Secret forest: May 2010

A Winner

>> Saturday, 29 May 2010

May 29th... Contest Day! Above, the Spanish hopeful for Eurovision Song Contest 2010, which will take place tonight in Oslo, Norway (last year's winning country). Anyone said kitsch, bubblegum pop, bizarre? Oh, yes, please! For those who are not familiar with this contest, I just thought that today it would be cool to talk about its 55 years history...

...OK, let's focus on our own contest :D. It's time to announce the winner of my $35 Thank You Gift Card giveaway! First, this is the official list of participants:

1. zeitheist
2. Anns Snap Edit and Scrap
3. Lenox Knits
4. Carmens Chronicles
5. Jeans Musings
6. Aphorism Of The Day
7. Poetic Shutterbug
8. Dont Know Much About Photography
9. earth to holly
10. Sicily Scene

And now, I'm happy to announce that we have a winner for the Weekly Quote giveaway. The lucky number was:

Random.org

Number 2! It's Ann, from Ann's Snap Edit and Scrap! Congratulations, Ann! And thanks to you all so much for having joined to celebrate my blog's first anniversary, it means a lot to me. You are the best!

JAMES from Zeitheist quoted Voltaire's thoughts about the beauty of a work; we must feel and be affected by it, he asserted. ANN collected descriptions of dandelions to illustrate one of her combinations of pictures. In LENOX KNITS we learnt about Jack London's notion of inspiration (You have to go after it with a club). As regards CARMEN, author of Life's Journey, her favourite quote is by St. Augustine: The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. JEAN shared some compelling words by Mother Teresa. MARTY from nothingprofound let me choose my preferred quote from his blogs. I picked up this one: You don't know how to live. You live. JOANNE delighted us with John Muir's words on nature (...Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees...). DAWN posted a quote by Joseph Joubert to accompany one of his series of pictures. HOLLY brought up John Gray's book title to introduce us to a remarkable experience starring a girl and a guy from Venus and Mars, respectively. PAT from Sicily Scene quoted Dorothy Parker's Faute de Mieux — and she gave me the Sweetblog award for my blogversary!

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. As per Eurovision Song Contest, it's 55 years old, as I said, and you can watch it online here (but if you find it too much "bubblegum" I'm not responsible for this!). Have fun!

To Write Or To Draw

>> Wednesday, 26 May 2010

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Gift Card & Notebooks

>> Monday, 24 May 2010

This post is mainly a reminder that you still can take part in the drawing for a Gift Card to Amazon until this Friday, 28th (included). Please read my previous post for further details, and have fun while you try your luck!

And secondly, another self-tribute on occasion of this blog's anniversary... OK, the last one... This is my (brief) collection of art notebooks. I don't ever use them, because I only write freely in a simple sheet of paper, but I can't help purchasing them from time to time. Museums' stores are amazing, and notebooks are perfect objects... especially if I don't write on them.

Besides proving that I'm hopeless with the camera, the images show a sample of paintings adapted to merchandising, from Fernand Léger's to Gustav Klim's best known works.

Remember to take a look at my post below, if you haven't done it yet. It would be great if you joined Weekly Quotes to celebrate Secret Forest's first year. Never thought this could happen, a whole year! I wish I could give a "Thank You" Gift Card to every and each of you... But it's also true that a contest is a lot of fun.

First Anniversary, First Giveaway

>> Thursday, 20 May 2010

On May 29th it will be my blog's first anniversary, and to celebrate it I will do my first giveaway: a $35 Gift Card to Amazon for one of my readers. Yep!

This is how the drawing will work:

1. You. To enter, you need to join my Weekly Quotes: include a quote in one of your posts; it can be one of your old posts, as long as it includes a quotation. Leave a link to your post below, on Linky Tools list. It will be running until May 28th, so you won't have to hurry. Your draw number will be the same as in the list of participants.

2. Me. I will read your linked posts, by all means. I will also make sure that everyone has a single number, and that there are no spammers (it would be the first time though, I kind of feel optimistic today!). To decide the winner, I will use a random number generator. The winner will be announced here on Saturday 29th, and on that same day I will contact the winner to get the email address so that I can send the gift card. That's it.

