Myeo Myeo

A friend of mine said this film was good. I heard nothing but bad reviews and thought I would check it out. It had all the elements that I would typically enjoy in a film, transformation, superheroes, empowering role model......action..etc. Sometimes the critics are wrong......sometimes they are right. The film is not that good........this time they were right....yuk! The worst aspects is dialogue and chemistry. The people who worked on this project forgot to add great dialogue and character chemistry. It was rather flat and that is too bad because the whole story of the comic heroine, Cat Woman is worth a movie. One thing I can say however, is for those who are interested in cat mythology and the history of the character Cat Woman will find the special features a treat. This short feature has interviews of Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar, Michelle Pfeiffer, Lee Meriweather, and Halle Berry. It also takes a look at the original Cat Woman in the comics and how her appearance has changed since say the 1950's. The film does cover cat totemic interests passively. This part was done well. The first divine images of cats are found in ancient Nubia. Later the cat goddess image was adopted by Egypt, who conquered Nubia by 2500 BC. In Egypt, she was called appropriately, "Myeo" or Mau, sounds remarkably similar to Meow. The Egyptians fell in love with the dark feline goddess. Her icons were rapidly adopted and spread throughout the kingdom. She is thought to be the guardian of temples, the moon, fertility, love and wisdom. Many "cat goddesses" appear in Egypt including Mafdet, Sekhmet, and Bast. Bast and Myeo are thought to be domesticated cats, where the others are large, undomesticated creatures of the wild. There are many cat women in Egyptian and African mythology. More about them and their extraordinary abilities can be found in my book, The First Book of the Dark Goddess. Below are some interesting Cat Woman sites I found online.

Lost All Reason

While doing research on the dark goddess for the book, Love Poems to Aphrodite, I discovered the Arabian goddess of the night named Layla. The Sufis serenade here in their lyrical poetry and song. She is the goddess of night. The beautiful dark night that one would see if you were a Bedouin nomad. The night in the deserts with no electrical pollution from city skylines is pitch and primordial. Also the hair of Bedouin women is dark black like their eyes and the burkas that they wear. Especially the eyes in many Muslim communities is where a woman communicates so much with a glance, a look, a wink. The dark eyes of Layla may have been another place of inspiration for spiritual practices of the Sufis. Well when I was looking into the myth of Layla and Majnun, I thought to myself this reminds me of that old Eric Clapton song....Layla which I heard a lot when I was growing up. I wonder if their is any connection. And sure enough, there is. The ideas of the dark goddess permeates our culture in many sublime ways. Here is one of the many musicians who were inspired by ancient mythology. The first part above shows an excerpt from the book, Love Poems to Aphrodite. The song below is by Eric Clapton which mirrors the ideas of the original belief. More on Layla and Majnun can be found at the end of this blog.

In poetry, Layla's dark hair and dark eyes represent this divine formless eternity. In her eyes, are the mystery of mysteries and the source of the grand design. [73] The darkness of night along with the star and crescent symbolism can be seen as symbols for the dark goddess as Layla and as dark mothers of Arabian prehistory. [112]

After that evening Majnun lost his heart. And as he lost his heart, he lost his reason. He wandered in the desert, and as he wandered, he tore his clothes and wildly sang his songs. From afar, people would say, "There goes Majnun, once called Qays. Because of his love of Layla, he wanders in the desert and brings dishonor to his father and his tribe." [57]

The powers of Layla can be found in Muslim love poems, especially in the love story between Layla and Majnun. Her presence, her reality stupefies, as is shown when Majnun sank into the depths of love at the mere glance of her toes, revealed under the hem of her gown. [112] Majnun went crazy due to his love for Layla. His name literally means crazy. This is called in Sufism fana or annihilation, in which the Sufi completely dissolves his social conditioning. His social mind is literally erased. [73]

Layla by Eric Clapton
What'll you do when you get lonely
And nobody's waiting by your side?
You've been running and hiding much too long.
You know it's just your foolish pride.

CHORUS:
Layla, you've got me on my knees.
Layla, I'm begging, darling please.
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind.

I tried to give you consolation
When your old man had let you down.
Like a fool, I fell in love with you,
Turned my whole world upside down.

CHORUS
Let's make the best of the situation
Before I finally go insane.
Please don't say we'll never find a way
And tell me all my love's in vain.

CHORUS CHORUS
More on Layla and Majnun - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Majnun

For more about this title and other Matam Press products,please go to
http://www.matampress.com

La Dolce Vita

For the last month I have been in the world of Federico Fellini. You are probably wondering why. Well I plan to do some stories that could be turned into movies and some other types of writing. That is my goal and yes be successful at it as well. I can see why Fellini is a movie screened generously in classes on the art of movie making. I was blown away by the first movie I saw, La Dolce Vita. Now I must admit the images and personalities of women in a Fellini film is romanticized, some might say sexist, some might say primitive. I think Fellini's women represent the era they were projected in, Italy in the 1950's. Seeing them after the turn of the century, they look remarkably limited and in some cases desperate, but also the men sometimes are. The philosophical themes in his films are great. He really does challenge the viewer both intellectually, visually and sometimes spiritually. For instance, the themes of men and persons who are losing themselves as their dreams for a better life, a meaningful life seems to become even more and more distant. This type of crisis applies to today no doubt, even though its made even more brutal by the assumptions that so many of us have that the world we are in is possibly the most emancipated the world has known for some time. All the media images show how easy it is, how accessible it is and still there are many who have identity struggles and conflicts between the social mask and the authentic self that lies quietly beneath. I also saw the Fellini film -81/2. This, upon first screening was not impressive. But after some brief research and watching it a second time, this is supposedly one of his greatest films earning an oscar for best foreign film in 1963. This films shows Fellini, or the character that is Fellini struggling to make a film. But the real struggle is not the film but the director's insecurities about love, women and finding his true inner voice. Its great the dream sequences in the film which you have to pay attention to because it shifts from dream to reality with not much notice. Many of Fellini films are wonderful in that he plays well with Jungian archetypes and symbols found in the Catholic church. His movies are rich with life even in black and white, their vitality is still quite strong. I like also that in La Dolce Vita he hints at a divine Mother Goddess. In one scene, children are thought to see an image of the Virgin Mary in a tree on a vacant lot. Another scene shows the protagonist and his friends at a party discussing Afro-Asiatic women and their unique spiritual culture. I was amazed to see it but Fellini was obvious to me familiar with divine manifestations of women in eastern cultures and even in Italy as well. Seeing a Fellini film is one of the many ways I plan to strengthen and expand my creative muscle. I highly recommend the two films I saw.

Making fun with Monkey Bread

While doing research on Monkey Bread which is like really FUN, I found this item online. This article looks at martial arts and mushrooms. One of the items featured in the book is called monkey head mushrooms. The articles looks at all major mushrooms including this one. Monkey Bread is my first recipe book and its the first that will have illustrations in the same way you see typically in a children's books. I am looking for a good illustrator who can do small images and borders. This book looks at simian folklore around food, drinks and consumption. I hope you like this information below. I find it fascinating. Right now I am trying to find some of the unique food items that will be in this book. Many of them are exotic and expensive.....chilis from Peru, Coffee from Indonesia, Mushrooms from China, raw Cacao, monkey head mushrooms.......expensive Teas....these types of things. Stay tuned....its going to be interesting to cook, construct unique recipes and get photos are some of the many tasks involved here. At this juncture I will have to change my deadline. The original deadline is the first of the year but it may take another two months to finish up everything. I set the original deadline only taking in the text as consideration but I now realize its more then text, cooking, looking for the right ingredients, illustrations....among many things. Well its going to be fun and intriguing. I look forward to that.

Peace Matomah

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

This subject was drop from my latest literary project, Monkey Bread. It didn't fit the subject focus. I thought it was information people should know so I posted it here. I didn't know that there was a coffee ceremony in Ethiopia. A bit of hidden cultural history. Peace Matomah

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Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Not many people know of the unique traditions surrounding coffee in Ethiopia. This particular coffee comes from the Oromio cooperative in Ethiopia, and for the last two years our Coffee Department, and other coffee fanatics within our circle, have considered this our finest green coffee. We roast it with a delicacy that hides none of its charm. Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe comes from the Sidamo region in Eastern Ethiopia, southeast from the Gulf of Aden. Approximately 12 million Ethiopians find their lively hood in the coffee industry, and while Ethiopia exports around 60 percent of its coffee, the drink has deep domestic significance for the country. In fact, many Ethiopians practice a traditional ceremony around coffee.

Not surprisingly, the ceremony is quite social. It is used to welcome guests into one’s home. Traditionally, the coffee ceremony involved drinking the brew either salted, or mixed with butter. According to legend, an ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi noticed his goats became frisky after eating the dark leaves and red cherries of a local shrub. The berries had a similar effect on Kaldi. He shared them with a monk from a nearby monastery, who discovered a brew of the boiled berries kept him alert during evening prayers. The ceremony, which can take a few hours, usually begin with a young woman dressed in traditional attire. She'll roast raw beans over a stove until they are black, releasing a familiar aroma that mingles with ceremonial incense. She'll pour three cups for each guest, serving the eldest first. After the third cup is consumed. Ethiopians believe a blessing is bestowed and one's spirit is transformed. In some parts of the country, this ceremony takes place three times a day and is the village's main social event. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is prized by connoisseurs for its delicate fragrance of orange blossoms and lemony tones. It has an elegant sweet and clean finish. Yirgacheffe charms you with its high citrus notes, sensual wisp of flowers, and round body.

Coffee ceremonies also play other social roles. Coffee time, more than just an ordinary coffee break, symbolizes an important get-together of family members, thereby helping to foster family ties and create an important opportunity to cultivate children and the young with the desired social norms and values. The good are blessed and the evil condemned by elders. Moreover, nourishment of friendship and hospitality to guests, expression of love and respect for "superiors", sharing of information and spiritually expressing the desire for the protection, wellbeing and prosperity of the individual and the collective are all aspects of this traditional coffee ritual. All these are performed while drinking coffee together, two to three times a day.