fiction II.

the mirror.

by christiane eave

Have you ever noticed the tiny flaws behind the glass of a mirror? I usually don’t. I never did, but once.
It was the first time I took acid: LSD. Well, I had taken some before, but I was drunk and didn’t feel a thing until I slapped my in-turn boyfriend having sex. I don’t remember what I “hallucinated”, I just remember that I slapped him really hard and then broke out crying feeling really ashamed and childish.
This time, I did feel childlike, but in a whole different way.
It stared slowly, as an infantile innocence filling me drop by drop, a warm sensation of safety and joy. I laughed until it drowned me and then it overflowed, wetting the bed, the warm, soft bed. Then everything slowly started to take life: the lamp was looking at me, quietly, amiably, smiling. The walls weren’t precisely melting, as they call it, but were undulating, dancing. The curtains painted with flowers showed a green dragon swimming in a golden wave of cloth. The room, which wasn’t moving, of course, was filled with living things, almost talking.
I absorbed my surroundings, drunken with life itself, with the creations of unrecognizable humans that didn’t know they had given birth to a fat, mustached wardrobe.
Then I looked at the mirror. I saw someone that stood still looking back at me. It looked like me, but it wasn’t. Her eyes were made of glass. She was empty.
It scared the hell out of me at first. I didn’t want to look back into the mirror. There was something strange about it, something I had never seen before.
I didn’t look, actually, for what felt like many hours, and then, reuniting the valor to face that which I didn’t recognize, I looked in.
It was frozen.
Everything around me shined and shivered, breathing. The mirror didn’t. She was still, like looking into an old, dusty painting of dead nature. But even paintings have a soul.
I looked harder, trying to understand what was so different about a mirror; what was that made it so lifeless.
I saw it, poor mirror, all alone and cold. He had his own dents, his own flaws, but nobody had ever seen them.
It’s hard to see it, but behind the glassy face, there is a mirror.

Paris. Sept. 2008.

CHAPTER 1

GONZO.

Un homenaje al Dr. Hunther S. Thompson y el principio de nuestra historia.

Si, ya se que te suena el nombre pero no, no tiene nada que ver con los Muppets, este Gonzo en especifico es un poco mas interesante. Si viste "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" con el galanazo Johnny Depp y el sorprendentemente gordo y grotesco Benicio Del Toro sabes mas o menos de lo que estoy hablando, si no, lee esto y luego corre a rentarla lo antes posible.

Resulta que Hunter S. Thompson (18.Julio.1937 -- 20.Febrero.2005), un locazo de esos que ya raramente se encuentran, fue un periodista nacido en un pueblito piojoso del sur de Estados Unidos llamado Louisville, Kentucky. Después de toda una adolesencia buscando problemas por todos lados --y normalmente encontrandolos-- terminó enlistándose en el ejército y si, de ahí tambien lo corrieron clasificándolo como "completamente inclasificable", pero no antes de convertirse en el editor del periódico de la base militar. Ahí comienza su carrera como periodista y busca-problemas profesional.

Thompson siguió escribiendo para pequeñas publicaciones por varios años, incluyendo algunas en Puerto Rico y Brasil. Cuando finalmente regresa a Estados Unidos se casa y se muda a San Francisco metiendose en el pico del mero movimiento Hippie de Estados Unidos y ahí es donde nuestra historia de "temor y repugnancia" comienza...

The Dark Knight.

Kill the Batman
Puck C. Donovan on "The Dark Knight"


Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' is a force NOT to be reckoned with. It grabs you by the hair and drags you down ten flights of stairs screaming the story at your face, captivating you throughout the duration of the film. A true roller coaster of a movie.
Christian Bale is back as The Batman and truly brings out the Dark Knight's struggle with humanity. He personifies the duality of men and the constant struggle between villainy and virtue driving him to the brink of becoming everything he hates.

Heath Ledger's interpretation of The Joker is, to be blunt and honest, frightening. He throws Batman into his personal demons while also turning Gotham city upside down into anarchy. Ledger's Joker is one of the best villains to be brought onto the big screen. Completely menacing and nightmare-ish, he is also hilarious and keeps the Joker true to his comic book roots so fans will no doubt be more than pleased.

Aaron Eckhart plays Harvey Dent, Gotham City's newly appointed hot-shot District Attorney, who has cleans up Gotham's streets from crime and corruption with the legal system as his weapon. Maggie Gyllenhall, who replaces Katie Holmes, with much appreciation from fans, plays Rachel Dawes, the assistant DA, and has become romantically involved with Harvey Dent, which further adds to Bruce Wayne's already much complicated life.

Gary Oldman is still Liutenant James Gordon soon to become Police Commissioner, teams up with the Batman and Harvey Dent to take down the Joker. Morgan Freeman is Lucius Fox, chairman of Wayne enterprises and head of the mysterious applied sciences division, supplying Batman with all the gadgets, weaponry , and armor needed to take down the bad guys.

Michael Caine plays Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's noble butler and only true friend.
The Dark Knight is the definite must-see summer blockbuster for anyone, comic book fan or not. People from all backgrounds, ages, races,and gender. This is not your average run of the mill super hero flick. It's impact was made obvious in New York by the lines that started at the doors of theaters an entire 24 hours before the official opening and continued around the entire block for the following midnight showing. If you haven't seen The Dark Knight, then get out from under whatever rock you've been living in and go wait on the line that will probably still be there, and let's put a smile on that face of yours! Oh, and remember, what doesn't kill you, only makes you stranger.



Kill the Batman.

Por Puck C. Donovan.
Traducción de Christiane Eave.


The Dark Knight, la segunda entrega del aclamado director Cristopher Nolan, es en verdad una fuerza de la naturaleza. Te agarra de las greñas y te arrastra por las escaleras gritandote la historia en la cara; cautivadora de principio a fin. Una montaña rusa en 35 mm.

Christian Bale regresa como The Batman y saca a la luz la lucha interna que el caballero obscuro tiene con la humanidad. Personifica la dualidad del hombre y la pelea entre virtud y villanía que lo lleva al borde de convertirse en todo lo que mas aborrece. La interpretación de Heath Ledger de el Guasón es, para ser honesto, aterradora. Con una mano en la cintura empuja a Batman a una pelea cuerpo a cuerpo con todos sus demonios y al mismo tiempo pone a Ciudad Gotica de cabeza en un estado de anarquía total. El Guason de Ledger es uno de los mejores villanos traidos a la pantalla grande. Completamente amenazador y terrorífico, no pierde el sentido del humor apegandose a las raices de la historieta por lo que los fans no podrían estar mas complacidos. Aaron Eckhart le da vida a Harvey Dent, nuevo Fiscal de Distrito estrella en Ciudad Gótica, quién limpia las calles del crimen y la podredumbre de la mafia con solo el sistema legal como arma. Maggie Gyllenhall, quién remplaza a Katie Holmes, con mucha apreciación de los fans, como la asistente del Fiscal y se ve envuelta en un romance con Dent, lo cual se añade a la ya muy complicada vida de Bruce Wayne. Gary Oldman continua como el teniente James Gordon, quien pronto se convertirá en Jefe de Policía, se añade a las lineas de Harvey Dent y Batman para eliminar al Guasón. Morgan Freeman es Lucius Fox, presidente del multimillonario corporativo que es Wayne Enterprises y cabeza de la misteriosa división de Ciencias Aplicadas que se encarga de proveer a Batman con todos los artilugios, armas y armaduras necesitadas para eliminar a los malos. Michael Caine interpreta al fiel mayordomo Alfred Pennyworth quién a su vez es el único amigo y familia de Bruno Díaz.

El ¨Caballero Obscuro¨ es el definitivo must-see del verano para cualquiera, fan de las historietas o no. No importa la raza, edad, género u entorno social. Esta definitivamente no es la típica película de super heroes. Su impacto quedó mas que claro en Nueva York por las colas de gente que comenzaban en las puertas de todos los cines 24 horas antes de su estreno oficial y que continuaron dandole vuelta a la cuadra hasta la función del siguiente día... a la media noche.

Si no la has visto, sal de cualquiera que sea la roca debajo de la que has estado viviendo y espera en la linea que seguramente sigue ahí. y venga, pongamos una sonrisa en esa cara.

Remember, what does not kill you, only makes you stranger.

Starting by storytelling.

SURFING COCAINE.
A tale of love, fear, darkness and water.
- By Christiane Eave

At first it felt like a wave was about to crush me to death, when I met him. There was something about his eyes, his energy, who he was inside, maybe. He was, is, and always will be, a powerful and beautiful force of nature; and when the wave finally came down, it didn't crush me, but thrust me violently within my own self to face the darkest places of my mind.

Oh, the demons! They tore me to pieces, screaming faces of distorted clowns grinning at me, tearing the fine cloth of repressed memories; and there it all was: jammed jaws, non-stop nights, vague eyes, the smell of the fumes of the burning white powder... cocaine blues, and reds, and greens, and blacks... and whites.

Those memories crumbled down over me. I knew this would most definitely kill me; but they didn't. They fell like empty boxes all around me revealing what lay beneath; the true nightmare, the demon himself: the raging bull. He was lying there patiently like a faithful dog, looking into my eyes... waiting. Would I face him this time? Or would I turn away escaping from this crude but now obvious reality? I chose to look back. The moment our eyes finally met he sucked me in. I became the bull.

Life then became a frenzy of music, booze, planes, parties, tour buses, back-stages, all access passes. I was now riding the wave as if I had ridden it my whole life; a huge wave, and the crest was made of bubbling exorbitant amounts of white dust. And I rode the wave as a true master, because I was never alone. He was with me every step of the way; holding my hand, preventing me from falling.

It didn't take me long to realize the truth: I was riding his board, always behind him, holding him close by the waist. His board, his life, his giant wave.

My life was borrowed; everything was borrowed except from one thing: the love that belonged to the both of us. It was so strong it shook my whole world. What could I possibly do now? Keep riding a borrowed life, with huge amounts of love but no life of my own, not even a speck of salt from my own waters? I walked the plank and with my eyes swollen from the night before, I jumped. I was drowning into depression... slowly drifting into oblivion.

The bull went back to the shadows, as again, I looked away.

Months of weed, frantic dancing, alcohol, drugs, sleep and TV went by; anything to keep me from thinking; anything to keep my vision blurred and my head out of focus.

Reality started to pile up heavily, hiding the animal from plain sight. I was safe again in my self built limbo.

Suddenly something started to change; a seed of flesh and blood inside my womb. Seven weeks passed and the inevitable truth crumbled down once again crushing me; sinking me to the very bottom of the ocean.

The time to make a choice had come; either to spend the rest of my life behind him, to become his beloved and protected shadow, but a mere ghost of what I could've been; or to face the monster once again and drop a pebble in my own puddle.

I opened my eyes. The animal had changed, evolved. I was now looking through the crystal-clear eyes of a lion, and the lion had to leave the golden bird cage to start a wave of its own.

Im soaking wet now, cold to the bone; but the water beneath my paws is warm, and the wave is starting to grow.

I feel a tropical storm coming, but today I am ready to wipe out the world.


NYC.
July 30th, 2008.