Katharsis

I am drawn to these sayings from Picasso. Feast…

Girl in a Chemise

People want to find a “meaning” in everything and everyone. That’s the disease of our age, an age that is anything but practical but believes itself to be more practical than any other age.

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

Three Musicians

There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.

Art is not made to decorate rooms. It is an offensive weapon in the defense against the enemy.

I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn.

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.

Portrait of Françoise

Good artists copy. Great artists steal.

Kester: Eloquent, no?

I’m only listening to a clippet. And it’s enough to captivate. It’s fascinating how we can talk about anything and everything and reason and debate till we create a cacophony of ideas, philosphy, opinions, and more; mirages of an ideal, whether true or false - it doesn’t quite matter does it? What’s important is that we reason. Or so we think. So much time is used for reason. Perhaps sometimes, we don’t have to. We need only to accept.

Listen to Al Gore’s The Assault on Reason on Audible.com.

I had a fling with a classic; Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Suddenly, I feel a high from witnessing a film so ingrained with metaphors and themes that it is so very sad if one says this film boring. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is no chichi movie. At its core, it is personified philosophy, where mis-en-scene, scriptwriting, and symbolisms and euphemism meet to intermingle into a work of art.

Here, let me introduce one such symbolism. Holly keeps a nameless cat, called “cat”, “no-name slob”, and how she relates to the poor cat is of kinship, camaraderie and actually intrinsically fascinating to say the least. It’s also quite unique that Tiffany’s store attendant was so kind to oblige a request to engrave a freebie ring from a cereal box.

A quote from the movie:

You’re afraid to say, “O.K., Life’s a fact.” People do fall in love. People do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness. You call yourself a free spirit, a wild thing. You’re terrified somebody’s going to stick you in a cage. Well, baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded by tulip, texas, or Somaliland. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

Other things I’ve found related to the film:
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/breakfast/themes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Bernstein 

Next, I must read the book (by the same name) by Truman Capote. I’m sure the literary original (of which the movie is loosely based upon) will be as profound as her visual interpretation, if not more profound. Astounding. Now I can say I have two favourite Hepburn movies - Funny Face and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Really astounding!

If I could phrase my words and thoughts into one cohesive didactic deduction, I would. But I would think my attempts would fall short and betray the full message behind this book. It’s profound, and am so glad I finished reading it.

Me and the act of reading is like setting a turtle to a race. Somehow I find it more delightful and fulfilling when I envision the words of the books like I was reading a play-write, in slow motion. Every sentence, every nook and cranny I read out in my mind, stirs a visual plethora of vivid ‘photographesque’ pictures. O how I respect the author’s talent and mastery. I do this constantly, lest I loose the beauty in the articulation and words of authors such as Khaled’s. Read The Kite Runner - marvelous.

A movie Kristin Kreuk acted in

 The book reminds me of something I’ve watched not too long ago. A movie Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang in Smallville) acted in - Partition. It’s really quite nice. Ignore the faux slang Kristin Kreuk puts on (which I think isn’t as bad as the critiques say it is). Take it as-is and it depicts a telling story of love and race and culture and history. I think it’s something about the way her eyes speak, the wrinkles on her forehead when she frowns, that makes the story even more compelling. Or maybe I think she’s got a demeanor I find really quite amiable.

Anyway, I’m deviating. Take these two stories and you’ll start questioning the ironies of our world, and the things that make us ‘many’, ‘different’ - has also in a way, made us indifferent to many common denominators. The differences reminds me daily, how I wish things were simpler. A world with no need to worry about tradition for tradition sake (take Chinese marriages and you’ll know what I mean) and the need to be but ‘one’. One kind, same needs, same reason to live, same need for shelter, same need for kinship, same need for love, and hopefully realize one day, we are made by one maker, one truth, one plan of salvation.

“We need to respect the fact that it is possible to know without knowing why we know and accept that - sometimes - we’re better off that way.” - A snippet from Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)

I find myself scurrying for stories to watch, to break the routine of uninspiring designs of late. Without any good movies to fall back upon, I end up finding ‘refuge’ in the pages of The Kite Runner. T’was last night rather - read a good 50 pages or so. Continuing from where I had left the book to gather dust for almost a month. Sigh no more. I’m at the part where the protagonist had moved to America after the invasion. Now he’s 21 and trying to live past the guilt and memories that haunt him. I feel for him. I feel the author’s agony.

Amidst the reading and trying to come up with inspiring designs for jobs, I’ve caught myself doing these things. And I wonder.

a) Checking out UN, Mercy Malaysia’s website for voluntary needs whilst hoping there’s some way to earn money from that too - how to volunteer when you can’t support yourself?
b) Watching Principal Voices on CNN with a ’stirring’ sense of need as they talk about sustainability and more so when ‘vagabond’ architects talk about bringing ‘design’ to the most dire vis-a-vis a right to shelter.
c) Staring at a blank piece of canvas wondering what I should be painting, this has been left on the wall beside my working desk for over a month. O boy.
d) Ending the day praying for a clear direction and provision.

Natascha (to Dent) : But this is democracy, Harvey.

Dent : When their enemies were at the gate, the Romans would suspend democracy and appoint one man to protect the city. It wasn’t considered an honor. It was considered public service.

Rachel : And the last man they asked to protect the republic was named Caesar. He never gave up that power.

Dent : Well, I guess you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. … 

-

Batman (to The Joker) : What were you hoping to prove? That deep down, we’re all as ugly as you?

Joker (dangling upside down, after falling) : Just couldn’t let me go, could you? I guess this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren’t you?

Joker (continued) : You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness… and I won’t kill you because you’re too much fun. We’re going to do this forever.

-

Dent : It’s not about what I want. It’s about what’s fair.

Dent (to Gordon and Batman) : You thought we could be decent men in an indecent world. You thought we could lead by example. You thought the rules could be bent but not break… you were wrong. The world is cruel. (shows his coin) And the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair.

Dent: The Joker chose me!

Batman (to Dent) : … Because you were the best of us. He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall.

-

Gordon (at Dent’s funeral) : Dent… a hero. Not the hero we deserve - the hero we needed.

-

Batman (to Gordon) : You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I can do those things because I’m not a hero, like Dent. I killed those people. That’s what I can be. … I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be. … You’ll hunt me. … You’ll condemn me, set the dogs on me because it’s what needs to happens. Because sometimes the truth isn’t good enough… sometimes, people deserve more.

-

Gordon (to James, his son) : Because… he’s the hero Gotham deserves… but not the one it needs right now.

Hosanna! It’s formed by two Hebrew words meaning ‘Jesus’ = ’save’ and ‘now’. In a nutshell, “it used to be what you would say when you fell off the diving board. But it came to be what you would say when you see the lifeguard coming to save you! It is the bubbling over of a heart that sees hope and joy and salvation on the way and can’t keep it in.”

Source 1, Source 2

Good morrow!

I sit here staring at the screen trying to wear off the thought processes so that I can sleep. It might have very well been the coffee too. But it’s also the elation and satisfaction of seeing the video I helped not too long ago, being done - for now at least. More thoughts, ideas and worries are being thawed and deliberated every passing moment I stay awake. I’m nevertheless grateful for how He makes all things work! Always. Selah.

Okay, I faced some bugs in the old wordpress setup and had to begin from scratch. Poor ol’Katharsis suffered loss. So if you’re looking for some of my old posts - it’s no longer there. Here’s a new leaf. Hopefully it’ll work. Ignore the links and everything else at the moment because I’m still testing and uploading and stuff. Cheerio!