“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?” ― John Lennon
“I don’t paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.” ― Frida Kahlo
“I still get nightmares. In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I’m not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares.” ― Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves
“There are many who don’t wish to sleep for fear of nightmares. Sadly, there are many who don’t wish to wake for the same fear.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, Dandelions: The Disappearance of Annabelle Fancher
“You learned to run from what you feel, and that’s why you have nightmares. To deny is to invite madness. To accept is to control.” ― Megan Chance, The Spiritualist
“My sleep wasn’t peaceful, though. I have the sense of emerging from a world of dark, haunted places where I traveled alone.” ― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay
QUOTATIONS on DREAMS:
“I like the night. Without the dark, we’d never see the stars.” ― Stephenie Meyer, Twilight
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt
“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
“People think dreams aren’t real just because they aren’t made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes.” ― Neil Gaiman
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” ― Arthur O’Shaughnessy, Poems of Arthur O’Shaughnessy
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” ― John Lennon
“You know that place between sleeping and awake, that place where you can still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always think of you.” ― J.M. Barrie
In the struggle
to pluck Beauty from the ether
and satisfy my soul's longing for home,
I must open myself to the angels.
But all angels are terrible.
Their perfection is death
to all that is considered to be human.
Their beauty: fierce, pure, perfect, relentless,
burns with such brilliance
as to dismantle the fragility of Being.
The Artist: A poem by Niamh Clune. Reblogging to the secret keeper. Truly amazing poem. I love that I am able to post this on the secret keeper. Please return to the origin and read the poem The Artist. It will enrich your soul as I feel it does mine when ever I read it. Jk
It is my great pleasure to welcome Uncle Tree. He should feel quite at home here as he has great sympathy with roots and branches! The root of his post on the Wednesday Corner is his appreciation of the work of D.H. Lawrence - the branches of which, reach into Heaven itself. Many thanks, Uncle Tree aka Keith Alan Watson…
Niamh Clune presenting The Wednesday Corner with Uncle Tree. A brilliant choice. aka Keith Alan Watson brings us into the world of D.H. Lawrence and his poem "The Shadow." Here is the first verse that I am going to post. To read the post and the rest of the poem follow the reblog back to On The Plum Tree. The poem:
“Shadows” by D.H. Lawrence
if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.
Jk the secret keeper. PS. Well done!
meaning something being somebody
written By jennifer kiley
illustrated & abstract digital art by j. kiley
created may 7th 2013
posted may 8th 2013
Bal du Moulin de la Galette — Auguste Renoir
meaning something being somebody
written by jennifer kiley
may 7th 2013
waking sleeping slips away
dreams vanish with awareness of day
meaning enters the mind now we’re awake
is there something we must know
is there someplace we must go
are we living out our lives
being what we ought to be
do we mean something to somebody
life, does it give meaning being here
have we a purpose or become a void of nothingness
meaning, what is the reason for being here
is there a connection to something in time
does somebody have the answers
are there real questions that need asking
if so who decided either way whether they are
is it important to live within these bodies
is it important to have meaning and know what it is
is it important to have something that gives your life purpose
is it important to be alive and wait for that ultimate ending
is it important to be somebody that will be remembered after we’re gone
is fame the answer to immortality
if we can’t achieve it through having talent
then we must create something that makes us famous
we don’t need to have any ability or creativity
we just need to be somebody because people know our name
this is what life has become
a meaningless collection of names and images
that say nothing and have no depth or essence
they are flat like the world when looking at the horizon
we go on endlessly entertaining ourselves with the purist of nothing
meaning something being somebody has lost its meaning
for nobody is becoming something or somebody
it has stopped mattering what anyone has to offer
all disappear a moment after making contact
what was found becomes lost and blows away with the wind
has a fake reality taken over our brain waves
projecting fake people to boringly entertain us
with their nothingness and meaningless lack of talent
we have been capsulized and plugged in as numbers
and become faceless faces on a faceless computer network
we need to get our meaning back
where meaning something and being somebody
actually matters to us again
where we mean it when we reach out to people
and mean what we say and what we do is important
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” ― Albert Camus
“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” ― Joseph Campbell
“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.” ― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
“Beyond work and love, I would add two other ingredients that give meaning to life. First, to fulfill whatever talents we are born with. However blessed we are by fate with different abilities and strengths, we should try to develop them to the fullest, rather than allow them to atrophy and decay. We all know individuals who did not fulfill the promise they showed in childhood. Many of them became haunted by the image of what they might have become. Instead of blaming fate, I think we should accept ourselves as we are and try to fulfill whatever dreams are within our capability.
