I really need to clean my room, so of course I'm here typing a blog instead. It's rainy and dreary today, and I suspect it's going to be getting colder. It's been nice, but a bit too warm for October. Has anyone ever noticed that October has a certain scent associated with it? I can't really describe it, but I've always associated that scent with Halloween. I don't smell it as often down here (in fact, the only time I picked up on that scent this year was last Saturday), and when I do, it seems slightly different. I think most of it is the smell of the leaves decaying, but also at home I live about two miles away from a tomato canning factory, and October is the month when they start stewing the tomatoes. Obviously, there's no tomato factory near Denison, so that might be why the scent is slightly different.
Okay, time for some more History of Cinema movies. Sunday's movie was Quai des Brumes, a French movie made in 1938, directed by Marcel Carné and starring (once again) Jean Gabin.
"Quai des Brumes" is French for "Port of Shadows," which sounds like an excellent title for a soap opera. Our professor showed us this movie as a contrast to The Grand Illusion. Whereas The Grand Illusion has an optimistic tone, Quai des Brumes does not. Quai des Brumes was part of a movement in French cinema from 1938-1940 called Defeatism. Basically, movies took on a depressing, cynic tone. If Quai des Brumes is a good representative of the entire movement, they would seem much like a predecessor to film noir, which would take hold in the U.S. a few years later. It wasn't bad, but I preferred The Grand Illusion.
Last night's movie was Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka, made in 1939 and starring Greta Garbo.
If you've never seen it, the movie is a romantic comedy about a female Soviet commissar and a French count. I know I'm going to get lectured for saying this, but I had never seen a Greta Garbo movie before (Unless you count the little bit of Camille that they stuck in the middle of Annie; which, by the way, Annie takes place in 1932 and Camille was made in 1936. You do the math. But I digress), so this was the first. Romantic comedies really aren't my thing, but I suppose it was all right for a movie made in the thirties (I wish Ninotchka had kept a little of her tough-girl persona after she fell in love, though). It's the only movie I've ever seen that succeeded in making Communism look silly (not silly as in "a bad idea," but silly as in goofy). Then again, it was made in America, so of course they would (I'm not passing judgment, so don't read any political ideologies out of this).
Here's some odd movie news: Apparently, MGM is planning to restart the Pink Panther franchise by remaking the first movie (Actually, this probably interests Marisa more than me, because I was never able to sit through an entire Pink Panther movie, though I tried). What's odd is their pick for Inspector Closeau (sp?): Steve Martin. Now, Steve Martin and Peter Sellers don't seem anything alike to me. But, I don't like Steve Martin much, so perhaps it's not a valid observation.
Apparently Styx played the national anthem at a Steelers game this past Sunday. Why does no one tell me these things?! I've got a perfectly good blank videotape sitting right here. Plus it would've given me a chance to take a look at the new bassist (Ricky Phillips, who apparenly played with Bad English). Oh well, it could be worse. They could be doing covers of old Michael Jackson songs, like another artist I know of (No offense, Marisa).
Anyways, sorry for the lack of post, but it's Tuesday, and that means fencing. Bye!
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