...Pier...
Sunday, 15 February 2009
...The Return...
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Ever Since reading Hislop's first novel about the Greek island of Crete and it's former leper colony of Spinalonga I have been a fan of her work; her second novel, The Return, is just as much of a fascinating read as her first.
It centres around the Ramírez family during the Spanish Civil War and takes you through their journey of life under General Franco's dictatorship while painting the scene of the rest of Spain at this time in all it's colours. It follows the family's ups and downs and what every family in Spain had to go through at that time when no one was safe from persecution. It follows Spain's history eloquently all the way from its dark and turbulent past through to a better present and a hopeful future for its people.
Below is the blurb for the book...
Beneath the majestic towers of the Alhambra, Granada’s cobbled streets resonate with music and secrets. Sonia Cameron knows nothing of the city’s shocking past; she is here to dance. But in a quiet café, a chance conversation and an intriguing collection of old photographs draw her into the extraordinary tale of Spain’s devastating civil war.
Seventy years earlier, the café is home to the close-knit Ramírez family. In 1936, an army coup led by Franco shatters the country’s fragile peace, and in the heart of Granada the family witnesses the atrocities of conflict. Divided by politics and tragedy, everyone must take a side, fighting a personal battle as Spain rips itself apart.
...Art Inspired...
After reading this novel it got me inspired to paint again, thinking about the pain and the suffering of Spain's people and all the devastation the had to endure...
...I see it as a representation of the whole of that era, the yellow and the blue are Spain as it was before the military coup.
The red represents Spain's blood being spilt in and amongst itself, all the people pitted against each other; family, friends and generally those who used to be close on opposing sides fighting each other.
The black represents Franco's hold over Spain and his nationalist party and all those who fell under his regime, while the white symbolised hope for the future...
...War...
The Spanish Civil War lasted for three years and half a million people perished fighting against Franco and as many went into exile, some, like those in the novel were never to return to Spain again. Many of those imprisoned by Franco we held captive in prisons and faced execution by the firing squad and burial in unmarked mass graves.
In October 2007 a new law was passe under the Socialist Prime Minister.
The Law of Historical Memory, which condemns Franco's dictatorship and bans symbols of him and his regime in public and orders the removal of monuments of him.
Among other things, the law is supposed to enforce an official recognition of the crimes committed against civilians during the Francoist rule and organize under state supervision the search for mass graves.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
...There's A Little...
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...Hero In All Of Us...
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible.
The they seem improbable, and then,
When we summon the will,
They soon become inevitable."
- Christopher Reeve.
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...Dream...
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...Within A Dream...
I was watching Britney Spears' "Dream Within A Dream Tour" on DVD the other night, it was filmed back in 2001 back when she was America's sweetheart, when it was obvious that performing was her number one when she had the perfectly sculpted body and no children to speak of. I was watching it thinking she had a spark there; a spark of determination and her eyes had passion and her dancing had soul. This was before the media went into overdrive about her private life and before the world saw her fall from grace, so to speak while she dealt with her own inner demons.
The DWAD tour saw her fearlessly dance to thousands of fans, young and old alike, dressed as a ballerina in a life-size music box, saw her on a type of bungee for "What It's Like To Be Me" and dance through her own cascading waterfall-Esq wall of water and saw her ever more daring costumes like the "Slave 4 U" number.
Some of her most popular songs from the "Oops!..I Did It Again" album; "Stronger" and "Lucky" reminded me of the tough times she's had and all she's been through, with lyrics such as "Stronger than yesterday" and "Isn't she lucky this Hollywood girl" respectively. I think the song that most sums up things is "Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" as the moral of the song or its message is that whatever happens I'm gonna be OK, I'm gonna find it within myself, my inner strength. This is what Britney had to say about the song during an interview.
Something that always stuck in my mind from this concert was when she was talking to the audience right before the song "Not A Girl..," she pleaded with them to "never, ever loose their passion to dream...please don't." That was a nineteen year old Spears, she'll never be nineteen again but she can be that girl again, and i just hope this time being on the stage again in full glare of the spotlight that she loves every second of it liked it seemed on from her previous tour, because if not then what's the point?...
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...New Start...
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I've decided 2009 is going to be a good year, the start of new things, new beginngs. 2008 was a pretty crappy year, hence no posts.
I let relationships crumble and fade, ideas faded out to nothing, great opportunities were missed and huge mistakes were made, but I suppose I have to think like this; it was all worth it to get me here to be who I am.
