Curiosity - a smidge too much, perhaps!

He does mind other people's business, a bit too much. He needs to know if Frankie, next-door, is stretched out upon the garage roof, and warn him off! He needs to know where Sellie is and what she is doing with that lizard. He always knows where Sylvie is - under the Murraya Hedge - but he needs her to understand that her comfort is at his whim! He also needs to keep an eye on his human as she forks around in the cabbage-patch, 'cause one never can tell what that woman will flush out!

When the Sky is Grey..

When the sky is grey and the light is not great, reflections in puddles can make a more interesting picture.  A glimpse of Southwark Bridge reflected in the rain water on the wall below.

Our Flag

St. Louis has a pretty good city flag.  We used to have a lame one. This banner was adopted in 1964 and was designed by some professor at Yale.  According to the city ordinance adopting it:

The flag with a solid red background has two broad heraldic wavy bars, colored blue and white, extending from the left top and bottom corners toward left center where they join and continue as one to the center right edge. This symbolizes the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Over the point of confluence a round golden disk upon which is the fleur-de-lis of France (blue) calling attention to the French background of the early city and more particularly to St. Louis of France for whom the City is named. The golden disk represents the City and/or the Louisiana Purchase. (Heraldically, the disk is a "bezant" or Byzantine coin signifying, money or simply purchase.)

The flag's colors recall those of Spain (red and yellow or gold), Bourbon France (white and gold), Napoleonic and Republican France (blue, white and red), and the United States of America (red, white, and blue).

This mosaic version is on the outside wall of a bar called The Whiskey Ring at Cherokee and Oho on the south side.                            

                

Rising Up

The famed water-bound willows of Glenorchy, New Zealand, rise from Lake Wakatipu on the country’s South Island. Paul Reiffer, who photographed the scene at sunrise, calls winter “a special time in New Zealand.”

Reiffer’s image was recently featured in Your Shot’s Daily Dozen.

"Kirsten-Antoinette"

The main movie of the open air cinema evening was Sofia Coppola's "Marie-Antoinette" which (blush) VDP had never seen. It had been years since VDP has watched a dubbed film, that was strange! VDP adored it, which is surprising considering that she usually dislikes movies that have little historical substance. Part of VDP agrees with Jean-Luc Douin who in Le Monde described Marie-Antoinette as ‘kitsch and roc(k)oco’ which ‘deliberately displays its anachronisms’, and additionally as a ‘sensory film’ that was ‘dreamt by a Miss California’ and ‘orchestrated around the Du Barry or Madame de Polignac playground gossip’. Part of VDP went scrambling to search for the history of macarons, which did NOT exist in the ‘Ladurée’ form until the XIXth century. Part of VDP is happy that the great masses should now know (with certainty because Kirsten Dunst herself said it!) that she most probably never actually uttered the words ‘let them eat cake’ (so please, at least when commenting on this blog, stop saying that she did, you will earn VDP's eternal gratitude!). While VDP believes that the film gives a tiny insight into the hornet’s nest that was the French royal court, the ‘sweet tooth depravity’ shown here is miles from who Marie-Antoinette probably was in reality, a woman who was likely far less stupid and frivolous than the usual portrayals of her. Marie-Antoinette is a very touchy subject in this country, where she is still widely hated (despite the fact that it is mainly the support of the American war of Independence that ruined France, not her follies that merely constituted contributing factors, what's more not unusual in a world of monarchies which we judge with post-revolutionary, XXIst century eyes)…

And yet VDP loved the explosion of colours, the costumes (full of anachronisms too but hell…), the ‘Converse All Stars’ feet scene, the soundtrack (ahhhh Adam and the Ants during the love scene with count de Fersen – oops pity she probably never did actually have sex with the man back then)… She loved seeing Versailles and the no less beautiful château of Vaux Le Vicomte –the castle without which there might not have been Versailles- where some scenes were shot. VDP thoroughly enjoyed herself but wishes that people who visit Versailles and dream of Kirsten Dunst wouldn’t believe that this is an accurate portrayal of Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, archduchess of Austria and queen of France. Okay, no before you ask, VDP isn’t monarchist and sorry for the long post…

 

Le film projeté à la séance inaugurales des Yvelines font leur cinéma cette année, c'était Marie-Antoinette de Sofia Coppola que VDP n'avait encore jamais vu. VDP a beaucoup aimé le côté décalé du film (la scène des Converse All Star l'a éclatée) ce qui est étonnant puisqu'elle aime bien, en général, les films qui collent plus à la réalité historique et trouve dommage que tant de touristes qui se pressent à Versailles pensent désormais que Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, archiduchesse d'Autriche et reine de France était Kirsten Dunst...