A little talk about love - thanks to "Where rainbows end" (or "Love, Rosie") by Cecelia Ahern

Okay, so it's 3:40 in the morning and I have to go to work tomorrow but I feel really crazed right now and I need to post my thoughts about this book I have just finished reading...I haven't picked up a chick lit in quite some time so I thought it would be boring, but once I've started reading it, it kept me going till the end...Of course, like all the books I've read so far, I've skipped the uninteresting parts and read only the main characters' love story - which, as a distinctive fact, came described in e-mails and letters. So I kept hoping and hoping that the characters will eventually end up with together...and when they didn't and kept making wrong choices, I felt such a surge of rage I HAD to write a review on this book here.

On the bright side, whoever has read this book, would definitely give a more serious thought to life and love - why let "the one" slip away, when you could confess and experience a lifetime of happiness together?

Although best friends since childhood, Rosie and Alex are acting like complete idiots when it comes to each other - they keep postponing and postponing the decision to actually be happy together, they keep marrying the wrong persons, they keep missing each other's love declarations until they're FIFTY! Imagine that horror! Imagine how it is like to watch the one you are in love with, knowingly or unknowingly, marrying another woman/man, having children, being unhappy in their marriage and still you PRACTICALLY rejecting the moments to getting together with the one you really feel comfortable and happy about!

I have always thought that the love resulted from a long and durable friendship is more beautiful than a love at first sight - my secret dream was to get married to my best male friend, if such man existed - but man, this story really pushed my buttons and made me angry a little more than usual with the main characters - if they FELT they were right for each other RIGHT FROM THE START, why WASTE AN ENTIRE LIFETIME WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE, AND TAKE 50 YEARS TO REALIZE IT - when they could have used that time to be together and experience a happiness they would have never even dreamt of?

Cecelia Ahern is a little bit of a sadist here, in my opinion - although my favorite author so far, she really knows how to push the reader's buttons in Where Rainbows End - you should definitely give it a read - you'll know what I am talking about!

MORALE OF THE BOOK:
1. Make use of every opportunity to tell your special someone how special he or she is - do not give up (even if it seems impossible for you to be together) until you've reached the conclusion that nothing more can be done for you two!
2. When picking a life partner, choose with your heart, not your head;
3. Do not drink excessively in any circumstance - you may be heavily regret for doing/not doing/ not remembering what you did afterwards!
4. If life gives you hints you may have found a special someone, don't be chicken about it and make up all sort of excuses for you not to be together - it may be too late for you two when you wake up!

Noah 2014 - a movie who retells the Bible in a modern way (spoilers!)

     

       I have just finished watching Noah, a 2014 film written and directed by Darren Aronovsky (Ari Handel was the co-writer), two people with interesting insight... why do I say this? Because, after watching this movie, I was left with a pretty deep impression about their vision of that biblic episode - although it does not follow the Bible closely. The characters which used to be just some names in the Old Testament, suddenly became people with desires, with shortcomings, with insecurities, with problems.

           Of course that the must-have overdrama effect of any Hollywood movie is still there, and so are the CG effects...and the Watchers, whose purpose I could not understand at first (I thought I was watching another copy of the Transformers) - but in the end, they turned out to be okay (see below)!

         Needless to say, I was impressed by the performances of Russell Crowe and Emma Watson - one, a mountain of an actor, the other, a talent in bloom - man, they really knew how to pull this whole thing off~!

        I also enjoyed the script - at first, I kept finding faults in the differences the script presented as opposed to the Bible - for example, a Watcher, if it is considered a fallen angel, would have to be evil, not good - instead, they proved to be a real help for Noah while building the boat! So the writer, in the end, decided to offer them the ultimate reward - a chance at redemption, therefore the regaining of the lost paradise - who could ask for more?

       That who wrote that final Watcher scene was so witty - according to theology, all a fallen/evil angel must do to regain the lost paradise is ask for forgiveness and admit their mistake - however, they decide to persist in their mistake, as they consider that their judgements are final and cannot be changed - that is why Heaven is lost for them! If only there could be a chance for them too! The writer decided to give them that chance - I do not know if to call that naivete or hope - I am human, so I will decide to go on hoping - perhaps, if we all prayed for a little bit of help from God to make the fallen angels see their mistake, the world would look differently (as you can see, I am really naive!) 

       Plus, there are so many other subtle connections throughout the movie, to art and philosophy and other fields (the Creation of Man by Michelangelo, the belief that Man is the measure of all things or the healing serpent, to name a few), one should be thrilled while discovering them!

