Thrice

One day, in the very near future, these three movies will become part of my life:

Miranda July‘s The Future

Mike Mills‘ Beginners

Xavier Dolan‘s Les Amours Imaginaires

Although I’m very aware of the disruptive powers of expectation, I am very confident in my liking.

Five people and a band

Things that happened to me while I was in New York:

1. We hired a shuttle bus service to get to the city. It took way too long and I got impatient twice. The long time got me angry too and I even thought the driver wanted to kindnap us. He won us over though, for he managed to say something nice to every single passenger as they got off the van. We overtipped him.

2. Our first night out almost turned sour because we took the wrong subway line, which led us to a random place in Brooklyn. Then we waited for 30 min in the wrong side of the platform until we figured that one out. Luckily, we ended up in a nice little alternative spot, in which we saw The Pains of Being Pure at Heart totally by chance.

3. A nice saleswoman convinced us to buy sunglasses based on her sincerity: she told us twice some model didn’t suit us well. We felt obliged to buy the ones she said looked good on us. Actually, I was the one persuaded to purchase without the need, my friend really wanted a new pair of shades and was more than happy to get them.

4. I was hit on by a salesman in a hat store who was really sweet and charming and interesting. He told us he was from Oklahoma and that he lived in Harlem in this very nice street and that he wasn’t scared of the area at all. I pictured myself already falling in love with him and sharing his apartment which I would decorate with nice things I would pick. Nothing really happened between us and I didn’t get his name. I’m still curious about it.

5. We had a major fight but ended up theorizing on why people who love and know each other well are still capable of hurting one another. We came to the conclusion that sometimes harsh feelings and bad habits are just too difficult to withhold.

Read carefully

Truth at odds

Miranda July is so adept at translating feelings and emotions it is almost unbearably beautiful and inspiring.

I am counting the seconds to finally seeing her new film, The Future:

And as formidable artist as she is, there is a whole project surrounding the release of the film, the most important of which being the blog.

On it there is this life-defining test, which I shall copy here:

To kick things off, I thought I would give you a brief diagnostic test so you can evaluate whether this movie is something you might be in to. Make a mark on a piece of paper for each “true” answer.

1. “I have survived a devastating break-up.” [true/false]

2. “I want to have a kid, but I’m also worried a kid will make it impossible for me to pursue my dreams. Especially since I’m already finding that pretty hard.” [true/false]

3. “I feel guilty about the above statement.” [true/false]

4. “I often find meaning in coincidences.” [true/false]

5. “I would like to take a break from being myself.” [true/false]

6. “I would like this break to involve sex, ice cream, and sheets with a high thread count.” [true/false]

7. “I think cats are pretty wonderful.” [true/false]

8. “I have a serious problem with procrastination that borders on paralysis at times.” [true/false]

9. “The job I have requires me to hide my soul.” [true/false]

10. “I spend way to much time online.” [true/false]

From the set of The Future, by Autumn De Wilde

I got a 9, which makes me odd.

Another truth.

Order

Everything must be in its right place.

Objects as well as feelings, each entity should be where they belong.

With the help of brilliantly insightful Miranda July, I will give it a try.

Importance should be given only to things that matter.

Bound

Today is my birthday.

I’m going to spend it as I always like to do: surrounded by my dearest friends.

I don’t know if this is odd, but I think of this day as a celebration of my friends,without whom I’m nothing. (Maybe that’s the reason).

Reading & Writing & Seeing & Thinking

I almost envy people who are at least apparently able to write in a way their mindsets unravel quite freely. These lucky writers seem to ride on their own trains of thought and the words just pop out as if they were about to miss the departure of the train.

Yeah, I don’t do that. I have never really thought about this until now, but I guess the way I think and write is more like a combination of overthinking, restraining and then letting go trying to ignore my own self-judgemental impulses. In order to let the words be more like the ones in my head, I very rarely proofread my writings and this might be the reason for apparent confusion in this blog. I truly don’t know.

All this came to mind after reading some more of Miranda July‘s stuff. I’m hooked on the blog she wrote back in 2005 connected to her first film Me And You And Everyone We Know:

Watch the trailer, rent the movie, read the blog.

Have a nice Monday.

I’d love to learn to love you even more

The second American who is beyond admiration for me is the out-of-this-world performing artist/writer Miranda July.

I know I’ve written about her before but she is indeed one of the best and most intriguing voices of a generation.

The way she expresses herself is so unexpectedly interesting it gets me lost in my own thoughts and reflections. How can someone be so gifted?

There are so few surprising idealists these days I feel should pay my tribute to her.

Rio with July

After a long, busy and tiresome day, all I can think of is my trip to Rio the day after tomorrow.

The thing is, I have been so tired lately I’m barely gonna have the energy to do anything other than reading (and maybe a nice stroll along Ipanema at sunset, at most).

Rio is so much more than just the wonderful beaches. There is so much culture, so much history it is impossible to see it all. My friends make fun of me because I rarely stay by the ocean, relaxing – I’m always looking for cultural things to do.

Two days from now

This time I guess I’ll just do what they have always told me: take it easy and read a book by the ocean.

It will be a good chance for me to finish my favorite book of the month: Miranda July‘s No One Belongs Here More Than You.

I can’t help but increase my already great admiration for this woman. What a true artist she is and such an interesting writer. Hats off to her.

About II

It’s my roommate’s birthday today. We decided to start the celebrations by having a great lunch at home, with a bottle of champagne. I’m now a little drunk and I still have to work later on.

I had bought a book by Miranda July a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn’t started reading it until today after I got drunk. I guess I lacked to courage since she so often overwhelms me.

I guess one has to be ready to be overwhelmed, you know, with an open spirit.

I am now, but I still have to go to work.

No one belongs here more than you.

Miranda & McQueen

Every time I use the word ‘creativity’ here I can’t help but wonder if I am being too repetitive. Then yesterday, after the shock of Alexander McQueen‘s death, I had an insight to why it is so crucial to me.

I truly feel the need to have access to others’ creativeness, for it somehow feeds my own sense of creation. The process of writing becomes much more difficult for me if there’s nothing to get inspiration from. All sorts of art inspire, especially those who challenge or defy the spectator.

Having said all that, I must state here my endless admiration for the work of multitalented artist Miranda July. Ever since I saw her film “Me and You and Everyone We Know” some years ago I am constantly mesmerized by just about everything she does, be it visual arts, music, photography or even a paper note.

Here’s a video of her I found that shows how interesting she is:

It also shows one of the things I like most about Miranda: her sense of humour.

It is to artists like her that I look up when I feel a creative void, such as with McQueen’s tragic death. It really helps.