Much Randomer Scenes From "Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)" That I Liked, Thank You.

The Traveller

Song by Chris de Burgh

In from the coast, riding like the wind and racing the moon,

Shadows on the road, dancing and a-weaving like a crazy fool.

A horseman is coming, death in his heart, for a rendez-vous,

And where the traveller goes, nobody knows,

Where the traveller goes, nobody knows

A candle in the night, fear on every face when he goes inside

(Maybe he's on the run?)

Get back from the bar! A stranger in town is a dangerous sight

(Maybe he's got a gun?)

"Bring a bottle of whisky, ladlord, I wanna talk for a while."

And where the traveller goes, a cold wind blows,

Oh, where the traveller goes, a cold wind blows

There is something in his eyes, something in his hands,

You can almost smell his revenge!

And whoever he is after, it will be disaster:

This man is gonna take him to the very end

Well, the landlord he trembled, staring at a face he'd seen somewhere before.

(You laid him in the ground)

Suddenly remembers a killing, yes, a murder, many years before.

('Twas you that shot him down)

He said to a boy: "Saddle me the black, I'll meet you down below.

With this man I must talk, yes with this traveller I'll go,

With this man I must talk, yes with him I must go."

There is something in his eyes, something in his hands,

I can almost smell his revenge!

And it's me that he's after, it will be disaster:

This man is gonna take me to the very end

And they were never seen again!

–Mary Oliver

my last two brain cells

Anne Sexton from Complete Poems

— TONI MORRISON, from ‘Beloved’.

“i don’t like writing about my day, but i want to keep a journal”:

quotes and copywork. when reading, if you find something you enjoy, just copy it into the notebook. you can copy a whole chapter if you wish, highlighting what caught your attention the most.

definitions. look up on a dictionary and copy it. you could write your own dictionary as well, making up definitions for words.

lists. a classic, write movies to watch, books to read, the playlist of the month or just the groceries you have to buy.

maps. when going somewhere, you could draw the route you took or just a map of the place itself. just look up the place on google maps and copy it. you can draw a little map of all the places you have lived or the schools you have attended as well.

photos

take “notes” as you watch movies / documentaries. write down phrases that caught your attention or doodle.

illustrations and clippings. if you see an image or piece of art that you liked, put it in your journal. if it’s from a book or from a magazine I would recommend scanning it, tho’. it will serve as a record of what kind of art you enjoy through the years.

newspaper clippings from the day.

tickets and pamphlets. from movies, museums, transportation.

postcards

records. you could record for a month what the temperature was when you woke up and when you went to sleep. if you do that for a year, it gives you a better notion of the passing of seasons. you could record rainfall and other seasonal changes as well. you could choose something (an animal, a plant, an item or object) and write down every time you see it.

rubbings of leaves, coins, landmarks.

count. there’s a scene in the movie Caroline (2009) where Caroline’s dad tells her to go count the windows. you could do the same type of counting game if you are bored and write down.

mindmaps/sketchnotes + timelines of books, movies, music albums.

collages

pressed leafs and flowers

your collections. if you collect anything you could write down an inventory or maybe try to draw the items.

recipes. write down recipes and give it a score every time you try it. you could do the same for drinks you try out.

stickers

comic strips. you can find a bunch of it online, glue your favorites in your notebook.

When everyone in the room is fighting for you

وجَلس حزنِي تِجاهي تأملني قليلآ، ثم أجهش الحزن بالبكاء ، وبَقيت صامتة

And my sorrow sat next to me, stared at me for a while,then it burst into tears and I remained silent.

-Ghada el-Samman

Classic Books List

“Why read the classics? A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” These are a few recommendations, books everyone should read. Don’t let yourself be convinced they are good: read and decide for yourself!

(no particular order intended)

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

Hard Times - Charles Dickens

The Karamazov Brothers - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

The Waves - Virginia Woolf

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

Richard II - William Shakespeare

Little Women - Louisa Alcott

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Emma - Jane Austen

Anna Karenina - Liev Tolstói

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton 

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Lord of The Flies - William Golding

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez

Persuasion - Jane Austen

War and Peace - Liev Tolstói

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar - Edgar Allan Poe

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka 

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

King Lear - William Shakespeare

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell

Jean Barois - Roger Martin du Gard

Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky