Favorite Actress: Kate Winslet
With her Oscar win for The Reader, Kate cemented her status as one of the best living actresses. There's a certain je ne sais quoi about her. When she acts, I am drawn to her: the vulnerability she exudes and the strong cinematic presence, no one is at par with her in these departments. Her versatility is unquestionable: from her works in Heavenly Creatures to Sense and Sensibility to Holy Smoke! to Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Kate is adept at pulling off her character with much aplomb. When an authoritative figure like Davis Edelstein of New York Magazine calls Kate as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation," you know that the superlatives I used here are not all bluffs.
Favorite Film: American Beauty
American Beauty is a perfect feat of poetic indulgences: a bag blowing in the wind, the rose petal scene, the shooting scene and when Kevin Spacey delivered the following line at the near-end of the film, American Beauty became one of my most indelible films in recent years:
I guess I could be pretty pissed off
about what happened to me... but it's
hard to stay mad, when there's so much
beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel
like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's
too much, my heart fills up like a
balloon that's about to burst and then
I remember to relax, and stop
trying to hold on to it, and then it
flows through me like rain and I can't
feel anything but gratitude for every
single moment of my stupid little life...
You have no idea what I'm talking about,
I'm sure. But don't worry...You will someday.
Sam Mendes'(Kate Winslet's hubby) directorial debut, the film won 5 Academy Awards in 2000, including Best Picture. It features strong performances from Kevin Spacey and Annnette Bening. The screenplay, of course, is from Alan Ball, the creative mind of Six Feet Under which I adore a great deal.
Favorite Book and Author: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
That Ayn Rand is a genius is a sheer understatement. Her book, The Fountainhead, is a fine example of flawless literature: its raw significance grows by the day. Lorine Pruette, a New York Times reviewer couldn't be more appropriate: You will not be able to read this masterful book without thinking through some of the basic concepts of our times. Rand's basic tenets of Objectivism are my solid and stolid parameters:
a) that I am heroic;
b) that my own happiness is the moral purpose of my life;
c) that my productive achievement is my noblest activity, and
d) that reason is my only absolute.
Favorite Sports Personalities: Serena and Venus Williams
When it comes to raw athleticism, charm and tennis drama, no one beats the Williams sisters. Their signature backhands and forehands and the sheer power of their serves made the Williams sisters an omnipresent and mighty force of women's tennis. They changed the face of Women's Tennis Association: they brought high fashion to the court with their loud-colored outfits and bling-blings, they commanded more aggressiveness to the sport and protested for equal money prize between the men's player. With a combined 17 Grand Slam titles, the sisters show no signs of aging as they remain to be the ones to beat in the WTA circuit.
Favorite Model: Liya Kebede
Liya first burst in the fashion industry when Tom Ford personally handpicked her to grace the designer's Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 fashion show. From zero to hero, Liya became an omnipresent force in the fashion circuit: Vogue cover appearances, non-stop features in ad campagins, a record-breaking Estee Lauder contract and a spot in Forbes Magazine's Top 15 richest top models in the world in 2008. And extending her influence to humanitarian advocacy, she was given a post as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. While the rest of the models are busy snorting crack and slutting in St. Tropez, Liya is making the world a better place to live. If only Kate Moss could learn something from Liya...
Favorite Artists: Rachael Yamagata and Allison Crowe (as of the moment)
Inasmuch as my musical taste is volatile and shifts periodically, the artists I have mentioned are the ones rocking in my sublime taste right now.
Allison Crowe's (not Krauss) music is a sheer listening pleasure. Her renditions of some classic songs (A Case of You by Jni Mitchell, I Dreamed a Dream by Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schönberg (from Les Misérables), I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) by Ronnie Shannon (popularized by Aretha Franklin), Me and Bobby McGee by Fred Foster & Kris Kristofferson (popularized by Janis Joplin, to name a few) showcases "unique aspect of Crowe's artistry."
Favorite Song from Allison Crowe: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen - I get emotional everytime I hear this song. It is so moving and haunting at the same time. When she sings the part: well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth the minor fall and the major lift the baffled king composing hallelujah , I never fail to get goosebumps.
Rachael Yamagata is just a talent to behold. Her music is my soundtrack on waking up in the morning, going to the train, breaking up, on loving again. There's just too much truism on her music that is too hard to ignore.
Favorite Song from Rachael Yamagata : I Wish You Love - From the movie Prime (topbilled by Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep), the song invokes a sweet naivete and simplicity: But most of all when snowflakes fall, I wish you love. I used to sing this song to my erstwhile significant other, and oh boy, did the moron weep!
Favorite Music: Latika's Theme from Slumdog Millionaire's OST
Genius is even too lame to describe the music of Rahman. This song is so dreamy and calming that I officially made it as the song of my funeral. Beautiful humming and haunting background and when the guitar kicks in the middle part of the song, it is just so heavenly.
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