verse

paper lanterns
glow so softly
catch on fire
quickly too.
write my dreams in
paper lanterns
and hope they don't
burn you.

Movie Review: Alice In Wonderland

Movie: Alice in Wonderland
Starring: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter

Anyone who knows me is aware of my absolute respect and awe of Johnny Depp. I love his acting, his creativity, his clothing, his voice, his hair, beautiful face and body, bizarre movie roles, his facial expressions, his quirky ideas, bashful red carpet presence,thoughtfulness, his secret hideaway island, paintings...quite nearly everything.

so you can imagine delighted I was that this Alice version was coming out. Directed by Tim Burton, I was certian it could be nothing but fantastically strange.

Wrong.

I am very crushed and reluctant to admit that it was very poor. So unoriginal! The plot was not according to the Alice book, but a very forced and old story line of rescuing the land from the "evil red queen" to give back to the "peaceful white queen," the rightful owner. yawn!
Alice staples were all included: talking flowers, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the chesire cat, white rabbit, all the trimmings..but in EXACTLY the same manner they are presented in every other Alice version! Nothing stood out.

The script was edited to give Johnny maximum performance. The Mad Hatter's role was widely expanded to a sort of leader for the red queen resistance. I am devastated to say I saw nothing new in him. I mean, he had all the facial expressions, and odd walking I so familiarly love, but he added nothing NEW to it! Almost as if he was just riding his own success-which is nothing like the Mr. Depp I love. He had a few great moments, yes, and his character wore thimbles on his fingers (love!), so there were some redeeming factors, but so much fewer than I expected!

This is long for a movie review, I know...but there you go! I take it so personally that this movie was so unoriginal and flat. I have faith in these creators- they have life and spark! I've seen past work-Edward Scissorhands is relentlessly captivating-and I know they're capable of better.
So why, why, did they settle for this?
Why does anyone settle? WHAT GOOD IS SETTLING!!!???

Jamacian

“Will you wait for me?”
“No.”
“but I’m scared”
But you’ll go alone.
Eyes don’t open.
Eyes can’t open.
Back dots in brown circles on white balls
And you shake it till it dies
Because it was never alive, anyway.
And why can you keep pushing and persisting
And I can’t get out of bed
And you’ll never stop
And I’ll never win
And I don’t even know the game we’re playing.
Assert: “you’re sensual”
Reply: “I like to feel”
“no black dots in brown circles on white balls for you-
You’re aware. Sensual”
“I like to feel.”
“and you can and you’re alive
Red, blue, orange swirl
Float on color.
Rough, smooth, silk, stone,
Rub your skin.”
“Did you know how much I love
A squirt of lemon on my tongue?
Jolt, jingle, refresh, awake.”
“And you can feel it all.” and she’s jealous
And he wanders into the night
To enjoy the touch and taste and smell and color of air.
And he smiles
And she’s jealous.

Blog Lovin

Follow my blog with bloglovinof

Apparently, Blog Lovin is useful for spreading your blog and making it easier for others. I have no idea. There are so many things going on online all at the same time...it feels really overwhelming, sometimes. How can you keep up with everything? The internet is wildly huge. So much going on, every second, somebody screaming out to the world their latest ideas and thoughts. Somehow, some of them rise to the top, make money off of endorsements and get book deals/front row fashion seats/art gallery expos/famous. Who wins, and why?

Some days I just sit at my computer, clicking "next blog" over...and over...and over...until my mind is swimming. Everyone is saying something, in hundreds of different languages, in thousands of little towns. And what does it matter? and who really notices? and am i just another little cry into the blackness of cyberspace?

Well, that's just my little rant. Taking even my blog internally, eh? Well its what I do.

Alexander McQueen...gone.

Today one of my favorite modern designers, Alexander McQueen, died. I know usually I post fashion posts on my "nothing but lovely" blog, but this fashion incident has hit me...internally.

McQueen was 40 years old. He committed suicide. His work is one of absolute tortured brilliance, a creative mind far beyond that of "just a designer," yet he couldn't surpass his messy life story.
Alexander said he knew he was a fashion designer from the time he was six. For the too-few years he designed couture, there never ceased to be gowns that would drop my jaw. They were far beyond fashion shows: they told stories and confronted issues. His first show, "Highland Rape" was a bizarre...yet it was purposefully unsettling. In 2004, his models were all dancers...and they danced out in their costumes. Beautiful! Only a few years ago, he created a whole fashion show around a huge trash pile in the middle of the floor. What was he trying to say in all his designs? I'm trying to understand.
I know that he was in love with nature; that is obvious just from his pieces. He used birds all the time...feathers, wings, paintings of birds, literal stuffed birds perched in a model's hair. Flowers...gowns made completely from flowers, gowns with flowers painted on, flowers on faces and hair and shoes. Vines, trees, clouds...everything in the outdoors he was inspired by and included...so he saw it was lovely. Did he not see that the Creator of all that he admired was even more lovely?

A few years ago the woman who discovered him, named Katherine Blow, also committed suicide. Recently, he "married" his male partner, their union to last less than six months. On February 3rd, his mother died.
Obviously, things were not well with Alexander. With all that pain, he hung himself, only this morning.


A man with such uniqueness, such an eye for beauty. It hurts me more than I can sensibly express to see it all thrown away. Wasted. Only 40...so much ahead of him! To have the talent he had, and to see him slowly disintegrate...how can God not just sit up and heaven and cry?
I'm so sorry, God, for all of the captivating creativity you have so generously presented your children. I don't understand why we don't use for what you intended it and appreciate the gift.
I really don't understand.

Song Of The Day: Falling Slowly

Warning; don't listen unless you're ready to cry.

Falling Slowly
By The Swell Season

This song has one of the most emotional tones of any song I know. Every time I listen to it, I'm overwhelmed with the feeling. Technically, its so very simple.

But its not.

Its soaringly beautiful, I hope it effects you like it effected me.

Maybe later I'll tell you the story of Glen and Marketa, the couple who make up the Swell Season, the artists of this song.

Humanity

I'm sitting in the library at school. There's humanity surrounding me, everywhere. More specifically, my age humanity. People in coats and scarves studiously bending over books and computers, trying to succeed at school. Only a few of us speak, the rest go about doing our homework silently, as if we were the only ones here.

It confounds me, when I stop to think about it. Here we ALL are! Brilliant, creative, unique individuals with reasons why we're here, and reasons why we don't want to be here. There's so much life here! The man next to me is Asian, wearing a hoodie with a fur collar. His hair is all bleached blond in the front, and short and black in the back. The man on the other side of me is black, he's all bundled up, and he's researching African history. I don't think they even know I'm here, they're so set on exactly doing their jobs. There's another young man in a yarmulke, and a girl on Facebook.
Such original faces. There should be such loveliness! But there isn't, we just go about our work. No connection. No conversation. No sharing of this collegiate world we're all stuck in.

Does anybody else think of this? Is anyone else wondering how to break out of this pattern? Am I the only one who doesn't understand this distant, incurious school routine?

I just don't get it.