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 From the founder
I must say, this month’s edition was extremely fun
to produce. As you can probably see, this edition
may be creativity equivalent to America’s best
magazine publications like Time and Sports
Illustrated. My goal for this edition was to express
current events that I found to be most importantly
to be inducted into the edition. So, you’ll be asking
the question, “Will I be exploring current events
more in Monte©?” The answer is yes and no.
Actually, the reason why I chose this month’s
edition to express gradually on world events is
because September produced many historical
moments like the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing,
China, and Governor Sarah Palin
accepting the nomination to become the next Vice President, if she wins she’ll become the
first woman to do so. In the next ten to twenty years when I’m looking back at the
accomplishment of Monte Pictures©, I know I will be confident that I made the right
decisions about this specific edition. Hopefully, you will cherish and save this month’s
edition in a safe place. As a history major and aspiring historian, everyday and everyone is
part of history. Our goal is simply not to become victims of our past, but to enjoy and love
life. So, remember to pursue every possibilities that come your way and I will be
concluding my message with a quote that started whole Monte© process in the first place:
“Dream like you’ve never dreamed before because fear is the only enemy, take the risks if
not than step to the side and let someone else have the chance” (Anonymous). Therefore, I
must thank you for your support of Monte Pictures©. I wish you and your family great
health!
Javier Serrano

For Olivia, Elaine and Jose

Phone (619) 450.3638 Email info@montepictures.com

*Monte Pictures© was founded by Javier Abraham Serrano in San Diego, California in the
year 2007. In his quest to pursue a career in filmmaking, Mr. Serrano composed a monthly
newsletter to express visually his passion for cinema to all variety of audiences. In his non-
published autobiography, “What a Life,” he writes, “If I could achieve this dream and goal
of mine to open a film production: Monte Pictures, then it is obviously possible for anyone
to achieve their dreams.”
 My Blueberry
Nights
China’s most acclaimed film
director Wong Kar Wai gets the
opportunity to direct his first
feature film in English. I must
say, his direction was absolutely
near perfection for his first
American feature. However, I
fear not many people will enjoy
this film because the film is too
predicable. Don’t get me wrong,
a film has to sell to its
performances to the audience. If
you simply cannot feel for their
performances than did not do
their job to persuade you.
Norah Jones, eight time
Grammy® award winner, makes
her acting debut as Elizabeth.
Ironically, Wai chose Jones for
the leading role as Lizzie because
he felt that she had acting
capabilities, but was aware of her
lack of prior acting experiences.
The film begins with Jeremy, played
by Academy Award® nominee Jude
Law, who runs a café in New York
City. Lizzie, played by Jones, recently
discovers that her boyfriend has been
dinning at Jeremy’s café with another
girl. Lizzie becomes obsessed with
the fact of being dumped by her
boyfriend. Broken hearted, Lizzie
finds her way back to Jeremy’s café
seeking for answers about her failed
relationship. For several weeks,
Lizzie returns to Jeremy’s café
exchanging conversations about life,
love and friendship.
Their friendship blossoms, but Lizzie
leaves New York City suddenly
without explaining her decision to
Jeremy of her departure, she relocates
in Memphis, Tennessee in her search
of her identity. She takes up two jobs,
in a café and at a bar, to save money
to buy a car. She sends Jeremy
postcards of her whereabouts
1/2
not revealing her where
she lives or work. One
night at the bar a local
police officer Arnie,
played by Academy
Award® nominee
David Strathaim, is over
coming his grieving
about the fact that his
wife Sue Lynn, played
Academy Award®
winner Rachel Weisz,
left him. Lizzie learns
from Arnie that love is
unpredictable, who is
overcoming alcohol
abuse alone.
Soul searching is the
plot of the film. The
film is not perfect, but
Norah Jones performed
brilliantly having no
acting experiences.
 In the Valley of Elah
Paul Haggis’ In the Valley of Elah is based
on actual events. Hank Deerfield (Tommy
Lee Jones) is a retired army military
sergeant with the experiences in criminal
justice. The film begins with a young
man’s voice, Hank’s son. Although, there
is no visual images but the sound
illuminates brilliantly of what the
experience could be serving in Iraq under
difficult conditions. The film is arguably
controversy in its own rights. After not
receiving no emails from his son, Hank
suddenly packs up for what it seems for
several days and drives to the army base
where his son is stationed in Texas.
Through many emotionally scenes that
Jones performs masterly, Hank receives a
video from his son days prior to his
missing through email.
The video uncovers bits of pieces of
Hank’s son experiences serving in the
streets of Iraq. Turmoil and no answers to
be given by the United States Army, Hank
researches every possible detail of his
missing son. Detective Emily Sanders
(Charlize Theron) becomes involved in
Hank’s missing person case when body
remains are discovered near the army
base. Detective Sanders investigates
thoroughly; she soon predicates that
Hank’s son was murdered by his own
comrades on the jurisdiction on the city’s
property and not the army base, which
gives the right to law enforcement to
inspect on army’s jurisdiction. The film is
utterly brilliant and intense.
The
Edukators
For the past decade, Germany has
been producing masterful films. One
of my favorites is Hans Weingarten's
The Edukators. The story revolves
on three anti-capitalists activists
living in Berlin, Germany – Jule
(Julia Jentsch), her boyfriend Peter
(Stripe Erceg), and his best friend Jan
(Daniel Bruhl).
Jule is waitressing to pay off an
enormous debt that has been
depressing her life ever since she ran
a red light and crashed into a
Mercedes-Benz S-class. Expired
registration, no insurance and she is
billed US$95,000. Jule’s boyfriend
leaves for several days to an activist
convention held in Spain. Jule and
Jan begin to flourish a friendship
which soon evolves into love.
1/2
Jan informs Jule about his and
Peter’s deepest secret. Jan and Peter
break into wealthy homes never
stealing one thing, but the purpose
is to inform the owners of the home
to be aware that money doesn’t buy
everything. Their trademark is
rearranging furniture and leaving a
note with a phrase “the days of
plenty are numbered.” Jule is
dumbfounded by the acts
committed by her boyfriend and
Jan, but soon she is convinced and
becomes part of their activity. Its
fun and games living life at its
fullest until one of them is caught.
The Edukators is pure adrenaline
and without argument the best
ensemble cast produced from
Germany.
 21
This film is fun, enjoyable and could
be educational. 21 (2008) directed
by acclaimed American film director
Robert Luketic, who directed 2001,
Legally Blonde. Jim Sturgess plays
Ben Campbell, an ambitious and
intellectual student with the grade
point average of 4.0 to show for it at
MIT (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology). His dream prevails
when he is accepted into the
graduate program at Harvard
Medical School. Brilliant with
numbers but lacks the financial
stability, his tuition fees for Harvard
Medical School cumulates to
$300,000.
Mickey Rosa, played by Kevin
Spacey, is a Professor at MIT a
rookie of counting cards in his days.
Rosa’s challenges Ben in class
through mathematics theories which
Rosa finds his ability truly gifted.
One night, Ben is summoned and taken into the pits
of MIT where five students and Rosa await for his
arrival. Rosa introduces Ben to the world of
“counting cards” also known as blackjack. Ben, first,
must take the initiative test to be accepted into
Rosa’s blackjack group: to be terrorized under
pressure.
Eventually Ben is accepted into Professor Rosa’s
anonymous blackjack club, which every weekend
the group of five brilliant MIT’s mathematics
whizzes travels to Vegas for weekends of clubbing,
drinking, shopping and counting.
Ben promises himself to win what’s reasonable: to
pay Harvard Medical School’s tuition of $300,000.
However, when jealousy and temptation begin to
crackle in the inner circle of co-workers rather than
friends, Ben is obsessed and addicted to “counting
cards” winnings. Ben has simply gone too far with
his winning streaks which have alerted visually
under Casinos surveillance, but can Ben count his
way out of this one when he’s caught
The Song of
Bernadette
Without doubt one of the best religious films of all time. Jennifer Jones plays Bernadette
Soubirous, a fourteen-year-old who lives in Lourdes, France, where she visions the
Blessed Virgin Mary. The film circulates Bernadette and her family and the poverty they
live in. Her father wakes up everyday before dawn in his quest to find what’s available
for him to work. Bernadette’s sister Marie and her friend Jeanne are summoned to do an
errand, Bernadette tags along wanting to become part of the circle of friendship. When
the three encounter a river, Marie and Jeanne walk barefooted across the river.

