500 Days of Summer

"What happens if you fall in love?" Tom

☆☆☆☆☆ Masterpiece 

500 Days of Summer (2009) is a beautiful, offbeat story about the feelings we go through in romance.

Directed by Marc Webb.

Starring Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Geoffrey Arend among others.


Marc creates a gentle, offbeat romantic story by starting at the end and zig zagging to specific points in the relationship to help the lovelorn Joseph grasp what went wrong. Webb creates an engaging storyline by not staying on a linear narrative trajectory. In the end Gordon-Levitt realizes that Deschanel never wanted a permanent relationship with him.

The title tells you that its 500 days of Zooey's character and not one long beautiful summer. The screenplay is based on a relationship that soured for screenwriter Scott Neustadter as he stated, "she returned my kisses but not my ardor." Weber brilliant focused, captured and shed light on the aspect of a relationship where one partner likes, but does not love the other, which ultimately dooms the couple.

The scene below is done flawlessly from beginning to end. We see how Zooey gets her summer love. We see how Joseph gets the girl of his dreams. Yet we also see that it will go only as long as Deschanel wants the relationship to last.

Film Scene

Trivia - Marc Webb's feature film.

Film Trailer

Film Photos - Posters

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Film Script

Note - If you would like to view 500 Days of Summer to rent or buy please click on the link below the comments. It is sponsored by Google, so it is the safest and most secure way to get a copy for your film library.

Келин - Kelin

☆☆☆☆☆ Masterpiece 

Келин - Kelin (2009) is a visually stunning cinematic masterpiece.

Directed by Ermek Tursunov. Special mention to cinematographer Murat Aliyev.

Starring Gulsharat Zhubyeva, Turakhan Sadykova, Erzhan Nurymbet, Kuandyk Kystykbaev and Nurzhan Turganbayev.

I will be eternally grateful to a journalist from Kazakhstan who introduced me to Kelin. It's not often I come across a film of this caliber that was in the 2009 Oscars in the best foreign film category and no one I know had heard of it. Ermek along with his cinematographer Murat have created one of the most visually stunning films whose images have all the dialogue. The only film I can barely compare it to visually would be Michelangelo Antonioni's, L'Avventura (1960).  Michelangelo spent his entire career exploring stories visually and Ermek has taken the visual mantel even further.

Cinema is a visual medium with a language that transcends culture, ideology and even time itself. Tursunov suffered a concussion when he refused to alter even one second of his masterpiece and we are all blessed by his refusal to compromise his artistic vision.

In the scene below watch how two men bid silently for the daughter of the elderly man. The father graciously accepts each bidders offer and counter offer. The beauty of the entire scene is that anyone from any culture or background can easily follow the visual dialogue that Ermek and Murat present to us.

Film Scene

Film Trailer

Film Poster

New York State of Mind - Alicia Keyes and Jay-Z

"In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of. " Alicia

☆☆☆☆☆ Classic 

New York State of Mind (2009) is an uplifting music video.

Directed by MTV VMA Awards.

Starring Alicia Keys and Jay-Z.

What I find remarkable about this video is that we get to see Shawn Carter transform backstage into Jay-Z. Shawn grabs his microphone, puts on his Yankees baseball cap and Jay-Z emerges from the back of the stage like Clark Kent emerging from a phone booth as Superman. Another remarkable point in the video is how Alicia uses the prior note to step into to spring off into her high notes when she belts out New York. The third remarkable point I find in this video is how composed they stay when someone jumps on stage at the end. Both acknowledge the stage intruder and then stay in character and the audience does likewise and the stage intruder is left isolated, alone and looking foolish. The audience empathy stays with Alicia and Jay-Z.

Music Video Scene

Trivia - The MTV VMA Awards show was the first tie Alicia and Jay-Z performed the song together on stage.

Music Video

Music Lyrics

Kseniya Simonova's Sand Animation

"The dawn came and the true inspiration entered my brain." Kseniya

☆☆☆☆☆ Iconic 

Kseniya Simonova Sand Animation premiering at Ukraine's Got Talent competition in 2009 ushered in a new performance art.

Directed by Kseniya Simonova.

Starring Kseniya Simonova.

I first saw Kseniya's performance in Ukraine's Got Talent on Youtube back in 2009. I was struct by the simplicity and power that moved her audience. I was amazed at the beauty not only in her art, but in her performance. She somehow managed to stay focused and unemotional as her story unfolded through her hands onto her canvas.

It's not often an artist creates a new performance art that has, so much raw emotional power and tells a complete story as it is being made. The videos below showcase her art better than all the words in all the languages on earth ever could.

In the video below watch how the audience is brought to tears and become very emotional as Kseniya's art comes to life before their very eyes.

Original Video

The video below is great for me as an artist, because it shows Kseniya's creative process at work. Simonova goes for a walk along the beach in winter and it inspires her to create her next sand animation for Christmas. 

The Creative Process Video

Trivia - Her Husband, Igor suggested doing sand art and also to enter Ukraine's Got Talent competition.