Monthly Archives: March 2007

Saturday Photo Hunt: water

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Fontaine Saint-Sulpice detail
Spitting image

Last week’s theme, empty, left me wordless or rather pictureless! Plus, I was awfully sick for a couple of days, so I skipped last Saturday.

The water theme is more in my line. And there are so many fountains in Paris, not to mention the River Seine. This is a detail of Fontaine Saint-Sulpice in Paris.

Want to read about Millie Garfield and Ronni Bennett? Go to Technology Opens Up a Brave New World for Seniors

By the way, >Ronni is just recovering from surgery, so if you haven’t done it yet, go and wish her a prompt recovery

Vera Drake

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I missed Vera Drake when it was fleetingly shown in Paris cinemas, although I had heard excellent things about it, all of which turned out to be quite true.
A very interesting British movie, wonderfully directed and acted, Vera Drake is about a working class woman of the 50′s, and takes place in England. Vera is a good woman, who loves and is loved by her family and relatives. She helps a lot of people in her neighbourhood and as she puts it, she also helps out young girls in trouble. As in the UK of the 50′s, abortion was a crime, you can see what the subject of the movie is. I don’t want to tell you any more about the plot, as I recommend you get your hands on a copy of that movie and watch it. Whatever you think about abortion, the movie is a must. Imelda Staunton, who IS Vera is just incredible.
I watched and was fascinated by the movie and was so interested that I wanted to see what was in the bonuses. There was Imelda, talking about Vera, and it really took me some time to realise that there was the actress who had impersonated Vera. The whole cast is incredibly good.

The movie won two awards at 2004 Venice Film Festival - Golden Lion for Best Film & Volpi Cup for Best Actress.

Mike Leigh, the director, also directed a 1996 movie i also loved, Secrets and Lies

Wednesday Window: Art Nouveau (aka style nouille) building

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Angle building
Angle Avenue Félix Faure and rue de l’Eglise

This amazing building, featuring what they call Art Nouveau, while its detractors called it style nouille (spaghetti style) is not far from where I live in the XVème arrondissement.
Unfortunately, the name of the architect, usually carved onto buildings has been removed. I took this photo quite a while ago, but remembered it as I walked by with a friend yesterday.

No fuss, no muss

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Mounir wants to learn EnglishJust read in WCS Another American in France, the expression
no fuss, no muss
I knew the expression no fuss, but don’t think I had ever heard the word muss.
Speaking about a kitchen utensil, it means of course that it was easy to use, and what’s more, was tidy and easy to clean. I assumed all that from reading Walt’s post.
Still, as I like dictionaries I looked up muss in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and was surprised to find

Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 obsolete a : a game in which players scramble for small objects thrown to the ground b : SCRAMBLE
2 slang : a confused conflict : ROW
3 : a state of disorder : MESS

Of course, number three is the right choice, and Walt must have chosen it because of the rhyming quality.

My bilingual Robert and Collins dictionary gave the example of mussing up someone’s hair.

This made my morning!
I had forgotten that I had a Words category and don’t think I had put a post there for quite a long time!

Notes on a scandal

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Notes on a ScandalI really liked Notes on a Scandal a lot, a movie by Richard Eyre, an excellent director. Incidentally, Richard Eyre also directed a great movie I saw last year, Stage Beauty, a remarkable period piece, describing (among other things) the end of men actors impersonating women on the London stage

From a book by Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal is a psychological thriller. Both Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench are brilliant. Judi Dench, one of my favourite actresses, who I just loved in last year’s Mrs Henderson presents plays a teacher, a manipulative elder woman. She looks totally different, in this movie, from the good-looking elder woman that we are used to, which totally fits the role.
I like it when, instead of using botox and loads of make-up, an actress accepts to look older and rather dull.

The themes of the film are manipulation, female homosexuality and sexual relations between a teacher and one of her students.
So definitely not a movie for young children. Wonderful acting and mounting suspense. All the other supporting roles are also remarkable. A film I totally recommend and that should be added to Ronni Bennett’s Time Goes By ElderMovie list
Let me also wish a long life to Time Goes By, whose three-ish anniversary it is today!