True beauty and self, within and without...

So, empirical beauty, I said last time…  Yes, there are some specific physical attributes that make people beautiful in any context, that is undeniable, but in the end external beauty is really only in the eye of the beholder, no matter what fashion magazines and Hollywood try to make us think.  Now, the thing here is to understand that there are characteristics which make some people beautiful to a higher number of beholding eyes, but it shall never mean that the people who lack those characteristics are not attractive at all.

I suppose there are many ways I could go on about the subject, but I like my own from a few months back, when I stated that Tom Hiddleston was the most perfect man on Earth, but that no one had ever said that there had to be only one perfect man on the planet...  I like the way I made that sentence work; the second part I mean, cos I have been telling and retelling the anecdote to anyone who cares to hear it, and when I finish up with my usual “He denied it, but I don’t believe him, I know he is the most perfect man on Earth”, I have had some mean stares from a couple of guys, and a bit of eyes rolling and stuff...   I’m often mean and do not finish my own sentence, but there is a reason I do that: women are always being compared to actresses, models and basically any other female that walks by when we’re with our male friends.  We’re supposed to act like it doesn’t matter.  A lot of times it doesn’t matter.  But when you turn the ball around, a lot of guys explode a little, even if they don’t say it.  Oy, where am I going with this...?  Oh, yeah, the current flow of excessively available world-wide media is slowly making us believe that beauty is not only empirical, but that it has to be accepted by all in all at all...  And that’s not fair.  I say it because the number of teenagers (and people of all ages, really) harming themselves or recurring to surgery to make themselves more “agreeable” to the beholders has been sky-rocketing as of late, and that is no news to anyone.

To begin with, when we like someone it is because they have something that we either have or wish to have.  It could be physical, their eyes, their nose, their lips; it could be a trait, their style, their voice; how well they act or write or sing; if they’re in a charity or if they’re a total bad-ass...  whatever of these things, if they remind us of us, or if we wish we were like that, reacted like that, had that fashion sense or confidence or attitude.  Whatever. Anything you can think of.  That goes for people you’re interested in sexually, romantically or friendshipsically, it doesn’t matter.  Oh, and it goes for role models as well, whatever gender they are, or whether you’d like them to be more than just role models or not.  This is usually explained the other way around: if you don’t like someone, anyone, it is because they resonate negatively on you; you have the same thing you don’t like in the other.  I’m not going to get into the psychology of this, or into self-help stuff or whatnot (if you find it useful and interesting, do some research into it, because by finding out why you dislike someone or like another, you can reach into your bag of traits and figure out a way of developing yourself into the person you want to be.  Good luck and enjoy the process!), but I will talk a little more about the actual liking of certain types (or stereotypes, or maybe even possibly archetypes).

Let’s begin with Loki. (And possibly finish with him, too, cos there are so many elements to this guy that I doubt there’ll be any space within this entry to bring another character in! Lol.)  First question:  who is it that we fans like, Tom Hiddleston or Loki? And why?  For basically everyone in the Marvel Universe Fandom, Loki came as a gift from Heaven, erm-- Asgard.  He is young and beautiful, extremely charismatic, smart and clever enough to get away with most things he does... and probably the funniest bad guy that ever existed in any superhero movie, what else can we ask of him?  Well, the comic-book fans can bring in a little disagreement into this (I wouldn’t know how much cos I’ve never read, and probably never will, any of the comic books), but they’re not the ones to worry about:  I am sure there are many scholars of the Nordic mythology who are going What the hell??  And that is, I am very sorry to say this, my friends, indisputable.  What we are seeing on screen is a new version of Loki, not necessarily true to the truth (true to the myth?  No that sounds wrong), but nonetheless phenomenal.  Here’s where it gets tricky:  he is not an empirical Loki (if there ever was such a thing...), but he is surely an empirically awesome character.  Whether people like him or not, the truth is that the character is great (in terms of the good creation of a good character), and he shall be respected for that.  Historians, he is a recreation from an old character, that is all; and in the end they all are!  Not just superheroes/villains, but anyone from a book-to screen film:  they are adaptations based on the likes of the directors and producers, adapted to screen-time and the interrelation to the other characters...  whether they’re good or bad, that’s a whole other matter (that is to say, some are empirically good, some are just not, and some are well liked even though they’re not good...  and some are not as liked even though they were empirically better than other versions.  Like I said, that is a whole other matter).

Hm, an empirical Loki...  that actually sounds scary, if you think about it mythologically...

Moving on.  So, Tom...  he’s young, hot, and full of character and charisma and energy.  He’s also humble and very, very human.  He can bring a spark to his characters because he has an especially clever sense of humour, and that makes anyone be alive and gleaming as soon as he steps into that skin.  Not the vampire, Adam, he wasn’t alive and gleaming (thankfully!!), but you know what I mean.  I know there are many of us who believe that Loki wouldn’t have become so popular if it wasn’t for Tom.  The lot of us who spent hours devouring the YouTube videos where he’s majestically making fun of himself, and of the character (and of *other* characters), with that gleam in his eye and easy laughter can vouch for what I am saying.  And maybe some, like I did, fell in love with him because of that.  Maybe the healthy thing to say here would be Please don’t fall in love with Loki, the guy’s evil!  Fall for Tom instead; he’s just as handsome and won’t want to take over the world someday-- I think.  I’m not judging, it’s just a suggestion.  And on that note, I know there’s many people who’ll go, Nah, he’s not my type, and this turns us back again into what Harry said to Sally long ago:  he’s empirically gorgeous, but he’s not everyone’s type, and that’s all right.

(Still, going for Loki is a little pathological, don’t you think?  Then again, Tom’s an actor, we only see him on screen or magazines or the really lucky ones in the theatre or such, so it might be *a little pathological* to fall for him, too).  Meh.

By the by, I never got a picture with any Loki on Comic Con...  they were all either girls or really young boys...  and I only got two Tenth Doctor ones; they were all really young boys!  (And some really cocky ones at that).  OK, this has nothing to do with what I’m saying, I just wanted to vent, hehehe.

Tastes then...  that’s how it works.  I always give my example of Brad Pitt (and for the last few years I’ve just gone Brangelina on it):  I respect them both sooo much as actors, I think they are incredibly professional, and amazingly human, and the whole charity thing they’ve got going on, long live the king and queen! right?  I just don’t find *either* of them attractive.  Never have.  I was gonna add Never will but that sounds doomish...  Eh, so, I was talking about this with a friend and she was like “Yeah, Sandra, but you’re the crazy one, not everyone else in the world”, and she’s right.  There are some of us who just don’t see what the majority of people see...  You might say: Yo, you just devoted an entry to Tom Hiddleston!  Fair enough, but probably 90% of the world know who Brad is, and we cannot say the same for Tom.  (This is not an official number, I’m just trying to show here that likings will always also revolve between particular groups and/or fandoms).  Me, I like ‘em skinny and athletic (a little muscle does fine, just remain human...); I like brown eyes and hair and white skin (because we’ve already established that I am quite vain), but will adapt to other colour schemes;  I  have a thing for long and crooked noses, and used to be laughed about that in high school...  I was the one who wished could back to old-time Hogwarts and go “Hey Snape, wash your hair and begin to act confident and maybe we’d get something going on, wink wink”, but probably never would do that even if I had a TARDIS cos that would change a few fixed points in British History and who’d want that, right?  And I also like them nerdy.  There is no way Brad Pitt can ever fit into any of those descriptions...  Most of my perfect men in my perfect men list kind of do, but that’s, once again, a whole other story...  So then, am I crazy?  Yes, but not because of not liking Brad; I’ve got *other* things going on.  The truth of the matter is and will always be that people are different, and that even if they know someone to be perfect for other people’s eyes,  they might not think it that much themselves...

Here’s where it gets self-helpy: same goes for you!  You might think you’re making yourself agreeable for a bunch of people, but what if the one you’re meant to be with does not think you’re becoming perfect and instead keeps on looking on for his/her perfect mate?  I don’t ever mean to say that everyone should stop exercising or not wear pretty clothes or accessories or makeup or whatever...  wear whatever makes you look like *you*, like the real you, the one you wish people would adore, because everyone is worth looking at with adoring eyes by someone, and no one should ever need to hurt themselves or to go to great lengths to change this or that to get that...  Tom doesn’t try to claim attention, he just does what he does, so he just *is*; Brangelina don’t do all they do to get attention, they’re humanitarians and that’s a great thing to be, they are healthy and look the way they do because they want to, not to make the public happy (okay, the producers sometimes, hehe), and that makes them just be *them*. And on that note: it’s awesome to find someone “perfect”, just make sure that you’re looking deeper into that person and really consider if they have other traits than just being physically gorgeous ;)

So then, I hope I was able to say what I was trying to say in a fun way.  I think the blog is just a very convenient way for me to deliver my peculiar psyche to the world, so please don’t take it the wrong way if I do a superficial ramble every once in a while...  sometimes there’s just too much going on in my head, and I need to let it out some way or another ;) and hopefully someone will take something nice out of it, and hopefully the others will just laugh and come back later to see if I’m a grown up again next time...

Cheers to all, and have a lovely one!

Utopia

OK, to begin with, sorry for my sudden disappearance, hehe (whoops!). I've been trying to settle back into London life and I have to start by saying, man, my insomnia is really going to town!  I have a really bad case of Worrying-about-what’ll-happen-nextitis.  So, then, I know that over the past few weeks all you’ve heard of me is about my writing and my path and all of that stuff, but worry not, because I’ve only got two thanks left in the thanking series and then we’ll be able to move on to worldlier subjects.  But given that I am in fact very stuck regarding my witting, and I do not want any of that worry to leak into those thanks, I will move on to another subject today and give both Newcastle and my independent instructors the respect in the thanks they both deserve!

