My two cents about the Oscars

Well, I do not really understand the urging necessity of some human beings to keep a criticising attitude towards everything. I mean, I am critical as well, but with things as movies, I understand that the main purpose of a movie is to entertain. My prior statement goes along with the reactions shown about some of the movies that were nominated for the Academy Awards this time. We all know movie industry depends on a lot of things and interests far beyond the mere art of filming. We do know that for sure. Even so, we are

able to see them honouring most of the best movies done by the mainstream industry. So why the surprise?

Let's take for example "Les Misérables". I have read several comments against the movie, based on the average singing performance of the actors involved when compared with the stage representations. Well, I have news for you. Stage representations are done wherever else, from Broadway to Mexico City, from West End to Auckland. Even in the border town I grew up in is planning to do one soon. And obviously, you might find more gifted Fantines than Anne Hathaway or way more skilled performers than Russell Crowe. But let me tell you something. I would pay for watching a movie with recent Catwoman singing about her cruel and painful life, sacrificing her hair, or the only one Gladiator attempting to sing stage-like or hunk Wolverine showing why he is one of the most perfect men in this world. I would not care about the best singer of West End or Broadway, I'm not a musical comedy expert. And the ugly truth is that most of the moviegoers are not. If they were, we would have more stage than movie theatres. You have to make ends meet. It's a matter of business and money. And I really enjoyed seeing all the ensemble cast singing an arrangement of "One Day More" special for the night, since in the movie Fantine does not take part on it (she is supposed to be dead by then).

Let's talk about "Argo". I got into a silly discussion with a Twitter random guy (silly, since I just kept saying "Peace out") but the thing is that for every historic event, there will be three sides of the story: our side, their side and how it really happened. You should choose to see the content rather than the form. It would be sort of distracting the issue that political interests got involved (even more if the First Lady presented the award!) but what I find fascinating is how something as vain and superflous as movie industry can be deemed can serve a higher purpose: saving human lives. And at the end of the day, I reckon most of the nominated movies caused some stirs regarding their central topic: Lincoln about the abolition of slavery, Django about the Tarantino-violence and portrayal of slavery, Silver Linings Playbook about a unrealistic scheme about bipolar disorder (Note: only one reviewer said so, the one from The New Yorker), Zero Dark Thirty about supporting torture. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Ben Affleck receiving his Best Picture award. He really made a great work. If you watch Argo and notice you feel like watching a 70s movie for the quality of the film, not only due to the way the people are dressed, it is because he cut in half the film and give it some special treatment to make it look like the material used back then. And even when you can google and find out about the storyline, and you might know in advance how it is going to end, the whole movie your attention is caught by the movie and you are at the edge of your seat.

Let's move into more mundane stuff since for the previous ones, everybody will have their piece of opinion. One interesting fact about the two actresses that got an Oscar home. It is not widely known that Anne Hathaway was originally cast for the role of Tiffany in "Silver Linings Playbook" (the one that gave Jennifer Lawrence her first Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role). However, scheduling issues with The Dark Knight Rises made her to decline the role, so David O. Russell looked for another actress. After taking several famous comedy actresses into consideration (even *ergh* Angelina Jolie) for auditioning, he reluctantly accepted to give Jennifer Lawrence an audition (he thought she was too young) but after an audition via Skype he found her perfect for the role. And now you see it paid back for both.

I liked the irreverent hosting by Seth MacFarlane. Several of his jokes caused more than one "gasp" by the audience, but other than that the guy was cool. Other notable performances were obviously the songs, where Adele had a lukewarm reception by the audience, opposite what they did with Jennifer Hudson (maybe the effect of being "close to home" aside her stunning performance were important here, but nevermind, Adele's got it all!).

Being more frivolous, I loved Jennifer Aniston's dress, and how Charlize Theron can rock a pixie haircut. And she surely can dance. It was a funny ceremony. Call me frivolous and vain, I don't care. Quoting Tarantino, "PEACE OUT!"

