Dream Roomspiration: Folded Books
Would you decorate with folded books?
Barbie would!
Enjoy!
Kisses, m.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Dream Roomspiration: Folded Books
Books are always a provocative way to learn... how about inventing a new decor that's artistic with a book?
Sunday, April 20, 2014
D’espresso Cafe
D'espresso Cafe
“Even in today’s digital world, printed books still enjoy a huge fan following. There’s just something about holding a real book in your hand, wondering about the author, the characters, and the hands that might have held it before you. Nemaworkshop, a New York-based collective of architects, designers and thinkers, tapped into this bibliophilia with their design concept for the second location of D’espresso, a trendy coffee shop located on Madison adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. Using uniquely printed tiles, the designers turned the entire cafe on its side, giving customers the feeling of being in a bookstore owned by Alice and the Mad Hatter.” (Via/| Inhabitat New York City)
Would you have a cup of coffee with your favorite doll or ken in this cafe?
Barbie would!
Enjoy!
Kisses, m.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Dream Roomspiration: Bookcases
Do you read what's on your bookcase? Or just look at photo books? Use a bookcase to upgrade your interior!
Dream Roomspiration: Bookcases
Do you like to sit and admire bookcases? Barbie knows you do! Decorate with one!
Enjoy!
Kisses, m.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Dream Roomspiration: The Bath Tub
Hey Dolls and Kens!
Would you treat your sexy beast to a bubble bath in one of these?
Do you feel like a sexy beast when you get into the bath tub. Then why not do it with a bit of flair, finesse and luxury! There's nothing wrong with showing your birthday suit a little love after you got dirty in it... You grew up into it and have to maintain it! Love yourself the most with the best bath tub for your new skin!
Dream Roomspiration: The Bath Tub
Would you treat your sexy beast to a bubble bath in one of these?
Barbie would!
Enjoy!
Kisses, m.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Dream Roomspiration: Books
Barbie knows that the best release of your imagination is the realization of your creativity and there's nothing quite like reading a challenging book to rev up your mind. But can it inspire your decor?
Dream Roomspiration: Books
Do you use books in your decorating?
Barbie does!
Enjoy!
Kisses, m.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
We Tell Ourselves Stories...
We Tell Ourselves Stories…
We tell ourselves stories in order to live. The princess is caged in the consulate. The man with the candy will lead the children into the sea. The naked woman on the ledge outside the window on the sixteenth floor is a victim of accidie, or the naked woman is an exhibitionist, and it would be “interesting” to know which. We tell ourselves that it makes some difference whether the naked woman is about to commit a mortal sin or is about to register a political protest or is about to be, the Aristophanic view, snatched back to the human condition by the fireman in the priest’s clothing just visible in the window behind her, the one smiling at the telephoto lens. We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the “ideas” with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.
Or at least we do for a while.
The White Album – Joan Didion.
We tell ourselves stories in order to live. We make excuses to survive. We apologize for things that do not matter. We tolerate people and things because we are so afraid of losing approval. This is our society. And we are co-dependent.
This is what society does. Looks for another way to see things. A justification for everything that is wrong in the world. There must be a better way to see it. Just like the celluloid. Everything has a happy ending as opposed to the reality. In the screen adaptation of reality the man shooting people in a bank becomes a martyr. Spin the truth a little more. It’s still the truth even if we tell the story differently. Then the man becomes a woman. Don’t worry there’s no way they’ll notice the difference. Except in reality there is no spinning truth. The truth is a sharp-edged sword that will find a way to reveal itself no matter how many excuses you make to change what is.
Someone says that it’s necessary to make an excuse to live. You should never make an excuse to do anything, especially to live. Find a reason to live. Need a little help finding it? Look in the mirror. Learn to appreciate what is. It may be hard to believe but there is happiness. And it has nothing to do with magic.
Finding a reason and making an excuse are not the same thing. Excuses are like apologies. The kind of justifications you make when you are late for work, or forget an important date. You make them because you are afraid. Afraid of losing something. Approval. It is sad when you see people making excuses for everything to avoid truly living.
Unnecessary apologies made after choosing to make the same mistake over and over again. If you plan on continuing to the do the same thing over and over why do you make them? In order to make yourself appreciate barely living? What kind of life is that? It isn’t fair to you. You should never allow yourself to endure a life that is “just good enough” until something better happens to you. Why? Because you will always wonder about more and envy others. By living this “just good enough” standard, getting by becomes your status quo. Your desire for more becomes less of reality because you aren’t making what you want a reality.
Think about what you want. Think of your goals, dreams, and plans. Without spinning the story or making an excuse, is any of it feasible?
At some point you have to break free from the illusions of fame, wealth and power. These are the things that will destroy you. If you are doing something for any of those things… then you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. What you do and say is not all fodder for a reality show or the next big summer blockbuster. That’s a nice American Dream where we all drive expensive cars, flash our cash, look like supermodels, watch ourselves on TV and have great big houses. But that isn’t reality. When will you wake up from the Great American Sleep? There is a life outside of the dream. It’s up to you to reach for it.
It’s okay to tell ourselves stories… but only for a little while. Instead of pretending and making excuses, try pursuing what you want. There is no happy ending unless you let there be one. You can tell yourself a thousand different things but that will not change what is actually happening.
-m.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! And a little Murder for Christmas too.
Still love this image and sorry about the Christmas cards this year... KISSES! Anyhoo still felt like leaving a small little something for you... A little murder for Christmas. It’s seems like a bit of a tradition. Don't you think? Any traditions?
