Nothing but Mist

The mere fact that we're alive is a veil between us and being able to understand our existence...

Everything we know about life, we’ve learned thanks to the collective experience of humanity throughout history, recorded in books, and to the experiences of the people around us. We all know at least the basic things of the deep mysteries of existence: why we were born, what’s the point of life, why do we have to die, how you never know how close death is to you, how people say that we should live as though each day were our last, etc. Concerning death, everyone has different beliefs about what happens beyond and how to deal with it….in my case, I know that if you love God, you will go to heaven after you die, once your soul is purified for it. I know that heaven is paradise, it’s the place of ultimate joy and beauty; so do millions of other people: we are certain about it. But it’s curious how we know….but we’ve NEVER been there. No one has ever come back from the death to tell us what it’s exactly like. And we’ll NEVER know, neither farther on in the future …not until we die. I sometimes think about how the dead see us, the living, from where they are. They have such a larger scope and dimension added to their understanding of existence…and I understand then more clearly how our vision here is so LIMITED. It’s only once we die that we will have a direct connection to what we should know, to what really matters, the sense our life had…it’s absolutely true what they say in The Secret of Kells:

 “Oh, there's nothing in this life but mist”

-Brother Aidan

"There is nothing in this life/world but mist,

And we will only be alive

For a short time.”

--Aisling’s Song

Yo Nezahualcóyotl lo pregunto:

¿Acaso de veras se vive con raíz en la tierra?

Nada es para siempre en la tierra:

Sólo un poco aquí.

Aunque sea de jade se quiebra,

Aunque sea de oro se rompe,

Aunque sea plumaje de quetzal se desgarra.

No para siempre en la tierra:

Sólo un poco aquí.

--Yo lo pregunto

(Nezahualcóyotl)

Selfies? Herm....

OMG selfies! Suddenly, I noticed, especially at the start of this year, that they were the rage! More than anything, the concept in itself of the selfie boomed in all sorts of media: t-shirts showing cute animals taking selfies were everywhere, and even a selfie song came out! The idea existed long ago already, but its start may be marked by two things: smart phones with two sided cameras that allowed you to photograph yourself, and later on the emerging of the word “selfie”, whose existence I became aware of only by the end of last year.

            I believe it makes perfect sense that people take so many selfies (or groupies). Once you start taking a picture of yourself, you can’t stop. You just can’t take one, there has to be more, especially because it’s hard to be satisfied with how your picture turned out. Then you start having ideas of funny faces or cool looks. When you’re with more people, this symptom is multiplied, and you end up with a whole bunch of pictures on your camera storage. Yes, I find it understandable, but personally, I don’t like the idea and try to avoid taking selfies. The thing is, you tend to waste time AND camera space taking all those pictures. I’m okay with just a few selfie “shoots”, that’s it. But, you know, it’s not that I find it repulsive, it’s not that I cringe every time I see people taking them, it’s more like I don’t see much point to it. Now, there’s something else I really don’t like related to selfies, and it’s when people post random selfies on Facebook and add hashtags with very lame words or phrases. Now that’s what I really don’t like: hashtags. But that’s another subject that should be tackled on a separate entry.

            That’s all I have to say about selfies.

Rembrandt-Self Portrait, 1630 Etching

Bible Burns

I’ve recently been thinking that in the Bible there are actually many times where people get burned, figuratively speaking. Many of these occasions involve the Jewish people—those who’re angry at Jesus--confronting him but ending up with Jesus shutting their mouths with some answer.  I think it’s all pretty interesting because you get to see God’s knowledge and wisdom in action, resulting in adequate ‘burns’ for each particular occasion. Here are some examples:

                        There’s this moment when the Jewish authorities, who don’t want to believe in Jesus, ask him from whom did he get authority for his actions, and Jesus proposes them something (Mt 21, 23-27):

                        *Note: God had sent John the Baptist to “prepare the path of Christ” in advance, but not everyone believed in him.

                        In another example, Jesus tells an allegory that clearly referred to how the Jewish authorities were corrupt and refused to recognize the Son of God (Mt 21, 33-41). The message was so plain they realized who he was talking about. To top it off, Jesus mentions a foretelling passage from the Scriptures that directly refers to these guys’ conduct, one that they themselves knew well and couldn’t deny its meaning. That was a pretty big burn (Mt 21, 42-43).

