A MUST SEE! A six y/o boy must deal with the tough life after atom bombing of Hiroshima – another child’s look at the destruction of life and spirit called “war”. Attention: before watching it, try some samples on YouTube – this anime contains really shocking scenes, even if these are just illustrations!
However, it really is worth watching -> even in such a terrible time a human spirit is going to survive!
a MUST SEE to everybody who wants to see WWII in Japan through the eyes of the most innocent – story of two kids, orphaned in firebombing of Kobe. Very sad, very true, very worth seeing!
“Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.”- Doris Mortman
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”- Henry David Thoreau
“All that we do is done with an eye to something else.”- Aristotle
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”- Charles Darwin
“Because you understand ‘one’, you think that you also understand ‘two’, because ‘one’ and ‘one’ make ‘two’, but you must also understand the ‘and’.”- Sufi teaching
“Wisdom begins in wonder.”- Socrates
“The impossible is often the untried.”- Jim Goodwin
“It is too late to be a pessimist.”- Yann Arthus Bertrand, Home (2009)
“Sometimes the only way to repair is to restart.”
“A master at the art of living makes no distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion – he hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues with excellence what he is about and leaves others to determine, whether he is working or playing. He himself always knows, he is doing both.”– Wilfred A. Peterson
“The work will teach you how to do it.”- Estonian proverb
“Do your work and then step back: the only path to serenity.”- The Tao Te Ching, 450 B.C.
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”- Scott Adams, Dilbert
“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”
“Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.”- Jean Sibelius
“There are no wrong turns. Only wrong thinking on the turns our life has taken.”- Zen saying
“Erfolgreich zu sein setzt zwei Dinge voraus:Klare Ziele und den brennenden Wunsch, sie zu erreichen.”- J.W.Goethe
“I must Create a System or be enslav’d by another Man’s.”- William Blake
“Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are.”- Bernado Houssay, Nobel Laureate in Medicine
“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.”- Margaret Lee Runback
“We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.”- Harrison Ford
“Be kind to each other: It is better to commit faults with gentleness than to work miracles with unkindness.”- Mother Teresa
“When in doubt, tell the truth. You will gratify some of the people and astound the rest.”- Mark Twain
“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”- Henry Ford
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”- Gail Sheehy
“You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”- Charles Buxton
“Do the little things well now. In time, great things will be presented to you.”- Persian proverb
“If you’re not working on your ideal day, you’re working on someone else’s.”- Marjorie Blanchard
“I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David.”- Michelangelo Buonarroti
“I must Create a System or be enslav’d by another Man’s.”- William Blake
“Leaders are dealers in hope.”- Napoleon
“The greatest reward for doing is to do more.”- Jonas Salk
“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”-H. G. Wells
‘The Map of Love’ by Ahdaf Soueif
http://www.amazon.com/Map-Love-Novel-Ahdaf-Soueif/dp/0385720114
This one is a great love story! If you want ot get some pictures of living in 18th century Egypt, about feelings of native people about domination of British Empire on their land back then…
Plus, you want to know some of the current views on the so called clash of Western and Eastern civilisations seen by Egyptians…
And in the meantime, you want to follow two parallel love stories (which touch English-Egyptian and American-Egyptian heroes)...
Give this book a try!
Romantic part is not very girly – since those heroes who took some time to realize they’ve falled in love are men here ;).
Beautiful language, beautuful scenery, beautiful feelings – all well described!
“The Jewel of Medina” by Sherry Jones (2008)
http://www.amazon.com/Jewel-Medina-Sherry-Jones/dp/0825305187
This is one of the most controversial book of the last few years, although my story with it began by accident. I’ve got it as a Christmas gift from my aunt, who wasnt familiar with my interests at all, but got a “bingo!” prize this time :).
Ok, having it, and getting to know this whole controversy, wouldn’t be wise to just leave it, so I did read it – very fast, actually.
This is a historical story of Aisha – the youngest of Mohammad’s wife. Written in the 1st person, it’s a kind of a diary of a young girl, who got engaged & married to the Prophet in her 6, phisically became his wife in her 9, and lived as Prophet’s wife & Muslim leader until her early death in her 19.