Mommy can I go out and kill tonight? Indeed... Delving into darkness once again.
Anyhow, hope EVERYONE had a Happy Christmas Eve and has a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Enjoy. Kisses. m.
Whisper.
Whisper.
“Go ahead and whisper. It won’t help any. I can hear every word you’re saying.”
“This is going to be so much fun when we finish cutting your throat. No one will ever notice you were here.”
This is going to be lots of fun.
“And when we’re done here, we can go out and play.”
“She likes to play outside.”
Outside. Means different things to people. A lot of things can happen on the outside. But there’s so much more on the inside than meets the naked eye.
You have no idea how much can go on in the inside.
“Fiona” she calls out the name that the small child responds to.
Fiona turns and stands above a small hole in the ground that she has been attending to for nearly half an hour. The child runs across the bright green lawn toward us. There are a handful of flowers in her hair that fall with her steps. As she approaches it is clear that there a handful of rust colored stains running down the front of her gingham dress. These match the color staining both her hands.
It’s remarkable the likeness of the child to her mother. I’ve known Matilda since childhood and still find the same auburn hair and hazel eyes that greet me upon introduction remarkable.
Harmless is the first thing that comes to mind when you look upon the face of a child. Fiona was no different. In this case it would be quite an inappropriate assumption. And often angelic would be the term her mother use in conversation. It wasn’t a surprise that she deemed the child heavenly… to strangers.
Waiting.
“Moving in the dark. I’m out here in the dark.”
Outside?
“In the front yard. You should come outside. It will be lonely out here if you don’t. Don’t you want to play anymore?”
I want to play.
“Good. Let’s go.”
“Fiona, darling I’m so pleased to meet you. How are you today?”
“I’m fine. Mommy, can I go back and play?
“Yes dear. What are you doing?”
“Stringing daisies on a chain. Would you like to see?”
“No thank you. You may go back and play.”
The small girl runs back out across the open yard and begins to attend to the small hole in the ground. She takes stick and pushes it in and out of the hold rapidly. When she pulls the stick out there’s that same unmistakable rust color coating the stick. Only its brighter and wet. Slowly she bends down and places both hands in the hole before looking at her mother for approval.
With a nod Matilda consents and the child resumes her play. Down falls the ring of daisies into the hole and Fiona makes no move to reclaim them. Inside both hands delve downward into the opening to drag out an object in plain sight.
See.
“I’m watching beneath the windows.”
Can you see inside?
“It’s okay. We can look inside.”
They won’t mind if we go inside?
“Come on.”
“The child has no right to live.”
“You have no right to make that judgment.”
“What of the other people? She’s… k-k-k…”
“She’s harmless.”
“That’s not what happened…”
“Fiona didn’t do anything. It isn’t...”
As Matilda sits in denial before me I can visually see the child taking the sharp end of the stick and pushing it into a small object. The size and mass make the object about the size of a small animal. From the short distance away I can make out the rising and falling of the object. It’s breathing between stabs. Short increments of shove and release without any sound of pain. Only the signs of torment lay before my eyes.
Open.
“Watch carefully. This is how you do it. When you hear it click that means the lock is opening.”
Push it open?
“Go inside.”
Oh yes, this is a fun game.
“Yeah. My mommy taught me how to do that.”
“I think you should leave now.”
“What do you think she’s doing?”
“She’s curious for Pete’s sake. She’s playing with something she found in the yard.”
“That’s not something. It’s too big.”
“It’s probably a dead bird. So what if she found that? Allan you were a child once.”
“There’s no way it’s a bird. Likely a kitten or a small dog. Didn’t you have a dog?”
“Fiona honey, leave that alone now. Come to Mommy.” She calls the child in before sneering at me. Smiling and talking between her teeth she continues. “We’re through talking. Leave.”
“Matilda… I think we have a problem. I’m going to call someone…”
“Go ahead. There’s nothing you can say.”
“Then I am sorry. And you’re right it’s time I was leaving.”
Whisper.
“It’s too late.”
You’re awake.
“Keep slicing into the front of his neck and he won’t be able to scream.”
I’m glad you’re awake. And don’t bother trying to move.
“That’s a really good job you did tying him up.”
Thank you.
“Keep cutting…. Allan, you’re a very bad man and you hurt my Mommy’s feelings today. It’s such a shame that you won’t be able to call anyone anymore. But you can’t come to my house and talk to my Mommy like that.”
You should have apologized.
“Yes you should have and she said you weren’t going to. And I couldn’t have let you talk to anyone about Fifi and me. Mommy says it’s okay that no one can see her. It’s ok that Fifi has to do these things.”
Ok.
“So Allan we’re not asking. We’re making sure you never talk to anyone ever again. Fifi keep cutting... Move a little lower though. I’m not through talking to him.”
There’s nothing to talk about. Let’s end this.
“That’s just as well.”
Finish him?
“Yes. I’m ready to go out and play now. Goodbye Allan.”
Both sadness and madness lies beneath that angelic exterior. Dueling beneath the surface. A small demon set forth upon the world to wreck havoc. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it now…
Mommy can I go out and kill tonight?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Authentic Life
The Authentic Life
“The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard defines dread as the knowledge of what you must do to prove you’re free, even if it will destroy you. His example is Adam in the Garden of Eden, happy and content until God shows him the Tree of Knowledge and says, “Don’t eat this.” Now Adam is no longer free. There is one rule he can break, he must break, to prove his freedom, even if it destroys him. Kierkegaard says the moment we are forbidden to do something, we will do it. It is inevitable.
Monkey think, monkey do.
According to Kierkegaard, the person who allows the law to control his life, who says the possible isn’t possible because it is illegal, is leading an inauthentic life.
As Kierkegaard would say, every time we see what’s possible, we make it happen. We make it inevitable.
What’s coming is a million new reasons not to live your life. You can deny your possibility to succeed and blame it on something else. You can fight against everything… everything you pretend keeps you down. You can live Kierkegaard’s inauthentic life. Or you can make what Kierkegaard called your Leap of Faith, where you stop living as a reaction to circumstances and start living as a force for what you say should be.
What’s coming is a million reasons to go ahead.”
Monkey think, Monkey do. Stranger Than Fiction – Chuck Palahniuk.
Breaking laws to prove you’re free. Jumping the fence that says ‘no trespassing’ because you can. If something is possible does that necessarily mean inevitable? Tricky. Man has always challenged what is said to be impossible. What man can not do, he seeks out ways to defy and succeeds by challenging the rules to obtain freedom from restrictions.
If you think this endorses you to just go out and break any law, willy-nilly, then you’ve missed the point. Question why the law is there to begin with and comprehend why you have an opposition to it. Use your mind, not your reaction. Understand why you choose to break the law before breaking it. Unmanageable anarchy is not complete freedom. Riots are dangerous, created without order or purpose. Masses are a contained manifestation challenging the system. Rules are meant to be challenged and broken. This is why the constitution is amendable. Every system is flawed. Even the founding fathers knew that when they created this one. Dare to change, because you can. All revolutions start with a basic conviction behind them. Find it. Develop it. Represent it. Stand for what you love. Sacrifice yourself, doing it.
With everything, the roles can be reversed to benefit another side. Kierkegaard’s principle has negative connotations as well that I will not discuss in an avoidance of endorsing such things. Not that it will make them any less inevitable. That is the point isn’t it? Does what I put out there have the possibility of becoming certain? Does writing about a man with a gun shooting people, put the idea into action? Or making movie about a man dressed as a bat fighting crime dictate that there should be vigilante justice? Terrorism, Domestic violence, Hate crimes, Pedophiles, AIDS, Drugs, Muggings, Shootings, Rapes, etc. are often the by-products of imagination. Does this mean books and movies are bad? Fahrenheit 451… anyone?
Is this where society is? Afraid to live because something ‘might’ happen that we don’t want. Anti-theft devices are created to deter, instead they promote stealing to evolve to solve the problem. This same idea can be applied to weapons and wars. We want to know what will happen next so we can stop it if it isn’t what is ideal. I call this the “QUICK! Shoot it and kill it, before it attacks us first” mentality. If this is how we are thinking, then we are truly only working against ourselves. Use your mind not your reaction. Once we stop dreading the inevitable and let it happen, then we are free and most of the time it won’t destroy us. Just have to be willing to let it.
-m.
“The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard defines dread as the knowledge of what you must do to prove you’re free, even if it will destroy you. His example is Adam in the Garden of Eden, happy and content until God shows him the Tree of Knowledge and says, “Don’t eat this.” Now Adam is no longer free. There is one rule he can break, he must break, to prove his freedom, even if it destroys him. Kierkegaard says the moment we are forbidden to do something, we will do it. It is inevitable.
Monkey think, monkey do.
According to Kierkegaard, the person who allows the law to control his life, who says the possible isn’t possible because it is illegal, is leading an inauthentic life.
As Kierkegaard would say, every time we see what’s possible, we make it happen. We make it inevitable.
What’s coming is a million new reasons not to live your life. You can deny your possibility to succeed and blame it on something else. You can fight against everything… everything you pretend keeps you down. You can live Kierkegaard’s inauthentic life. Or you can make what Kierkegaard called your Leap of Faith, where you stop living as a reaction to circumstances and start living as a force for what you say should be.
What’s coming is a million reasons to go ahead.”
Monkey think, Monkey do. Stranger Than Fiction – Chuck Palahniuk.
Breaking laws to prove you’re free. Jumping the fence that says ‘no trespassing’ because you can. If something is possible does that necessarily mean inevitable? Tricky. Man has always challenged what is said to be impossible. What man can not do, he seeks out ways to defy and succeeds by challenging the rules to obtain freedom from restrictions.
If you think this endorses you to just go out and break any law, willy-nilly, then you’ve missed the point. Question why the law is there to begin with and comprehend why you have an opposition to it. Use your mind, not your reaction. Understand why you choose to break the law before breaking it. Unmanageable anarchy is not complete freedom. Riots are dangerous, created without order or purpose. Masses are a contained manifestation challenging the system. Rules are meant to be challenged and broken. This is why the constitution is amendable. Every system is flawed. Even the founding fathers knew that when they created this one. Dare to change, because you can. All revolutions start with a basic conviction behind them. Find it. Develop it. Represent it. Stand for what you love. Sacrifice yourself, doing it.
With everything, the roles can be reversed to benefit another side. Kierkegaard’s principle has negative connotations as well that I will not discuss in an avoidance of endorsing such things. Not that it will make them any less inevitable. That is the point isn’t it? Does what I put out there have the possibility of becoming certain? Does writing about a man with a gun shooting people, put the idea into action? Or making movie about a man dressed as a bat fighting crime dictate that there should be vigilante justice? Terrorism, Domestic violence, Hate crimes, Pedophiles, AIDS, Drugs, Muggings, Shootings, Rapes, etc. are often the by-products of imagination. Does this mean books and movies are bad? Fahrenheit 451… anyone?
