Monday, August 28, 2006

coffee no. 102

I had a friend who was excellent at telling the films' plot. She was the one of really few people I could have listened to for hours. We were spending a lot of time together so when we run out of conversation subjects, she often started talking about the film she'd seen recently. No matter how good it was, my friend always made it a masterpiece. Always. While listening to her I was able to create all the images in my head, all the situations, colors, smells etc. It was like reading an outstanding book. It is obvious that I wanted to watch those films because they seemed so perfect. But most of the time they did not and I was mostly disappointed because my friend's relation and ipso facto my vision were kind of different from them.
Yesterday I was watching "The Hours" and the opening scene put an unwary smile on my face. I know it was a bit dissonant while Virginia was commiting suicide, but at that moment I recalled my friend telling me about that film two years ago. It was exactly the same, as if I had already seen it. Some kind of Pre-raphaelite atmosphere, a bit of Ophelia, those colors, everything.
And once more I missed the hours we spent together because they were really precious.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

coffee no. 101

"Take a look at the books other people have in their homes".

Jerzy Kosinski

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

coffee no. 99

The city I live in is a real hell for drivers nowadays. Because of numerous road works there are a lot of diversions and, of course, neverending traffic jams. Adding the horrible, and also neverending, downpour we have the August Saturday afternoon landscape ideal for newlyweds.
The chain of colourful cars is suddenly broken by a dignified, white as snow "limousine", adorned with white balloons and streamers. There is no possibility of passing by the others, so the only way is to wait patiently in the situation when nobody is patient.
I can see the woman with a big veil and her husband sitting in the back seat but I am too far to see their expressions. Are they happy after all, or sad, or disappointed? Do they think that THEIR day should look quite differently? What are they talking about during those long minutes on the road? Are they joking? Or maybe complaining? What music are they listening to in the car?
Too many questions.

Friday, August 04, 2006

coffee no. 98

One of the phenomena that really astonishes me is somebody-looks-at-you moment. The moment when some person attracts you only with their eyesight, or vice versa. I have tried this trick many times, always with the same result. Sooner or later people realise that they are being observed, even if they are sitting in another corner of overcrowded cafe. Even if they are preoccupied with the conversation, with reading a newspaper, with eating, etc. They behave as if they have been stung suddenly and for a second they interrupt all their activities only to send you kind of why-the-hell-are-you-staring-at-me expression. Do-I-know-you?! Have-I-got-dirty?
I am very curious how does it work. Do our eyes send some invisible waves that can put an ephemeral spell on the others?...