All the Way to the End

"Surely all art is the result of one's having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further. The further one goes, the more private, the more personal, the more singular an experience becomes, and the thing one is making is, finally, the necessary, irrepressible, and, as nearly as possible, definitive utterance of this singularity." --Rainer Maria Rilke

I'm running out of steam for the week, but I've been thinking about Ted Hughes' theory that all art originates from a wound in the artist. He does a better job of 'esplaining it. But Rilke certainly will do.

I heard from a friend today in Prague (he's been living with his wife Vera in an apartment in Prague Castle that Václav Havel arranged for them. It didn't even faze me - of course, you're living in the Castle. I'd already heard but didn't want to spoil his moment.) He is a novelist & filmmaker & friend of perv Milan Kundera. When The Unbearable Lightness of Being was released as book (& then as film later), I asked Arnošt. Well? "Exactly, exactly how it was. That bastard, he did it!" Then he picked me up & whirled me around the room.

It was/is a tight circle of friends/frenemies & a highly competitive bunch, of course: writers, painters, photographers, filmmakers, journos, etc. They supported the "wrong" person in 1968 & were invited to leave. Kundera's success spurred them all on (including director Miloš Forman). I hope someone writes a book about this gang of devils. (There are more.)

Arnošt & Vera lent me 'the borrowed flat' in Jerusalem for many weekends. They sat with me in the - I am not kidding - Elizabeth Taylor Cafeteria...or maybe it was the Frank Sinatra cafeteria (there were two) & tried to make me laugh. One time I got in a car with them. Only once. I was in the back seat with an old friend who then lived in Israel. He started to laugh hysterically...maybe it was the idea of the two of us tootling around the city with our friend--who should never drive (do you hear me, A?) anywhere. Ever. I accessed my "if I go, I go" attitude used to good effect in Greek & Italian taxis. Anyway, those wild & crazy Czechs, they lent me the flat for which I'll be eternally grateful. Now I want to stay at Prague Castle.

Here's to brave people - who, amazingly, miraculously laugh (with a large side of irony). And take it all the way to the end.

[two stills from Unbearable Lightness of Being, still photographer-genius Phil Bray; the "real" iconic photograph via filmwell(dot)org]

Week's End - Blast from the Cold Past

A desperate-looking man at a bus stop, "They're after me." I sighed inwardly, oh no. Poor man. Then travel memories behind the Iron Curtain (still firmly drawn) flooded in. Observing weird comings & goings in Vienna, among other places. Going through Checkpoint Charlie. And ongoing amongst us innocents in the DC neighborhood (& more so in N. VA)? Crazy traitor Robert Hanssen not 5 minutes away, oh-so-busy honing his spy-craft (& perversions). (Have you seen Breach? Or read Eric O'Neill's book?)

Read/re-watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Smiley's People, but especially Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Now, that, as a professor (& friend) said to me when I was rather young, that is the whole bloody dirty nasty business right there. Hey, he knew nutty Ezra Pound. Who was I to question him on these tangled matters?

So that man, in the beautiful Burberry trench* right near the Phillips Collection? You never know. They could be after him. I gave him a quarter for the phone.

Here's John le Carré's website.

Off to scary dental doings. (Shades of last summer.)

*I know. A cliche. Life is like that sometimes. It was a Burberry. Speaking of clothes, the above shot is via myvintagevogue.

Week's End - Café Stories

People have suffered enough this week with my unedited goofball antics. But I have a little café story. As I was gathering my things to leave, I fell/draped over a small table (see above) when I espied a man on whom I had a severe, disabling crush walk in. It was my secret (until then). The two friends who'd shared my wine (one white wine glass!) shared my mortification--hey, the whole outdoor audience, shared in it. Oh, it got better. I abruptly raised up from the waist (think cobra position), turned around (to run away, of course, wouldn't YOU?), & fell right into/over the chair in which I'd been sitting for 2 hours. Skinned my knees, broke a sandal strap, my sunglasses. The psychic damage would have been awful...but he asked me out after he pulled me up off the sidewalk.