Second, we should try to leave the world a better place than when we entered it. As individuals, we can make a difference, whether it is to probe the secrets of Nature, to clean up the environment and work for peace and social justice, or to nurture the inquisitive, vibrant spirit of the young by being a mentor and a guide.” ― Michio Kaku
“There are powers far beyond us, plans far beyond what we could have ever thought of, visions far more vast than what we can ever see on our own with our own eyes, there are horizons long gone beyond our own horizons. This is courage- to throw away what is our own that is limited and to thrust ourselves into the hands of these higher powers- God and Destiny.To do this is to abide in the realm of the eternal, to walk in the path of the everlasting to follow in the footprints of God and demi-gods. The hardest part for man is the letting go. For some reason, he thinks himself big enough to know and to see what’s good for him. But in the letting go……..is found freedom. In the letting go…….. is found the flight!” ― C. JoyBell C.
“Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.” ― Albert Camus, The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt
“Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” ― Parker J. Palmer
“They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“The same sensitivity that opens artists to Being also makes them vulnerable to the dark powers of non-Being. It is no accident that many creative people–including Dante, Pascal, Goethe, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Beethoven, Rilke, Blake, and Van Gogh–struggled with depression, anxiety, and despair. They paid a heavy price to wrest their gifts from the clutches of non-Being. But this is what true artists do: they make their own frayed lives the cable for the surges of power generated in the creative force fields of Being and non-Being. ― David N. Elkins
I can crash down the gates of Heaven
Poetry by Niamh Clune & Jennifer Kiley
Artists Vincent van Gogh & Alexander Jansson
Posted 05.03.13
abstract streak lightning
Before I introduce the poetry I would like to introduce you to the secret keeper’s Guess Poet for today. She is far more than a poet but as a poet she is extremely brilliant and gifted in the use of words and the depth of her poetry will astound you. Here is just a tiny sampling of who Dr. Niamh Clune is and after this short bio will follow two more beautiful paintings, and poetry by Niamh Clune and by myself, the secret keeper. Following the poetry is a piece of music that will surprise our guest but she is familiar with the piece. It is quite beautiful. Then of course, a choice selection of quotations to fill your mind with, which by that time should be brimming over. So Please enjoy. jk the secret keeper
Niamh Clune is the author of the Skyla McFee series: Orange Petals in a Storm, and Exaltation of a Rose (which is due out in the near future. Keep you eyes and ears tuned in for when that launch will be made.) You will fall in love with Skyla McFee, a young girl who must go through the most harrowing experiences and survive the most horrible people to find the goodness in her life still exists. The first book, which is available now, opens up the story and quickly draws you in. You want so much to be there to protect and help Skyla. She does the most magical things with her imagination that will astonish you. Also, Niamh is the author of The Coming of the Feminine Christ. A true story about a most powerful experience. Niamh put a great deal of time and research into the writing of this magnificent 5 star book, just recently released on eBook and available now at an amazingly reasonable price. I have read this book and re-read it. There is so much to learn and to understand. I would like to add that Niamh has a CD titled “Touching Angels” which is quite magical and mystical to hear. Very soothing in places that help you to relax and unwind. I highly recommend all of these creations. I have them in my collection and would feel lost without them being in arms reach.
Niamh has produced an anthology of happy and sad stories from childhood: Every Child is Entitled to Innocence. The proceeds of this book go to Child Helpline International. She, also, quite recently, brought together the art of many poets, writers, photographers and painters who donated their work to put together for two different Anthologies. The first is titled: Song of Sahel, this is to help the people of Sahel a vast region in Africa suffering from an extremely long drought, and it continues and the people continue to suffer. Two songs were written by Niamh and performed by her daughter Aleisha Shimizu and produced to go with the Anthology to raise funds to help the people of Sahel. They are all still available separately, Song of Sahel & Island of Hope) and the second anthology is: All The Lonely People, about loneliness and the forgotten people. It, also, include artists views on aloneness. Loneliness has become an epidemic all over the world and includes people of all ages who find they are without the contact of people who show them any care or recognition that they exist. It is bad in nursing homes where often people are thrown away to live out the rest of their lives with out hopes of anyone ever showing them any love or attention ever again. It is not just the elders in our society who suffer from loneliness, it is people of all ages. This Anthology is available for free as a download through Plum Tree Books. There is a link coming up shortly which should lead you to the location to download “All The Lonely People.”
