Oysters

“Such mechanisms are analogous to the involuntary grace by which an oyster, coping with an irritating grain of sand, creates a pearl,” he writes. “Humans, too, when confronted with irritants, engage in unconscious but often creative behavior.”

From this very good article on what makes us happy.

2009 surely gave me enough pearls to make a necklace.

Cats in my life

I had two very pleasant surprises today: one came by mail - it made me nostalgic - the other was waiting for me on my desk - it made me grateful for my life in Cambridge.

It also reminded me of how much cats have been a part of my life. I never had a cat so it's much more the simbology than the affection to one specific feline that have been a constant in my life.

In (kind of) chronological order:

1 - Aristocats: it was my favorite movie when I was a small kid. I just wonder how I watched it as we never had a VCR in my house...


2 - Os Saltimbancos: this is very much a Brazilian reference. But I grew up in a country with very limited access to foreign goods (Pringles were a MAJOR luxury product) and therefore have a lot of memories with Brazilian musics and products. The Saltimbancos was a very good story LP (with music and story telling) from Chico Buarque about 4 animals (a donkey, a cat, a dog and a hen) that wanted to escape the abuse of their mean and abusive human owners and discover that they are powerful if they stick together. Major political message - we were living in a military dictatorship but "together we are strong". Anyway, I loved the character of the lazy domesticated cat who got kicked out of the house because she couldn't resist the bohemian nights with the street cats. (The clip is from a classic movie they made after the LP)



3 - Egyptian cat at Louvre: when I was a kid, my father was married to a french woman that I adored - Iany. She took me many times to Louvre and great part of my love for art and cinema (see below) has to do with her. She guided me to become a super-curious-prematurely-exposed-to-a-LOT-of-adult-art kid. Unfortunately, they got a horrible separation which I could not entirely overcome up to this day. And I never got to thank her for all the positive influence she had on me.



4 - When the cat comes (Az prijde kocour): a Czech movie from the 60's about a cat who could see the true nature and emotions of people - and then people become "colored" accordingly: red for lovers, purple for liars, etc. Iany took me to see this movie and I loved it. She was also responsible for memorable movie theaters sessions: The Mahrabarata, Orson Welles, Almodóvar, etc, etc, etc - did I mention I was a kid when watched all of those movies??



5 - Confuse a cat- - I adore Monty Python. This is one of my favorite sketches. Sometimes I feel like my true calling is to be a cat confuser. And after the MPA/ID, we know that the best way to confuse a depressed cat is to have giraffes around...