At the movies

Melody convinced me when we first moved here to buy an UGC Illimité card, which allows you to watch an unlimited number of movies at most movie theaters in Paris for a yearly fee of about 240 euros. At 8 euros a movie, we would need to watch 30 movies to make the card worthwhile, and I think we accomplished that in our first couple of months here. Most awesomely, there was a complete Rohmer series at La Filmotheque in August, so we saw all the subtitled versions they showed:

-Le Genou de Claire
-Pauline à la plage
-L'Amour l'après-midi
-La Femme de l'aviateur
-Les Nuits de la pleine lune
-Le Rayon vert
-L'Ami de mon amie
-Conte de printemps
-Conte d'été

We just watched Barry Lyndon at La Filmo as part of their Kubrick series. I had seen BL on video, but watching a projection of it made it clear that it is the most beautiful looking movie I've ever seen.



We also recently saw Sailor et Lula (Wild at Heart) at Le Champo, down the street from La Filmotheque.



It seems there is always some Lynch playing somewhere in town, always some Hitchcock, always some film noir, and always some westerns. So, for example, we saw To Catch a Thief, Lifeboat, and Strangers on a Train at La Filmo, Melody saw Kiss Me Deadly there too, and I was giddy watching The Wild Bunch at Action Christine and Pat Garret and Billy the Kid at La Filmo.

Some others I can remember:

-Rio Bravo (La Filmo)
-Les Felins (La Filmo)
-An Affair to Remember (La Filmo)
-Now Voyager (Action Christine)
-The American Friend (La Filmo)
-Badlands (La Filmo)
-Thin Red Line (La Filmo)
-The New World (La Filmo)
-Bad Lieutenant (La Filmo) (this was part of a Harvey Keitel series!)
-Klute (La Filmo)
-Manhunt (La Filmo)
-Ninotchka (La Filmo)
-Hombre (La Filmo)
-Minuit à Paris (UGC Danton, which appears in the opening montage)
-You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Mk2 Quai de la Seine)
-Source Code (don't remember where)
-Paths of Glory (Le Champo)
-Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (La Filmo)
-Black Swan (Mk2 Quai de la Loire)
-King's Speech (Mk2 Quai de la Seine)
-The Fighter (somewhere on the Champs-Élysées)
-The Social Network (Mk2 Quai de la Seine)
-Reservoir Dogs (La Filmo) (also part of the Keitel series)
-Crimes and Misdemeanors (La Filmo)
-Femme Fatale (La Filmo)
-Charade (La Filmo)
-Breakfast at Tiffany's (La Filmo)
-An American in Paris (La Filmo)

Invalides

While visiting the Musée de l'Armée, my dad and I also watched a large French military ceremony in the central courtyard of Invalides. The French navy dress uniforms (with the red pom pom on top of the hat) are particularly awesome. The enlisted men and women standing at attention with FAMAS rifles with fixed bayonets would have to cover the pointy tip of the bayonet with their hand when they moved around, presumably to prevent poking someone's eye out.

Joseph Banks in the British Museum

While hanging out in the curiosity cabinet room in the British Museum, I spotted the bronze portrait bust of Joseph Banks, who is a central figure in The Age of Wonder, which I spent pleasurable month or so reading.

Turbine Hall

Visitors enjoying the sun in the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall.

Oggsford Graduation, Part 2

The doorway I most identify with in the Bodleian quad.

View of the Radcliffe Camera from the Old Quad at BNC.

View onto Radcliffe Square from inside BNC.

Oxford being exclusive, in this instance at Merton College.

Merton's dining hall serves one of the better english breakfasts in Oxford on Sundays.
Merton gardens and playing fields.

Broad Street in summer rain.

Oggsford Graduation, Part 1

The Bodleian.

Waiting to reenter the Sheldonian, outside the Divinity School.

After the degree ceremony, standing around outside the Sheldonian, with the Bridge of Sighs in the background.

A bulldog.

Melody and I went to Oxford last weekend to receive degrees that we completed almost ten years ago, and to eat some Ben's cookies from the Covered Market.

Pont des Artes

Around 10pm on the Pont des Artes.

Château Cerisy-la-Salle

Buildings and grounds at Le Centre Culturel International in Cerisy-la-Salle, Normandy. We just completed a massive, week-long conference at the Château on "Meaning, Context and Implicit Content" with around 60 participants.