Love And Suicide @ MindSay

Stolen from xrainbows4everx, who stole it from myclette, who stole it from ronben. Is it just me, or is there a lot of petty theft around here?

You’re supposed to bold the ones that apply to you…I've added any explanations I felt like.

General:
- I think I am ugly. (No, I know I’m ugly.)
- I have many scars.
- I tan easily.
- I wish my hair were a different color. (Or just staying in my head.)
- I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color
- I have a tattoo.
- I am self-conscious about my appearance. (I told you--I’m ugly.)
- I have/I have had braces.
- I wear glasses/contacts. (Sometimes.)
- I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free, scar-free. (Nah…I’m too old to get pretty now.)
- I have been told I am attractive by a complete stranger
- I have had more than two piercings.
- I have had piercings in places besides my ears.
- I have freckles.

Embarrassment:
- I have slipped out a "LOL" in a spoken conversation.
- Disney movies still make me cry.
- I have snorted while laughing. (Painfully.)
- I have laughed so hard I have cried.
- I have glued my hand to something. (Just briefly.)
- I have laughed until some kind of beverage came out of my nose.
- I have had my trousers rip in public. (No, but I had my jockstrap break on a college campus…and I was wearing white gym shorts. It was an interesting feeling, lemme tell ya.)

Health:
- I was born with a disease/impairment. (I was born me, which is probably worse.)
- I have had stitches.
- I have broken a bone.
- I have had my tonsils removed.
- I have sat in a doctor's office with a friend.
- I have had my wisdom teeth removed.
- I have had serious surgery.
- I have had chicken pox.

Traveling:

- I have driven over 200 miles in one day.
- I have been on a plane. (Strictly speaking, I’ve been in them.)
- I have been to North America. (Ya think?)
- I have been to Niagara Falls.
- I have been to Japan.
- I have been to Europe.
- I have been to Africa.

Experiences:
- I have been lost in my city.
- I have seen a shooting star.
- I have wished on a shooting star.
- I have seen a meteor shower.
- I have gone out in public in my pajamas.
- I have pushed all the buttons in an elevator.
- I have been to a casino.
- I have been skydiving.
- I have crashed a car.
- I have been skiing
- I have been in a play. (I was a tree.)
- I have met someone in person from the Internet.
- I have caught a snowflake on my tongue.
- I have seen the Northern Lights.
- I have sat on a rooftop at night.
- I have played chicken.
- I have seen the Rocky Horror Show
- I have eaten Sushi.
- I have been snowboarding

Honesty/Crime:
- I've done something I promised someone else I wouldn't. (I must have at some point.)
- I have done something I promised myself I would not.
- I have lied to my parents about where I am. (I must have at some point.)
- I am keeping a secret from the world. (Aren’t we all?)
- I have cheated while playing a game. (I must have at some point.)
- I have cheated on a test.
- I have driven through a red light.
- I have been suspended from school. (It was for smoking in the boys’ room, no less.)
- I have witnessed a crime.
- I have been in a fistfight. (Not that I recall.)
- I have been arrested.
- I have shoplifted. (I was 12...hey, what can I say?)

Drugs/Alcohol:
- I have consumed alcohol.
- I smoke cigarettes.
- I smoke pot
- I regularly drink. (Not anymore.)
- I have taken painkillers when I did not need them.
- I take cough medication when I am not sick.
- I have done hard drugs.
- I have been addicted to an illegal substance.
- I cannot swallow pills.
- I can swallow about five pills at a time no problem.

Mental health:
- I have been diagnosed with depression. (Not diagnosed.)
- I shut others out when I am depressed.
- I take anti-depressants.
- I have an eating disorder. (Unless you count eating way too much.)
- I have slept an entire day when I did not need it.
- I have hurt myself on purpose.
- I am addicted to self-harm.
- I have woken up crying.

Death:
- I am afraid of dying. (I’m iffy on this one.)
- I hate funerals.
- I have seen someone dying.
- I have attempted suicide. (Trust me, if I’d actually attempted it, I wouldn’t be here.)
- Someone close to me has attempted suicide.
- Someone close to me has committed suicide.

