I loved Porumboiu’s 12:08 East of Bucharest and have been looking forward to seeing Police, Adjective since a while. 10 minutes ago I received the following email from the department:
“Due to a cancellation, the computer science colloquium has been cancelled for today.”
which means our department secretary is high today and which also means that I can make the only showtime (5:15 pm) which fits perfectly to my post jet-lag schedule!
The latest from world cinema’s hottest New Wave, Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu’s (Cannes Camera d’Or-winner 12:08 East of Bucharest) second film is a deadpan anti-thriller about a small-town cop navigating an absurdly meticulous sting operation on a group of pot-smoking teens — and an even more absurd bureaucracy back at the office.
“In this big dramatic production that didn’t do anyone any good (and was pretty embarrassing, really, if you think about it), thousands upon thousands of phonies across the country mourned the death of author J.D. Salinger, who was 91 years old for Chrissake. “He had a real impact on the literary world and on millions of readers,” said hot-shot English professor David Clarke, who is just like the rest of them, and even works at one of those crumby schools that rich people send their kids to so they don’t have to look at them for four years. “There will never be another voice like his.” Which is exactly the lousy kind of goddamn thing that people say, because really it could mean lots of things, or nothing at all even, and it’s just a perfect example of why you should never tell anybody anything.”
J. D. Salinger died. I wanted to make a list of his work in a particular order — in the order in which I love them:
Hapworth 16, 1924
Nine Stories
A Perfect Day for Bananafish
Franny and Zooey
Franny
Franny and Zooey
Zooey
The Catcher in the Rye
Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction
Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters
Nine Stories
For Esme – with Love and Squalor
Teddy
Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
and then comes all other stories.
I haven’t yet read Seymour: An Introduction as I don’t want to be done and over with the best literature that is out there. I’m keeping it for hard times. The fact that it is about Seymour Glass makes it all the more meaningful for me.
So long Salinger, and thanks for all the bananafish.
Got this book in Turkey knowing almost nothing about it. It turned out to be really good. It’s interesting to take a break from microeconomics and have a look at the big picture — too bad it is so ugly.
” … Dunyanin en guzel tarafi kendi icinde pek cok dunya olmasidir; hayatin farkli muzikleri, acilari, renkleri var: Yasamanin ve soylemenin bin bir yolu var, inanmanin ve yaratmanin, yemenin, calismanin, dans etmenin, oynamanin, asik olmanin, aci cekmenin ve kutlama yapmanin binlerce binlerce yil boyunca kesfettigimiz binlerce yolu var…”
Now that I have seen the movie, I can post this blurry picture I took on Halloween.
This is not a movie I would dare recommend to anyone but I have to say that I truly enjoyed it. The snowball sequence in the beginning was plain beautiful… and the way Max connected with some of the “wilds” and how he wasn’t aware what was going on with some others is pretty much the definition of childhood for me. Then of course comes the jumping, running, yelling and getting dirty!
After watching the movie I hugged a fridge and went outside to run in the snowy streets of Istanbul — without falling down (Naturally I did fall down some other time)… I wanted to meet my parents so even that part fit the movie
I know for a fact that getting excited and going wild might be annoying for the people around you, but sometimes one just has to do it! Especially when it snows.
and these two are from last year:
… and guess what? It just started to snow outside!
iTampon is a popular topic on Twitter right now. People are making a joke due to unfortunate word associations in the name of Apple’s new tablet, the iPad (Jan. 27).
RT @funnyordie: The Apple iPad won’t be worth buying until it can store at least a terabyte of menstrual blood. #iTampon
After a long trip most of which I spent dozing off, I got picked up by a Cadillac for no apparent reason and greeted by a freshly baked birthday cake at home! I was planning to be depressed but how could I? It was such a nice welcome. I even got a “gift certificate” for a zoo. (I am secretly hoping it’s the Prospect Park Zoo.) [Thanks would go here but I'm not allowed to. Let's see... Thanks Karin!]
I have one more person to thank: That is Tau Alper who was so nice to let me stay over at his place in Istanbul — for a whole month! (He did try to kick me out a couple of times though). I had some peace of mind over there and had a lot of fun. Iyiiiiiiyiiiyiiyi.
I’m back in my nest now and if anyone wants to visit me in New York, listen to me carefully, I’ll say it only once: Hurry up! I shall not be here forever.
There is a chance that this post will sound cheesy. Oh well, what the heck…
Yesterday I did a little train trip to some distant relatives — intentionally without a camera. There were three kids at the place I’ve first been to, another three at the next one, two at the one after that and one where I stayed over. I really like hanging out with kids. Not that I mind the questions from grown-ups (When are you coming back? Are you in a serious relationship? What exactly are you doing there again?) — I have some vague answers for all those. But conversations with kids are much more interesting to me really.
- What color is your bedspread?
- You have very nice socks. (for dark gray everyday socks)
- I am five and she is four but she thinks she is six. Now lift me up!
- I don’t like this boy (pointing at the picture) — he talks a lot and water comes out of his mouth all the time.
- We are acrobats but once I fell down from this side of the bed when I was sleeping.
Then they have some puzzles for you: – What is it that makes you happy when you break?
One of them even told me a racist joke. Then she took my ring and said it was exactly her style.
In fifteen minutes after being introduced, I knew the names of their best friends, about some boy one of the girls really dislikes because he treats her like a baby, who sleeps in which bed at night, their favorite cartoon shows (one of them didn’t like cartoons, he preferred to watch the news and he could barely speak), what time they get up in the morning and which driver is on time for picking them up and which one is always late.
It wasn’t the first time I hung out with so many kids but one thing was different this time. None of the kids cried when I said goodbye. I felt like I was a better person.
This morning I had breakfast with my sister at a nice pastry shop and took the bus back home. Didn’t see any kids. I knitted and listened to this song. It was an experience.
neden brooklyn? sadece gozleriniz acikta kalacak sekilde giyinmisken size "helloooo, pretty eyes" diyen insanlar munasebetiyle. yarin: burun 1 week ago
(finally) unpacked, rearranged some furniture and made some room for my sanity. it's fun to get up at 5 am. jet lag in the west rules. 1 week ago
So long Salinger, and thanks for all the bananafish. 1 week ago
