Today I got an email from a client telling me he hadn't finished the article he was writing and was planning on sending me today before I headed off on holiday. Seeing as we were going to have to push everything back until next week I found myself with 5 hours on my hands before going to pick the BF up at work and speed off to the beach.
So here I am, finally sitting down to post something on my blog. I know I should be getting back to my American adventure -there are so many things I want to jot down and save for posterity, but I have a backpack to pack and a dog to drop off with the dogsitters before I get going so... Hopper it is!
I'd had my eye on the Hopper exhibition since it opened here in Madrid, but I'd been waiting for the perfect time to go. If it were up to me, I'd obviously have gone on a random Tuesday morning before school was out, so I could have wandered around at my leisure, but the BF is also a bit of an art buff and wanted me to wait for him. Then I read that the Thyssen was going to stay open until 11pm for the duration of the show and I thought that would make for a perfect night out (remember I'm the girl who walks into to Ikea at 9.30pm through the check outs and is out of there at 9.58pm).
Apart from the actual show, the Thyssen also have a Hopper-related film cycle on for the summer and last Saturday we decided to check out the film. Despite the fact that we got there early, it was already packed out and they'd locked the doors (this is Spain, people might not be big on culture but they certainly are big on free stuff that they can enjoy in the comfort of an air-conditioned film theatre).
Seeing as we'd made after-art plans in the area, we decided to stick around and bought tickets for the exhibition. What a huge mistake.
Picture me, surrounded by people chatting away about anything and everything under the sun as they leisurely fanned out around the paintings for eons. There were some ladies having a riveting conversation about a banister (in the museum, NOT in a painting), a couple who clearly needed to get a room or get their PDA under control, and a guy babbling away on his phone. Not to mention the kids.
Hey, I'm all for people introducing the young'uns to the arts, but come on, can't you also teach them to keep a lid on it?! There are ways to keep kids entertained that don't involve me having to put up with you merrily playing I spy with your kids in a loud voice and getting them all so worked up they end up kicking each other "'cos I saw it first!!". Jesus!!!
You never know when you might encounter your kryptonite, so I always keep my antidote within arm's reach. I rummaged around my bag, found my beloved headphones, plugged myself into my phone and Wilco-ed the exhibition away, occasionally fishing the earplugs out to whisper a comment here and there.
I loved the show, I love Hopper, I love going to museums... but never again will I go to a Spanish museum on a Saturday afternoon.
PS. If you're in Madrid and you're into art, get yourself over to the Thyssen, but make sure you pack some headphones. Better to be safe than sorry!!
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Friday, 18 November 2011
The Shining
Tonight I'm going to be watching my all-time favourite film on the big screen. I recently came to the conclusion that it was my all-time favourite film when I got a little bit too carried away about being able to watch it again in a theatre. Plus I also realised you can't be 35 and expect people to take you seriously when you say Heathers is your favourite movie, or that you can't decide whether The Breakfast Club, The Lost Boys or The Goonies is the better film (it's The Lost Boys, I mean, come on, there's vampires, there's a comic book store and there's the two Coreys).
Although I don't know how valid it is to say The Shining is my favourite film when I don't really understand the ending!! I've read long studies about the film, overanalysing it frame by frame, taking a deeper look at every tiniest little detail, but that still doesn't make things any easier. Thanks, Stanley.
Still, I'm not about to go into the magic and horror of room 237 (or 217 if you're going by the book, which is another masterpiece in itself) because this post does actually tie in with languages!
I watched the film for the first time when I was 12 years old. I'd sometimes stay over at a friend's house and her older brother would go to the video store and rent horror movies for us to watch. We were in Spain at the time which meant the video store only had dubbed versions of the films. I still remember to this day how we popped the video in the VCR... and spent the next 142 minutes laughing our heads off. We actually spent the rest of the evening pretending to be Jack Torrance. What made the film totally laughable was the ridiculousness of the Spanish acting, particularly the voice of the actress chosen to play Wendy and the weird choice of swear words used in the translation, which were limited to variations on joder. We may only have been 12, but even then we knew that Spaniards rely on a selection of mierda, me cago en la leche, puta and other colourful expressions apart from the omnipresent joder.
When I got back home, my dad asked about my weekend and was blown away by the fact that we'd laughed through the film.
About a year later, we went to London to visit the family and he decided to buy a copy of The Shining to watch at home. I sat down to watch it with him, with all the cockiness of my teenage self and got pulled into the film, no language distractions, all Jack Nicholson in all his glory. I absolutely loved the film and I was completely petrified!!
I didn't sleep for a month afterwards.
Kubrick was a control freak. I know he came to Spain to supervise and handpick the voice talent that would be portraying the actors in the movie. To this day, I still cannot understand what made him choose Verónica Forqué and I do not know a single person who does not find her ridiculous in the film.
That said, and although I didn't realise it at the time, my little bilingual brain was certainly aware of the importance of languages, dubbing... and swearing!
Now, if you'll excuse me, Grady is waiting to show me to The Overlook's private cocktail bar.
Although I don't know how valid it is to say The Shining is my favourite film when I don't really understand the ending!! I've read long studies about the film, overanalysing it frame by frame, taking a deeper look at every tiniest little detail, but that still doesn't make things any easier. Thanks, Stanley.
Still, I'm not about to go into the magic and horror of room 237 (or 217 if you're going by the book, which is another masterpiece in itself) because this post does actually tie in with languages!
I watched the film for the first time when I was 12 years old. I'd sometimes stay over at a friend's house and her older brother would go to the video store and rent horror movies for us to watch. We were in Spain at the time which meant the video store only had dubbed versions of the films. I still remember to this day how we popped the video in the VCR... and spent the next 142 minutes laughing our heads off. We actually spent the rest of the evening pretending to be Jack Torrance. What made the film totally laughable was the ridiculousness of the Spanish acting, particularly the voice of the actress chosen to play Wendy and the weird choice of swear words used in the translation, which were limited to variations on joder. We may only have been 12, but even then we knew that Spaniards rely on a selection of mierda, me cago en la leche, puta and other colourful expressions apart from the omnipresent joder.
When I got back home, my dad asked about my weekend and was blown away by the fact that we'd laughed through the film.
About a year later, we went to London to visit the family and he decided to buy a copy of The Shining to watch at home. I sat down to watch it with him, with all the cockiness of my teenage self and got pulled into the film, no language distractions, all Jack Nicholson in all his glory. I absolutely loved the film and I was completely petrified!!
I didn't sleep for a month afterwards.
Kubrick was a control freak. I know he came to Spain to supervise and handpick the voice talent that would be portraying the actors in the movie. To this day, I still cannot understand what made him choose Verónica Forqué and I do not know a single person who does not find her ridiculous in the film.
That said, and although I didn't realise it at the time, my little bilingual brain was certainly aware of the importance of languages, dubbing... and swearing!
Now, if you'll excuse me, Grady is waiting to show me to The Overlook's private cocktail bar.
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