"but I never wave bye-bye"

In 1986 I watched "Bad Blood" ("Mauvais Sang") by Leos Carax. 
It had a great scene with the soundtrack of David Bowie's "Modern Love."
It was the first time I heard David Bowie.

I was fourteen, and both the movie and the song made a huge impression.
I still love them today.
It's "love that comes quickly, strikes quickly, but which lasts forever."

Live for the Love of it,
Sasha A. Palmer (aka Happy)

CAVE OF SWIMMERS (a wordle poem)

What did she care about transgression

Silhouetted against the orange desert sun

When I threw myself upon her altar?

What was the demimonde of others

When my entire grand universe

Pulsated at the base of her throat?

When the ancient rites blew away maps

When the fiery Africa became a gray area

What did we care about death?

For each time a candle is lit

In the asylum of the cave

The swimmers are reborn.

Sasha A. Palmer

written for The Sunday Whirl 

inspired by The English Patient 
and Cave of Swimmers

“Just take everything and divide it up…” (a quote from “Heart of a Dog” by M. Bulgakov)

There's nothing new under the Sun.  Bulgakov wrote a brilliant, hilarious and poignant, short novel "Heart of a Dog" in 1925.  If you get a chance, read it.  I recommend Mirra Ginsburg's English translation which you can get from  Amazon.  (There's also a great movie “Heart of a Dog” based on the novel.  Again, Amazon has it with English subtitles.)

It's astonishing how true it rings.  Improbable as it may seem, I bet you'll find quite a few similarities between the early 20^th century Russia and today’s America.  Sad that we refuse to learn from history.  

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

"The Cranes Are Flying"

Great Patriotic War

June 22^nd 1941 – May 9^th 1945

 

The Cranes Are Flying (Летят Журавли)

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov

Written by Viktor Rozov (play and screenplay)

Starring Tatyana Samojlova and Aleksey Batalov

Music by Moisey Vaynberg

Outstanding cinematography by Sergey Urusevsky

Studio Mosfilm

USSR

1957

Image credit: Ruskino 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cranes-Flying-Criterion-Collection/dp/B0000633SD/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1340397020&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cranes+are+flying

Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

"The Adventures of Elektronik" and "The Winged Swings"

“The Adventures of Elektronik” was released the year I started school.  I think I became interested in the movie when I grew a bit older.  Whenever it happened, I fell hard.  They say it’s a ‘cult film.’  I’m not fond of this word – “cult” – but I guess, that’s what it really was.  A “Harry Potter” of my time.  No summer was complete without “Elektronik” shown on TV.  We acted the movie out.  We sang songs from it.  We all had our favorite characters.  

There are some “bad guys” in the movie, but they are bad in a funny way, they are not scary bad (the horrific computerized images of evil had not been invented yet,) and you know for sure they cannot win.  It’s a sprinkled with magic happy tale about childhood, friendship, and growing up to be a good person. 

I like “Harry Potter,” but I miss “Elektronik.”  Maybe, I’m partial, because I’m nostalgic.  There must be something more to it though, because my young daughter - a huge “Harry Potter” fan – loves “Elektronik”, too.  I’m glad she does. :-)

Here’s one of the songs from the movie.  It's called "The Winged Swings."  Music by Yevgenij Krylatov.  I’ve translated the lyrics.  (The original lyrics are by Yurij Entin.)  Performed by Elena Shuenkova, a chorister of the Bolshoi Theater Children’s Choir.  Enjoy! 

Spring has come, the snow is melting,

Days are long, the sky is bright,

And the old swings are waiting,

They are ready to take flight.

Leave to winter all your care,

Grab the old swings instead,

Touch the clouds, feel the air,     } (2 times)

Only happiness ahead!               }

Refrain:

The old swings are flying,

They’re reaching for the sky,

They’re not afraid of trying,    

They fly, they fly, they fly!     

Childhood years are not forever,

We get taller every day,

Friends can’t always stay together,

Some will fly so far away,

But as long as we’re growing,

Eagerly the wings we spread,

Friends are near, winds are blowing,     } (2 times)

Only happiness ahead!                           }

Refrain

The old swings are flying,

They’re reaching for the sky,

They’re not afraid of trying,     } (2 times)   

They fly, they fly, they fly!       }     

Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_the_Elektronic

 

Black and White

Real people, not cardboard figures,

Working their black and white magic,

Living their imperfect lives,

Filled with overbearing loneliness,

Loving, and breathing, and dying,

Destroying themselves,

And rising from ashes.

Oh, the forgotten glory

Of watching a good movie.

Inspired by  The Hustler, a 1961 drama directed by Robert Rossen, with a star cast featuring Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, and George C. Scott.


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur