Something Resembling a 2009 Wrap-Up

I'm still of the mind that it's little use for me to create any sort of "Best Of" list for 2009 when it comes to film. More than most years, the 2009 release calendar in the US was difficult, as so many of the notable releases came from years past (a lot of which I'd already seen thanks to importing DVDs when the films' future in the US looked grim). So instead of mulling over a list of official '09 releases, most of which I didn't see, I singled out the films released theatrically in the US within the past twelve months that made the Decade List; or in the case of Fish Tank, premiering internationally... or in the case of Love Exposure, making its festival debut in the US. I will be writing more about both Fish Tank and The White Ribbon once I get a chance to see them again.

1. The Headless Woman [La mujer sin cabeza] / Lucrecia Martel / Strand Releasing
2. Summer Hours [L’heure d’été] / Olivier Assayas / IFC Films
3. Fish Tank / Andrea Arnold / IFC Films
4. Love Exposure / Sion Sono
5. The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band] / Michael Haneke / Sony Pictures Classics
6. 35 Shots of Rum [35 rhums] / Claire Denis / Cinema Guild
7. Liverpool / Lisandro Alonso
8. Taxidermia / György Pálfi / Here! Films
9. Julia / Erick Zonca / Magnolia
10. Tony Manero / Pablo Larraín / Lorber Films
11. Drag Me to Hell / Sam Raimi / Universal

And, following those 11, here's a supplemental list of films that impressed me on some level (alphabetically). Antichrist resonated in ways I didn't expect... Nancy Kissam's Drool balanced its dark humor and self-discovery perfectly, with two hilarious performances from Laura Harring and Jill Marie Jones... The Girlfriend Experience is pretty fantastic and easily the best offering from Soderbergh over the past 10 years... Goodbye Solo defied its Driving Miss Daisy set-up to reveal a painfully sad portrait of two fascinatingly different men... while wholly unnecessary, Halloween 2 was Rob Zombie's love letter to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Rocky Horror Picture Show and Irrèversible, tied with a nasty, tattered bow and a big fuck-you to the original's tedious sequel... like The Seventh Continent minus its misanthropy, Home introduced a new voice in European cinema, Ursula Meier, as well as showcasing a pair of great performances from Isabelle Huppert (in high heel boots!) and Olivier Gourmet... while more of a series pilot than a film, In the Loop was unquestionably the funniest film of '09... a bad idea on nearly every level, Gregor Jordan's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' The Informers benefited from working from his weakest book and became the most successful film translation of Ellis' writing... it's always refreshing to see a film, like The Maid, that thwarts every single one of your notions of where you think the narrative is headed... unsettling doesn't begin to describe Martyrs... Silent Light is another radiant film from Mexico's finest auteur, Carlos Reygadas... David Lowery's Malick-esque St. Nick was certainly the best feature directorial debut by an American filmmaker I saw all year... improving upon Boxing Helena isn't hard, but Jennifer Chambers Lynch's second film Surveillance, fifteen years later, is a really enjoyable piece of trash and has the year's most delectably perverse fuck scene (well, aside from Antichrist)...

Antichrist / Lars von Trier / IFC Films
Beeswax / Andrew Bujalski / Cinema Guild
Drool / Nancy Kissam / Strand Releasing
The Girlfriend Experience / Steven Soderbergh / Magnolia
Goodbye Solo / Ramin Bahrani / Roadside Attractions
Halloween 2 / Rob Zombie / The Weinstein Company
Home / Ursula Meier / Lorber Films
In the Loop / Armando Iannucci / IFC Films
Import/Export / Ulrich Seidl / Palisades Tartan
The Informers / Gregor Jordan / Senator
The Limits of Control / Jim Jarmusch / Focus Features
The Maid [La nana] / Sebastián Silva / Elephant Eye Films
Martyrs / Pascal Laugier / The Weinstein Company
Revanche / Götz Spielmann / Janus Films
Silent Light [Stellet licht] / Carlos Reygadas / Palisades Tartan
St. Nick / David Lowery
Surveillance / Jennifer Chambers Lynch / Magnolia
Tetro / Francis Ford Coppola / American Zoetrope
Vinyan / Fabrice Du Welz / Sony Pictures
You, the Living [Du levande] / Roy Andersson / Palisades Tartan
You Wont Miss Me / Ry Russo-Young

