one movie that has slowly trickled into public consciousness this past week is Two Lovers, which opened in US theaters last Feb. 13th. Two Lovers, which topbills joaquin phoenix and gwyneth paltrow, is actually too bleak or somber to qualify as one your usual valentine flicks, but it’s been getting a lot of favorable notice from various critics.

incidentally, Two Lovers (directed by james gray) made its debut in the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, and was actually one of the few notable films that stirred some noise in the said event. many critics (then and now) noted the fine performance of the cast, particularly joaquin phoenix — notwithstanding his bizarre stint (unkempt beard and all) in David Letterman’s show just a few days ago — along with gwyneth paltrow, vinessa shaw, isabelli rossellini, moni moshonov, etc.

many are hoping that joaquin phoenix won’t make good on his threat to quit acting altogether in order to embark on a new career direction as a rap artist (umm, say what? what is going on here?).

at any rate, Two Lovers also marks the third time that james gray and joaquin phoenix have collaborated on a film (the other two being The Yards and We Own the Night).

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i just couldn’t resist… that weird Letterman episode keeps popping up in my mind at odd moments so i’m posting it here via this ‘Tube vid.

if this doesn’t ring any alarm bells in your mind, maybe you should also consider the fact that during his first public performance as a hip-hop artist, joaquin phoenix reportedly didn’t make much sense (he made the same ‘mumbling’ delivery apparently) — on top of which he fell off the stage! uggh! *nervous laughter* whatever his point is, i hope that joaquin phoenix will wake up soon and get his act together.

what do you guys think?

apparently, there’s water in Mars. that’s according to NASA scientists who have completed extensive analyses on Martian soil samples (see this link for more details).

compared with what we’re going through right now (the burgeoning inflation and spiralling gasoline prices), that may not seem relevant or even particularly helpful. but you never know. maybe a couple of centuries from now this discovery could lead us to other things — including our own survival.

meanwhile, the US basketball team is giving a dry run of how things will be in the upcoming Beijing Games.

the US team derailed Turkey 114-82 during their pre-Olympic exhibition game in Macau, led by LeBron James who scored 20 points. Earlier today, it came back to tame Lithuania, considered as a medal contender in the upcoming 2008 Olympics, into submission 120-84. This time around, Dwayne Wade shone by converting 19 points, followed by Michael Redd and LeBron James who contributed 16 and 15 points, respectively.

next on the itinerary is a game against the Russians (on Sunday, Aug. 3), followed by another exhibition match vs. Australia on Tuesday (Aug.4). Both games will be held in Shanghai.

for its first ‘official’ game, the US team will be playing against host country China (on aug. 10, i think).