The Mighty JC

No, the OTHER JC - John Cusack. It has come to my attention that certain people, who live in not SO remote parts of Canada that they have an excuse, are unaware of the works of this actor.

It is most likely my age, but, I've kind of felt John Cusack has represented what I wanted my life to be on screen. He's the same age as me (roughly).

I stand by my claim that you could only watch Cusack movies and rarely watch a mediocre one and almost NEVER a bad one...and many greats.

Here's my Top 10 Cusack films!

1. Grosse Pointe Blank


2. Being John Malkovich


3. High Fidelity


4. Identity


5. Say Anything


6. Bullets Over Broadway


7. Max


8. Serendipity


9. The Grifters


10. Runaway Jury


11. Better Off Dead

All of these movies are also available through FilmAmora.com

The GPB Curse

'Gross Pointe Blank' is probably the reason I didn't go to my high school reunion.

I stayed up last night watching it again - it's one of my favourite movies. The fact is that a lot of people, I believe, want to be Martin Blank. They want to have lived dangerously, been damaged and have a chance to return home, push the reset button and correct those post-high school mistakes.

My problem was that my life wasn't as dark and mysterious as Martin's. And that I didn't have a great love in high school to try and reset things with. And I had actually had a pretty normal life, in a way, after high school.

And for someone who WANTED to be different, to be dark and myseterious but didn't have the chutzpah to do so, it is pretty disappointing. And of course to not be one ounce as cool as John Cusack.

If I'd gone back to my reunion a year ago I can imagine that after the first few minutes of 'and what did you do after high school' it would have been pretty quiet. I didn't speak to any of these people after school ended...so how do you do that now? I've always had a problem with chit-chat. And to be honest I am not very convinced that I am that nice a person, which might explain why people don't chit-chat with me either!

Its very depressing at times to realise that life is not like the movies - not just rarely... it never is!

FilmAmora

For the past few months CostaFilma (the independent film distribution company I own) has been developing a new website and service:



FilmAmora.com is an exciting new way to rent DVDs in Spain. With over 20,000 titles available FilmAmora offers an incredible selection of films - from the classics to the latest HD DVD releases. You don't have to go to the video store and look around. You don't have to drive back in the morning to drop it off.

The way it works is simple:

1. Go to FilmAmora.com and register. The site is fully in English and Spanish


2. Choose a plan that works for you. If you are a film-lover and watch lots of movies you can get 4 at a time with unlimited films a month! A more casual viewer may choose the 1 or 2 films at a time option.


3. Start building up your wish list from our catalogue of 20,000 titles


4. Wait for the films to start arriving in your mailbox. You can keep the films as long as you like. And we include a postage-paid envelope for you to send it back in


5. Return the film when you want and wait for more!


6. Contribute! You can write an online review for others to read and you can rate the film too

It couldn't be easier.

FilmAmora.com delivers to Spanish addresses only I'm afraid.

Gibraltar Elections

Yesterday the elections were held in Gibraltar. Incumbent Peter Carauna, leader of the GSD, won. Of course. Statistically incumbents win. He got about 50% of the vote. It was not a landslide, but, decisive none the less.

The GSD's competition came from the GSLP/Liberal Alliance. Helmed by former Chief Minister twice over Joe Bassano they claimed to be the future of Gibraltar. (Slightly odd, seeing as they are most definitely part of the past of Gibraltar - they are the oldest political party going in Gib).

The GSLP ran on blatant discrimination and isolationism, vowing, if they won, to stop such things as foreign consultants in the Gibraltar Health Authority, or foreign companies getting a fair chance at government tenders. Ridiculous and potentially damaging to an already damaged economy. Thankfully they lost.
[interesting to note that the first thing they seemed to do upon losing was to remove their manifesto from their website.]

As we all know, there is no such thing as 'the right party to win'. Caruana and crew are not without their problems - crony-ism, pandering for votes, fear of criticism - they've taken their toll on the future of Gibraltar.

But, then what do I know?! I am a Spanish resident who slips across the border some mornings to rob Gibraltar's economy (according to the GSLP). I am Canadian by birth - not even part of the EU!

Slaughter

I was shocked to read this story. I've been a vegetarian for a while, and recently when I was tempted for various reasons to eat meat again I thought about it and the fact that I would be asking that animals where killed in the name of my hunger.

Perhaps even worse, in a way, is how animals, such as those in this story, are slaughtered because they have contracted a NON FATAL virus that could, perhaps, potentially, maybe, be transported to another animal and maybe that animal might be part of someone's livelihood and even though even then that animal wouldn't die, it would be a drag. So kill them.

To be honest foot and mouth disease is the same. "Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have resulted in the slaughter of millions of animals, despite this being a frequently non-fatal disease. The destruction of animals is primarily to prevent the disease from spreading throughout herds intended for human consumption or producing milk." [source: Wikipedia]

Isn't that sick? It's not that the disease would jump to humans.

What country?

Ever since I've heard about them, I have become fascinated with the notion of 'Unrecognized countries'. These are 14 areas of the world that believe themselves to be independent nations but for various, specific reasons, can't convince most of the rest of the world to go along with it.

I first heard of Somaliland. In the upper, right corner of Somalia, they have 2.5 million people, their own currency and own distinct culture. Sick of the battling in Somalia, they said screw it, quite literally drew a line in the sand and said that's enough.

Nagorno-Karabakh is officially part of Azerbaijan. The 138,000 people living there believe that they are distinct in their ways... and they're probably right! The Soviet Union was a mish mash over everything east of Germany, and not particularly known for its cultural sensitivity! They are closely tied to Armenia, and one could be forgiven for thinking that this was a little bit of Armenia stirring it up.

Transnistria sits inside another little-known (yet recognized) country called Moldova, famous mostly for a book about its dentistry, and personally, because a friend's brother got married there! There is, for some reason, a weird connection between Moldova and Ireland. Transnistria holds over half a million people and is squeezed in between Moldova and Romania on the right bank of the Dniester river. They had a war with Moldova in 92 and declared their independence, though not many other people were listening.

I'm interested in do a tour of these nations. There are about a dozen of them. Some, like Israel, are of course recognized by most, just not the people they are pissing off!

Anyway, I'll set up a tour of the nations and you can all sign up!

An exercise in democracy?

There are elections in the works down here in Gibraltar (ok, technically I live in Spain but I do spend a lot of time - too much time - in Gibraltar).
Gibraltar is a country of about 30,000 people. i.e. a small town. They also have 5 newspapers and 5 political parties. When I say newspapers, I mean there is one newspaper and 4 guys with printers at home churning out old-style blogs on paper!

The election is between parties so narrow in scope and in name it would be laughable, if it were not taken so seriously. You have the GSLP/Liberal Alliance and the GSD about 1% apart in the polls. It is a place full of personal attacks and family feuds. A recent tactic is sending SMSs around smearing candidates. Newflash - SMS's are traceable! It is not the case of who is starting it, it is the fact that people are listening.

What Gibraltar needs is strong, bi-partisan, leadership that will sort out the huge social issues bogging this place down. Ok, keep your sovereignty, but the relationship with Spain has little to do with the fact that the government won't support schooling for all, the local schools and institutions that deal with the disadvantaged and handicapped, do something about sky-rocketing teen pregnancy, drug use and alcoholism.
The border is not the problem!
(For those of you that don't know, Gibraltar has ongoing border-issues with Spain that keep a ridiculous customs post open and 30 - 40 minute queues to get in or out of Gib going).
Any Gibraltarian who can lives at least on the weekend in Spain. So stop going on about it!

As a filmmaker I should have the gumption to make a film about politics here. Kazuhiro Soda did it with the wonderful Campaign!. It could happen here, but then again the election is in 2 days!

It's over

Another Marbella Film festival comes to a close. The festival is, despite what anyone might think, a 3rd tier festival in only its second year. So, with that in mind, imagine my pleasure at being able to report that I actually saw some good stuff.

Afghan Muscles is <sarcasm>the best movie about Afghani body builders I've ever seen</sarcasm>. But seriously, the film is everything you would want in a documentary - it has a great central character, a story arc and is packed with emotions.

Fish Can't Fly was a delightful romantic short. Shorts, in my opinion, are best when done as jokes with a solid punchline and a twist. This one fits that to a T.

I Became is a touching narrative short from Mumbai. The filmmaker was actually there *I'll fill in her name when I find her card* . She was great to talk with. This film won the best short category, and it deserved it. She is a young filmmaker, with a great eye. Ok, it did meander a little, but for those of us NOT living in Mumbai, it was a visual treat.

check them out if you can (with hope they'll be appearing on FilmAmora)

Marbella Film Festival

This weekend is the Marbella Film Festival. Last year my company, CostaFilma, bought the rights to the winning film. This year I haven't seen as many films, I've been promoting CostaFilma, and our new venture, FilmAmora, and also hooking up with the people from eWorld.
eWorld has this interesting Boomerang Media Station product that CostaFilma supply video content to. It's well worth a download. I don't think it is ready for prime time yet, but, I can see that it might actually be the future of watching content online.

Anyway, off to Marbella and more films!