Quite a while...

Wow! I just realized it has been a while since the last time I blogged regularly. All I have done lately it is more like sporadic posts, but not with the same enthusiasm I used to. (I avoided to say "like I used to" since it is almost the same title of a song I recently covered from The Cranberries). This happens when you end up tired of writing a dissertation and keeping up with coursework at grad school. But anyway, I reckon recess is over and my fingers are desperate for typing endlessly like before.

So this is a public announcement that I will resume posting articles, pieces of opinion, poems and any interesting piece of thought it could be shared via this blog. Hope you like them! And hope these holidays give me chance to stick to this resolution!

Noor

God put a smile upon my face

I want to be remembered with a smile in my face. Smiling to life, even if life does not smile me back. Grinning, beaming with joy, laughing so hard that tears of joy run down my face. Do not want to be remembered with a serious expression, with my eyes drained of all positive emotion. I know life is tough sometimes, but you can find the brightside and find out a thousand of reasons to make the muscles of your face to exercise while lifting the corners of your upper lip in a fabulous motion.

Smile. Whichever is the way you want it. Either the concealed smile from one of the most admired paintings in the world, shown at the Denon Wing, 1st floor of the former Palace of the Kings of France that Louix XIV thought it was too small to live in; or the open-mouthed cynical expression of the Cheshire cat.

Pre-Valentine mood...

Well, since a hideous laryngitis is not allowing me right now to make use of my voice for singing purposes, I will rely on writing words to make a good use of available time (as well as procrastinating on finishing another article I want to hand in before Monday!). Next week Valentine's Day is coming, and it is great for a purpose of writing about a song I have been listening and playing over and over in order to make a decent acoustic cover. I am talking about "Someone like you", a song from the British singer Adele, who is nominated for I-don't-know how many Grammy's for tomorrow's award show. Even when the showbiz world is currently shocked with the death of Ms. Whitney Houston, I will hold my thoughts regarding that in order to write about something I was meaning to express my perspective about it, and that I have been making some remarks every now and then.

My first general perspective of Adele's "21" was that it was a post-breakup mood album. Songs generated from the intense mix of emotions caused from the end of a relationship, or something like that. The song I will write about is "Someone like you", a song that talks about the perspective of a post-breakup scheme where one of the parts has moved on and already engaged in another relationship, with perhaps stronger ties (well, perhaps is not the best way to describe it since it clearly mentions "I heard that you settled down, that you found a girl and you're married now"). From a personal perspective, it can become a heartbreaking song since it shows a situation where things have obviously changed but oneself refuses to, as well as a hypothetical scheme where the transmitter gives a message of good wishes for the other, even though it is dying in the inside and wishing things were as before.

I have always thought songs are such a powerful way to convey emotions. Obviously it includes a lot of factors in order to make a deep impression in the public. Let's take the late Whitney Houston as an example with her majestic performance of "I Will Always Love You". This song had been written and performed by Dolly Parton way before, but it was until its release as part of the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard" that this song made an impressive impact from there on in the music industry. And I reckon that one of the factors was the way Whitney performed the song, she definitely nailed it! (I don't really pretend to diminish Dolly Parton's, but there you go, the charts show the difference!). My point here is that Adele gives such a heartbreaking performance from the perspective of someone left in the past, showing up to acknowledge the current situation and aside of any ongoing feelings, still wishes you the best! The starting line of the chorus is quite powerful and sets the whole argument of the song:

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you two...

Gosh. Just expressing "someone like you" shows a deep longing for being part of the future of the other one. To strongly wish the other one were the "significant other". But hell no, the other one has moved on and made it right, "found a girl and is married now". So what is left for the transmitter? To get over it, and try to get another life, with "someone like"? Geez. That's why I will move on to the next song as an antidote...

I hope that you miss me,
put me down on history
I feel such a reject now
get yourself a life...