More of what Dr. Niamh Clune has done in her extremely active life is to have worked in Africa for Oxfam and UNICEF in her career as a psychotherapist. She is the founder of Plum Tree Books, which has a philosophy that is unique, in that it encourages creativity in many forms for many ages. She is an award-winning social entrepreneur, an environmental campaigner and a singer/songwriter. She does a great deal more than this brief biography states. To learn more about her visit her blog at
http://ontheplumtree.wordpress.com/ and Plum Tree Books on Facebook and the Plum Tree Books and Art site online. If you want, look along the right column of my blog the secret keeper and scroll down. You will find images you can click on which will take you to many of the sites I mentioned and also to the sites where you will find Niamh’s books. jk the secret keeper
vincent van gogh starry night on the rhone
Written by Niamh Clune
May 1st 2013
I can crash down the gates of Heaven
take it by storm.
pluck inspiration from fiery ether
to bring to earth.
to light you when you’re cold
to feed you when you’re hungry
to help you remember from whence you came.
I am then made of air
taking refuge in a tree
laughing.
Sooner or later
that which was stolen from the gods
flares
breeds its own wanting
wave on wave of searing sorrow
surfaces from core
floods through me
forces its way out
crying for Heaven
to be returned to the beautiful
from whence it came.
Warmth came
When you arrived
I was hungry and cold
And had no memory
Of where or who I am
Guide me
Help me soar
Let me fly with you
Through the air
Freeing me from the pain
Give me to Heaven
To be held in an angel’s arms
Until I regain my knowledge
Of who I am
Stay with me awhile
Until the waves of sorrow
Pass from my memories
Crying out the feelings
Screaming their way
Out of me
Finally the floods are released
Letting me finally find peace
With the spirit
Resting inside of me
Am I fractured, when in the wrath of sunlight streaming across my sky,
I cloak myself in darkness cool and safe?
Am I fractured if Colour speaks of secrets more ancient than this sun – speaks of a time before beginning,
when all was unformed, inherent, ready to burst upon this Blue?
When All was tacit – every thought to be heard,
every dream to be shared, every tear to be shed.
I go back there into Creation’s womb to the fiery Coloured salamanders
that spark and illuminate my Heavens.
I know them in essence.
Am I mad for seeing into that other realm?
Then, so be it. Far more beautiful is that Sun.
Unchain my weary spirit from this violent dawning.
a clear enough understanding through perceptions
you are not fractured
there is no madness inside of you
it is excitement in finding
that which you were seeking.
Fire Spirits being your friends,
lit the path of your journey.
No madness in the seeing
a desired destination
inviting one to breathe
to hear the words of your dreams welcoming,
an echoing from the eternal muse,
hearing and understanding
the meaning of your soul
the symbols resound
in their open minds.
Your tears are watering their world
with your release
the acceptance of their inviting freedom
to be your real self.
Here your spirit is accepted
To be free.
The old world
a distant shadow.
You were never fractured
Being able to hear the Colour spirit’s voice
Communicating from a world unknown
to those who cannot hear,
who have no understanding
your openness has the capacity
to perceive
to decipher their meanings
to go to their depth of perception
to understand
to absorb the wordless meanings of Colour’s definitions.
There is no madness
To want to be
to see into this other realm
to have it so open to you
it offers safe passage
to be one with their world
as your weariness fades away.
This is bliss
you have expressed
you have found it
time to celebrate
it is difficult to leave
to re-enter the storm
through which you must pass
to return to a world far less inviting
to leave an understanding
such as this realm has
it draws you into its beauty
into its acceptance of your soul
“Sometimes it’s not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don’t mean.” ― Bob Dylan
“Don’t you understand that we need to be childish in order to understand? Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn’t developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don’t expect to see.” ― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
“Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune
“I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.”
― Nicholas Sparks, True Believer
“When you were in love, you were capable of learning everything and of knowing things you had never dared even to think, because love was the key to understanding all of the mysteries.” ― Paulo Coelho, Brida
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” ― Edgar Allan Poe
“The more I see, the less I know for sure.” ― John Lennon
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” ― W.B. Yeats
“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew
“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” ― Aldous Huxley
“Here’s Looking At You Kid.”
Film: Casablanca
Starring Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman
Playing Roles of Rick Blaine & Ilsa Lund
Created by jk the secret keeper
Posted 04.28.13
Casablanca: Rick Blaine & Ilsa Lund “Here’s Looking At You Kid.”
Rick: Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I’ve done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you’re getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.
Ilsa: But, Richard, no, I… I…
Rick: Now, you’ve got to listen to me! You have any idea what you’d have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we’d both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn’t that true, Louie?
Captain Renault: I’m afraid Major Strasser would insist.
Ilsa: You’re saying this only to make me go.
