Happy New Roosters
Hello World,
Happy Year of the Rooster! Wednesday, of course, was the beginning of Chinese New Year, and apparently no one has to tell the Chinese how to party, because it said in the newspaper that they celebrate Chinese New Year for 15 days. Now, that's my idea of a holiday! It's a far cry from the Moslems, where they seem to go out of their way to have these horrible holidays where you can't eat, can't sing, can't dress up, can't smile, which is more like the "Fear Factor" version of a holiday. No thank you very much! So here we are, enjoying the Year of the Rooster right alongside of our Asian friends, and glad of it. For the language purists among us, Bill unearthed a couple of audio files that I will be happy to send to any interested parties, with the correct pronunciations of Kung Hei Fat Choy (which means Good Luck and Prosperity) and Kung Hall Sun Hei, which is actually Happy New Year in Chinese. You can believe me when I say in all sincerity that I wish you many happy new roosters. Here is something else for all the language purists out there. Apparently, one of the most downloaded songs of last year was something called "Belleville Rendez-vous" which is a song that I personally had never heard of, so it came as a surprise that it would have been so popular as a music download. Besides which, it turns out to be entirely in French, although this seems to have had no affect on its popularity. We heard it when visiting friends upstate, and thought it was cute, and although between us, we have years upon years of high school French, we couldn't quite understand the lyrics. So Bill found a web page that had the lyrics in French, and not leaving well enough alone, also found two online translation services that would take a swing at bringing those lyrics into English for us. Bearing in mind that this is kind of a nonsense song, and uses quite a lot of idiomatic expressions, we want to give these places credit for not shrinking from the task. Here is a sample of some of what I hesitate to call translations: ========================= I want not to finish my life to Tombouctoo The pulled skin by machines to nail I want not to finish my life to Acapulco Dance all stiff one with gigolos I do not want to finish my life with Singapore To play the dictionary to eat small furnaces I want not to finish my life to Constantinople This is well too hard to do the rhyme in "nople" I want frost over Triply frost over The quadrature of the Triplettes of Belleville =============================== I suppose we should have seen what we were in for, when one of the sites translated the title as "Belleville Appointments" and the other as "Belleville Go." You would think that "rendez-vous" would have been less of a translating challenge than that. Anyway, it's still a cute song, but you have to admit that it would be a kind of a hard sell with those lyrics in English. We've been having our ups and downs in movie-land lately, and this was just part of it. Toward the end of last year, we went to see "The Polar Express" in 3-D at the IMAX in town, and although originally we hadn't much thought about going to see it, I have to say that we were completely blown away by it. If you ever have an opportunity to catch it in IMAX 3-D, you should run, don't walk, and spare no expense to see it. I wouldn't say that it had the world's best story, but the 3-D special effects were absolutely spectacular and not to be missed. It was an awesome experience, and it would not be possible to overstate the case for this extraordinary and transcendent marvel. In retrospect, we were so lucky that we went to see it, even in spite of ourselves. Shortly after that, we had occasion to watch "Death to Smoochy" on DVD. Never let it be said that just because a movie is universally panned, that we won't give it a chance. I actually expected to like it, in spite of everything, because I liked the people in it, and thought it would be a sort of fun, goofy lark full of juvenile humor and slapstick. How wrong I was! It really did turn out to be a horrible movie, and even more incredibly, everyone in it was also horrible, including people that we admire and enjoy enormously. Up until that point, no one could have convinced me that you could make a movie with Robin Williams, Danny DeVito and Jon Stewart that would not only be unfunny, but virtually unwatchable. How they managed to make it not be funny is a mystery to me, because it was full of funny people, and the basic idea had a lot of potential. We were so disappointed in it, and especially because it was a gift, and here again, I have no one to blame since I'm the one who picked it out. By now, I'm sure that everyone can see what's about to rear its ugly head. Yes, that popular French song "Belleville Rendez-vous" was from an acclaimed foreign animated film, "The Triplettes of Belleville," which is also handily available on DVD for your viewing pleasure. You'd be right if you guessed that we hurried right out and snapped this up on DVD, to see what all the fuss was about, and enjoy the title song in its native habitat, as it were. To say that this movie was a monumental waste of time would be an understatement of epic proportion. If it doesn't set back Franco-American relations for years to come, I'd be very surprised. It has a terrible story, horribly done, with grotesque animations, gratuitous violence and no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It not only made no sense, but it was stupid and offensive, while still being dull, which at least can't be said of other stupid and offensive cartoons like South Park or Beavis & Butthead. And I know you're going to love the punchline of this story, which is that the title song, the one that started it all, the snazzy French "Belleville Rendez-vous," isn't even in the movie. I don't know about anyone else, but it certainly made me want to play the dictionary and eat small furnaces. Yesterday on Family Feud, the teams were asked to name some President's wives that they would like to see on Mount Rushmore, if First Ladies could be included on the monument. You might expect people to come up with the likes of Martha Washington or Lady Bird Johnson. The team members were not daunted by this challenge, and jumped right in with their choices, which included some women that they referred to as Laura Kennedy and Nancy Roosevelt. It's certainly reassuring to see that all of the money they're pouring into the educational system is not being wasted after all. You go, Laura O! Last week, I had an unnerving phone call from the woman who cuts Bill's hair, asking us where we were on Saturday, because we missed our appointment. Now, I have to tell you that we've been going to this same woman since before we were married, and have chased around after her at all of the salons that she's ever worked in, even when she's working out of the basement of her house. And we've been there in every kind of weather, from hurricanes to floods to blizzards, and not even being in a car accident on the way has kept us from getting there. So you can imagine her wonder when we not only didn't show up as scheduled, but didn't call or anything. She was surprised when she called and found us alive and well, not lying dead in a ditch as she imagined, and I was even more surprised, because I had convinced myself (in spite of her appointment card to the contrary) that our appointment was two weeks later. I said it was just more proof, if any was needed, that I have no brain any more, and am fast becoming a hazard that should not be foisted on an unsuspecting public. I'm beginning to think that was is needed is a system of warning signs, to protect the general population from bad things, and I'm about ready to line up for mine right now. Right after "Death to Smoochy" and "The Triplettes of Belleville."
Happy Year of the Rooster! Wednesday, of course, was the beginning of Chinese New Year, and apparently no one has to tell the Chinese how to party, because it said in the newspaper that they celebrate Chinese New Year for 15 days. Now, that's my idea of a holiday! It's a far cry from the Moslems, where they seem to go out of their way to have these horrible holidays where you can't eat, can't sing, can't dress up, can't smile, which is more like the "Fear Factor" version of a holiday. No thank you very much! So here we are, enjoying the Year of the Rooster right alongside of our Asian friends, and glad of it. For the language purists among us, Bill unearthed a couple of audio files that I will be happy to send to any interested parties, with the correct pronunciations of Kung Hei Fat Choy (which means Good Luck and Prosperity) and Kung Hall Sun Hei, which is actually Happy New Year in Chinese. You can believe me when I say in all sincerity that I wish you many happy new roosters. Here is something else for all the language purists out there. Apparently, one of the most downloaded songs of last year was something called "Belleville Rendez-vous" which is a song that I personally had never heard of, so it came as a surprise that it would have been so popular as a music download. Besides which, it turns out to be entirely in French, although this seems to have had no affect on its popularity. We heard it when visiting friends upstate, and thought it was cute, and although between us, we have years upon years of high school French, we couldn't quite understand the lyrics. So Bill found a web page that had the lyrics in French, and not leaving well enough alone, also found two online translation services that would take a swing at bringing those lyrics into English for us. Bearing in mind that this is kind of a nonsense song, and uses quite a lot of idiomatic expressions, we want to give these places credit for not shrinking from the task. Here is a sample of some of what I hesitate to call translations: ========================= I want not to finish my life to Tombouctoo The pulled skin by machines to nail I want not to finish my life to Acapulco Dance all stiff one with gigolos I do not want to finish my life with Singapore To play the dictionary to eat small furnaces I want not to finish my life to Constantinople This is well too hard to do the rhyme in "nople" I want frost over Triply frost over The quadrature of the Triplettes of Belleville =============================== I suppose we should have seen what we were in for, when one of the sites translated the title as "Belleville Appointments" and the other as "Belleville