Here's to a lovely weekend, whatever you have planned. (Watch your step.) A big thank you to Kristin Espinasse of French-Word-A-Day fame (well-earned) for the use of her photograph. If you've not been to visit Kristin, you must. I insist. I'll fall right onto your desk if you don't.

Acqua Alta in Venezia

Ah well. Poor Venice...what would Christmastime be without acqua alta? It would be better, that's what. Here's a bookstore doing its very best. Here's a link to a good slide show; it's so pretty that I feel guilty for saying so. I skipped & hopped across empty café tables from one side of the square to the other. One Venice November. Not sure why they were still out--maybe for that very reason. [photograph by lexihaze, via we heart it]

Café crème pause...

And this (at top) is exactly how I look when at rest (or sick. yes, I'm still sick). But that doesn't stop me from arguing with crazy Cheney. When will I learn? Don't argue (even pretend-argue) with crazy people. Just keep your eye on'em. Back to working on real stuff...which includes GG & trying to sort out writing project files, clips, locating my own clips. I am a-sea in paper! [Yale Joel for LIFE]

The most satisfying thing I read today online was Hazel-the-Clever-Pup's fantasy journey to Paris (as opposed to her very real trips, which are also enchanting). Tina at the English Muse is musing on creating an international society of girls in tulle (similar to her 'girls in flats' org to which I lightheartedly belong).

Tulle? I think I'm going to have to pass on this one & leave it to the ballerinas & first communionistas; even pretend-wearing of tulle (on me), would be just too awful to contemplate (& too awful for others to see). Nevertheless, I put in a non-tulle-but-still-fluffy-ruffly Parisian couture dress...it reminds me of whipped cream. Why do I put it in? Because I feel so very awful & it cheers me up. I hope I can get back to the Amalfi peninsula tomorrow. [whipped cream dress by Nat Farbman/1951 for LIFE]

buona notte, gattini/gattine

Café days...

The photo from Blogger-blog, Cinematic Sojourns; it hasn't published in some time & I don't want to mess up my feed. So there's the credit; they didn't credit it at all. I will keep looking.. More than one still photog worked on the Trois Couleurs trilogy.

Please check out the other blog (Giulia Geranium, in side panel), to see some colorful Darfuri ladies & their artistry. Also the blogs on this site are having a helluva good time (it would seem from the thumbnails). Good night & see you late tomorrow. ciao amici, buona notte.

Blue shore of silence

More pieces. For project. (first photo credit, here; second & third by nullasalus/photobucket)

One more cup of coffee...

Actually, if I want any coffee it's to the market I go. We're out of almost everything. I wanted to get this shot into the archives, so here's coffee break by Emiliano (credit). Ciao until later today.

It's right there, in black & white

Indulge me (once again). I'm exhausted & decided any two photos in My Pictures that go together, I have to make up a title no matter how dumb & literal & schedule it to post. No matter what. Once a day, five days a week. And I promise it will be better than this very soon. The Giulia Geranium blog will be one-year old on May 4th. Then, we'll see. I was never naive enough to think that Sudan would be settled by now, but I thought we'd be in a building/rebuilding period. And no, I do not think World War II was "romantic." At all. I just like these photos of a great film...I call one "the news isn't good" & the other "a toast to the end of war." Seems like we'll always need those two phrases.

I can't even remember where I got these photos...I think those "screen capture" thingies. I'll come back & do the right thing. For now, this is it. Go see Hazel at Clever Pup who has done her Theme Thursday on Fire...& then go read The English Patient if you've not...if you have, you might not have read Ondaatje's poetry. That's why his prose is so beautiful: he's a poet. His heart must be breaking with the news out of Sri Lanka. It just gets worse & worse.

Week's End - The Weight of the World

Hope it's as light as a balloon for at least part of the weekend. (scan from Pure Wonder series, Ellen von Unwerth, Vogue Italia, Giugno 2007)

A café, a balloon, a celebration continues

...xoxo from Washington, DC
(scans from Vogue Italia, Giugno 2007, photographer Ellen von Unwerth, Pure Wonder)