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Millions | Libera

A sweet gem - Millions, from the director who brought us Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, a movie about a little boy who came across a bag of money and all he wanted to do was to help all others with the newfound money. Go see it if you get the chance, I had tears in my eyes during most parts of the movie. I'm such a softy [no, not in that way!]! I knew I wanted to see it when I first came across the trailer about 2 months ago, and it's well worth the wait. Was gonna get the soundtrack a few days ago, but it won't be out yet 'til next month. Ugh.

The last track from the movie is called Nirvana by a group named El Bosco, and it reminded me of this boys choir Libera - the sound is pure and angelic, sooo not like me. Give it a listen.

[The presence of] Children are ever so powerful and naive in their own rights. You just gotta love them!

Image: Fox Searchlight

Paradise of Song: Revisit

I don't write good stories, cuz I don't have the tolerence nor I have the patience. Seems like my mind always wanders to too many random places, yet in slow mo. Paradise is yet another one of my fave stories which I posted it about 2 years ago. If you happened to be the few that got the X'mas CD, it's on that too, among other things...

This piece is a bit long, but in the end, it does have a 'good' ending. I don't read too much cuz for me, a lot of times it causes confusion. Prolly not a bright reader either cuz I think I tend to disect a lot of information too slowly - like a sleepy manatee. Anyway, I find Paradise sublimely melancholic.

If life is what you see is true, therefore what is not to see?

--

Ahangar was a mighty swordsmith who lived in one of Afghanistan's remote eastern valleys. In time of peace he made steel ploughs, shoed horses and, above all, he sang.

The songs of Ahangar, who is known by different names in various parts of Central Asia, were eagerly listened to by the people of the valleys. They came from the forests of giant walnuts trees, from the snowcapped Hindu-Kush, from Qataghan and Badakhshan, from Khanabad and Kunar, from Herat and Paghman, to hear his songs.

Above all, the people came to hear the song of all songs, which was Ahangar's Song of the Valley of Paradise.

This song had a haunting quality, and a strange lilt, and most of all it had a story which was so strange that people felt they knew the remote Valley of Paradise of which the smith sang. Often they asked him to sing it when he was not in the mood to do so, and he would refuse. Sometimes people asked him whether the Valley was truly real, and Ahangar could only say:

"The Valley of the Song is as real as real can be."

"But how do you know?" the people would ask, "Have you ever been there?"

To Ahangar, and to nearly all the people who heard him, the Valley of the Song was, however, real, real as real can be.

Aisha, a local maiden whom he loved, doubted whether there was such a place. So, too, did Hasan, a braggart and fearsome swordsman who swore to marry Aisha, and who lost no opportunity of laughing at the smith.

One day, when the villagers were sitting around silently after Ahangar had been telling his tale to them, Hasan spoke:

"If you believe that this valley is so real, and that it is, as you say, in those mountains of Sangan yonder, where the blue haze rises, why do you not try to find it?"

"It would not be right, I know that," said Ahangar.

"You know what it is convenient to know, and do not know what you do not want to know!" shouted Hasan. "Now, my friend, I propose a test. You love Aisha, but she does not trust you. She has no faith in this absurd Valley of yours. You could never marry her, because when there is no confidence between man and wife, they are not happy and all manner of evils result."

"Do you expect me to go to the valley, then?" asked Ahangar.

"Yes," said Hasan and all the audience together.

"If I go and return safely, will Aisha consent to marry me?" asked Ahangar.

"Yes," murmured Aisha.

So Ahangar, collecting some dried mulberries and a scrap of bread, set off for the distant mountains.

He climbed and climbed, until he came to a wall which encircled the entire range. When he had ascended its sheer sides, there was another wall, even more precipitous then the first. After that there was a third, then a fourth, and finally a fifth wall.

Descending on the other side, Ahangar found that he was in a valley, strikingly similar to his own.

People came out to welcome him, and as he saw them, Ahangar realized that something very strange was happening.

Months later, Ahangar the Smith, walking like an old man, limped into his native village, and made for his humble hut.

As word of his return spread throughout the countryside, people gathered in front of his home to hear what his adventures had been.

Hasan the swordsman spoke for them all, and called Ahangar to his window.

There was a gasp as everyone saw how old he had become.

"Well, Master Ahangar, and did you reach the Valley of Paradise?"

"I did."

"And what was it like?"

Ahangar, fumbling for his words, looked at the assembled people with a weariness and hopelessness that he had never felt before. He said:

"I climbed and I climbed, and I climbed. When it seemed as though there could be no human habitation in such a desolate place, and after many trials and disappointments, I came upon a valley. This valley was exactly like the one in which we live. And then I saw the people. Those people are not only like us people: they are the same people. For every Hasan, every Aisha, every Ahangar, every anybody whom we have here, there is another one, exactly the same in that valley."

"These are likenesses and reflections to us, when we see such things. But it is we who are the likeness and reflection of them--we who are here, we are their twins..."

Everyone thought that Ahangar had gone mad through his privations, and Aisha married Hasan the swordsman. Ahangar rapidly grew old and died. And all the people, every one who had heard this story from the lips of Ahangar, first lost heart in their lives, then grew old and died, for they felt that something was going to happen over which they had no control and from which they had no hope, and so they lost interest in life itself.

It is only once in a thousand years that this secret is seen by man. When he sees it, he is changed. When he tells its bare facts to others, they wither and die out.

People think that such an event is a catastrophe, and so they must not know about it, for they cannot understand [such is the nature of their ordinary life] that they have more selves than one, more hopes than one, more chances than one--up there, in the Paradise of the Song of Ahangar, the mighty smith.

Text: Idries Shah - Wisdom of the Idiots

Green and Sombre

I haven't got much time to take any pictures lately, but thanks to my dear friend Bridie, I have her permission on posting one of her gorgeous pictures... and I adore this one. It's a fresh look at Griffith Park here in Los Angeles, with all the rain we've gotten from last month, one can barely recognize it from the picture. With a city in the distant, the image seems oddly quiet and serene.

Moving on... I have an endoscopy procedure early tomorrow morning and that means... Woohooo! A 3-day weekend! I'll keep busy tho, just not work. Alec has the day off tomorrow so we'll be looking at more houses. We need a lot of luck in this seller's market.

Yesterday when I was driving, I was listening to a song by Anita Mui and at one point she sings: "...when we're young, we don't realize that we're in a dream. And when we finally wake up, that's when we go back to once where we belong." I've listened to the same track many times before, but last night it struck me a certain way and I find the words really poignant and touching. Cried a bit. Laughed a little. While stuck in traffic.

Moving on again... Here's something to listen to while you're looking all the foliage. By David Darling, called Darkwood IV: Dawn. Soothing. And we shall get more rain this weekend.

Think About What You Don't Know

Are you happy at where you're at? Are we ever? I look at my current job condition and I asked myself: "Can I do better?" "What if I were doing something else? What would that be?" "Do I want to?" Now is never the right moment, yet now is always the right time. If one breaks out of its shell, one can fall flat on his/her face, or he/she might rise above and beyond. I gave that a little thot today when I was at work.

A coworker of mine hasn't driven a motorbike for years, and yesterday he told me that he got a chance to drive one this weekend... What a great feeling!! He also took a jab at the art of welding with a help of a friend... Isn't that just wonderful? Learning something new... One might not like it, who knows. Maybe it's a start of something new?? So what am I good at? Hmm... arranging flowers? definitely not! Cooking? Maaaybe! Lap-dancing? Weeeeeeee!

Timing is crucial.

Wooziness and Sugarfree

Has it been 9 or 10 days? Feeling dizzy... Been very busy doing this and doing that. Even have been neglecting to write a few email in reply. Bad Rah-burt.

Saw my folks this weekend, helped them out with some things and for grandma. She's so weak, but she can still get around a bit. I drove her back to my brother's place to get some of her belongings back. when I was holding her hand, she clung on to me every step of the way, she felt as light as feathers. :-( And today at work during lunch time, a coworker and I went to Target. She was getting some lotion and on the other side of the aisle there were some Dr. Schall's products... I remember I used to buy my grandma foot products for her corns and calluses [sorry if I'm grossing you out!], but it's kinda sad now since she stopped asking me to buy them... I guess the older you get, certain things just don't matter much, and I'm thinking she prolly doesn't even feel the pain anymore. Tho I still buy her lotion and Efferdent tablets. :-)

So what else is new... hrm... It was Alec and I 6th anniversary on Sunday, we almost forgotten about it 'til we were watching a program on TV the night before, and the 2 couples were asking each other: "So, how long have you two been together?" Thanks Sushil and Preston again for remembering. Sweethearts. By the way, Alec and I are in the process of looking for our first home/house! Mortgage, woohooo!!

Changing lane. The other day I was driving on the freeway and this one guy sorta cut me off without even signaling, so I thot I would do the same to him just to 'teach him a lesson'... But alas, right after I did that I was thinking, maybe he was doing exactly the same thing cuz somebody did that to him... BUT I didn't do it!?! So at that moment I deducted life's either powered by karmic energy, or maybe it's just one big chain reaction after another... Hmm... so I sped off.

Lastly, I went CD shopping cuz this particular disc wasn't on iTunes, or that I just couldn't find it. This one particular song reminded me of a friend of mine, Kiel... I would categorize it as sorta bliss-pop'ish and I find it even a bit solemnly beautiful... Elrich Schnauss' On My Own, hope you like it. So far for the past 2 days I have been playing this track over and over... It's a shoegazer's dream... Feeling woozy...