The Better Ones & An Ending

As it has been nearly forever and a day since I have last visited here with intention to post, I thought I should finish the year out responsibly. Thankfully, a few rolls of recently developed film from my summer pet project {actual film photography via my vintage/refurbished minolta XG 1 camera}, I have a bit more meat this time than the typical literary blurb and corresponding image. 

Be gently dear reader...I am still as of yet a freshling to this film venture...

 

Here are the better of my first fruits:

{be sure to click on the images for full resolution}

'Til next year, friends...❤ 

A Word From ~ Oscar Wilde

"Still, I am conscious now that behind all this beauty, satisfying though it may be, there is some spirit hidden of which the painted forms and shapes are but modes of manifestations, and it is with this spirit that I desire to become in harmony."

<> Wilde via De Profundis <>

<> the effigy <>

 | via |

...

God is more than a face

that waits

pulseless

behind Death's

torn

veil

...

Debussy, Rain, & a Misplaced Homesickness

Many apologies for being so negligent...the external has become a demanding mistress and keeps me away from my more pleasant pursuits of beauty and truth and goodness. 

><>><<><

However, while I might steal away for yet a moment, I have found for you a song.

Please enjoy Debussy and his lovely/perfect rainy-day accompanying masterpiece that is Arabesque no.1:

A Word From ~ Frederick Buechner

<><>><<><>

"We have seen more than we let on, even to ourselves.
Through some moment of beauty or pain, some sudden turning of our lives, through some horror of the twelve o'clock news, some dream, some breakfast on the first and last of all our days, 

we catch glimmers at least of what the saints are blinded by. 

Only then, unlike the saints, more pigs always than heroes, we tend to go on as though nothing has happened.

To go on as though something  has happened even though we are not sure what is was or just where we are supposed to go with it, is to enter that dimension of life that religion is a word for."

<><>><<><>

{via my recently finished copy of Buechner's "Alphabet of Grace"}

Page To Film :: Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

Hello again!
Been ages since I did one of these {see here for some previous P2F goodness}, and I confess that this time I went through quite a few casts before I settled on the one to follow below {my first round of pickings were perhaps a bit too mature (i.e. Ralph Fiennes as Jack Seward), and my seconds were a bit too "pretty"(i.e. Alice Eve as Lucy)}. 

Eventually though, I puzzled through the many options and have now settled on a cast that I believe would best represent the characters as they were in Stoker's original story.

And so, without any more blibber-blabber, please enjoy my latest casting conjecture for Bram Stoker's "Dracula".

_____△△△ Beware - Mild Spoilers Below △△△_____

Count Dracula

 A Transylvanian noble who, after purchasing a house in London, asks

Jonathan Harker to visit him in his castle to do business with him.

 

 Michael Fassbender 

{Pale and icy looking in the beginning, Fassbender's Dracula should look like 

he'd been cut from marble; only slowly taking on color and beauty with each kill}

In Vampire Mode:

{please don't ask me how I found this I really have no idea}

Jonathan Harker

A solicitor sent to do business with Count Dracula; also Mina's fiancé.

Matthew Macfadyen

{Great actor who would nail the whole normal-joe-in-abnormal-situation schtick 

and overall just be incredibly believable as Jonathan}

Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker

A schoolteacher and Jonathan Harker's fiancée.

Daniela Denby-Ashe 

{Loved her in "North & South" and think she would be the perfect Mina 

and counterpart to Macfadyen's Jonathan. Liking the idea of her as a brunette Mina too}

Prof. Abraham Van Helsing

 A Dutch professor and vampire hunter. Jack Seward's former teacher.

 Bruno Ganz

 {Fantastic actor. Just add spectacles and bam - 

the best Van Helsing God could ever give us}

Reinfield

 A lawyer whom Dracula turned mad. Mental patient of Dr. Seaward.

Andy Serkis

 {Can't imagine anyone else doing near as great a job as he would portraying Reinfield. 

My favorite "Dracula" character and I just know he would knock it out of the park}

Dr. John "Jack" Seward

 A doctor at a mental asylum; one of Lucy's suitors 

and a former student of Dr Abraham Van Helsing.

 Tom Hiddleston

 {I'm thinking glasses, slicked over black hair, and some sort of thin mustache or goatee.  

Can't have Hiddleston being both brilliant and attractive as the somewhat clueless doctor... ^-^}

 Lucy Westenra

 A 19-year-old aristocrat; Mina's best friend and Arthur's eventual fiancée.

 Imogen Poots

{Loved her sassy self in Jane Eyre and think she would make both a lovely living

 representation of Lucy, as well as a terrifying and beautiful immortal one}

Quincey Morris

An American cowboy and explorer; and one of Lucy's suitors.

  Jason Dohring 

{With slightly longer hair and a touch of southern drawl, Dohring would make a fantastic  

Quincey and provide that much needed comic relief with flair}

 

Arthur Holmwood

Lucy's suitor and later fiancé.

 Rupert Friend

{Enjoyed him in "The Young Victoria" and think he would 

be excellent as Lucy's suitor, fiancé, and later, avenger}

△△△||△△△

 Hope you enjoyed the latest "Page to Film". :)

Stay Tuned:  
Next up will be a modern recasting of E.M. Forster's "A Room With a View".  

 

Subconscious Shenanigans

 {via}

Had a dream last night in which I found a book signed by Martin Freeman, Gerorge Eliot, and Tom Selleck. 

Care to hazard a guess at which autograph Dream-Me was most excited about...?

...

It seems all those viewings of "Three Men and a Little Lady" during early childhood had a more profound impact on my psyche than previously imagined. 

 Oy vey...

Please Enjoy ~ John Green

My favorite bit: 

"...The Ven Diagram of boys who don't like smart girls and boys you don't want to date is a circle."

Virtual fist bump to you, Mr. Green.
Interweb crush of the week, fo sho. ♥

A Word From ~ e.e.cummings

i will wade out
                        till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
                                       Alive
                                                 with closed eyes
to dash against darkness

Being INTJ - A Disclaimer

Poking fun at myself again...^-^

Perspective

Just think how happy you would be if you lost everything you have right now... 

...and then got it back again.

<><><>
Frances Rodman

{the power of conviction...one of God's greatest gifts...}

<> another year around the sun <>

<>♥♥<>♥♥<>

It was I who occurred

{more exactly emerged}

these many years ago

{so the story goes}

...

but the truth be told, 

I am not old

In fact, I am still arriving...

<>♥♥<>♥♥<>

Note to Self

 

p.s.

 You are quiet the social imbecile.

...and really shouldn't be let out in public more than an hour at a time...

A Word From ~ C.S. Lewis

"We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. 

The world is crowded with Him. 

He walks everywhere incognito. 

And the incognito is not always easy to penetrate. 

The real labor is to remember to attend. 

In fact to come awake. 

Still more to remain awake." 

<> C.S. Lewis <>


 

{{Just finished reading Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr's "The Question of God"...thought-provoking read...highly recommend watching the PBS documentary of the same name which was based on the book...}}

I Am Not Where I Ought To Be

Discontent.
I am eaten away by this plague of comparison.
I move my hand between my forehead and that of the latest adversary to my true joy.
If I fall short - disappointment.
If I come out ahead - disappointment.

I am exhausted by life.
This barrage of faces and needs…
…constantly checking a word, a look,
For subtlety, context, connotation...

I am weary of caring.
Of doubt.

My heart,
Though never brash,
Was once sure in those things expressed.
Now it crawls humbly before the world,
Asking meekly for permission to form any harebrained thought.

Release comes in fits and spasms;
Like the tremors of the insane.
I purge my woes unevenly on the page
And after a sad look of recognition,
They are orphaned and buried.

I toe the lines set out for me without question.
Spread thin by the old mischievous inklings to rub against the grain...

I am tired.
I am tepid.
I am slow.

My limbs hang like shackles.
My wrists betray my frailty.

Sometimes...
In sparse moments of mental clarity...
I reach out to those beauties just beyond the lines of reality...
But they have forgotten my name.
I have been too long away.

In my play at responsibility
I have replaced the urgency for truth
With the stability of compromise.

I have worked so hard to be understood.
I have sacrificed much to avoid the hurtful tone of dismissal.

But to whom will I answer to when my heavy head lies loose and unhinged...?
What goodness will be found after I have let go the last whim...?

I wish…once more…to be bold…
To speak good in haste:
Without heed to convention,
Or need of sanction.

Fear and fear and doubt and compromise...
...I am not where I ought to be.

<><><>

{{simultaneously trying to be both a better person and writer. it is no small task...}}

When One is Uninspired

Hello there...it has been a awhile since I have posted more than a vague sentence or two with corresponding imagery...time is either so completely stagnant or passing me by at such a blistering speed that I have not the presence of mind to stop and take stock of my dwindling supply of inspiration.

And so, today I ramble.

I am sitting here, listening to my recently acquired vinyl recording of the "Charade" soundtrack. Having been brooding over the late-50's/early-60's atheistic and its absence from my life as of late, Mancini's main theme for the film is actually a very effective balm for my misplaced yearnings.
I am also plotting the reconstruction of a vintage dress find. Rest at ease, dear reader...it is not my clumsy, unskilled hands that will be undertaking this deed of beautification; the proper professionals will be consulted. I am thinking a low scooped back, quarter-length cuffed sleeves, skirt hitting at or just below the knee, and perhaps a thin gold braided belt to finish it off.

What say you, hmm? Normally I would not meddle with items of age, but being a sweet homespun frock with such an irresistible pattern, it seemed a shame not to show it off.  I shall be glad to update you when the transformation is complete. :)

War is older than Mankind...

...But it's younger than Grace...

<><><>

Joe Pug

Happy Memorial Day...

sweet ~ simple ~ sadness

<><><><>

...and just when you think you're finally a big girl and you can handle the world...

...you find out that a Luna Moths only lives 7 days after emerging from its cocoon...

...and it kinda just breaks your heart...

