The Mind's I: iko's journal

Iko on Helen Mirren...

My 5 favorite HM movies
In no particular order:
Prime Suspect 1 (my entire family loves Tennison)
Painted Lady (I only got to see about 3/4 of the movie but what I've seen, it was wonderful! Is this based on a book? I want to read it!)
The Madness of King George (I don't cry at movies and this one made me tear. I had so much sympathy for King George and her character's devotion to him was genuinely touching)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, Her Lover (I love the imagery in this film, although at some points I think it's a bit slow for my Mtv-shortattentionspan-generation)
Prime Suspect 4: Scent of Darkness/Prime Suspect 5 (these are both REALLY good and I couldn't decide which one to leave out so I decided to keep both. Prime Suspect 4 was good primarily because I really loved Prime Suspect 1. George Marlowe is a fascinating character. Prime Suspect 5 was a wonderful story. There were several points in the film where I noticed I held my breath, anxious of the next second of film. I still do this when I rewatch it.)

Least favorite HM films (keep in mind that I haven't seen too many of her movies)
In no particular order:
Prime Suspect 2 (any movie that I start dozing off while watching isn't a good movie for me. I didn't like the pace and I didn't like the racial tensions in the film. I also had a hard time really keeping track of who was who and what was what. Mtv generation...)
Caligula (I can't say TOO many negative things about this movie because it and I, Claudius led to my interest in the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the Roman Empire. It was a tacky film.)
2010 (all of the 20xx movies made me fall asleep)
Excalibur (Good movie when watched in fast-forward mode...)
White Nights (I barely remember watching this film. Film not memorable = not too good for me)

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November 18, 1998

Metaphor for Life...

Eileene at Work
Someone on ScribeTribe (one of the listservs I'm on) asked the question:

It is said that a relaxed life can be compared to a duck. The duck swims at a slow steady pace and doesn't rush toward some goal just to rush off to the next. It seems to be unaware of time or any need to accomplish any set task in any set order. It just is. What kind of metaphor do you use to define life, or even define yourself?

Here's my answer:

I'm not sure if this will answer tuesday's question du jour but here goes...

I love this quote by Malcom Muggeridge (atleast, that is what I've been told said this):

There is no such thing as darkness, only a failure to see.

I have taken this quote to heart in my life. Even though I've been described as an Angry Young Woman(tm) and I've said that "I don't see a glass half empty or half full; I see it as getting jipped.", I've been called a cynic, a pessimist... I believe that many of life's questions are just because we don't have the ability to see the answers. Or that we refuse to see the answers for life.

I think that's what makes me have the scientist-mentality. The ongoing search for the truth in all things, to discover how the world works, etc.

The quote makes me think of how ignorance and fear is what causes the rifts between people. Ignorance is the darkness. We fail to see what is right and what is Genuinely Good in life.

That is life. Life is trying to overcome those failures to see.

Well, someone wrote a response to my post. I'm not going to include her message in here, just I wanted to share my response to her post (you can see her comments that I replied to).

She wrote:
>I believe there are mysteries that we will probably never know, likely
>can't know. I believe that there is a Mind bigger than ours, and we can no
>more know everything about that Mind (who is God), than my cats can figure
>out why I get them shots at the vet.

<grin> Not allowing this to become a debate on the existance of God or anything but..

I think that's very admirable that you have faith in the concept of God. I am a bit of a strange egg. I have chosen to become a Wiccan and do believe in an abstract concept of "creativity" and "fertility", but I do not exactly believe in the existance of a single diety (or even several dieties). I practice and study Wicca to better myself as a person, to increase my inner reflection and to help understand my place in existance with what is around me (other people, the environment, the universe, etc.) The God and the Goddess help me understand the perfection possible within myself and try to achieve that as a goal. Although I do not think I could ever be perfect, trying to become a better person is part of the growing process in my life. It gives my life meaning... to strive to be that better person.

>Creation is in the darkness. God is in the darkness. We dream in the
>darkness. Darkness contains silence and mystery. We develop in the
>darkness of the womb. I don't believe darkness is inherently bad or evil,
>but rather it can contain the evil or the wondrous.

To me, ignorance is darkness. To remain unknowning, for me, is a Bad Thing(tm). Yes, there are things I don't understand, but to keep onesself in ignorance (to me) is bad. If you have found God, that is not unknowing. We developed in the darkness of the womb, yes, but that doesn't mean there isn't something more out there (hey, there is!) and it's that search that I relish in life. Sometimes the search is far more important than the answer... and to me that is VERY true. There might be God on the other side of the curtain. There might be several. There might be a Goddess. There might be nothing. It's the searching that makes life worthwhile for me.

>Yes. But also life is appreciating the darkness and the mystery and the
>silence. Thanks for these thoughts, Eileene.

<grin>
There is beauty in sitting deep in the forest, away from all traffic, and just listening to the silence of nature. Well, nature really isn't silence, but there is a calm inner reflection one can reach within Her grasp. I appreciate that silence. But to me, silence is a negative thing. It's silence that raises children up to become ignorant adults.

To each their own motto in life. I think the ideal for everyone >is< to find that purpose. To make life worth living >for them< (without harming others). For me, the search is onward and to keep unravelling the things I'm ignorant about. So that I'm no longer in that darkness.

I thought of putting this as the entry for today because I wanted to share a view of the world that I hold to you, Constant Reader. Maybe after reading it, you can understand me more. After rereading it today, I think I understand myself more, too.