source: http://static.open.salon.com/files/woman-smoking1259336894.jpg 

Love & Tobacco. A Perfect reason to quit smoking.

“I tampakera”
Music: Iosif Ritsiardis
Lyrics: M. Traiforos, G. Giannakopoulos

I came across this song, as I usually come across anything.  I stumble upon it.  I loved it.  It took me awhile to discover the lyrics translation and now I love the song even more.

The first clip is my favourite:

Fritzilia Martha (Such drama & agony in her performance!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phnfVQD2z0o&feature=related 

Oleg Pogudin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa-P3ZFYv3k&feature=related

Μαρινέλλα – Η ΤΑΜΠΑΚΙΕΡΑ (English Subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63_NKnUUneg

Lyrics

Why did you give me this cigarette case?

Since you have thought slyly about me

And basically you want to keep me away

Why did you give me this cigarette case?

And basically you want to keep me away

Why did you give me this cigarette case?

I should not have taken your cigarette case

Because I see it and fall into deep melancholy

And I even think about quitting smoking

So that I can send you away from my mind for just a second

And I even think about quitting smoking

So that I can send you away from my mind for just a second

You never let me see a happy day

And you always liked to torture me

And maybe you gave me this cigarette case

So that smoking would also turn into nightmare for me

And maybe you gave me this cigarette case

So that smoking would also turn into nightmare for me

And now with autotranslator (try to make sense out of it!!!)

Τι μου τη χάρισες αυτή τη ταμπακέρα
αφού για μένα πονηρά έχεις σκεφτεί
κι αφού στο βάθος θέλεις να με κάνεις πέρα
τι μου τη χάρισες την ταμπακέρα αυτή;

Ποτέ δε μ’ άφησες να δω μιαν άσπρη μέρα
και σου γουστάρει πάντα να με τυραννάς
κι ίσως μου χάρισες αυτή την ταμπακέρα
για να μου γίνει και το κάπνισμα βραχνάς.

Την ταμπακέρα σου δεν έπρεπε να πάρω
γιατί τη βλέπω και βαθιά μελαγχολώ
μέχρι που σκέφτομαι να κόψω το τσιγάρο
για να σε διώξω μια στιγμή απ’ το μυαλό.

What gave me a cigarette roller

after this evil for me because you think too deep in

You want to do beyond

what gave me the cigarette roller that?

Never leave me to see an white day

and still likes you tormenting me

and perhaps I gave this to my cigarette case

made and smoking nightmare.

The cigarette case you should not get

why I see and deeply sadden to think

that to quit smoking in order

to chase away a moment from your mind

Trying to stick to the theme – LOVE.  I fell in love but again not with a person, but with an illusion.  I will see how February turns out.  I made a resolution – to disappear from his horizon starting February 1^st.  Keeping resolutions is, of course, much harder than making them.  So, we talked on February 3^rd.  Does not matter.  From now on, I have to disappear…

Why would I want to forget?

I cannot write. About anything.  Yes, that bad.

Forget about love.  Not happening.

Not making love, not falling in love.

Only forgetting.

I will forget, forget, forget…………………………………………………………………

“You will not touch my heart”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0aO5ZVK_C4

You will not touch my heart;

you will not take it and break it.

Just go and never return.

Without you, I will still be alive.

My pain… I cannot describe it. I am having a conversation with my Pain.

Yet, it will go away, too.

My wings, I will give them to passers-by…

There is only one thing left, to replace love with something else…

Point of No Return. Countdown: Ready, set, go!!!

Conversation:

He:       I will return.

Me:      You will forget about my existence in a month or two.

            And, no, you will not return.

He:       No, I will not forget. Maybe you will forget me in a month.

So, the clock is set. Ciao, darling, ciao. Let’s see who is more forgetful.  Not that I don’t know.  I wish I could forget so easily.  It is a skill, maybe I should master it?

Another skill to master – insight – trusting intuition.

Why did I fall in love with non-entity?

