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Inglorious...
Jan. 25th, 2012 07:28 pmI managed to avoid watching last night's campaign rhetoric, from both parties, run for free by just about all the major media. Instead, Galina and I watched a 1963 film titled Maigrait voit rouge (Maigrait Sees Red), and while I wasn't all that captivated by the story or the acting, I was struck by what I can only describe as 'respect for the audience' in the languages the characters spoke.
The American gangsters, for example, spoke English. Maigret—played by Jean Gabin, both in this film and others featuring George Simenon's commissaire—spoke both English and French with an American counterpart, who also switched languages as required. Unless I am mistaken, I believe I heard Italian spoken at Pozzo's, too.
About the closest thing I can think of along these lines in recent times was the rather smooth manipulation of spoken language in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, where suave, slimy SS Col. Hans Landa—played by trilingual Christophe Waltz, is introduced to us speaking French, whereupon the character then suggests, to his interlocutor, that the conversation continue in English so as to afford, ahem, the colonel to practice that language (and to confound any listening ears, no doubt).
Work was work: no spectactular achievements, breakthroughs, or breakdowns. No mundane ones, either. The agency that wanted a quote from me a couple of days ago has gone silent; if I'm not mistaken, this does not necessarily mean the project is dead, but my situation might change and I might not be able to take the work if and when they do finally move off the dime (just like the last time).
But as I keep reminding myself, there's no utility in worrying about what's beyond my control. Apropos of which, I ran across the following gem this morning:
Cheers...
The American gangsters, for example, spoke English. Maigret—played by Jean Gabin, both in this film and others featuring George Simenon's commissaire—spoke both English and French with an American counterpart, who also switched languages as required. Unless I am mistaken, I believe I heard Italian spoken at Pozzo's, too.
About the closest thing I can think of along these lines in recent times was the rather smooth manipulation of spoken language in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, where suave, slimy SS Col. Hans Landa—played by trilingual Christophe Waltz, is introduced to us speaking French, whereupon the character then suggests, to his interlocutor, that the conversation continue in English so as to afford, ahem, the colonel to practice that language (and to confound any listening ears, no doubt).
Work was work: no spectactular achievements, breakthroughs, or breakdowns. No mundane ones, either. The agency that wanted a quote from me a couple of days ago has gone silent; if I'm not mistaken, this does not necessarily mean the project is dead, but my situation might change and I might not be able to take the work if and when they do finally move off the dime (just like the last time).
But as I keep reminding myself, there's no utility in worrying about what's beyond my control. Apropos of which, I ran across the following gem this morning:
VII.71. How ridiculous not to avoid wronging others, which I have the power to do, while wishing to avoid being wronged by others whose actions are beyond my control?It'll be back to the face of the mine tomorrow morning. For now, I'll rest.—The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of the Meditations,
translated by S. & D. Hicks
Cheers...
