Locked-In syndrome - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir of life after a debiliting stroke, this film by Julian Schnabel shows how he awoke from a coma finding that he was almost completely paralyzed except for his left eye. Working with a speach therapist he begins communicating with people by blinking his left eye, indicating each letter. Bauby had been editor of the French fashion magazine Elle. He had a deal to write a book before his accident so he decides he will still write a book. The story of writing the book is mixed with recollections of his life up until his stroke. One of the most poignant moments in the film is when Bauby recollects shaving his father who is confined to his own apartment because he is too frail to use the stairs. In another scene, the father, played by Max Von Sydow, weeps when he realizes during a phone call to the hospital, that Bauby can't answer back. Bauby finished his book and died of pneumonia ten days after it was published. He is played in the movie by Mathieu Amalric and the movie was filmed, in part, at the hospital where Bauby stayed after his stroke.
The Co-Op always has a certain smell to it. What's this, the new issue of Delicious Living, probably a lot of advertisements and a few recipes, but lots of color. Let's see...mmm...interesting article. Natural killer cells slay fatigue. Uh-oh, this Doctor in the picture has too much flash, that polyester sportcoat, uh, solving the puzzle of chronic tarigue syndrome. Let's see if they have this product in the store. Wow, it's over $50, i think i'll try it. (One hour later.) i'll take one, no use reading the "suggested use." (45 minutes later) Incredible, the grid of pain and fatigue has lifted off. i feel quite sure it's gone (forever). Let's check out the research on this. Of course the Doctor told me i had fibromyalgia, but as much as i know it's difficult to tell these two apart. (2 days later) Look, at this 
Amari (bitter) is a digestif popular in Italy; it's drunk after the long Italian meal (apertifs are drunk before the meal). They're little known outside of Italian communities in larger cities. Some bars in San Francisco and New York are beginning to offer large selections. Amari's are made from proprietary, secret and local recipes of herbs, flowers, roots and other ingrediants; they're macerated in alcohol and then distilled. The origin of the drink supposedly can be traced back to the time when spices were being brought from the Near and Far East and then used by herbalists and monks in Europe. The drink was first commercialized in the 19th century. It should be had chilled but keeping it in the freezer can stiffen the liquid and deadan the herbal taste. Amari are sometimes used in cocktails and can also be used as a base in which to create a cocktail. Other countries that produce amari include Serbia, Germany, the Czech Repuclic and Russia.
Gorki List (bitter leaf) from Russia may be available shortly in the United States. This drink contains wormwood which was an ingrediant in old-style amari.
What was Gurdjieff doing during the German occupation of Paris? For a detailed description see William Patrick Patterson's 
The self, (myself) laid bare to an open bed of flowers. Stalks drooping, depressed and sour. The roses bent and weighted within the wattle dead.
Ted Hughes was Poet Laureate of England from 1984 to 1998 when he died. He was born in Yorkshire in 1930 and grew up in a household haunted by the presence of his father's experiences in WWI. His father was one of a few British soldiers to survive the slaughter at Gallipoli. The book Ted Hughes - The Life of a Poet by Elaine Feinstein (WW Norton 2001) helps set the record straight about Hughe's life which was a tragic one. His first wife, Sylvia Plath, committed suicide after Hughes started an affair with another woman. (In so doing she gained the fame that had eluded her.) In America, embracing the onset of the feminist movement, Plath was sanctified, Hughes was vilified. Many critics bitterly attacked Hughes for Plaths death. He had two children with Plath. He also had a daughter with Assia Wevill that ended in tragedy, Wevill killed herself and her daughter. He was married a second time to Carol Orchard. Here is one of Hughe's most famous poems, The Jaguar.