Rick: I’m saying it because it’s true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You’re part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Rick: We’ll always have Paris. We didn’t have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you.
Rick: And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of. Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.
[Ilsa lowers her head and begins to cry]
Rick: Now, now…
[Rick gently places his hand under her chin and raises it so their eyes meet]
Rick: Here’s looking at you kid.
casablanca 1947
casablanca: rick blaine & ilsa lund in paris cafe 680×540
casablanca: rick hanging out with sam
casablanca: ilsa role played by ingrid berman
FILM REVIEW of CASABLANCA
“Here’s looking at you kid.”
There are so many memorable lines and scenes in the film “Casablanca.”
Casablanca (1942) Directed by Michael Curtiz: Starring Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine; Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund; Peter Lorre as Ugarte; Claude Raines as Louie (Head of Police/Rick’s Friend); Paul Henreid as Victor Laszlo; Sydney Greenstreet as Ferrari, proprietor of the night club The Blue Parrot.
Just one of the fifty films a studio would make each year back in the day. Casablanca was just one of those films thrown into that collection. Who knew it would spring forth and become the success that it is. Today, it is considered one of the top romantic films of all time.
Won for Best Picture 1942 Oscar. One of the most universally admired films ever made. On most lists of the greatest films of all times. Even people who don’t like old films or black and white films love Casablanca. Roger Ebert said he doesn’t think he’s heard of any negative reviews of this film ever. All the characters are all good except the Nazis. Vichy are the French who collaborate with the Nazis.
Rick’s Cafe Americain in Casablanca in French Morocco, where everyone went for entertainment or to hang out for a drink or to go to the back room where there is gambling going on. Here, in Casablanca, some may obtain exit visas but others may wait and wait and wait. At the beginning of the film, you find out that some couriers were killed in the desert and robbed of exit visas. Officials wanting to see a man’s papers, causes the man to freak out, his papers are not in order, so he runs and is shot and killed because he didn’t halt when ordered to. Life is meaningless.
When Louie, the head of the police, is asked by Major Strasser, what is being done about the murder of the couriers, his answer is: “We’ve rounded up the usual suspects.” No one likes Nazis and the head of the Nazis in this movie doesn’t make them any more popular and maybe makes them even less popular. The Marseillaise is the present day French National Anthem. Remember that when you watch Casablanca.
Ugarte shows up and talks to Rick. Wants to have a drink with Rick but as a rule he doesn’t drink with any of the guests of his night club. Ugarte likes to brag to Rick. He just is looking for Rick’s approval but knows that Rick despises him but he is the only person that Ugarte trusts. Rick does finally seem impressed with him. You’ll have to watch the movie to find out why.
Ferrari wants Rick’s place. He is always trying to buy it. It’s the best place in town. Sasha hangs out there and is sort of Rick’s girl friend and is a bit of an alcoholic. It’s understandable she wants to drink the times are during the 2nd World War and it is making everyone edgy and the French are being ruled by the Germans.
Louie and Rick get involved in a conversation and Louie asks why Rick came to such a God Forsaken place like Casablanca. Rick’s a smart ass and says: “It’s for the water.” But, of course, it is a desert. Rick’s is permitted to stay open because he just doesn’t want to get involved. But he has in his hands something that a lot of people are looking for but no one has any idea what that is. Louie tells Rick there is a famous patriot of the war headed for Casablanca. A member of the Gestapo, Major Strasser, is expected at the club. He is a thoroughly disagreeable Nazis but then what Nazi isn’t. That I may say often.
A major happening occurs at Rick’s but he reassures everyone to settle down and get back into enjoying themselves. Rick actually sits down with the Nazis. The Nazis make mention about invading New York. Rick warns them about staying away from certain sections of New York. They may not be safe. They start in talking about Victor Lazslo being on his way. Rick assuring them that he doesn’t plan on getting involved.
Victor Laszlo and Ilsa Lund eventually show up as expected and walk through the cafe and take a seat in the night club. Expect that many will be approaching Victor fairly often because of his importance and how nervous they make the Nazis. Ilsa starts asking about the piano player and who owns the Night Club. Louie tells her it is a man named Rick. Major Strasser is introduced and acts like the ass that he is. Starts applying his power over Laszlo.
It is evident that Ilsa and Victor are close but at this time we know nothing of their relationship other then they are traveling together. Victor leaves her at table to meet a man at the bar and finds out about Ugarte.