...and the lousiest films of the year. Some were dreadfully mediocre (Youth in Revolt), some hilariously inept (Watercolors), some excruciating in every way (Between Love & Goodbye), some were ruined by their incompetent directors (Precious, Jennifer's Body), some were douche parades (Bronson, Donkey Punch), some were chores to get through (Adam, Humpday)... and all were fucking baaaaad.

Adam / Max Mayer / Fox Searchlight
Between Love & Goodbye / Casper Andreas / TLA Releasing
Bronson / Nicolas Winding Refn / Magnolia
Donkey Punch / Oliver Blackburn / Magnolia
Humpday / Lynn Shelton / Magnolia
Jennifer’s Body / Karen Kusama / 20th Century Fox
Make the Yule Tide Gay / Rob Williams / TLA Releasing
Mammoth / Lukas Moodysson / IFC Films
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire / Lee Daniels / Lionsgate
Watercolors / David Oliveras / Here! Films
Youth in Revolt / Miguel Arteta / The Weinstein Company

Spending most of the year focusing on the 2000s, I did a lousy job of keeping up with any film released before 1999, but of those I did see (most of them queer and/or French), these were the stand-outs.

Les corps ouverts / Sébastien Lifshitz
L’eau froide [Cold Water] / Olivier Assayas
L’important c’est d’aimer / Andrzej Żuławski
Loads / Curt McDowell
Made in USA / Jean-Luc Godard
Possession / Andrzej Żuławski
Salomè / Camelo Bene
Le sexe des anges / Lionel Soukaz

And... in a perfect world, I would have seen all of these as well. A wish-list of viewings, from festival premieres to belated US releases. Alas...

24 City / Jia Zhang-ke / Cinema Guild
About Elly / Asghar Farhadi / Here! Films
Accident / Cheang Pou-Soi / Palisades Tartan
Air Doll / Hirokazu Kor-eeda
Ander / Roberto Castón
The Ape [Apan] / Jesper Ganslandt
Around a Small Mountain [36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup] / Jacques Rivette / Cinema Guild
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans / Werner Herzog / First Look
The Beaches of Agnès [Les plages d’Agnès] / Agnès Varda / Cinema Guild
Bluebeard [Barbe Bleue] / Catherine Breillat / Strand Releasing

Bright Star / Jane Campion / Apparition
Brotherhood [Broderskab] / Nicolo Donato
Can Go Through Skin [Kan door huid heen] / Esther Rots
City of Life and Death / Lu Chuan / National Geographic Films
The Cove / Louie Psihoyos / Roadside Attractions
Cracks / Jordan Scott / IFC Films
La danse, le ballet de l’Opéra de Paris / Frederick Wiseman / Zipporah Films
Desert Flower / Sherry Horman
The Dirty Saints [Los santos sucios] / Luis Ortega
Dogtooth / Giorgos Lanthimos / Kino

Don’t Look Back [Ne te retourne pas] / Marina de Van
Due South [Plein sud] / Sébastien Lifshitz
Duplicity / Tony Gilroy / Universal
Enter the Void / Gaspar Noé
Everyone Else [Alle Anderen] / Maren Ade / Cinema Guild
Eyes Wide Open / Haim Tabakman
Face [Visage] / Tsai Ming-liang
Fantastic Mr. Fox / Wes Anderson / 20th Century Fox
Father of My Children [Le père de mes enfants] / Mia Hansen-Løve / IFC Films
Freedom [Liberté] / Tony Gatlif

The Girl on the Train [La fille du RER] / André Téchiné / Strand Releasing
Go Get Some Rosemary [Daddy Longlegs] / Ben Safdie, Joshua Safdie
Hadewijch / Bruno Dumont / IFC Films
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno [L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot] / Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea
Hipsters / Valeriy Todorovskiy
Honeymoons [Medeni mesec] / Goran Paskaljević
The House of the Devil / Ti West / Dark Sky Films/Magnolia
I Am Love [Io sono l’amore] / Luca Guadagnino / Magnolia
I Am Not Your Friend [Nem vagyok a barátod] / György Pálfi
I Killed My Mother [J’ai tué ma mère] / Xavier Dolan / Here! Films

Independencia / Raya Martin
Inglourious Basterds / Quentin Tarantino / Universal
Ivul / Andrew Kötting
Jaffa / Keren Yedaya
Jerichow / Christian Petzold / Cinema Guild
Katalin Varga / Peter Strickland
Kill Daddy Goodnight [Das Vaterspiel] / Michael Glawogger
Kinatay / Brillante Mendoza
The King of Escape [Le roi de l’évasion] / Alain Guiraudie
Like You Know It All / Hong Sang-soo

Me and Orson Welles / Richard Linklater / Freestyle Releasing
The Milk of Sorrow [La teta asustada] / Claudia Llosa
The Misfortunates [De helaasheid der dingen] / Felix Van Groeningen / NeoClassics Films
Mother / Bong Joon-ho / Magnolia
Napoli, Napoli, Napoli / Abel Ferrara
Navidad / Sebastián Campos
Ne change rien / Pedro Costa
Life During Wartime / Todd Solondz
Lourdes / Jessica Hausner / Palisades Tartan
Making Plans for Lena [Non ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser] / Christophe Honoré

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? / Werner Herzog
Night and Day / Hong Sang-soo / IFC Films
No puedo vivir sin ti / Leon Dai
Of Time and the City / Terrence Davies / Strand Releasing
Passing Strange / Spike Lee / IFC Films
Persécution / Patrice Chéreau
Plan B / Marco Berger
Police, Adjective [Poliţist, adj.] / Corneliu Porumboiu / IFC Films
Polytechnique / Denis Villeneuve
A Prophet [Un prophète] / Jacqued Audiard / Sony Pictures Classics

The Refuge [Le refuge] / François Ozon
Ricky / François Ozon / IFC Films
Serbis / Brillante Mendoza / Here! Films
A Serious Man / Joel Coen, Ethan Coen / Focus Features
She, a Chinese / Guo Xiaolu
A Single Man / Tom Ford / The Weinstein Company
Soul Kitchen / Fatih Akin
Spring Fever / Lou Ye / Strand Releasing
Strella [A Woman’s Way] / Panos H. Koutras
Still Walking / Hirokazu Kor-eeda / IFC Films

The Sun / Aleksandr Sokurov / Lorber Films
Sweet Rush [Tatarak] / Andrzej Wajda
Sweetgrass / Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Tales from the Golden Age [Aminitiri din epoca de aur] / Hanno Höfer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru / IFC Films
Thirst / Park Chan-wook / Focus Features
This Is Love / Matthias Glasner
Three Monkeys [Üç maymun] / Nuri Bilge Ceylan / Zeitgeist
To Die Like a Man [Morrer Como Un Homem] / João Pedro Rodrigues
Triage / Danis Tanović
Tsar / Pavel Lungin

Unmade Beds / Alexis Dos Santos / IFC Films
Vengeance / Johnnie To / IFC Films
Villa Amalia / Benoît Jacquot
Vincere / Marco Bellocchio / IFC Films
Weaving Girl / Wang Quanan
Where the Wild Things Are / Spike Jonze / Warner
Whip It / Drew Barrymore / 20th Century Fox
White Material / Claire Denis
Wild Grass [Les herbes folles] / Alain Resnais / Sony Pictures Classics
Zombieland / Ruben Fleischer / Sony Pictures

DVD Release Update, 6 January

Here are some DVD announcements from the past couple of weeks. Still, nothing super exciting, other than Kino's Blu-ray release of Wong Kar-wai's Fallen Angels, set for 16 March. They are in descending order of release.

- Cairo Station [Bab el hadid], 1958, d. Youssef Chahine, Typecast Releasing, 23 February
- Tapeheads, 1988, d. Bill Fishman, MGM, 9 March, w. John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Jessica Walter, Susan Tyrrell
- Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos], 2009, d. Pedro Almodóvar, also on Blu-ray, Sony, 16 March
- The Black Balloon, 2008, d. Elissa Down, Terra Entertainment, 23 March, w. Toni Collette
- Séraphine, 2008, d. Martin Provost, Music Box Films/MPI, 23 March
- Afghan Star, 2009, d. Havana Marking, Zeitgeist, 30 March
- The Killer, 1989, d. John Woo, also on Blu-ray, Dragon Dynasty/Weinstein Company, 30 March
- Sabu Double Feature [Savage Drums / Jungle Hell], 1951, 1956, d. William Berke, Norman A. Cerf, VCI, 30 March
- Sea Devils, 1953, d. Raoul Walsh, VCI, 30 March
- The Daisy Chain, 2008, d. Aisling Walsh, Image, 13 April, w. Samantha Morton, Steven Mackintosh
- Monamour, 2005, d. Tinto Brass, Cult Epics, 27 April
- The Voyeur [L'uomo che guarda], 1994, d. Tinto Brass, Cult Epics, 27 April
- Prodigal Sons, 2008, d. Kimberly Reed, First Run Features, 20 July

gurpurab sms, guru gobind singh jayanti, gurpurab 2010, guru gobind singh

gurpurab sms, gurpurab greetings, gurpurab, gurpurab sms messages, gurpurab, guru gobind singh jayanti, gurpurab 2010, gurpurab greetings, guru gobind singh, gurpurab sms free

Guru Nanak Sahib (the First Nanak, the founder of Sikhism) was born on 15th April, 1469 at Rai-Bhoi-di Talwandi in the present distrect of Shekhupura (Pakistan), now Nanakana Sahib. The Birthday of Guru Nanak Sahib is celebrated on 15th Kartik Puranmashi i.e. full moon day of the month Kartik. On this day the Birthday of Guru Nanak Sahib is celebrated every year. (But some other chronicals state that Guru Nanak Sahib was born on 20th October,1469) Guru Nanak's father, Mehta Kalyan Das, more popularly known as Mehta Kalu was the agent and Chief Accountant of Rai Bular. Guru Nanak 's mother was Mata Tripta, a simple, pious and extremely religious woman. Nanak had an elder sister, Nanki, who always cherished her younger brother.

The best SMS Message for Gurpurab

Nanak naam jahaaz hai, jo chadhe so uttre paar
Jehda thalle reh gaya, Nanak nahi jimme vaar!


The most hillarious thing I ever heard. I send it to all my friends. NOM to the respect but this one is specially for the ppl who mis-behave against the religion.

GurPurabs mark the culmination of Prabhat Pheris, the early morning procession that start from the gurdwaras (Sikh temples) and then go around localities singing 'shabads' (hymns). The celebrations also include the three-day Akhand path, during which the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib is read continuously, from beginning to end without a break. On the day of the festival, the Granth Sahib is also carried in a procession on a float, decorated with flowers, throughout a village or city. Five armed guards, who represent the Panj Pyares, head the procession carrying Nishan Sahibs (the Sikh flag). Local bands playing religious music form a special part of the procession.

The anniversaries of Sikh Guru's are known as Gurpurabs (festivals) and are celebrated with devotion and dedication. For Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji ... its called Guru Nanak Jayanti.

Free sweets and langar or community lunches are also offered to everyone irrespective of religious faith. Men, women, and children, participate in this karseva as service to the community, cook food and distribute it in the 'Guru ka Langar', with the traditional 'Karah Prasad'.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak's divinity and religious authority.

On this auspicious occasion of the birthday of Sh.Guru Nanak Dev Ji, I wish to convey you all my heartiest congratulations !!
Happy GURPURAB...!!


Celebrate Gurpurab with your loved ones/friends and family, and enjoy Guru Ji's Divine Love and Blessings,,,,,,
HAPPY Guru Purub... :-)


May Guru Jee inspire you to achieve all your goals and May His blessings be with you in whatever you do!Happy Gurpurab....


