Make Dreams Come True With Auction a Celebrity

The first time I heard this phrase, “auction a celebrity,” I was kinda dumbfounded. What was it all about? I hopped in to the website and there and then I immediately knew what it was up to. I knew you don’t just auction valuable items, but celebrities too. But ooops, it’s not exactly what you think.

Celebrity auction is a method of raising money for charity by letting donors meet their favorite celebrities. So they bid. The donation will also be in form of bidding in which the money raised will be used for charities such as for the victims of the hurricane Sandy. The lowest bidder wins.

Now, I am starting to get engaged with this. No not as a contributor and dream to meet my favorite actors someday (even though I really desire), but a marketer of this cause.

We at auction a celebrity is raising $130,000 to make your dream possible. Here is an excerpt from our message from our Indiegogo campaign page:

We at auction a celebrity have lived by a dream to create one of the world’s biggest promotions, to have it fun as well as change lives. We believe in creating auctions and experiences money cannot buy, as well as donate large portions of profits to much needed charities. If you could better someone’s life by doing a good deed, why would’nt you?

If we can only spend $15 for the chance to win a major celebrity experience as well as raise 10′s of thousands of dollars for needing charities, why wouldn’t we.

This is an amazing way as well as innovating way to get thousands of people around the world donating as well as many having the experience of a lifetime, can you only imagine having a personal experience with one of the world’s biggest celebrities?

We will also auction products of very high value, products that are normally for the very few.

By contributing to this project you will be funding a dream and turning it into a reality, all the ground work is done, and already have interest by a very big name celebrity, all we need is the funding to make it happen.
The first celebrity auction will raise and donate between $35,000 and $40,000 to hurricane sandy victims, and another 25 thousand to Breast Cancer Foundation. Pay a good deed forward and we will honour a good deed back.

We will continue to auction off celebrity experiences as regularly as possible.

The auction platform has been custom built and is as transparent as possible, firstly it is designed to win and secondly it is designed to raise money.

The money we will raise through this platform of $130,000.00 will be used as an upfront deposit to go to the major celebrity, they have interest and have agreed if we meet the funding requirements. They will then post a link on their twitter and face book pages to over 40 million of their fans to promote it as well as we will be sending out press releases internationally, so we are expecting to launch one of the world’s biggest and most exciting promotions.

Please help our cause. Donate now and make our dreams come true. You can also click this link to donate: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/world-s-first-celebrity-auctions-www-auctionacelebrity-com/x/2692138

Who Will Win the Oscars 2013

Here we go again to another inescapable annual event and know who will triumph in the world of Hollywood make-believe.

There are several movies in 2012 and it’s hard to predict who’ll win. There’s Steven Spielberg who is very known for making great movies like Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. His movie Lincoln is surely a great work of art. But there is Quentin Tarantino who is well known for mastering the art of violence in his movies.

And the actors, there is Leonardo De Caprio and Christopher Waltz in Django. There is Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln. Whew. But despite of the tough competition of these stars, I have my own prediction.

Predictions

Best Picture: Life of Pi. Best Director: Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained. Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln. Best supporting actor: Christopher Waltz in Django Unchained.

That’s only I can predict. Can’t say about the actresses. No, I’m not a male chauvinist. It’s that, oh, the woman in Django. I forget her name. Oh what about Jamie Fox? Mmmmmm. Could be. But still I go for great performance of Waltz.

Anyway, we’ll never know until the shows starts. Let us see who deserve to win!

Good luck to my heroes!

Stand Up Guys Stand Up!

Whenever I watch a movie I always try to figure out the name of the movie relating to the sequence. How did the writer come up with that title? Where did he get such name? Usually it’s at the end of the movie where I got to know the gist of the title.

Stand Up Guys reminds me of the aged Marlon Brando–which according to a hearsay–who had fond talking to his wiener who couldn’t get an erection, “stand up son stand up.” And when he began to feel the blood flowing in it, the snake in his trouser would become a rocket, he would celebrate for it. One scene from Al Pacino taking prescription drugs for an erection I immediately thought: that’s why.

But the erection problem has nothing to do with the movie. Stand Up Guys mean standing together until the end. That’s what the movie is all about, or at least as far as my perception is concerned.

Stand Up guys movie acene Al and Walken talking

Stand up guys is one very entertaining film. Imagine king of New York and Tony Montana together as old guys who still have the fun despite the monotonous life of being old. They stick ’till the end.

The movie stars Al Pacino as Valentine, Christopher Walken as Doc, and Alan Arkin as Hirsch. Three old con pals out for what seem to be an old school nightlife. A night in a lifetime where there were no creatures besides the three of them in the quiet city streets.

The only problem is, Val, out for parole from jail, will be killed by his old best pal Doc. Because if he won’t he might be killed too by a man he works for.

Most of the scenes at the beginning were just Al and Walken talking to each other. How great it is to see those great actors just talking. How can you not be amused by Al’s very low pitch, husky voice to screaming in high note when he gets mad. And Christopher Walken’s mannerism, moving his head to the side when he says, “you know…”

This is primarily intended not to bore old Scarface and King of NEw York fans at the beginning of the movie. Then inevitably follow what will happen next.

I like Al and Christopher humorous performance. They can be comedians too, I thought. They’re still great. My movie heroes.

Although not praised by critics because of the mediocrity of the production, the movie to me is entertaining. It’s Al and Christopher man. C’mon gimme a break! After all, I learned a good lesson about real friendship and being old.

The copy I watched is for awards presentation only and it’s not for sale or public viewing. I don’t know where my bro got it.

Watch the premiere on February 1, 2013 in all theaters near you. Check out the official website here.

A Movie Called Life

Life of Pi is a fantastically crafted Indian film that brings realization or maybe divine intervention. Apart from the stunning 3D visual effects—including CGI–this film not only absorbs you. It liberates you to spiritual triumph.

For the majority of movie goers, this is a film about life. As Roger Ebert puts it, “the title could have been shortened to LIFE.”

When the film begins with Pi, as a child, trying to understand the gods in the world, you can already sense that there is something special about the film.

Pi, being a Hindu, the introduction of Jesus Christ and Allah to him who believes in many different gods as superheroes makes you think why people have different gods? It reminds you of something that you would have thought about it but never try to reflect about it.

Life of Pi makes all religions attain one goal, which is to understand the purpose of life. What all people with different kinds of religion have in common. How we understand conscience and moral soundness.

What astonished me more is apart from the lesson the movie wants to convey, it successfully show scenes to the audience how magical the world is. The underwater shots didn’t intend to show what life under the sea is, but how magnificent life is over it and beyond it.

What seems to be a a family movie at start turned out to be a fantasy adventure all throughout.

The movie is about an Indian boy (Suraj Sharma) named Pi, named after a swimming pool in France called Piscine Molitor due to an adoration of Francis—Pi’s uncle—to swimming pools. Struggling to explain his nickname Pi to his classmates he came up with the mathematical symbole π to avoid the mockery being called as “pee” or “pissing”. He explained to the class the irrational number 3.14, a seemingly endless length that also shows his limitless capacities in the movie.

Being curious as a child, Pi convinces to believe that the relationship of God’s creature needs not to be taught. He has a heart so soft that even a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker becomes a tame creature for him.  But his father teaches him that animals are animals. They’re not humans. A Bengal Tiger is a wild one and will eat anyone that come near him.

This changed when his father who owns a zoo decided to move his family to Canada along with the animals.  The perception of life he used to once have changed, leaving his girl, without saying goodbye.

A new chapter of his life begins with a shipwreck, losing all his family, never to be seen.  Pi, able to be thrown to a lifeboat amidst the raging storm struggling for survival with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and the Bengal Tiger.

His 227 days in the sea are spent with Richard Parker. He avoids the tiger at first, but takes out the beast in him as together they stand for survival.

He is able to build a relationship with Richard Parker.  He leaves with no choice. He has to feed the tiger to prevent it from eating him and die.

Stunning shot from Life of Pi movie

He has water and biscuits along with a survival kit. But Richard Parker eats 5 kilos of meat in a day in the zoo.

He looks for ways. He studies the survival kit. He convinces Parker to see him not as a prey anymore but another creature struggling for survival. Richard Parker keeps Pi alive. And so he catches fish at the middle of the ocean and feeds it.

What the story brings is the concept of human understanding of relationship of himself to God’s creation, the sea, the tiger, the sea creatures under worst circumstances.

The movie gives faith more meaning,  regardless of religion. As Pi tells, “Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested.”

The story of life of Pi gives whole meaning of life. The faith that seems to be an irritating word for humans now becomes a living thing. The movie keeps you away from doubts. Had it not been for God, Pi wouldn’t have survived.

The island, which according to Pi’s story, is made of human anatomy, gives you doubt whether it is real or not. It seems like a fantasy. As a viewer you don’t have to even think about it.  It is real. It gives the full message of the film.

It reminds me of Carl Sagan’s movie Contact, where Dr. Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster) tells his experience in outer space. The story is unexplainable and implausible because it is real. It defies all rationalities in the world because it is transcendental. It is real.

As how we see trees, ocean, the sky, the stars, the sun, the entire universe and us. They’re all real. Without having to think about science and logic, it is real. It is where God lies. God is real.

The movie not only tells the life of Pi as being told by him but as what we the audience react to human condition, circumstances that is way beyond our comprehension.

There’s always a story behind the story. The novelist and the director are able to achieve the exact attachment they want for the audience, as though they’re sharing one thought. It is a victory to novelist Yann Martel and director Ang Lee.

Two genius minds that can hold a child’s breath. It will make an adult a child again. A magical Indian story since Slumdog Millionaire.

Life of Pi is perfect. It is  divine.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,500 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 13 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

No One is Safe in the Safe House: a Review

Tobin Frost sounds like Keyser Soze or Darth Vader or Lex Luthor. A name always in the minds of his enemies. A legend. Formidable one whom you don’t mess up with, at least in the minds of the protagonists.

Or at least, in the movie Safe House, directed by Daniel Espinosa, stars Denzel Washington, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Liam Cunningham and Nora Arnezeder.

Denzel Washington is Tobin Frost, an ex-CIA agent turned international fugitive, who obtains a file containing very confidential and incriminating information from MI6 agent Alec Wade (Liam Cunningham). Hunted by Vargas in Capetown, South Africa, Frost surrenders himself in United States Consulate. Probably his last refuge having to stay away from the men who are hired to kill him.

He is brought to the safe house taken care of Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), the CIA safe house housekeeper, for interrogation by a team hired by Catherine Linklater (Farmiga), one of the heads of CIA. What turns out is while the interrogation associated with whiteboarding takes place, a group of men ransacks the safe house to kill Frost.

Nobody knows the men who try to kill him. Nobody knows who sent them. Tobin Frost is not surprised though. Tobin Frost has clues.

Safe House is not a mediocre action movie. If you got the chance to watch this movie, grab it. It will liberate your senses and it will take you to a whole new deep realization of what the government Intelligence in the US and other countries are really up to, both in the world of fiction and in the real world.

It will make you believe what lies on the outside world. Betrayal, deceit and lies are what seem to be a normal practice in real life.

Action scenes are breathtaking. Car chases, gun fires, fist fights are unique. They are not those what you most see in action movies. The plot is alright. The performance of characters are just right for an action movie, except Denzel Washington’s, where he performs so naturally, as what he really does in his other movies, as those of Training Day and Man of Fire.

There is something fascinating about the character of Tobin Frost at the beginning of the movie. It makes you want to think that Frost is the bad guy, but as the movie keeps rolling you will soon discover that he is not the villain after all.

Many circumstances in the real world where you think the good guys are the good guys and the bad guys are bad, criminals, evil, menace to society; but soon you realizes the complete opposite of everything.

You will contemplate that in the real world the good guys are not always the good guys. Sometimes-if not most of the time–the good guys in the eyes of the police and public are the real scoundrels, and the people they are after, fugitives and most wanted criminals, are the righteous ones.

This moral is realized here. As in a safe house, where CIA guests invited should always be safe. In the eyes of the CIA, people inside this house should be safe at all times. But in this case, no one is safe inside the safe house.

When your mentor tells you something like, “You did a fine job, kid. We’ll take it from here.” That’s when you know you are screwed up. That’s when you know you’re doing the right thing.

There are scenes in this movie that reminds me of Training Day, where Alonzo (Denzel Washington) and Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) two police officers talking to each other about idealisms of a rookie and the real, ugly nature of their jobs on the streets.

Alonzo lecturing about the real evils that exist in the outside world, that idealism should be broken, put into a trash can where bums in New York can always pick it up. If you’re a newbie, innocent and full of idealisms, there is no choice but to throw them away and accept the reality, the evil nature of people. Everyone betrays everyone. You got to sell your soul to the devil because it’s what it is in real life.

There are two important lessons I’ve learned in this movie–at least for me: Figure out when it doubt, and, love your own name.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,400 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.