The Whole World and Me

I am not sure how I was able to sleep after watching the documentary "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief". It's like punch after punch after punch in the stomach while you watch the story of this "religion". There are so many nonsenses that one can hardly believe SO many people follow it and actually believe it!! The testemonies of people who have been members for 15 and 20 years are astonishing, because you can really see the mind control the organization enforces. Many of these high ranking officials and public figures were first seduced by the idea that Scientology brings you good fortune. After a while, you start to believe that everything good that happens to you is because of Scientology. And as you climb the ladder to "clear" you are simultaneosly being trapped, because they know EVERYTHING about you and they are not affraid to use it against you. And then there's the Sea Org, an organization that I had never heard about. Basically, it's Scientology for the common people and a source of cheap labor. Yes, cheap. Bear in mind that even these high ranked officials were paid only 50$ a week!! The violence is unbelievable and I mean physical and psychological violence. And then, to top it all off, is the theory, which is basically the science fiction books L. Ron Hubbard published years before, which is mindblowingly stupid. If people were told at first the so called "creation myth" they would laugh and turn their backs immediatly. But when they are told about this myth they are already in too deep. 

There are many, many more things that this documentary shows, it is a must watch and I highly recommend it. Be sure to be prepared...

Let's take a moment and praise all the great directors and writers who make movies that MATTER! Yes, we need movies to distract ourselves, but we also need movies that are pertinent, that say something, that make us think!

I saw Thor for the first time this week. It was entertaining, with a wonderful photography. But will I write a post about it? Hummm... I don't think so! 

I rather tell you about the movie I saw yesterday: Disconnect

Another brilliant movie that shows just how we relate to each other and to ourselves and just how disconnected we can be, although so very much connected through all social networks in existence...

Brilliantly directed, beautifully written (I do love the type of movie that mixes several different stories that at one point connect) and amazingly performed.

Seriously, amazing actors and performance (Marc Jacobs included!!)

Just one more consideration... although humankind, in my opinion, is starved for connection, I belive we are, in fact, all connected. And yes, our actions have consequences, even if they are not visible to us at once. You know the saying... If a butterfly flaps its wings in Japan...

Think about it...

Sometimes it's really better if I don't know anything about a movie... Because what happens most of the times is that I delay watching a certain movie because I know it will make me cry or sad or angry or something. Although I'm no stranger to feeling and I can say with all my heart that I am indeed a "feeler", movies are, sometimes, just really hard to watch... It takes a certain time for me to shake them off my back as I tend to carry them with me for days and days. I know this may sound strange, but what can I say? I feel other people's pains, I tend to identify with others maybe a little bit too much... this empathy it's sometimes a little bit exhausting, it empties me and I have to protect myself from certain situations, a.k.a. certain movies, books, etc, which I already know will be difficult for me to handle.

That said... Let's talk about this last punch in the stomach.

Seriously... I really didn't know anything about this movie. After ten minutes I was already feeling heavy and unsettled. After thirty minutes I couldn't stop moving, I was so upset by it all... After one hour I was desperate, I just wanted to go to my balcony and scream at the world: "What the fuck?!?!? What is happening to us?!?! When did we become so detached from each other?..."

Detachment noun

- Indifference to other people or to one's surrounding; aloofness

- (Psychology) Freedom from self-interest or bias; disinterest

- The act of disengaging or separating something

- The condition of being disengaged or separated; disconnection

Definition from the Free Dictionary

That's all I'm going to say about this movie because you have to WATCH IT! THINK ABOUT IT! LOOK AROUND YOU AND FACE THE REALITY!!

Yesterday I watched the amazing movie "Before Midnight". I was beyond excited to watch this third movie, I mean, I missed Celine and Jesse and I wanted to know what would happen to them at 40, now that they are a couple with two adorable twin daughters, beautifully named after the queens of Jazz Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, by the way.

You know what I've learned from this extraordinary movie?!? Women are real bitches! Yap, that's the truth! This movie is the more realistic one of the three, in the sense that it really depicts a couple's real life, when children, work and schedules get in the way. And how women, when caught up in all these noises of life, can be real bitches. 

It's funny that my cousin also watched the movie and didn't get to the same conclusion... I guess, as everything in life, we see things as we see ourselves and I related a lot with Celine during this movie, even though I hated her! ;)

The sad truth of it all is that I too was a bitch sometimes in my last relationship... I'm ashamed to admit it, but since I'm in a personal quest for inner knowledge, well I figure I might as well put it out there for everyone to read it. 

So as I watched Celine transform into this unrecognizable woman in front of our eyes, and as my hatred for her kept growing, I realized I was having such a strong reaction to the movie because I related so much to it... Human beings in general, women in particular, tend to lose themselves in the day-to-day things, forgetting the much more important things in life and love. It's so easy to get lost and most of the times there's no one there to reel us in and make us see, as Jesse did with Celine, that life is so much more that schedules and petty little things. 

As we get older and share more and more of our lives, we also get more and more responsibilities which can blind us to the things that used to be the center of our universe. Yes, what we think it's important in our 20's is certainly different from our perspective in our 30's and 40's, but we should never lose sight of our more naive selves...

As a good friend told me the other day: "Remember when we were happy and didn't know it?", this is exactly what I mean. When life was easier, we were happier and we didn't even recognize it.

So I guess the secret is to take a journey into our past and hold on to those little things that used to be, and still are, all we need to be happy!

From your most loyal bitch!

xx