Is this where society is? Afraid to live because something ‘might’ happen that we don’t want. Anti-theft devices are created to deter, instead they promote stealing to evolve to solve the problem. This same idea can be applied to weapons and wars. We want to know what will happen next so we can stop it if it isn’t what is ideal. I call this the “QUICK! Shoot it and kill it, before it attacks us first” mentality. If this is how we are thinking, then we are truly only working against ourselves. Use your mind not your reaction. Once we stop dreading the inevitable and let it happen, then we are free and most of the time it won’t destroy us. Just have to be willing to let it.
-m.
Friday, August 6, 2010
I am…
I am an emotional creature. . .
I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE... -Eve Ensler.
Eve Ensler is the woman that wrote “The Vagina Monologues” and probably one of the most influential feminists in the world today. Her performances and words are powerful. If you have a chance catch the V-day Monologues. Everyone can take something away from them. The stories carry so much enthusiasm for empowerment among women. It truly is something to take in and I highly recommend it. In the last six months, (Feb 2010) her new book was published “I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE: The Secret Life of Girls around the World.”
In Emotional Creature, Ensler has produced stories that hold the perspective of countless unspoken young girls. Future generations of women. They have an opinion. It is valid. The stories reflect those unspoken ideas and generate a unified loyalty. It can be said that this is the first step towards empowering our youth. Making these girls understand that they have a voice. They can change the world. They are not a minority and they will never have to be victims. Being a feminist does not mean you are against anything. It is simply that you are pro-female. You value and respect your peers.
Today I briefly watched a talk show where two young women called themselves friends but hated each other. Rather than work to help and support each other the pair did nothing but attack each other in every way possible to inflict pain. The thought of this was completely confounding. I can’t help but wonder if they had had better role models or read something empowering perhaps these women could realize that they only hurt themselves when they reach out to hurt each other.
The youth is lost and they feel alone. They are not isolated. The need to… It’s extremely important that they find a way to connect. These poems and excerpts will hold meaning for all girls, young and old. In this manner, Ensler’s book is important. So important there are now TV spots promoting the book. Take a look at MTV for several spots. They include several young actresses reading pieces from the book.
The book is a long awaited breath of fresh air that will empower a younger generation of women to celebrate their similarities and individualities. It is important that there is a unifying connection for them.
MTV Spot: I dance. f/Jessica Stroup.
Two book excerpts:
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wakefulness.
Wakefulness
Wakefulness is the way to life.
The fool sleeps
As if he were already dead,
But the master is awake
And he lives forever.
He watches.
He is clear.
How happy he is!
For he sees that wakefulness is life.
How happy he is,
Following the path of the awakened.
With great perseverance
He meditates, seeking
Freedom and happiness.
So awake, reflect, watch.
Work with care and attention.
Live in the way
And the light will grow in you.
By watching and working
The master makes for himself an island
Which the flood cannot overwhelm.
The fool is careless.
But the master guards his watching.
It is his most precious treasure.
He never gives in to desire.
He meditates.
And in the strength of his resolve
He discovers true happiness.
He overcomes desire -
And from the tower of his wisdom
He looks down with dispassion
Upon the sorrowing crowd.
From the mountain top
He looks down at those
Who live close to the ground.
Mindful among the mindless,
Awake while others dream,
Swift as the race horse
He outstrips the field.
By watching
Indra became king of the gods.
How wonderful it is to watch.
How foolish to sleep.
The beggar who guards his mind
And fears the waywardness of his thoughts
Burns through every bond
With the fire of his vigilance.
The beggar who guards his mind
And fears his own confusion
Cannot fall.
He has found his way to peace.
Taken from The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
Only a fool sleeps when the rest of the world is awake. Please think larger. Kierkegaard isn’t simply about breaking laws. There are those afraid and foolishly not willing to see things outside of what they know. Accepting what is in front of them without being willing to try, ‘TO DO’ something new. Unwilling to attempt anything foreign because it represents the unknown. Ignorant. With eyes tightly closed. Aggressive. Fists clenched ready to strike. Immature. Like a little child with a hard lump in the throat.
Change… Change... Sigh. Took three extra breathes on that one. This is hard cause I like the unknown. To be perfectly honest, there are no go-backs and very few opportunities to re-do in life. If you focus on what you’ve left behind you can not see what lies ahead. Change, as luck would have it is a little like flipping a coin. You never know exactly what will happen. Yet it isn’t that bad either way. And I know a few people who don’t believe in fate or chance. But life is very much chaos and a gamble.
Waking up is unknown and a gamble. Please don’t crawl back into bed after I say this… Today, tomorrow or next Tuesday could be the last day for any one of us to be alive. There is nothing you can do to stop the day from happening. Even staying in bed could have adverse consequences. You could be avoiding a car accident but lose your job by not showing up. Or you could get up; watch the road - particularly the other guy - and show up on time then work your ass off. The point being you could spend this last day hiding out from it all or embrace the world. Live it up surrounded by everything with your eyes wide open. Don’t believe me? Talk to someone dying of a terminal disease. Understand?
Yes, there are things out of your control. My mind conjures up the domino effect when I think of this concept. Ah, but don’t let the idea of it spiral out from fear. Use your mind not your reaction. You can either accept that it is all happening to you or try to take control of the things that are tangible. Things will happen whether you participate or not. Awareness gives you more control of the journey whatever that may be. Once open, you shouldn’t close the door and hide yourself away if you dislike what you discover. Ultimately, what you know and understand about the world is entirely up to you.
*More brain food. Digressed. M.
Wakefulness is the way to life.
The fool sleeps
As if he were already dead,
But the master is awake
And he lives forever.
He watches.
He is clear.
How happy he is!
For he sees that wakefulness is life.
How happy he is,
Following the path of the awakened.
With great perseverance
He meditates, seeking
Freedom and happiness.
So awake, reflect, watch.
Work with care and attention.
Live in the way
And the light will grow in you.
By watching and working
The master makes for himself an island
Which the flood cannot overwhelm.
The fool is careless.
But the master guards his watching.
It is his most precious treasure.
He never gives in to desire.
He meditates.
And in the strength of his resolve
He discovers true happiness.
He overcomes desire -
And from the tower of his wisdom
He looks down with dispassion
Upon the sorrowing crowd.
From the mountain top
He looks down at those
Who live close to the ground.
Mindful among the mindless,
Awake while others dream,
Swift as the race horse
He outstrips the field.
By watching
Indra became king of the gods.
How wonderful it is to watch.
How foolish to sleep.
The beggar who guards his mind
And fears the waywardness of his thoughts
Burns through every bond
With the fire of his vigilance.
The beggar who guards his mind
And fears his own confusion
Cannot fall.
He has found his way to peace.
Taken from The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
Only a fool sleeps when the rest of the world is awake. Please think larger. Kierkegaard isn’t simply about breaking laws. There are those afraid and foolishly not willing to see things outside of what they know. Accepting what is in front of them without being willing to try, ‘TO DO’ something new. Unwilling to attempt anything foreign because it represents the unknown. Ignorant. With eyes tightly closed. Aggressive. Fists clenched ready to strike. Immature. Like a little child with a hard lump in the throat.
Change… Change... Sigh. Took three extra breathes on that one. This is hard cause I like the unknown. To be perfectly honest, there are no go-backs and very few opportunities to re-do in life. If you focus on what you’ve left behind you can not see what lies ahead. Change, as luck would have it is a little like flipping a coin. You never know exactly what will happen. Yet it isn’t that bad either way. And I know a few people who don’t believe in fate or chance. But life is very much chaos and a gamble.
Waking up is unknown and a gamble. Please don’t crawl back into bed after I say this… Today, tomorrow or next Tuesday could be the last day for any one of us to be alive. There is nothing you can do to stop the day from happening. Even staying in bed could have adverse consequences. You could be avoiding a car accident but lose your job by not showing up. Or you could get up; watch the road - particularly the other guy - and show up on time then work your ass off. The point being you could spend this last day hiding out from it all or embrace the world. Live it up surrounded by everything with your eyes wide open. Don’t believe me? Talk to someone dying of a terminal disease. Understand?
Yes, there are things out of your control. My mind conjures up the domino effect when I think of this concept. Ah, but don’t let the idea of it spiral out from fear. Use your mind not your reaction. You can either accept that it is all happening to you or try to take control of the things that are tangible. Things will happen whether you participate or not. Awareness gives you more control of the journey whatever that may be. Once open, you shouldn’t close the door and hide yourself away if you dislike what you discover. Ultimately, what you know and understand about the world is entirely up to you.
*More brain food. Digressed. M.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
If this isn’t nice, what is?
If this isn’t nice, what is?
“The late Uncle Alex Vonnegut, my father’s kid brother, a Harvard educated life insurance agent in Indianapolis who was well read and wise, was a humanist like all the rest of the family. What Uncle Alex found particularly objectionable about human beings in general was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy.
He himself did his best to acknowledge it when times were sweet. We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of an apple tree in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, “If this isn’t nice, what it?”
I myself say that out loud at times of easy, natural bliss: “If this isn’t nice, what is?” Perhaps others can also make use of that heirloom from Uncle Alex. I find it really cheers me up to keep score out loud that way.”
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian – Kurt Vonnegut
“If this isn’t nice, what is?” That is a nice sentiment. Reminds me of my late grandfather. Just something he might have said. It was one of those radiant Saturdays that you had to think: “If this isn’t nice, what is?” This passage was something I’d picked up from some reading a week or so back, while hanging around. *It’s a short read. The thing that got me about it was that often people don’t realize when they are happy. People are happy more often than they might realize.
Alright, this isn’t what comes next (*no hints). But I have a belief that some days are not meant to be spent on the fly. AND I love to write on the fly. That means in between EVERYTHING. Today was such a day and it was lovely. Just lovely. Well… The writing is finally in a good place... actually for a while now. No longer having to lose myself to it/in it. Able to focus without identifying. Of course it took a year to realize… I never needed to. If that makes sense? Needless to say there are more than a handful of things I’ve finished. I’m working to get the Serial piece completed. #4&5 should be up shortly. Anyhow, you know the song… if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. The next thing will be new. m.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Authentic Life
The Authentic Life
“The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard defines dread as the knowledge of what you must do to prove you’re free, even if it will destroy you. His example is Adam in the Garden of Eden, happy and content until God shows him the Tree of Knowledge and says, “Don’t eat this.” Now Adam is no longer free. There is one rule he can break, he must break, to prove his freedom, even if it destroys him. Kierkegaard says the moment we are forbidden to do something, we will do it. It is inevitable.
