Pattern Recognition.



Look at the coloring, those eyebrows. (Thank heavens for no black teeth yet, anyway.)



Promotional picture from Misoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari.)

(Feel as though I should be calling her Noko-san instead of Magnolia. She certainly acts as though I should.)

Since am solo for now, decided to try out the new Vietnamese place that just opened up nearby. Had a bowl of fisherman's soup, a crepe and a papaya salad - standard stuff, but nicely done. Was particularly impressed with the crepe, as it was neither too greasy nor soggy in spite of my showing up late to pick it up. Loved the filling, too. The sprouts were perfect.

Figured that I'd just eat, then turn in with a book (long day, plus the floor guys are coming early tomorrow). That was before I noted that someone put Baisers Volés up on Youtube. (Missed the entire series of Antoine Doinel stories at the Brattle last month, could have kicked myself for that.) Charming, but a little sad. Doesn't help when one recognizes more than a few of the locations and starts feeling the Sehnsucht welling up as a result.

Still, not a bad way to spend a Friday night.

Sehnsuchten.

(He asked for Debbie Reynolds in a cake.)



Happy Birthday, Pavel!

Couldn't Resist.

Seems as though the Obamas have succeeded in something I'd never have thought possible: Making the Sarkozys* look like class acts. That's talent.

That said, I would like to point something out to folks going on about the region code thing. I live in zone one and the Frenchie lives in zone two. I buy him DVDs all the time off the Amazon US site and send them or bring them over. His player has the option of handling one zone other than his own, and it wasn't even an expensive one.

***

* Heading off to Brazil for Christmas, then to Mexico for Spring Break after telling the citizens that there'd need to be a lot of belt-tightening is not good. Suing people who poke fun at you, or using your position to further your career as a mediocre pop singer is somewhat of a no no as well.

Only got to see bits of this on the last plane trip to France. Kind of dark, kind of CGI'd, but it's still Bond. Would like to see it in full (as well as a Piece of Peace.)

The theme song's been unshakable, though. Has been running through the head for something like three or four days straight, now (hate when that happens; would like something else):

Morning.

Normally my first move is to put on a pot of coffee to be gulped down during the race to get out the door. Today was nice. For the first time in ages, aside from the impending snow cleanup, there was nothing for me to rush off to. School's done; they're shut down at least till Sunday. Nothing I can do about that. All my work's submitted; it's out of my hands now.

I have a party tonight and a christening tomorrow; we'll see if I end up at either. Though it would be nice to see people, going out in the bad weather is nothing I really feel like doing. It feels like I'm burnt out. Just want to watch movies, knit, read either the Patrick O'Brien novel I picked up at a library sale or maybe the book the Frenchie gave me on Zola's collected materials for character sketches. I'm thinking about baking some pumpkin bread or a couple fruitcakes so I have *something* to give people, but, honestly, don't know that I have the energy to do even that.

Wonder if there's a movie on PBS tonight. If so, that settles it. (Hmm, West Side Story and In the Heat of the Night on 44. That's a toughie. Have seen both several times, but they're good. Will think about it.)

In other news:

Karen's house closed! She called to tell me that she was going out to buy a bed and a chair to go with her new TV. I asked her if, as a now somewhat permanent resident, she was required to do this:

Truth and Soul.



Careful - not too safe for work.

Two things lacking in the political races this year. (How awful that I've had this song running through my head for like a week now? Beats the heck out of that new Eurythmics song, anyway.)

Was a little out of sorts yesterday. This was due in part to the weather, I think. Also, I did overindulge a bit the night before.

I think the TV goes on in my house maybe once every couple weeks if there's something good on PBS, and even then, it's for no more than a couple hours. Saturday night, though, was the movie motherlode, and I ended up watching all three in succession.

The first was The Apartment - possibly my favorite Billy Wilder film (if I had to choose. Don't force me to, though). The last time I saw this was in France years ago at a Billy Wilder festival. They called it La Garconniere, or the Bachelor Pad (maybe a more apt title). What struck me was how much I'd misremembered and mixed up with another favorite, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The second was another Wilder film I'd never heard of: One-Two-Three, starring James Cagney as a Coca-Cola company man in Germany. This one had us howling, it was so hysterical (kind of iffy when it's late and there are sleeping babies in the house). The humor and aesthetic were very Dr. Strangelove meets His Girl Friday in a stage play, if that makes any sense. Would love to see this one again.

The last was a sweet little film about some Russians whose submarine runs aground offshore from a small New England town. Pablo mentioned that Alan Arkin had a pretty good Russian accent (much better than John Cleese's in A Fish Called Wanda, anyway). I found it surprising that, what with all the stars involved (Eva Marie Saint, Carl Reiner, Brian Keith, to name a few) and all the academy award nominations that this garnered that this film isn't shown more often. Is the aesthetic too dated? Are the politics outmoded? Don't know (shrugs). Also could've sworn that the credits were a Saul Bass creation, but I guess not.



What a cute little promotion! Wonder how much was improvised.

Rarely if ever is there this much good stuff on the TV, even on PBS.