Bouquet of quotes

Finally, when I look out my window, the weather matches the calendar. For the 10th day since “official” spring begin and after daylight savings time has switched, the sky is blue and the sun is shining…

 It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.  ~Charles Dickens

Spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, “An Easter Hymn”

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

Spring has returned.  The Earth is like a child that knows poems.  ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Don’t see, don’t hear, don’t speak – be happy (and oblivious)

I had a discussion with The BF today about the “purity myth” rampage going on in feminist online communities, which led to a debate about how certain people – any group of people, really – who think they’re right or “know the right path” quickly turn on those who are supposedly wrong, and that this isn’t a behavior that should be encouraged in any way, even if you agree with the groups “right” way. Are you still following? It’s pretty complicated, and went much more in depth than I’d like to render here, but my point is that I went through my saved “blog topics” links in my favorites and deleted many due to the impression of preaching to the converted and/or pointless whining. But there is one topic that remained – and by God I’ll be damned if I censor my every thought now, so yes – despite my ever differentiating screening process, I shall proceed to poke fun at behavior I think is silly. For instance: uptight conservatives.

A while ago, I came across this wonderful device named “ClearPlay“.

ClearPlay is a DVD player that enables your family to enjoy all of the great Hollywood movies you’ve always wanted to watch—without all of the junk you don’t want. The ClearPlay DVD player seamlessly skips and mutes content based on 12 categories that you can set. ClearPlay Filters are hand-crafted by at team of Filter Developers who watch the movie and masterfully select where the player will remove content.

What do these filters look like, you might ask? Why looky here: there are specific settings - and if that’s not clear enough, why don’t you enjoy the exquisite demo on the Welcome page. “Most of the time, you won’t even know what you’ve missed. But you’ll be glad it’s not there” … Sounds like a good motto to live by, doesn’t it?

Still, if you can’t picture just what miracles this player accomplishes, let’s look at an example: I’ve written recently about the movie American Gangster, which just happens to be the first one in their film list. Critic Marty Nabhan writes that with the filters, “American Gangster feels surprisingly intact for a gritty movie of this nature”. Funny how I thought it was intact without any filters, being that I rented it knowing that it was a mafia movie about drugs. What’s left, I wonder, when Clear Play removes all this:

Thematic Elements and Related Content in Movie:
Revealing Clothing		Some Suggestive Dialogue
Threatening Dialogue		Intense Action/Adventure
Non-Graphic Injury/Wound		Criminal/Gangster/Mob Themes
Alcohol Consumption		Smoking
Drug Use		Drug References
Bar/Club Environment		Mature Thematic Elements
Intense Thematic Elements		Divorce Topic
Murder Topic		Dysfunctional Relationships

I can’t even remember half of that stuff. Pff, “divorce topic”… ooh, I’m scarred for life, now. Better have it look like the world is a perfect place – until someone snaps and goes haywire because it’s an impossible thing.

Go b(u)y the book

Ah! Capitalism! What a time to be telling people to buy stuff (seen the last South Park episode?). No but seriously, if you must buy a book, you may gladly take my favorites as inspiration. I noticed I hadn’t written a “Fave Five” in a while, and since my friends have been using the “LivingSocial” application on Facebook (don’t even get me started – it’s gotten me so pissed today – nothing but painfully slow and won’t save any changes I make), I decided to try out picking the five books I love the most (because my list of series is way too long in comparison). So here they are listed again, only without the covers (which you really shouldn’t judge them by anyway), therefore with side notes.

1. Ian McEwan – Atonement. Brilliant! The first part (187 pages) is about one day. One day, and yet it was the most suspenseful thing I had ever read. At the end of each chapter is a cliffhanger worse than in any series. And the perspective keeps changing from one character to another, so that each time you learn a little more but never the whole story.  Part two (another 80 pages) suddenly takes place in World War II, this time being told from one single (male) perspective. The mind boggles in trying to piece it all together, and yet the characters are described so vividly that you can see the whole thing in your head. The second part is in that same time, only here we read what the main character is doing, back in London. In the forth and final part there is, again, a huge time jump. The first part took place in 1935, the last in 1999. But this is where it all comes together, in one big surprising finale (at least I didn’t expect it and it turned everything around again). In sum, it is a love story, but a beautifully told one, mixed with family intricacies and complex personalities.
2. Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist. I read this when I was rather young, in French, and when I presented it in class my teacher was impressed, because it is a very layered – supposedly very complicated –  book, meant for adults. But I like it just because each time I read it I learn something new. It has a strong cultural background, with Spanish and Arabic / Egyptian legends. It leads us through the spiritual journey of Santiago, a young Spanish shepherd, to fulfill his “Personal Legend”. It’s about hope, faith and fate… I should read it again sometime. It won the Guiness World Record for most translated book by a living author (67 languages), so that might be an argument on it’s own.
3. Dave Eggers – A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I mean come on, the title alone makes you want to read this, doesn’t it? I’m actually currently reading this, so I won’t write a full commentary just yet, but I will say that the (40 page long!) preface won me over right away. I’ve read nothing like it. To quote Wikipedia: critics praised the book for its wild, vibrant prose, and it was described as “big, daring [and] manic-depressive” by The New York Times.The author jumps from one thing to another, seemingly unrelated, going off on tangents that last pages. I love it, because that’s also how I think, in my head, and how I would like to write – if people would follow. The main character is simply a very likeable guy from my point of view and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
4. Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Again an intricate love story, again in French, again a classic. I strongly recommend – to anyone – to read this book. It is infinitely better than (any of) the movie(s), although Cruel Intentions was some nice entertainment as well. But ah, the prose! The époque! The decadence of the French aristocracy shortly before the French Revolution! And I love the epistolary style (composed entirely of letters), it really puts you into place. It is often claimed to be the source of the saying “Revenge is a dish best served cold” and has also been described as a vague, amoral story. *sigh* Lovely.
5. Douglas Adams – The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. This anthology is five novels in one. It is sooooo long, but also sooooo funny. I think by now everyone knows the original story of Arthur Dent, and the unmistakable style of Douglas Adams. His writing is witty, playful, almost as hard to follow as that of Eggers – but that’s what makes me laugh. I really have no clue how someone can come up with such stories. They are at the same time way out there and interspersed with totally mundane details. Plus, I actually managed to read the whole 1000+ pages in German.