Brief preview:

In one week I made one friend and a foe,  met new people on a regular basis, exercised my brain and practised my communication skills, verbal and oral.  I feel like in a school again — learning the rules of dating and polishing my famous strategy “How to get what I want.”  So, I will keep you posted.

All that education, and you haven’t figured out that zip.ca is not LavaLife or your own personal blogging forum? Next you will be selling a used sofa in excellent condition here. Geesh. Ca prends pas la tete a Papineau quand meme…

Robert Greene “The 48 laws of power” (page 20, Law 3)

2nd law of power ” Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies.”

“To have a good enemy, choose a friend: he knows where to strike.” Diane de Poitiers, 1499-1566, Mistress of Henri II of France

“Every time I bestow a vacant office I make a hundred discontented persons and one ingrate.” Louis XIV, 1638 – 1715

“Pick up a bee from kindness, and learn the limitations of kindness.” Sufi proverb

“Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure.” Tacitus, c. A.D. 55-120

“Know how to use enemies for your own profit. You must learn to grab a sword not by its blade, which would cut you, but by the handle, which allows you to defend yourself. The wise man profits more from his enemies, that a fool from his friends.” Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658

“It is our job to state our thoughts and feelings clearly and to make responsible decisions that are congruent with our values and beliefs. It is not our job to make another person think and feel the way we do or the way we want them to.”  – Harriet Goldhor lerner (1985)

“Anybody can get angry… that is easy, but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree and at the right time, and the right purpose.. that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.” Aristotle

I haven’t done anything unusual to him, I just talked and I guess he maxed out on his patience and he said:

“I am not that intellectual.  I only eat and shit.”

And I guess in this sense we are pretty much the same. Is that the essense of life?

In my opinion, the film “Chinatown” is very well done visually to support the “noir” outlook. Roman Polanski used the colour contrasts very skillfully: the sunny streets of Los Angeles are contrasted with dim lit indoors (Chief Engineer’s office, the Hall of Records, the Cafe where Jake and Evelyn meet, the house where Katherine is almost imprisoned). Even the plot supports the shadows premise; Jake is a private investigator and he is lurking in the figurative shadows of the dark environment of human nature. Characters are very exquisite in their dressing styles, especially the main ones: Jake Gittes and Evelyn, as if for manifestation of their sef-consciousness and fragility. I found that the decision to cut Jack’s nostril almost at the beginning of the film and let him go through the film with a bandage on his nose was particularly effective. I think it is a great metaphor, “nosy fellows lose their noses”. The nose is the central part on the face and it is very obtrusive; we are constantly reminded of Jake’s predicament, as well as his determination to pursue his goal. In addition, it instills the sense of danger for the whole film.

The motive of entrapment is present in most of the scenes. We can see it in the beginning of the film when Jake started his investigation; he sat in the car and tried to be unnoticed by Hollis Mulwray. The investigation process suggests that we trying to see something and it is never clear, there is always something blocking the view: car interior, trees, other people etc. I found the scene when Jake first came to Mulwray’s mansion and stood in front of the closed door so closely that he could probably touch it by his nose, particularly effective, as if the character was imprisoned and blocked by something insurmountable. The motifs of Orange Orchids valleys, the aisles of the Hall of Records, the Water Works canals also support the theme of entrapment; their repetition throughout the film only enforces the impression.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the film “Chinatown” belongs to the “film noir” genre by both its subject matter and visual techniques. It was done so skillfully and thoughtfully that I simply believe that it is a masterpiece in both “film noir” genre and the whole history of cinema.

Often the settings are locations of transience, like grubby rented rooms, piers, bus terminals, and railroad yards. The images are rich in sensuous textures, like neon-lit streets, windshields streaked with mud, and shafts of light streaming through windows of lonely rooms.

Characters are imprisoned behind ornate lattices, grillwork, drifting fog and smoke. Visual designs emphasize harsh lighting contrasts, jagged shapes, and violated surfaces, the tone of film noir is fatalistic and paranoid. It’s suffused with pessimism, emphasizing the darker aspects of the human condition. Its themes characteristically revolve around violence, lust, greed, betrayal, and depravity. (Taken from DeVRy Literature Course, author unknown)

For example,

It is a problem ==> It is an opportunity.

It is a good substitution; however, when you start to substitute the word “problem” with the word “opportunity” every time, it becomes nonsensical.  Sometimes funny. Take your pick.

I am a natural problem-solver. So, now, I am an opportunity-solver.  “What is your problem?” becomes “what is your opportunity?” No, really!  What is your opportunity?

I am searching for the place where I belong.  I am not particularly successful.  It is amazing, but it brings no money. Not yet.  Last year, I attended a career exploration workshop.  I did not last there long.  They kicked me out.  That was the first time.  When they kicked me out of the Job Finding Club a year later, I was able to see a pattern.  Of not belonging.  Of not doing the right things.  Or not doing the things right.  Whatever.  Writing may not be the answer, either.  There is a book in Chapters, called “Love” or something like that.  It claims that love is the answer, a solution, or maybe – absolution?  I have to check.

Anyway, going back to colours.  Attending that career exploration workshop brought some results.  I was diagnosed.  Really? Not really. Not in that sense.  I found out about Personality Dimensions.  Apparently, there are four basic dimensions which are represented by four (obviously!) colours.  Gold, Green, Orange and Blue.

Or to be more specific:

Organized Gold (The Manager)

Inquiring Green (The Scientist)

Resourceful Orange (The Doer)

Authentic Blue (The Helper).

So my colours are Blue, Orange, Green and Gold.  It is really amazing how true it is and how much we can find out about ourselves.  Rather quickly.  I still have the brochure. The information that was distributed.  And when I show it to others (that is still legal!) most people are able to pinpoint their major colour.  Even the colours that we pick what to wear, note pads, anything can tell tons of information!