Adventures of the Yellow Vespa

Summer Chicken Rice PIlaf

2011-07-30T21:20:00.005+05:30

You will need: chicken breasts with skin, chicken broth, butter milk, basmati rice, green onions, garlic, saffron, lemon, parsley, pine nuts, cashews, pistachio, raisins, dates, butter, olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt/pepper.

Put chicken in buttermilk for 2-3 hours.

Toast pine nuts, cashews and pistachio. Put aside.

Add butter and olive oil in pan, add minced garlic and green onions, dates, raisins and cayenne pepper. Stir and add broth. And then put aside.

In a sauce pan, put oil and butter and stir in basmati rice. Just cook until everything is coated and a bit bronzed, but not brown. Add broth mixture.

Let the rice cook for about 10-15 mins. Use a fork to fluff the rice.

Take the chicken and fry in olive oil until golden. Cut up into small cubes.

Back to the rice: add the toasted nuts and fried chicken.

Mix everything and add some parsley and lemon zest.

Enjoy this light and summer flavours.

On Friendship

2011-07-14T19:30:00.002+05:30

We must not therefore listen to these superfine (gentlemen) persons when they talk of friendship, which they know neither in theory nor in practice. For who, in heaven's name, would choose a life of the greatest wealth and abundance on condition of neither loving or being be loved by any creature? That is the sort of life tyrants endure. They, of course, can count on no fidelity, no affection, no security for the good will of any one. For them all is suspicion and anxiety; for them their is no possibility of friendship. Who can love one whom he fears, or by whom he knows that he is feared? Yet such men have a show of friendship offered them, but it is only a fair-weather show. If it ever happen that they fall, as it generally does, they will at once understand how friendless they are. -Cicero

No Worry Asian Marinade

2011-05-28T20:00:00.005+05:30

You can store this in a jar for 3-5 days. Use it for marinating chicken, pork, even beef.

Ingredients: lemons, fish sauce, mirin, sesame oil, chili flakes, chives, green onions, ginger, cilantro

Finely chop green onions, ginger, cilantro, chives and lemon rind.

Mix in an empty jar lemon juice, fish sauce, mirin, sesame oil and chili flakes. Shake.

Add chopped items. If you are going to grill, spare some marinade to brush over the meat while on the grill.

You can add some chopped mint if you intend to use specialty meats such as lamb or mutton, especially for grilling!

Enjoy.

May Seafood Roast

2011-05-09T20:07:00.005+05:30

Ingredients: prawns, mussels, clams, lobster, soft shell crab, fresh figs, tomatoes, garlic, red onion, pepper corns, thyme, paprika, butter, chives. Soak mussels and clams in cold water. Then drain before cooking.

Start with putting olive oil and butter into roasting tray. Cut fresh figs and tomatoes into quarters then put into roasting tray. Roughly chop garlic and onions, add with figs and tomatoes. Add herbs. Cook in the oven for 40 mins at 350F. Remove from oven and add sea food. Sprinkle paprika, lemon rind, salt and pepper.

Cook for 20 mins at 400F until sea food is cooked and prawns are crunchy.

Serve with basmati rice cooked in ginger and basil leaves. Lemons and parsley as garnish and a squirt of citrus.

Fusion Summer Salad

2011-04-29T17:44:00.003+05:30

Ingredients: mango, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, grapes, mandarin oranges, endives, red onion, ginger, 1/2 lemon, sweet chili, coriander; mirin sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, chicken breast.

Dressing: Mirin sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice, lemon rind, sweet chili, ginger, coriander/cilantro, salt & pepper.

Take 1/2 of the dressing and marinate the chicken breast.

Cut mango, cucumber and endives into strips. add into bowl with seedless grapes, slices of mandarin oranges, red onion and cherry tomatoes. Drain.

Take your chicken marinade and grill until cooked. Grill or broil at high heat.

While still hot slice into strips and add into the bowl of fruits and vegetables. Add the dressing.

Enjoy.

Pork Loin Stuffed with Pears and Apples

2011-04-27T17:49:00.004+05:30

Ingredients: loin of pork, pears, apples, 1 bulb fennel, raisins, thyme, basil, shallots, 1 white onion, garlic, lemons, chicken broth; carrots, celery, potatoes, fava beans. Instructions: take 1/3 of thyme, basil and lemon rind then finely chop them.

take loin of pork and butterfly at 1/3 inch thick. rub the thyme-basil-lemon rind mix onto the pork. let it sit for at least 2 hours. preheat oven to 375F.

finely dice apples and pears, add lemon juice to prevent browning. in a sautee pan, add olive oil and butter, sautee shallots and garlic and sliced white onions and fennel. avoid browning, we want them to be soft and onions should be translucent. then add the remainder of the herbs. finally, add the raisins, salt and pepper to taste. then finally add the diced apples and pears. do not over cook. allow sautee to cool then use as stuffing. spread the mixture onto the pork then roll. secure with cooking twine.

take a roasting pot with rack and add 1cup of chicken broth; then place the stuffed pork on the rack and tightly cover with foil. poke some holes to allow for the steam to come out. cook for 30 mins. then remove the foil, be careful with the steam, then place the carrots, potatoes, fava beans and celery around the roast. cover with the same foil then cook for another 30 minutes. finally, remove the foil cover and broil for another 10 minutes. just enough to get a golden brown crispy crust on the pork.

take the vegetables out and serve in a separate platter. the juices can be reduced for gravy. serve by slicing the stuffed loin. drizzle gravy on top.

serve with brown rice. you can cook your brown rice with a twig of thyme or some basil, this will add some fragrance to your side dish.

enjoy.

Vanakkam!

2011-04-23T13:06:00.002+05:30

I survived my first 2 months (at least!) without major complications.

To survive is not a way of life.... one must strive to live and make most of the situation and the resources or lack of.... whatever that means. One must adapt quickly and with boldness.

Happiness makes us beings rooted in gratitude. I am grateful for the sense of humour that the people have generously shared. This is a culture that knows how to laugh and to not take itself seriously, it is a culture that is rooted in gratitude.

"Trust me, its paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed, for mine is a generation that circles the globe in search of something we've never tried before. So, never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite, and never outstay your welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what, it's probably worth it. You hope and you dream, but you never believe that something is going to happen to you not like it does in the movies. When it actually does, you expect it to feel different, more visceral, more real. I was waiting for it to hit me." - The Beach, film

Recipe # 1

2011-04-23T12:32:00.004+05:30

Ingredients: minced pork and chicken, thyme, oregano, lemon grass, garlic, ginger, shallots, chili flakes, paprika, tumeric, saffron, salt-pepper, tamarind puree, eggplants, jasmine rice, and banana leaves.

Instructions: Pre-cook Jasmine rice about 75% cooked. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Sautee pork, chicken, shallots, garlic and 1/2 of herbs into butter and olive oil. Add diced eggplant and then tamarind puree. Then add 1/2 remainder of the spices. Take a cup of the rice and 1/2 of the sautee and carefully envelop them with a banana leaf. Put the stuffed leaves in a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 350F, this will cook the rice.

Careful of opening the banana leaf, hot steam will come out.

You can purchase banana leaves at a local asian food store/market. You can substitute by using parchment paper and a slice of plantain banana underneath the rice.

Enjoy.

2011: Something Is Going to Happen

2011-01-27T02:04:00.005+05:30

In a short while, my vespa and I will embark on another adventure in South Asia.

Some Things Are Not Meant To Be

2010-05-08T01:00:00.003+05:30

“To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face, and to know it for what it is...at last, to love it for what it is, and then to put it away.” - Virginia Woolf

There I was minding my own business and then boom! Some person wants attention. They'll do almost anything to get my attention. Then I realize that some kind of cat and mouse game is being played. I got sucked into whatever ploy the person had imagined.

Some things are not meant to go on living. Some things do stop moving. Some relationships do die. It is selfish for anyone to want some things to keep going even when it is obviously struggling or dying, or dead. The mind can recall memories - good ones. The mind can distract us from recognizing the agony of a failed friendship or relationship.

I say let it go. Put it away. Shut the door. Put on some music. Hot tea. Call a friend. Move on.

Love Doesn't End

2010-05-04T22:58:00.002+05:30

It was one of those days.

I woke up at 930am and the sun was out. There was this inherent sense of possibility. Today, I will paint, I will dance and listen to The Smiths. I will watch the new Nightmare on Elm Street. As soon as I thought of these things, the feeling was immediate. It did not take its time to percolate through my premature thoughts and aching joints. I felt the banality that was hiding behind these potential events. It crept in silently.

It is time. It is time for a change. Something different, a new route for my journeys, a new way of looking at the horizon, a new way of loving and being loved, a new way of speaking.

The bottom line is, when there are people who have no level of accountability to anyone, I think there’s going to be a level of cruelty"

2010-01-10T05:58:00.002+05:30

In the next little while, I will be presenting some documentary material. These vignettes will explore the nature of friendship.

You know your friends by reading, arguing, praying, playing, speaking, etc. with them.

Friendship humbles us in that we are so fortunate to have it. It tends to make good men better and bad men worse.

So what do you think?

A New Season of Exploration

2009-11-23T09:12:00.002+05:30

Several weeks ago, I saw the film "Where the Wild Things Are" based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak. I have to admit that I enjoyed it: first, the monsters looked cool. I'd like to have that as my Halloween costume for 2010. Second, it is okay to imagine. It is okay to feel something. Third, conflicts can be good for the soul.

