People of Passion #1

I randomly found this dancer/musician/producer/editor/etc today while looking at some of my secret youtube channels and she rocks! CLICK to find an amazing Dubstep violin song she plays while dancing some form of modern ballet.  I also appreciated her behind the scenes video which if you watch you'll see that she's much more than just the face of her art performance.  Amazing cinematography, amazing sound, amazing dance, weirdo costumes but fun, great scene locations, great editing, love the symbolic storyline and play with the violin, overall awesome video and song.  This is why Lindsey Stirling gets to be my first people of passion post.  Thanks for the inspiration =)

Poem #1

The Winter Maples Praise by J.

Unworthy flood of emotions

brought sweet saps release

from pores closed off by winters

cold and frosty embrace

now the faintest tints of green

cling to the wood around me

my Lord, my Thanks, my Praise

beauty is surely born from Thee

light, plant, call, become, gather, cause, bestow, enlarge, refine, direct

"O thou my respected son:

         The letter that thou hast written with the utmost love became the cause of perfect happiness. Truly, I say, thou art striving with heart and soul, to obtain the good pleasure of God.  It is assured that this blessed intention will have great effect.  The good intention is like an ignited candle whose rays are cast to all parts.  Now, praise be to God, that thou hast manifested the utmost effort so that thou mayest light a candle of guidance in that region; plant a tree of the utmost freshness and delicacy in the garden of the world of humanity; call the people to the divine Kingdom; become the means of the progress of intellects and souls; gather the lost sheep under the protection of the Real Shepherd; cause the awakening of the sleepy ones; bestow health upon those who are spiritually sick; enlarge the sphere of human minds; refine the moral fibre of the people and direct the wandering birds to the rose-garden of Reality.

Rest assured that the Eternal Outpouring shall descend upon thee, and the Confirmations of His Holiness Baha'u'llah shall encircle thee.

Convey to all the believers the wonderful 'Abhá greetings.

Upon thee be the Glory of the Most Glorious." 

(Signed) 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbás
Mt. Carmel,
Haifa, Syria
March 31st, 1914.

Inconvenient Inspiration

That always happens to me, usually when I'm thoroughly occupied with something else, something that doesn't require my full attention which relaxes my constant mind chatter and releases a free flow of thoughts and words.  I say inconvenient because I can never write those thoughts down in time and poof, they're gone.  About an hour ago I had a poem fly through my head and now it's gone.  It was about a black box.  So this is me trying to cast out the line to reel it back in.


The black box

... waiting...

The Hobbit - a short movie review

This picture you see here is my favorite memory with Tahereh.  After convincing her I could read the story well and do different voices for the characters she agreed to let me read most of the book to her.  One of my hidden passions is story-telling, I love it.  My dad use to tells us stories and I remember him getting so into the characters,  sometimes even playing a musical instrument to enhance the mood.  I also enjoy creating the mood so on this occasion, when we were at the part where the Orcs set fire to the trees and start singing their catchy death song, a bonfire was the perfect addition.  We sat around for awhile and it was a great time.

However, this is a movie review, not a book review, because I just came back from watching The Hobbit by Peter Jackson.  I liked the cinematography, the soundtrack, the special effects, the costumes were great, watching it in IMAX 3D was memorable but my main issue is it's basically a different story than the book.  Jackson re-interprets so many key elements of the book that you have to watch the movie as if it's a different story with similar characters.  For example, in the book, I remember Tahereh commenting on how useless the Dwarves were because they kept getting themselves into trouble and Bilbo is the one who always had to get them out of trouble.  In the movie (part 1) the Dwarves are always getting Bilbo out of trouble.  So when they make any comments about how useless he is to the whole expedition I kinda feel sad for him.  And there are so many of those slight changes that create different emotions than the book did.  This would be fine but Jackson runs into inconsistency problems by trying to create new emotions while at the same time trying to stick to the original ones.

Here's an example: The beginning scenes when the dwarves make an unexpected visit on the hobbit.  Bilbo is furious and we get the feeling he really does not want to go on the journey.  He goes to sleep upset.  He wakes up and his house is in perfect condition.  He sees the "journey contract" on the table.  He runs out of his house dressed to go on an adventure.   

So why did Bilbo go on the adventure?  There's no conection, it's an emotional void where the viewer is asked to fill in the blanks with their own illogical reasoning.  I don't enjoy being illogical which is why I did not enjoy this movie.  My suggestion is read the book, watch the movie and you'll understand.  Otherwise if you haven't read the book and don't know much about Middle Earth you might enjoy it a little more than those that thought Tolkien knew best.

On a side note - there is a cartoon called The Hobbit which does a much better job of sticking to Tolkien's story and quite fun to watch.

Love - the Adam Lanza part

This may seem like a crazy title in regards to what happened today but if you’ll just permit me a few lines I think you’ll agree.  

I’ve been thinking about love for a long time now and was going to post a different kind of comment today but in light of this young person, Adam, I feel it’s more appropriate to adapt my thoughts. 

This world is just one big love story and Adam plays a part in it.   What that part is exactly I do not know.  For I, as you, feel confused and saddened from today’s tragic event.  My heart goes out to all those children, to their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and all the people who are angry and confused and don’t know what to do with these feelings.  Certainly a ban on automatic weapons feels like a step in the right direction, but we know in our hearts it’s not the automatic weapons.  It’s adam and the role he plays in this love story. 

It’s a beautiful name isn’t it?  Adam.  From Adam and Eve, the beginning of awareness of one another.  Of vulnerability.

So why did he do it?  We would have to understand adam’s mind.  We would have to understand his life.  We would have to live his life.  I’m no expert on adam’s life but I’m willing to bet there was a great deal of pain associated with living it. 

Adam’s pain is probably like many others out there and my heart goes out to them as well.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in darkness all the time.  No love, no life.  How can we live without feeling love, without giving love?  What is life’s purpose if not to love?  

Adam reminded me today, or rather he shook me awake, as to the reality of things right now, and that is we are all looking for love, looking for ways to express our vulnerability.  Some of us are wandering in the darkness, looking for light but finding none. 

I’m very sad for Adam and those he hurt, but he is a reminder that those that can must do something, no matter how small, to bring just a little more light into this world so next time adam can find it.