The Hobbit

I read The Hobbit almost 15 years ago.

I wasn't into the whole fantasy thing but I discovered the book underneath my desk in one of the classrooms I had History or Ancient Greek or Literature in and decided to give it a try.

I want to be very clear: I didn't steal the book, I borrowed it.

Anyway, I started reading during intermission and kept reading until there were no more pages to turn. That's when I realised that fantasy might actually be one of the genres I wasn't totally opposed to. My favourite book back then was Anne Frank's Diary and Tolkien's world of hobbits, dwarfs, magicians and elves was a nice alternative to the horrid reality of the human species (not that Tolkien's reality was any less cruel, but at least I knew it wasn't real, so that helped with the nightmares).

Me ... again

So, I did some soul-searching and decided to update a few things about my blog.

1. Appearence

Let's face it. This blog is not a beauty-pageant winner. It's not even close. It watches the contestans from way back in the audience, then looks at its leg-warmers, mini-skirt and baggy sweater and hungs its head in shame.

It's not that there aren't great templates to choose from. There are. To be honest, though, I would really like to personalize it. Until now, I haven't taken the time to see how I can make it better (I hate buttons and they hate me) but I am willing to experiment since I have some spare time on my hands (brought to you by a very recent tonsillectomy!).
 
As soon as I find a way to shrink my pictures from one million ultra-mega-dragon-bytes to just the few thousand Blogger allows, I will get to uploading fotos I took with my very own camera, to make your entire reading experience much more .... well, me!

Until then, I will just use a simple template for the sake of all our nerves.

Exit through the gift shop

I just finished watching the film Exit through the gift shop. It was probably one of the best films I watched this year. While I, my boyfriend and another friend of ours laughed at the eccentricity - some would say even megalomania- and bizarre word choices (my personal favourites: "behind my expectations" and "brainwash your face") of Thierry Guetta, the film gave us also something to talk about. Namely: What is art?

Where does the love go?

So...where have I been for the past month? What is my reason for being a sorry excuse of a blogger and neglecting the few people who actually care enough to read this? And the answer is, I have been "buried" under a pile of work which kept me busy every day for 2 weeks in a row until late at night. So there you have it. Money doesn't magically appear in my pockets. I actually have to do something for it! Isn't that a bitch?

But, when I wasn't translating, I was relaxing watching films. And during that time I watched an amazing film about relationships. I know some of my friends don't see eye to eye with me when I say it was great, but I agree to disagree with them and insist: IT WAS!

The film in question is "Blue Valentine" and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in watching a realistic depiction of some human relationships, that leaves you with a sweet-sour aftertaste in the end.

This post is not going to dwell on the film-making of this movie, but the train of thought it led to afterwards. The basic question of the story is "Where did the love go?", or where does any love go, once it's gone? And the answer is actually simple: down the drain. Sort of...

Beach in Gutturu 'e Flumini, Sardegna

I have thought many times about relationships and why some work and some don't. And the truth is, I don't think there's a magic rule to having the perfect relationship. Well, let me correct that: There is no perfect relationship to begin with.

I think finding the right person is half of the deal. Making it work with that person is the other half. And if it doesn't,well...maybe they weren't the right one, maybe the timing was wrong, maybe you gave up too easily, maybe a relationship wasn't really what you wanted, who knows? I've heard many crazy stories about couples coming together and breaking up: some funny and some pure tragic. But I guess it all boils down to luck, (yes I said luck, because that's what it takes to meet someone you can love and who can love you back the same way, respect you, someone who wants the same things, makes you laugh, someone you can count on) and then persistence in keeping what you have with that person alive.

The biggest fairytale ever written, is that once Cinderella or Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or Maria la del Barrio found the Prince and defeated all enemies set out to destroy their love, everything magically fell into place and they spent the rest of their lives happily ever after, living in a condo/tower/beach hut, with many little dwarfs/maids/foreign nannies, popping out babies like bunnies, not having a care in the world. WRONG!

Because after all they had been through to be with each other (the evil step moms, poisoned apples, scary dragons, etc.) there was one more tiny little detail they had forgotten all about: They still had to live with each other. BAZINGA! Now who's laughing?

And once you share every day with Prince Charming, you have to learn to tolerate the little things that bother you about him and vice versa and then you also have to find a way not to forget why you loved him in the first place. All I can say, is that every single relationship is different, because every single one of us is different, but one thing's for sure: None of them are easy.

When the love is gone, maybe we shouldn't try to find it with a PI, but rather wonder why it left in the first place. Maybe it will then come back or maybe not. Who knows? I certainly don't and to tell you the truth, I hope I will never have to find out.

REC

What is it about horror movies? Honestly, I don't get it. I know I'm stepping on many toes here but I don't really care.

Maybe I just don't like spending two hours of my life watching how one or more psychos/monsters/evil spirits etc. terrorize, torture and eventually chop up some poor, unsuspecting 20-somethings (have you noticed that old people almost never find themselves in such a messy situation - what IS up with that?) who could've saved themselves a LOT of drama if they had just picked a different movie to star in.