Adventures of Barbarella

Pilates: Recommended books

I thought it would be a good moment to resume our chit chat on this and suggest some books to start with. Below I have listed my favourite ones: the ones that I learned with, and the ones I still currently refer to.

Paulo Coelho "El Vencedor está Solo"

Cito en español las frases que me llaman la atención de este libro que estoy leyendo y que quiero compartir con vosotros. Como el autor es portugués, compré la traducción española porque me pareció que se asemejaría más a la original que la inglesa.

El otro día en el avión me pasé las horas leyendo, y como no tenía boli, doblando las esquinas de las páginas cuando algo me hacía reaccionar, así que ahora desdoblo esquinas y tecleo:

"La experiencia me ha demostrado que la gente sólo da valor a algo cuando se les da la oportunidad de dudar si conseguirán o no lo que desean"

"El alma sufre, y sufre mucho, cuando la obligamos a vivir superficialmente. Al alma le gustan las cosas bellas y profundas"

"<<He destruido un mundo por tí, Katyusha>>"

"Eso es la verdadera sofisticación: saber qué es lo mejor aunque los demás no hayan oído jamás hablar de ello. Y hacer lo mejor aunque los demás pierdan el tiempo criticando"

"Otra pregunta: Es aceptable destruir mundos en nombre de un amor mayor?"

"Millonarios, gente que piensa que lo es, o gente que quiere serlo. (...) La gente que realmente lo es; esos son más amables: no tienen que demostrarle nada a nadie"

 

Un saludo a todos mis amigos hispanohablantes x

 

"If she had a weakness- it was Blood (…) "There is nothing so satisfactory to one! There is nothing that is so much one's beau-ideal of- (…) services, intellect (…) those are intangible points. Blood is not so. We see Blood in a nose, and we know it. We meet with it in a chin and we say " There it is! That's Blood"" (…) It admits of no doubt"

David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)

I'm sure this is not the paragraph that most people would quote, but it really stood out to me! such enthusiasm! Sure, the subject is aristocracy, but it makes you think of character, identity and superficiality at the same time...

Excerpt from "Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters"

"To claim that girls and women want to look like blonde bombshells because of the billboards, movies, TV shows, music videos, and magazine advertisements makes as little sense as to claim that people become hungry because they are bombarded with images of food in the media. If only the media would stop inundating people with images of food, they would never be hungry! Women’s desire to be blonde preceded the media by centuries, if not millennia."

 

Calligraphy

When forming them, never forget Edward Johnston's admonition that all flourishes should "crack like a whip" -- they should never be tentative or noodle-like. You have to have courage and purpose when flourishing.

Tha's so interesting. I'm hooked. I'm learning Calligraphy

Although most Renaissance Writing Masters prescribe the n body height for all minuscule letterform ascenders and descenders, an examination of renaissance copy books and exemplars shows many different lengths being used with variability in different documents by the same scribe. In general, they should not be too much longer than the letter body height. Of course, majuscule letters are swashed and flourished to the writer's fancy.

Histrionic personality disorder

Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention
Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior
Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions
Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self
Has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail
Shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion
Is suggestible, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances
Considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.

1950 understood.

From le "Etiquette Handbook".

"Women may marry men for their money, character or social positions. Men marry women for their looks. All women know this"

"Oscar Wilde said "It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances". I hate the type of boorish individual who, i am told, has hidden beneath such a rough surface a heart of gold. Quite frankly, I am a busy person and I have no such time to dig"

"Unless she is ill a woman should get up and cook her husband's breakfast before he goes to work in the morning. It is bad manners to do this in curlers, without lipstick, in a shabby dressing-gown and down-at-heel slippers"

Well said. I only cook breakfast wearing red lipstick, in my Balenciaga heels and Agent Provocateur outfits.

"If a wife goes on a trip to visit her mother, the husband should telephone the night she arrives to make sure she has arrived there safely"

Because lets face it- where ELSE, would she go?

Books smell good

[I was living with my ex, who used to be a photographer for Interview and a model for Valentino, amongst other things...(hi big boy. Is that description good enough?)]

He- You should make use of this library while you're staying here, there's a huge collection, historic.. you should be learning from them
Me- I have been, i'm learning, i'm reading loads! your books are fantastic i love them
- Really? I don't believe you i don't see it, what have you been reading?
- Really. They're out on that cushion there, i left a few i was reading the other day
- "1000 Nudes", "The Body" and "Desire"?
- Well I'm reading the photographic ones first