Toast

“Insert Blog Here”

Again, sorry if you came looking for an update on my life….this video clearly isnt about me, i just happen to think its excellent. Well done Florence, another infectious tune and an exquisite video.

 

 And, as you have no doubt just discovered embedding is “disabled by request”….ahh well, if your interested, follow the link…..if your not, well have a browse instead…..im sure you should be doing something productive so feel free to waste some more time picking over my intimate thoughts…much love to you all.

 Quote Of The Day:   (very apt considering the above)

 “Nothing will come of nothing”     (King Lear)

Make Tea Not War…..

As the days tick away to Christmas and the temperature drops, time spent outside is less and less.

Who wants to traipse through mud, puddles and icy blasts of wind…..well, certainly not me.

It seems that large portions of my free time is now spent in the window seat at home, curled up with a book and watching the weather whip up and down the valley, swirling great torrents of golden crispy leaves up into the marbled skies.

Of course, essential equipment for such sitting is, as everyone knows a nice cup of tea. A comforting cup of hot and delicious liquid to take away the chill from the depths of the soul….usually, i drink PG , but recently, in an attempt to improve my skin, (which it has) i switched to Japanese Green Tea……apart from clearing up my complexion, it seems to help me relax and think clearer……Which brings me to the title of todays blog, “Make Tea Not War”.

A curious title you may think, but after reading endless poems by Wilfred Owen and breaking them down into understandable chunks i seem to have developed a rather strong anti-war feeling. Which strikes me as odd considering that i was all for war…..well….war in the sense that would secure gas, oil and other natural deposits for our future use, all that untapped mineral wealth was after all…. going to waste. But now theres nothing i would like more, then to see us out of there as quickly as possible…and back home…safe.

But how would we manage without oil and coal….things that the middle east can offer in abundance…..green technology has yet to reach a level where we can be dependant on it…..so, it would appear that the only solution is to so Nuclear. Now, i know what you’re going to say…that its bad…could cause more damage than good…..a security threat….well yes it is all of those things, but right now its one of the cleanest sources available.

So judge me if you will for being pro-nuclear, but there wont be oil for long….and then what…a life scrubbing around on the barren surface of our planet…with no more heat, light or power to light the way. Join me, make a cup of tea, take a look out of the window….you might be surprised.

Quote Of The Day:

” All migrants from green fields intent on mire”

Wilfred Owen (The Show)

People Who Live In Glass Houses…

…Should Never Throw Stones.

Todays little slice of college life, begins with the story of one of my closest friends, who has recently fallen head over heels in love with a bright intelligent girl in his french class. We all couldnt be happier for them both.

However unbeknownst to us a shark was circling, admiring the fresh love that hung in the air like a haze of blood….waiting for the moment, the opportunity to sink its teeth and tear at their hearts. The beast is what we once called a friend, a companion….but who through her own actions doomed herself to a life of exile within the college.

The initial separation i could liken to a glass being dropped in a room full of people without any shoes on….bits of our lives soon began to be trod into the carpet, secrets exposed and truths told….a brick was thrown and a fight ensued. Then came the week of silence and the glares from the dearly departed who set her family upon us….trying to save face when she had already lost.

We cast her adrift into the cesspool and she became a free agent, stalking the undergrowth looking for a new group of people to latch onto…..and she picked the girl from french and her friends, sinking her teeth into the young love spreading poison and lies…polluting the un-tainted waters.

So, a question…..do we once again force her away and risk a repeat of these past few weeks….there are still a few big secrets lurking out there….or …do we let her continue and hope that A is resistant to anything J might have to say.

Well even though i would like to keep all my glasses safety in the cupboard, out of harms way….to protect a friend, maybe a few smashed glasses and cut feet would be a small price to pay for their resulting happiness.

Thought Of The Day: (really surprised there could be so many)

“The innocent and beautiful have no enemy but time”

W.B Yeats

A Little Longer…

I was in the shower the other day, and it struck me that films are getting shorter and worryingly more sketchy on the details, asking us to accept whats happening without really  seeing it happen.

 

 

 Years ago, there would have been a lengthy dramatic scene in which the killer stalked his prey, crept into the dimly lit study, flexing the length of wire in his hands…thats how murders used to be…now its all “oh, he’s dead“. Most times when i walk into the local cinema, i often emerge thinking……thats was  all well and good, but most of that was in the trailier…the rest of the film was…well, filler.

Of course, some films are allowed to be a bit sketchy on the details, films like Donnie Darko, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Metropolis….but they are only allowed to do it because the vagueness is a key ingredient of the story…RHPS for example, the plot there is merely a vehicle to get to the next superb song…..and I dont know a single person who claims to fully understand Donnie Darko.

So, here is a person hoping for shorter trailers…..and perhaps longer films…….just a clue guys, save some of the stuff for the actual film…ok

(going to see 2012 next Wednesday….hopefully it wont disappoint)

Thought Of The Day: (how long can i actually keep this up?)

“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music”

Almost a Post..

Today, i bring you this video, a marvelous bit of Mitchel and Webb for your viewing pleasure.