                        Now for me, this example is the most epic, though it doesn’t involve a direct conversation with Jesus. He cures a blind man who is known to everybody in the place. When the Pharisees heard of it, they once again refused to believe such a miracle and began to inquire the former blind man and everyone around him again and again about the incident (Jn 9, 26-33).

                        Despite all of these burns and more, though, the Pharisees kept refusing to accept Jesus. I guess that if there’s anyone who can relate the most to the phrase “haters gonna hate”, it’s God.

Star Child

                On a quiet night, a baby girl lay on the grass in a forest clearing, under the stars. A woman who was passing by saw her and took the strangeness of it all as a sign that this was a star child. She decided keep and raise her. The girl grew into a special child, almost pale as ivory, her hair silver and her eyes clear grey. She took delight in playing in the forest, especially at night, and sang ancient songs that no one had taught her. She was a friend of nature, and no animal feared her. When she sang, the forest’s aura became more serene and beautiful. 

Whenever she combed her hair, stardust would fall and shimmer about the ground. Out of these fireflies were born, floating quietly among the shadows. As she neared the age of eighteen, she began to feel disquiet and yearning in her heart. When she told her mother of this, the woman finally explained the truth about her birth. During the following days, the girl felt that some answer to her yearning was approaching…Finally, one night she was escorted to the sky. Two glowing white beings descended to her, saying they had come to take her to her true home. When she stepped forward, a light glowed about her and arrayed her into her full glory, and so she followed the two beings until the three became bright white stars burning far up the sky. However, she had loved her forest so much that she decided to visit every summer, and it is said that she can be seen or heard singing among the glades, stardust falling about her.

To live again

                Alex sped down the highway. He had just got out of work and had only 3 hours to get home and finish the paper that was due tonight. Listening to his favorite song as he drove on the way only reminded him how much he could’ve written in advance had he disconnected from Facebook, tumblr and You Tube at midday. But that was part of life. There’ll always be moments when you fall for it and distract yourself too much, delaying responsibilities. Besides, how could he fall behind his favorite pages and not reblog posts on time? A new article interviewing his favorite band had come out today, how could he miss THAT? Anyways, it wasn’t like he was going to do much progress during that break. He randomly remembered his brothers and frowned as he realized he hadn’t called them in a long time, or even thought about them much. Maybe he wasted too much time…especially on himself. His priorities were college and work, he really didn’t worry about much else, and his free time he’d spend distracting himself with his interests. He had to admit that he was pretty selfish overall, and that maybe he sucked as a sibling or friend.

            His mind away, he changed lanes abruptly. Next thing his car screeched off the road and ended up with its front half dangerously hanging down the steep, rocky slope that was beside the highway. Alex was so shocked and terrified. In seconds, his life had suddenly plunged into grave danger. He didn’t know what to think, sitting motionless with his seatbelt on, panting fearfully: the wrong moves might cause the car to budge free from its place and plummet to the bottom. That was when he heard someone calling out. He turned around carefully to see two men who had pulled up nearby and where telling him to hang on. He didn’t know if he could believe in those words, as death was clearly a small step away. He found himself thinking that he’d give anything at the moment for being with his brothers or his friends, enjoying a nice beer and a warm conversation.

*                       *                       *

It was a miracle. He couldn’t believe he’d made it, standing on the road surrounded by local policemen, the guys who’d helped him, his best friend and seeing the faces of his brothers and parents in front of him as a tow truck pulled his car back from the brink. “We were so worried…” hugs and honest words. Brimming with palpable attention and care. As arrangements were made to patch up the situation, his brothers talked about different plans to cheer him up. “It’s been a long time since we don’t exchange CDs and stuff, I miss doing that”, “let’s hang around more”, “we should go to the beach”, “why don’t we spend a day biking together and later eat ice cream and goof around?” He slowly felt that the days before him seemed fresh and bright. He wasn’t conscious that in the past hour he hadn’t thought even once about his usual preoccupations or interests. He was so focused on the moment, on this good taste of what life really is like.

Times Like These - Foo Fighters

Scandinavian: The Splinter

Long ago, there was a young man who saw strange things through one eye. He couldn’t be sure whether they were real or not. Among his visions was that of a maiden pleading for help in a dark cave, and it always troubled him. He finally came upon a wise old man and asked if he could explain anything; the old man told him that he had a troll splinter in his eye. In the days of old, trolls roamed the lands during nighttime, and they all had splinters in their eyes that caused them to see everything in a distortional manner, confusing what was foul for fair things. When the legendary day came in which numerous trolls turned to stone after a brave lad tricked them into seeing the sunlight, the splinters were scattered far and wide, and some settled into people’s own eyes. Our hero was now confused, for though now he understood things better, still he was troubled about the vision of the maiden.