The preceding lines are part of the song "Loud and Clear" by The Cranberries from their fourth studio album called Bury the Hatchet. This song shows quite a contrary perspective from the post-breakup perspective. Obviously, by reading the first four verses it is quite clear that the message from this song is completely opposite to Adele's. And I mentioned it as an antidote because the great performance made by Adele left me sort of saddened the first time I listened to her song, and I browsed immediately my music catalog looking for something that could counter-effect it. And I found it in The Cranberries's song. As you listen to it, you can find out the depicted message is from the other side of the coin, where a relationship is over and the transmitter lists the reasons why is better off alone (or at least, not with the receiver). It is maybe less naive than Adele's since it openly vents out all the negative feelings of sorrow and pain that the breakup has caused. It gives you the impression the transmitter might be more realistic and frank acknowledging why the relationship is over. Even though the final lines are a little bit extreme regarding the final wishes of the transmitter:

I hope that you never
Get the things you wanted to
Now I cast a spell on you
Complicate your life

Hope you get a puncture
Everywhere you ever drive
Hope the sun beats down on you
and skin yourself alive

A little bit tough and outspoken, isn't it? But let's be realistic just for a little while: all relationships end up for a reason. The flaw in Adele's song is that it depicts a wonderful scheme that it was broken by something we ignore and all we can imagine is that maybe the receiver is some sort of heartless bastard who did not care at all about the feelings of Adele or one self. But at least we take the bright side, showing mercy and the best disposition toward the one who got away with a "girl that gave you things I didn't give to you". Just reading this line leaves me wondering between a real kind disposition of understanding and goodwill and a really low self-esteem. It could be translated into "I was not exactly what you were looking for, but I know you are a really nice lad and I am still so into you" or "I was not and I am still not good enough for you". Sucks!

Taking the second road of contentious low self-esteem, that is one acknowledgement made by O'Riordan song:

I remember there was
Nothing I could ever do
Never could impress you
Even if I tried

It acknowledges a previous state of low self-esteem and continuous looking for other's approval, that seems to be fortunately over. That is why I was uneasy about Adele's song. Why this concern regarding "someone like you", if "with you things didn't work". Just by making a point of "you found a girl that gave you what I couldn't" drives me crazy thinking that the singer felt not good enough for the other one. Or maybe not, but that's what I could read between lines!

Anyway, the good thing about The Cranberries' song is that it left me in better spirits than Adele's. But do not make a big fuss about it: I am not a big supporter of rancor or resentment. I am supportive of venting out and acknowledging your feelings, but that's it. Just acknowledging "I'm pissed off by this and that" it is a big step towards closure and moving on. And I don't pretend to preach about it, but I reckon life's too short and there are so many things and so many people that if it didn't work with someone specific, there will be another one waiting out there. And even if it's not there, at least we were not losing time drenched in sorrow and sadness. So I reckon the best approach would be looking for a balance between acknowledging the good things from a previous relationship without forgetting the bad ones (just not getting to the extreme anger reaction of wishing the worst, like "punctures everywhere you ever drive or sun skins you alive")

Everyone has their closure period and it is OK: my suggestion is don't make it eternal.

Happy Valentine's Day (or "chocolates and friends day")

In a Better World… not Biutiful.

Another submission for the International Section of this week's issue of The Cambridge Student, which was not published since most of the space was devoted to oncoming CUSU elections.. enjoy!

In a Better World… not Biutiful.

By Noor-Hal Cuellar

On February 27^th, 2011 the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony took place in the Kodak Theatre, in L.A., and within all the film entities that were honored by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) the award for the Best Foreign Film was granted to the film “In a Better World” a Danish production which portrays the story of a boy named Elias living in a small town in Denmark, whose Swedish roots, plus wearing a dental retainer equals frequent poundings for him, aside from his own personal struggles due to his parents’ separation. His idolized father is an advocate of turning the other cheek, an altruistic doctor who is often absent due to his volunteer services at an African refugee camp. Within this situation, a new kid called Christian intervenes and defends him, making them to create a strong bond that could lead not to a good end.

