molière and such

Today I went to the park to watch a group of staff members play "camp games" against each other (arranged by one of the managers)--like trying to pop water balloons, an egg toss. The best part was that the balloons refused to burst and the eggs were the hardest raw eggs any of us have ever seen. After awhile they just started chucking them at the ground, trying to get them to burst, but the super eggs just bounced along their way... Must have fed those chickens too much iron.

Just watched this movie, from the library. It's like Shakespeare in Love--where they take an unknown part of an author's life, and go crazy with it, and make out as though it served as the inspiration for ALL their great works. It's a style that kind of annoys me, I'd rather watch something more true to life. But I guess if you wanted to introduce someone to Molière's plays, or get them excited about them, this would be a good way, since it makes use of many famous scenes. And it suited my present mood, since I just read Scapin by Molière, and am reading Les Trois mousquetaires which takes place around the same time.

I also took out the mini-series Les Rois maudits, which my friend Banana recommended to me. Will probably start that tomorrow. The series will be a nice complement to my Shakespeare history plays (and my languishing novel) as it deals with the French monarchy leading up to the Hundred Years Wars (and Henry V.)

So reading Les Trois mousquetaires... my French actually did get better. I remember trying to start this book in 1996 when I first bought it, and I had trouble getting into it because it was hard to understand. This time I'm doing much better.

Mind you, it's a 600 page book, and I read slow in French! Could be reading this for months, if I don't give up. I often re-read phrases that I don't understand, because I find if I skip too many lines ("Oh I'll skip this, I'm sure I'll pick the thread back up in a moment") I get more and more lost. Better to stop and think.

Same with French movies/tv. I watch with French subtitles, cause I understand written French better than spoken, and then I can pause when they're talking too fast and I need a moment to catch up.