whattoread

Sorry, I may have given a mistaken impression in my last posting when I said things were "peaceful." I didn't mean to imply that the cats were acting peaceful... just normal. Which is peaceful to me. In reality Minion is bugging the crap out of Haley. Meaning, life is back to normal. Re a reader comment, I'm not so sure Minion has really come face to face with the fact of her mortality. From the way she flings herself from to and from the furniture, I'm not convinced.

Just finished reading a novel, time to pick another. Better get back to a French book. Got to decide if I want something light or literary or what. I don't have as much Light in French. Harder to find, at least stuff that's inexpensive. May have to depend on the library, come to think of it. Even though I live in such an Anglophone community, my library carries a ton of French books--almost as much as the English, except there just isn't as much available in French as in English. I'm not sure if that's because there are more Francophones around here than I realize, or has something to do with government funding.

Anyway, decide tomorrow. Must go to bed. Here I am going to bed at a good hour (4 AM) but stupid daylight savings makes it seem like a naughty time (5 AM). I should be working for a jazz club, or for a rock star or something.

movies and les films and la télé

So after the horror of Le Nèg, the next day I watched a sort of romantic comedy called Les Crabes dans la tête (Soft Shell Man in English, but it's a French-Quebec movie). It was great. Yesterday I watched a translated Breakfast Club while picking out pictures for my collage. I was never a John Hughes fan because I didn't identify with any of his characters, but the scene where they're all sitting around admitting why they're really there was even better than I remembered. It's too bad their careers all got Hughes-stink on them and they ended up as silly extras in other people's comedies.

Today I watched another episode of Toute la vérité (exshellent) and started up Fortier again since it's something I can watch while doing other stuff (yet it's still SO GOOD!) Then Fernando and I watched Snow Walker and Nanny McPhee (in English.)

My current French problem: My dictionary widget is too good. Each definition has the kind of information you get in big fat heavy dictionaries that you only need at the university level. Not what you need when you're looking for a quickie 5-word definition. I'm trying to find another one...

Ho hum, that's about it. Life's been good this week since the cat came back. Peaceful and unremarkable. I'm back to my old self-adoodle.

My new favorite French phrase: "Hansel. Il est tellement tendance."

I have a very old fashioned cable setup, so if I'm taping something on digital cable, I can't watch something else. (This is how you live on a low income with no debt, my friends. No PVR in this household yet. Just sayin'.)

So if I'm taping something I don't want to watch yet, I put on a DVD. My new thing is to find which of my DVDs have French dubbing!

Tonight was Zoolander. Next I'm starting Angels in America.

Richard Dawkins Cites His Other Writings

Maewitch sent me this site: betterbooktitles. I found that the funniest ones were the ones for books I hadn't even read, because they were just true for a great number of books.

 

 

And then there's this book which bang on expresses the joy I felt at the end of this book (and it's a spoiler so you've been warned. The book is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.)

I don't think "Cicatrisé pour la vie" is a French expression, but what's the equivalent?? (sob sob sob)

"In the middle of the night, in the Quebec countryside, all hell breaks loose as a black teenager is caught smashing a racially denigrating lawn ornament. Together the neighbours attend to justice against the vandal. Thorough the night there is mounting racism, fueled by alcohol, and violence. Le Nèg' opens the morning after when the police investigators arrive at the scene to take depositions." 

I'm totally traumatized. For some reason my vague impression had always been that this movie was about racism in a small town, but a satirical/nonviolent approach to the topic. It's not. It's brutal. Excellent movie, but holy mother of an oh my God. Horrifying.

At one point there was a word I didn't understand, but that I was pretty sure I understood based on context. I paused the movie to check in the dictionary, and the whole time I was praying: "Please don't let it mean what I think it means, please don't let it mean what I think it means..." It did and now I feel scarred for life.

maxin' and relxin' with a bucket of soapy water

I went to my bedroom to take a nap, and ended up pulling out the dryer and washer (they're in my closet) to clean behind them instead. My idea of downtime seems to have taken a strange turn.

Diablotine

It looks like she's back to her old self, but actually these were taken before she got sick. She's just been resting today and catching up on all the finger sucking she missed.