When it is hopeless, should I still hope?

Maybe I should.  There must be the one who would be able to return my feelings.  That clock has been set when I was born.  Still nobody is in sight… insight.

Tango – When it is hopeless

«Знать и чувствовать, что злое «никогда» – не просто слово, а моя судьба, что учит без надежды жить любя…»

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyooF_UTJAk&feature=related

To know and feel that spiteful “never” is not just a word, but my fate that teaches me to continue living with love and without hope…

Love Quotes inspired by my Love (Infatuation) for “Mein Lieber A.”

Just to give you some hints why some quotes seem to be more relevant than others.

“I am beautiful.”  Charming, yes…

“Why do you want to be infatuated with me?”  It  was not exactly my choice.

“I love Goethe quotes.”  Well, so do I.  It is nice to have something in common.

“Do you need my permission to laugh?”  1. Yes; 2. No; 3. Maybe; 4. Does it really matter? 5. All of the above.

Do I love you because you’re beautiful,
Or are you beautiful because I love you?
~Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Cinderella

 

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.  ~Eric Fromm

 

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself.  To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.  To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.  ~Kahlil Gibran

 

When love is not madness, it is not love.  ~Pedro Calderon de la Barca

 

Love is a symbol of eternity.  It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.  ~Author Unknown

 

The art of love… is largely the art of persistence.  ~Albert Ellis

 

If I love you, what business is it of yours?  ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

No one can understand love who has not experienced infatuation.  And no one can understand infatuation, no matter how many times he has experienced it.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960

 

Sometimes it’s a form of love just to talk to somebody that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence.  ~David Byrne

 

The excesses of love soon pass, but its insufficiencies torment us forever.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960

A poem about Winter Landscape.

Surprisingly enough, I was thinking what I could write about Winter Landscape.  That was my homework for January.  Yes, that one from the calendar.

And that is what I found.

A Russian romance “In the Moonlight the snow is sparkling”.

Because it is Russian Romance, it is in the Russian language.  Obviously, but that is not the point.  I had to look up the word romance because I was not sure if I used it correctly.  Apparently, I was right and one of the meanings of “romance” is “a short, lyrical composition.”

But then I looked at the origin of the word and that where I lost my conscience. (A joke!)  The word “romance” stems from the word Roma = Rome.  If I take things literally and I do it quite often, just for fun, then a Russian Romance is a contradiction of terms.

So, all these meanings: a love story, a literary genre, the aura of excitement and more simply come back to Rome.  Literally, all roads lead to Rome.  Or rather all ROMANCES originate in Rome.  Or?  Maybe that is the reason why my Italian friend is so amorous all the time.

Coming back to “In the moonlight the snow is sparkling”.  This romance is neither about winter, nor about landscape, it is about Love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yFfX-UK9PI&feature=related

В лунном сиянье

слова и музыка Е. Юрьева

Полный текст песни

слова и музыка Е. Юрьева

В лунном сиянье снег серебрится,

Вдоль по дороге троечка мчится.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Колокольчик звенит,

Этот звон, этот звон

О любви говорит.

В лунном сиянье ранней весною

Помнятся встречи, друг мой, с тобою.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Колокольчик звенел,

Этот звон, этот звон

О любви сладко пел.

Помнятся гости шумной толпою,

Личико милой с белой фатою.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Звон бокалов шумит,

С молодою женой

Мой соперник стоит.

В лунном сиянье снег серебрится,

Вдоль по дороге троечка мчится.

Динь-динь-динь, динь-динь-динь —

Колокольчик звенит,

Этот звон, этот звон

О любви говорит.

It seems strange nowadays, but I do have difficulty even picking a film.  Maybe I just do not want to waste my time watching some garbage.  The major difficulty is, of course, in defining what garbage is.  I can only pass a judgment after having watched a movie.  Now, I try to laugh at myself on many accounts.  This one is no exception.