One of the issues I have been working with a few people is the problem of apathy and passivity. The muted voices of so-called authority figures present for us several problems. They dare not speak about the dark, the emotional, the complicated because of cowardice? Or is it about their unresolved issues? But the focus here is not about their issues, it is about the lack of passion in the lives of certain individuals.

When did ANGER become such a bad emotion? And why is anger equated with bad? Is there such a thing as a bad feeling?

Perhaps, one could sit in the middle of their room and allow their emotions to surface once in a while.

Paloma Negra

2009-08-31T04:12:00.001+05:30

Ya me canso de llorar y no amanece
Ya no sé si maldecirte o por ti rezar
Tengo miedo de buscarte y de encontrarte
Donde me aseguran mis amigos que te vas
Hay momentos en que quisiera mejor rajarme
Y arrancarme ya los clavos de mi penar
Pero mis ojos se mueren si mirar tus ojos
Y mi cariño con la aurora te vuelve a esperar

Y aggaraste por tu cuenta la parranda
Paloma negra paloma negra dónde, dónde andarás?
Ya no jueges con mi honra parrandera
Si tus caricias han de ser mías, de nadie mas

Y aunque te amo con locura ya no vuelves
Paloma negra eres la reja de un penar
Quiero ser libre vivir mi vida con quien yo quiera
Dios dame fuerza que me estoy muriendo por irla a buscar

Y agarraste por tu cuenta las parrandas.

Good Morning!

2009-08-17T11:46:00.002+05:30

He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise. -William Blake

Summer Time - Mahjong and Tea

2009-08-17T11:39:00.002+05:30

Nothing like having afternoon tea with friends and mahjong.

Moon cakes?

Summer Time - Rice Noodles

2009-08-17T11:36:00.003+05:30

Rice Noodle Salad

Rice noodles
Cilantro
Green Onions
Garlic
Fish Sauce
Crab meat
Shrimp
Rice vinegar
Lemon
Cucumber

Summer Time

2009-08-17T11:31:00.000+05:30

Back in Toronto.

I'm not sure if I want to be back, but I have no choice. I kinda miss Montreal and Boston.

Nurse Jackie

2009-07-21T05:37:00.001+05:30

Careless Whisper

2009-07-09T01:45:00.000+05:30

I love this!

I'm such an 80s kid!

Protests in Montreal

2009-06-21T07:37:00.001+05:30

I spent some time with the protesters.

It was an honour to sit and pray with the protesters.

This Advent

2008-12-23T05:30:00.000+05:30

I found a new favourite blog.

http://www.garancedore.fr/

Check it out!

Evening

2008-11-10T03:45:00.002+05:30

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
-Oscar Wilde

But, I do miss the sun, the warmth, the crowds of people walking, strolling, dancing, playing. Sometimes we may have to check what the weather is, not only to prepare ourselves, but to protect our fragile being from the "elements".

VespaGuy

Don't Forget To Look Up

2008-10-29T11:19:00.001+05:30

"These are the soul's changes. I don't believe in ageing. I believe in forever altering one's aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism."
-Virginia Woolf

Missing

2008-10-28T22:31:00.001+05:30

“I love thee to the level of everyday’s most quiet need,by sun and candle light…I love thee with the breath,smiles,tears,of all my life.” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861)

Walk With Me

2008-10-15T21:12:00.000+05:30

I have lost friends, some by death... others through sheer inability to cross the street. -Virginia Woolf, The Waves

The End of Summer

2008-10-01T04:11:00.002+05:30

"Every season is likeable, and wet days and fine, red wine and white, company and solitude. Even sleep, that deplorable curtailment of the joy of life, can be full of dreams; and the most common actions—a walk, a talk, solitude in one’s own orchard—can be enhanced and lit up by the association of the mind. Beauty is everywhere, and beauty is only two finger’s-breadth from goodness. So, in the name of health and sanity, let us not dwell on the end of the journey."

-Virginia Woolf

I walked for hours today. I was trying to figure something out. Then I realized that the seasons are changing again. I am about to encounter new narratives and maybe even re-visit some familiar ones. Enjoy the Fall Season.

Nature and Sex

2008-09-15T09:05:00.001+05:30

"Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed." -Oscar Wilde

Is Summer Over?

2008-09-05T11:53:00.001+05:30

The Schoolboy
by William Blake (from Songs of Experience, 1794)

I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me:
O what sweet company!

But to go to school in a summer morn, --
O it drives all joy away!
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.

Ah then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour;
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn through with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring!

O father and mother if buds are nipped,
And blossoms blown away;
And if the tender plants are stripped
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care’s dismay, --

How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

Pour La Femme

2008-07-16T12:28:00.000+05:30

Les ingénus - Verlaine

Les hauts talons luttaient avec les longues jupes,
En sorte que, selon le terrain et le vent,
Parfois luisaient des bas de jambe, trop souvent
Interceptés ! - et nous aimions ce jeu de dupes.

