There Will Be Blood (2007, Movie)

The first time I saw this beautiful beast of a movie from director-writer Paul Thomas Anderson, I felt gut-punched. As the film bores through the first three decades of the twentieth century, Plainview becomes a California oil tycoon of unparalleled ruthlessness. His enemies are man and God. And in the film's final section, a rush of scorching brutality, Plainview takes his revenge on both. Visually and dramatically, it is a jaw-dropper. His last words burst forth with biblical exultation: "I'm finished."

Day-Lewis, no ifs, ands or buts, gives one of the great elemental performances in modern cinema. Yet what kind of sympathy could we find for the devil he’s playing? Seeing There Will Be Blood is like going ten rounds with a raging bull. You feel so pummeled it's hard to get your head clear.

Anderson hasn't so much adapted Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil as cherry-picked it for a structure. He's out to show how violence of the flesh and the spirit is hard-wired into the American character.

Day-Lewis' resonant voice is a potent magnet. His triumph is in making us see ourselves in Plainview, no matter how much we want to turn away. Daniel is a man who will stop at nothing to achieve the unnatural state of becoming an island onto himself, and Day-Lewis makes him his own.

The ensuing battle between the ignorant armies of greed and bogus evangelism powers the film. Still, for getting under Daniel's skin, no one beats Eli.

On a craft and technical level, the film is of the highest quality, not least in the sound department, where the mix is exceedingly complex and expressive.

Inglourious Basterds (Movie, 2009)

Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” is a big, bold, audacious war movie that will annoy some, startle others and demonstrate once again that he’s the real thing, a director of quixotic delights. Tarantino does it his way. The “basterds” themselves, savage fighters dropped behind Nazi lines, are an unmistakable nod to the Dirty Dozen.

Waltz is a wonder. His dazzling, diabolical performance blends seductive charm and monstrous malice (in four languages).

Of course nothing in the movie is possible, except that it’s so bloody entertaining. Tarantino films have a way of growing on you. It’s not enough to see them once.

人體使用手冊／吳清忠著

完美的人體系統---一套內建的修復與再生機能

所有的疾病都是我們錯用了身體的結果

我們需要的不是靈丹妙藥

而是一本正確的書

這將是一本令您驚訝的未來書

不要在現在就對它下評語

這本書正確的評論

一百年後才可能出現

西醫理論建立在「人體所以會造成這些症狀，必定是一種控制上的失誤」的假設。這是一種完全忽視人體系統智慧能力的邏輯。回復正確的生活習慣，並且用正確的方法處理疾病，使人體的血氣逐漸上升，修復及再生系統發揮作用，應該是人類更有機會克服慢性病的途徑。相信人體必定比他自己設計出來的個人電腦更完美，保持健康應該就像使用個人電腦一樣簡單．

解碼中醫/作者: 美國潘同菋中醫師 Terrence Pan L.Ac.

一本為現代人所寫的中醫入門書籍

新世代中醫師
A Revolution for Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory

“ 本書送給那些多年追尋身心靈健康的人們. 願她們能夠達到真正的身心靈健康境界，並進一步能夠幫助周邊的人"

一家醫學雜誌的資深編輯說：「現代醫學，儀器越來越精密，手術越做越細緻入微，新藥問世層出不窮。然而，就在我們自以為更瞭解世界，更瞭解自身，更貼近健康時，卻陷入了一個怪圈：在治病的同時，醫藥也傷害了身體的正常機能。比如很多癌症病人惟一的辦法就是接受放療或化療，可是，誰也說不清他們最後是死於癌症還是死於醫療的副作用。

中醫在許多人的印象中很是模糊，同一個病人用不同的方子，同一種病用不同的方法，而同一類方劑卻用來治療不同的病——這給人一種不確定甚至不科學的感覺。其實正是這種因人而異、把人看做一個自然整體的治療成功地延續了我們的民族。中世紀一場風靡歐洲的黑死病奪去了數百萬人生命的同時，中醫們卻用清熱解毒的草藥遏制了瘟疫的蔓延。若干世紀後，古老的東方醫道又在現代西方社會風生雲起，甚至現代醫學中最先進、最尖端的免疫平衡療法、基因療法，也蘊 藏著中醫數千年前即生機勃勃的思想。」

LTC Dumpling Party for the New Year

They picked the perfect date to celebrate, Lunar New Year plus Valentine's day. Everyone was so eager and proficient to make dumpling, from scratch. Be sure to mention the other goodies, e.g., appetizer, fruits, desert and hand-made noodle. It was a pleasure to get together outside practicing Tai-Chi because we were more relaxed and less serious for sure.

Padre Pio: Miracle Man (2000, Movie)

This is a great portrait of Padre Pio. Beautiful photography and music, but the script and acting are the highlights.for the catholic viewer (I guess its main audience), it will be a faith reaffirming experience. Therefore, this film is a must for Catholic families who want to experience quality entertainment while learning more about a beloved saint. The cinematography was beautiful, and the actors brought life to a wonderful story about a man who loved enough to suffer unbelievable torments for God and for others.

Travellers and Magicians (2003, Movie)

A Bhutanese Filmmaker-Saint Uncovers Beauty in Banality

With his 1999 debut, The Cup, a comedic glimpse of soccer-crazed monastics, Bhutanese-Tibetan director (and high lama) Khyentse Norbu wisely made tenuous cultural exchange his central philosophical inquiry. His status as a reincarnated saint at home lent weight to his claims that film can be as sacred as a prayer flag. His Travellers and Magicians is the first feature film shot entirely in Bhutan, and likeThe Cup, uses exclusively non-professional actors.

In interviews, Norbu has compared the editing process to meditation. While his travelers wind over ridges backed by stabbing peaks, the monk among them unfurls a parallel tale that splits the movie in two. The story of Tashi's lusty downfall is the monk's caveat to curious Dondup—and Norbu's literal "grass may not be greener" wink to young Bhutanese.

My orchid at home

This is the pot I got from my neighbor Sue last Xmas. And it blooms beautifully.

Orchids are intimately intertwined within the ecology of their habitat. Orchids are group of plants with over 880 genera, and it is estimated that there are about 28,000 species of this beautiful flower.

Some orchid species may bloom twice or thrice a year, while few others bloom annually. These blooms often last for almost a month. One can easily nourish orchids at home and be rewarded with years and years of beautiful blooms.

Up (2009, Movie)

Pixar Perfect: 'Up' Provides Quite a Lift

Synopsis

'Up' is the latest work from the Disney/Pixar stable about an old man who attaches balloons to the roof of his house so it lifts into the sky.

The story climates as Carl Fredricksen ties a thousand balloons to his home and floats off, house and all, to South America to find the waterfalls which he and his wife always dreamed of visiting.

As rich a sensory experience as "Up" is, it finally comes down to the story it has to tell. And that story -- about loneliness, vulnerability and the redemptive power of human connection -- not only makes for a magnificently crafted and absorbing movie, but a deeply meaningful one.

And yes, it's 3D!