            One day a wandering boy arrived to the village, claiming he was searching for his twin sister, who had been captured by a troll. When the young man saw him, he realized that the girl in his visions was this boy’s sister, due to the striking resemblance.  He offered the boy his help, revealing why. They set off together to the mountains, using the splinter visions for clues, until they reached the troll cave and managed to get inside through cracks in the stone. After much cautious searching, trying to venture unseen, they found the boy’s sister. However, the troll had scented them and began to track them down. Our hero used his wit to lure the troll outside, taking advantage of this for the three of them to escape, and the troll immediately burst into stone. The trio celebrated, and got in the cave to take with them some of the treasures. They returned to the village with the good news and encouraged the people to take the remaining riches in the empty cave. Soon after the twins returned home, and their family rejoiced and set up a celebration. But as the night lights shone upon the swirling colors of the party dresses, the two brothers were puzzled to see now and then that there were ugly, tasteless decorations put up.

Russian Folklore: KALABOK

There was once a witch who could do all sorts of things. One day she unknowingly gave life to a pancake she was making, and it rolled away. However, it was wintertime, so it nearly froze to death in the wild until a little girl found him. Since she saw he could talk, she thought he was special and rescued him, taking him home and naming him Kalabok. He was so grateful and touched by the girl’s kindness that he vowed to protect her and her family, which was poor and victim of all sorts of evil sprites. But what could a pancake do except roll around? He decided to go ask the witch, his creator, to give him powers that would make him useful (in the spring time). The witch was surprised, but she was good-hearted so she granted his wish, and Kalabok became a small sprite himself, light and elvish-like. His cleverness allowed him to make the most of his simple powers, and he became the guardian spirit of the house, warding off bad deeds, making little miracles for situations like when bread ran out. All he needed to keep up his energy was a bag of flour now and then. Kalabok protected the family for generations to come, and kindness was seen as an important family value, as it had earned them their faithful little sprite. The day came, however, in which the house was left deserted as the great great great grandchildren had gradually settled down elsewhere, and no one would buy it since it was so old. Poor Kalabok! He still lingers there, hoping his scattered family would return someday.

Review: The Wind Rises

"All I wanted was to make something beautiful."

I LOVED THIS FILM . Some time had to pass before I could gather my thoughts on it and write down my reaction, for first I had to let the beauty sink in, it had left me dazed. Finally, the time has come to WRITE MY REVIEW!

I first want to talk about how some of the typical elements that are “trademarks” of Miyazaki’s style are present:

It’s ENGAGING: Like all of his other movies (I especially noticed it in his most recent films), The Wind Rises has a great atmosphere/mood/ “ambientación”  that pulls you into the world and story…you actually want to understand what’s going on, almost like if there were a dialogue between the screen and the spectator. A factor that greatly contributes to this is the pacing of events…gives kind of a convincing, realistic feel to the storytelling (of which Miyazaki-san is a great master). These aspects also cause you to have a GREAT time with friends and family while watching, since there’s space for commenting on what’s going on without getting lost or ruining the mood of the film. One particular example of this in The Wind Rises is how the extras tend to be very peculiar in character design, like, some are fat, others have teeth sticking out from their mouths, etc. and I was all, “omg, what’s with the people in the background?” Finally, Miyazaki’s humor, a quiet and human one, quite heartwarming, gives a final contribution to the “aura” of the movie: this can be found in characters, especially in those of frank and sarcastic Honjo, bossy and energetic Mr. Kurokawa, and Jiro’s responsible, scolding, down-to-Earth younger sister, Kayo. The humor also lies in unexpected funny sequences or events that lighten the somberness of the movie.

            BEAUTIFUL ANIMATION: Miya-san’s characters tend to have very human-like movements, like, they interact with their surroundings just like one would in real life. A famous example for this is when Chihiro puts on her shoes in Spirited Away. Instead of just animating her feet getting on the sneakers and walking off, he recreates how a real child might do it: wiggling his feet and tapping them to make sure they are snug inside.  In The Wind Rises, there was this one sequence where Jiro was at his desk, I think he was straightening the paper he was working on and then rummaging around his stuff looking for a ruler or something. 

 

I found it so smooth and delightful to watch….it’s interesting how such a small ordinary sequence could make any impact.  However, I found some scenes kind of lacking, sometimes the characters looked a little awkward and there wasn’t as much visual richness as  in The Secret World of Arrietty and From Up On Poppy Hill, its predecessors. But I really didn’t mind this, having read that the director had been too exhausted to make sure all of the scenes were turning out exactly as he wanted, which is one of the reasons why he had decided this would be his last film. Anyway, I think anything lacking in image was perfectly balanced with the heart and powerful content of the movie.

The guys at Studio Ghibli are also great magicians with their breathtaking backgrounds. They’ve only improved more and more in visual quality, surely thanks to technical advances. One detail that I found very impressive was a close up on a small cascade of water…this is 2D animation, guys, and yet you can almost feel the texture of the water (of course, they’ve integrated CG effects for that, but it still awed me).

FEMINISM: I find funny how Miyazaki managed to squeeze in his feminist ideals even in this movie, whose focus is a guy's pursuit of his professional dreams, set in 1920s Japan, where men dominated in professional fields. He did it mainly in the figure of Kayo Horikoshi, Jiro’s sister: she is very responsible, has great attitude, kinda pesky as she’s always finding something to criticize in her big brother. Her dream is to study medicine, and she voices her frustration that she can’t achieve it as easily as men due to society's standards for women.

FLIGHT: Miyazaki’s obsessed with aircraft, and thus anything else that has to do with flight. Just like feminism, this theme can never be left out of his creations. It’s pretty moving that he chose to focus on it in his last film: he wants to talk about what he loves most. He wants to share with the world why he believes planes are so beautiful. He had already dedicated his film Porco Rosso directly to this concept, but in this one, it is almost the protagonist. I found this interesting in which instead of developing a concept that would be more convenient economically, he decides to focus on what he’s always wanted to talk about, what he loves most…he created something more personal. It’s kinda similar to the figure of Beethoven, in which his greatness lay on how powerfully and beautifully he expressed his emotions and views through his works, instead of creating for a specific audience…revolutionary (I know that it’s logic to produce for a majority since it’s what you live on, but I don’t think artists have to enslave themselves to just that method).

SLOW, QUIET MOMENTS: This is the slowest and most quiet of all of Miyazaki’s movies. He tends to insert at least a couple of serene sequences on each one, but The Wind Rises is loaded with them—in fact, the entire film is like a pause in itself.  Makes perfect sense if this is his last film, and this trait makes it perfect farewell work. Miyazaki's acting like a grandpa who has reached the end of the road and he wants to share his experience with his son, grandson, or the world. I felt that Miyazaki was reflecting about life as he did the film, as if he wrote a journal entry or something about the lessons he's learned from life and then turned it into a movie.

                JOE HISAISHI’S BEAUTIFUL MUSIC: You can’t separate Joe Hisaishi’s music from Miyazaki’s films.  This wonderful composer’s works are nostalgic and sweet. Here, the soundtrack sounds European, specifically kinda Italian, I guess because of the World War setting and above all because the film also is a tribute to the great Italian aircraft designer, Giovanni Battista Caproni. I found it so sweet, like an old man remembering the days of his youth, when he met his wife and dreamed of a beautiful future…the good times of his life. 

*Here's the main theme of the film, which you can listen to if you want while reading the rest of the review.

The Wind Rises Soundtrack link - "A Journey (A Dream Takes Flight)" ♪ ♪ ♪

            *I wanted to make a small comment on how it is quite easy to tell that some sound effects were human made because of their peculiarity, and I absolutely loved the result…it gave a more artsy, cool and mysterious feel to its scenes: like the earthquake part and the metaphorical sequences were Jiro and Caproni would meet.

            NOW, what I loved most of the film was its CONTENT, which is what gives weight, delivered through the dialogue and all the artsy, imaginative visual sequences (this last is another of the traits that makes Miyazaki cool, a trademark of his genius). The voice acting thus is important...

VOICE ACTING: I watched the movie in English because it was the only version available at the moment. I’m always told that it’s better to watch films in their original language, but the English dubs for Ghibli films always turn out super great. I REALLY loved the voice acting in this one, I found it super fun, giving much weight to the characters themselves. It IS quite akward overall, since the sound did not match exactly with the mouth movements that are really speaking Japanese, plus I found Joseph Gordon Levitt’s performance as Jiro too sleepy and somber at times, while Nahoko’s was a little too high-pitched for my taste. But I really didn’t mind any of that, I still think it was pretty good and also know that it’s not that easy to make a perfect coordination between foreign mouth movements and translated lines. I especially loved the voice acting for Mr. Kurokawa, Honjo, Kayo, and the “foreign” characters like Caproni and the random German people (I loved how they had accents according to their languages). I got to practice both my German and French listening, since there were no subtitles for those lines, and I REALLY liked that.