Monkey think, monkey do.
According to Kierkegaard, the person who allows the law to control his life, who says the possible isn’t possible because it is illegal, is leading an inauthentic life.
As Kierkegaard would say, every time we see what’s possible, we make it happen. We make it inevitable.
What’s coming is a million new reasons not to live your life. You can deny your possibility to succeed and blame it on something else. You can fight against everything… everything you pretend keeps you down. You can live Kierkegaard’s inauthentic life. Or you can make what Kierkegaard called your Leap of Faith, where you stop living as a reaction to circumstances and start living as a force for what you say should be.
What’s coming is a million reasons to go ahead.”
Monkey think, Monkey do. Stranger Than Fiction – Chuck Palahniuk.
Breaking laws to prove you’re free. Jumping the fence that says ‘no trespassing’ because you can. If something is possible does that necessarily mean inevitable? Tricky. Man has always challenged what is said to be impossible. What man can not do, he seeks out ways to defy and succeeds by challenging the rules to obtain freedom from restrictions.
If you think this endorses you to just go out and break any law, willy-nilly, then you’ve missed the point. Question why the law is there to begin with and comprehend why you have an opposition to it. Use your mind, not your reaction. Understand why you choose to break the law before breaking it. Unmanageable anarchy is not complete freedom. Riots are dangerous, created without order or purpose. Masses are a contained manifestation challenging the system. Rules are meant to be challenged and broken. This is why the constitution is amendable. Every system is flawed. Even the founding fathers knew that when they created this one. Dare to change, because you can. All revolutions start with a basic conviction behind them. Find it. Develop it. Represent it. Stand for what you love. Sacrifice yourself, doing it.
With everything, the roles can be reversed to benefit another side. Kierkegaard’s principle has negative connotations as well that I will not discuss in an avoidance of endorsing such things. Not that it will make them any less inevitable. That is the point isn’t it? Does what I put out there have the possibility of becoming certain? Does writing about a man with a gun shooting people, put the idea into action? Or making movie about a man dressed as a bat fighting crime dictate that there should be vigilante justice? Terrorism, Domestic violence, Hate crimes, Pedophiles, AIDS, Drugs, Muggings, Shootings, Rapes, etc. are often the by-products of imagination. Does this mean books and movies are bad? Fahrenheit 451… anyone?
Is this where society is? Afraid to live because something ‘might’ happen that we don’t want. Anti-theft devices are created to deter, instead they promote stealing to evolve to solve the problem. This same idea can be applied to weapons and wars. We want to know what will happen next so we can stop it if it isn’t what is ideal. I call this the “QUICK! Shoot it and kill it, before it attacks us first” mentality. If this is how we are thinking, then we are truly only working against ourselves. Use your mind not your reaction. Once we stop dreading the inevitable and let it happen, then we are free and most of the time it won’t destroy us. Just have to be willing to let it.
*Food for thought. Something I was amidst last night. Although, not certain if the thought is finished. It is interesting. Sprung out from some reading and research from a few days back. Then somehow ran into the same notion once again. Working on something new... excited to be. M.
“The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard defines dread as the knowledge of what you must do to prove you’re free, even if it will destroy you. His example is Adam in the Garden of Eden, happy and content until God shows him the Tree of Knowledge and says, “Don’t eat this.” Now Adam is no longer free. There is one rule he can break, he must break, to prove his freedom, even if it destroys him. Kierkegaard says the moment we are forbidden to do something, we will do it. It is inevitable.
Monkey think, monkey do.
According to Kierkegaard, the person who allows the law to control his life, who says the possible isn’t possible because it is illegal, is leading an inauthentic life.
As Kierkegaard would say, every time we see what’s possible, we make it happen. We make it inevitable.
What’s coming is a million new reasons not to live your life. You can deny your possibility to succeed and blame it on something else. You can fight against everything… everything you pretend keeps you down. You can live Kierkegaard’s inauthentic life. Or you can make what Kierkegaard called your Leap of Faith, where you stop living as a reaction to circumstances and start living as a force for what you say should be.
What’s coming is a million reasons to go ahead.”
Monkey think, Monkey do. Stranger Than Fiction – Chuck Palahniuk.
Breaking laws to prove you’re free. Jumping the fence that says ‘no trespassing’ because you can. If something is possible does that necessarily mean inevitable? Tricky. Man has always challenged what is said to be impossible. What man can not do, he seeks out ways to defy and succeeds by challenging the rules to obtain freedom from restrictions.
If you think this endorses you to just go out and break any law, willy-nilly, then you’ve missed the point. Question why the law is there to begin with and comprehend why you have an opposition to it. Use your mind, not your reaction. Understand why you choose to break the law before breaking it. Unmanageable anarchy is not complete freedom. Riots are dangerous, created without order or purpose. Masses are a contained manifestation challenging the system. Rules are meant to be challenged and broken. This is why the constitution is amendable. Every system is flawed. Even the founding fathers knew that when they created this one. Dare to change, because you can. All revolutions start with a basic conviction behind them. Find it. Develop it. Represent it. Stand for what you love. Sacrifice yourself, doing it.
