The weekend was quite a drag for me and it would have been a total bone-marrow-deep bore had it not been for DANCE DANCE DANCE. This is a literary creation brought to life by a truly magnificent Japanese author called Haruki Murakami. And the first I devoured among his many works. After reading this book I shall forever pontificate and exalt the talent and imaginary skills of this man. He is deep without being boring and he is rational but very imaginative.
Some of the websites which have chronicled this man's work as well as some of the publications who critiqued him have compared his genius to that of Alfred Hitchcock. The capability to pluck ordinary individuals with ordinary lives but surround them with unusual circumstances and phenomena. The very essence of many of his books I presume( As I have not read them all yet).
DANCE DANCE DANCE is about a man who is purposedly and mystically led to a hotel in Sapporo, Japan, he once stayed in many years ago. He is looking for a lady he used to live with in the past. She has left a deep scar in his heart and being and he wants to find out how she has been and her current whereabouts. Staying in the hotel he stumbles upon some Divine Being who reveals to him that there are connections in his life that must be severed, healed or abandoned to give a semblance of completion in his every being. He also meets a young, conservative but struggling-to-liberate-herself lady who works as a receptionist in the hotel and in my opinion is a reincarnation or retransfiguration of the woman he stayed with in this hotel some years ago.
When he comes back home to Tokyo his heart is still very much into the quest for that one woman in his past he thinks can complete his being. Along the way he reestablishes contact with an actor-classmate of his who is linked in a way to that woman. They forge a friendship which is bounding but not completely unstrained. He also comes into connection with the eccentric daughter of a world-famous female photographer who has nothing in common at all with him and yet a deep-seated fascination and liaison is forged between the two of them. He meets her mother too, the photographer and her partner, a one-armed ex-Army American who exists for a short time only in the plot.
Perhaps the greatest revelation the main character finds out in the end is that there are connections that will be severed in order for more important ones to become binding and strong. Several deaths and the instances of morbidness abound near the end of the story perhaps as a way of clearing the path for our hero to achieve completeness with the one woman who remains at the back of his mind, the purported reincarnation of his beloved, Miss hotel receptionist.
Murakami has an extraordinary talent of giving life to inanimate objects and giving them a role in the main character's metaphysical existence. One example is the description of the "telephone" as a less than pure idea. It is technology that has mastered communication for us but unless there is a will on either party to communicate, the phone remains useless...Amazing isn't it? Of course he places this with such relevance so that it doesn't seem absurd to talk about a phone in a novel...He is also very adept at fantaisical imagination and creating scenarios transcending history, filmography and current events. He places the main character's admiration of Jodie Foster as Cleopatra, one who deserves the highest accolade among the Egyptian set of characters he has created in one of his lazy mental meanderings. He links her to the main character's admiration of his personable actor classmate who is the official swimming trainor of the Pharaoh's ancient Egyptian kingdom.
I have already bought five books excluding this one, of this astounding author! I would like to thank the people who have given me this opportunity to explore more of this author's amazing range of literary and creative skills. You are forever close to my heart and cheers to the next five I am going to have to read! Hahahaha
the idiocy who calls himself Mrwinklergirl was allegedly sporting his real colors last week in Bangkok, Thailand.... He was apparently drunk and standing buck naked in front of a bar filled with Thai transsexuals, showing himself off to try and get a freebie from the boys. An hour later he was taken away but he came back wearing sexy underwear and stockings to try and attract more attention!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is he just mental or desperate or does he have no dough to try get freebies from the ladsssssssss???????????
When i was younger my summer days were dotted with lots of wonderful experiences, playing games till I could move no more at the end of the day, more fun during the night time as there were no classes the day after, watching basketball leagues filled with lots of gawking for cute, guys in action haha. It was a heady time of the year for me.
Well probably the highlight of each summer was the official crush of the season. I always seem to develop a liking for a cute face in the middle or beginning of the summer season. Come to think of it though most of the boys I would like where not really statistically handsome. I mean they would not have to necessarily fit the definition of clear-cut cute. But they always seem to make something skip a beat inside me hahaha
There would be stolen glances, and stuck tongues, whenever I saw THE crush of that season. Somehow I could never get to admit to him that I like him as I was always the shy young kid. More so because friends would be more than ready to make fun of how silly I acted whenever he was around. I would try to act as normally whenever he was near but deep inside I also wanted to just let know I wanted to be great great friends with him. But somehow I could not. It would feel like getting torn between forces I could not define.
The crush crush trend gradually began to disappear as I went through college and then never really picked up after I graduated. I guess it just got lost in the search for greener pastures or finding new hobbies to indulge in and new interests to pursue. Meeting more people also perhaps helped make the trend vanish as well as understanding the nature of the male creature haha. I guess there it was also just a matter of personal growth. Growth involving realizations from experiences. I guess the reality that how you feel towards someone would not be necessarily reciprocated made the experience lose its magic. For me at least haha.
But this summer, it's back to haunt me haha. There is a sweet guy who is hovering around me and somehow it's all galloping heartbeat again but none of the tongue-tiedness and awkwardness. I seem to be a bit more confident about handling guys now. We talk a lot and he seems but God knows I can't afford to be anything serious now hahaha. It's really funny. Somehow something is flitting in my head now and I guess I look forward to seeing him, of course with my friends and his.
I guess this is just the summer crush trend returning again. Somehow I have to admit it couldn't be anything but a mere crush or specifically a fling thing because I don't wanna get into anything I really do not want to yet. Plus I guess I am not ready. But for sure i am going to indulge in the presence and fun of it all. It is a nice way to dispel the heat aside from hitting the beach too much!
P.S. the guy in the photo is not the current crush :)
I had this rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of the works of a genius in the fashion world, Christian Lacroix. He is already an institution in the industry based on his longevity as well as his contributions to the major trends and stylings of the circles he moves in as well as in the art world.
These are mere sketches of his work and yet I felt them come to life more than the clothes on display (Anyway the museum did not allow flash photography so it was useless taking photos of the clothes in a very dark environment)..
Hope you enjoy this as much as I did...these are in random order...
....not by its cover but by the sound of its voice! hahahaha Amanda Holden, one of the judges on the show says, "it was a wake-up call" and boy could she ever be more right. I think this woman, Susan Boyle, is my new idol. hehehehe
One of my best friends is experiencing a really bad time now...Oh well what can I say, something to do with love and hearts broken and sleepless nights again!
I hope he cheers up in no time. We have always known him to be jovial, amiable and very extraordinarily and effortlessly funny. I know i have not been the best advisor when it comes to affairs of the heart and matters of personal relationships as I have never been in a good one anyway (HA!) but I know that I just want the best for him. I know my actions may have not been protective of the relationship but I do know that they have been protective of HIM, my very good friend.
We have spent a lot of time together and we have seen so many men come and go. He is always close to my heart in my travels. I call him first whenever I miss the gang. I hope this liaison or the severance of such a liaison doesn't batter him badly and I hope he moves on as fast as I did.