            As for the CONTENT in itself, these were the aspects that got to me the most:

            The main theme, embodied in the quote that makes the foundation of the film:

« Le vent se lève! . . . il faut tenter de vivre! » (« The wind is rising ! …we must try to live ! »)

It speaks about how we must make the most of our present circumstances, be them tough or not. In this film’s case, the characters ‘s circumstances are pretty challenging, and it’s admirable to see them surviving such hard times. It’s exactly what is expressed in The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, when Gandalf counsels Frodo in the mines of Moria:

Frodo: “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” 
Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

            The film also deals directly with the creative process, exploring and romanticizing how professionals get inspired with an idea and make it come to life, work with a team, exchange ideas to see which decisions are best, fail and learn from their mistakes to start over and over again.

            Despite its focus on creative fields, I love how it is all very relatable in which through narrating the life of an historical celebrity in the world of engineering, the movie reflects on life and dreams…also, how the goal of the movie is not entertainment, but more reflection, the communication of a certain message. Everyone has dreams and struggles to achieve them...when watching the movie, one might ask himself: “what is MY dream?” Or: “who is MY professional hero, role model?” 

The relationship between Caproni and Jiro can be applied to anyone who admires a certain professional. I thought that one can replace Caproni with the historical Jiro Horikoshi, and Jiro with Miyazaki himself, or any other aeronautical engineer freak :P, and so on: to me, Miyazaki is Caproni and I’m Jiro (or any other person who looks up to Miyazaki is Jiro); finally, it can even be perfectly applied to any other aspiring professional who has a role model to look up to. I also felt that Miyazaki was speaking directly through Caproni’s advice, which consisted in general of applying human values to your professional growth in order to really be an authentic professional, and perhaps leave a footprint on other people’s lives, if not on history.

            Caproni has an important line in which he declares that artists have ten years in the sun (referring to glory or good years). THIS IS SO TRUE (and the “ten years” part means a limited amount of time, usually small). I mean, we’re human, we’re not deities, so it’s natural that one would produce one success to another…we won’t have enough constant inspiration for that. And there’ll be a point in which we run out of ideas. Inspiration doesn’t come when we ask it to. Some examples to which this line can be applied are the Beatles, who lasted 10 years together, and Bill Waterson, the genius behind the comic strips Calvin and Hobbes (practically the most glorious of all comics), who also worked for around ten years and disappeared from the public face of the world, stating he’d said everything he had to say. I believe Miyazaki’s own “ten years” lies in the 2000s, between Spirited Away and this final film, in which he achieved more recognition than ever for his work and a boom of fans took place, plus I find his artistic peak in his latest works, but this is just my opinion, it is very debatable.

Thank you for reading my long rant; I've been wanting to write this for a long time :).

Awkward Age Blues

            Marivi really didn’t feel like waiting a whole hour again for her mom to pick her up; she wanted to go home already. There was nothing to do meanwhile: there was no chemistry between her and the classmates who also stayed late, and her friends always left shortly after the dismissal bell. That is, if she could still call them friends. Right now, in the sixth grade, her life seemed to be upside down. Everything was so different, so glum…the classes were hard and boring, and she was sick of them all, seeing so many red marks on her corrected tests. She felt she didn’t have friends at all…those she had shared so many childhood memories with had slowly changed, they didn’t get along or conversed as easily as they used to. She didn’t have any more friends outside of school either...her family was practically the only one with young kids in her neighborhood. To top it off, her wonderful school had a structure similar to a prison: square, grey, with an interior basketball court surrounded by three floors of hallways and classrooms, and barred windows (why in the world would there be barred windows in an elementary school? Are the school directors that resolute to depress kids? ). Homework didn’t give her any time to have fun, either…no time to play (she still liked to play with her beloved toys), no time to read books, no time to sit back and drink in the beautiful, sunny days… This was all totally unfair. A kid’s life shouldn’t be as dull as this, how could it? And yet, it was happening. There seemed to be nothing to do but suck it all in, this cheerless reality. When would it all end? Will things ever become brighter? She slumped down on the floor next to her heavy back pack, sulking as she looked at the sky wistfully, hoping her mom would arrive soon.