Something to pacify you until my “Objective: Oil” post is finished and ready for viewing, so untill next time, i bid you farewell.

Thought of the day:  (thats right its back…..drumroll please)

“I haven’t been to sleep for over a year. thats why i go to bed early………One needs more rest if one doesnt sleep”

Evelyn Waugh

Lupe Vélez

Have you ever heard the story of Lupe Vélez….well i hadnt until the other day, and it kinda stuck with me, so…i thought i would tell you all as well.

Lupe had a spectacular career, won awards and had her fair share of troubles….eventually, after disappearing from the limelight and several very public and personal incidents, she decided to take her life.

She decided that to match her career, her death should be equally magnificent, she hired a makeup artist to do her hair and nails, dressed in her finest night-clothes. She arranged the scene, billowing white curtains, the sound of the sea, crisp fresh bed linen, candlelight. A suicide so beautiful it would appear in every newspaper across the world, carrying her picture. Her beauty frozen in death.

Unfortunately, the drugs Lupe had chosen to end her life with, didnt mix particularly well with her final meal. “reputedly a Burrito” and as she lay there waiting……….she began to feel sick, she panicked and ran to the bathroom, slipped on the tiles and landed head first in the toilet…..and that was how she died, and how she was found the next morning.

Some say that she failed in her goal, to be remembered by the world, but will you ever forget her story?

 No i didnt think so……

Smile…It Confuses People

Smiling, an expression of joy, an expression of empathy….or a simple mask to draw over the sorrows of the soul…(very profound)      Today was a day for masks, a day for blinds and curtains, a day to hide the truth.

The truth is a dangerous thing, it is often said……but that depends on the scope of the truth, a simple truth like “yes, i did eat the last biscuit” is not very dangerous at all, but ”i love you” is an altogether different and more dangerous thing.

Another dangerous question, was the one posed to me today, the outcome of which would either change my life or let it carry on in the way it has done for the past 17 years……i dont want to be an outcast……So i started the smoke, and maneuvered the mirrors, and the truth was swept away with…a smile.

So…..smile and see what happens.  You know what they say:   

“Cards for sorrow and cards for pain“

Unatainable Utopia

Utopia, the ideal civilization, the perfect place, where people co-exist despite religion, despite ethnicity and despite prejudices…..Utopia the myth.

Over the years people belive they have created a Utopia,  an ideal way of  life, but Utopia by nature is doomed….not through mistake or error by its planners, but by natural flaw.  Mankind, the super species, the leaders of this planet….are flawed, it is hardwired into us, the desire to protect, the desire for wealth…..jealosy and gluttony all factors of daily life that would make Utopia impossible.

Every Utopia is destined to fail, we can simply look at popular culture to see the failing of Utopia, ideal civilisations run amok, governed by greed, lacking morals and becoming hellish places. Contrasting the ideal they aimed to achieve. Psychologists suggest that if Utopia were to be achieved it would be for a second generation of residents, children, who from birth within the system were educated without the external influences that corrupted humanity eventually leading to a belief in the system and they would exhibit none of the attitudes of their parents, they would have in essence evolved.

Of course the above theory only works if the system isnt flawed, and relies on separation from parental influences…which deprives the child from that experience …so maybe only the third generation of inhabitants would be truly evolved and able to appreciate the value of Utopia. If this plan were to be implemented then some sort of computer program would be required, a program that planned to sustain Utopia for thousands of years eventually creating a psychological pure unit, not clouded by negative influences, given the ideal childhood…a pure, clean state of mind.

Im not sure i would want Utopia….for all its failings, life is what makes us who we are.

Some thoughts from Andrew Ryan:

Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow.

No says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor.

No says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God.

No says the man in Moscow, it belongs to the everyone.

I rejected those answers….. instead i chose something different.

I chose the impossible…….I chose Rapture.

A city where the artist need not fear the censor.

Where the scientist need not be bound by petty morality.

Where the great would not be constrained by the small.

And with the sweat of your brow……Rapture can be your city as well.

Scarf Addiction…

Yes, i confess…im a scarfoholic, whatever the weather, first of november onwards is scarf time! (i even have a draw for them all..how sad is that)

Scarf season is my favorite time of the year..time to wrap up warm, with layers and over sized scarfs to distance the cold crisp mornings from the soft pale flesh beneath.                                                                                                                For example, this years Winter purchases: Black skinny jeans, coarse knitt navy blue cardigan, houndstooth scarf, olive green hoodie and a pair of Merrino wool burgandy gloves, that go beatiufully with my black FP coat.        (what can i say, i work…..a lot)        Theres just somthing luxurious about winter,  pure wool jumpers, thick knitted scarves, and the smell of chocolate, spices and ice…that all culminate to make winter the most perfect time of the year….well for me anyway.

Recently, i have discovered the phenomenon that is…LOOKBOOK…and i love it, the individual fashion, the confidence and the beautifull people…..But its quite dangerous,  it stirs the clothing monster within me, the thing that wants every sumptous cashmere jumper that my hand brushes…..but no, i must supress the beast…and return to sanity…adiue my clothing companions…adiue