So how do you like this drawing? And what would you spend your $35 "Thank You" Gift Card on? I really hope that all of you, commentors, visitors, bloggers, friends that I've been so lucky to meet during this year, will join to celebrate Secret Forest's first anniversary.

The day you decide to do it is your lucky day.
Japanese proverb

WEEKLY QUOTES PARTICIPANTS. Leave your link to your post here!:

In The Middle Of A Literary Forest...

>> Wednesday, 19 May 2010

...there was a gift (for an unknown reader) calmly waiting, sitting on a chair...

Looks like I found the perfect image to express my thoughts :) But this should be wordless, I can't say more about it until tomorrow...

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My Working Place

>> Sunday, 16 May 2010

Since I'm about to celebrate my blog's first anniversary, I'm in a self-indulgent mood and I wanted to show you my working place. In fact, it is my writing corner at home, but I consider that writing is my main work in this planet Earth.

As you can see, it is only a bit messy, just the necessary. Hum, this is a bit suspect. The picture proves that I'm left-handed, because the light is on the right and the pen on the left. Let's continue doing the Sherlock Holmes thing. When watching these two pictures on my computer, I realized that my desk is actually the story of two cork boards.

I have two cork boards, one hanging on the wall, as it should be, and the other on my desk, because it is a sloping desk, very suitable for short-sighted people and drawers (therefore I must like to draw and be short-sighted, hum) but the disadvantage is that everything slips and falls to the ground if you do not put a cork board on it. I even have to pin some things. In spite of this, and although I've always thought that it would be a better desk if it was placed somewhere in Montmartre, Paris, I like my desk the way it is.

This is my second board, the one on the wall; the normal one. I do not use it for anything, except to hang pictures that I like. This is the result of the inspection, from left to right: a bookmark with a fragment of "Washerwomen in Arles" by Paul Gauguin and another bookmark showing one of Eduardo Chillida's works (Holmes: "both of them purchased during a trip to the Basque Country"); in the center, a mural from Lleida's ancient Dole House, showing pilgrims and poor people eating a meal provided by the city as a charity (Dr. Watson: "14th century, with an Italianate influence, very interesting because it is a proof that pre-Gothic art is not only concerned with the Church or the Court, but also with everyday scenes in real locations in the Middle Ages"); "The Three Musicians" by Pablo Picasso; and a bookmark with a cat.

So, that was my writing desk and the story of the two cork boards, one that is weird and absolutely necessary, and the normal and perfectly useless one.

Regarding this blog's anniversary, there will be news and surprises soon. Have a nice start to the week!

Not A Wordless Post

>> Saturday, 15 May 2010

In "Other" Words

>> Thursday, 13 May 2010

The paintor René Magritte stated that every object suggests that there is another object behind it.

I found this quote in Kenia Cris' blog, Poesia Torta: "Everything we see hides another thing, and we insist on seeing what is that thing behind." For instance, when seeing a smiling face we actually see someone else's joy, or maybe pride, relieve, wisdom... We find a lost key on the street; there is a stain in a book; we read a sign in a foreign language, and we ask ourselves about an unknown house, a probable negligence, the right road. Maybe the image of the wall is enough to illustrate it: we see a wall and we are sure that there is something behind it.

This quote helped me to understand what happens with the story I'm writing. I have been trying to find a meaning for my writings, and now I know that if my story does have any interest, I will not find it in the story itself, but in what there is behind it. And what's behind my story? Well, hopefully the readers will tell it when it is finished. They will add an actual meaning to it, and I just have to "build a wall" proper enough to interest them. I really wish that someday a reader will see my wall —i.e. will read my book — and get interested in the thing that hides behind it.

What is sure is that I got so interested in that quote that I decided to start a "Quote Thursday" whith the help of Mister Linky widgets. If you have any post with a quote, you can add it here, and there is no closing time. If it works and you like it, In "Other" Words will be here every Thursday. And, of course, if you are not willing to participate, comments will be very welcome, as always!

