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As befits a year of great upheaval, this year we have no fewer than three Fridays falling on the 13th - in February, March and now November. Many people associate this day with superstitious notions of various misfortunes, mishaps and dark forces. And like any superstition, this one too has a certain basis, grounded mainly in observations, historical experience or fears.
Would you believe that even by what fruits you choose for dessert or snack between meals, something can be said about a few of your character traits? American psychologist Elaine Kahn is said to have compiled a description of fruits and corresponding human character traits. Read about this classification and what I think about it all.
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It's fun sometimes to play with form and colour, to mix and match, combine and coordinate, to find the most surprising and captivating combinations. Clothing, accessories and jewellery - what else is it but a game with how we dress ourselves? Is it a way to express individuality, or simply a way to let yourself play? I invite you, dear ladies, to create new clothing and accessory combinations not only by buying new and trendy things, but by making use of the wardrobe you already have. For inspiration - these collages:
On Friday evening, 6 November, we attended the concert of what is now the 10th world music festival at the Great Guild. The evening was cool - just right for conjuring up in the imagination the landscapes of the southern lands from which the performed music came. The overall impression: a lovely event that left no room for boredom, but allowed one to discover and enjoy something more from the culture and art of various peoples. See VIDEO from the event.
Continuing my interest in the oeuvre and personality of "the divine Dalí," I came across and watched the Spanish-British co-production art film "Little Ashes" (2008), which brilliantly reveals the dual nature of intimate relationships - spiritual closeness and sexuality. These two aspects are not always acceptable to both parties, and this can physically separate those who are close, but it certainly does not prevent mutual enrichment and the enjoyment of each other's presence.
Phantasmagoria in several episodes. Men have become so feeble these days - nobody has the guts to put a woman in her place and simply "sweep her off her feet" with confidence, intelligence, steadfastness, and plain manliness, - Monta thought and asked: - Where shall we go? - but immediately caught herself on the thought: - Decisiveness.
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Four tonnes of Latvian clay have been brought onto the stage, though the story is about the lives of two brothers and their passion for a woman from a pleasure house somewhere on a distant South American ranch. In the production love is not separated from carnal desire. There is no "action," no noble feelings, no mystery or complex plot entanglement. Brutal tenderness.
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Today Saša would celebrate his hundred and eighth birthday. We would celebrate too, but each of us, caught up in our daily concerns, is distant from the Riga of the 1920s and 30s - a reality that always becomes so close and palpable the moment you pick up any collection of Čaks's poetry. But enough of biographical facts - anyone can read those in a literary history textbook. Let us talk instead about love!
For many peoples, the arrival of the dark season has seemed and still seems significant - it is associated with the moment when the worlds of the living and the dead touch. The ancient Balts called it the time of ancestral spirits and laid a table for the spirits of the dead when they came to visit the homes of their kin and those who remained in this world. Other peoples believed that it was precisely at this time that witches held one of the four great sabbaths of the year. Nowadays hundreds of pumpkins are carved in the USA and other countries and candles lit inside them. It turns out the roots of Halloween lie in ancient Celtic culture.
This evening, thanks to two invitations won in a Twitter draw, we attended the Latvian National Theatre to see Viesturs Kairišs's new production "Pinocchio's Ashes". Initially after watching the performance I thought I would not be able to write anything about this work - it was too emotionally oppressive - but now I simply want to talk through this heaviness.