Vive la France
Last night this was my wonderful bedtime reading.
By Paul Rudnick, New Yorker. I am Marie-Celine Dundelle, and I do not need a book contract to reveal that French women are superior in all matters. Our secret lies in an attitude toward life, a point of view that I can only call Frenchy. For example, let us discuss weight loss. The American woman obsesses over every calorie and sit-up, while in France we do not even have a word for fat. If a woman is obese, we simply call her American. Whenever my friend Jeanne-Helene has gained a few pounds, I will say to her, “Jeanne-Helene, you are hiding at least two Americans under your skirt, and your upper arms are looking, how you say, very Ohio.”
To maintain my figure, I eat only half portions of any food, always arranging it on my plate in the shape of a semicolon. For exercise, at least once a day I approach a total stranger and slap him. And late each afternoon I read a paragraph of any work of acclaimed American literary fiction, which makes me vomit.
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Key Largo
The decor and the language of the film reminded me so much of other films of this era that I erroneously thought the film was written by Riginald Rose or directed by Sidney Lumet. A mafia boss who wants to get back into major deals descents with his entourage on a small hotel in Key Largo in the middle of the summer when no one in their right mind vacations on the Florida Keys. The owner of the hotel runs the hotel together with his daughter in law who lost her husband in World War II. Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) was with the son and husband just before he was hit in Italy. To help them come to terms with this death, Mcloud pays them a visit to tell them the details how he died. But before he can do this, the mobsters hold him and everyone else hostage and now Frank’s courage is tested and his heart is opened up by the beauty of his comrade’s widow. While it would not make my top 100 list, the film is worth seeing, especially if you are on a visit to the Florida Keys.
Debate Team
This documentary provides in good insight into a subculture of American campuses that I knew nothing about. I thought debate would be a gentelmanly or womanly sport where students would speak in a way understandable for an audience. But there is not audience in the sub-culture other than other debaters for whom debate because a full-time obsession. The first 30 minutes of the documentary were intriguing. But the first-time filmmaker forgot that the human brain likes stories to unfold in chronological way. He jumps back and forth so much that my little brain felt a bit overtaxed by it.
War may be coming to Mid-East
I must admit that I was totally surprised by the 11. September 2001 attacks. I had seen that terrorist in the preceding years had hit increasingly bigger assets of the USA. Unfortunately the standoff with IRAN may lead to war this year and then all bets are off what this will mean for our daily lives. Read what the British foreign secretary said in an recent interview.
Iran risks nuclear Cold War By Robert Winnett, and Benedict Brogan in Daily Telegraph
Iran’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is threatening to trigger a “new Cold War” that poses an even greater threat of nuclear conflict than the stand-off between the USSR and the West, William Hague warns.
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L.A. Confidential
In a recent New Yorker article Adam Gopnik has provided a detailed portrait just how much more people are incarcerated in the United States compared to other countries. The murder rate in the US is higher than any other Western country. For this reason America is perfect background for a celebrity, crime, and corruption film in the heart of the film capital: LA. I had seen part of LA Confidential 7 years ago but for some reason I could not watch the end of the exceedingly well-crafted film-noir about the LAPD in the early 1950s. Treat yourself to this wonderful drama.
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“It’s Half-time America” by Clint Eastwood
Eastwood, the long-time Republican and libertarian, denies that he is trying to endorse Obama with this ad.
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