A long weekend

 

I had my hair permed. And above sits the accomplice in crime. One who fans the growing temptation in me to just give it a shot. To be more accurate, we mutually tempted each other for months. We didn't take any 'after' pictures for obvious reasons. Well, I reckon it takes some getting used to to the new look. Meanwhile, I think hers will settle to look like this:

 

Which is gorgeous. :) As for me, I refrain from whining. But no, not regretting it.

 

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Caught The Great Gatsby on a whim on Friday night. It was a case of 'hey its still rather early and why not catch a midnight movie'. A little heavy for a classic with a tad too much dialogue at 1AM to stay engrossed, but watching the beautiful images of the places, fashion in the 1920s and Carrey Mulligan was plain delightful.

Its easy to praise the relevance of the story in today's world (which is after almost a century later) and be impressed with the way Fitzgerald uses the language so stylistically and non-excessively. But remembering there's so much depth to the story, I guess most importantly, disregarding the discussion about context of patriarchal society, it leaves me pondering which is the better way to live -- to always be seeking to be noticed, accepted, loved and eventually, be forgiven or be one on the giving end, all willing to commit your life to faithfully pursue what you truly believe in.

"All right… I’m glad it’s a girl. I hope she’ll be a fool–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool… You see, I think everything’s terrible anyhow… And I know. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.” 

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" 

I thought this was the most challenging scene in the movie - a 3-sconds long feature to illustrate a respectable smile. In my opinion, Leonardo nailed it.

"He smiled understandingly–much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey."