Review: She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems

This is by far the best collection of english poets and poems I've read. It shocked me when I knew that Caroline Kennedy is the only daughter of J.F. Kennedy, the former US President who died in assasination.
But then really... this collection is really amazing! A must read. (for those who enjoys poetry and such)

My other review. [in malay]

Bagi saya, kebolehan untuk membaca sebuah puisi tak kira dalam bahasa apa pun adalah sesuatu yang luarbiasa. Saya suka baca puisi tapi saya tak tahu 'membaca' puisi. Bukan semua puisi yang saya baca itu boleh saya kategorikan dalam bahan bacaan, sebabnya pemahaman tentang puisi itu sendiri. Mengakui, saya rakyat jelata yang 'buta sastera' (baik Melayu apatah lagi Inggeris)

Apa yang saya boleh katakan 'She Walks in Beauty' ini adalah antologi puisi Inggeris lama dan baru yang sangat dekat dengan jiwa. Sepanjang menyelak 300+ muka suratnya seperti melalui perjalanan hidup sendiri.

Mulanya saya ingat didalamnya adalah puisi seperti Robert Frost, EE Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Rumi dan nama lain yang terkenal dalam sejarah sastera , tapi rupanya ada juga nama baru [dan yang masih hidup] dalam sejarah.

Nyatanya, buku ini benar-benar terkandung dalamnya puisi terbaik pernah saya baca sepanjang hidup yang singkat ini.

The most liked poems in this book:

- No, Thank You, John/ Christina Rosetti <--the same writer for the cuckoo's calling adage.
- Don't Quit ( as in previous post)
- Don't Try to Rush Thing/ Antonio Machado 

Don’t try to rush things:

for the cup to run over,

it must first be filled.

- The Waking
- Youth/ Osip Mendelstam
- Come to the Orchard in Spring/ RUMI
- Unfortunate Coincidence/ Dorothy Parker
- Madam and Her Madam/ Langston Hughes --> funny ones.
- Defining World/ G.Y. Baxter --> touche
- Fatigue/ Hillaire Belloc
- The Rhodora/ Ralph Waldo Emerson --> Now I know that rhodora is the name of a flower
- Roses Only/ Marriane Moore --> I like the first line,

You do not seem to realize that beauty is a liability rather than
an asset

- Nobody Knows but Mother/ Marry Morrison
- As Much as you can/ Constantine P. Cavavy
- Older, Younger, Both/ Joyce Sutphen
- Remember/ Christina Rosetti
- A poem of friendship/ Nikki Giovanni
- Leisure/ W.H. Davies
- A Minor Bird/ Robert Frost
- All things pass/ Lao-Tzu
- 24th September 1945/ Nazim Nikmet

The best sea: has yet to be crossed.

The best child: has yet to be born.

The best days: have yet to be lived;

and the best word that I wanted to say to you

is the word that I have not yet said.

- The Journey/ Mary Oliver
- To Hayley/ William Blake --> I realize this words even it is short, has deep meaning.

Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache:
Do be my enemy—for friendship’s sake. 

- Survivor/ Roger McGough

Everyday

I think about dying.

About disease, starvation,

violence, terrorism, war,

the end of the world.

It helps

keep my mind off things.

xoxo

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Anabelle & Tomoya Nagase

I haven't read much these days. There are few books at hand that I'm not really into it. So, here is my other hobby to waste my time. *sincerely I felt my time wasted.

Annable (2014)

First, Annabelle; the horror movie I hate ghost movies but brave my heart for lovely housemate (not anymore). I despise having a hard time to keep my calm.

Annabelle was not scary as The Conjuring (that I watched quite a few days back with my cousin on DVD). A little bit of disappointment as I sacrificing my sleep quality time on workdays watching this 'unscary' doll.

The ending, sorry not meant for spoiler, was quick and leave a very unsatisfying emotion. To see Alfre Woodard jumped out the window is somewhat 'racist'. hahaha. No offense.

Hence, that's my weekdays early this month.

._.

So, for the past two weeks I've also manage to finish few doramas. It just happen when I start watching one story and couldn't stop myself until I realized it has been quite a number of doramas filled my night time.

 Tiger & Dragon (2005)

A story about Yamazaki Kotora, a yakuza that learns Rakugo [a traditional form of Japanese comedy]  from his debtor, a Rakugo master, Hayashiyatei Donbei. While Donbei's son, Ryuji quits Rakugo even he is talented. This drama is a loose comedy drama as two world, yakuza and Rakugo clash together.

