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shellbelle

Dancing is just like standing still. Only faster. (Billy Crystal)

About Me

I am a kaleidoscope. Sometimes fragmented and weird, sometimes lovely. Always seem to be changing, but that's just a trick of the light.

My Interests

I can be intensely interested in almost anything for a short span of time. And probably have been. The ongoing fascinations: Argentine Tango. Ballroom Dance. Acting. Stories (telling them, reading them, watching them, hearing them, experiencing them). Making things (jewelry, knitting, soup). Chocolate. Humanity. The effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds. Individual responsibility for and effect on the condition of the world. Chocolate. Books. Llamas.

I'd like to meet:

"Everybody loves something. Even if it's only tortillas."

I like to meet passionate people.
No matter what they're passionate about.
Bonus points if it's something I love, too.
Even if it's only tortillas.

Especially passionate people who dance tango.
If you don't know how, Elizardo Martinez Vilas will tell you...

"This is how to dance the tango:

Feel the blood
rise to your face
with every beat

while an arm
winds like a snake
around a waist
that is about to break"

Only dance, and your illusions will blow in the wind
Dance, and make joyous the love around you
Dance, and your veils which hide the Light
Shall swirl in a heap at your feet.
-Rumi

Music:

OOOOH!!! VK Lynne rocks!!! Seriously. I did her CD cover design, and now that I have a copy of the CD, I can't stop listening to it!! Powerful stuff, both music and lyrics. Ya gotta hear this girl!!

And another discovery: Los Pinguos . Happiest music in the world! Will snap you out of whatever funk you're in, or at least make you stop thinking about it for a few minutes. And here I thought the only amazing music to come out of Buenos Aires was tango music. Silly girl...

Movies:

So many!!

I'll dwell on this and come up with truly some of my favorites, but for now I'll just type the first few that come to mind:

Donnie Darko, Ken Russell's Salome, Moulin Rouge, Casablanca, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I Heart Huckabees, Pi, I Confess, Psycho, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings (all), Wizard of Oz, The Legend of 1900, Rize, Mad Hot Ballroom, Singin' in the Rain, Somewhere in Time, Benny & Joon, Edward Scissorhands, Spirited Away, Pleasantville, Motorcycle Diaries, Punch-Drunk Love, Neverending Story...

Television:

I am TiVo-less and never home. So I don't get much TV watching in these days. Still, anything a friend's on, I'll try to watch. And "I Love Lucy." And "The Office" -- British and American.

Books:

Nearly all of them. Really.
Ask anyone who knows me.
If it's in English, I will read it. And if it's another romance language, I'll make a stab at that, too. That said, I do have a predilection for fiction over non...
a few specifics, grabbed randomly from my bookshelf: The Jungle
Perfume
The Story of O
Skinny Legs and All
Jitterbug Perfume
The Eyre Affair
Siddhartha
I know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Possessing the Secret of Joy
The Poisonwood Bible
The Mists of Avalon
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Clan of the Cave Bear, and sequels
Just-So Stories
Read-Aloud Celtic Myths
Harry Potter, all of them
Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation!)
Mutant Message Down Under
Respect for Acting
Spanish for Gringos

And, my MySpace friend Katherine writes books with dance themes.... how cool is that?!??

Heroes:

Dick and Tracy. My mom. My brother Calvin. My sister. My Granny. My Grandma. My Aunt Kathy. My niece Alexandrea. Ken. Toby. JohnJohn. Kristi. Connie.

Wow. I have a lot of heroes. I could keep going, but you won't know any of them, so I'll just say... there are a lot of really amazing people who have crossed my path.

My Blog

Unbelievably cool.

The fabulously talented and amazing Etta Devine and Gabe Diani made a video. OK... they've made more than one. But this one has been on the featured videos on the homepage of YouTube for a couple of d...
Posted by shellbelle on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:42:00 PST

Yiddish Tango

I'm not Jewish, but I must have been in a former life... or the little bit of Russian Jewish on my father's side of the family tree has a strong hold on my musical sensibilities: I love klezmer music....
Posted by shellbelle on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:25:00 PST

Just a thought.

Not saying "No." is not the same thing as saying "Yes!"
Posted by shellbelle on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:19:00 PST

Irony.

When I was a little girl, I wanted desperately to be Peggy Sawyer. For those of you who get hives during overtures for musicals, Peggy Sawyer is the plucky young chorus girl in the musical "42nd Stree...
Posted by shellbelle on Sun, 16 Dec 2007 07:30:00 PST

Shared Beliefs

This morning, half-awake and on my way to work a trade show selling jewelry, I was more than a bit cranky and suffering through the sort of existential angst that always seems to accompany sleep-depri...
Posted by shellbelle on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:26:00 PST

The rambling recap of my Trip to New York

Every time I go to New York, it seems that wacky and weird and wonderful moments surround me.This time was no different, though the time passed so quickly, I am sure I missed a few things.On the fligh...
Posted by shellbelle on Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:00:00 PST

Travelling Tango.

"How can it be so magical? You - the artist, I - the canvas. I - the artist, you - the brush in my arms; your feet, painting the canvas."When you dance with someone who hears and interprets the music ...
Posted by shellbelle on Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:54:00 PST

Help Barefoot Kids!!

Hi.So, if you missed it, I'm having a party!The party is not until the end of July -- Saturday, July 28th at 1pm.It's a TOMS shoe party (http://tomsshoes.com). The idea is for us to get together to de...
Posted by shellbelle on Tue, 26 Jun 2007 01:12:00 PST

Lonesome no more?

"I've had a hell of a good time," Vonnegut once wrote. "I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different."Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut.May you also have a hell ...
Posted by shellbelle on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:36:00 PST

Shakespeare was a Cingular Talent -or- Valentine's Day Crazy Talk

If only ROMEO & JULIET could have sent text messages....A scene fromRmeo n J - A Luv Storyby Wm Shkspr..........................JULIET:o Rmeo Rmeo w4 r u Rmeo?JULIET, again, 30 seconds later:o Rmeo pl...
Posted by shellbelle on Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:40:00 PST