Rather than giving another movie review, I would like to emphasize the motivations behind the idea of making this film. In my opinion, “In a better world” shows the current complex reality on many households of our society. Even though the film in several moments confuses purposefulness with deepness, since it dwells a lot into the former but loses grip on the latter. However, with the portrait of two different realities being witnessed by Anton, Elias’s father, and the escalating anti-social behavior of Christian, holistically the message given is that the tendency toward the animalistic is present in us all, even the idyllic scheme known as the Denmark society. And this holds true if we reviewed the origin of this film that was started as a discussion between the director, Susanne Bier, and the screenwriter, Anders T. Jensen, about the perception of Denmark as a quite harmonious society. Then, the idea was to develop a plot when the dramatic turns of events would break the idyllic image of a blissful place. This entire together, plus several other ingredients like the cinematography capturing the harsh beauty of African landscapes, made it the kind of prestige film that would perfectly fit into the Academy’s sensibilities. And it obviously did.

Even though the rest of the nominees were movies with high standards of quality, I would like to talk about “Biutiful” which was clearly a favorite of the critics. And also it was strongly expected since his leading actor, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem gave an overpowering performance as a troubled middle-aged poor guy and got a nomination as Best Leading Actor, category whose strong candidate to win was Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech”. Even though it shows the less glamorous face from Barcelona, and its attempt at a globalist aesthetic of compassion at a certain extent gets too pretentious, Biutiful is clearly an impressive sample of Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu film-making he has shown in previous movies as 21 grams and Babel. By showing the other side of the dazzling and idyllic Gaudí reality, full of exploited immigrants living in turbulent suburbs and far from the perfect tourist destination scheme, Iñarritu goes beyond his previous work focused in entangling disparate lives together by a random event, and jumps into a different sort of magic naturalism.

All these factors were heavily considered by the Mexican Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be chosen as the Mexican submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a decision quite controversial, since the plot takes place in Spain, and there was another strong candidate which was submitted to the Spanish Goya Awards, a film named “Hell”, which was quite polemic, since it is a political satire about the drug trafficking in Mexico. However, the reception the film had all around the world, as well as the successful background of Bardem and Iñarritu quite justified the Mexican Academy selection.

Nevertheless, it was not enough to beat the holistic scheme portrayed by “In a better world”. Even more because I reckon that the situations reflected in Bier’s film can be applied in any other context on our reality, in any other country. Even there are societies more or less troubled than Denmark, the same tribulations can take place anywhere else.

Revenge of the Lions

OK, this was the original article I submitted for The Cambridge Student, but they shortened and put it together since this issue devoted most of its content to incoming CUSU elections...

Revenge of the Lions: Victory for Cambridge Second Men’s Basketball team as it breaks a Varsity Games losing-streak!

By Noor-Hal Cuellar

With seconds left, the 71-53 home victory over Oxford Twos was already celebrated by the Cambridge crowd when the German guard Sven Krippendorf took his time and before the clock stopped, seized the chance and scored an additional three-pointer that left the game with a 21 points victory for the Lions, who finally broke a losing streak in a gripping, actionpacked Varsity encounter.

The home team, which was craving for a win after a chain of defeats vs their archrivals in this annual game off-season, showed their bravery fighting and beating Oxford on quite a dynamic match. Even when the first two quarters were slightly slow in points and both teams went to half-time with not a clear advantage for any of them, with Lions defense slightly troubled by the intensive attack of Shaan Dalwadi and Daniel Peng. This, combined with some slight issues in the Cambridge defense that started allowing fouls to the visitors could have become a negative effect on the scoreboard by the end of the match.

However, the team coached by Elias Mouchlianitis seemed to have acknowledged their purpose in the court when half-time was over. The forwards started building up, Lithuanian Tadas Jucikas and Chinese Jin Zhang. The German center Marc Steuber improved his performance through the last quarters, and the addition of Americans Wes Hromowyk and Sam Ferguson fitted perfectly with the already stunning performance of Canadian guard Andrew Sullivan, who assisted all Hromowyk points and leading the strategy of the team especially at the last quarter. Even though Sullivan was replaced just a few minutes before the end of the match, clearly his performance made him the Man of the Match.

For the crowd, the most exciting part of the game was the last quarter, since the score was 51-50 by the end of the 3^rd quarter, so basically we are saying that the conjunction of superb performance, triangle offense and strong coaching gave no room for Oxford to score and overcome the increasing difference that Cambridge was accumulating due to the excellent drives and the strong games that the Lions were showing to the Other Place folks. Oxford coach, full of frustration, started yelling at the referees for every other foul marked against his team, prompting a technical foul while the whole Cambridge crowd booed at him. The same people that kept cheering their team all game long, hitting with their hands on the wooden edge of the viewing gallery of Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre, and yelling loud “DEFENSE, DEFENSE” to inspire their players to keep on the amazing performance that led into a marvelous difference of 21 points.

New Year....

This text was created by a great Mexican writer called Armando Fuentes Aguirre, a.k.a as "Catón". Happy New Year!

Maybe there was pain and suffering.

Dear people for us left, or sickness struck us or a loved one. Loneliness came to us and with it sadness. Peace left our home, or we did lose that precious asset called internal peace.

Maybe there were losses and calamities.

Our heritage suffered some decline, or we lost work, or we had to give up what we had before.

Perhaps this year that is ending was hard and rigorous.

But it left us life.

Instead of looking back to the year which is leaving, let's look forward to the promise of the oncoming year that gives us, as a first gift, HOPE.

I Hope For It, But I Don't Expect It

I cited once this article from my Advanced English class book, because I agree with the idea... sometimes we suffer this syndrome of having too many expectations on something, and also because it starts with a speed skating example (and I do like speed ice skating!!)... hope you like it!

I Hope For It, But I Don't Expect It

by Jessica Taylor (Pocket Digest)

Picture the scene: It's the seventeenth Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Dan Jansen, a famous American speed skater, is about to compete in the 500-meter race. This is the fourth Olypics he has participated in; in the first three, he missed winning any medals, but this will be his last Olympic competition, so the pressure is on. About halfway through the 500, one of Dan's skates catches a rough spot on the ice, slowing him down. He wins no medal at all. Three days later, Dan competes in the 1,000-meter race. Everyone knows this is his last chance for a medal. Some observers have already written him off. Dan starts off well. As he is coming around a turn, though, his skate again hits a rough spot on the ice, and he almost falls. But this time he says to himself that he's just going to keep skating and let what happens happen. In effect, he "casts his fate to the winds". The result? Dan sets a world record and wins the gold medal.

Picture another situation: Your two best film-buff friends have seen the reissued Citizen Kane. The rave about its superb black-and-white photography and applaud its profound, sensitive, serious treatment of the lonely life of an anxiety-ridden business tycoon. They say it's the best American movie of the century. When you go to see it, though, you feel disappointed.

These situations illustrate what we might call "the expectation syndrome". Children ofter do no meet their parents' career expectations of them. Athletes do not always win what people expect them to win. Great literature doesn't always seem as good as it should. I asked neurophysiologist Robert Stevens whether there is an actual scientific basis for the negativity of expectations or whether this is merely a philosophical question, an unpleasant, frustrating irony of the human condition.

Stevens: Well, what we're really talking about here, I think, is the immense power of the mind. For example, there is a documented medical phenomenon called focal dystonia, which is an abnormal muscle function caused by extreme concentration. Somehow, when athletes are concentrating too hard, they "short circuit" certain brain functions and miss the basket, don't hit the ball, or lose the race. So there's a physiological counterpart to what the mind manifests.

Pocket Digest: Have you ever had any experience with this phenomenon in your personal, everyday life?

