Monday 7 May 2007

Expanding our universes

So, I am sure we are all experiencing new and wonderful things in our lives that are changing how we think about the world - including new books, travels, conversations, food, films, jobs, scents -- anything.

I think it's time we share some of these things with each other.



---
-Arab baths: wading from pool to pool, a tepid pool, a hot pool, a freezing pool, a salt pool, a jetted pool, an aromatherapy room, a sauna room; see here. I don't understand why spas across the world haven't embraced this ingenious practice - I have never been more relaxed and my skin has never been softer.

-The scent of orange trees. Inexplicably fresh and delicious.















-Lectures on Faith. What does "faith unto life and salvation" mean?


-The Mezquita Catedral. Iconic images:




-Brie, tomato and basil sandwiches on a fresh baguette. Or, brie, tomato and avocado.

-"Ti regalero una rosa" by Simone Cristicchi, winner of the San Remo Song Festival. Lyrics here - those who cannot handle Sylvia Plath, beware.

-Chocolate-covered matzo (thanks Kathryn).

1 comment:

Courtney said...

When I walk home from school, I pass these trees that seem to have eyes carved into them. When I first noticed the eye-trees, I thought a particularly talented artist had taken a knife to the bark. I am still in awe as I walk past them and see the natural path of the bark formed into perfectly formed eyes all over the sides of these trees. I will try to remember my camera and take a picture to post. It is really quite phenomenal.

Recently I watched the film Gladiator with my husband. He had never seen it and I thought it was good, so we watched it. He was surprisingly disappointed. He is a film major and constantly analyzes while we watch films, but in spite of that, he really loves most movies and can recognize their artistic value. Gladiator won best picture and he expected to like it, but he found the story to condone revenge-- in fact, it seems that is all the story was about.
In contrast, last night we watched the Last Samurai (with Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe). I love this film and had also already seen it and my husband had not. He really liked this one, even though neither of us likes Tom Cruise very much. The violence levels were about equal, but the message was very different. I'm not sure now why I am writing and comparing these two films, but I do think it is interesting to compare. Two movies which are incredibly violent, (at various points in both I reached a point where it was too much for me to handle) but both films had such different tones, leaving me with very different feelings. It is interesting what an effect a film can have on our senses and over all mood.