Ilsa wants to speak to the piano player. His name is Sam and she asks him to play some of the old songs. There is a sadness between Sam regarding Rick. She wants him to play a the song “As Time Goes By.” Sam sings the song for her. Out comes Rick telling Sam he’s not suppose to play that song. Rick sees Ilsa sitting at her table. The last time Rick saw Ilsa was in Paris when the Germans marched in to take over the city. He was unnerved seeing her again. He was so not himself that he actually had a drink with all at the table breaking his precedent of not drinking with guests of the night club The Americain.
Later back in his rooms, Rick has a bottle, and tells Sam he is not planning on going to bed. He thinks Ilsa is going to show up. Sam isn’t going to leave his boss alone. He starts getting maudlin. “Of all the gin joints in all the world, she walks into mine.” He wants Sam to play “As Time Goes By.” Sam doesn’t want to open the wounds.
Flashback: Paris with Rick and Ilsa driving around in a convertible. then down by the Seine. In the hotel drinking champagne. “Who are you really and what were you before and what did you think?” Ricks asks. Ilsa’s response: “We said no questions.” All the best lines in these scenes. So many to write down and remember. She reveals an answer without the question. Watch the movie to find out what she told Rick.
Outside, newspapers are being passed around. The Germans are coming I believe are the headlines and what they are saying in French over the microphones. There is a lot of action going on out in the streets.
The most famous line is spoken by Rick toasting champagne with Sam and Ilsa: “Here’s looking at you kid.” Everything is falling apart. “Where were you ten years ago?” Rick said he was looking for a job. For some reason there is a price on Rick’s head but no one knows why. It’s time for everyone to leave Paris. Their suppose to meet at the train station from where they will be leaving. Ilsa loves him so much and the war, she hates that in just the opposite emotion. She thinks that they will be taken apart. “Kiss me as if it is the last time.”
It’s raining at the train station. With three minutes until last train leaves. No Ilsa but Sam and Rick are waiting. There is a note from the Hotel. Fade Out Paris Train Station as you watch the rain wash the ink off of the note in Rick’s hand.
Fade In: Rick’s Rooms enter Ilsa. She wants to talk to him, to tell him a story. It’s about a girl who meets a man, a very courageous man. She looked up to him. She thought it was love. Who did she leave him for? Laszlo or others in between?
Victor and Ilsa meet Strasser at Police station. Strasser guarantees Laszlo will never receive an exit visa. His only way to leave is to be a traitor to his people. Do you really think he is the type of man to be a traitor. Nazis have no sense of integrity so they do not understand an enigma like Victor Laszlo. An important person to their leaving has been reported to be dead.
Rick visits The Blue Parrot and talks with Ferrari, who wants the letters of transit. He tells Rick he thinks he knows where the letters are. Rick purposely left his club so the police would have a chance to ransack it. Louie’s men were impressively destructive at Rick’s Place in order to win points with Major Strasser. Louie blows with the wind. He is with the Vichy. The Vichy being the French who go along and reluctantly support the French. The French who are loyal to their own country feel betrayed by the Vichy.
A young woman comes to Rick to plead for some help. She will have to sleep with Louie if her husband doesn’t win enough money so they can afford a visa. If they use only the money they have there would be nothing left. Louise fully expects her to have sex with him if the money isn’t won. Louie sees that the young woman and Rick are being obvious about conspiring. They are all in the backroom where the gambling goes on. Louie is an odd duck. Louie accuses Rick of being a rank sentimentalist.
Victor has a visit with Rick. The Underground tell Victor all sorts of very impressive things about activities that Rick was involved in during the war.
In Rick’s Cafe, the Nazis are singing about the Fatherland. It is so despicable to the French in the club that they have a singing competition. Guess who wins. Strasser is not very satisfied. He tells Louie to find an excuse to close Rick’s. He tells Rick the reason is because he is shocked that gambling is going on in his club.
Strasser just keeps getting creepier. Threatens Ilsa.
Later Ilsa and Victor speak about the letters of transit and what Rick said about asking his wife why he won’t give up the letters.
Ilsa goes to Rick’s rooms and tries to get letters from him. She wants to tell him what really happened in Paris. The feelings between them, have they been buried or are they gone? The truth comes out. She had no hope that Victor was alive when she was in Paris with Rick.
Victor and Rick talk. They are not that far apart in what they believe.
Louie and Rick talk about letters. Louie doesn’t like Strasser.
Approaching the final few scenes of the film. Cafe Americain is still closed by order of the Prefect of Police. Ferrari has taken over the Cafe. Louie thinks he is at Cafe to arrest Laszlo but Rick surprises him and makes him call the airport to tell them that there is to be no trouble about two letters of transit. Everything is building up to the excitement of what is all going to culminate in some of the biggest surprises yet in the film.