Stevens: Yes, I think I have. We're learning more about the human brain all the time. It seems that the mind has immense power for both positive and negative things. Let me give you an example from skiing. There are days when, as a cautious, high-intermediate skier, I stand at the top of a steep, icy slope, plotting my every move down the course, fearing that I'll fall. Sure enough, I do fall. Other days I feel different. My expectations are miles away. I ski well and don't fall. When we focus excessively on goals, our expectations tend to take over, and our mind places us outside the process. On the other hand, when we concentrate on the process instead of the goal, we're often much more successful. Have you heard the phrase "trying too hard"?

Pocket Digest: Very interesting. What would be your recommendation about expectations, then?

Stevens: Well, all I've been able to come up with so far is that it's better to hope for things than to expect them.

Guilty Conscience

When I was 7 years old, I started going to Sunday School of the Protestant church with my grandmother. Everyone else in my family were Catholics, with the exception of my grandmother and my uncle Alejo. I still remember the first class, when the teachers started talking about the kingdoms that were in Palestine in Jesus' time. I also remember the taunts of my peers when I answered the question of which nationality Jesus Christ had, to which I replied "Palestinian" when the correct response by the teachers should be "Jewish." My statement was not wrong if we realize the region was called Palestine, and that included the territories of Judea, Perea, Samaria, Iturea, Galilee and the Decapolis, the general adjective to be used with its inhabitants as the "Palestinians" and I did not hesitate to discuss this with the teacher, who accepted my argument and after all gave me an award.

One of my favorite works is "Ivanhoe" by Walter Scott. It talks about the adventures of a Saxon Knight of the English court, a favorite of Richard the Lionheart, who returns from the Holy Land after going to the Crusades with the king and confronts his French nemesis Brian de Bois-Guilbert in the tournament of Ashby-la-Zouche. Aside of mentioning several specific aspects of the Middle Ages, this book recounts the widespread hatred that the Jews suffered at the hands of Christians. At that time, the Jews preferred to live in lands ruled by the Saracens, under a tax payment, but allowed freely to do and undo.

It is well known the situation in the Middle East today. The Zionist movement led by Theodore Herzl proposed the creation of a new Jewish state in the territory formerly known as Canaan back in the days of Moses, where obviously already were Muslim settlements. Obviously, after the Jewish Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II, the dream of Herzl were concretized in 1948 due to the creation of Israel. The problem is that many Palestinians (both Arabs and Christians) were displaced in favor of such action, which has been the germ of all the wars between the fledgling Jewish state and its Moslem neighbors.

This topic is it up since a few days ago, I learned that the owner of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, a Zionist, expressed in a private meeting his personal thinking about the Arab-Israeli conflict. From there, it sparked a controversy and several Internet sites invited to boycott the coffee chain vending based on allegations that the owner supports counterterrorism measures exercised by the Israeli state in the territory of the Palestinian National Authority, which are not always advertised in the West, as well as those exercised by Hamas and Hezbollah.

My loyalty was in conflict, and that my relationship with Starbucks has been fairly close, and since that first time I tried a Toffee Nut Latte in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I have done a fair share of unusual things to consume precious liquid toffee nut-flavored, with a pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon and chocolate and 2 packets of Splenda. I walked more than seven blocks from the Holiday Inn Select to the nearest Starbucks in Tulsa, I walked through the whole Houston Airport Starbucks branch located in Terminal C (I even saw the statue of former President George Bush). I've burned the tongue by the contact of hot coffee drink in Greenville, SC. My attraction to coffee is not new: from my grandfather, the Migration Agent Rodolfo Rustrián Sr. (RIP) I inherited the attraction towards this liquid (even though I have not reached the point of sipping it alone, without sugar). Maybe my obsession with the product sold by the Seattle chain is not a fashion product, or the snobbery that many individuals have to be seen holding the cup with the famous logo.

I do not take sides with anyone.... it is painful the situation of Jewish-Palestinian conflict and more when I have friends on both sides. I only say that war solves nothing. Because before the claims of the Palestinians will be other Jews who have also suffered terrorist attacks from the others. Overall, the seed of Jacob and Esau will always at war.