Marie and Jeanne demand Bernadette to stay put because Bernadette suffers from
Asthma because of the chilly waters would drive Bernadette to illness. As the two girls
ventures further in search of fire woods, Bernadette is alone. A woman appears
claiming she is the Immaculate Conception. Bernadette believes her word because she is
the only one capable of the visions; the town accuses Bernadette of her sanity. Miracles
begin to blossom in the town, and love, happiness and health soon become the nature of
god’s work that people begin to follow and are inspired by Bernadette’s vision of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.

Jennifer Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
 The All American Woman

Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin

A year ago, Hillary Clinton was much predicated as a front-runner for the Democratic Party
for President of the United States. The American people assumed Clinton would become the
first female President of the United States, but months ago, our government parties decided
to make history on someone else: Barack Obama, if he wins he will become the nation’s Black
President. Millions wanted Obama to pick Clinton as his Vice President, but in August of
2008 he chooses someone who has international affairs experiences, Sen. Joe Biden. John
McCain, at the time, needed someone who could simply win the hearts of millions of
Americans because Clinton, with her incredible experiences in the White House was out of
the competition. So, McCain, needless to say, picked a woman candidate as his Vice
President running-mate.

Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska and a mother of five children is the all American woman.
She may not have White House experiences but she’s capable of winning majority of
women’s vote in this November Election. The media has been tormenting her private life,
her son is enlisted in the services and was deployed aboard on September 11, 2008, and her
seventeen-year-old daughter is pregnant with her unmarried boyfriend of nineteen-years of
age. Palin is simply fearless in this competition and confident to win the Republican Vice
President. Is America ready for a woman President or Vice President? Absolutely, she may
win the November election, but if she fails, than it goes to show that the next election in four
years may we have a woman as President.
The once bullied kid is now a 16-time Olympic medalist. Michael Phelps is not regarded
a legend, yet, but a hero, most definitely. At the age of 23, Phelps won a total of sixteen
Olympic medals in just two Olympics Games in Athens (2004) and in Beijing (2008). He
is currently the second most awarded Olympian, after Soviet Larissa Latynina
(Gymnastics) with her eighteen in three Olympics at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 games.

Phelps, also, holds the record with eight gold medals in one Olympics game, which
analysts agree that there will not be another Phelps in the years to come. Although, very
private about his social life and family, his mother is a principal at a middle school
Maryland. He has two sisters and his father is often out of the picture, his parents
divorced in 1984. There is simply not much to say about Phelps personally because his
life circulates around swimming, but professionally he is God’s miracle work.

Career Medals:

16 Olympic Medals

21 World Medals

11 Pan Pacific Medals

 Olga
Korbut
(Soviet)

Before Nadia, Mary Lou, and the Magnificent Seven; women’s gymnastics became popularized at
the 1972 games in Munich, Germany, when Olga Korbut (Soviet Union) just seventeen years of age,
charmed the world and became the darling of the games. Prior to the Olympics games in 1972,
Korbut was never a major contender in any of the four apparatus in Gymnastics. She was heavily
shadowed by her former Soviet teammate Lyudmila Tourischeva, which she won the all around
title at the 1972 games. The Soviet women captured the team all around gold making it again
another historical moment in Olympic history. When the women’s all around finals nearly
concluded, Korbut dazzled, leaped and flirted with the audience. On her last apparatus: the uneven
bars, she had the opportunity to win the prestigious women all around title but failed after miss
footing from one bar to the other. She sobbed in a deeply emotional fashion which the cameras
moved in to capture her every moment of distress which she had won the hearts of millions.
She left a legacy in the sport of gymnastics; there is simply no one like her that can be compared to
her ageless personality.
 Nadia
Comaneci
(Romania)

Nadia Comaneci first emerged internationally at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada,
when she became the first gymnast to ever receive a perfect 10 in the sport of Gymnastics. Prior to
the 1976 Games, Nadia was born and raised in a small poverty village in Onesti, Romania,
northeast of the capitol city of Bucharest. The legendary Romanian coach Bela Karoyli, famous for
coaching Nadia, Mary Lou Retton – first American to win the women’s all around at the 1984
Olympic Games, Kim Zmeskal – first American to win the women’s all around at the World
Championships, and Dominique Moceanu – one of seven US gymnasts that captured the first
Team gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. In his search for young gymnasts, Bela went to
every school and began enrolling qualified and most spirited little girls. This infamous story is
often told: Bela had seen two little girls performing cartwheels in the playgrounds, he approached
the two girls but the bell rang and they immediately disappeared into their classrooms. Bela
vowed to search for these two girls and went to each of the classrooms. On several attempts he
finally finds both girls, he stated in many interviews that he told the students, “Who wants to be a
gymnast,” and the two girls jumped up from their seats screaming, “I do!” Afterwards, Nadia
Comaneci trained to become an elite gymnast. She would win the European all around
championships, and also won the American Cup, which was held in New York City in 1976. At the
1976 Games, Nadia won the prestigious women’s all around title at the age of fourteen, and
receiving seven perfect tens. Nadia would take gymnastics to a whole new level capitalizing that
perfection is possible after all.
Not since the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, when the Magnificent Seven: Team
USA won the gold medal in the women’s team finals in gymnastics. At the 2008 Olympics
Games in Beijing, China, Team USA can now understand what home field advantage is all
about, when Team China won their first team title in Olympic history and in front of the
home audiences. During and after the games, the controversy of three Chinese gymnasts on
their ages was mere of media attention. It was said that three of the six team members were
ineligible because they were just fourteen years of age, a gymnast must be of sixteen years
of age to participate in the Olympic Games. China provided proof of documents to the
International Olympic Committee, but the public demanded more documents not the IOC.
China beat USA in the team finals, one of their gymnasts stars Alicia Sacramone, fell off the
beam due to stage freight, and sated on her first tumbling run on floor exercise. China’s
Cheng Fei finished her floor routine marking a career of exhaustion, depression and
satisfaction that captured her first Olympic gold medal.

Nastia Luikin, 18, (Gold Medalist) and Shawn Johnson, 16, (Silver Medalist) made history
by becoming the first Americans to go 1-2 in the women’s all around finals, this marks the
fourth time in competition when a country wins both Gold and Silver in the all around.
Luikin won a total of five Olympic medals tying with Mary Lou Retton (1984, Los Angeles)
and Shannon Miller (1992, Barcelona) with the most medals won by any American in the
sport of Gymnastics. Johnson won four medals capturing the gold on Balance Beam and
three silvers: team, all around, and floor exercise.
 Cheng Fei
(China)
Shawn Johnson and Nastia
Luikin were both the stars of
the Olympic Games in
Beijing, China. However,
China has to feel spectacular
too have their very own
gymnast becoming a star
internationally. Cheng Fei,
unfamiliar in the American
public eye, but well known in
the gymnastics world, is the
oldest and most experienced
member of the Chinese team.
For her accomplishments as a
five-time World Champion,
she was awarded by Chinese
Fei’s parents gambled greatly
officials, the title that usually
when they placed in her
does not bestow respectively
gymnastics because they wanted
for a woman Chinese athlete:
Cheng Fei to have a secure and
the greatest Chinese gymnast
happy future. At the age of
of all time. But, unlike
seven, she was sent off to a
American gymnastics when
sports boot camp, and never
little girls dream of
lived with her parents again, but
participating in the Olympics
many times pleaded to her
and winning the all around
parents to let her quit the sport
title, Cheng Fei was placed
and return home. Her crowning
into the sport of gymnastics
achievement was when she won
by the decision of her
the Olympics team gold medal at
parents. Fei was born in the
the Olympic Games held in her
province of Hubei, a small
poverty town. country.
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