Come As You Are

I read two other Nick Hornby books recently. The first one is About a Boy. I liked the movie better than the book. (And, as you know, I preferred the written version of High Fidelity to its filmed one.) The end of the book is pretty different from the end of the movie. I liked the bit where Marcus, one of the main protagonists, says that it doesn't really matter who are the people who back you up, as long as they're there.

The other one is The Polysyllabic Spree. It's a collection of essays which Hornby wrote for a magazine. The essays are about the books he reads and buys. He buys a shitload of books, and he makes me want to buy a lot, too. I love to read his views on reading. Reading fills me with despair too, sometimes.

I'm done with Nick Hornby for now. He makes me want to read Dickens... We'll see how that goes.

On an entirely other subject, I also saw The Ugly Truth recently. It was so bad. Katherine Heigl plays an uptight bitch, and Gerard Butler is very disappointing.

Analyse

Movies, movies, movies! And why not add in a theme: the movies I have seen these past few days are all about playing games. Playing games with people, with love, with magic.

Dangerous Liaisons (1988): An adaptation of a French classic directed by Stephen Frears, who also did High Fidelity and The Queen. The novel was written in 1782, so I assume the movie takes place around that time, and boy did they have fun with sex in that time... more than one would perhaps expect them to. Basically, the main protagonists are thoroughly bored with their lives, and so they play around with other people in very intricate ways. The cast includes Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and the very comical Keanu Reeves... though perhaps this effect was not intentional. His voice has probably deepened with the years, is what must have happened.

Jeux d'enfants (2003): A French film by Yann Samuell... What a weird movie. A boy and a girl have been daring each other to do numerous things all throughout their lives. The game is pure fun at first, but as they grow older, the consequences pile up. They play with each other, they love each other, and they hurt each other. Some of the events that occur in the movie are very twisted indeed, and the ending is surprising to say the least. At some points in the movie, it becomes difficult to tell what is reality and what isn't. It stars Guillaume Canet, who is rather easy on the eyes, and Marion Cotillard. I do not especially like this actress, but her beauty is made evident throughout the film. I usually love French movies, but I have to admit I am not sure what to think of this film, what with its vision of absolute love. Also, the characters, in their younger selves as well as in their older ones, talk especially fast, and with that French accent...

There is a passage in which the male character describes what his life is like now that he is 35 years old. It is not easy to separate the French language from this description, so I will leave the original description here, but I will attempt a translation:

"Je vous présente ma vie vers 35 ans. J’avais tout. Une femme, deux enfants, trois potes, 4 crédits, 5 semaines de vacances, 6 ans dans la même boîte, 7 fois mon poids en matériel hi-fi, 8 coïts conjugaux par trimestre, 9 fois le tour de la terre en emballages plastiques, couvercles de polystyrène et autres packaging alimentaires non biodégradables, et 10 ans sans voir mon père. Le bonheur. La panoplie du parfait tyran dont j’avais rêvé toute mon enfance."

"I present to you my life towards 35 years old. I had everything. One wife, two kids, three friends, four credit cards, five vacation weeks, six years at the same office, seven times my weight in electronic devices, eight marital fucks per trimester, nine times the Earth's orbit in plastic wrappings, styrofoam lids and other non recyclable materials, and ten years without seeing my father. Perfect happiness. The perfect despot panoply I had dreamed of my whole childhood."

The Prestige (2006): Illusionists are a weakness of mine. In that effect, a movie about illusionists is irresistible to me. Add in a dream cast and I'm done. The cast comprises Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Piper Perabo (in a small role, but she is lovely as always), David Bowie, Andy Serkis (who provides an enjoyable performance, even without being computer-modified), Michael Caine, and Rebecca Hall (her performance in Vicky Christina Barcelona seems to be often overlooked, but it was the most memorable thing about this Woody Allen flick). There is also Scarlett Johansson, but I don't like her that much. The Prestige is the story of the rivalry between two illusionists and how they keep sabotaging each other. I was disappointed at one point of the movie when real magic is introduced, but the final and immensely satisfying twist soon reminded me that I was watching a Christopher Nolan film. And, at the end, when the greatest magician is revealed... there are no more arguments left.

Christopher Nolan also made two of my favorite films, Memento and The Dark Knight. I can't wait to see his next movie, Inception, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Ken Watanabe. It was also supposed to star James Franco, but I guess that didn't happen.

Baby, I Love Your Way

I hadn't enjoyed the movie High Fidelity as much as I thought I would. The book, however, is great. I cannot decide whether this is a guy book or whether this is a girly book written by a guy. Apparently, guys worry about a lot of things too. The book is often very funny: the "I haven't seen Reservoir Dogs yet" passage is hilarious. There is a sad moment when the main protagonist is about to finally reacquaint himself physically with his ex, and all he can think about is whether they have protection or not, because she has been with another man. I also like this passage very much: "People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence is taking over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands - literally thousands - of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss."

You Keep Me Hangin' On

The other night, my family and I went to one of Montreal's best "bring your own wine" restaurants. It is called La Colombe and the waiters were very efficient, but perhaps that was only because they wanted to have a second service. As an appetizer, I had a salmon mousse, which sounds really weird but it was actually pretty good. My entree was lamb, and it was great except for the sauce, which was a bit too dark. We finished off with a nice chocolatey dessert, along with cream. I would give it 7/10. 

Stadium Love

I went to the Metric concert on September 17 at Metropolis. It was cool. The Stills were the opening, and they were okay. Metric's show was a lot about the lighting effects and the long, weird instrumentals with lots of synths. Not sure that's what the fans wanted, but it was interesting. Honestly though, once you've seen Karen O, no other indie songstress makes the cut. 

Dancer

My friend and I developed a taste for vegan restaurants during our trip across Canada, so we decided to go try another one out in Montreal with one of our friends. It is called "Aux Vivres", and it is on St. Laurent St. It was so good! I had tomato and cumin soup, a Thai bowl with brown rice, bok choy, grilled tofu, peanuts and peanut butter sauce, fresh apple juice, and a huge piece of chocolate and apple cake. The servings are pretty big and very satisfying!

This Fire

Craig Ferguson's autobiography American on Purpose came out on September 22nd. It is a very enjoyable read, and one can easily recognize Craig's humor throughout the book. Fans of his show have already heard a lot of his stories, but it is still a joy to be reacquainted with them. In the first part, Craig tells us of his childhood in his native unforgiving Scotland and of a few people who have greatly influenced his life, including his parents and his relatives living in New York. It makes one realize that, throughout life, we meet a lot of interesting people who become important to us. Later on, Craig recalls his days of drinking and of moving through the punk and stand-up comedy scenes. This includes his getting acquainted with the women involved in those scenes (man, he was a STUD!). After getting past drinking, Craig then moves on to his incredible journey through the show business world of America. He started with many crap jobs, wrote a novel and a few movies along the way, and ended up getting, against all odds, the position of late night talk show host on CBS. A lot of elements of this read make it highly inspirational, but they can all be summarized with this one sentence from the book: "Between safety and adventure, I choose adventure."