quel est amour? et, quelle est votre interprétation de l'amour? indeed that was just what 18 directors and sets of actresses and actors tried to define in their version of "Paris, je t'aime"... a lovely (albeit a few quirky and strange ones within the) potpourri of SHORTS about love, and in particular, the essence or flavour of love that one might discover in the different arrondissements of Paris...
no doubt the cast and crew will impress you... but it is what i would describe as the "RAW" everyday emotional expressions and the provocative-yet-almost-incidental-observational-style of looking at a few snippets of others' lives... which may or may not reflect some of our own experiences that makes this film a wonderful quilt about definitions of love. and love in all its various ironic, frustrating, indulging, addictive, and simplistic forms... love across cultures, beyond mortality, and indeed, in any language...
hope you will come across it at a cinema near you... je pense que vous pourriez l'aimer aussi !
i can't believe what i found in my post a few days ago... i was merely curious... but HOM's Serta-dealer sent me a sheep!
.... baaah baaaah baaaaaaaah .... baaah baaaah baaaaaaaah from #49 to you!
the weather has begun to turn pretty hot lately... and while i've installed my hand-me-down air-con... i have only used it once. it is LOUD and i am hoping the filter i've order from amazon.com will arrive soon...
speaking of THE weather, it has affected my appetite these days... and i am feeling less hungry than i usually am (hmm?!). it's amazing how the heat makes you slightly anorexic... and the winter chill makes you crave for lovely sweet and warm things. so while i am somewhat peckish... i often find myself nibbling instead of making proper meals like i often do...
guess it's time to explore finger food....
if you are like me, and maybe even if you are not like me, you might love a bit of Carr's table water crackers with some prima donna artisan cheese! and if you are in the mood for more epicurian explorations, try some Dalmatian Fig jam with that combination... it's delectably... good!
i love quirky... and artsy and handmade things!!! particularly if they come along your way when you least expect them! garage-sales are fun events to pick some of these quirky artsy stuff... but so are charity shops... particularly in the UK. alas, they aren't such a common thing here in the US, so i'll have to content with the more popular garage sales...
this weekend the apartment estate held a garage sale and quite a lot of residents participated... i really ought to have had done so too, but the thought of it kinda sparked only the night before... i didn't think there was much i wanted to get rid of, just yet... but i contemplated on baking brownies/cakes to sell... but then i gave up the idea... really quite terrible, really... sigh.
in any case, i participated in a different way... i found this vintage-looking and handmade white-washed mirror with black hooks (which are idiosyncratically different!) ... i didn't really bargain... kinda just asked how low the person will go with his price... and brought it home @ US$5! it's actually pieced together using the wooden planks of an old door and it's going to go up next to the main door of my apartment entrance... and while i am at it, i should also get my mummy's beautiful pictures framed and put up on the walls too!
i slept in... missed dancing... but it's quite a treat to sleep in, particularly when i've a proper bed, finally. a Serta perfect sleeper! hmmmmmm... that was a present to myself. yes. i decided that a goodnight's sleep is worth that investment... i wasn't sure how long i was staying when i first arrived, so i made do with a thick new futon-mattress that i got for the free futon frame i found. i still don't know how long i would be staying but i got some $$$ back from the federal tax so i could actually afford a basic necessity. furniture isn't included in apartment rentals here in the US (& Germany and possibly Australia), and so there's quite a lot of logistics when one moves. in any case, i've been pretty minimalistic in many ways... but now i get to enjoy a nice firm bed with comfy mattress pad on top of it! i dare you to get me out of bed! hahhahahha.... hmmm i love my bed!
some girls were interested in my old futon (craigslist is an amazing invention!) and came to pick it up in the rain... bit by bit we dismantled it and they fit the pieces into the van... with time, it was as though the rain dissolved it. now i have only one handcrafted wooden futon left which is a real nice guest bed, if anyone should visit! and if you are really nice, i can take you on a zippy zip in the hourcar too! =)
anyways, i was real unproductive wrt work yesterday... but i caught up a little with sabine who's currently in Göttingen, i got my laundry done... and got to know my new neighbour from upstairs a little... she has an electric piano and plays it beautifully... i hope i might get to tinker on it someday! but perhaps it is more likely that we might do some duets one day... that is if i practice playing the cello more... hmmm.
how did you guys spend your saturday?!
i was off to the suburbs again! this time, it was for K's graduation party, and a wonderful excuse to catch up with her sister, C, parents, D & T, and sweet Bailey boy, the Irish terrier! high-school graduation parties, as i am told and am beginning to appreciate, are apparently a Minnesotan affair. i don't remember having one of these growing up... and suspect that anything vaguely similar would have to be a get-together outing that people do with friends during the vacation. no, i didn't ever have a high-school graduation party... the farewell dinner in Wales was something quite surreal... people were leaving in the night, bound for far-away places... many of whom i may never see again... i wonder if i might make it to my own 10-yr reunion! i sure hope so. in any case, the concept of graduation parties is a pretty interesting one... families have their own for their graduating child, and parents of students at the school collaborate to host one for the graduating class; the philosophy (at least part of it) behind it all is to (help) make sure that kids do not get into chemical-related trouble... i suspect the other bit of the apparent enthusiasm might be a Mid-western thing; it's a close-knit community and parents are very much involved in pretty much everything...
i often take so much of such parental-worries for granted. the childhood that me, my brothers, and my friends experienced, is probably one of the most sheltered you could probably have... then again, times have greatly changed. but i knew of the dangers and the 'stigmatisation' too of getting into that sort of things... yet, i am often awed by the enormous courage and trust that my parents have to let us flee their nests for the crazy western civilisation, aware of the potential 'harm' that we may encounter! then again, i know pretty well how rebellious i am particulary when it comes to asserting my own freedom!
ahh freedom... with it comes responsibilities; something i learnt, the hard way. the 'access' to freedom is part of growth... and celebration of life transitions is certainly a wonderful way to embrace these changes positively. 
there's nothing better to do so with family and friends; people who've watched you grow, and people who have been part of it too! i feel honoured to be part of the company at K's party... even though i don't particularly feel quite influential in any way... but it made me feel special to be able to share the family's friendship.
as the party trickled into the night, a bonfire was made in the garden pit... K, her friend H, D,T, C and i sat around the warm fire and shared experiences... i got to roast a marshmallow with C's help and let it sit on top of my brownie cake before enjoying it! B was briefly about trying to pick up a few scrapes of delicious left-overs. the moist after-rain night felt refreshing and earthy. there's something magical about a bonfire. it draws people in. its warmth is comforting... and the smell of burning firewood rekindles so many fond memories...