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On ne plaisante pas avec la police parisienne!
You don’t joke around with the Paris police force!– Inspector Vital, in J-L Godard’s A bout de souffle (1960)

Filed Under: Films/Television Tagged With: featured, French, Godard, life

Rome! l’unique objet de mon ressentiment!
Rome, only object of my rancor! – Camille, in Pierre de Corneille’s Horace (1640)

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: featured, French, Pierre de Corneille

Mark in the Bee-Hive State Part 4: The Salty Terror of Saltair

June 17, 2016 2 Comments

Mammoth attacks Mark

In Part 4, ‘Mark’, losing for a moment his spiritual bearings, is plunged into a phantasmagoric horror associated with a terrifying Utahan resort of yesteryear.

Filed Under: Religion, Things Seen

On est toujours un peu fautif.
One is always a bit at fault.
– Albert Camus (1942)

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: Albert Camus, featured, French, life

Mark in the Bee-Hive State Part 3: Definitely in the Desert

June 15, 2016 Leave a Comment

Mark among red rocks phone on ground

The third part of the account of ‘Mark”s journeys in the state of Utah. He starts off on a sound footing, only to misstep subsequently.

Filed Under: Religion, Things Seen

Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
Weep, and you weep alone,
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth;
But has trouble enough of its own.

Riez: le monde est ton compère;
Pleurez: vous voilà solitaire.
Car ce monde affligé
Requiert hilarité
Connaissant trop bien la misère.
– Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “Solitude”

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, featured, life

‘Mark’ in the Bee-Hive State Part 2: Approaching the Land of Stone and Sand

June 9, 2016 4 Comments

The LDS Temple in Manti Utah

In Part 2, ‘Mark’ is heading off to the desert but first gets some unexpected spiritual treats.

Filed Under: Religion, Things Seen

La forme d’une ville / Change plus vite, hélas! que le cœur d’un mortel!
The form of a town, alas, changes more quickly than a mortal’s heart!
– Baudelaire, “Le Cygne”

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: Charles Baudelaire, featured, French, life

Mark in the Bee-Hive State Part 1: Mysteries of Salt Lake City

June 8, 2016 4 Comments

Mark gazing hopefully and surrounded by trees

Are spiritual quests a thing of the past? Not a bit of it. Here are memorialized certain high-points of a journey recently made by a friend of mine — I will call him ‘Mark’ — to the land of Brigham Young.

Filed Under: Religion, Things Seen

Where is that bitch of an American girl? She must VANISH! She must die, d i e, D I E !

Où est cette maudite garce américaine? Elle doit DISPARAÎTRE! Il faut qu’elle meure, m e u r e , M E U R E !
– Joan Bennett, as Madame Blanc in Suspiria (1977)

Filed Under: Films/Television Tagged With: featured, surrealism

Doctors on the French Stage

May 17, 2016 2 Comments

Gorgibus Blesses Lucile And Valere

On April 21st, 2016, students in my French course Travaux pratiques de la scène put on a show highlighting the important place of medicos in French theater.

Filed Under: Literature

Quand on lui dit: Comment? Il répond: Je le veux!
When you say to him: How? He answers: Just do it! – Philippe Quinault, Cadmus & Hermione

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: featured, French, life

Alaskan Signage

September 17, 2014 4 Comments

Amazing sights seen on a recent (August 2014) trip to the Frozen North, aka Alaska, and in particular on and about the Alaska Marine Highway.

Filed Under: Things Seen Tagged With: funny

So let it be written — So let it be done!
Qu’on l’écrive ainsi — et qu’on le fasse pareillement! – Rameses (Yul Brynner) in The Ten Commandments (1956)

Filed Under: Films/Television Tagged With: featured, French, silly

Looking Back At: The Exorcist (1973)

September 3, 2014 6 Comments

A mini-review of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. I wouldn’t see it when it came out, out of religious scruples, but now (having become inured to the horror genre in the meantime) I think very highly of it and never re-watch it without pleasure.

Filed Under: Films/Television Tagged With: horror, reviews, sublime

Je pense aux matelots oubliés dans une île, / Aux captifs, aux vaincus!…à bien d’autres encor !
I think of the sailors left behind on an island…of the captives, the conquered…of many others yet!– Baudelaire, “Le Cygne”

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: Charles Baudelaire, featured, French, life

Ten Public Figures Who Have Influenced My Speaking Style

August 23, 2014 4 Comments

William B. Williams

It is good to show gratitude where it is due. In this post I acknowledge my debt to excellent public speakers who have left their mark on me.

Filed Under: Autobio Tagged With: silly

Sétoc. Y a-t-il rien de plus respectable qu’un ancien abus?
Zadig. La raison est plus ancienne.
Sétoc. Is there anything more venerable than an old abuse?
Zadig. Reason is older still.
– Voltaire, Zadig

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: featured, French, life

Silvie. Elle est très faisable. Mais je crains que ce ne soit abuser de vos bontés.
Orgon. Dans ce monde, il faut être un peu trop bon pour l’être assez.
Lisette. Il n’y a que le meilleur des hommes qui puisse dire cela.
Silvie. It’s quite doable. But I fear I will be taking advantage of your kindness.
Orgon. In this world, one has to be a little too kind to be kind enough.
Lisette. Only the kindest of men could say that!

– Marivaux, Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard (1730)

Filed Under: Literature Tagged With: French, life, Pierre de Marivaux

Ich liebe die Dunkelheit, und die Schatten, wo ich allein mit meinen Gedanken sein kann.
I love the darkness, and the shadows, where I can be alone with my thoughts.– Klaus Kinski as The Count in W. Herzog’s Nosferatu (1979)

Filed Under: Films/Television Tagged With: featured, horror

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  • Nothing But Stones (EWW)

    I think I never spent so sad an hour, Dear Friend, as that one at the Church tonight! Je crois n’avoir jamais passé d’heure si triste Que celle de ce soir dans la maison de Dieu! – Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “Nothing But Stones”

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