And so, it begins...

I have been flirting with the idea of blogging for so long now that I can't even tell you precisely when the seed of this idea was planted in my distracted mind. Thanks to my dear friends, G-Dawg and Nellie, I am finally getting my act together. I needed that push like a child who's learning how to ride a bicycle. My friends have been telling me that I should blog about personal anecdotes and my take on movies, pop culture phenomena, global human interest stories, etc. While I'm inclined to believe that another voice in the blogosphere is akin to a tear drop in the ocean, I guess the whole point for me to doing this is to have a forum for organizing my thoughts on an array of subjects, to make personal discoveries about myself and to reflect on the direction of my life and where it's heading.

It's Friday afternoon and it has been a day since I arrived back in London from New York City so the most exciting thing to happen since my arrival was going to the cinema to see Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglorious Basterds'. It was a thrill to watch and behold from start to finish. The two and a half hours running time flew by. I am not one of those people who have been obsessed with Mr. Tarantion's film since 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Pulp Fiction' but I gotta tell you that I haven't responded to a movie like I did to this one in a very long time. It was a fantastically irreverent, poetically visceral piece of historical revisionism and I say, why the fuck not?

All the actors were amazing but I gotta give props to the following: Brad Pitt (a good sport considering that his role was more supporting than his billing would suggest), Diane Kruger (so much better here than in her previous movie costarring Brad Pitt, 'Troy'), Mélanie Laurent (hope we'll be seeing more of her very soon), Michael Fassbender (the handsome Irish/German actor is a Hollywood leading man on the rise) and the phenomenally gifted, Christoph Waltz (let's hope his brilliantly chilling and charismatic performance is remembered by the Academy come Oscar season, although I'm not sure if it'll be in supporting or lead...I'm inclined to say lead actor since Waltz has already won the best actor award from one major awards body - the jury of this year's Cannes film festival, where 'Basterds' had its world premiere).

On a separate note, before the movie began, we were treated to some shockingly awful previews, the one that left the biggest impression being 'Case 39', a horror film starring Renée Zellweger. I remember seeing stills from this movie on IMDB since 2007 so I have a feeling this one has been on the shelf for a few years now...not a good sign. Combined this with the failure of her early 2009 release, 'New in Town', and the upcoming 'My One and Only', I gotta take to task those responsible for her career: her agents, her manager (if she has one) and, of course, Miss Zellweger herself. Having been a fan since she won Jerry Maguire's heart and ours in 1996, I know that this lovely actress deserves better material than what she's been getting offered and accepting. C'mon, Hollywood...DO BETTER!