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Aug 6, 2008

2 days ago

22

France

All artistic matters, events and exhibitions ( Art colours and surprises Life ), painting, design and decoration shops, fashion and advertising photos giving me inspiration in my present paintings, cinema, 60s-70s-80s music ( Music sings and enchants Life ), small and comical theatre, visiting big cities or touristic villages, and also long walks in the country and forests. Real interest in Britain, British culture, and in meeting British people since my first stay in England (1969 ), linked to my first experience of self-responsibility, the discovery of a different way of life, of the kind of music I would make mine, definitely, and encounters with charming and welcoming ladies I stayed with ! And I love the beautiful view of the White Cliffs of Dover each time I come over to England with the ferry, I know it means an enjoyable holiday ! When will next time be ... now ? Fond of Indian curry and all mixed salads, as well as cream teas and cheese cake when in England. Care of the planet.

Four Weddings and a Funeral : irresistible wacky British comedy among very close friends. Feel like having the chance to attend a similar funny wedding one day ?In the Mood for Love : fascinating platonic romance and wonderful beauty of the music and the pictures. Secrets and Lies : the moving encounter between a coloured girl and her real white mother. How awful and painful for mother and child, those family secrets about hidden births ! Snow Cake : in Canada, the exceptional and poetical encounter of a real English gentleman and an autistic mother in sorrow at the accidental loss of her daughter, or how to take a kindly and understanding look at different people. A very tasty one, That snow cake! Dead Poets Society : the ideal teacher everyone should get the chance to have at least once in their life, giving self-confidence and faith in one's dreams. The Queen : interesting and revealing portrait of the most famous Queen, duty and love of nature first, feelings afterwards.Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain : a lovely and fresh sparkling-eyed Parisian girl busy making people happy around her, and eventually finding true happiness herself : imagination, mischievousness and optimism, a treat ... without moderation ! What else ? If you have one to recommend, please do !

The Beatles, Paul and Barry Ryan, John Lennon, Bonnie Tyler, Klaus Nomi, the Bee Gees, Mika, Abba, Supertramp, the Corrs, Scottish music and Irish dancing : Lord of the Dance, Celtic Legends ( never seen Scottish dancing ). Two songs by the Stones : You better move on, She's a rainbow. A few French singers : Sylvie Vartan, France Gall and Michel Berger, Emma Shapplin ( singing in latin and Italian )my favourite wicked French song being, strangely, Confidence pour confidence by Jean Schulteis : an amazingly selfish and scornful man singing an unkind non-love song, I don't care, care for you, You love me but not me, since we're speaking frankly, it's me I love through you ! If you want caresses, do not stay, stay with me, I do love without feelings, since we're speaking ... etc ( Using a formal and distant : vous, as we do when first meeting someone, with friends we say : tu ) Great wicked idea and good music anyhow !And it is real delight to be able to listen to My Music here, while painting, my computer not far from my easel, and to discover now and then songs and videos by my favourites that I'd never heard or seen before... and more particularly enjoying at the moment: Scorpio Rising, Star, Sober Phobia and Take it All by P.Ryan, also Turn Away, Strong, Nothings gonna change Our World, La Dolce Vita, The Force is With You and Break The Circle (recently discovered ) by B.Ryan. Loads of thanks to all !

Oscar Wilde plays, books and his witty genius, posh attitude and impertinence, indeed even insolence. I wish I'd listened to one of his society talks, just once ! No doubt he would have accepted me, even though not from the aristocracy, wasn't he terribly unconventional himself ? But being a pioneer has always been risky, though needed !A year in the merde, and Merde actually by Stephen Clarke, a humorous and mocking, but realistic novel about our French way of life, by a journalist who's chosen to live in Paris, in spite of all. No hard feelings, Mr Clarke, I've even bought Merde happens, and also attended your Talk to the Snail speech, or how to get along with those damned snails, ... oh, sorry, froggies, once living in Lyon ! And you insisted that, in your books, you are not mocking, but teasing us ... which, I felt, does make a difference for you, and you also confessed that you couldn't live in England now !!! Thanks, Stephen Clarke, I didn't expect that much ! Among the people who come across my long profile and courageously read it to the end, any British message about the frog and snail eaters we're supposed to be would be amusing and interesting for me to read. You're very welcome !But do you know that the posh, costly and fine dish now in fashion on most of our French tables, as a starter to family celebration meals, is le foie gras, another of our tortures inflicted to ducks or geese this time, the livers of which are fattened up ( an old tradition from Périgord, south-west of France, that has spread out ) : this is le foie gras, we have it with cold onion purée, fig jam, toast, and sweet white wine ...and it is delicious, though ! Goose ( oie ) foie gras is milder, I prefer duck ( canard ). And some English friends of mine who've had it for the first time at home did like it ! But not to be mistaken for pâté, it would nearly be a sacrilege to our French Cuisine to compare it to pâté, and everybody knows that Cuisine is part of our cultural heritage ! French Gourmets might be a bit touchy ... Hope my advice helpful to someone someday !Now for fun, I suggest new fun nicknames for us, such as duckies or goosies, I'm not touchy at all, and keen on British humour ! Other books :The shell seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, Othello by Shakespeare, or what mad jealousy may do.Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol, two great books for the story of a dark and sordid rivalry between people about a piece of land with a spring, in Provence, and an incredible and tragic ending.Any humorous British books to recommend ?Amicalement Odile