With everything, the roles can be reversed to benefit another side. Kierkegaard’s principle has negative connotations as well that I will not discuss in an avoidance of endorsing such things. Not that it will make them any less inevitable. That is the point isn’t it? Does what I put out there have the possibility of becoming certain? Does writing about a man with a gun shooting people, put the idea into action? Or making movie about a man dressed as a bat fighting crime dictate that there should be vigilante justice? Terrorism, Domestic violence, Hate crimes, Pedophiles, AIDS, Drugs, Muggings, Shootings, Rapes, etc. are often the by-products of imagination. Does this mean books and movies are bad? Fahrenheit 451… anyone?
Is this where society is? Afraid to live because something ‘might’ happen that we don’t want. Anti-theft devices are created to deter, instead they promote stealing to evolve to solve the problem. This same idea can be applied to weapons and wars. We want to know what will happen next so we can stop it if it isn’t what is ideal. I call this the “QUICK! Shoot it and kill it, before it attacks us first” mentality. If this is how we are thinking, then we are truly only working against ourselves. Use your mind not your reaction. Once we stop dreading the inevitable and let it happen, then we are free and most of the time it won’t destroy us. Just have to be willing to let it.
*Food for thought. Something I was amidst last night. Although, not certain if the thought is finished. It is interesting. Sprung out from some reading and research from a few days back. Then somehow ran into the same notion once again. Working on something new... excited to be. M.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
This Game of Murder.
Just found the most amazing site ever! For moi at least. See I just adore the old cover art on books and movie posters and this site is like, well it's like heaven! I happened to stay up brainstorming last night and listening to my IPOD so I am happy to say there's some new story ideas. There are two that I'm very eager to begin on immediately. One will probably be up by next week the other... Maybe not until next month? Playing that one by ear. Hint: It takes place in a ring. I think? Still working out the kinks. But it would be interesting if it did not? It isn't the circus, but there is a circus-themed one somewhere that I've not gotten around to...
kisses. m.
PS: *boxing - Shhh! (not modern)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Where the Wild Things Are.
One of my all time favorite books as a child. Cause we're all a little wild inside.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.
SONG: WAKE UP - ARCADE FIRE
I love this so very very much and CAN NOT wait for the movie. Been waiting years for this project to come out! It's something I'm completely loving and looking forward to so I'm sharing it once again. And it's sort of related to where I'm at right now. Look, I'm sorry for the time being there won't always be stories. I'm still sorting out where this is all going right now. Which brings me to where and what I'm writing or rather challenging myself with next. I've gotten a small request. By small I mean, from a child. I'm planning to write a story specifically for a child. I'm told that it is really unfair that we have to be a child sometimes. I think that its a bit unfair that we have to grow up sometimes.
Anyhow, I am returning from forcibly taking a mini break. There's been no writing for a couple days. I'm antsy and feening. The setting of deadlines was the best thing for me. The idea of producing/editing daily in order to create gave me a sense of urgency which was the thing I'd been lacking. Again, there will be more, I've gotten a dozen more things I'm in the midst of fleshing out. AND I really do enjoy myself, regardless if anyone really appreciates any of the fiction, it makes me happy. M.
SONG: WAKE UP - ARCADE FIRE
I love this so very very much and CAN NOT wait for the movie. Been waiting years for this project to come out! It's something I'm completely loving and looking forward to so I'm sharing it once again. And it's sort of related to where I'm at right now. Look, I'm sorry for the time being there won't always be stories. I'm still sorting out where this is all going right now. Which brings me to where and what I'm writing or rather challenging myself with next. I've gotten a small request. By small I mean, from a child. I'm planning to write a story specifically for a child. I'm told that it is really unfair that we have to be a child sometimes. I think that its a bit unfair that we have to grow up sometimes.
Anyhow, I am returning from forcibly taking a mini break. There's been no writing for a couple days. I'm antsy and feening. The setting of deadlines was the best thing for me. The idea of producing/editing daily in order to create gave me a sense of urgency which was the thing I'd been lacking. Again, there will be more, I've gotten a dozen more things I'm in the midst of fleshing out. AND I really do enjoy myself, regardless if anyone really appreciates any of the fiction, it makes me happy. M.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sleep: Dreams & Nightmares.
I wake up screaming!
I was originally going to start a new thing with sleep and dreams cause I wasn't sleeping right. When am I ever? At first I decided against it then I decided back again. For now I loved this pic and yes I have woken up screaming. Who hasn't? It's also a Betty Grable movie. I actually caught it on earlier this morning whilst awake and not sleeping. enjoy. kisses. m.
I was originally going to start a new thing with sleep and dreams cause I wasn't sleeping right. When am I ever? At first I decided against it then I decided back again. For now I loved this pic and yes I have woken up screaming. Who hasn't? It's also a Betty Grable movie. I actually caught it on earlier this morning whilst awake and not sleeping. enjoy. kisses. m.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas.
Murder for Christmas? ANYONE? I came across this in a vintage bookstore the other day and almost fell over laughing at the title. YES, I got SHHH'd from a few people who weren't quite as amused as I. I had to post it now cause I know there won't be time later, and I thought it was too wickedly funny to pass up. Merry Christmas! kisses. m.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Invisible Monsters.
The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person.
When we don't know who to hate, we hate ourselves.
All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.
Don't do what you want. Do what you don't want. Do what you're trained not to want. Do the things that scare you the most.
Hysteria is only possible with an audience.
It happens fast for some people and slow for some, accidents or gravity, but we all end up mutilated.
It's not living alone if you keep a rifle under the bed.
Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I've ever known.
People are all over the world telling their one dramatic story and how their life has turned into getting over this one event. Now their lives are more about the past than their future.
