Favourite Things

I saw a truly moving DVD last night. It was visually beautiful and poetic in its mood. It was thought provoking and intimate. It was calming and strangely compelling. It was in fact very much indicative of a painting, or a piece of poetry or a sculpture…it was less the story told and more the story suggested! It is called ‘Darjeeling Ltd’ and is directed by Wes Anderson. A magnificent direction at that! Apparently Anderson and a small crew actually shot for three months in India on a train with its own engine on live tracks. They gutted 10 coaches, redecorated the interiors with Indian crafts and shot most of the scenes on a moving train going across the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. My favourite scene was near the end when the 3 brothers (who are the mainstay of the tale) and their mother decide that the best way to communicate is without words…. I would tell you more, but it would spoil the overall effect so just see it…..I know it’s a cup of tea thing and some might think the whole thing trite….I think however, that this cup is overflowing to the point where emptiness is actually a sensation…hmmmmmmm

In the same vein, other movies I have enjoyed this year are ‘The Tiger and the Snow” an Italian feature directed by Roberto Benigni. This movie received some pretty nasty reviews…but hey, so did Picasso….it was poignant, sweetly simple and relevant…maybe too relevant for our narcissistic society…which unfortunately seems to need America to be the hero…

Then again another movie I have enjoyed is The Waitress Directed by Adrienne Shelley…more of a traditional tale but with a gentle sensitivity that appealed to me. over the years I have enjoyed The Samurai...anything with Jet Lee( I think he is cute) that was made before Hollywood...especially the Once upon a Time in China, series....

And I could go on…but actually I just wanted to share some of my fave things with whoever is out there….aliens included.
Now some of the books I would earmark as must reads are…..The Hungry Tide by Amitav Gosh and The circle of Reason by the same author….The God of small things by Arundhati Roy …Brick Lane by Monica Ali (which incidentally ahs been immortalized on the big screen although I have yet to see it)…No longer Human by Osamu Dazai….and on a non-fiction note The great Goddess by Robert Graves...

Poetry reads are T.S Elliot and Coleridge.

After that, I have a lot of favourite things in this worldly journey….my children, my husband, my puppy (actually he is the kid's…but we share a special bond that was born over potty training and fights about what was and wasn’t ok to chew!)…a deserted beach on a fresh, cold but sunny winter’s day…chocolate…some memorable and precious friends (who all know who they are….), waking up and having nothing that I have to do…hugs for no particular reason…the sound of birds chirping outside my window…family get togethers ( with attendant insanity)…candlelit dinners with my hubby…red wine and philosophy on the verandah in the wee small hours…catching a good wave…Koto Music…The Gyoto Monks chanting and especially throat singing...cooking an invented masterpiece and gloating!!!...curling up in bed with a book of puzzles…coffee and gossip…Puccini…Tom Waits…good memories…mindfulness of now…Celtic mythology...Homer (The Greek one and not the TV icon)...Ritual and ceremony...The celtic pagan calendar... night sky...sushi...dancing the night away to golden oldies and watching really trashy TV shows…singing...laughing with my kids...

The list seems endless now that I have begun….and this alone is enough to assert my enjoyment of the sometimes frustrating thing called life….yes laughter and smiling is on the list too… especially now I have realized how damn good it all is…..( who needs money and/or fame anyhow?)