There’s two areas which seems to be responsible about this controversy:
the first is that, the author of this book is neither Muslim, nor Middle Eastern – Sherry Jones is an American journalist, a woman who made some research about Islam, and in this way got religious, political, and antrophological view of Arabia in early Islamic period.
the second would be, the rooted Islamic (Sunni, at least) prohibition of depicting God, and Prophet Mohammad – there’s no other legal depiction of Mohammad than these in the Hadiths. So, making a novel story about him was quickly critizied (e.g. by IslamOnline.net), and the book was not published for some time.
Keeping it all in mind, I think it can be interesting to read this story anyway – it helps to bring some light into Arab Islamic culture, however it’s important to remember how the actual Muslims react on pieces like this one. It’s important to see it as none fact – it’s just a literature; because of there’s nothing against writing about or depicting God in Western world, we can have this book published, but it’s important to respect how the Muslims react on it.
I’ve found useful also some other aspect – which is some effect of Jones’ research I think: many Islamic terms appeared in this book, in some explanation context. It was good to read about them as they were born in Islamic culture in the first years…
“Hakawati” by Rabih Alameddine (2008)
http://www.amazon.com/Hakawati-Rabih-Alameddine/dp/0307266796
It’s Alameddine’s forth book, autobiographical one, but – as from a good hakawati expected – this is an amazing story, fulfilled with 1001 plots, full of a charm of magical realism, and making you immerse from the first page to the last! If you’re about to read it, please choose some free time, otherwise you’ll put all your tasks away, just to follow the brilliant stories said by a skillful storyteller :).
You’ll have the chance to see today’s Lebanon, one of the most open to the Western culture Arabic country (as you’ll see, to its all ”+” and ”-”), you’ll meet the opportunity to get to know the 3 generation story of Alameddine’s family, and finally you’ll see the playground to many of Islamic legends, beliefs, and mythical stories.
As you see already, this book has a lot of dimensions: every one worth getting to know! It includes plenty of smiles and sorrows, which can be experienced by you… Enjoy!
“Diary of a Mad Old Man” by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki (1962)
http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Mad-Old-Junichiro-Tanizaki/dp/0679730249
This is a book thought as a diary of an old man who lives with his family – in his old years he stays at home of his son and son’s wife. Because of son’s often business trips, the old man has lot of chances to observe a young, fashionable, and fascinated by Western culture, wife of his son. Simply, he becomes attracted by the girl, and starts to keep this journal as some early way to find a solace. But his fascinations are not about to stay just as written pages…
What I’ve found interesting in this book…
First of all, this was a good way to get some more light on the issue of a very Japanese fascination, which is the fascination (esp. by older people) of young people, their beauty, phisically strenght and joy. The jounal form of this book is very helpful to get a glimpse on how the fascination of this kind actually goes forward.
The next thing would be, the way the Japanese people see the beauty in ordinary life, daily events, and nature – this look is not very familliar to Western aesthetics, to what we call a “high art”. This sphere is completely forgot by West world, and so live in the Far East!
And finally, I’ve read this book short after my very first trip to Tokyo. Since the plot of this journal is about Tokyo only, a few districts – I loved it also ‘cause of the fact that it had brought me to the streets and places I got to know short before! Very literally descriptions of going to some places in the capital of Japan made me follow all these paths through my imagination once again! <3
A good news: this book is filmed already!
The movie is American(1987), though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMiAAd-oihs
Have not seen it, so can’t make my own opinion here. But from the trailer, I see its lack of a charm the original book has…
Probably, transporting the story to the Western world did not help her either. Well, at least it can be seen as another story…
“Dancing Arabs” by Sayed Kashua (2004)
http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Arabs-Sayed-Kashua/dp/0802141269
I recommend this book to those of you who would like to see the Israel/Palestina conflict from the very private, bittersweet point of view. This is a story of a boy growing up in Palestina, a territory occupied by Israel – his all life is fulfilled with seeing Israeli domination over Palestinian people, and counting the unfair situations he experiences because of being an Arab. All that makes him wishing to be Israeli himself, and sick of all Arab vices.