Just a 'lil bit a'nothin'

>>>>=<<<<

Fun video that came via my wonderful monthly frankie newsletter. ^-^

Enjoy!

On This Day of Mothers...

...be sure to hug yours...

>>>>=<<<<

Beginning, The Trials of

{via}

>>>=<<<

...But sometimes the memories trail behind like tin cans, 

clanging loudly with each forward step...

>>>=<<<

In this world you will have trouble...

  
The world 

it can be so beautiful...

...but oh how quick it is to punish us 

when we think we know the depths 

of its cruelty...

Feline and Sir "So-Fine"

Just Sir Sean Connery inspecting a cat's paw...

----<><><>----

Happy Weekend, folks.

...<>><<>...

...

that I can be comforted by the hand that chokes me

is the great irony of sin

...

{somber ponderings on the human condition stirred up by the words of O'Connor, Lewis, et al.}

{perhaps I need to take time to reread the Anne of Green Gables series again...}

A(nother) Word From ~ Flannery O'Connor & The Friday that Brought Good

"The poet is traditionally a blind man, but the Christian poet, and storyteller as well, is like the blind man whom Christ touched, who looked then and saw men as if they were trees, but walking. This is the beginning of vision, and it is an invitation to deeper and stranger visions that we shall have to learn to accept if we want to realize a truly Christian literature.” 

 <> O'Connor <>

{today we remember...Acts 17:27-28}

From the Vault :: Mending Paste For Mothers

she holds the broken pieces in her aging hands
memories further shattered
by her children's play
forever breaking and remaking
what is important

another apron string sliced
cord cut
from her past
a quiet tear for what was
and what isn't
...anymore...


i'm sorry the past is so breakable
i'm sorry your hurts can't all be fixed with glue and kisses
...and mine can...

Please Enjoy ~ Melody Gardot

...for no particular reason at all, darling...

To Procrastinate is Divine

How is a girl supposed to get any schoolwork done when such a thing as Cray Grant .gifs exist on the internet...

"The Awful Truth" ~ 1937

Sigh...I need a screwball movie marathon stat...

A Word From ~ Flannery O'Connor

"There is something in us, as storytellers and listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored. The reader of today looks for this motion, and rightly so, but what he has forgotten is the cost of it. His sense of evil is diluted or lacking altogether, and so he has forgotten the price of restoration. When he reads a novel, he wants either his senses tormented or his spirits raised. He wants to be transported, instantly, either to mock damnation or mock innocence."

<>

Flannery O'Connor

Page to Film :: Far From The Madding Crowd

{{It's been awhile since I've done one of these, 

but after catching Masterpiece Theater's 1998 version 

of Thomas Hardy's "Far From The Madding Crowd", 

I was instantly struck with modern casting inspiration. Enjoy!}}

 Bathsheba Everdene 

A young and haughty beauty, Bathsheba Everdene unexpectedly inherits an Estate from her uncle and is suddenly thrust into a world of wealth and responsibility. Though intent to remain independent and solely in control of her fate, Bathsheba finds her life entangled with those of three widely different men as she tries to maneuver in this new and dangerous world. 

My cast choice ~ Jennifer Lawrence

 

 Gabriel Oak 

A kind and honorable shepherd, Gabriel meets Bathsheba before she acquires or is even aware of her inheritance and is struck both by her beauty and vanity.  After his own fortunes are ruined in an accident, he happens upon a barn fire and assists in putting out, unaware that it is was owned by Bathsheba. In need of someone she can trust, Bathsheba hires Gabriel to be her bailiff, and through the course of the story he becomes her unofficial (and yet often ignored and abused) counselor.

My cast choice ~ Gerard Butler

 William Boldwood 

Bathsheba's new neighbor, Boldwood is a middle-aged  gentlemen farmer, wealthy and respected by all. A solitary bachelor his life long, the lonely Boldwood thinks nothing of Bathsheba until a childish prank gone awry and kindles his infatuation. Seeking her as his own, the noble man patiently courts the shrewd young beauty, who is perpetually unsure whether she would marry the eligible gentlemen even if only for practical business reasons.

My cast choice  ~ Jeremy Irons

 Sergeant Francis "Frank" Troy 

Returning to his native land, the handsome Sgt. Frank Tory happens upon Bathsheba as she is out walking one night and (thinking her a servant woman) boldly address' her by brazenly commenting on her looks and straightforward manner. When he at last understands who she is, he is yet unashamed and continues his unwholesome attentions. His caviler advances at first repulse Bathsheba, but before long she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him and his dashing mannerisms (much to the chagrin of both Gabriel and Mr. Boldwood).

My cast choice ~ Jonathan Rhys Meyers

 

 Fanny Robin 

A former servant in Bathsheba's recently deceased Uncle's house, Fanny is the secret lover of Sgt. Frank Tory and runs away to find him shortly after Bathsheba procures the estate.

My cast choice ~ Romola Garai

There's the just of it, hopefully spoiler free. Do read the book or see a film adaption! It's a great story. ;)