Mini Vacation
As most of you already know, poor Chris had to cancel her road trip plans because she's an awesome kitty-mommy. I wanted to do my part to keep her entertained on her stay at home vacation so I cut the work day short and took a mini-vacation myself. It's so much fun to be having fun in the middle of a work day!
We started out with a little art film:
After seeing this film, I read a few reviews on rottentomatoes and it seems like this film either works for you or it doesn't. And I really get that. Gael Garcia Bernal is totally hot. And he speaks three languages in this film. He plays a man named Stephane who leaves Mexico after his father dies to live near his mother in France. He's an artist, but is stuck doing typesetting for a calendar company with several extremely strange and somewhat annoying co-workers. He finds solace in his dreams and pretty soon he's spending more time in his dreams than waking. There's also a love story mixed in with his next door neighbor, who is a bit of an artist herself. I really loved the dream sequences which were sometimes animation, sometimes live action in a world created from cardboard and felt and yarn. It was really creative and beatiful to look at. However, it was also really non-linear and like Stephane, we sometimes have difficulty figuring out what's real and what's just a dream. That worked for me, but I can see why some critics found it just confusing and pointless. I thought the director, Michel Gondry, captured perfectly the way in a dream you are in normal situations and doing rational things, but then all of a sudden things just change. As the film went on, Stephane became more and more anxious and his dreams went from being a solace to being as difficult as reality. The film doesn't really have a straight plot line. It's all about mood and fantasy, so if that type of thing interests you, I think you'd enjoy it. If you like your films a little more concrete, maybe check out Gondry's last film, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It's still trippy and has cool visuals, but there's more of a plot and story to hold on to.
After the movie, we had an early dinner of Thai food at Tum Rup Thai. This is a really beautiful restaurant. It has a very clean and modern design. I had Mee Kah Teeh - rice noodles with red curry. It was really good, especially the curry sauce. The rice noodles were a little bit gummy. The serving was huge, so I had enough left over for another meal, making this a really economical choice for a nice dinner. I'd recommend it if you enjoy Thai food.
No vacation day would be complete without a little knitting, so we grabbed a cup of joe and knit for a bit before I had to take off for my film class. It was such a great, enjoyable day. Thanks for the inspiration, Chris!
We started out with a little art film:
After seeing this film, I read a few reviews on rottentomatoes and it seems like this film either works for you or it doesn't. And I really get that. Gael Garcia Bernal is totally hot. And he speaks three languages in this film. He plays a man named Stephane who leaves Mexico after his father dies to live near his mother in France. He's an artist, but is stuck doing typesetting for a calendar company with several extremely strange and somewhat annoying co-workers. He finds solace in his dreams and pretty soon he's spending more time in his dreams than waking. There's also a love story mixed in with his next door neighbor, who is a bit of an artist herself. I really loved the dream sequences which were sometimes animation, sometimes live action in a world created from cardboard and felt and yarn. It was really creative and beatiful to look at. However, it was also really non-linear and like Stephane, we sometimes have difficulty figuring out what's real and what's just a dream. That worked for me, but I can see why some critics found it just confusing and pointless. I thought the director, Michel Gondry, captured perfectly the way in a dream you are in normal situations and doing rational things, but then all of a sudden things just change. As the film went on, Stephane became more and more anxious and his dreams went from being a solace to being as difficult as reality. The film doesn't really have a straight plot line. It's all about mood and fantasy, so if that type of thing interests you, I think you'd enjoy it. If you like your films a little more concrete, maybe check out Gondry's last film, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It's still trippy and has cool visuals, but there's more of a plot and story to hold on to.
After the movie, we had an early dinner of Thai food at Tum Rup Thai. This is a really beautiful restaurant. It has a very clean and modern design. I had Mee Kah Teeh - rice noodles with red curry. It was really good, especially the curry sauce. The rice noodles were a little bit gummy. The serving was huge, so I had enough left over for another meal, making this a really economical choice for a nice dinner. I'd recommend it if you enjoy Thai food.
No vacation day would be complete without a little knitting, so we grabbed a cup of joe and knit for a bit before I had to take off for my film class. It was such a great, enjoyable day. Thanks for the inspiration, Chris!
rdladd@arnan.com