Maybe it simply was awhile since I was aware of what is out there.  There is no list in my mind of what I should watch.  So I feel like a blind person in a forest.  Then I go to the “Hidden Gems” category and try picking something suitable.  Then I get stuck with what is exactly suitable.  Suitable for what?  For my mood?  For improving it or for reflecting it?  Or neither?

When I picked “Two Lovers”, it is hard to say what exactly I expected.  I think instinctively I knew it would not be a simple comedy you forget right after the film is over.  I like Joaquin Phoenix and he was so highly praised for his performance, that it was hard to resist.  The fact that Gwyneth Paltrow was there also was almost a turn-off, but you can’t have everything.  So there, the choice was made.

After having watched “Two Lovers”, I haven’t thought much about the film.  Not because I would say it was not good.  It was not thrilling; I would even say it was boring to a point.  But I kept thinking about it, which is always a sign, that the film is really not bad.  Anything that makes you think is worthwhile.

I read the reviews later.  The critics sympathized with Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) and commented how likeable he was and how the critics knew what he should have done and how he should have behaved in order to make the right choice in love.  Pick somebody familiar and safe (and boring) and forego flashy, unstable and instantly attractive.  Save yourself trouble, trade excitement of love and a possibility of heartbreak for security, stability, maybe friendship. 

“However, while it is clear to the audience which of the two women Leonard should focus his attentions on, he instead pursues the other one.”  (Cinema Autopsy, Thomas Caldwell)  http://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/2009/06/06/film-review-two-lovers-2008/

Of course, there is truth and merit to that, but I wonder how many people could actually resist falling in love and how many of us sit and calculate the odds and the possible outcomes.  Maybe those who took the decision-making courses (you know “What-if analysis”, “Strategic Thinking”).  I know I did.  But I still prefer to be in love rather than not.  Maybe that is why Leonard is so likeable.  Not because he is bipolar, because he is very human.

That is the word – BIPOLAR. 

The film does not put such emphasis on his diagnosis and Leonard is only shown as a depressed person, rather than manic.  The diagnosis is mentioned in one of the reviews and whether it is an assumption or not, there is no way of knowing.  Being bipolar, I know the difference much better than film critics.  But, let’s say it does not matter.

But one point was so touching, so it took me a few weeks to really come back to it and remember.  Subtlety and gentleness of the film is chiefly responsible for the fact that I cannot stop thinking about it.  The first scene – Leonard is going (home?) or on his way to deliver dry-cleaned clothes – and he jumps into the ocean.  Suicide out of the Blue?

Here critics should have said that it was not advisable to jump fully-clothed in freezing water.  Oh, no, I never jumped.  I only thought about jumping from the balcony from the 20^th floor.  Oh, yes, I can sympathize.  That scene is now somewhat haunting and somewhat a relief really.  To see it from a different perspective.  You do have to jump in order to see the light of day.  To realize that there actually will be another day and …who knows what.

Just do not ask the film critics what is right and what is wrong.  Whom to pick and fall in love with.  Make your own decisions.

The amazing thing was, of course, that he got my attention and we continued exchanging messages and before long we started talking on the phone.  Every day.  Surprisingly for myself, I started liking him more and more and more.  We have similar interests – literature and movies.  We both write a little bit.  Never mind,  this story is about Bruno.  The last gentleman on Earth decided to crawl out of his hiding place “God knows where” and meet me, which was very nice of him. And what did we do?  We watched Bruno together!

I loved Bruno without any reservations – because it is a story about me.  No, I am not Austrian, but I learned German before, so the German language was not completely wasted on me.  But I am a foreigner in Canada and I want to “be discovered” and be A STAR.  The pain that leads to stardom is all too familiar.  But the main point is that Sasha Baron Cohen made me laugh and I could not care less if he repeats himself.  So, that is my opinion.  I would love to meet the actor.  Call it a dream, it does not matter.  My recommendation?  Go and see for yourselves.  For me, Bruno is one of the best comedies I have ever seen.  If not the best.