Best closing scenes in any movie and best closing lines. Memorable til the final line.
For the rest of the film and to fill in all the spaces that I have left out, you will need to find a copy of this film on DVD or streaming from online or whatever source you are able to find to watch the whole thing and to see how it ends. It is a thoroughly amazing film to watch. It seems the perfect film in detail, dialogue, scenes, settings, storyline, acting and durability. It has all the perfect elements and the best acting. Filled with sentiment and sacrifice. I first saw this film when I was in my 20s. It was such a surprise that I did not see it when I was a kid. It is understandable for older children and a fascinating film for all adults.
The following videos do have SPOILERS so watch them if you have seen the film already or if you don’t mind seeing scenes before seeing the film. I am sure a great many of you have watched this film. But if you haven’t, it should be on everyone’s’ film list as a must see. The sheer acting alone and the love story and the screenplay is brilliant. The cast is to die for. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman play the leads. They are two of the finest actors of all times. Worthy of anyone’s time to find out how great they are in Casablanca. No one had any idea what a remarkable film this was going to turn out to be. The special benefit if this film is you get to hate the Nazis and you get to curse them out without impunity. It has the most classic lines of almost any film ever made. Enjoy the videos and seriously consider locating this film if you haven’t seen it and find it so you can watch it again. “Here’s Looking At You Kid.” jk the SK
The relationship between Rick and Ilsa was filled with Desire. I am going to write a poem about Desire in my new form of Haiku. I refer to it as X-treme Haiku. I use an altered form of Haiku with the onji (lines) in the 5 – 7 – 7. I do as few or as many verses as I feel will tell the story that I am writing. Sometimes the story will more often be a touch abstract and other times it may be a philosophical exploration, or a story that may have the appearance of something that may b close in resemblance to a fable. With X-treme Haiku I want to allow myself the freedom to write about what I want but to also include restriction which will encourage restraint on my part so that I will write more concisely with the use of fewer words that will contain an understanding and a discipline toward accuracy. I have been using this style of X-treme Haiku for a short while now and find it makes me more disciplined. It involves research and a greater understanding of the words I use. Being precise about definitions of the language I am using. There is a cleanness to the design. The other rules are for myself and they include the use of words. I do not or try not to repeat a word within the same verse or if possible within the same poem unless absolutely necessary. I like mystery in my poems so I do have the tendency to be a touch cryptic and/or abstract. I like analyzing what it is I am writing about. I am honest about whatever it is I have chosen to write about. I believe in going into the depths of what I mean in what I write. Truth is essential. Directness is essential. Abstraction is often essential. I believe in creating a puzzle that must be deciphered. I do not often hand out the simplicity of a matter. A specific reason for that is when I am writing I am also trying to interpret and examine in depth what subject is I am writing on and usually for the purpose of trying to understand what is within or what it is about that I am writing. Now to the poem.
“The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it’s as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.” ― Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures
“It starts so young, and I’m angry about that. The garbage we’re taught. About love, about what’s “romantic.” Look at so many of the so-called romantic figures in books and movies. Do we ever stop and think how many of them would cause serious and drastic unhappiness after The End? Why are sick and dangerous personality types so often shown a passionate and tragic and something to be longed for when those are the very ones you should run for your life from? Think about it. Heathcliff. Romeo. Don Juan. Jay Gatsby. Rochester. Mr. Darcy. From the rigid control freak in The Sound of Music to all the bad boys some woman goes running to the airport to catch in the last minute of every romantic comedy. She should let him leave. Your time is so valuable, and look at these guys–depressive and moody and violent and immature and self-centered. And what about the big daddy of them all, Prince Charming? What was his secret life? We dont know anything about him, other then he looks good and comes to the rescue.” ― Deb Caletti, The Secret Life of Prince Charming
“Only the gentle are ever really strong.” ― James Dean
“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that’s why we’re all interested in movies- those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it’s actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.” ― Tim Burton, Burton on Burton
“Ezekiel 25:17. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.” I been sayin’ that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin’ made me think twice. Now I’m thinkin’: it could mean you’re the evil man. And I’m the righteous man. And Mr. .45 here, he’s the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could be you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. I’d like that. But that shit ain’t the truth. The truth is you’re the weak. And I’m the tyranny of evil men. But I’m tryin, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd. — he became the shepherd instead of the vengeance.” ― Quentin Tarantino
“A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. If somewhere in the Hollywood-entertainment world someone has managed to break through with something that speaks to you, then it isn’t all corruption. The movie doesn’t have to be great; it can be stupid and empty and you can still have the joy of a good performance, or the joy in just a good line. An actor’s scowl, a small subversive gesture, a dirty remark that someone tosses off with a mock-innocent face, and the world makes a little bit of sense. Sitting there alone or painfully alone because those with you do not react as you do, you know there must be others perhaps in this very theatre or in this city, surely in other theatres in other cities, now, in the past or future, who react as you do. And because movies are the most total and encompassing art form we have, these reactions can seem the most personal and, maybe the most important, imaginable. The romance of movies is not just in those stories and those people on the screen but in the adolescent dream of meeting others who feel as you do about what you’ve seen. You do meet them, of course, and you know each other at once because you talk less about good movies than about what you love in bad movies.” ― Pauline Kael, For Keeps: 30 Years at the Movies
“Books and movies, they are not mere entertainment. They sustain me and help me cope with my real life.” ― Arlaina Tibensky
DESIRE:
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ― Epicurus
“Things are sweeter when they’re lost. I know–because once I wanted something and got it. It was the only thing I ever wanted badly, Dot, and when I got it it turned to dust in my hand.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned
“There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman
“She leaned forward and caught at his hand, pressing it between her own. The touch was like white fire through his veins. He could not feel her skin only the cloth of her gloves, and yet it did not matter. You kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire. He had wondered once why love was always phrased in terms of burning. The conflagration in his own veins, now, gave the answer.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess
“Desiring another person is perhaps the most risky endeavor of all. As soon as you want somebody—really want him—it is as though you have taken a surgical needle and sutured your happiness to the skin of that person, so that any separation will now cause a lacerating injury.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
“I desire to be with you. I miss you. I feel lonely when I can’t see you. I am obsessed with you, fascinated by you, infatuated with you. I hunger for your taste, your smell, the feel of your soul touching mine.” ― Jack Llawayllynn, Indulgence
“Profound desire, true desire is the desire to be close to someone.” ― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes
“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS
“My wish is that you may be loved to the point of madness.” ― André Breton, What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings
“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” ― Aristotle
“Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!” ― Dale Wasserman, Man of La Mancha
“When you are mad, mad like this, you don’t know it. Reality is what you see. When what you see shifts, departing from anyone else’s reality, it’s still reality to you.” ― Marya Hornbacher, Madness: A Bipolar Life
“Crazy people are considered mad by the rest of the society only because their intelligence isn’t understood.” ― Weihui Zhou
“All forms of madness, bizarre habits, awkwardness in society, general clumsiness, are justified in the person who creates good art.” ― Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy
“Doubt … is an illness that comes from knowledge and leads to madness.” ― Gustave Flaubert, Memoirs of a Madman
“So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there’s always madness. Madness is the emergency exit.” ― Alan Moore, Batman: The Killing Joke
“To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it, and when is the taste refracted into so many hues and savors of ripeness and earth, and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing — the world will be made whole. For to wish for a hand on one’s hair is all but to feel it. So whatever we may lose, very craving gives it back to us again.” ― Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping
“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.” ― Federico García Lorca, Blood Wedding and Yerma
“I want her to melt into me, like butter on toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with her encased in my skin. — I want.” ― Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants
“Profound desire, true desire is the desire to be close to someone.” ― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes
“But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips.”
― Kahlil Gibran
“Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
“Desire makes life happen. Makes it matter. Makes everything worth it. Desire is life. Hunger to see the next sunrise or sunset, to touch the one you love, to try again. “Hell would be waking up and wanting nothing.” ― Karen Marie Moning, Shadowfever
“Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.” ― Roland Barthes
“I have outlasted all desire,
My dreams and I have grown apart;
My grief alone is left entire,
The gleamings of an empty heart.
The storms of ruthless dispensation
Have struck my flowery garland numb,
I live in lonely desolation
And wonder when my end will come.
Thus on a naked tree-limb, blasted
By tardy winter’s whistling chill,
A single leaf which has outlasted
Its season will be trembling still.”