Random:
- I can sing well.
- I have stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant. (Why the hell….)
- I open up to others too easily.
- I watch the news.
- I do not kill bugs. (It depends on the bug.)
- I hate hearing songs that sacrifice meaning for sake of being able to rhyme.
- I fucking swear regularly. (Pretty fucking much.)
- I am a morning person.
- I paid for my mobile phone ring tone.
- I am a snob about grammar. (In context--there are places where it’s important; other places where it’s not.)
- I am a sports fanatic. (Not a fanatic.)
- I play with my hair. (I pull on my mustache.)
- I have/had "x"s in my screen name. (Not at MindSay)
- I love being neat.
- I love Spam. (I must--I send it to myself.)
- I have copied more than 30 Cd's in a day.
- I bake well.
- I do not know how to shoot a gun. (Oh yes I do.)
- I am in love with love.
- I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS.
- I laugh at my own jokes. (Hey, I’m funny!)
- I eat fast food weekly.
- I believe in ghosts.
- I am online 24/7, even as an away message.
- I cannot sleep if there is a spider in the room.
- I am ticklish.
- I love white chocolate.
- I bite my nails.
- I play video games. (On the computer.)
- I am good at remembering faces. (So-so.)
- I am good at remembering names. (So-so.)
- I am good at remembering dates. (So-so.)
- I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life. (The question is, will they let me be Emperor?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJnZBdzhdLw

Opening scenes of Love and Suicide

VANESSA ARRINGTON | Associated Press

Cuban-American filmmaker Luis Moro expressed his disdain for the long-standing U.S. trade and travel restrictions against Cuba in a very public way: he made a movie there.

Moro’s “Love and Suicide” was showing until Thursday in East New York, New Jersey, after screenings last year in Los Angeles, Miami Beach and the Bahamas.

It’s linked to a personal crusade against the U.S. embargo and it led U.S. officials to investigate Moro for possible violation of U.S. laws that make it almost impossible for most Americans to legally visit communist Cuba.

If officials act against him, Moro says he will refuse to pay any fines, even if it means jail time.

“It’s a farce - the embargo has not worked, and it is not going to work,” Moro said of the policy imposed since the early 1960s. “I’m committed to fighting this to the end.”

Moro, who left Cuba with his mother at the age of 5, says his campaign doesn’t mean he favors the Cuban government or its leader Fidel Castro.

“I’m not pro-Castro. I’m anti-embargo,” he said by telephone from Los Angeles.

A writer, actor and producer, Moro attended a film festival in Havana in December 2003 and took the opportunity to shoot “Love and Suicide,” which was filmed by director Lisa France with a small digital camera.

Days after the movie was shown at the American Black Film Festival in Miami Beach in July, the U.S. Treasury Department notified Moro his trip to Cuba was being investigated.

Moro said he refused the department’s request for details about his travels, saying he has the right to travel freely.

The department can impose fines of up to $65,000 for Americans traveling to Cuba without a special license. Typical fines for first-time violators are about $7,500, Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said.

While U.S. law let Cuban-Americans like Moro visit the island without a special permit until 2004, it authorized family visits - not filmmaking.

Millerwise declined to comment on Moro, saying policy doesn’t allow discussion of individual cases.

Moro said ordinary Cubans on the island suffer most from the sanctions, which were tightened in 2004. The number of U.S. visitors, including those of Cuban origin, slipped to about 108,000 last year from about 200,000 in 2003, according to a Cuban government report, which did not say how many were considered legal by U.S. authorities.

The strongest backers of the embargo have been Cubans who fled the country after the Castro-led revolution came to power in 1959, often losing their property. Moro says it’s time to move on.

The exiles “will never get their land back,” he said. “Just like the Seminole Indians won’t get Florida back, and Texas won’t be returned to Mexico.”

“How many generations, how many families, have been ruined because of personal vendettas?” he asked.

The themes of forgiveness and moving beyond bitterness pepper “Love and Suicide.” Kamar de los Reyes plays a New Yorker on the verge of killing himself when he travels to Cuba and confronts his roots.

A Cuban taxi driver, played by Moro, shows him the city, helping him find love and some inner peace.

The movie shows sweeping vistas of the Cuban capital - the famous Malecon seawall, bustling tourist markets, the winding, picturesque streets of the old city - some with a personal touch.

When de los Reyes’character visits his father’s crumbling home in central Havana, it really is the former house of the actor’s Cuban father.

Moro says that if “Love and Suicide” is shown in upcoming Havana film festivals, he’ll be back.

Without a U.S. license.

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On the Web:

http://www.morofilms.com

Last Update: 5/30/2006 9:06:43 AM

HAVANA (AP) - A Cuban-American filmmaker is expressing his disdain for the long-standing U-S trade and travel restrictions against Cuba in a movie that was screened in Miami Beach last year.

Days after Luis Moro's "Love and Suicide" was shown at the American Black Film Festival in Miami Beach in July, the U-S Treasury Department notified Moro his trip to Cuba to shoot the film was being investigated.

Federal officials say the department can impose fines of up to 65-thousand dollars for Americans traveling to Cuba without a special license. Typical fines for first-time violators are about 75-hundred dollars.

If officials act against him, Moro says he will refuse to pay any fines, even if it means jail time.

While U-S law let Cuban-Americans like Moro visit the island without a special permit until 2004, it authorized family visits -- not filmmaking.

---

On the Web:

http://www.morofilms.com

http://www.thecubanevolution.com

©2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.