Morgan Sparkles

Another week, another creative task for "The Future of Storytelling" course. This time, we have been asked to create our own character, attributing as many features to him/her as we can imagine. In my case, I have always admired Villanelle from Jeanette Winterson's "Passion", so Morgan is somehow related to her, a step sister, let's say, whose passion is to murder her lovers with a dagger and throw them into the dark waters of Venice.

She lives in a palazzo, but no one knows where exactly, she remains a mystery for everyone around. She loves playing cards and gambling her assets and her own life, mainly because she knows there is no chance she could lose. Why? Because long time ago she was cursed to live until she would find Sublime Love, which doesn't seem to be found easily... but something tells her that there might be a chance for that in a narrow street in Venice, simply because she dreamed about meeting Sublime Love while sailing on the Venetian canals.
I also have to mention that she was born in the year of the Fire Rabbit, one day in February, a long, long time ago...

An Unforgettable Character

The Good Wife

Here's me doing my homework, and that is writing another creative task for "The Future of Storytelling" course, and this time I have to write about a character from a TV series that I find interesting, to say the least :)
So, I could not help but choose Alicia Florrick, played by the beautiful Julianna Margulies, the supposedly good wife of the series with the same name. She is such a powerful woman, driven by the desire to succeed on her own, after many years devoted to taking care of her two kids, Zack and Grace,  supporting her unfaithful husband by playing the part of the "political wife" and playing hide and seek in the bedroom with Will Gardner, one of the partners at the law firm where she is working, "Lockhart and Gardner" (update: where she used to work).
Alicia loves a good challenge, and I can still remember the episodes in which she stood against the cunning Louis Canning, played by Michael J. Fox or the infatuated Mike Kresteva played by Matthew Perry.

What I like most about Alicia is that fact that she continues to surprise me with every episode. She is daring, she can forgive but not forget, she can go beyond gossip and people's opinion and what her marriage should be and she wants to prove herself without making too many compromises. I admire the way she knew how to make friends with Cary Agos, who seemed to be against her and her husband at first, how she was one step ahead her opponent lawyers and managed to win difficult trials, and how she can still have fun and act as a "merry go round" wife with her husband, now the state governor. Last but not least, I find her friendship with Kalinda during the two seasons quite intriguing.

She may be seen as mysterious and cold, but she can be very attached to her cases, or her gay brother. She enjoys a glass of wine and a good trick played on those who stand against her.
Now that the 5th season has started, I can say that getting back with Peter after the huge scandal was the most important event of her life, and I am quite sure, seeing how supportive he can be in return for her forgiveness, she was most influenced by his life and straying in her decisions. The famous saying "What does not kill you makes you stronger" is the perfect quote to define Alicia Florrick.

The Story of All Stories

 “A love story is not about those who lost their heart but about those who find that sullen inhabitant who, when it is stumbled upon, means the body can fool no one, can fool nothing—not the wisdom of sleep or the habit of social graces. It is a consuming of oneself and the past.”

I have been taking a creative course on "The Future of Storytelling", which seems quite interesting after its first week, and my first assignment is to write about the story that has impressed me the most. My first thought, and the one which stayed with me the past few days was to talk about "The English Patient", since this is the story that impressed me the most, it is one of those stories that gets engrained in your heart forever.

I still remember having seen the movie for the first time at the cinema close to my place, back in 1997, and the emotions that kept on gathering during its showing. I remember how beautiful and tragic everything seemed, how every glimpse that the two characters shared felt like everlasting love. I liked Hana more that Katharine at first, maybe because she felt more down to earth, but after seeing the film for more than 6 times, I can say that I do understand Katharine better now.

I am sure that everyone will really like to experience such a life altering love story, that goes beyond being alive and present, but of course, without its tragic end.

I also remember looking for the soundtrack, that perfect music that rendered the movie even more enchanting. At that time CDs were not very popular in my country but I luckily found an American volunteer who I was working with in the summer of 2001 and she kindly recorded a tape for me. Needless to say I still have it.

But my journey towards the most beautiful story ever told did not stop there. A Romanian publishing house decided to print the book in Romanian and I can still recall the excitement with which I started reading the book, absorbing its every word. Then, in 2007, while in Northern Germany, I found "The English Patient" in its original English version in a small bookshop. What a happy encounter that was! And in 2010 I wanted to own a different, "improved" English edition, which I now do. While my passion grew bigger each day, I started following Ralph Fiennes's and Kristin Scott Thomas' careers and I can truly say they are incredible actors, never disappointing me with the parts they played. Oh, I also managed two years ago to get Michael Ondaatje's autograph on his newest release, "The Cat's Table". Lucky me, I guess.



As for the story developing in "The English Patient", if you have seen the movie or read the book, there is no point in telling you about its beauty and if you haven't read or seen the book, then you have to see for yourself as I do not plan on spoiling everything for you...

“Her life with others no longer interests him. He wants only her stalking beauty, her theatre of expressions. He wants the minute secret reflection between them, the depth of field minimal, their foreignness intimate like two pages of a closed book.”