9/20/05

Umbrellas

I have not been getting very much done lately. I had a lesson at 8:30 this morning with Tania and Dave...and Dave was being pretty annoying. He kept bugging me about playing this one part in tune, and he changes the fingering, and I play it even worse...and he's like, "you really need to play it in tune...you really have to be sooo careful about it." and im like, "I just need to practice it" He also seems to think that my program is really out there...or at least I get that vibe from him...whatever. Went back to the apartment and didn't really do anything...linguistics was manageable today...nothing I didn't completely not understand...although the morphology trees don't really seem to follow any rules...the words seem to get split down randomly and the teacher is like, "well look at that!!! didn't expect that to happen!!" and I'm just wondering how im going to figure it out on the test. In Undercofler class there was a special guest talking about her program for singers that is apparently really amazing. I had to leave early for a gig and Undercofler made a big deal about it and announced it to the whole class...I guess he did the same thing last week when I had the Paul Katz lesson...I wonder why the class needs to be updated on everything I'm doing? And the gig was really hilarious...we were really disfucntional and apparently had no sight reading ability...we kept laughing at every tiny thing...I hope the people eating thought we were just having a good time...they probably didn't actually notice. Whatever...they would randomly decide to clap, but not after every piece, just a few random ones. Strange. Went to dim-sum with Heather and Kimberly...was fun. Had some Sambuca, courtesy of Kimberly. I just finished watching The Umbrellas of Cherbourg...which I really loved. I guess some find it a bit tedious, but the music (although a bit repetitive) and the lavish costumes and sets seem to cancel out any blandness in my mind. The movie stars a young Catherine Deneuve (Dancer in the Dark!) as a young woman in love...which of course doesn't work out...every word in the movie is sung...but none of the music really becomes a song, which is a bit strange. There is also no dancing (um...Evita?). But it just seems to work. I was instantly captured from the moment the movies started: a shot straight down to the ground watching people walk by...most of them carrying umbrellas. And of course, probably the most famous scene...the train departure as the train pulls away and the camera pulls back...we see Guy leave the frame and Catherine Deneuve disappear into the distance while the main theme is belted out in the orchestra...a must see!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

omg, i have wanted to see that movie so badly! i can't believe you have it!! that is so crazy. i love catherine deneuve, and fr. culture obviously. I MUST SEE!

Anonymous said...

There are some fantastic aspects of Parapluis. The music constantly gets subtly quoted in many other French films. The colors are really thrilling! The perpetually dying aunt gets on my nerves, though.