― Alexander Pushkin
“There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel’s Dart
“Please, touch me, I pray.” ― Jess C. Scott, The Intern
“Oh to have you with me, to have you here, not to be alone, but to be with you, my beauty, you of all souls! You.” ― Anne Rice, Pandora
“I spin worlds where we could be together. I dream you. For me, imagination and desire are very close.” ― Jeanette Winterson
“….love and desire enjoy a symbiotic relationship, meaning that one cannot exist without the other. Desire is an enemy to contentment; desire is illness, a feverish brain. Who can be considered healthy who wants? The very word want suggests a lack, an impoverishment, and that is what desire is: an impoverishment of the brain, a flaw, a mistake.” ― Lauren Oliver, Delirium
“When you were a wandering desire in the mist, I too was there, a wandering desire. Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness dreams were born. And dreams were time limitless, and dreams were space without measure.” ― Kahlil Gibran
“Her cheeks were flushed. She caught hold of the Savage’s arm and pressed it, limp, against her side. He looked down at her for a moment, pale, pained, desiring, and ashamed of his desire. He was not worthy, not… Their eyes for a moment met. What treasures hers promised! A queen’s ransom of temperament. Hastily he looked away, disengaged his imprisoned arm. He was obscurely terrified lest she should cease to be something he could feel himself unworthy of.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
“To be desired is perhaps the closest anybody in this life can reach to feeling immortal.” ― John Berger
“Anxiety and desire are two, often conflicting, orientations to the unknown. Both are tilted toward the future. Desire implies a willingness, or a need, to engage this unknown, while anxiety suggests a fear of it. Desire takes one out of oneself, into the possibility or relationship, but it also takes one deeper into oneself. Anxiety turns one back on oneself, but only onto the self that is already known.” ― Mark Epstein, Open to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life – Insights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy
“Because life is short. I feel we’re made of a hunger, a desire for life – if that can be described as a material. As I get older, I’m trying to open that channel more. If you don’t, if you close off desire and get complacent, life loses its freshness and sweetness, and that’s what I crave. That’s my bliss.” ― Sarah Slean
Drum roll...Dah Dah da Dahhhhhhh! Introducing the one and only Tony Mutton!
Tony is a wonderful, quirky poet and friend to Plum Tree Books. I hope you enjoy hearing about his perspective on poetry and poets. Thank you, Tony for being our guest this week. You can find Tony and his poetry hanging out on his blog HERE.*****
Wednesday On The Plum Tree: The Brisbane Connection With Tony Mutton. A fantastic poet and when he reads a poem out loud you can't help but be drawn into the sound and the use of language he creates in his poetry. He tells a fine tale about his experiences with poetry and a lot more on his visit to On The Plum Tree. Do click and travel back to the original site of this post and enjoy and learn from a good person and fine poet. Enjoy the story he has to tell. You will be very satisfied and enjoy yourself at the same time. jk the SK ***** (the following is from the comment I wrote On The Plum Tree) April 24, 2013 It would be a lost world without poetry. Let us hope there are young poets out there that will keep it alive when we are floating in the mist. I know several young poets of college age who are devoted to poetry and experimenting with new and old forms. Myself, I find experimenting with different styles of Japanese poetry and throwing in my own techniques quite inspiring and a real challenge, an enjoyable one both mentally and emotionally. I try to write in whatever form that suits what I am trying to communicate in as cryptic a fashion as possible. I like mystery in my poetry. That was a great post Tony Mutton. Really enjoyed it. TY Niamh Clune (On The Plum Tree & Plum Tree Books and Art) for bringing Tony to join in the Wednesday On The Plum Tree. jk the secret keeper
“Observe, record, tabulate, communicate. Use your five senses. Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert.” .... Sir William Osler, M.D., C.M.
Last night I was watching the cats play with the chinchillas (a special birthday treat for the kittens). Claws sheathed, eyes wide, ears forward, whiskers twitching, and mouths open to taste the air, they were totally in the now, absorbing the experience with every sense at their disposal.
Editor's Corner: 101.6 A most Brilliant and educational post about how to write by using the five senses. A worthy post happening every Tuesday on Plum Tree Books Facebook Page, Here on the Secret Keeper when I reblog it and on MacKenzie's Dragon's Nest and On the Plum Tree as a reblog and many other assorted places that also reblog it. But for now I have the link here on the secret keeper, so if you want to learn more of what Shawn has written and also to check out all things Dragon do pay a visit. jk the secret keeper *****(my comment from MacKenzie's Dragon's Nest)*****All the “five” senses but I count six. I feel aware of that one, also. When writing it takes great effort to incorporate all that surrounds you in an imaginary story. You have to see, hear, taste, touch and feel all that is happening in an environment that strictly speaking is entirely in your imagination which can be located in so many different places but mostly it allows you to speak with it through your mind or heart or body or soul. So, what I am saying is that the imagination needs to be tuned into all the senses to feed their awareness back to your consciousness in order to record the messages that are being translated or transported. Your post this week on Editor’s Corner is brilliant. In fact, each week they excel to even a higher bar each week as you write and present them. It was a divine scene with the little ones as an inspiration. That was quite the treat. The muse helped you out a bit with that one. Animals can be so inspirational when they want to be and will cooperate. Great post Shawn. jk the SK.
