Leaves Of Grass

One night
I split my cicada skin
devoured your leaves
knowing no poison,
no love nourishment
in that larval blindness,
a hunger finally true.

a poem from the movie "Leaves Of Grass" faithfully captured to the best of my hearing abilities. And this one is not by Walt Whitman.

and i also loved what follows the poem ..

Maybe what's true is in front of us, and we're moving toward it without even knowing it's there. Once you think you've got it all solved, what's left?

And we don't mind the rain

the last white bird in the rain
is not looking for a shelter
as it flies in auto pilot
the men in yellow hats
hanging high from the scaffolding
are fearless too
the cars with red tops
and blue tops and white tops
sleep silent in the car lot
and i with the eyes of a man
calm from last night's sleep
stand at the window


we are all happy where we are
and we don't mind the rain.

why we watch movies

"I don't think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away."

~~ Ton Noonan

This got me thinking. Am I the escapist ? A realist ? Somewhere in between ? All of the above? Together ? By turns? I know now that in our lives we never are one thing at all times. But I am going to try and fathom anyways.

The movies I look for are about real or imagined people, places and times. Which means all the movies. :). Okay, movies which make you yearn for something, which make you think about your own life and remind you of your many hungers you learnt to live with and not do anything about. The ones which fill you with a mad lust - for poetry, for love and the excursions into the known unknowns of this world. I don't demand that it make me happy only that it should evoke and stir something in me. And yes I am partial to soaring music, beautiful words and lyrical voice overs.

But then you don't need a movie to do that for you. And life is here and you don't need to watch a movie to get into or back to it. Maybe its the same escapism after all, if only of a different kind. You are still getting your highs from watching characters in movies do what you don't, only wished you did.

I don't know if there is one reason why we watch movies. But if there was, what would be yours ?

Where the Wild Things Are

there is this kid - Max. sweet and wildly expressive. needs his love. and is the owner of a private world. and he tells stories. here is the one he told his mom about vampires -

there were some buildings... there were these really tall buildings, and they could walk. then there were some vampires. and one of the vampires bit the tallest building, and his fangs broke off. then all his other teeth fell out. then he started crying. and then, all the other vampires said, "why are you crying? weren't those just your baby teeth?" and he said, "no. those were my grown-up teeth." and the vampires knew he couldn't be a vampire anymore, so they left him. the end.

more than your typical kid's movie. this one is about isolation. and belonging. about being left alone in the snow in a smashed igloo. and sleeping in one big warm happy furry pile. about the pains and the joys of being a kid. about how its easy to love. and how its hard too. about running away from one world to another. and coming back home.

obviously i loved watching it. and i loved what one of the wild things says - "Happiness isn't always the best way to be happy."

medicine for melancholy

late night on friday i remembered that i had a movies-to-watch list. a mental one. so i fish this one out from the list and then the internet and love everything about it. the way the camera looks at the city. the way the characters look at the camera and each other and the city. the way the music kicks in. lovely little moments set to beautiful little pieces of music. sweet. sad. happy. true. could even be you. or maybe not. leave the rest for you to discover.

P.S : Wanted to choose between the two posters. Thought about it. Picked both. :)