Parfois aussi le dard d'un insecte jaloux
Inquiétait le col des belles sous les branches,
Et c'étaient des - éclairs soudains de nuques blanches
Et ce régal comblait nos jeunes yeux de fous.

Le soir tombait, un soir équivoque d'automne :
Les belles, se pendant rêveuses à nos bras,
Dirent alors des mots si spécieux, tout bas,
Que notre âme, depuis ce temps, tremble et s'étonne.

For the Paper

2008-07-08T14:37:00.001+05:30

Tajabone

Hoppipolla

Glosoli

Departures

2008-07-08T04:42:00.001+05:30

To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then, to put it away. Leonard, always the years between us, always the years. Always the love. Always the hours. -Virginia Woolf

Joy Division

2008-06-29T23:14:00.002+05:30

Revolutionaries....

La Verite

2008-06-29T22:27:00.004+05:30

Je te le jure tu as ma parole
je te dis la vérité
je t'explique ce qui s'est passé
dis moi je ne suis pas si conne
tu es comme moi comme moi
je te dis la vérité
j'en suis bien fachée (x 6)

Amour de ma vie
mon homme unique
je te dis la vérité
je t'explique ce qui s'est passé
dis moi je ne suis pas si conne
tu es comme moi comme moi

Je te le jure tu as ma parole

-Vive La Fete

Vive La Fete at El Mocambo

2008-06-29T22:22:00.001+05:30

Got to see them rehearse a bit. It was a last minute discovery....perhaps next time!

For Jennifer

2008-06-12T10:41:00.001+05:30

Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Κύριον
καὶ ἠγαλλίασεν τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου,
ὅτι ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν της δούλης αυτοῦ.
ἰδού γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μακαριοῦσίν με πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί,
ὅτι ἐποίησέν μοι μεγάλα ὁ δυνατός,
καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,
καὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεὰς
τοῖς φοβουμένοῖς αυτόν.
Ἐποίησεν κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ,
διεσκόρπισεν ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ καρδίας αὐτῶν·
καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων
καὶ ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς,
πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν
καὶ πλουτοῦντας ἐξαπέστειλεν κενούς.
ἀντελάβετο Ἰσραὴλ παιδὸς αὐτοῦ,
μνησθῆναι ἐλέους,
καθὼς ἐλάλησεν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν
τῷ Αβραὰμ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα

Movements...

2008-05-08T06:21:00.006+05:30

There are those who are never content. They live their lives in some form of pretense, some form of fiction, some form of illusion. The environments they create only perpetuate their illusions of an alter-ego. They are loved for their suavity, articulateness, and dilettantism? They walk among the living souls. They are toxic, infectious, and malicious.

It's not so much they forget their past, they hate and deny such events. As if they came into this world formed, made, and loved. This is all fiction! So, do these people belong to any type of world or reality?

It takes so much effort to create such worlds, such pretenses, such fiction. One needs to sustain these lies, these fabrications, but at what cost? Something "Faustian?"

These people do pray, they receive sacraments, they are even worthy of God's love, mercy and justice. If we, for a moment, can imagine a type of hell: one that is specific for the type of men and women I have briefly described, a type of hell where they are eternally left in the darkness of their own self-hatred.

The world they have created have turned against them, their lies have betrayed them, and there is nothing left for them to manipulate and control.

May God's peace be with them.

Has anyone seen my copy of Marlowe's Dr. Faustus...?

Musings....

2008-04-28T21:35:00.002+05:30

Listening to ambient sounds,
It tries to calm the evening.
I am inside a room, anxious.
I want to go out.
The moon tonight says "No" stay inside.
I ask "Why".
Silence. Ambient tunes continue.

There is no EXCUSE for Racism...

2008-04-27T00:03:00.000+05:30

"Prepare yourself for suffering if you intend to be close to him."

2008-04-24T08:29:00.002+05:30

I saw this tonight...

Who Would Cast the First Stone?

2008-04-10T20:28:00.000+05:30

"Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole"
Martha Wainwright

Poetry is no place for a heart that's a whore
And I'm young & I'm strong
But I feel old & tired
Overfired

And I've been poked & stoked
It's all smoke, there's no more fire
Only desire
For you, whoever you are
For you, whoever you are

You say my time here has been some sort of joke
That I've been messing around
Some sort of incubating period
For when I really come around
I'm cracking up
And you have no idea

No idea how it feels to be on your own
In your own home
with the fucking phone
And the mother of gloom
In your bedroom
Standing over your head
With her hand in your head
With her hand in your head

I will not pretend
I will not put on a smile
I will not say I'm all right for you
When all I wanted was to be good
To do everything in truth
To do everything in truth

Oh I wish I wish I wish I was born a man
So I could learn how to stand up for myself
Like those guys with guitars
I've been watching in bars
Who've been stamping their feet to a different beat
To a different beat
To a different beat

I will not pretend
I will not put on a smile
I will not say I'm all right for you
When all I wanted was to be good
To do everything in truth
To do everything in truth

You bloody mother fucking asshole
Oh you bloody mother fucking asshole
Oh you bloody mother fucking asshole
Oh you bloody mother fucking asshole
Oh you bloody mother fucking asshole
Oh you bloody...

