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Sunday, January 14th, 2007
More thoughts on Vagabond -- I kept coming back to wondering how closely the events of the movie matched the events of Mona's final days, and what Varda's research had looked like. I have an image of her conducting interviews with the people portrayed, and then building on those interviews to create dialogue. I felt so strongly the spectre of death hovering over Mona! Especially starting around the time she hitched a ride with Mme. Landier -- who seemed downright creepy on the second viewing. The final sequence, from when Mona flees the fire, to when she is assaulted by the wine-makers, to her wandering into the field and falling, had me crawling out of my skin. How true to life is that image of the wine-makers carousing and chasing random pedestrians around, dowsing them with dregs?
posted evening of January 14th, 2007: Respond
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Tonight I am watching Vagabond again -- having seen it yesterday is really helping with the comprehension. So I don't have to pay as much attention to the subtitles and I'm catching more of Varda's visual genius. Also, some plot elements that didn't quite click for me last night are coming together, though there are still a few scenes that don't make sense -- like I'm not sure who the woman is that is saying, 40 minutes in, (approximately) "She's got a good head on her shoulders -- if I'd have thrown you out at her age, my life would have been better", or whom she's talking to, or whom she's talking about.
posted evening of January 14th, 2007: Respond
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This afternoon we are going to Princeton to watch David Catlin's Lookingglass Alice. Should be a lot of fun.
posted morning of January 14th, 2007: Respond
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I have not blogged about this (or about much of anything, really), but: I got a new job! This is my last week of work at the old one. I'm excited about the move; I'll write more about it in the coming weeks. (Really!) I will be meeting some friends for a celebratory drink this coming Friday, the 19th, which is my last day of work in the city -- if I have not contacted you it is out of forgetfulness. Drop me a line, I'd love to see you there. The new year also brings with it a new car for me, or rather a used one. Ellen and I are joining the ranks of the two-car owning families, because I need a car to get to my new job -- though I'm hoping and planning to ride my bike there when the weather is nice. I'm kind of happy because I've never had a car of my own, always wanted one. It is a tan 2002 Nisan Sentra, previously owned by a little old lady who drove it only on Sundays. Sylvia and I took a trip down to Mexico the first week of the month, where my whole family had gotten some rooms in a resort hotel in Tulum for a little reunion. It was fun -- Sylvia sees entirely too little of her cousins and they really had a blast together. I haven't been in the same place as my brother and both sisters since like the late '90s.
posted morning of January 14th, 2007: Respond
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Last night I watched "Vagabond" (originally "Sans Toit ni Loi") by Agnès Varda, who directed "Cléo de 5 à 7" -- I had watched "Cléo" back in November and been utterly fascinated by it. "Vagabond" is very nearly as powerful a movie. The two movies have a lot in common -- are recognizably the work of the same hand -- and are completely different from one another. Where "Cléo" is whimsical and madcap, "Vagabond" is bleak. There is a deterministic thread running through both movies that would be worth puzzling out. I need to watch "Vagabond" a few more times to get past being totally in thrall to the beautiful camera work. Also I need to rent "Le Bonheur" and "Jacquot de Nantes". It seems to me like Varda is in the same league as Hitchcock in terms of her command of the visual composition of the movie.
posted morning of January 14th, 2007: Respond
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Sunday, December 31st, 2006
Happy new year, to my human readers, search engine crawlers, and spambots.
posted evening of December 31st, 2006: Respond
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Thursday, December 28th, 2006
Last night for bedtime stories, we finished Through the Looking Glass, which was totally enthralling for Sylvia. She's into pointing out the impossibilities of the story. What's funny: previously I had asked a couple of times if she would like to hear "Alice in Wonderland" but she always turned it down flat. I think the title just made it sound too much like a "princessy" story. But now she wants to hear it, and asked if we could read all of the stories in our Collected Work of Lewis Carroll. (I am skeptical how much of "Rhyme and Reason" she is actually going to want to listen to.)
posted afternoon of December 28th, 2006: Respond
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Halfway through Against the Day -- the book just took a turn (p. 548) for the miraculous. I heard from Bill M. today, that he just finished it, and that I have many more marvels to expect in the coming pages.
posted afternoon of December 28th, 2006: Respond
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Saturday, December 23rd, 2006
Two fine blogs having to do with Against the Day: the Against the Day Weblog of the mysterious Basileios -- I don't know if that URL is going to continue to be the correct one -- and Research Methods for Professional Writers by somebody named Stevens. [...Later:] You know that blog of Stevens' is really good. (Basileios' may be great too, I don't know -- haven't started looking in the archives much yet.) Update:Also Adam Kotsko has compiled an index of some of the best Against the Day reviews.
Update: some great writing, in Spanish, about Against the Day at El pez volador.
posted morning of December 23rd, 2006: Respond
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Friday, December 15th, 2006
I have been on-again, off-again with Against the Day; after the first bit, which I quite enjoyed, there was about a hundred pages where I was reading and thinking, well I really owe the guy big-time for Vineland and GR and Lot 49, I really should keep reading; and then there was about a hundred pages where I was liking the story a lot but not quite connecting with the characters; but suddenly yesterday afternoon, as I was reading of Kit's exploits at Yale and on Long Island, it hit me with a flash that this is Great Stuff, on a par with anything Pynchon has written before. And reading today about Dally working her way around NYC, that impression is still with me. I am feeling the need to reread though, since Dally and her father and their story were introduced during a bit where I wasn't paying very close attention.
posted evening of December 15th, 2006: Respond
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