t waste your time and money on it. How can a story like this find its way to the screens? It’s a pretentious attempt to explain the source of life and death but only accomplishes to lose the audience in the meanders of a meaningless plotline. Nothing here is credible, neither the queen of Spain seeking salvation in the sap of the tree of life (hmmmm?) nor the buddha like Hughes Jackman trapped in his bubble. Only the actors provide a gleam of light through really good performances unfortunately not served by good dialogues. Disappointing and boring. What a self indulgent, pompous mess.

Thank you for smoking

I went to “the Standard Down Town” last night with this new girl I’m dating. For those of you who’ve never been there, I highly recommend the place. One of the best night spots in LA, you’re basically seating on top of a tower in the middle of the city. Awesome view, eclectic crowd, divine drinks and lounge music. Anyways, I’m with this girl and her friends, we argue about movies and actors, we drink vodkas and white Russians. It’s a nice, typical LA evening until one of the girls grabs a smoke. And here I am, without even thinking about it, I’m asking for a cigarette, ready to do anything to look cool in front of the girls. At the first drag I made an ass of myself. I started to cough, my throat was on fire, it was like having a wall in my lungs. I went on a coughing spree, I couldn’t stop it and had to leave the place, alone and ashamed. You see, my problem is that I have asthma. Usually the dry weather of LA is pretty good with me, so gentle in fact that I sometimes forget about my challenged lungs. That’s also why I don’t have my ventolin 24/7 on me. Well… lesson learned. It was my first and last cigarette. Happy Thanksgiving.

First blabla

I was wondering the other day, what is it that pushes people to share their life with everybody on the net. In the past, well… we had diaries, it was more intimate, usually not supposed to be shared, a way to reflect on oneself, keep track of what happened. Blogs, youtube, stuff like myspace are different. You write a blog because you want to be read or because you think you have something to say that would benefit the rest of humanity. Yeah, maybe. Let’s say that 5% of bloggers have really something to say, I mean something useful, for the greater good. That leaves 95% of exhibitionists. Let’s be honest, why do we watch videos on youtube?? We just want to see people make jackasses of themselves. It’s like reality tv. Well… I guess the easiest way to understand it, is to write one and see what happens. So… I’ll talk about me, what I like, what I hate, my little problems and joys.