Jean Cocteau & The Testament of Orpheus (1959)

Michael-Claude Touchard once interviewed Jean Cocteau on the set of The Testament of Orpheus.  He asked Cocteau why he had chosen the actress Maria Caseres - 'so beautiful, so full of life' - to play the role of Death. "Because she is a friend," he (Cocteau) answered, "and we need death to be a friend.  It is best to have a friend as traveling companion when you have so far to go together."

Everyone deserves better!

No one should live in fear.  It isn't necessary.  Fear can be overcome.  Courage is as easy to replicate as cowardice.  You need only practice.  Do it once, then twice, and the third time it's easier, and the fourth time a matter of course, and after that it's done without even consideration.  Fear washes away and everything is possible.  Whatever you need in life you must go and get.

Signs of Maturity, Part I

Q. If you could be granted one wish, what would it be?
A. To wake up one morning and feel that I was at last a grown-up person, emptied of resentment, vengeful thoughts, and other wasteful, childish emotions.  To find myself, in other words, an adult.

"Music for Chameleons"
Truman Capote

Marriage, Part I

Why is it harder to leave a loveless marriage than a loving one?  Because a loveless marriage is born of desperation, while a loving one is born of choice.

Milestones

Today, I am 53 years old.  I am now officially older than both my parents were when they died.  Both were 52, they were 9 years apart in age, 9 years apart in death.  I believed that I wouldn't live much past my 52nd birthday.... that (obviously) hasn't happened and now? Now I have to plan for old age I didn't think would happen!
And, my half-brother Tariq's birthday is tomorrow.  He loved me and treated me wonderfully.  I wish my parents & Tariq were here with me.  All of us deserved to be together and happy.  And, one day we will be.

Friendship, Part I

Oh! The comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor words, but pouring them right out, chaff and grain, just as they are, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.

Writer unknown

Compliments will be the death of me!

Yesterday I complimented two women....
The first had beautiful hair, wonderfully maintained. She thanked me and remarked that it was unusual to be paid a compliment by an acquaintance. I explained that I praise someone when they're alive. What good would it be to praise Jane Doe after she has shuffled off this mortal coil? Visualize this, "We come not to praise Jane Doe, but to bury her glorious hair!" I didn't compliment her when she was alive. What good do I think it's going to do her now she's gone?
I don't see the point of going to a friend's wake only to say, "Oh, (Insert first name) was/had/did a beautiful (Insert appropriate subject) Puns intended and inserted. So, how does that benefit Mr./Ms. Doe after he/she is gone?
If the deceased was a "normal" (or whatever qualifies as normal) person, they've been led to believe things they needed to be, have or do. Like the rest of us, being told what not to do, what not to be or what characteristic is lacking. Keeping this in mind, I give compliments where and when I believe I can.
To a Lady Who Lunches in Yorkville. I told her she looked amazing. It made her smile. She looked even more beautiful with a smile.
To the owner of a classic Jaguar. Passers-by appeared to resent the car's beauty, its owner, his ownership - I've never been sure what it was I saw on their faces that day.
To the first woman with the glorious hair.
The second woman stood ahead of me on the TTC escalator. The counterpoint of her seductive & sensuous sandalwood-based perfume to the crisp bite of cold and rain and the winter night, was amazing.
"Nice scent!" said I. Plain and simple (Or simple-minded on a week-day midnight?). I didn't stick around to see her reaction. On a weekday midnight, I ran a risk.
Perhaps I should go around masked, complimenting people?
"Hi-Ho Compliment! And away!!!!......."

George Talia, Cathy Mani & Sa'ad (Circa 1962).  Cathy Mani was one of my father's few (and probably one of his most cherished) friends.  Aunty Cathy died shortly after this picture was taken.  You'll notice my protruding ears (they earned me the titles of Dumbo the flying elephant & Jughead).

Interesting vs. Beautiful

"Remember that the greatest courtesans have never been the finest beauties so much as stimulators of the imagination."

(said of Lillian Hellman, by Ned Rorem in a 1988 essay)

The Beginning Or, The End

We will see.