Happy Gurpurab to all the Sikhs and to everyone who is a well-wisher of the ideals of Sikhism....
LET US ALL CELEBRATE JANAM DIVAS,
PRAKASH UTSAV DIVAS OF SHRI GURU NANAK DEV JI…
Happy GURPURAB..!!

Tags: gurpurab sms, gurpurab greetings, gurpurab, gurpurab sms messages, gurpurab, guru gobind singh jayanti, gurpurab 2010, gurpurab greetings, guru gobind singh, gurpurab sms free

Source - gurpurab sms

Back from Havana

I spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Cuba. It was my first trip, and while the food is often as bad as people describe it to be, based on my short visit, I think it is a wonderful country and well worth a visit or two, or ten, which is the number of visits by my colleague architect Foad Raffi.

There is so much to report, that I don't really know where to start. But suffice it to say, it is now easy to get to, with direct flights from Vancouver; it's fascinating to be in a country with no Americans, since they are not allowed to visit; and where the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar!While I spent most of my time on the beach or playing golf in the large resort area of Varadero, (where there are more than 60 resort properties of various styles developed through joint-ventures with Spanish and other international companies) I did get to spend some time in the nearby city of Matanzas where I found this man cleaning his New Year's Eve pig dinner in the street.The highlight of the trip, without a doubt was Havana, with its mixture of housing types, old decaying mansions and other buildings, and newly renovated areas. I learned that with the decline of the sugar industry, and financial aid from Russia, the government is relying on tourism as a key economic generator. An important aspect of its tourism strategy is the restoration of La Habana Vieja, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in the eighties. While there is much, much work to be done, I was impressed with some of the work to date. (There is a large architectural model of the area on display which documents the progress being made.)One of the famous landmarks is the Hotel Nationale which is very much in operation and where you can get a double room starting at $200 or ten times the average monthly wage for a Cuban worker.
Everywhere you go you are reminded of the revolution which took place just over 50 years ago, although it was interesting to see revolutionary posters in the windows of fashionable shoe shops.
There is an expansive waterfront walkway lined with buildings of various styles and colours, many of which were repeatedly destroyed by the frequent hurricanes that have hit the city.In addition to the buildings, I was fascinated by the cars....many from the 1950's and before, still running with rebuilt engines. There are not just a few; there are thousands, everywhere throughout the country. Many are operated as taxis.I am writing some articles for the Vancouver Sun on the various housing initiatives that have occurred over the past 50 years but suffice it to say, there is virtually no homelessness, and 85% of the population own their own homes, mortgage free.

Housing styles vary from small concrete block and stucco houses to large Russian designed blocks, and everything in between.I am posting a few pictures to give those who have never visited a flavour of this fascinating country. (The rum is great; the seafood....well the rum is great! More to come later.I highly recommend a visit, not just to Varadero or Havana, but also to Trinidad and Santiago which I am told are even more beautiful and charming. And yes, the country is very safe for tourists, it's not overly expensive, and did I mention that the rum is plentiful, and very inexpensive, although the 15 year old Havana Club will set you back about $36 dollars. If you want to try some, come on over to my house!

Resolution Probability

I'm usually cautious about broadcasting any New Years resolutions that I may or may not have declared to myself; running around barking about how you've quit having one night stands (or whatever, that isn't mine, trust me) for the new year leads you to the inevitable quicker. Or so I've witnessed. However, as this particular resolution I've made (namely, to keep better records of the films I watch throughout the year) is one that comes about every year with little success, I was wondering if any of you had any special way of doing so. Perhaps online somewhere? I've already started an Excel sheet to track the three films I've already watched in '10, but it may be useful to have this list on the Internet somewhere. Maybe. The thought of avoiding all '00 films I've already seen crossed my mind, as a revisit of Rachel Getting Married yesterday made me regret its low-ish placement on my Decade List. But that sort of resolution doesn't seem likely to happen. We'll see if this project produces any success... as I'd love for it to move into other territories, like balancing my checkbook.