Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Together, Ants and "The Coolest Man on the Planet"

Time to catch up with cinema/literature/music.

CINEMA

We watched TOGETHER some time ago.


I really enjoyed this movie. This is a... comedy? drama? well, depending how you look at it! Elisabeth leaves her husband with their two children and join her brother's commune, called Together. Living together is never easy, even when you share the same ideals. I found this film heart-warming, despite the snow! Just looking at the poster above makes me feel good and I forget all the hatred in this world.

The film also had the other personal advantage of reminding me of my student time in Gothenburg. I love the sound of this language! I wish I had kept practising, but how can one do so in the middle of rural England???!!! I realised I would not have understood it without the subtitles, which was very frustrating!

LITERATURE

After finishing Erzaehler der Nacht (Goedi, I really recommend it to you) I started the third part of The Ants trilogy by Bernard Werber, called The Revolution of the Ants. Not available in English to this date unfortunately. It is really good. Possibly the best of all three. The trilogy is based on the parallel discovery of the world of ants, human, and the reading of an encyclopaedia written by a man who tried to understand both worlds. It is written as an epic adventure, but it is also about sociology, biology, philosophy, religion, history, and everything else that you are willing to take from it. There is so much information, some more likely to be true than others, but all useful in their way.



Soon should come out the third part of the God trilogy. Don't be put off by the metaphysical sounding title. The main characters are god apprentices in the school of gods, and they are given a world to play with, each student bein responsible for creating and guiding a type of civilisation. Each chapter is followed by one chapter of the encyclopaedia about Greek mythology.

MUSIC

In three weeks' time we will go to Seu Jorge's concert at Warwick Arts Centre. I am really looking forward to it. I intend to watch The Life Aquatic before the concert, for which he worked on the soundtrack. Seu Jorge also performed in City of God, which I is an extraordinary movie. Seu Jorge's music is really enjoyable. I wished I could understand Portuguese! For now, the rythm on its own is good enough to carry me away.

And supreme reward, The Times described Seu Jorge as "the coolest man on the planet". How cool is that???


Looking forward to 18th November!

4 comments:

Goedi said...

The question is, how do I get my hands on a copy, here?
But I will put it on my list of things to be read. Thanks for the suggestion.
Seu Jorge, btw., I really like.
There was a Giles Peterson in Brazil podcast that featured him in one of the sessions. Worth checking out if you like Brazilian music.

green clementine said...

Thanks for the tip on Brazilian music.

If I freed my copy of Erzaehler der Nacht on Bookcrossing (which I am unlikely to do because this book was a present), how likely do you think you are to come across it one day?

green clementine said...

Just a thought: you could order the book from amazon.de. Prices from €1.99. You are more likely to receive it than through bookcrossing!

Goedi said...

Oh, I'll probably order it through my family, since they still live in Germany.
The book is available in English translation at the Brooklyn library. I just don't know if I want to go that route.