You can't base your life on the past or the present. You have to tell me about your future.
The best way is not to fight it, just go. Don't be trying all the time to fix things. What you run from only stays with you longer. When you fight something, you only make it stronger.
The most boring thing in the entire world is nudity. The second most boring thing is honesty.
The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell them about our own weekend.
When nobody will look at you, you can stare a hole in them. Picking out all the little details you'd never stare long enough to get if she'd ever just return your gaze, this, this is your revenge.
When you don't share your problems, you resent hearing the problems of other people.
When you understand that what you're telling is just a story. It isn't happening anymore. When you realize the story you're telling is just words, when you can just crumble it up and throw your past in the trashcan, then we'll figure out who you're going to be.
Who you are moment to moment is just a story.
Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.
When we don't know who to hate, we hate ourselves.
All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.
Don't do what you want. Do what you don't want. Do what you're trained not to want. Do the things that scare you the most.
Hysteria is only possible with an audience.
It happens fast for some people and slow for some, accidents or gravity, but we all end up mutilated.
It's not living alone if you keep a rifle under the bed.
Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I've ever known.
People are all over the world telling their one dramatic story and how their life has turned into getting over this one event. Now their lives are more about the past than their future.
You can't base your life on the past or the present. You have to tell me about your future.
The best way is not to fight it, just go. Don't be trying all the time to fix things. What you run from only stays with you longer. When you fight something, you only make it stronger.
The most boring thing in the entire world is nudity. The second most boring thing is honesty.
The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell them about our own weekend.
When nobody will look at you, you can stare a hole in them. Picking out all the little details you'd never stare long enough to get if she'd ever just return your gaze, this, this is your revenge.
When you don't share your problems, you resent hearing the problems of other people.
When you understand that what you're telling is just a story. It isn't happening anymore. When you realize the story you're telling is just words, when you can just crumble it up and throw your past in the trashcan, then we'll figure out who you're going to be.
Who you are moment to moment is just a story.
Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.
This obsession with Palahniuk is unforgiving for me. Invisible Monsters is my all time favorite, not for it being the darkest, but for the color and humor. I almost consider it my bible for living. But I'm a strange one, what can you expect? Nothing less from moi, I hope. M.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Griffin and Sabine
Griffin and Sabine
"Griffin Moss is an artist living in London who makes postcards for a living. He is unhappy and lonely, though he is unaware of these feelings. His life is changed forever when he receives a cryptic postcard from Sabine Strohem, a woman he has never met. Like Griffin, she is an artist (she illustrates postage stamps) and comes from a fictional group of small islands in the South Pacific known as the Sicmon Islands"
I discovered these books about 10 yrs ago, roughly, after a friend recommended them. I borrowed them, read them a few times and found that I was hooked. I never did get around to buying them though. Recently I was trying to acquire a set. After a little research I found out that author Nick Bantock has published a more than one trilogy in the series. The artwork is amazing in the books, and the narrative is very inventive and quite romantic. Alright, the unique thing about the story is that it's told through a series of removable letters and postcards between the two main characters. Each postcard represents artwork from the two main characters.
Check these books out if you've never heard about them. Worth the time spent. Enjoy. Kisses. m.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Fight Club
It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.
What would Marilyn Monroe be doing if she were alive right now? Clawing at the lid of her coffin.
If you could be God's worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose?
This is why I loved the support groups so much. If people thought you were dying, they gave you their full attention. If this might be the last time they saw you, they really saw you… People listened instead of just waiting for their turn to speak. And when they spoke, they weren’t telling you a story. When the two of you talked, you were building something, and afterward you were both different than before.
A minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers failed, what does that tell you about God?
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.
I just don't want to die without a few scars.
You know that saying about how you always kill the one you love? It works both ways.
If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?
These are quotes.
They are from fight club.
Have you read the book? Or watched the movie?
So this is like my fave thing, um book, movie... da da da... at this moment. Even though I don't own the book. Anyway, I've been feeling a little out of sorts [normal, again], and I can identify with the urge to completely destroy my present situation just so I can be different again. Destruction begets creation. And I'm totally not sleeping right. When am I? So just the notion of 'what if' I'm really two people makes my head swim. It's a kinda interesting. Twisted? Not really when you think about it. Ever want to destroy something to create something new? Think about it. kisses. m.
What would Marilyn Monroe be doing if she were alive right now? Clawing at the lid of her coffin.
If you could be God's worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose?
This is why I loved the support groups so much. If people thought you were dying, they gave you their full attention. If this might be the last time they saw you, they really saw you… People listened instead of just waiting for their turn to speak. And when they spoke, they weren’t telling you a story. When the two of you talked, you were building something, and afterward you were both different than before.
A minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers failed, what does that tell you about God?
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.
I just don't want to die without a few scars.
You know that saying about how you always kill the one you love? It works both ways.
If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?
These are quotes.
They are from fight club.
Have you read the book? Or watched the movie?
So this is like my fave thing, um book, movie... da da da... at this moment. Even though I don't own the book. Anyway, I've been feeling a little out of sorts [normal, again], and I can identify with the urge to completely destroy my present situation just so I can be different again. Destruction begets creation. And I'm totally not sleeping right. When am I? So just the notion of 'what if' I'm really two people makes my head swim. It's a kinda interesting. Twisted? Not really when you think about it. Ever want to destroy something to create something new? Think about it. kisses. m.
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