Archive: 2009

December 2009: First of all, Merry Xmas to everyone. Specially to Divya and Lisa. Thank you girls for writing in my Guestbook. Your petitions will be attended, for sure.Today i uploaded new icons for you ;). I´ll try to develop a subsite to upload there my icons. In fact, i have more than 200 icons already made from Devdas. But i always thought it was useless to publish them since Livejournal passed away after Facebook & Brothers came out.

I strongly recommend you Murakami´s "Kafka on the shore". Amazing book, i´ll read the rest by him, i really enjoyed the way he narrates things and that particular japanese vision of dreams and reality. Some quotes i liked:

"Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe"

"A certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect."

"Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they're also what tear you apart."

Btw, I´m shocked with the terrible news about Brittany Murphy. She was not one of my favorite actresses but i dunno why i liked her. I´m really sorry for such sudden facts. It´s always shocking, she seemed to be a nice -and may be unhappy as all of us- girl.

On the other hand, i wanna highlight here a nice campaign i´ve heard of: Pink Stinks. I totally agree with this fight, and surfing on its site i´ve found that what they consider "female role models" in Film industry is no more and no less, people like Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Marjane Satrapi, Jane Campion...mmmmm. Those of you who like my site or know me you will know why i mention this :P So here goes my support: no more stereotyping pink for girl please!!!!.

More things i wanted to comment in my monthly post: i´m not as dissappointed after Copenhagen´s failure as some of you thought, because, in fact, i had had assumed that it was not going to be what social activists expected. We are TIRED, really. This failure proves once again that it should be US -people, not United States, don´t get me wrong- who will have to change things. Greenpeace activists were arrested, i love what they did and we all should be acting. My support this Xmas goes for them also.

As you can see many things are stiring me up lately. In 2009 i´ve changed many things in my personal life. Now i have a new job and better enviroment in it, and i´ve left behind some fears. I also miss people i´ve met around the world, but things will go on. I know some of my close friends and relatives are going through difficult situations. You know you will always have my help, there is no need to insist on that.

I hope we all have a nice 2010. Fight will go on.

Octubre 2009: Hace años oí hablar de Michel Houllebecq a una amiga escritora cuyos niveles intelectuales son los más elevados que he conocido hasta ahora, y creedme, he conocido gente muy culta. Ni que decir tiene que ella, que me tenía en una alta - y quizás sobrevalorada- estima intelectual, me preguntó si había leído "Las partículas elementales" de este señor. Y mi cara fue aquella de los gandules garrulos: "¿Hu qué?". Bastante tenía yo con sobrevivir a mí misma y al mundo que me rodeaba donde lo más culto que me decían era que si había recibido la convocatoria para el botellón por mi messenger (?). Perdón, la "convocatoria" es fino y ridículo, me refiero a la "kedada". Conclusión, que cogí a otra buena amiga (ladydrama) con la que tengo confianza para destapar mis ignorancias literarias y le pregunté, porque ella es dada a conocer muy bien todo aquello que a los demás les puede parecer "raro" o "retrocool". Y tampoco conocía al Houllebecq este, pero ella se aventuró en sus libros antes y lo que me dijo fue: "es raro, un bruto, no sé, tienes que leerlo, no te lo puedo explicar".

Y por fin, ahora que mi vida cambia de rumbo y he dejado atrás el embrutecimiento creativo de mi anterior trabajo, me he vuelto a encerrar en las bibliotecas públicas (también soy víctima de la crisis, no lo vamos a negar) y he descubierto a Michel. Para sorpresa mía, desde que leí "El guardián entre el centeno" ningún libro me había impactado tanto. No sólo me ha gustado, me ha impactado positivamente pese a su nihilismo, y he compartido su visión negativa del hombre y del mundo. Muy pocas veces te pasa que cuando lees un libro piensas cada vez que pasas página "joder, ¡eso es lo mismo que pienso yo!". No pretendo destapar con este post mensual ningún tipo de psicopatía o desviación sexual escondida, no es precisamente eso lo que comparto con el señor francés, sino más bien su pensamiento acerca del mundo y su funcionamiento. Para colmo, según leía he ido copiando en mi diario todas esas frases que me han llegado, y hoy he descubierto que la wikiquote coincide conmigo. Esto sólo me ha llevado a pensar que el señor Houllebecq sin duda tiene razón y no valemos ninguno una mierda. Al final es cierto que cada vez más parecemos puñeteros autómatas y computadoras, que cuando creemos que estamos pensando por nosotros mismos resulta que otros piensan por nosotros y en definitiva, que poco parece que el hombre aporte realmente al mundo.

De todas las frases de "Las partículas elementales" destaco aquí una de esas a las que podría poner el apelativo de "descriptiva" de cómo me veo a mí misma en el mundo -actual- (y sé que muchas más chicas y mujeres en el mundo). Sin dolor y sin rencor, esto funciona así.

"Las chicas sin belleza son desgraciadas porque pierden cualquier posibilidad de que las amen. A decir verdad, nadie se burla de ellas ni las trata con crueldad; pero parecen transparentes y nadie las mira al pasar. Todo el mundo se siente molesto en su presencia y prefiere ignorarlas." (Michel Houllebecq, "Las partículas elementales)

PD: Para no llevar a engaños a quien lea esto, entiendo por "belleza" en este contexto a lo que en España denominamos "ser del montón", es decir, ese grueso de mujeres que poblamos el mundo que jamás entraríamos en la cateogría de "bellas" de portada de revista, pero que tampoco somos monstruos de circo.