So, this is my quote:

The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.
René MAGRITTE

Tirant Lo Blanc Translated

>> Sunday, 9 May 2010

Let me introduce you to a translation which was the first modern version of Tirant lo Blanc to appear in any non-Hispanic language. You can browse it at Google Books. The translator, David H. Rosenthal, wrote a foreword which provides a very good glimpse not only into this book written by Joanot Martorell, but also into Catalonia. I can't add anything to the translator's words, I will only reproduce some of them here (and hopefully learn something!):

"The best book of its kind in the world". With this phrase Cervantes established Tirant lo Blanc as an underground classic, a category in which —outside the Catalan Lands— it still belongs today. Yet for its wit and vivid realism, Tirant deserves to be placed in an entirely different group of works; those medieval and Renaissance masterpieces like The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, Gargantua and Pantagruel, and Don Quixote itself that remain both "great books" in the academic sense and very enjoyable reading for anyone who happens to pick them up. The novel has also had its admirers in our own [20th] century (...).  Why, then, has Tirant lo Blanc failed to win the acclaim it deserves? A number of reasons could be advanced, but the basic one is simple enough: it was written in Catalan. When Tirant was published in 1490, the Catalan language and its literature were about to enter a three hundred and fifty year decline during which the outside world would take very little notice of them. Tirant shared in this general oblivion. Had the outcome of the Spanish Civil War been different, this process might have accelerated, and perhaps translations into other modern languages would have been published or reprinted by now. Instead, Catalan culture was brutally suppressed for twenty years and benignly neglected for fifteen more, thus making the literature almost inaccessible to interested foreigners.

(...) In its literary innovativeness, its realistic dialogue and description, and its vivid presentation of major characters, it equals and often surpasses other masterpieces of fifteenth-century literature. As always, however, the proof is in the reading, and therefore perhaps my best advice would be to again quote Cervantes' words: "Take it home and read it, and you'll see everything I've said is true."

David H. ROSENTHAL, "Translator's foreword", Tirant lo Blanc: New Approaches.

Wordless Wednesday: A Book, A Lectern...? An Artist

>> Wednesday, 5 May 2010

By Marina Soria.

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Spring & Snails

>> Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Many thanks to Charity, Ann and Emm, all of you answered correctly on my previous post. Yep, that is what we do at my country with snails: we harvest them, we cook them, and we eat them. They are absolutely delicious, but I thought you would never guess the correct answer. I have to ask: do I look like a snail-eater? :D

There are many recipes for snails, but the most popular is "on the tin", cooked over high heat. Snails do not taste or smell, so you have to spice them a lot, especially with salt and oil, and they are usually accompanied with two strong sauces: mayonnaise and aioli, which is made with olive oil, garlic and parsley.

To accompany this post, I have some lines included in Works and Days by Hesiod, written over 2,700 years ago. Hesiod calls the snail the House-bearer (of course!), and he mentions Pleione, a sea nymph in Greek mythology. Bon appétit!

The House-bearer, from his winter quarters
Roused by Pleione’s gentle daughters,
Ascends the plants. These vernal days
Indolent hinds must mend their ways;
The grape-vines should have all been hoed;
Sharpen your sickles, take the road.

Misty Summer

>> Monday, 3 May 2010

In rainy days like today, I like to remember that three years ago, when I spent my summer holidays not far from home, in northern Catalonia, we didn't have the best weather. The photo above speaks for itself... So, in rainy days like today, I like to watch this photo I took and think: hey, it could be way worst!

It rained a lot that summer, and instead of making the most of our swimming pool we had to spend our leisure time doing other things. One of the things you can do when it rains is to harvest snails. You can see below the ones we harvested those days.

It is not only a hobby, I must say; can you imagine what we Catalans usually do with snails?

Shaping Clay

>> Saturday, 1 May 2010

While working on my book, I have been looking for some advices on my writing process. I am especially focused on emptying and connecting with my inner true feelings. So far the best I have found to explain what I am trying to do with my writings is the practical poetry from the Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way and its Virtue). This is what helps me focus on my work: