I am a film student here in Toronto and I cannot speak more highly of a director than Paul Thomas Anderson. I had the pleasure of interviewing him back in January and he was such a pious individual in regards to filmmaking. Magnolia was a flash of innane brilliance; I liken it to every emotion we as humans have ever experienced in 3 hours. So many cross references and subtexts. Look out for the Masonic imagery, the Biblical references (8:2 Exodus), and listen to Luis Guzman's spiel before the gameshow starts about his knowledge of anything milk and/or baseball-related. The visual aesthetic of the film is gloriius too; Robert Elswit is in my opinion the greatest cinematographer ever. PTA is also a highly intoxicating writer. Although many may pass it off as melodrama, Boogie Nights is just as strong a film as Magnolia in many ways. It is such a poignant tale...when they play the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" at the last montage, I literally wept, as I did frequently throughout Magnolia. Please feel free to check out Hard 8 (Sydney) as well. Hopefully some day I too will be in the position where I am making a living out of creating and vegetating my own thoughts onto 35mm strips. And I swear to God, if given the chance, I could work wonders with ?uestlove as an actor. Anyone who really loves PTA, especially you ?uest since you seemed to grasp the winding subtexts of Magnolia so well, go to egroups.com and sign up for the PT Anderson e-mail group, it is as good as okayplayer boards. Also, www.ptanderson.com, amazing site.