Break-ups, Boots, and Indiana Jones

In my bummed out state my mind wanders a lot. For several hours, that scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where the guy rips out a still beating heart and shows it to his victim kept plaguing my thoughts. This is my filmic representation of the break-up I am currently enduring.


Rather than imagine anthropological parallels to having a broken heart, I did what was best for me: I went shopping, got my nails done and shot some pool. I got an awesome pair of boots from Macy's and some really cute tights with little stars in the stitch. The boots are super cute and go well with the new sweater (mentioned below) and some skinny jeans that I haven't been able to fit into a few years. I guess one good thing about being depressed is that you lose weight--I haven't been able to eat much since this all happened.

Karma

This is a tale of an interesting twist that I cannot resist writing down.

The background: My roommate has been going through a spate of bad luck that doesn't seem to be getting any better.

The setting: the ladies room of a Monday night comedy club.

What happened: My roommate overheard a woman crying on the phone in the bathroom. She was asking someone to come down to the bar and bring cash because her credit card had been declined for her bar tab. My roommate, thinking that she needs to do something about her own bad luck decides to help the woman out. She tells this woman that she'll pay her tab, and writes down her phone number so this woman can call her later and pay her back when she has the chance.

My roommate comes out of the bathroom and tells me about this. She says that she did it because she needs to do something about her karma --this bad luck has to change.

After we got home later, the woman from the bar sent my roommate a text to make arrangements to pay her back tomorrow.

The twist: it turns out the woman from the bar is named Karma. 

Wasted Away Again in Breakup-Ville

Love is by far the most disappointing promise in life. We grow up being told that when we get older we will find the "one" and be happy for the rest of our lives. That is the most unfulfilled promise I can think of. Love changes, people change, they distrust one another and do horrifying things in the name of love.

People often reference the idea that religion has been the justification for more murders and warfare than anything else. I think that love is far worse. It is the justification for more abuse, hurt, anger and the gamut of negative emotions than anything else.

I am pretty sure I am destined to be a spinster. Too bad I don't like cats. But the perennial broken heart is far worse than being alone.

As always, I look to Woody Allen for break-up advice.I guess it's better than listening to REM, U2 or  resorting to the cliche Gloria Gaynor.

Eternal Sunshine

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is by far one of my favorite movies. Although I haven't seen it in a very long time, it still manages to be thought provoking even in its absence. It makes me wonder how far people will go to forget pain and anguish. If you could erase someone from your memory who has hurt you deeply, would you do it?  Are memories the hardest part of walking away? While the upshot of this movie is that the good memories were too strong to erase, it denies a certain recognition of the tipping point where the good no longer outweighs the bad. This musing is definitely based upon hindsight of a film that has influenced me greatly but still remains somewhat of a shadow in my mind. I have added it to my mental queue of films to see again  and I might even muse about it at a later time. For now, I've added a couple of clips...


Here is a music video of this film set to Coldplay:



And of course, the official trailer:

Grappling with WikiLeaks

The immense hype concerning WikiLeaks drew me to the site today to see what this is all about.

Because the site has limited search functions, I was unsure where to begin. Like a moth to the flame I  went to the Mexico page to see if there was any new information I could use for my dissertation. There wasn't a single thing about the narcotics conflict in Juarez that I wasn't already aware of, and I read all of the available information.

However, I did get quite an unexpected laugh from one of the wires. This confidential document described a 2010 conference between Latin American heads of state as " dominated by press accounts of ALBA country theatrics and their usual proclivity towards third world, anti-imperialist rhetoric. Nothing practical was achieved".

It wasn't this part that made me laugh, but a detailed description of an altercation between Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) and Uribe (Columbia):
 
"Chavez reacted emotionally accusing Colombia of having sent assassination squads to kill him and ended a verbal and physical tirade with “You can go to hell; I am leaving (the lunch).” Uribe responded, “Don’t be a coward and leave just to insult me from a distance.” Verbal and body language continued to escalate, until Raul Castro stepped in to urge civilized discussion."

Who would have thought that Fidel's little brother was a peacemaker?

(As a disclaimer, I am still unsure how I feel about this website and if it compromises the U.S or not. I am not promoting or condemning it: I am ambivalent at this point and need to learn more)

What do you think of WikiLeaks? Please leave a comment and help me decide how to feel about this.