thoughts,

Movie: Public Enemies
Food: plain yogurt with miel de provence
Song: Jason Mraz please leave France

He is everywhere. Every cafe, bar, store...Mraz is the new French H2O. And at first, I was like, this is nice, an American song here and there to assuage my random onsets of homesickness. But seriously, a girl can only take so much of "LUCKY TO BE IN LOVE WITH MY BEST FRIEND LUCKY TO BE COMING HOME AGAIN..." Please stop.

Public Enemies was terrible. I mean seriously, who was their DP? I think they must have had several, each with a million different cameras and styles and camera settings because if I had to choose a film w/ multiple personality disorder, this would be it. Either that, or one dude had a serious misinterpretation of the word "artistic." The script was blah - just take the most generic cop/thief story, add in the word "blackbird" and you got yourself roughly 2.5 hours of wasted screentime. The only thing that salvaged this movie was Johnny Depp, who was still quite nice to look at and who's character was reminiscent of the lead in Cry Baby, a film which is in my head, one good, long memory. Cotillard was also good for however good she could possibly be in this setting. It really befuddles me, how such a crappy script can nab so much star power...and now I rephrase.. it really is quite shocking how much politics gets in the way of filmmaking. Society needs a filler mid-summer crime film. Through in some money+mindlessness. Voila.

And yet, I had quite a nice moving going experience. I went with a girl from Sweden named Sarah, a guy from Norway named Ivan, and a girl from Korea named Bo-Hyun. Bo-Hyun's English and French are not so stellar. My Korean and French are not so stellar. Thus we use Fronglish to communicate. It's really quite interesting - I can almost feel my brain switching on and off the different knowledge compartments it's made for itself, and very amusing to myself. Anyways, it was interesting because whenever there was a snide comment/joke that might have referenced American humor/American culture, I laughed. But my guffaws echoed in their awkward lonesome...subtitles and a lack of cultural knowledge don't allow for the same kind of punch, I suspect. But any of the slapsticky jokes, the audience got...but I don't really enjoy slapstick unless you're a funny short man with a mustache. Thus ensued a lovely see-sawing evening.

Also, I had this friend from middle school, Jill, who lived in Norway for a good deal of her life. That was around the time when Titanic came out. She explained to me how, in Norway, nudity isn't nearly as big of a deal as violence when it comes to ratings. So everything about Titanic was PG until the gun scene towards the end when everyone's freaking out and trying to nab a lifeboat (sorry if I spoiled it for you...JACK DIES!), which then gave the film it's "PG-13". I'll give you this: Public enemies was super violent. I wonder what the Norwegians would think of it. I am kicking myself right now for not asking Ivan about it...must remind myself to bring it up later.

On an entirely different note...

Going to Paris today! Yippee! When I get back, might start doing a few interviews with the homeless here in Tours. Or I might go to Italy w/ the other scholar and talk to Rotary clubs there. Because my host Rotary Club has officially abandoned me so I'm left to my own quick wit, sharp kick, and mastery of the French and Italian language...

It should be interesting what I can come up with. I love improv.

It's raining outside right now and French rain, as opposed to American rain, is really quite lovely. Every time it hits the ground I hear a chorus of watery "Bonjour! Ca va?"

Currently I have my balcony door wide open so that I'm able to feel the light stroke of droplets bouncing into my room. I can also see my across-the-street neighbors who are not so much across the street as across the yard and are not so much my neighbors as my unassuming cohabitants, considering the close proximity of our living situations. It's really quite appalling. Now I'm not a hermit by any means, but I do enjoy sitting in my room and using my lap top on my desk, which, at an angle, looks straight into the room of this kid who also enjoys using his computer. Which unfortunately...also faces the window. So now it's really awkward to be in my room without feeling like a creeper with my co-creeper on the other side of the yard. And I can't close my blinds because usually it's so hot in my room (and there is not air conditioning) so I need to open my balcony door to circulate the air...suggestions?

Most leave now to catch the train. Peace to you all!

Love
Jean