Among Arabs, his voice/dream is seen as a pure madness, though.
Kashua’s autobiography is a masterpiece, you’ll laugh and cry: literally, there will be much of reading of funny parts with eyes fulfilled with tears!
What I have found interesting in this book…
Well, listening to this whole debate about Palestinian situation, and Israeli occupation, this whole Middle Eastern conflict which exist over 30 years already, I finally found the very private perspective – a voice of one man, who’s a child raised in it, in the root territory of this whole worldwide messy politics.
Observing Kashua’s own perspective, I got the chance to see that, even there, there’s no black & white choice only! Once again, life seems not to be an “either… or” choice – when you put the private stories in, the cross-cultural, borderless love affairs, the eye of the witness who’s judgeing his own life, no matter what the politics say…
A good news: this book is going to be filmed! But I highly recommend to read it first!
From now on, I’m going to read a lot.
Usually, I read quite lot, I try to read at least one book (not connected to my research literature) pro month.
But from now on, I’ll put some special attention to my choices – I’ll make sure the books I read are from 43 countries/their authors come originally from 43 different nationalities.
I see thig goal as my way to get to know more about the outside world, that’s what literature is all for, isn’t it?
First things first – I’ll add some books I’ve already finished in 2010, and they suit the criteria.
Will also try to put some note to each of them, to give you some outlook to their content/to share my feelings about them.
Let’s get started!
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”- Confucius
I forgot to add, how much I love to admire ppl’s eyes!
There’s thousands of people with so so so beautiful eyes, not seeing them is actually missing some walking pieces of art :D.
There’s for example, this famous Afghani woman from the National Geographic’s cover – the most famous gazing in the world I guess!
I don’t know how you guys make it, but also in movies, I love the actors with an amazing (let’s say: a perfect – to me) shape of eyes and way of looking :).
There’s for example the intriguing look of Johnny Depp, or a heartwarming look of Denzel Washington!
I’ll share with you, I prefer dark eyes: dark brown – like a coffee, or hazel brown – like a caramel. I also see many blue eyes very interesting: electric blue – like the ones of Aishwara Rai, or violet blue – like the ones of Elizabeth Taylor.
I have read recently that, the most desiring eye color is green – olive or grey/green color. That would explain at least part of the beauty of famous Afghani girl I mentioned above. Interesting is the fact that, the designers of comic series, when drawing some special female characters, female superheros or femme fatales, very often give them green eyes – that’s their fav color to strenght the power of females characters! Also, green + eyes connection was popular in ancient Egypt – world of the very first perfect eye makeup: they made something like eye shadows from green shells of scarab beetles, and since they were mostly brown eyed, Egyptian women used to put this green sparkling around eyes.
Seems like green is the color which correspond with both – brown and blue eyes preety nice! Check on Neyriti from “Avatar”:
http://bit.ly/bQm2Xe
and on Cleopatra’s pictures:
brown eyed Monica Bellucci’s version – http://bit.ly/9ApXgk
and blue eyed Liz Taylor’s version – http://bit.ly/KbEzQ
:)
I fully agree with this Arabic sentence: seeing someone for the very first time, we spend most of the time on looking into one’s eyes. After getting to know somebody, we look for eyes/facial expressions even more!
As we got used to hear, eyes are the mirrors of our souls: they can show how we feel, if we’re happy, sad, affraid, confident, full of wonders, asking for help, proud, examinating, feeling messed up, confused, thanking, shokced, agreed, and many more – they can reflect every single state of mind/spirit.
Getting to know how to read someone’s feeling from catching his/her look is much easier to me than showing my eyes.
I’m not (very) shy, I don’t have many problems with sharing my points of view, or expressing my inner sphere. And also, not many problems with starting some friendly relations.
But to be honest, I use many other spheres to make it happen.
Even if I feel, my eyes are the best part of my face :).
I also may know where the problem is – and that would be, first – a fear of meeting unfriendly look of somebody or second, of meeting eyes full of desire (yes, it happens to every girl. And I have to admit, this is something I hate. I like to give my attention to men who flirt in a much more delicate way, subtle asking my with their look to turn my eyes onto them; I hate being pushed to turn my head to somebody who’s gazing me! It makes me really embarassed…).
