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Superbad at IMDb
Funniest mindless movie of the last few years. McLovin is the best, and the other guys grew on me. Michael Cera must go and do some Woddy Allen or Charlie Kaufman stuff; he was great at Arrested Development, and is quite enjoyable at Juno and this movie.
O Cheiro do Ralo at IMDb
In his job he needs to undervalue the suffering of others in order to make more money. Then there’s the smell, the ass and the eye. The degree of objectification of desire is in direct proportion to the self-debasement of the indulger. By degrading the other, he nullifies himself. The very indifference to the overjealous ones, the suppressed recalcitrant losers of the world, is what causes their victims to exist. Great disturbing movie.
The Lathe of Heaven (book) The Lathe of Heaven (1980) at IMDb Deep review on Lathe of Heaven (the movie)
A lost science fiction PBS movie with Taoist undertones is a real find, right? A guy discovers his dreams change reality—when he wakes up he finds himself in a world where the content of his dreams have actually happened. He of course gets scared after a couple of nightmares, seeks relief in drugs, and then, because of them, is lead to a psychiatrist.

It happens the psychiatrist is a positivist type. When finally he gets convinced the guy dreams things that actually do happen, he decides to find a way to control the dreams of his patient to better the world… so easy to see where this leads, right? People should really get into Taoism before discussing politics, sometimes I dream. Well, may this never happen as I wish.

“To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven.”Chuang Tzu
Here's for all the sissy Apple lovers out there... This is the ultimate design for my old Duron, which faithfully downloaded well over one terabyte (mostly movies, 1300+) always on 24/7/365 over the last four years. It also runs Apache and is a file and printer server, as well as a router for my home network (with four, also damn old and beautiful computers). Sometimes I dust it off with a vacuum cleaner. click to read the whole text
The Fountain
The Fountain: No-CGI, Cabala, Mogway — not good enough.I really enjoyed Requiem for a Dream, and PI was quite interesting. I may grow to like this one, but for now it just seemed a little too newagy to my tastes. It started a bit boring and I never quite empathized with the characters. On the other hand, some of the visuals (and sounds — by Mogway) are quite appealing (no CGI!), and near the end we have some surprises. Actually, some interpretations may not be that newagy — but pretentiousness still abounds.
Zazen: just sitting.I have read the article on “ditching Buddhism” by John Horgan about one or two years ago and I have found it to be as so filled up with misconceptions as not to be worthy even of bad publicity, yet last week somebody remembered me about it and I decided to answer some of its points. click to read the whole text
10 Item or Less
In imdb a user commented: "Annoying little transition into some sort of regurgitated independent film values finds this shallow project from Brad Silberling offering little and providing less in this embarrassingly exploitive work." I agree, yet it is still watchable — even more so if you understand how clichê is the fabricated spontaneity in it. It is as if independent movie has aquired its own hollywood-like formulaicism. So it kind of becomes an interestingly consumated aesthetic portrail of so many cult-status fabricated stylishness examples we see around. Many people liked Me and You and Everyone We Know, and it is surely a much fresher and pure attempt, but "10 Items or Less" explains all the little (but very much present) annoyances I got with "Me and You..."
Yesterday I watched Skammen for the first time, and today I woke up to the news Bergman had died. I feel no peculiar sadness after his death. His movies make me suffer so much, and will scream quiet despair for so long, his death remains but a minor incident. Skammen was way too bleak yesterday and I still haven’t been able to recover… but this misses the point. The fact is that the rare occasions I had thought of Bergman as someone alive walking this world it just felt… strange. Such art hovers so timeless I have always seen him as already one of the many other dusty-coffin fellows I admire.

Yet, shame. Yes. Shame. Bergman is so much of a high-brow thing, such a common name amongst anyone who has ever read one or two paragraphs of literature in his life and considers himself to be sufficiently cultured, I sometimes feel like it is too crowded a club for me to belong. Like opera or soap opera or Philip K. Dick, it didn't have the flare of idiosyncrasy, the very very long tail of the niche I wish to stand for. (Sometimes it is enough anyone saying "wow, man, I really liked that stuff you showed me" for it to be completely smashed and ruined for me.) That's why I say "shame". The thing is, Bergman is truly of that rarest of species: the unanimously good.

Why is he so good? Just look at one frame of it. Just ponder over a few lines of dialog. Just loose yourself in all that suffering. Not that hard to recognize greatness, eh?

On this movie in particular: here we have the many shames of a man caught in weakness after weakness. When external situations get out of control, war stepping into his and his wife's lives, his weakness finally flourishes into complete degradation. But aren't we all living the dreams of someone who, at waking, will feel ashamed? And what is this shame? Having the nerve to disappoint Liv Ulmann! Yes, and I say "Liv Ulmann" because if every sentient being was like Liv Ulmann, or maybe I would say His Holliness Liv Ulmann, we wouldn't have problems developing compassion towards them.

To end, unlike most Bergmans, in a high note, funny was the comment made by Arnaldo Jabor, after praising—rather eloquently I must recognize—Bergman's many artistic achievements: "Though of death too much, but still he laid all pretty Swedish actresses around... It was a good life." Right, Brazilian wisdom is the perfect cherry on top on any Swedish nightmare...
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dharma centers
This is a list of good and reliable dharma teachers and places.

Chagdud Gonpa, pure lineage holders of the highest teachings of Vajrayana.

Chagdud Rinpoche, his compassion, courage and strenght will never cease to amaze us.

Siddharta's Intent, organization connected with the maverick dharma teacher Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche.

Lama Tsering, Lama Tsering Everest, intense and kind dharma teacher.

Caminho do Meio, NGO and Buddhist community founded by Lama Padma Samten, great meditator, physicist and popular dharma teacher. (in portuguese)

Alan Wallace, gentle scholar and meditation teacher.

Tokuda Igarashi, great zen master, his humbleness and erudition are insurpassable.

Dharma Centre, Directed by Ji Do Poep Sa Nin, kind and puzzling south-african teacher of koan.

There's also a Yahoogroup on Buddhism (in portuguese), bodisatva.
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