Sunday, January 9, 2011

If you were a melody...

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, is a line from 'The Holiday' in a scene with Iris (Kate Winslet) and Miles (Jack Black) are sitting in front of keyboard as Miles says to Iris, "Iris..., if you were a melody; I used only the good notes".  He proceeds to play a short but sweet measure, such a pretty collection of notes that I think I will always remember.

The scene from the romantic comedy film mentioned above quickly turns comedic, and the movie ends with all characters finding a happy and lovely ending.  Life and love, unfortunately, aren't like the movies (as we are all painfully aware by now).  Thus, take a look at the below 'Love Medley' by a young southern CA native poet.  I'd like to think he paints quite a good picture of a relationship consumed with love--as pure and romantic love can be, he doesn't neglect the frustration and suffering love also bears.

'Love Medley' by Rudy Francisco --


I want you to bite my lip until I can no longer speak. And then suck my ex girlfriend’s name out of my mouth just to make sure she never comes up in our conversations. I’m going to be honest, I’m not really a love poet. In fact, every time I try to write about love my hands cramp… just to show me how painful love can be. And sometimes my pencils break, just to prove to me that every now and then love takes a little more work than you planned.
See I heard that love is blind so, I write all my poems in brail. And my poems are never actually finished because true love is endless. I always believed that real love is kind of like a super model before she’s air brushed; it’s pure and imperfect, just the way that God intended. See I’m going to be honest, I’m not a love poet. But if I was to wake up tomorrow morning and decide that I really wanted to write about love I swear that my first poem… it would be about you.
About how I loved you the same way that I learned how to ride a bike: Scared… but reckless with no training wheels or elbow pads so my scars can tell the story of how I feel for you. You see, I’m not really a love poet. But if I was I’d write about how I see your face in every cloud and your reflection in every window, you see I’ve written like a million poems hoping that somehow maybe someway you’ll jump out of the page and be closer to me because if you were here, right now, I would massage your back until your skin sings songs that your lips don’t even know the words to.
Until your heartbeat sounds like my last name and you smile like the pacific ocean, I want to drink the sunlight in your skin. If I was a love poet, I’d write about how you have the audacity to be beautiful, even on days when everything around you is ugly you see I’d write about your eyelashes and how they are like violin strings that play symphonies every time you blink.
If I was a love poet I’d write about how I melt in front of you like an ice sculpture, every time I hear the vibration in your voice so whenever I see your name on the caller ID my heart, it plays hop scotch inside of my chest. Yo it climbs on to my ribs like money bars and I feel like a child all over again. I know this sounds strange but every now and then I pray that God somehow turns you back in to one of my ribs just so that I would never have to spend an entire day without you.
I swear, I’m not a love poet. But if I was to wake up tomorrow morning and decide that I really wanted to write about love, my first poem it would be about you. And after all of that she was like, so how do you feel about me? And I said, put it like this: I want to be your ex boyfriend’s stunt man. I want to do everything that he never had the courage to do like… trust you.
I swear that when our lips touch I can taste the next sixty years of my life. And some days I want to swallow stacks of your pictures just so you can be a part of me for a little bit longer. If I could I would sample your smile and then I would let my heart beat, do the bass line, we would create the greatest love song of all time. Whenever, we stand next to each other, love I was the only one made for you and you can be at last my Etta James. I’ll be oh child when you’re in pain or you could be candy coated drops of rain even though it never rains in Southern California. And together, we could be music.
And when my friends ask if you’re my girlfriend, I’ll say no. She is my musician. And me… I’m her favorite song.


--Always.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Falling Out Of Summer

Out of summer, and into fall.  Time is running full speed ahead, and it's October already! Temperature is cooling, even here in sunny Los Angeles, CA (where I will be for the time being, until further notice).  Since I'm still adjusting to the weather, the absence of New York in my life, and utter disorganization -- a hodgepodge of loves and likes will ensue. And...

Brilliant! -- I never liked those stainless water bottles. I want to conserve plastic (be all cool and eco-green) and make use of a reusable bottle.  But stainless steel sort of leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and the plastic containers are even worse! Do not fret fellow germ-a-phobes.  Japanese designer Takaya has created these reusuable, glass water bottles.  If you're worried that it's too fragile, it has a protective layer outside it to prohibit damage.
Speaking of water bottles, water, and the rest, coming this fall we will see a design collaboration between Issey Miyake and Evian.  Evian has done previous collaborations with Paul Smith and Jean-Paul Gaultier, but I personally find this one with Issey Miyake quite simple and refreshing. 2 designs, one of which will only be available at exclusive Issey Miyake retailers.




Genius...  -- People in America are taller than those in Asia (generally speaking).  Thus in Asia, height-enhancing "technologies" are widely available.  Especially for men who want to be taller without wearing clunky 3-inch heeled shoes, can insert hidden wedges inside their shoes.  Essentially that is what this shoe achieves so fashionably for women.  By 80%20, these suede boots for women have a hidden wedge heel, but appear casual and relaxed in design.  I love this! 
Available at 80spurple.com
About Time (?) -- So we don't have time machines or transporters, year 2010.  However, we can avoid all contact with humans when making our food orders here:  at the all-new, super high-tech, 4 restaurants in one food center, in New York City, called "Food Parc" (6th Ave., between W 29th and 30th).  Located in an all new Midtown hotel, this spankin' new restaurant just opened this fall, and is rumored to have some of the best cooks in town.  Go for a weekend stroll to Chelsea's flower district, try out the new Food Parc, and pick up a fresh bouquet of flowers on your home! Sounds like a great weekend afternoon.
835 6th Avenue.  Food Parc.

Lots to explore, new things to try, and fresh things to see. 

Enjoy, 
iStyle.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Waves Of the Ocean


Like the steady waves of the ocean, that vary in strength, temperature, and height at various times of the year, it embodies seemingly paradoxical ideas: consistency and inconsistency.  Like so much in nature and in life, it's full of paradoxes (as we all know too well).  Oh this, the 'rollercoaster of life'? Yea, we get that part.
The hard part comes, when the waves become too strong, so forceful (like the national weather service prohibits anyone from going into the waters) -- but you decide to go in.  You decide oh so wisely, that you want to face that immense force alone, face to face.  So you do. As steady as the waves are, you're struck down in one breathtaking (in the unfortunate way) sweep. You're lost, surrounded by chaos, breathless, the pressure of the water mercilessly suppressing you further, and headed towards what seems like certain darkness and death.
You can succumb, give in, and let the chaos and pressure easily consume you. Or... You can move, fight the elements working against you, and make your way out and away from the darkness.
Details to notice here? a) The inevitability of the waves: nature, as in life, there will be inevitabilities you are left to face (many times alone). b) But I can't forget that I, You, are in control and have the choice to use what is given to you (the way you'd simply use the strength in your arms and legs to push you out of the water, as per metaphor above) to press your way forward and beyond.  c) Remember to move, keep moving: or else, the waves can catch up to you again, and pull you into their forces once more; once you've risen to the surface, have air in your lungs providing oxygen for your brain to function, continue to move, simply keep moving to make certain you are a safe distance away from the force that which just almost consumed you.

As dark, impossible, unbelievable and awe-strikingly immense things may seem...there's always light somewhere somehow, its very existence which might be impossible/unbelievable, but surely exists, proving that no thing can be impossible or unbelievable unless you let it be; and embrace and indulge in the awe-strikingly immensity of whatever faces you, for you are witnessing the intimate workings of the universe. 

-Love