Oct 31, 2006

Amos Lee - Keep it loose, keep it tight

Recently discovered this artist and I'm hooked. I love his voice, his lyrics, his music. If anyone out there has not heard some of his tunes here's a little taster to whet your appetite. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Oct 29, 2006

BREATH LIFE INTO AN OLD STORY



Sometimes, as I lay down on my bed, or while driving to work, I wish that I could transfer the dozen of thoughts that rush through my brain right onto paper. I often catch myself by surprise once I have realized that I unexpectedly had an engaging, perhaps philosophical thought and the way in which my brain verbalizes it at that particular moment can never be fully duplicated when I actually go to put it down (type it up). I hate that. I feel like my brain has these little spells of “genius” and I am not capturing them properly. Why?

Well, nothing “genius” in this blog, I’m afraid;)

Life in the last couple of months seemed to have rushed by me so damn quickly. Granted things have been extremely hectic both at home and at work, feeling at times as if I was in a heated jungle filled with psychotic monkeys jumping erratically around me. Nonetheless, time is without a doubt going by faster. It doesn’t necessarily bother me as long as I remember what I’ve done or how I’ve felt, but if I find that I have scattered memories of my days then, and only then, I feel somewhat melancholic. I can’t pretend to be the type of person that ‘savours’ every minute of her day but I certainly pay attention to details and try to build a more generally solid whole to better who I am. Clearly I don’t always succeed and mistakes are often made but I can confidently say that as flawed individual as I am, my fractured heart still beats in the right direction and I’m still more human than I give myself credit for.

I was driving to work the other morning and as I’m slowing down on Shelbourne Street my eyes suddenly fell on this 9ish, maybe ten-year-old, girl who’s walking on the sidewalk. She glanced around quickly and then fell on her knees to fill her hands with an assortment of brown leafs which she lifted high in mid air only to let those same leafs fall all over herself. I saw, in that particular moment, a naive look in her eyes I once shared and for a split second I was envious and longing for that same ‘carefree’, ‘debonair’ mental state. I guess at 34, slightly cynical, I am not naive anymore but I am still able to see that life IS beautiful. After all the punches, and the tears, and the disappointments we endure in the course of our days we can still find a way to appreciate this journey we’re on with a conviction that it doesn't end here. With the bad there is always some good and viceversa, even when we are temporarily blinded, or temporarily withdrawn from humanity and the world surroundings. The greatest gift of life (aside from the obvious: family, friends etc) is that tomorrow is a new day and we are given another chance.

Yesterday I spent a few hours with mamma and Heiddy. We went shopping for a bit (mamma, mi devi dare quella borsa di Chanel) and then made a stop by Zambri for a bite to eat. It was nice! My day started off on a low note and spending time with them brought back the sunshine in an otherwise thwarted day. Heiddy shared some candid, up lifting words with me, words that only those who truly care would share, and my mom, as always, has a way of taking away those monsters and restore peace and security in my heart. O, the love of a mother has great powers.

On another subject, I want to share some thoughts regarding the band ‘Pussycat dolls’ simply because I caught myself twice in the course of a week captivated by their videos. Although they have catchy songs I am definitely not going to rush out to the store to buy their CDs but I have to say their music videos are clever. All of their videos include heavy breathing, bouncing boobies and shaken’ booties; a cocktail of ingredients that [unfortunately] sells (whether we want to admit it or not). Beautiful, flawless bodies moving and curving in all kinds of sexy shapes – whoever is behind this band knows a thing or two about marketing, as well as the fact that this reality has existed for thousands of years.

In other news, I went to see “Death of a President” last night. There has been so much controversy about this movie that I had to check it myself. Although, it isn’t completely clear as to what the message of this movie is, I found myself thinking that perhaps it’s time to give Bush a break. By no means I am a Bush supporter – in fact quite the contrary, HOWEVER I can’t deny not agreeing with him on a couple of subjects and even if the motivation behind some of his policies is not well found we still need someone to prevent a colossal disaster from happening – which means, if not careful, democracy and freedom will fade away, and not because of George Bush.

Oriana Fallaci, a great Italian journalist and historian who had very strong opinions when it came to Bush and wars and the west and Islam, once said: “The moment you give up your principles, and your values, you are dead, your culture is dead, your civilization is dead. Period.”

I don’t stand behind those pacifists’ radicals who are out there screaming for peace in the comfort of their “democratic” country and contribute to the resurgent antisemitism, crying only over Palestinian deaths while playing down Israeli deaths. Undeniably a life is a life, always, but wouldn’t you want to see a Tyrant who's threatening your freedom and the freedom of your children gone? Did anyone cry when Hitler [presumably] shot himself? The unfortunate thing here is that unlike the fascism movement where we could ultimately pin point one individual, today we have a party which hides their barbarian actions behind a religion, a religion that teaches hate and violence.

http://www.giselle.com/oriana.html

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003191

Well, I think I’ll sign off on that note, hoping and dreaming of a better/safer world for my child, for all our children; hoping for more kindness and less anger, for more compassion and less loneliness; hoping for the realization of mankind that peace doesn’t come without some objectionable actions.

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”