Go." You would think that "rendez-vous" would have been less of a translating challenge than that. Anyway, it's still a cute song, but you have to admit that it would be a kind of a hard sell with those lyrics in English. We've been having our ups and downs in movie-land lately, and this was just part of it. Toward the end of last year, we went to see "The Polar Express" in 3-D at the IMAX in town, and although originally we hadn't much thought about going to see it, I have to say that we were completely blown away by it. If you ever have an opportunity to catch it in IMAX 3-D, you should run, don't walk, and spare no expense to see it. I wouldn't say that it had the world's best story, but the 3-D special effects were absolutely spectacular and not to be missed. It was an awesome experience, and it would not be possible to overstate the case for this extraordinary and transcendent marvel. In retrospect, we were so lucky that we went to see it, even in spite of ourselves. Shortly after that, we had occasion to watch "Death to Smoochy" on DVD. Never let it be said that just because a movie is universally panned, that we won't give it a chance. I actually expected to like it, in spite of everything, because I liked the people in it, and thought it would be a sort of fun, goofy lark full of juvenile humor and slapstick. How wrong I was! It really did turn out to be a horrible movie, and even more incredibly, everyone in it was also horrible, including people that we admire and enjoy enormously. Up until that point, no one could have convinced me that you could make a movie with Robin Williams, Danny DeVito and Jon Stewart that would not only be unfunny, but virtually unwatchable. How they managed to make it not be funny is a mystery to me, because it was full of funny people, and the basic idea had a lot of potential. We were so disappointed in it, and especially because it was a gift, and here again, I have no one to blame since I'm the one who picked it out. By now, I'm sure that everyone can see what's about to rear its ugly head. Yes, that popular French song "Belleville Rendez-vous" was from an acclaimed foreign animated film, "The Triplettes of Belleville," which is also handily available on DVD for your viewing pleasure. You'd be right if you guessed that we hurried right out and snapped this up on DVD, to see what all the fuss was about, and enjoy the title song in its native habitat, as it were. To say that this movie was a monumental waste of time would be an understatement of epic proportion. If it doesn't set back Franco-American relations for years to come, I'd be very surprised. It has a terrible story, horribly done, with grotesque animations, gratuitous violence and no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It not only made no sense, but it was stupid and offensive, while still being dull, which at least can't be said of other stupid and offensive cartoons like South Park or Beavis & Butthead. And I know you're going to love the punchline of this story, which is that the title song, the one that started it all, the snazzy French "Belleville Rendez-vous," isn't even in the movie. I don't know about anyone else, but it certainly made me want to play the dictionary and eat small furnaces. Yesterday on Family Feud, the teams were asked to name some President's wives that they would like to see on Mount Rushmore, if First Ladies could be included on the monument. You might expect people to come up with the likes of Martha Washington or Lady Bird Johnson. The team members were not daunted by this challenge, and jumped right in with their choices, which included some women that they referred to as Laura Kennedy and Nancy Roosevelt. It's certainly reassuring to see that all of the money they're pouring into the educational system is not being wasted after all. You go, Laura O! Last week, I had an unnerving phone call from the woman who cuts Bill's hair, asking us where we were on Saturday, because we missed our appointment. Now, I have to tell you that we've been going to this same woman since before we were married, and have chased around after her at all of the salons that she's ever worked in, even when she's working out of the basement of her house. And we've been there in every kind of weather, from hurricanes to floods to blizzards, and not even being in a car accident on the way has kept us from getting there. So you can imagine her wonder when we not only didn't show up as scheduled, but didn't call or anything. She was surprised when she called and found us alive and well, not lying dead in a ditch as she imagined, and I was even more surprised, because I had convinced myself (in spite of her appointment card to the contrary) that our appointment was two weeks later. I said it was just more proof, if any was needed, that I have no brain any more, and am fast becoming a hazard that should not be foisted on an unsuspecting public. I'm beginning to think that was is needed is a system of warning signs, to protect the general population from bad things, and I'm about ready to line up for mine right now. Right after "Death to Smoochy" and "The Triplettes of Belleville."
posted by El Tango Fandango @ 7:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home