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Do you think about beauty much? What does it mean to you? Is it merely a slim girl advertising something, a muscled man advertising something else? Is it those people in movies? Something you wish you were? A sunset, etc.?
I think about beauty a lot, as an artist it's something that I'm working to create, but maybe you would ask why? Maybe beauty isn't something that matters much to you, or perhaps something that you've become embittered about, or none of the above. I think there is a real need for beauty in our world, and when I say beauty I'm not just referring to physical beauty, that's important but there's so much more. There are the fall colors, flowers in spring, the beauty of a snowfall, and on and on. Beauty is important, think of living in a colorless world, of a world that was bleak and gray, always the same. It sounds depressing right? My friend watched a movie where I think all beauty and creativity were stifled, emotions were regulated by drugs. Thinking of a world like that made me want to cry and wonder what the point of living would be. We need art and beauty, physically need, it has a huge effect on us and I think we quite often take it for granted. I've noticed the power in my own life. A while back I bought this book on Albrecht Durer and his work because I really love his work; I noticed after looking through the book many times, that when I was stressed out (which happened often in college) I felt more calm after looking through the book. This instance may not seem very significant to you but to me it really proves how powerful beauty and art are.
So at BYU they have International Cinema where every week they play foreign films, usually three and it's free to go. Durring my time at BYU I watched several movies from different countries like Germany, Italy, England, someplace in the Middle East, China, Japan. I didn't love all of the movies I saw, but I did enjoy quite a few of them. It's interesting to watch movies from different countries, to see how similar or different their movies are and to get a glimpse at another culture. Last year I was in the Italian Club and they hosted movie nights twice a month so I got to see a lot of Italian movies Such as Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief(s)), Il Postino (The Postman), and Nuovo cinema Paradiso (The New Paradise Movie Theater). I've been able to see some movies that I never would have seen otherwise and that I love.
It's been fun now that I have access to a really good library system to be able to go back and find movies that I missed or just that I wanted to see again. I'm excited to watch a German movie that I missed called Mostly Martha, one semester they showed American movies that were based on foreign films, If you've seen No Reservations, it's based (so I'm told) on Mostly Martha, I'm going to watch both and see. Another time that semester some friends and I went to see the American movie Shall We Dance? which was based on a Japanese movie called Shall We Dansu/Dance? We watched the Japanese movie first and later walked out of the American version, what we'd come to see, because it wasn't anywhere near as good as the Japanese movie.
I found that when I found foreign films that I really loved, they seemed to be more enjoyable than American movies, they seemed more real and sincere, less commercialized than American movies however this might just be a perception, I doubt I'm qualified to make such a judgment after seeing some movies from several countries, it's probably just a sweeping generalization. I would urge you however to try out foreign films, you might be surprised by them.
Here are some that I like if you're interested:
Dear Frankie - Scottish with British Sign Language
Shall We Dansu/Dance? (I've seen it both ways) - Japanese
Vita e bella/Life Is Beautiful - Italian (This is possibly my favorite movie ever)
Il Postino/The Postman - Italian
Tokyo nagaremono/Tokyo Drifter - Japanese (I found this movie hillarious, a mix of James Bond with lots of go-go boots, but there's a lot about Japanese culture I don't understand and thus didn't get about this movie)
Nuovo cinema Paradiso - Italian
Goodbye Lenin - German
I know there are more but I can't remember what they are at the moment.
I have been slacking off of late, falling off from worthwhile pursuits and feeling pretty blah as a result. I am now ready to get my act together, whip myself into shape. I've started drifting and I don't like it. I don't want to be lost, so I'm working on finding myself again. The specifics on how this will be accomplished are still sketchy at present but they will be solidified. Without school or a more traditional job it's been fairly easy to slip into limbo, but limbo is not getting me to my goals, it is not where I want to be all my life, it's not even really where I want to be now so I believe a review of my goals is in order and then a plan on how to accomplish them. Okay, I think I'm done giving myself a pep talk. Go, fight, win and all that sort of thing.
Incomplete, something is missing. A part of me is drifting out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered or found. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight..." searching through the stars, pouring over dreams, wondering what I'm trying to find. Reaching out there, stretching, for something just out of reach... what? Something on the melodies of a song, songs great important pieces and strains torn from tortured souls (?) Olly, olly in free! Come out, come out where ever you may be, don't be suborn like babysat children playing hide-and-seek. So close I can taste it, the name on the tip of my tongue, fleeting and gone, whispered on the wind and in the lunch room. Four hundred and ninety eight pieces to a five hundred piece puzzle. Still searching.
Both because pictures are needed to add some varitey and because it's getting to be the season, here are the cool pumpkins my family carved last year...I didn't carve any of these but please note the cool carved zuchini.
Do you think about beauty much? What does it mean to you? Is it merely a slim girl advertising something, a muscled man advertising something else? Is it those people in movies? Something you wish you were? A sunset, etc.?
