The Saddest Word in English

There is a 6 word story that goes like this.  The saddest word in English: stay.  

Immediately, my mind jumped to Rihanna's 'Stay', which is the most played song (457 times) on my iTunes.  It was my anthem last October through December, when I kept playing and replaying because, well, it sung my heart and mind back then.  

My favorite version of the song is not the original music video or the studio version, but Rihanna's performance on SNL.  I could feel her hurt and pain through her voice and her eyes.  I feel like she was singing her heart out, baring her cuts and bruises for the whole world to see, bravely.  It is so moving, and I feel so bad for her every time I see this video, I wish I can share a piece of her pain.  Go watch it, see it for yourself, and you will know what I mean.  

Midnight in Paris

Through getting on a car that comes as the clock strikes midnight, script and novel writer, Gil (Owen Wilson), travels back in time to the 1920s, where he finds himself in the middle of the arts scene, spending time partying with Fitzgerald, Hemingway and meeting Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Dali and more.  The trips to the 1920s, Gil's ideal golden age, became the escape for him from the reality, where his mismatched relationship with his fiancé Inez (Rachel McAdams) is on thin ice.  He develops romantic feelings for Adriana, the ex-lover of Picasso, and while walking the streets of Paris together one night, the two travel further back in time to the 1890s, where Adriana decides to stay and Gil and Adriana bids each other farewell.   Towards the end, Gil decides to break up with Inez and stay in beautiful city of Paris.

The beginning of the movie was a bit dry, until Gil travels to the past and met Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and the rest of the artists and writers in the circle, which fits right with the idea of the film, I guess, juxtaposing the dull reality of the modern lives of the purple with the wonderful and glamorous lives of the 1920s. Gil seems detached with characters in the real life, and always walks a few paces behind when him and Inez are with Inez's friends.  His future-father and mother-in laws do not seem to like him that much either.  It is only when he is back in 1920s is he most alive as he is among his fellow people, artists and writers that understands and accepts him for who he is, for his creative mind and wild imaginations.  It will only take a free, creative mind like Gil to be able to fit in among the artists of the past.  The detective that Inez's father paid to spy on Gil only gets more and more lost and afraid in the time traveling.  

This movie is the third Woody Allen film I've watched, so I can't give much comments as in how it is different or the same with his usual style.  And I feel like I can't say there are marvelous performances from Owen Wilson or Rachel McAdams or the rest of the cast either.  The idea though, the plot and the screenplay by Woody Allen is very interesting and hook me in once Wilson travels back in time to the 1920s.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed the portrayal of the different writers and artists in the movie.  Hemingway is a good one, and the scene with Dali paints a smile on my face.  

joey

40DD: The Best Kind of Relationship

Well, nothing much to say about this one, but that if you have such relationship with your significant other or with anyone in your life, you're lucky and blessed.  And I think I am one of those lucky ones who have friendships as such. Yes, I am talking about you L and M and S.

40DD: stop being polite, start getting real

Stop being polite and start getting real.  This is Tim's quote from day 11.

Nice guys finish last, right?  It is always the case.  And it is easy to say, how we all got to stop being just nice, how we got to be ourselves.  It is difficult to do, however.  When I see someone I like, it is always difficult to let loose and be myself, because I will naturally tense up and be nervous.  I will wonder if what I am doing is intruding his personal space, if he likes me doing certain things, if he will judge me if I do something, or don't do something.  For people like me, who are extremely shy and quite thin-skinned, when we see someone we like, we tend to retreat and admire from afar, rather than going at them, declaring (or hinting) of feelings and of love.  We will be afraid that they will know that we want more because we will just be laughing stocks if they don't return the feelings.  It will be awkward, I always believed.

The thing is, how we are acting is making everything awkward.  It is us who is building this wall between ourselves and them potential lovers because we are acting differently when we're with them.  We express and communicate with them differently than we express and communicate with our other friends and peoples.  And we end up awkwardly interested and withdrawn at the same time (I have no idea how I manage to achieve that), and this only makes the situation more confusing and weird.

Wish me luck and bless me and my future romantic endeavors.

40DD: Love is finding someone to be weird with

(40DD as in 40 Days of Dating. Sure, y'all should have gotten it.  Y'all smart readers.)

Well, both Jessie and Tim are quirky in their own ways, I guess.  I mean, who will think of and participate in experiments as this and broadcast it for the whole world to see?  They are both creative minds and artsy, and by general stereotype, a little weird, but definitely in a cool way so it seems from all the blog entries and videos they've made.

Everybody is a little weird in their own way.  And just like what the above quote, love is finding someone whose weirdness matches yours, someone who you are comfortable with and comfortable with you; someone in sync with your weirdness.

I remember watching a short performance in theatre class in high school, a silent performance with only music and the three actors on stage.  The girl was wandering around with her paper-cut heart, matching it with the other paper-cut hearts that the other two male actors were holding.  The two male actors were channeling different characters every time they reappear on stage and held different paper-cut hearts.  Those paper-cut hearts were all different; they were raw-edged, pointy, fat, slender, broken, red, pink and all that you could think of.  And of course, we could all guess it, eventually one of the male actor came out with a matching heart and the boy and the girl go through a fast forward of getting married growing old together and all that fairytale ending.

Well, I guess that pretty much sums up what love is, right? To be the lucky one and find the heart that matches yours.

(This is the point of view of the rookie in the love industry.  And yes, you may laugh at me if it's not the case.) 

40 Days of Dating

I just finished reading this blog.  It is about how a pair of best friends, who are both single and have their own issues with relationships, decided to work on an experiment: to date each other for 40 days and chronicling their feelings daily.  There are loads of images and artsy typography in the entries every day (no surprise they are both creative minds and got creative friends).  It is an extremely interesting read and soon after I began to read it I find myself absorbed into their relationship.  It is an extremely risky experiment, a close friendship was at stake.  I would love to try it though with my guy best friend.   I would.

Well, reading honest and personal diary entries of Jessie and Tim for 40 days have surely given me insight to what relationships should be.  Being pathetically single that I am, I am reading to prepare myself for my future romantic endeavors.  They have all these cute quotes at the beginning of each entry and I'd like to say something about.  I will start a series perhaps.  And the next post will be the first one.

You must check the blog out: fortydaysofdating.com

High Highs

Recently, I am loving the mellow and echoey sound of the High Highs.  This Sydney, Australian born (now Brooklyn-based) band is mega-awesome and mega-rad.  Their songs relax and unwind me.  Perfect for the moments of escape from the hectic reality that everybody needs. 

This is the most well-known song by them, played while the credits roll in Pitch Perfect.  And apparently it was in Catfish as well?

This one is my favorite.  It's their cover of Pnau's The Truth, but I love this version way more.  And here's my favorite bit.

You know I met you baby I thought that you were the sun

I felt your presence and your pure warmth shone upon

And then the night fell hard and you were the moon

I rode your waves but I fell too soon

I thought you were the truth

Here is an 30 mins performance by the High Highs.  I love it.