Up in the Air

All these great reviews of the movie were definitely true, and I really didn't expect anything less of George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. The latter I simply adore for no obvious reason other than she is a great actress without being a celebrity. The former is, oh well, he is George Clooney, the sexiest man alive, any movie with him is worth watching simply because of his smile. AND he is also a great actor! Haha
But back to the movie. Very original, despite this whole corporation theme, which starts to freak me out already. Maybe because of my age, maybe because I grew up in Russia and not in the US, the cradle of capitalism, but I never realized what a big deal this corporate relations/culture/life was. If not in the whole world, but here, in America, CEOs and business people rule the game, which is quite scary. Just remember “Duplicity” and “Deception."
“Up in the air” starts out very depressingly too, with George Clooney playing the guy who is hired to fire people. Indeed the movie talks about the worst time for American economy-2008, when thousands of people were fired every month. Yet, at the same time, “Up in the Air” talks about different people, their different lives and their different views of lives, represented perfectly by 3 main characters played by Clooney, Kendrick, and Farmiga. You can make your pick: who are you, a fresh college graduate with naïve and idealistic view of life, a hard-core realist middle-aged business man or a cold-hearted business woman, who claims herself to be Clooney's character just with a vagina? Three very different perspectives, and different characters who evolve and will surprise you! Moreover, “Up in the Air”, although being a comedy, is definitely not a romantic comedy whose predictable endings are so annoying, it has a drama element and an ending that will surprise you. Going back to people who got fired. The movie reminds you that family, (not a career, money, or a social status ), is the most important thing, something that really matters and that will get you through even the toughest times of your life.

The end of the world.

I just happened to be watching “2012” for the 2nd time on my long drive from south Florida to Virginia. And that is how I came to thinking that all these movies, as “The Day After Tomorrow”, “The Happening”, and even “Apocalypto”, despite their seeming unrealism, do have a very sensible message, which, pretty much, goes like this: “Stop messing with our planet, or it will mess with you...really bad.” The funny thing is how popular are these catastrophe-movies, yet how little these movies influence people in the right way. We become incredibly touched and shocked by the scenes of thousands of people dying and whole cities being wiped out of the face of the Earth. Too bad that these scenes are so impressive (such as on the pic) that they really are the only things we remember from these movies. The audience clearly wouldn't be able to tell you what was causing all the disruptions in “The Happening” or “2012”, yet the answer is one-humans civilization. But knowing this, we, even petrified as we are after such movies, will fight away all the scary thoughts and continue on with our lives, not willing to change anything until we are actually living a scenario of some apocalyptic movie.

Ithaca by K. Kavafis

As you set out for Ithaca
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – don’t be afraid of them:
you’ ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon – you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then this is the meaning of Ithaca.

P.S. I found this poem posted recently by Paulo Coehlo in his blog and, being obsessed with Odysseus and Ithaca since my childhood, I could not but read this poem. I still remember the story of the Trojan horse and Odysseus' adventures, still a big fan of Greek myths...But this poem shows other aspects and messages of Homer's masterpiece that I, as I child was not able to understand.

A very short story

A story.
She shut the door and picked up the telephone. She called the police. She was trembling from head to foot, what would she tell them? That the boy, whom she’d met yesterday, was trying to kill her at the moment? What has she done in these 24 hours that this angel-looking boy has transformed into a real fanatic and murderer so quickly? The shots of the previous hours appeared in front of her eyes. No, it was a dream, a nightmare but not her own life. She was walking down the street. It was an afternoon, late afternoon. It was sunset, and the sky was extremely beautiful. People should have been cheerful after a working day, but she had not really noticed them. She felt absolutely lonely and only the sun was warming her. And then… That soft voice, those blue, kind (they had seemed to be so) eyes:
“Such a taking girl can’t be so lonely.”
“Oh, yes she can,” She had replied.
“Then will try to change this state of things!”
That was all she could remember. His smile, her smile, her heart beating quickly, his eyes shining, her head winding. And then… those words, which she has been ready to pronounce herself: "Forever you and me together…” But there was also the knife’s lustre and her legs running, leading her out of nowhere…

Она захлопнула дверь и взяла трубку. Она позвонила в полицию. Её трясло с головы до ног, что она им скажет? Что парень, которого она встретила вчера, пытается убить её сейчас?! Что такого она сделала за эти 24 часа, что этот мальчик с ангельским лицом превратился в настоящего фанатика и убийцу так быстро? Кадры предыдущих часов появились перед её глазами. Нет, это был сон, кошмар, но не её собственная жизнь. Она шла по улице. Был вечер, поздний вечер. Солнце садилось, небо было невозможно красивым. Люди, должно быть, были радостными после рабочего дня, но она их не замечала. Она чувствовала абсолютное одиночество, и только одно солнце согревало её. А потом... Этот мягкий голос, голубые, добрые (они казались такими) глаза, в которых она сразу утонула:
«Такая очаровательная девушка не может быть столь одинокой. »
«О, да, может, » - ответила она.
«Тогда мы постараемся исправить такое положение дел!»
Это было всё, что она помнила. Его улыбка, её улыбка, её быстро бьющееся сердце, его светящиеся глаза, её кружащаяся голова. А потом…те слова, которые она была готова сказать сама: «Навсегда вместе, ты и я…»Но были ещё блеск ножа и её ноги, бегущие, ведущие её из ниоткуда…