Donald Barthelme

Recently I won a lottery where I could choose a Classic Writers' card.
There were indeed plenty of writers to choose from which really put me in front of a tough decision, until while scrolling, I noticed this card had the name of Donald Barthelme, and I immediately knew this was going to be my lottery prize!

Frankly, I had no idea how he looked liked, so if it wasn't for the caption, I would have completely ignored this card.
An American short story writer and novelist known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction  (April 7, 1931 – July 23, 1989), that I first encountered while at university, when I had the chance to read his story The School. One of the best short-stories I have ever read! Unfortunately back then the internet didn't have as many things as today, so not that many stuff could be found online (though sparknotes existed, which made university life so easier :P) Anyways, as I said, not many things could be found online so I only managed to find just another story by him, called "The First Thing the Baby did wrong" - hilarious!
And somehow after that I just kinda forgot about him (yeah, shame on me), until I actually won this lottery, which made me google him back and forth, and of course, now way more stories have been published on the internet - making me realize what I have been missing all these years.
However, now I'm kinda saving money to order at least some of his books cos I'd really like to have them in my collection - will worry later about lack of space :)


If you would like to read both these stories, just click on the links below

The School
The First Thing the Baby did wrong

And totally unplanned, this post coincides with Donald's birthday, who would have turned 87 today... and also if my dearest grandmother was alive, today we would have been celebrating her 81st birthday! I really really miss her! ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Amour

Well today is kind of a themed day with no viewcards, but related to some cultural stuff, if I may put it that way and I wanted to share with you some stuff or better say people I admire or like or appreciate in any sense and next up on the list is a movie by one of my favourite directors, that is Michael Haneke

An Austrian guy whose movies are not that light and often weird and explicit whose work often examines social issues, and depicts the feelings of estrangement experienced by individuals in modern society. I cannot say I have a favourite Haneke film, I have liked all the ones I have seen so far (and I think I've seen like 90% of his work). Some I like more, cos they are more dramatic usually (like Funny Games (the Austrian, NOT the US version) or Benny's Video , some are not THAT dramatic, like The White Ribbon or his latest, Happy End but none of  them leave you indifferent.
And some years ago I received this card for his film Amour, another great movie by Haneke which I watched just like a year ago but which really swept me away... cos it was just so relatable. I won't be giving out any spoilers, but this movie just reminded me of my grandmother cos it made me realize all the things I could have done for her while she was bed-ridden but still alive, but I didn't... and it all got me really really sad and depressed, questioning myself why I took things for granted, why hadn't I thought of doing this or that, did it all mean I didn't care enough for her and I was just selfish, trying to stay away from the entire situation cos I thought I couldn't do anything, while I actually could?

Not to this day have I found an answer to these questions, but it is unfortunately true that we often don't see things in this light while people are still alive, and once we do when they are gone, it is just too late...and if there is something true about me is what has been said in this video...and I've been trying to work on it, but for some reason, it hasn't been going that well... why, I really don't know.
Do you find yourself in the same position or you handle these relationships the way they should be handled?
Btw, Anna Akana is one of my favourite public figures, since she is really harismatic, funny, and most of all, I often relate to the things she talks about and puts them in perspective for me, and you know, often it is easier to deal with issues when somehow someone else puts it in words like this.

Totally unplanned, but I am really glad this post ended up being done just for my grandmother's birthday!

My Neighbour Totoro

Time for some cartoon stuff...I think that one is never too old for cartoons and I still enjoy watching them. Well at least some kinds of animated stuff... like those produced by the Ghibli studio (and I found out that just yesterday one of its co-founders, Isao Takahata, had died at the age of 82 - I am starting to find the timing of my posts today a bit freaky now...if you haven't watched The Grave of the Fireflies, I recommend you do so, a really heart-touching story!

But today's card ain't related to Takahata, but to another one of my all time favourite directors, and that is Hayao Miyazaki - for me, the God of anime! :)
And the card above shows a scene from the first Miyazaki movie  I have ever watched and which made me want to watch everything by Miyazaki eventually, that's My Neighbour Totoro.

What I love about his work is that it all deals with humanity and teachers children good values, how to be human and a good person in general, how to love life and be grateful for what you have.
Much better than a number of dumb cartoons and animations shown nowadays =/
It is said that what makes his work so great is his - heart. Cos you can indeed easily see when something has been done from the heart and when you truly believe in it.

Do you watch cartoons? Any favourites? And of course, do you like the Miyazaki ones? :)

Btw, do you know on which date Totoro was released? April 16th... and it will be exactly 30 years this year since it first saw the light of the day.

Jim Parsons

Well, you already know I love Big Bang Theory and even though it is not as fun as it used to be, I still don't miss out an episode. Lately it has actually become like some sort of ritual to enjoy my Friday morning coffee with the latest episodes of both Big Bang, and Young Sheldon.

And to a great extent I love the show cos of Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons. It has got to be one of my favourite TV characters ever and I often wish I had a friend like Sheldon. Life would be much for fun, cos regardless how annoying he could get, you just can't not love him! I do know some similarly annoying people but they are far from lovable :)))
I guess I should blame it on his charisma too, for me one of the most charismatic men out there (some other guys on the list would be Morten Harket, Brian Molko, Rafael Nadal and Jean-Benoît Dunckel).

Anyways, there are a lot of hilarious quotes by Sheldon, but the one on the card makes it to top 5 for sure, and that's why I was sooo thrilled when few years ago, one girl had it for swap!

Nick Cave

Well, one more celebrity for today and that is Mr. Nick Cave - I don't think any introduction is necessary here.

I had the chance to see him live last October in Belgrade, but due to the fact I got my ticket rather late, no good seats were left, so I had to watch it a bit from above. And at first I didn;t really mind that until the concert actually happened. Those who know me, know that I always always get tickets for the fan-pit section and always try to make it to the first row.
And now, one of the rare times I didn't, I was just helplessly watching how Mr. Cave was coming down and walking between the audience, and even worse, asking the first few rows to come up on stage and sing the songs with him. I was literally grieving out there :))

just so you know what I'm talking about :(

Now he would be playing again at the InMusic Festival this year, but most probably I won't be going. Too many good events this year, and not enough money for it all so I just have to be selective =/
But not complaining, cos at least there are some good events in the first place :)

Well, thank you so much for taking today's journey with me. Maybe it was of your likes, maybe it wasn't... but it was nice to share with you a little piece of my little wonderland.