I like each story represented in each episode. A bit of craziness ding-dong with Tomoya Nagase here

Bitter Blood (2014)

Mystery-crime-family with a touch of comedy drama released on April this year. Last time I watched Sato Takeru was from Rurouni Kenshin (live action movie of Samurai X). I don't like him in the movie because his face is not manly enough for Samurai X refering to the anime. However, this drama is quite a kick as I watched it through.

Sahara Natsuki is the rookie of Ginza Police Department assigned with Shimao Akimura, a dandy detective who is also known as Natsuki's father. Lots of funny moments when they work together as team. Something to watch when you're down.

Samurai X

 Hero (2014)

Anyway this drama just end last September. For those Takuya Kimura's fans & people who've watched Hero (2001) - the drama that achieved highest TV ratings records in 25 years. This is something to look out indeed.

Comeback of eccentric Kuryu Kohei to Tokyo division with some of new and old faces. His new paralegal will be Keiko Kitagawa as Chika Asagi.

Lots of interesting scene to watch. Keeping up with the fast paced conversations of the characters as they solved cases in the office.

 The Files of Young Kindaichi Neo (2014)

I've watched The Files of Young Kindaichi from the early 2000. I had to say that watching this one was good. Same storyline over and over but then I think most of japanese detective investigation drama is somewhat a copy-cat of each other. Though the original story of this is from the manga, I couldn't say it is a copycat or such. Still, it is entertaining.

I kinda like Matsumoto Jun version of Kindaichi compared to Ryosuke Yamada. The best work of Ryosuke is Risou no Musuko as Daichi Suzuki.

Kurokochi (2013)

I'm impressed by the serious side of Tomoya Nagase in this drama. In his other works, only the funny& crazy side of him stand out much such in  My Boss, My Hero. Not to mention both Mokudono in his early years. His acting improved a lot since then.

This is a crime-suspense drama revolves around Kurokochi, a character by the same name, a sly detective in the Tokyo Police Department. The story starts off with the real incident of 300 million yen bank robbery 45 years ago. Which reminds me of the infamous robbery using the same technique but that case was still unsolved. See video below.

It reveals later in the drama that the robbery 45 years ago, is the turning point for the police department's dark secret.  Watabe Atsuro from Bitter Blood also plays as the villain in this drama.This is what I thought as BRILLIANT reality twist fiction. ;) A must watch !

 

 Nakuna, Hara-chan (2013)

You could've guess by now that I'm a fan of Tomoya Nagase. Most of the list drama in this post has him as main actor. Nakuna, Hara-chan was bit off but I watch it anyway. This counts as the 7th [or 8th, I couldn't recall] of him I've watched so far.

This drama is about a manga character, Hara-chan that come alive and appear as motivator to it's mangaka, Echizen who happen to have a very troubled and negative way of living. A very inspiring work touches on humanism(?) in comedic way.

I love the starting song of this drama, Watashi no Sekai by Kamome Children's Choir. Cute  :)


xoxo

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Love& Misadventure by Lang Leav

Poet : Lang Leav

Title: Love& Misadventure

Date published: August 2013

Publication: Andrews McMeel Publishing

GMD: Ebook.

Pages: 89

Review:

Its a compilation of poetry by Lang Leav based on love, betrayal and heartbreaks.So Khamsi Abdullah I do think this will suit your taste more than me. (if, you enjoy english poetry-lah... haha) . 

I know about Lang Leav from Gobokairina. I love poetry but mostly poems that I read either from secondary school or some Google search, purely a form of personal pleasure.Hey, I am not that sort of 'deep' person myself. Enjoying this kind of loose (short and easy to understand) poetry was kinda cool! Feel like Robert Frost ...Shakespeare, to be or not to be~

    “Do you love me?” I ask.    
In your hesitation I found my answer. p35.

There are 76+ poems in this small book. There are three parts, .All short-lived poems, with rhyme and no rhyme, some have ridiculous issue, but a good poetry is about honesty and the best one reflect your feeling right? So, I think Lang Leav has that in mind of all her poems. (if this considered as poem)

There few pieces that I like. Including two that I mentioned here...

A Betrayal
I cannot undo
what I have done;

I can't un-sing
a song that's sung.

And the saddest thing
about my regret—

I can't forgive me,
and you can't forget.
p38

After knowing the name (Lang Leav) I search her immediately. Wow! She's famous. Even while reading this last month, my old school mate shares a snippet LL in her page. I bet she doesn't knows who LL or heard any of LL works except sharing her infamous poetry quote. But who knows...maybe I'm the only one left behind.

I heard Kinokuniya sold this book. So, goodluck!

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