Valentine's Day Around the World (Updated for 2014)

Valentine's Day Around the World
A great series of pictures of people celebrating Valentine's Day everywhere in many different ways.  Published in Christian Science Monitor in 2012...
In Slovenia:

In Thailand:

Valentine's Day in Thailand.  Click HERE for the whole gallery.

Click on the link for the whole gallery from CSM:  Pictures from Pakistan, Egypt, Slovenia, the UK, the US, and many other countries.  

Starting a Romance: One Rose or a Dozen?

From Smell-the-flowers blog

From Yahoo Answers:  

Should I get a girl who I'm not even dating a present for Valentine's Day?

Ok, so I've liked this girl for ages now... She doesn't know.. I don't think.. We're not really even friends either more like acquaintances.. I'm friend with one of her best mates but I've not plucked up the courage to actual speak to this girl... Ive liked her for about 6 months now and cant seem to get her off my mind... She is 18 and I'm 25 also I don't think that's an issue but others think it might be?

I was thinking about getting some white roses and a nice bit of jewelry sent to her house on Valentine's Day... (Anonymously also) 

Any advice would be appreciated...

To clarify, I really want to... But I guess I'm being a wimp.. Girls hey! The handful of friends I've spoke to about the are torn between some saying a little over the top and some saying go for it... That's why I'm here...

My answer: 

Valentine's Day is the perfect time to kindle romance.  But be very, very subtle.  I actually think that ONE perfect rose might be a better gift than a dozen roses or jewelry..

I wouldn't send her jewelry unless you were really dating her.. Right now you just WANT to date her.  So be subtle.. ONE rose.. White, red, perhaps an unusual color.

Here's more about a gift of a single rose:  A single rose

And, just for your reading pleasure, here's a great blog about roses...and all flowers:  Smell The Flowers (Roses)

Celebrating Anti-Valentine's Day... Not (Updated for 2014)

Broken heart image found HERE

Apparently many people really do hate Valentine's Day and there is a large (and growing) subculture of anti-Valentine's people.    

The Christian Science Monitor captured the feel of the anti-Holiday in 2012:  

Fed up with the romantic industrial complex, oops, Valentine’s Day? Don’t want to be among the Americans who fork over $17.6 billion for everything from flowers to chocolates to, well, whatever else retailers can emblazon with hearts and seductive sayings?

Join the growing crowds of Valentine’s Day protesters. This contingent has its own guide, “The Anti-Valentine’s Handbook” by J. More, not to mention numerous websites, such as meish.org, that suggest how to spend the day. Tips include the ebulliently juvenile – think taking old photos of an ex and decking the person out with fake mustaches and the like. 

Or, compete online for the worst-nightmare date scenario. An early entry on Squidoo.com recounted a foray to a local petting zoo where not only was the writer jumped by a filthy-footed goat, but her date was spit on by an angry llama.

Anti-Love Songs 

Anti-Valentine's Day should be celebrated with such songs as "Love Stinks" or "You're No Good", according to the anti-Valentine's contingent.

I was really surprised when I found dozens of anti-Valentine's Day song lists after a quick Google! 

"Tainted Love" is mentioned, and another I didn't think of:  "Every Step You Take" by The Police.. It's a stalker song, as pointed out by Jeannie at hubpages.  Hmm... I missed that in the many thousands of times I heard that song, but, yep, it sure is:  "Every step you take I'll be watching you", and "You belong to me."

Now, to my mind, "anti-Valentine's Day songs" aren't about broken love but about cynicism about love.  The following lists, however, contain odes to broken love, crazy love, love gone bad, and other kinds of not-love. 

If you are looking for a few great anti-Valentine's Day songs, here are a few lists to start with, then add your own:

• Jeannie in a Bottle's hubpages Best Anti-Love Songs for Valentines Day 
• Ten Intense Songs; None of Which I have Heard of at Loudwire (includes "Die, Die My Darling" and "I know You are F#cking Someone Else")
• Readers choose their favorite un-love songs here at Line Out the Stranger.com.
• If you are a country fan, here's a list just for you at About.com Country music.

Some final thoughts..  

In a sense, Valentine’s Day is now governed by Henry Ford’s principle of mass production, as standardized cards, chocolates, and roses spew forth. However, here’s the rub: Even the anti-Valentine’s Day mood has been captured by the maw of commerce. Websites hawking merchandise with cynical slogans such as “love bites” “Happy Singles Awareness Day!” abound.

But before you get too cynical, stop here and ponder the "I Hate Valentine's Day" sentiment.  Maybe Valentine's Day isn't that bad after all.
 
Oh, and there are plenty of retailers (most online) who aren't part of the Mass Production of Love brigade.  You may have to dig around to find them. 

Thirty Days of Love for the World

My "fifteen days of love" was going to be "thirty days of love".  But I couldn't quite get it together by mid-January.

 

From www.standingonthesideoflove.org

So I was very excited to see a Thirty Days of Love campaign as I traversed the Internet.  Not at all the same thing as my Fifteen Days of Love, but it is a great idea for people who want more from the holiday than the usual gifts, flowers, and overpriced meals.   

Many kinds of love; many ways to celebrate Valentine's Day 

"Standing on the Side of Love"s Thirty Days of Love project promotes a different kind of love, a love for all mankind through social justice, as described below:  

Standing on the Side of Love is a community of people compelled to speak out against oppression, united in the common belief that love is the ultimate guiding force of our world. Join us for the Thirty Days of Love, a period for intentional action, service, education, and reflection running from January 19 to February 17, 2013. 

Thirty Days of Love is a project that was born of their re-imagining of Valentine’s Day as a social justice holiday. It has now become “a month-long spiritual journey and commitment to sustained action and service.” 

The goal of Thirty Days is to influence attitudes and public policy by elevating compassionate religious voices. From January 19^th to February 17^th, each week has a theme and each day has a Daily Action for participants to complete. 

From www.standingonthesideoflove.org

You can participate! 

Among the various projects at the website is this nonpartisan non-religious pledge for people to contact their CongressCritters and sign:

Our nation needs our message. 

Tell your members of Congress to stand on the side of love by denouncing vitriolic language in the public discourse. 

After a contentious election year culminating in nail-biting fiscal cliff negotiations and in the face of upcoming debates on several big issues like preventing gun violence, comprehensive immigration reform, and the debt ceiling, we find ourselves in search of a more compassionate national dialogue. 

None of us has all of the answers. What we do have is our hearts. When we stand on the side of love, we allow our hearts to be our guide, and we ask others to do the same. 

At this crucial moment in time, use your voice to ask your members of Congress to stand on the side of love by denouncing vitriolic language in the public discourse and committing to a more respectful, bipartisan climate. 

Take this opportunity to ask our leaders to work with us for something better.

(Click on THIS LINK to learn more or sign the pledge.) 

And remember... Love is expansive.  The more you have; the more you can give away.. to other friends, family members, to your community, to the world.  

There are many kinds of love and many ways to celebrate Valentine's Day.   

Casablanca: Can You Love Two People? (Updated for Valentine's Day 2014)

Can you love two people at the same time?

One of our favorite movies is Casablanca. (No surprise there.)  My husband and I often watch the movie, and we frequently debate the question:  Did Ilsa (the Ingrid Bergman character) love her husband (The Czech resistance fighter Victor Laszlo, played by Paul Henreid )?  She was willing to leave him for Rick (the Humphrey Bogart character), but throughout the movie she expresses nothing but love and caring for Victor.  In the end, of course, she leaves with Victor as Rick (the Bogart character) stays behind.

Photo of Lazslo, Ilsa, and Rick found at The Atlantic

Passion, Respect, Admiration:  Love?

My husband contends that, while Ilsa respected and admired Victor very much (she was a young woman when she met him), she did not feel love for him in the same way she felt love for Rick.  Perhaps it is true that she felt more passion for Rick.  But the development of their relationship ended abruptly; they were still in the throes of the initial pangs of passion when the Germans entered Paris and Ilsa learned that Victor was still alive.  Ilsa and Rick never had time to live together or develop a life together.  Had they had that time, those initial flames might have burned down .....  And either burned out.. or cooled to a strong simmer that can last decades or even a lifetime.  We'll never know and it was just a movie anyway. But I don't doubt for a minute that Ilsa did love Victor and might have been able to be very happy with him.. She may have loved him more and more deeply as the years went on and she matured....  But Rick, far, far away, may have never have left her heart.  

Happy Birthday, Casablanca!

Casablanca recently celebrated its 71st birthday, and, to celebrate the movie, The Atlantic published THIS article last year.  Ronald Reagan and Michele Morgan instead of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman?  Impossible to even consider.  Snopes says that this rumor is untrue anyway.   HERE's another recent article about Jewish influences on Casablanca that you may wish to read.

The Atlantic contemplates the Ilsa character:

The motives of Ilsa, Rick's old flame, are no less nebulous. Is she merely manipulating Rick, rekindling their love as an expedience to retrieving a pair of visas? Or does she truly love him, and is she really preparing to leave her husband at the expense of the French Resistance? 

My thoughts are above:  She really does love Rick, and though she might just have left Victor for Rick, she really did not want to leave Victor.  Ultimately, going with Victor was right and deep in her heart she knew it.  Victor might really have needed her more than Rick ever did.

Now a better question:  Can you love two people if they are close and you see them both?  

Now that just seems like a recipe for disaster.

Casablanca for Valentine's Day

If you are in the Chicago area, the Music Box Theatre features Casablanca as an annual Valentine's Day tradition--  including a love song sing along.  Details HERE.

In the Falls Church area of Virginia:  Details here.

In the Austin, Texas neighborhood?   Check out the Alamo Drafthouse HERE. Downstate Illinois, in Champaign: The Art Theatre.

Casablanca is also featured in dozens of "Valentine's Day movies" lists, including this one at Tinyprints, this one at the New York Daily News,and in the Christian Science Monitor.

More About Casablanca and Valentine's Day

On the Brattle Film Brattle Blog:  Casablanca- Valentine's Day in Morocco examines the question:

So why celebrate it (Valentine's Day) by watching Casablanca – a film, by most definitions, about love lost? 

They have some answers to that question.  Click the link above.