I want to learn French

So you mean to tell me I don't have to wait till Sunday to start a new post, even if I want it to post on Sunday? Well, duhhhhh. Seriously people, it never struck me to start this off in the middle of the week (or in this case the beginning) and to work on it through till Sunday. I guess I assumed I'd be busy.

So here's the skinny. The plan was to watch No Country For Old Men, which is due back tomorrow. But I finished Persepolis last night, and it left such a large impression on me. And now I'm curious about immersing myself in French, learning to say a few rudimentary things, while figuring out if it really does complement Spanish.

Years ago a coworker told me that he understood French very easily because of his native Spanish. Now more than ever in my life am I finally interested in learning the Romance language that sounds like sloshing red wine in your mouth while kissing your lover.

And now for the complete 180. Saturday Night: Decided to treat myself to a movie theater. This blonde with a turtleneck glances back at me in the parking lot, and watches me as I pass her looking for an open spot. Too bad it takes another 10 minutes to find one. I turn the corner walking to the ticket booth area, and there she is again, though I distinctly feel her eyes scanning me for recognition. Do I know her? Does she know me? Did I just land in the Twilight Zone? Now from a distance she resembles somebody I worked with years ago in a different city. But then again from a distance my astigmatism could make Nadya Suleman and Angelina Jolie indistinguishable (I hate that I made that reference). So back to the Twilight Zone, it occurs to me as I walk down the way to get some coffee that this girl is on a blind date. When I return to buy my ticket, she is still sitting by the fountain, and in a matter of minutes she gets up and leaves apparently stood up. I hope she didn't think I wussed out. Waitaminnit I wasn't her blind date. This is the Twilight Zone!

What a prelude to what I want to call the romantic movie that kicks the ass of all other romantic movies. My review blurb might read Not since Romeo & Juliet has a love story thrown us through the tempest of fate. Slumdog Millionaire is based off the novel Q&A, which I imagine to be an allegory of the residue of the caste system of India in the post-modern age of capitalism, with a tone similar to Kite Runner, which sadly is the most recent piece of literature I've read to which I can make a comparison. As far as films, the outstanding documentary Born Into Brothels, paints a picture of Calcutta's Red Light District that perhaps is similar to Mumbai. Other films I thought of were City of God, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind which I have not yet seen, and Invisible Children.

And now time for stuff:


Hannah Friedman - is the youngest person to be featured in Newsweek; is writing her first book; comes from a musical family and sings a great tune about Neuroses, and is overall a Queen of Pastiche. She drops the science.


Yes.com I use this several times a week to track down music I hear in the car, but forget somewhere during the commute. All you need are the call-letters to see the week-long song log.







Catsuka is a French language website devoted to animation. It's got production images from tv shows and movies, artist spotlights, and trailers for both big budget and amateur animated productions. If only I could read French . . . . (hint: I used google's page translate to get the broken-English version)