       I also cleared myself a few misunderstandings - how the animals were kept together for months without eating each other - they were put to sleep - how clever on the scriptwriter's part! - how Noah, a just man, just accepted to let so many humans die: he thought they were going to die, too, after getting off that Arc, and he was so deeply affected by his choice - proof of his drunken state after they got off the Arc - a slightly different interpretation from the Bible, who presented the facts in bright colors.

       And let's not forget the hidden secret of Matusalem's long life (Matusalem was Noah's grandfather, by the way) - he kept drinking tea made from seeds from the Tree of Life, passed onto generation from the Garden of Eden so he never got old - smart guy!

 
        The story of The Creation was also described beautifully - I bet the director and the CG editor had a blast imagining it!

        And let's not forget the last scene with the peace sign - now that is a river of rainbows all over the sky! Rainbow was God's promise to mankind that He will keep mankind alive till the end of Time so it was only fitting that it will end that way!

        In the end, Noah should be watched not necessarily for its close accounting of the Bible and religious insight, but rather for its cinematographic value and beautiful aesthetics and effects - and someone familiar with the biblic episode of the Great Flood will know how to discern between real biblical facts and the movie fictional facts - however, I believe it could be a pretty good incentive in reading the Bible and finding more about religion.        

      Still, if you wish to be trully feel connected to the Christian religion, better try watching movies like The Passion of Christ directed by Mel Gibson, The Mission directed by Roland Joffe, or my favorite, Francesco e Chiara, an italian movie about the life of Saint Francis - you will be impressed!

      For more differences between the movie and the Biblic episode of the Flood, you can read further here :

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/43454-seven-of-the-worst-mistakes-in-the-movie-noah

The Plant Whisperer

I am not a fan of plants. In fact, I usually dislike and neglect taking care of the flower pots in my apartment and I don't think they like me very much either. With me, they are continuously fasting - they don't drink for weeks and they are probably cursing me with the tip of their leaves. Or they learn to appreciate the Saharan drought I so often "bestow" upon them. If they were to be people reincarnated from other times, as a result of their past lives' deeds, they would sure get their punishment and more. 

However, I remember to "feed" them from once in a while. Usually when my father, a plant lover by name, bugs me to do it or when my dear sweet mother reminds me to "water the plants, for God's sake". In the last couple of days, I've come down handsome and decided to water them daily, to make up for my past misdeed.

And man, how they thanked me for it! I could not believe my eyes how vivid and greenish my apartment suddenly turned out to be and how happy the plants were! Seeing them happy, I became happy as well so I gave them a little kiss and did a little caressing too, to their poor little leaves. And guess what! I've heard squeals - at first I didn't believe my ears, I thought that the leaves were rubbing against each other but when I caressed one of these curious flowers again, it made the same sound! Like squealing in joy!!

I've heard about plants making noises and about tomatoes crying when eaten, but I dismissed them as tattletales. And now I was forced to experience something I could have never imagined. It was true, the squealing was true and it took me completely by surprise, so I began to realise why there are people who love and take care of plants with so much devotion. Maybe they've heard them "talking", too. 

 Maybe everyone of us has the chance to become a "plant whisperer" or an "animal whisperer" or even a "people whisperer", given the chance. All we have to do is put ourselves in new shoes and be open to new experiences. Did you perhaps have the same experience? If you did, share it in the comments section and let us readers know the different side of the story of the plant world! :)

Close to the answer?

So finally, after a long time, the need for writing kicks in again. I've been trying to abandon you, to run away, but it turns out I couldn't. My heart would not let me. But this time, I don't feel so contradicted anymore.

For a long time I believed that my past and my future would be entirely separated, that I don't know how to get out of the vicious circle I've entangled myself into, so I will have to let go of the dreams of the past and live a life of duty, not pleasure.

For that reason I have suffered a great deal, uselessly. The real problem lied within my heart, as it struggled to find the path towards my best future, hurt by my dorment black and white sides. I cried and I cried as I felt my life went crumbling into pieces and I could not find the answer I was desperately looking for.

Tonight, a revelation hit me, after seeing a flashback of my life these past few years. The past and the future don't have to be separated, nor entangled. They are merely two parts of your life, one gone and one not realised yet. What matters is the present and how you live in it. Choosing one path despite another does not mean you cannot make your dreams come true, nor it forces you on focusing solely on that path, but allowing yourself to cross paths with other callings as well.

A very wise saying goes like this - "When choosing your calling, consider your epitaph and not your resume". I should make this my life quote from now on - but still, there are so many questions left unanswered - wouldn't it be nice if someone placed you in front of a mirror and said to you - "this is who you are, this is what you are suitable for"?