I will not pretend
I will not put on a smile
I will not say I'm all right for you
For you, whoever you are
For you, whoever you are
For you, whoever you are

On Freedom...

2008-04-07T00:36:00.003+05:30

As I stare into an empty wall, I started to think about the certain gifts that people have. Some use it to nourish the hungry soul, some plant seeds of dependency. Then there are those who remind us of the truth about our sin. If we are able to judge others with the eyes of perception, are we able to withstand the same judgment?

Self-inflicted? Why not. The deception of self-inflicted judgment is that often we are so "hard" on our selves that we inflict the same hardness on others. We forget that each person is unique with certain unique vulnerabilities.

Think about it, if you can tolerate and carry with you a certain way of impermeability or thickness of ego, this does not mean the person beside is as tough, as educated, as sophisticated...you can cause more damage by judging them. Is it really about perfection and rightneousness? Or is it about the realization that even the most fucked up is loved and redeemed by God.

Once in a while, stop judging and learn to laugh at the demons that haunt us.

Art of Being...

2008-04-02T09:32:00.005+05:30

but there is one aspect of god's love which we should
always keep in mind when we reflect on our vocation to
christian love. god's love is not given to those who
by some heroic effort have made themselves pleasing in
his eyes. god does not direct his love toward those
who have somehow made themselves like him, perfect,
sinless. no, 'god shows his love for us in that while
we were still sinners chirst died for us' (rm 5.8).
god's love is given to those who are different from
him, and he loves them precisely in their difference.
this character of god's love is apparent in the love
of jesus. he begins his ministry with a quotation from
isaiah declaring that his mission is to the poor, the
oppressed, the blind and the captive (lk 4.18-19). and
in his ministry, his love encompassed even the
outcasts of jewish society, 'publicans and sinners'
(mt 9.9-13, 11.9, 21.31). and in the end, god shows
who is his 'well-beloved son,' jesus, dying as an
outcast on the cross. perhaps one of the reasons we
find the mystery of the cross so difficult to
comprehend or accept is the fact that we feel that
love is only possible for those who are like us. we
cannot understand a love which shows itself in the
service of the poor, the oppressed, the outcasts of
our own society. yet the love to which we are called
as christians, the love which we celebrate and pledge
ourselves to in the celebration of our eucharist, is
precisely this love, the love of god for all, even the
least acceptable."--joseph m. powers, s.j.,
"eucharist, mystery of faith and love.

in 3 days....

2008-03-08T07:16:00.005+05:30

Art Exhibition 2008

Métamorphose

Art Exhibition

March 30, 2008 10am – 8pm

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish

520 Sherbourne Street
Toronto, Ontario
Tel: 416 924 6257

On Relating...

2008-03-01T20:55:00.004+05:30

Codes dictate our ways of relating and ways of communication. What are these codes?

Perhaps another question we might want to ask (with some risk) is: "are there 'systems' that are identifiably responsible for creating (both implicit and explicit) these codes?"

If there are social/communal codes, then we can assume(?) that there are personal codes? Perhaps my assumption is naive and premature. Personal codes require a great deal of freedom: a freedom to express and a freedom to be! Communal codes ultimately provide for us a space for honest and reflective discourses.

My question: Do the lingering forms of modernity allow us to become liberated from "archaic" codes? Codes that no longer provide a point of departure, rather through FEAR they enslave persons from development and exploration.

Some things to think about.

At Night

2008-02-25T11:04:00.002+05:30

Tyger! tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tyger! tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

-William Blake

Our Souls....

2008-02-24T08:36:00.001+05:30

Art Exhibition 2008

2008-02-12T10:10:00.000+05:30

Métamorphose

Art Exhibition

March 30, 2008 10am – 8pm

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish

520 Sherbourne Street
Toronto, Ontario
Tel: 416 924 6257

Take Some Time To....

2008-02-08T12:20:00.000+05:30

Bonjour, encore

2008-02-04T13:16:00.000+05:30

Bonjour....

2008-02-04T12:38:00.000+05:30

It is good to hear something like this at 6am in the morning.

Gift...becareful what you receive and open!

2008-02-04T00:21:00.000+05:30

I was thinking about gifts the other day. I realized that there are many types of gifts, many types of relating, and many types of negotiating.

