What can I say?

Uh, on the suggestion of my graduate school Communication professor Mark Escaler, I've decided to give a shot to the idea of putting up my own blog. One thing both of us have in common is the love of film, which is the reason why I enrolled in graduate school, after an abortive stab at journalism.

While waiting to finish my last 6 units of studies, doing nothing else but brooding over what to do next while adding to and viewing my collection of bootlegged DVDs of Criterion Collection. At the same time taking an audit class on Asian films--this is my 12th week so far, but 10 films because of the two weeks lost to the heavy rains of August. As of writing, waiting for the 2nd installment of the 2001 Bollywood film Lagaan. Lagaan(Tax), the tale of how a group of impoverished Indian villagers beat their snotty, arrogant Brit overlords at their own game of cricket clocked at three-and-a-half-hours, so that it was impossible to watch the film in just one sitting.

Now back to Criterion Collection. Since I cannot get the real McCoys in all of their full packaged glory, extras and all, I decided to make do with their Chinese-manufactured substitutes. Nowadays, China has been accused of many things, like its' human rights track record, Tibet, chemicallly-spiked food and plastic toys that contain paint with high levels of lead. But in bringing quality home entertainment to a culture-starved Third World public long exposed to mediocrity and substandard level of TV and movie show business(read Mother Lily Monteverde), Chinese-made knockoff discs are gifts from heaven with cheap price tags affordable to everybody who loves cinema--Hollywood freaks and art film connosseurs alike. If one is patient enough to riffle the stacks of cellophane-covered cardboard, worthwhile gems of cinematic history can be had for slightly above $1(compared to our North American-based compatriots who have to contend with state taxes and additional shipping costs tacked on to the retail price)apiece.

So far, the last two Criterion releases that I've seen so far are Volker Schlondorff's The Tin Drum(1979)and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali, Fear Eats the Soul(1974)belonging to that era in German cinema history known as New German Cinema between 1968 to 1980. If there are still some who persist in saying that Kurosawa IS the essence of Japanese film, wait till they see the works of Seijun Suzuki, who worked primarily in the pink eiga(read softcore porn) genre with the Nikkatsu Studios in the 60s, and the two-time Palme d'Or winner Shohei Imamura.