So I shall start with today’s subject:  why London?  That’s the question the Border Agency officer asked me when I arrived two weeks ago, and it kept playing in my mind this morning as I got on the tube and I watched the neighbourhoods pass by (with the buildings that I still am not sure if are terraced houses or something else in architecture lingo), and Canary Wharf, and the multi-national people coming on and off the Hammersmith and City line car where I sat reading (or rather looking up every once in a while to be able to have seen everything I just mentioned).  There’s so many of us who want to be here at least a while, so many who want to stay forever.  There’s so many, British and International alike, who just want to pack up and leave.  So then, why London?  I just cannot explain.  All I can say is, Why not?

The question in my mind came accompanied by another one: What were my life choices that led me to this? What were the moments in my life when I looked at the streets and buildings in my own country and consciously decided that what I looked at here (in England) was infinitely more beautiful?  And so, does it happen for everyone like that?  Maybe for some people the place is more attractive if it is more different to “home”, or maybe it’s the other way around.  Maybe some people think exactly like me: that no matter how beautiful one’s own country is, there is another one in which we vibrate better.  I can personally vouch for Mexico, and declare with absolute certainty that some (a lot, in fact) cities in the country are among the most beautiful cities in the world...  in fact I’m sure there are many many countries where there are incredibly beautiful cities, and countryside and scenery and stuff! (Not the desert, Mom and Aunt Martha, I’m sorry, but I just cannot find a liking to it...  just give me tall trees and hills and I’ll be happy, okay?).  And even then, people move around.  It’s not only me who’s leaving a beautiful place for another... my new flatmate is from Vienna for God and the Goddess’ sakes! Vienna!!  And she’s completely excited to be here, and who am I to ask her why, right?  Talk about hypocrisy... (mine, not hers!).  So then, this all links very nicely into something that I’ve had in my head for a while: the reality of empirical beauty.  I will talk about this later on, in an entry dedicated to looks, but it applies here as well!  For those of you who don’t know the reference, it is spoken first by Harry when he tells Sally that she’s empirically beautiful, but that he’s not attracted to her...  ok, so in the end they get together, so it might not be the best example for this, but it still applies!  (Oy, spoilers, sorry!  Anyone who hasn’t seen the movie just watch it anyway, cos it’s a Billy Chrystal/Meg Ryan jewel ;) and I’m sure you’ve heard of it: “When Harry met Sally”).

Right, so why London, then? Some people have heard me speak about the vibration of the cities, which is not in any way a new subject.  I discovered it by myself, twenty years ago here in London, but I still didn’t know what it was.  I’d only said that the city made me feel so free and placid, and it took years for me to come up with the sentence “I vibrate better in London”.  Well, turns out that I’m not the only person in the world to feel that way.  There are millions out there, billions, probably, who know they vibrate better somewhere, but they have no words to explain it with.

Let me go to the basics:  we are all made up from energy, and everything we create around us is made up from energy as well... and through history and the changes in the world the energy changes and adapts to the circumstances, gathering new energy as things develop.  I will advise anyone who’s interested in this to read up on the subject, because it’s very pretty and useful.  I’m not going to go into more detail here, but do research on it ;)

So then, what happens with people when they arrive in a place where the energy resonates positively on them (or rather, into them)?  It brightens them up, of course!  Now, my perfect solution to the problems of the world is that everybody left the places where they don’t feel right and move into the places where they feel amazing.  Just look at the perfection of the plan: not everybody feels the same way about every place, so there’d be enough places for everyone to be in!  Granted, I do not mean the people who don’t feel right and just want to escape because they broke up with their boyfriend or can’t find the right job...  No no no, I mean energetically...  If they feel good energetically, they’re more bound to be with the right person and in the right job (yikes, I’m not the right example for this... do not ask me why I’m saying this if it’s not being the case for me.  Idealist, remember?) (Hey, maybe I just started my path?).  So, before making any rushed decisions, people would have to determine whether it is the city that does not feel right or it if is something external...  And in any case, I know plenty of people who would be extremely content in rural spaces, so I’m sure that cities would not be overpopulated...  Can you see now why this is the perfect plan?  And because of the improvement of individual happiness, then problems like economics and hunger and violence would probably just sort themselves out within a reasonable amount of time from the beginning of the change...  Anybody wants to follow me on this?

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So, back to reality then...  Yeah, I’m an idealist, not daft!  Just, if this in any way helps anyone understand why they like some place even though everyone says they’re crazy, at least my work for today is done...  I’m back from Utopia now, and will probably need some nourishment soon, preferably in the form of coffee and a tuna sandwich...  I think if I eat something heavier than a sandwich I will fall asleep.  That’s a big no-no for me at the British Library.  Er... it’s probably a big no-no for everybody...

Um, whoever said that London was cool at this time of year??  Well, it is cool after seven or something, but otherwise, geez!  And there’s my Greek friend Spyros saying that there’s nothing like London in the sun (yeah, he’s from Athens!  Athens!!  Now you get my drift?).  And I have to admit he’s right, even me, little old rain-loving me, have to admit that there’s nothing like London in the sun...

Love and blessings to all!