The cost of performance and creating elaborate facades really does corrupt the persons view of themselves.

"We borrow our desires from others. Far from being autonomous, our desire for a certain object is always provoked by the desire of another person — the model — for this same object. This means that the relationship between the subject and the object is not direct: there is always a triangular relationship of subject, model, and object. Through the object, one is drawn to the model, whom Girard calls the mediator: it is in fact the model who is sought. René Girard calls desire "metaphysical" in the measure that, as soon as a desire is something more than a simple need or appetite, "all desire is a desire to be", it is an aspiration, the dream of a fullness attributed to the mediator."

So what happens when the mediator possesses a personality that is narcissistic, controlling, and even manipulative? I find it more scary when the subject is far more sinister and manipulative than the mediator. The subject clearly knows and recognizes how amateur hustlers employ their craft without polish.

Perhaps the narrative of Dorian Gray describes many of the men and women who follow their narcissistic desires. The sad reality is that they have never really invested in anything or anyone. Because they use things and they use people to get to their final resting place. Do they really get to their destination, or they continuously use situations and people as "stop overs" for their fleeting needs and wants.

Do these people realize that they will die alone?

Sigur Ros

2008-01-27T13:46:00.000+05:30

I thank my friend who introduced me to this band. Hypnotic, melodic, imaginative, other-worldly....if our lives permit us to have soundtracks, then you take these guys seriously. Leave your ideologies, step out of the box, take a leap of faith!

Play and Music?

2008-01-27T13:00:00.000+05:30

I heard of Coco Rosie when I was in Montreal. A colleague of mine, MM, lent me her CD and I loved their innovative use of sound and lyrical texture.

Cold....but no PLAY!

2008-01-25T00:12:00.000+05:30

Gosh, I love walking but sometimes the chill gets a bit too much to handle. So, armed with gloves (or mits), scarf, bubble jacket, mp3s....I am going to hunt for art supplies for my next piece.

Or I could just stay at home and read up on Aesthetics and the Theology of Beauty.

Should I make some tea?

30!!!

2008-01-24T12:28:00.000+05:30

I am grateful and I thank my friends.

Je veux danser!!!

2008-01-22T14:27:00.001+05:30

Comme ca!

Grateful to be 30!!!

2008-01-22T14:14:00.000+05:30

I have called you children, I have called you son.
What is there to answer if I'm the only one?
Morning comes in Paradise, morning comes in light.
Still I must obey, still I must invite.
If there's anything to say, if there's anything to do,
If there's any other way, I'll do anything for you.

I was dressed embarrassment.
I was dressed in wine.
If you had a part of me, will you take you're time?
Even if I come back, even if I die
Is there some idea to replace my life?
Like a father to impress;
Like a mother's mourning dress,
If you ever make a mess, I'll do anything for you

I have called you preacher; I have called you son.
If you have a father or if you haven't one,
I'll do anything for you. I did everything for you.

Sufjan Stevens

On Imagination

2008-01-21T11:01:00.000+05:30

Imagination can become a tool for peace. It reconciles the sins of the past with those who live in darkness. Imagination gives light to the blind. Children are imaginative beings, they see the mystery behind each myth and they are not bothered by the intricate details of narratives. Their imagination allows them to transcend beyond time and place.

Go see El Orfanato.....

Hope for the Future!

2008-01-20T11:45:00.000+05:30

When the bus shelter windows and napkin-dispensers surprise with distorted reflections, it's never the someone you're hoping to recognize. When the rent is too high living here between reasons to live and you can't sleep alone and your memories groan and the borders of night start to give. When you can't save cash or conviction; you're broke and you're breaking - a tired shoelace or a wave. So long past, past-due. A new name for everything. When the one-ways collude with the map that you've folded wrong and the route you've abandoned is always the path you probably should be upon. When the bottle-cap ashtrays and intimate's ears are all full with results of your breaks and the threads of your fear are unfurled with the tiniest pull. One more time, try. Stand with your hands in your pockets and stare at the smudge of a newspaper sky and ask it to rain a new name for everything. Fire every phrase. They don't want to work for us anymore. Dot or Dash our days. Make your face the flag of a semaphore. All you won't show. The boxes you brought here and never unpacked are still patiently waiting to go. So put on those clothes you never grew into and smile like you mean it for once. If you come back, bring a new name for everything. -The Weatherkans

Something for lunch!

2008-01-10T22:27:00.000+05:30

Once conform, once do what other people do because they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul. She becomes all outer show and inward emptiness; dull, callous, and indifferent. -Virginia Woolf

Bonjour....

2008-01-10T12:02:00.001+05:30

Relationships?