September, 12: Holiday time finished and now i´m back to Madrid and its life. My experience in Nepal has been extraordinary, and the people i met there they are really amazing, but my feelings, sadness and hopes related to this experience is something i don´t feel like sharing here. Not now, sorry. May be in the future i can fully express myself and tell you why this was the deepest Experience of my life. Right now all i can share is my pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as i enjoyed the moments i share with these friends. Comments are always welcome! (Specially if they are nice) ;)

Snapshots of the 6 things that impressed me the most in my experience: Buddhism, Death, Religious tolerance, my Didi Uma, natural kids & women´s hard life (my Rani Sumitra is just one of them).

June, 28th: My excitement with Burton´s Alice in Wonderland has ratcheted up a notch and keeps growing thanks to the stunning, amazing, awesome, unforgettable images of the "first look" of the movie. For someone whose single "classics" from Disney were Alice & Snow White and who grew -after those early years of life at Disney´s hands- with Burton´s movie "Beetlejuice" during her 9, 10 and 11 years old, this movie is one of the best gifts Hollywood ever gave. "Alice" will be another of Burton´s "bright", "lighted" films, and even though i´m more into his "dark" ones, it´s always a pleasure to see what kind of extraordinary imagination this man is able to develop. The film looks great, Johnny is in it (that´s always another "gift") and from all the previews i saw, i really think Anne Hathaway is not needed at all, she looks silly.

June 23rd: I updated the portfolio with some retrospectives from Salaam Bombay and Kama Sutra, 2 movies that i loved. I also added some new "abstract" stuff and a new calligraphy i made last year. Thanks to Divya and Tammy for writing in my GB. It´s a delight. I´m sorry, tammy, i cannot explain you well how do i create the calligraphies, i just draw them on sheets when i am on the train or when i get bored in class ;) Later i scan them and play with photoshop and this is the result. I also try to create them using curves in photoshop but i´m not good at it...not yet ;) I don´t really have a proffessional training on calligraphy, nor design or photography. Everything you see in this site is the result of expressing what i have in my mind with the few techniques i learned by myself. Many people keep telling me off bcoz i don´t take any professional course on this, but really, i don´t have the time :(

New Pfeiffer and Winona icons added. btw...what a coincidence that both are on the covers of fashion magazines in July, the month of my bday! (i already bought winona´s magazine, of course) :P

April 4th: It´s been quite exasperating, bcoz i´ve been fighting during 3 weeks with this shameful dsl companies in Spain, i´ve been without connection for such a long time that i even thought i´d never update my site again!. After this experience all i can say is that they suck, not only are they the most expensive companies in Europe, but also the least... professional...Nothing great happened lately in my life...as it normally happens with "simple" people´s lives. I´m just working harder and harder to earn my living...but time and money flies. Really, no matter how hard you work to get some euros, they fly just with food...I´ve not even been in cimenas lately, but i saw -of course- Slumdog Millionaire (1 month ago), and i think it´s a masterpiece. It was specially moving for me coz it is shot in the slums i worked in....it was like going back to India.

Although the film shows values, customs and a great message to the audience, i must pointed out that this image i found in google is quite scaring...ufff....so hypocrite! Producers have taken this kids for a walk in the West...shouldn´t it be great? They would see the "wonders" of "our" higher world... so -for the sake of promotional bussiness- they have been constantly (over)exposed in any fucking ceremony, premiere or event. Anyone involved in Social movements and social work in the South would tell you that what producers did with this kids is simply the contrary that it should be done. So many people working in India to improve the life of the kids in the slums and now here comes Hollywood and manipulate it all!. It´s unbelievable how Hollywood itself has perverted the spirit of the movie. I loved the movie, really, but it constantly generalizes and offers a limited point of view from the real people in the slums. I do support those citizens from Dharavi that protested against the treatment the movie gave to them....i think anyone who has been there -and really met them and lived their lives as i did for a month- would do: THEY ARE NOT SLUMDOGS. In the slums they are living quite honest people and hard workers, not only mafias or corrupted people. The majority of the "slumdogs" are middle-class people with their jobs, their family and all. Besides, life just flows in that narrow streets and the workshops...It was one of the best experiences of my life, and Slumdog Millionaire one of the best moments i have recently had in a theater...i just will try not to think of the circus around the movie..it will be better if i don´t wanna get insane with the foolish world i´m living in.

Some Pfeiffer´s icons were added...because we still have real Actresses....

February 17th: Por fin he recuperado internet, asi que imagino que mi vida ya está completa, con casa y conectada...un poco patético, pero cierto. Aunque más patético me parece el plantel de candidatas al Oscar, plagado de petardas de nueva hornada, entre las que sobresale ese orgullo patrio de la Pe, que personalmente me parecía más actriz cuando hacía de guarra almodovariana que ahora en plan fino chupando cámaras de E! y Access Hollywood..y otras cosas. ¡Menos mal que ahí está Meryl, por decimoquinta -y paciente- vez! Aguantará el tipo ante tales esperpentos insoportables como la Hathaway o todas esas. En su día los Oscar hasta fueron santo de mi devoción, pero cuando creces y descubres que el mago se esconde la carta en la manga de la chaqueta...adiós a la magia. Por eso me gustan algunos Oscar -muy pocos- en los que se premia el trabajo o el talento y no el número de portadas de Vanity Fair y entrevistas en los Late Night americanos...Aunque imagino que esto es otro fiel reflejo de lo que ocurre en el dia a dia de los millones de seres menos glamourosos que tiramos del planeta: que sólo aquellos que se hacen notar son los que triunfan, sin importar su calidad humana o profesional. The show must go on!.