Mitsuru

Another day, another wasted day. Another rotten day has passed,  spent in this dark old  room, an abyss where not a sliver of light, have penetrated its four corners for ages -- the dominion of the damned, where sanity is slowly eroding inside the battered head. In the Brain; where the never-ending labyrinth of gelatinous gyri and sulci, continues to boggle and rattle, the spirit of the demented mind. Pitter patter-raindrops spatter-eat the matter-in the platter- helpless tapper-leader-follower-naked in the shower- nobody answers... this never-ending childish prattle- taxes the mind,  burns the soul, castrates the emotions and rips off the heart Of everything. In isolation, inside this padded room, the only place for lunatics- lost in space, locked in total darkness- a prisoner condemned into oblivion. This smokey room; where the stale air flew in circles, where the mind somersaults like the high-flyer in a circus. This smelly room; where the s...

"In all our quest of greatness, like wanton boys, whose pastime is their care, we follow after bubbles, blown in the air." - John Webster  *Troy Marriott/Troy Michigan

The Mackinac Bridge: the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere, connecting the two peninsulas of Michigan.

*old books found while tidying up my man cave.

To the uninitiated this is a peek into the evil that these people do. But to the initiated, this is nothing new since most of the stories and trivia in this book are old and a re-hash from other books that deal with the subject.

   Madness: just woke up from more than 10 hours of gallivanting in dreamland after watching the entire Season 3 of Mad Men the night before.

bite the bullet, taste the blood feel your heart, beating deep inside count the pulse, shake off your fears ignore the call, calm the nerves check the sight, aim the gun steady the finger, squeeze the trigger sweep the floor, waste them all tune out the cries, ignore the moans you are the greatest of them all # *Circa 1996 photo credit: Takati2012

"The joke about Nazi racial theory- The ideal superman of the master race would be as blond as Hitler, as lean as Göring, and as tall as Goebbels." The novel is set in the Greek city of Salonika amid the fear and confusion of a German invasion hanging like the proverbial sword of Damocles on everyone's head during the early years of WWII. Constantine Zannis, a local policeman, gets embroiled in matters of politics, espionage and his heart as he treads on dangerous grounds on a journey that only a few men would have the undying resolve to pursue.

She sat there in the cubicle,  with eyes closed  trying to  drown out the cries  of tortured souls that still rang in her ears  and  the pungent odor of billows of smoke  that screened the crimson haze  of gray vision that  numbed her senses as she tried to forget the painful reminder  of Dachau,  now reduced to a neurotic museum of tears.  In her mind, where footsteps are stationary  and the labored sound of hoarse breathing echoed  in the silent passageways,  the faded pictures  breezed through her memory.  Their voices were now  silent and the curtains drawn to hide  the reflections  in the mirror  of her eyes that belied  the mourning of her heart.  # photo credit: dachauscrapbook

If we have people like Jack Morgan and his investigation company in our midst, then most criminals will find it hard to sleep at night with the fear of being exposed in the backs of their heads, since PRIVATE does not always play by the rules. Yes, PRIVATE can solve any case that they put their resources into and can also dish their own brand of swift justice if push comes to shove. PRIVATE exist primarily because of the expertise of the people behind it and commands a huge fee for their services. But they also do pro bono cases on the side. NFL gambling syndicate and cases of unsolved killings of schoolgirls make this thriller a good read, indeed

Dr. Seuss' unsuccessful foray into 'adult' territory before he became famous for his children's books. Instead of becoming an 'ob-gyne,' he opted to become a 'pediatrician' and the rest is history. ;D Visit Brain Pickings for more.

"Tokyo Sonata" is a story set in modern-day Tokyo about the Sasakis, a middle class family of four whose lives were at a crossroad. Faced with the typical problems that usually confront people at some point in their lives, the family is forced to deal with the challenges head-on. And in their own way, they were able find out more about themselves, their strengths and weaknesses, exorcising their individual demons in the process. The movie provides the viewers with a glimpse into the lives of how a family in a patriarchal society like Japan operates and functions. It also provides us with a look into some of the Japanese Culture's mores, beliefs and values. To an outsider not familiar with Japanese customs, some of the scenes may be offending, especially when it comes to corporal punishment and the influence and power a Japanese father wields over his family. There is Ryūhei (Teruyuki Kagawa), who had to deal with the shame of being fired from his job whe...

...drove 30 miles for this, a one-night-only showcase (in Michigan and other parts of the US) of Leonardo da Vinci's works, live from London's The National Gallery. "the greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more by working less" - Leonardo da Vinci on why he would go on for days without working on 'The Last Supper'

"Tell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for being." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Rhodora"

Contrary to what people (including some of my friends) thought when they first heard of the book, 1Q84 is not an offshoot of 1984, the dystopian novel that George Orwell wrote decades ago. The title might delude us into thinking that they might be really similar somehow, but the reality is, they're really very different in so many ways. Or are they? Haruki Murakami is known to be quite a story-teller with a very wild and fertile mind. In this particular novel; he uncorked his thoughts bottled up inside his brain to let the words flow like fine wine and turned a seemingly simple story (which is quite full of nonsense if you are a realist) into a great surreal fantasy love story. 1Q84... The characters Tengo and Aomame have a big full plate to eat and digest in front of them. With Tokyo as their playground, they need to get over the obstacles that fate has outlined ahead of them in order to solve the puzzles and answer the questions that have been long simmering and hibernating insid...

Alex Cross' job brings him often and close to the many brutal crime scenes in the DC Area. And in all his dealings with crimes, he exerts an enormous effort to separate his work from his family. And he succeeds in just doing that, most of the time. But the brutal murder of his niece once again makes this particular case personal. And Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Det. Brianna Stone found themselves confronting powerful people with ties to the White House in their search for justice and then some. Sex, crime, fetish, lies, power and fantasy- this book has it all and is another gem of a suspense- thriller which only James Patterson could weave as he once again imparts his brand of writing to his legions of readers with ease.

...seen on the January 10th episode of Jeopardy! in the "Sounds like a Capital" category. It seems like a double entendre to me, if you know what I mean.

The 900+ page "1Q84" by Haruki Murakami is the last item from my so-called 2011 last quarter recreational book stash to distinguish them from the obligatory technical and scholarly tomes that are the accepted parts of my day-to-day existence. Not seen in the photo were Paulo Coelho's "Aleph" and Patricia Cornwell's "Red Mist", the latter I was able to finish on the first day of the year. But IQ84 will have the distinction of being the first book that I will start and finish in 2012. Sorry folks, this nonsense is just a silly exercise to actually exercise the joints of my chubby fingers in preparation for my resolve to resurrect my blogging mojo back from self-imposed hibernation. When hell freezes over in my cerebral cortex, I will let the dumb ice melt and thaw... Then I will write -- err, type.