2008-01-06T14:12:00.000+05:30

"When I got home that night, I couldn't get Charlotte's words out of my head. We spent our childhoods playing games. Were they just all primers for the games we play as adults? Are relationships just a big chess match, strategies, moves, counter-moves, all designed to keep your opponent off balanced until you win? Is there such a thing as honest relationship? Or was it true, do you have to play games to make a relationship work?" -Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City, EP "The Games People Play"

Changes

2008-01-06T13:15:00.000+05:30

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -Tolstoy

On Radiohead...

2008-01-05T10:03:00.001+05:30

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T08:05:00.000+05:30

Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title.
-Virginia Woolf

Je donnerai...

2007-12-13T11:42:00.000+05:30

A Corps Perdu

Puisque des filets nous retiennent
Puisque nos raisons nous enchaînent
Que rien ne brille sous nos remparts
Et puisqu'on n'atteint pas le ciel
A moins de s'y brûler les ailes
Et suivre les routes où l'on s'égare
Comme on dresse un étendard

A corps perdu, ivre et sans fard
Pour n'être plus le pantin d'un espoir
Et si la vie n'est qu'une cause perdue
Mon âme est libre d'y avoir enfin cru
A corps perdu

Puisque les destins sont les mêmes
Que tous les chemins nous ramènent
A l'aube d'un nouveau départ
On n'apprend rien de nos erreurs
A moins de s'y brûler le coeur
Je suivrai les routes où l'on s'égare
Comme on dresse un étendard

A corps perdu, ivre et sans fard
Pour n'être plus le pantin d'un espoir
Et si la vie n'est qu'une cause perdue
Mon âme est libre d'y avoir enfin crue
A corps perdu
A corps perdu

A corps perdu j'écrirai mon histoire
Je ne serai plus le pantin du hasard
Si toutes les vies sont des causes perdues
Les hommes meurent de n'avoir jamais cru
De n'avoir pas vécu ivres et sans fard
Soldats vaincus pour une guerre sans victoire
Et si ma vie n'est qu'une cause perdue
Je partirai libre d'y avoir au moins cru
A corps perdu
A corps perdu

Par Gregory Lemarchal

On This Day...

2007-12-11T23:02:00.001+05:30

Being Filipino...

2007-11-29T09:24:00.000+05:30

Online Videos by Veoh.com

I love being PINOY!

On Memory

2007-11-27T08:22:00.001+05:30

"Forgetting Hurts, Remembering is Worse"

The Weekend...

2007-11-23T13:45:00.001+05:30

Nothing like a nice stroll on Queen Street West. Maybe I will see you around.

Something....

2007-11-16T13:35:00.001+05:30

Hosting a Tea Party

2007-11-12T13:40:00.000+05:30

Watch the mailbox for your invitation.

Something Burlesque

2007-11-10T10:55:00.001+05:30

Something South Eastern

2007-11-10T09:09:00.001+05:30

Online Videos by Veoh.com

What are you writing?

2007-11-06T01:31:00.001+05:30

This soul, or life within us, by no means agrees with the life outside us. If one has the courage to ask her what she thinks, she is always saying the very opposite to what other people say. -Virginia Woolf

Reality, err...

2007-11-03T09:31:00.000+05:30

"We're just highly rendered pixels in a universe we can't control." -Lisa Simpson

For Conchita

2007-11-03T04:30:00.000+05:30

Letty's mother died recently. It is very difficult when one loses a mother.

***

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –

-Emily Dickinson

Some Advice...

2007-11-02T04:47:00.001+05:30

TLC Waterfalls
Uploaded by avajra

La Mome - La Vie En Rose

2007-10-30T12:58:00.001+05:30

La Môme/La Vie En Rose HD (Bande Annonce/Trailer)
Uploaded by J00J002007

I love this film!!!

Baby is COMING!

2007-10-29T09:41:00.001+05:30

Congratulations to both of YOU.

-yellowvespaguy

For Those Friends of Mine Who Are Far Away

2007-10-29T09:38:00.000+05:30

I would like to leave this city
This old town dont smell too pretty and
I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
And when I leave this island Ill book myself into a soul asylum
Cos I can feel the warning signs running around my mind

So here I go, Im still scratching around the same old hole
My body feels young but my mind is very old
So what do you say?
You can give me the dreams that are mine anyway
Youre half the world away
Half the world away
Half the world away
Ive been lost, Ive been found but I dont feel down.

And when I leave this planet
You know Id stay but I just cant stand it and
I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
And if I could leave this spirit Id find me a hole and Ill live in it cos
I can feel the warning signs running around my mind

So here I go still scratching around in the same old hole
My body feels young but my mind if very old
So what do you say?
You can give me the dreams that are mine anyway
Youre half the world away
Half the world away
Half the world away
Ive been lost, Ive been found but I dont feel down
No I dont feel down
No I dont feel down

I dont feel down
I dont feel down
I dont feel down
I dont feel down

Go West!

2007-10-25T03:29:00.000+05:30

The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.
-Virginia Woolf

Finally!

2007-10-16T08:54:00.000+05:30

Come and Listen

2007-10-16T08:26:00.000+05:30

I Dedicate This Song for Chasing Daylight

2007-10-16T07:10:00.000+05:30

If you need to talk....Mamarita and I are here for you.

Brotherhood?

2007-10-13T10:38:00.001+05:30

What does it mean to be an orphan?

Check out the trailer for the film The December Boys:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/329209/December-Boys/trailers

For Chasing Daylight

2007-10-12T08:37:00.000+05:30

Whatever you decide, you know that you are always in a "graced" moment. You may not see it now, but if what they say about PATIENCE is true, then continue to listen to the desires of your heart.

Know that I pray for you often.

Evening Series

2007-10-12T08:13:00.000+05:30

Sometimes we just have to appreciate what we have.

What is life without...

2007-10-12T07:52:00.000+05:30

MATHIEU AMALRIC QUESTION HUMAINE
Uploaded by SDDFILMS

Let's say sunshine for everyone
But as far as I (??) can remember
We've been migratory animals
Living under changing weather

Someday we will foresee obstacles
Through the blizzard, through the blizzard
Today we will sell our uniform
Live together

Blizzard

We played hide&seek in waterfalls
We were younger

-Syd Matters

I Am Thankful For...

2007-10-09T08:57:00.000+05:30

I am thankful for the life I continue to explore.
But, I wonder if I would ever come to rest on some shore?

I am thankful for love for it made me realize that I have a heart.
But, what do I do with the broken pieces?

I am thankful for friends who remind me of my personhood.
But, why do I push them away?

I am thankful for my mother and father.
But, I have chosen to move away from them.

I am thankful for my gifts.
But, whenever I use them I am criticised.

I am thankful for life.
Lord, you have given me so much.

For this I am truly grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-10-09T05:18:00.000+05:30

Enjoy the turkey, stuffing, and pies....

Blessings.

A Sense of Possibility

2007-10-04T11:41:00.000+05:30

Reflections Thursday AM

2007-10-04T11:19:00.000+05:30

I found myself listening to Bjork's track "All is Full of Love" and Philip Glass. This provides for an amazing entry into a world where the tension between love and hate must co-exist. Contrast? But the "call" is to lean towards the language of love; a language that will reshape our friendships.

The reality is that some friendships must suffer and even die.

This language of love is not what a child would imagine, unless that child have walked through the depth of human sorrow and height of ecstacy. The visionary will be sacrificed: the poet, the artist, the composer, the ones who seem to hear the lyric of life itself.

Finally, there are parts of ourselves that will die. This is inevitable. These are the parts of the person that have drowned in fear: fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of death, fear of the "other", and the fear of God. They fill their heads and their hearts with rational arguments and thoughts. They believe that they can rationalize their fear. They live in a layer of superficiality. In fact, they are only running away from the true desires of their hearts. They fear so much that they would rather dwell in the shadows of men and women. They would rather live their lives in the safety of their egos and that of others'.

This is unfortunate, but they do dwell among us. Let the light of God blind our sight, we may rely with total trust in God's Spirit. Our blindness will shape our horizon and that we may never take for granted the courage we have been given. A courage that calls forth the unfolding of our selves and our dreams.

Nuit Blanche 2007

2007-10-04T08:23:00.000+05:30

Toronto needs more of these events. Twice a semester would do it!

The Invisible

2007-10-02T21:02:00.001+05:30

And a piece of the pictures bitten right out of the middle
I'm alone and thinner I feel
Is this a prayer?
Anaesthetise me just til you return
I feel the loss like a squandered opportunity to whisper
You're all I ever needed.

Shapes fall into place
For once in your life you make
A clean breakaway.

And did you know that everything you touch is blessed and all the richer
For your love a better being
And if I display just a fraction of the soul you showed in this world
Then I know I'll see you again

Love so much to give
And too few to share it with
Wastes you away.

The dream it comes again and again
You're here
It's you
I pull you close and
Hold you tight
Into the sky you go
You go
And I can't change it
I can't change it.

"Music For A Nurse"
-Oceansize

Have You Seen This?

2007-09-24T02:53:00.001+05:30

Vehicles

2007-09-20T06:56:00.000+05:30

What I like, or one of the things I like, about motoring is the sense it gives one of lighting accidentally, like a voyager who touches another planet with the tip of his toe, upon scenes which would have gone on, have always gone on, will go on, unrecorded, save for this chance glimpse. Then it seems to me I am allowed to see the heart of the world uncovered for a moment. -Virginia Woolf

Art Exhibition March 2008

2007-09-18T05:23:00.000+05:30

Vernissage 2008

2007-09-17T11:23:00.001+05:30

I will be having a vernissage in March 2008.

More details soon.