For anyone who pays close attention to my blog -
I don’t think anyone does, really -
you may have noticed the new link under the
“An Absolute Must” heading, that looks like it says
(because it does) La Casa Comics. Any of the truly intrepid
may have visited this mysterious site and noticed it looks
like crap. Well, that’s because my notepad skills suck,
thus far, but I’m looking to improve them dramatically
over time, so stay tuned. La Casa Comics
(ed. note: now located at http://lacasacomics.com)
is the website of myself and my two roommates, Theo and Tim.
Theo and I have been doing a comic collaboratively called La Casa (of all things),
chronicling the adventures of three twenty-something guys,
dealing with ravenous monkeys and the
17 laws of attraction (17 and 1/2, really). Theo also does
his own thing with these two cop-guys and aliens,
and Tim is working on a monkey-conspiracy story, so it
should be pretty entertaining once we get it all out there.
So like, check it out, and stuff.
–
Speaking of synchronicity, it turns out that a young woman
I used to work with at Ruby’s (an Oly restaurant), went to
France with the same program I did (only 2 years later), and
stayed with the same family that I did in Betton (near Rennes)!
And, contrary to the fact that I thought they might have disliked me,
they remembered me and showed her the pictures I had left and
everything. Talk about crazy. So, it was fun to compare our two
experiences with this family and Rennes in general; and France in
more general. It seems like once a week I get together with
french-y people (like myself) and talk about experiences and
adventures in France. Bear in mind that I went to France over
four years ago, and only for three months. In that sense,
it seems kind of silly that it’s a constant conversation topic
amongst my peers. A lot of value has happened in my life
since then, but somehow it seems like France is always going
to take the cake. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.
I’m not trying to be a downer, though. I do enjoy these
conversations; very much so. But I can’t help but wonder
at what point, if any, a three-month trip to a completely
civilized country loses its significance;
or will this always and forever be the pinacle of my experience?
–
Swing dancing tonight, and I’m dragging Theo along with me.
I told him that even if he didn’t dance, he could practice drawing
motion. It sounded clever and enticing to me, but I think he’s just
coming along to dance. I’m betting he gets asked to dance more than
me, but that’s absolutely and totally fine. Dancing is great, but
dancing with strangers is a little less great, and they’re all
strangers. I remember how much more fun it is to have a constant
dance partner, to learn and to practice with, and in the end to
feel comfortable with, most importantly. With strangers, it’s hard
to tell if they’re enjoying themselves, and it’s hard to tell if
they’re judging you or not.
It’s fun, but it can play havoc with the ego and the psyche.
Watching Man on the Train last night, Jean Rochefort has a line
as he’s playing the piano, to the effect of:
Everyone always thinks that one must enjoy playing music.
They say, “Oh, the happy hours he must spend in front of the piano.”
Well, playing music can be a dead bore too, let me tell you.
And then he goes on to say how boring Schumann is, but how he
likes Schumann for appealing to his love of failure. The point,
however, is people could easily say the exact same thing about
dancing; and I would have the exact same response.
Sometimes, dancing can be a complete bore, too.
On a huge tangent, Hollywood is making American, big star versions
of what I consider to be very watchable foreign films:
Taxi is becoming Taxi and Shall We Dance? is becoming
Shall We Dance? Why must we remake these films
instead of watching the originals? With Taxi, at least it looks like they
changed the film in a few ways (though they kept the ending to the
letter), but with Shall We Dance?; the scripts are
completely identical! Perhaps on the opening night of each of
these films, I’ll boycott, stay home, and watch the originals.
You’re all welcome to join me; bring some popcorn.