This year im going to be a "doer" instead of "I will do". I have many opportunities to sieze; new relationships to build, old ones to repair and rebuild and new paths to go down along the way.
Think I'll take my cameras with me for the fun of it ;-) I have a few interviews involving my future and the future of my photography, so I'm going to need a few memory cards and a whole lot of film, because its going be one hell of a portfolio I have at the end, hopefully. I'm going to lay the grround work for the beginning of the rest of my life this year.
I have a good feeling about it.
...Dreams...
Dreams, they can seem so real.
You feel like you’re actually living what’s inside your head.
It feels so real. Unfortunately they aren't real.
It was so familiar, I had the sense that I knew it wasn’t as it seemed, that it wasn’t real, but it felt so real, so right, so calming and so peaceful.
I’m not quite sure where I was. I think it may have been a kitchen or it could have even been a restaurant of cafe. I remember it being fairly bright around, quite warm, a soft colour, burnt yellow, kind of like the way you imagine the sun. There was a table, wood effect and chrome, it looked quaint and inviting.
I remember bits as if it was an actual memory from childhood.
I was at the table and I had the overwhelming sense I was a child again, yet I had the mind and body of my present self and I knew full well what was happening around me. A man sits down at the table next to me along with a woman who serves up some food; I think it could have been around lunch time. The man and women were my mum and dad.
It was weirdly comforting to see them together; too see us together. In reality it has been five years this coming may 3rd that my dad had passed away. It was quite surreal but real, I didn’t want it to end.
I knew that it had too, that it was going too and I knew I had all these questions that needed answering but there wasn’t much need for talking, it was just enough to have my dad back for that short blissful period, it was enough to have a family again but these questions were looming, hanging over me, like the world was on my shoulders and time was against me, which it was.
Anyway, these questions, I remember for the most part ending up with answers which gradually came to culminate in the sense of closure for me, not completely though.
Before, unfortunately, coming back to wake up in the real world and the reality that I don’t have him no more and nor does the rest of my family I remember seeing my dad smile for the last time with my mum opposite him and me sat next to him, I gave him a hug and in an almost wispy haze it all faded out.
I woke up with this calm and peaceful feeling washing over me, was it real? Was it his way of finally saying goodbye? I’d welcome the closure but not the feeling that I might forget him.
Unfortunately it wasn’t real.
Funny things are dreams.
You feel like you’re actually living what’s inside your head.
It feels so real. Unfortunately they aren't real.
It was so familiar, I had the sense that I knew it wasn’t as it seemed, that it wasn’t real, but it felt so real, so right, so calming and so peaceful.
I’m not quite sure where I was. I think it may have been a kitchen or it could have even been a restaurant of cafe. I remember it being fairly bright around, quite warm, a soft colour, burnt yellow, kind of like the way you imagine the sun. There was a table, wood effect and chrome, it looked quaint and inviting.
I remember bits as if it was an actual memory from childhood.
I was at the table and I had the overwhelming sense I was a child again, yet I had the mind and body of my present self and I knew full well what was happening around me. A man sits down at the table next to me along with a woman who serves up some food; I think it could have been around lunch time. The man and women were my mum and dad.
It was weirdly comforting to see them together; too see us together. In reality it has been five years this coming may 3rd that my dad had passed away. It was quite surreal but real, I didn’t want it to end.
I knew that it had too, that it was going too and I knew I had all these questions that needed answering but there wasn’t much need for talking, it was just enough to have my dad back for that short blissful period, it was enough to have a family again but these questions were looming, hanging over me, like the world was on my shoulders and time was against me, which it was.
Anyway, these questions, I remember for the most part ending up with answers which gradually came to culminate in the sense of closure for me, not completely though.
Before, unfortunately, coming back to wake up in the real world and the reality that I don’t have him no more and nor does the rest of my family I remember seeing my dad smile for the last time with my mum opposite him and me sat next to him, I gave him a hug and in an almost wispy haze it all faded out.
I woke up with this calm and peaceful feeling washing over me, was it real? Was it his way of finally saying goodbye? I’d welcome the closure but not the feeling that I might forget him.
Unfortunately it wasn’t real.
Funny things are dreams.
Friday, 13 February 2009
...2009...
...Belated, But Happy New Year from S-LOTM!
The first post in a while, over a year I believe, but I've had some things to work through, none the less I hope everyone had a good year, at least overall!
Here's tot hi year being a productive year for everyone out there!
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