That reminded me that some of yesterdays ago, I received emails asking them not to buy products and Procter & Gamble because the owner of the company is worshiping Satan ... And not for that reason have I stopped brushing my teeth with Crest (I have not). The truth is that we do not know in general how the money will go to pay for the provision of a service or purchasing a product. And for us to be questioning the actions carried with them resulting in a collective paranoia is not healthy. Therefore, one of these days I went to Starbucks Revolution in Monterrey, Mexico with two of my best friends without any remorse and asked my Toffee Nut Latte with a simple pawini. The time I spent with them was worth any questioning by anyone... I just pray to God to give clarity of thought to those who try to make a crime against humanity with what I paid for my delicious liquid toffee-nut flavored, with a pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon and chocolate and 2 packets of Splenda, as always.

Faith and Love

I'm faithful.

I will be faithful.

God knows what is better for me, and it's not casual why I'm here.

Everything is going to be alright. I just need to learn how to handle temptations, and how to keep working on my own improvement.

I'm thankful for my family, and this life I've been given. Everything happens for a reason.

And I believe for everything, there is a reason.... everything I hope, in time will come...

I must keep believing... it's always darkest before dawn.... the best is yet to come....

I am on a learning process. Rejection could be so useful, only if we teach our heart not to take life so serious. I know I will be able to love again, even if the world despises my virtue, if he tries to make me think I am fooled by illusion every now and then, and he advises not to put things in my head that don't exist.

If this pain boosts my inspiration, so be it! I won't deny him to meet me where my illusion dies... only to make me able to be loved and to love more!

Swirled Thoughts

Finally I found my long-lost notebook (well, actually it was not that long, I noticed some days ago I didn't have a clue of its whereabouts!) This is the second time I lost and found it. And I still keep many small notes with words and phrases as pieces of a puzzle, to be converted into sonnets and poems. The problem now is that I don't have a lot of glue to stick those words into poems. My inspiration is on vacation: well, at least my lyric inspiration. I can write essays as I used to; but the idea of framing a desperate feeling into fourteen lines or more does not seduce me nowadays.


Weird, huh? But I guess that is how it is. Love is only a feeling, and we should just have the guts to "grab a spoon" like Joey Tribbiani said. To overcome any kind of crisis and let our hearts to feel again, to have illusions inside again.


And if we stumble, if it's risky business? Never mind, it is better to wear our heart out instead of staying idle being afraid to be hurt.

Wow! I can't believe all what I am writing hahaha! My eyelids are heavily fighting to close while my willingness of writing is struggling against. But I allow them to be victorious: I have to sleep to dream and see if I steal some inspiration from.

Or I'll just risk myself again.... it's worth the risk! At least I will keep what I've learnt from past experiences...

I'll look for some new inspiration then...

Love,

Hallie

A New Year Has Come!

Three days have already passed for this 2009, and I keep making mistakes on my brand-new agenda writing 2008 on the date instead 2009. Anyway, even if I let myself be carried away by the conventionalism of waiting until a calendar year ends and another starts to send a lot of good wishes and kind words, I wish for everyone to have a great year, 365 days full of new adventures and good experiences, 12 months charged with good vibes and plenty of moments that take your breath away, 52 weeks with love, health and good will.

I've heard a lot of concern from the people around me about economic recession and crisis, but I think that these times must be times to forgive and forget, to rejoice with hope and to firmly believe that no matter how hard and difficult times can get, it is always darker right before dawn.

Even when everything seems harder, we don't have another choice than keep working hard to move on and overcome this so-called crisis. Even when news seem to bomb us out with a lot of tragedies and bad events like oncoming war and deaths, we have a lot of reasons to keep faith. First of all, we are alive, and that what it matters. Anyone can say I'm a darn dreamer, but what can we do if not looking at a half-full glass?

Have fun everybody, and receive the warmest wishes from my heart! Thanks for being part of my life in one way or another!

Love,

Hallie