Irrelevant Noise

May 10, 2013 By belleofthecarnival in Life Tags: dreams, life, musings, pied piper, thoughts, time, tom waits 28 Comments

As I tossed and turned throughout the night my mind raced over words, ideas, and the connection of people in this world. It bothered me how easily people were led by the pied piper playing his flute. One by one they drunk his music following blindly without thinking that his manipulation was not for the common good but only for his gain.

We see it time and time again as history bound to repeat itself with charismatic leaders allow their followers to drink their poison. How does something like Jonestown? Or Waco happen? How do smart people follow without question? And when they do question the person raising their voice in authority they submit only because that person raised their voice that much louder?

I finally dosed off after an hour of a racing mind and fell into a haze in where I was walking down a busy street. I was trying to drown out the nose to calm what was bothering me. My feet hit the pavement that much faster and harder trying to escape all of it.

One song became the background music as I rushed down those frenetic streets with no destination in mind. I knew it was time to move away from the irrelevant noise of the past because none of it was no longer my concern. If I listened any longer to the piper or the sorrow of the town it would only break my own heart.

How do you tune out the irrelevant noise?

My Campfire Reading List

May 8, 2013 By belleofthecarnival in summer reading list Tags: Books, fiction, life, musings, My Life, summer reading list, summer vacation, thoughts, travel 24 Comments

The summer I graduated from high school I went on a road trip with my sister to New York city in search of the perfect apartment before she attended Fordham University in the fall to complete her master and PhD. We drove down from New Brunswick in a little white Mr. Bean car with no air conditioning in the sweltering heat that you had to park on the hill in order to get it to start, again.

It was an exciting time and an eye-opening experience for this little country bumpkin who had never taken a subway before or seen a skyscraper. The only advice I followed on that trip from my wise teenage friends was not to look-up when walking ”because you don’t want to look like a tourist.”

It was on that trip I learned to navigate the subway system, devoured pizza in little Italy, and attempted to drop a penny off the Empire State building. It was an exciting time for this young seventeen year old who got to look-up to her older sister.

My sister is now the Director of The Great Books Programme at St. Thomas University inspiring young minds to think harder and strive to be better in all aspects of their lives. I have great admiration for her and am honored to not only have a fabulous sister but a best friend until the very end.

As I began to gear up for a great camping season I realized I would be spending a lot of time in the wilderness with many beautiful evenings curled up by the campfire. It was the perfect opportunity to read many books in the silence of nature.

As I hummed and hawed at the book store over what to get I thought the simplest thing to do is make my sister compile a list for me. She has a good eye for Great Books!

“Can you give me a list of ten books to read this summer?”

“Any books?

“Yes. Any book you want!”

It is this list which I will be reading over the summer months and sharing my thoughts with you on every second Friday.

Baseball Books
The Brothers K , David James Duncan
Calico Joe, John Grisham

Scary Thriller
The Snowman, Joe Nesbo

Fun meaningful
The leftovers, Tom Perotta
The Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

Literature
All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
Kokoro, Natsume Soeski
The Ministry of Special Cases, Nathan Englander
Phantastes, George MacDonald

I hope you follow along my reading journey and find one that you might enjoy too!

What are you looking forward to reading this summer? Will it be by a campfire?

In Defense of Hair Metal

May 6, 2013 By belleofthecarnival in Music Tags: fun, funny, Hair Metal, humor, life, motley Crue, music, musings, Poison, The Atlantic, thoughts, Twisted Sister 24 Comments

Over a week ago I was destined to see Motley Crue take the stage. But life happens and I sighed in defeat knowing that I would never get the chance to catch Tommy Lee’s drum sticks in the air at the end of the show.

As a kid caught at the end of the Gen-X curb I was brought up in two worlds the first was my early teens in tight jeans singing out loud to the sounds of hair metal. Only a few later years I had evolved into grunge with my Walkman volume on high looking very angry all of the time.

I am now that parent in the car complaining to her kids that they just don’t make music like they use too.

As the sun was shining on Sunday afternoon I pulled out May’s edition of the Atlantic, curled up on the patio chair, and went straight to James Parker’s article “Bad Hair Days.” It was about the rise and fall of hair metal. I cringed and agreed as he made his long list of complaints about the decadence and excessiveness of hair metal. He points outs “…hair metal was inherently forgettable – perhaps the most forgettable music ever.”

This is the part where I disagree with Mr. Parker as I have not forgotten the big hair, the make-up, and when Dr. Feelgood comes on the radio I hit my pedal to the metal. I still sing Talk Dirty to Me and I embarrass my kids when I start to sing We’re Not Going to Take It with their friends in the car (the perfect anthem for a really bad day).

The purpose for Hair Metal was to have a good time and perhaps it is not for the pretentious at heart.

You know that one music friend.

“Did you hear the new Lumineers album?”

“Yes, I heard it a while ago.”

“Isn’t it great?”

“Well. It was. But now it is just over-commercialized.”

If we have learned anything popular music has an end date and moves onto the next newest thing. It keeps Mr. Pretentious Music happily on his toes so he can admit to be the first to listen to it.

“You know before it was big.”

As Mr. Parker put down hair metal with gusto “There art was flashy and disposable – and is has been disposed of.” He forgets that millions of people still listen to these catchy tunes because sometimes they do not want to wallow in the depths of despair to the recent sounds on the radio or the anger of grunge. Sometimes people just want to have a good time and that will never be a disposable art but a fact of life.

Do you still listen to hair metal from time to time?