So, yes – I know I want to make it more often: sharing more eye contact with others make us beeing seen as more friendly people, too. I believe that giving a nice, optimist look to somebody, can sometimes improve one’s day! This is really powerful weapon of every each of us! And I also know, it’s one of the easiest acts in the world, doesn’t hurt, costs nothing – we just make it, just like that!
I have better days and worse. Sunglasses totally help me – wearing them make me fully eye-contactable :). But that’s not the actuall challenge to me! I wanna make it daily, as much as possible. Without making it, there’s lots of moments in which I feel lonely…
Some of online sources are here:
1) http://ezinearticles.com/?Learning-to-Concentrate-and-Focus&id=734990
2) http://www.oldandsold.com/articles06/memory-18.shtml
3) http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8497.asp
4) http://www.heraldonline.com/2010/04/09/2077463/concentrate-on-doing-one-thing.html
1 – Thanks for enlighting moments & please, may I have more of them :)
2 – Thanks for good luck!
3 – Thanks for my carrying family
4 – Thanks for sun, more & more!
5 – Thanks for good wishes from others!
“The soul must pick work too or we learn later how much we hate our work, causing us to lead lives of quiet desperation.”- Henry David Thoreau
This quote from Wittgenstein is so true!
In the age of growing international exchange in many zones of our lives, in the time of high possbility of facing different spheres of life on multi-culticultural area, in the reality of meeting foreigners all around, it’s highly recommended to be able to spread our own little worlds to make a big difference by collaboration!
For me personally, it means to improve on three foreign languages I use – finally find some time to work more on it & use them more and more correctly and professional – I’m gonna treat this entry as a challenge, probably neverending one, but something which needs to be started right now and continued during many years to come…
1 – Thanks to myself, for my work on self-improvement
2 – Thanks to my family, for everything
3 – Thanks to M – you’re my new friend
4 – Thanks to older friends, for being by my side
5 – Thanks to lessons I get daily, I’ll try make them all learned
My two ideas for making it done is:
1) to learn Time Management
2) to learn NLP
I added this goal after realising some of my ex-friends left me.
I felt I need more firends, who will go through the exams and show themselves as true friends at the end.
Then I thought about what, or better said: who, I already have, how many people I know seemed themself helpful to me.
And the counting didn’t go so bad! There’s lot of friendly people around me – people it’s worth carrying about for real!
And being friendly to them, automatically makes you open to new ones!
Some cirle of good vibrations is kept this way :)
Let’s be friendly and more aware of living among others – don’t hesitate to be compassionate!
“We are all wanderers on this earth. Our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams.”
- Gypsy saying
constant learning of:
- letting some things go
- not letting to feel stressed out
- keeping a good adrenaline level
- thinking about the future, which is made through the present
- and loving deadlines! being not scarry of them anymore!
“I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.” (Scott Adams, Dilbert)
- loving routine: it’s nothing bad to stuck in one task for some time ;)
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” (Aristotle)
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”- Winston Churchill
“The most powerful force in the world? Compound interest.”- Albert Einstein
“Within your own house dwells the treasure of joy; so why do you go begging door to door?”- Sufi saying
“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”- Norman Vincent Peale
“Courage is fear that has said its prayers.”- Dorothy Bernard
“Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”- William James
“Learning can be defined as the process of remembering what you are interested in.”- Richard Saul Wurman
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Those who have a why can endure any how.”- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
People often say that motivation doesn’t last.Well, neither does bathing –That’s why we recommend it daily.”- Zig Ziglar
“Champions aren’t made in the gyms.Champions are made from something they have deepinside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”- Muhammad Ali
“To be a champion,You have to believe in yourself when nobody else will.”- Sugar Ray Robinson
“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.”- Janis Joplin
“I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.”- Albert Einstein
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”- Albert Einstein
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“She who teaches me for one day is in some way my mother for life.”- Chinese proverb
“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”- Talmud
“If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are.”- John Gardner
“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different…
“Before Zen, chop wood and carry water. After Zen, chop wood and carry water.”- Zen saying