The Big Wedding

May 4, 2013 By belleofthecarnival in movie review Tags: Comedy, Entertainment, Film, humor, life, Movie Review, musings, My Big Wedding, thoughts 22 Comments

I went to The Big Wedding with high expectations when reading the names of a stellar cast such as Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Susan Sarandon, and Diane Keaton. The problem is I set my expectations too high believing the movie would capture the same beauty of the human spirit like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding had the universal appeal of falling in love and what happens when two different worlds collide whilst organizing a wedding. In comparison The Big Wedding, was trying to hard to put a spin on the modern family. I believe this movie attempted to do too much with very little time and a poor script.

As the story twists and turns with family secrets being revealed it adds the humor to what happens when everything goes wrong. I confess there were many moments where I laughed out loud. However, I left looking for more in a movie and it seemed to lack the spirit of appreciating the quirks of life.

I would recommend The Big Wedding to anyone who wants to rent a movie on a rainy Saturday sharing it with a bottle of wine and friends. But save your popcorn money for the blockbuster hits coming out this summer. I already hear Iron Man 3 calling my name!

What Blockbuster movies are you looking forward to seeing this summer?

Guest Blogging at Black Box Warnings

May 3, 2013 By belleofthecarnival in Uncategorized 2 Comments

I am guest blogging at which Black Box Warnings which is a collective of bloggers who share their personal stories about mental and physical health, parenting, daily tribulations, and life’s little moments. An on-line community built around support, respect, and compassion. I hope you pop in to join the conversation on Weight and Food.

Have a Great Weekend!

Road Trips and Mapping Your Destinations

May 1, 2013 By belleofthecarnival in travel Tags: family vacations, gps, humor, life, maps, musings, navigational systems, road trips, thoughts, travel 42 Comments

Ernest Hemingway once quoted “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.” Road trips can be a test of love but they can also be filled with wonderful adventures.I remember as a kid sitting in the back seat as my Mother would read the map “Norm, you are going to miss the exit!”

“What!?”

“The exit you need to take that exit!”

” You could have told me sooner.”

“You weren’t listening!”

I learned from those road trips that no good ever comes from driving two hours more to reach your final destination. My parents would then pull over to the side of road while my Mother tried to prove to my Father that she was correctly reading the map.

The only words you heard at the end of that argument were”I told you so.”

All of this occurred long before the arrival of the GPS with the voice of Margaret Thatcher sending us on course in the right direction. Maggie is what I refer to our GPS because she has a no-nonsense approach to forcing us to travel from point a to point b without going down the wrong road.

We are in the process of planning our first camping trip of the season with ten days on the open road. I look at the Google maps as I try to plot our course of action. But it lacks the same charm as a big open map sprawling across the kitchen table. I feel like a traitor to the old world maps as I plan our next adventure.

I also know as much as I howl about the map becoming a relic filled with romantic charm that we now frame to our walls with distant memories of the olden days. The one thing I cannot complain about is that Maggie will guide us to our final destination without arguments and the occasional huff. She will be our robotic companion to the open road in which we can spend more time with the ones we love conversing about the little things, admiring the views, and no one will be uttering the words “I told you so.”

Do you still plan your road trips with an old-fashioned map? Or do you rely on your GPS?

The Way We Connect: Is It Challenging the Idea of Friendship?

April 29, 2013 By belleofthecarnival in Social Media Tags: blogging, facebook, friendship, life, musings, networking, social media, thoughts, twitter 30 Comments

In 2001 when I moved to Delhi, India and began to settle into the apartment I noticed we did not have a telephone. I asked the office manager of the company I worked for when we would get a landline. It was advised that it would take several months. I sighed at that time it was the most important line of communication for me to stay in touch with my family and friends.

However, there was something that was shaping the way people connected in India and that was the use of the cel phone. It was the cel phone that you could take with you to work or to the market and not worry about missing the important calls that mattered from the ones in my life.

It was at that time I connected with friends through email and feel free to gasp sometimes by mail. At that time Twitter was a tweet from a Robin and Facebook was not even out of diapers. Tom Chatfield points out in his recent article “Rethinking Social Networks” that Facebook will connect 1 in 7 people this year but as it connects so many people is it diluting the intimacy of friendship?

At one time friendship was an intimate circle of friends but as we have expanded with various social networks it could be degrading the very fiber of friendship. We have opened the door to connecting with more and more people many that we have never met in real life. It is through opening this door we are no longer conversing together at coffee shops but sharing ideas over the internet.

Chatfield argues that there are now over six billion phones worldwide and 900 million of those cel phone users are from India. It is these phones that have a purpose which is more than a mini computer but offer practicalities such as a sturdy battery and flashlight for when the power goes out. It is also the most important tool that keeps many people connected to their closest friends and family.

Networking has a way of connecting us but the most intimate relationships are the ones that we share we are phone numbers with those in our inner circle. It is these friendships that provide support when the chips are down and the first to share with any exciting news.

Since 2001 there have been so many changes in technology and with the rise of many social media networks I have had the great fortune to connect with many wonderful people. So it fascinates me that even though many of us have never met in real life we all share an interest or a common goal and that is what Nicholas Christoakis would point out is “the reciprocation of kindness because we are better off for it.”

We have networks because we evolve to connect with other people through experiences which tie us together. It is the benefits of the connected life which bring us together to share and expand ideas. It is through this cooperation of spirits that makes us more genial people.

So as there are different level of friendships on and offline they all matter because they are what connect us in this globalized world. As my phone has become my crutch it is used to share those scary and special moments with my loved ones. My blog has become a platform that I can share ideas and connect with so many wonderful people who I have become truly grateful for in my life. You may not have my phone number but you always challenge me to think about what is over yonder in the horizon and are always the gentle reminder that we are never alone in this world.

Do you believe the way we connect changes the face of friendship?

Belle of the Carnival's Blog

Musings of a Gal Trapped in the Suburban Carnival