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March 15, 2004
TT: Sunday, Sunday
I went to see Paul Taylor again, wrote two pieces (a book review for the Baltimore Sun and a record review for the Wall Street Journal), and had a Portuguese brunch with Chicha, who is visiting New York this weekend and turns out to be v. cool. I showed her a photo of Our Girl but didn't disclose my shockingly beautiful co-blogger's name, meaning that the Chicha lives to blog another day.I thought that would do me, but the urge to blog proved irresistible, so here I am. Briefly. Tomorrow I'll be spending the entire day and evening working on You-Know-What.
In the meantime, here are some interesting letters I've been meaning to post:
- "A note on subtitles: I recently purchased the DVD of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, a beloved favorite film (curious, because I really don't like any of his other films--my other personal favorites--Ikiru, Vertigo, Rules of the Game, Citizen Kane, Double Indemnity--are by directors that have many films to their credit that I like). While viewing the other night, I noticed that there was a new translation in the subtitles. Some dialog and interior monologues, untranslated in the VHS, were now translated. And some translations had been altered--sometimes for the better--sometimes not, I thought. But what really got me was that some lines, including one of the great lines, are now untranslated in the new version. Marian, the trapeze artist, is musing at a rock club and Bruno Ganz, the angel infatuated with her, is nearby. She thinks about how good she feels and speculates that (this is from my rough memory of the VHS) that ‘heaven must be looking over me.' At this Ganz breaks out in a big grin. But with no translation, the non-German speaking has no idea why he is smiling. I ran out the car trunk and retrieved my old VHS that I was going to churn at the local hipster used book, music, and film store. It seems I need both."
- "A respectful inquiry re helping non-subscribers to the Wall Street Journal. I was totally occupied with my business, and I missed your piece about Amtrak, and also, for several days, your references to it on your blog. I now face having to use some sort of index--I don't find one on the WSJ site, maybe I missed it--or else having to plow through a number of days of dead tree Journals to find the Amtrak piece. Is there a blog-graceful way for you to give us the date and even the page number for such occasional WSJ essays?"
That piece appeared on page D6 of the Journal for Jan. 28, 2004. In light of recent events, it's already acquired a sadly nostalgic feel....
- "Reading a novel, watching a movie or gazing at a painting are all solitary, self-contained experiences. We are one-on-one with the work of art, and our ‘normal life' is temporarily on hold. The artwork in such moments is both the cause and the recipient of our thoughts and emotions. It demands our undivided attention. Imagine you are engrossed in a novel alone in the house. The phone rings and it's a friend from a distant past. Your mind immediately dis-attaches itself from the text and returns to it only after you had hung up. Your memory of this day will keep the novel and the conversation as separate ‘stand alone' experiences.
"What makes music different is that it does not require our absolute attention to be enjoyed or remembered. True, not so with a symphony concert, but that may just explain why it is often the lighter musical fare that transports us back in time. Music leaves an imprint on our minds even while it serves as mere background to our day-to-day activities - driving a car, having a conversation in a bar, a get-together in a friend's apartment. Our minds in these situations switch back and forth between the music (of which we are conscious only intermittently), and that which goes on about us. Music is thus woven into our memory much the same way as a movie score is woven into a movie. It is an accompaniment to life in a way that none of the other art forms are."
Nice. Thanks for writing.
And now to bed, and after that...You-Know-What. See you on Tuesday. Wish me a good day's work!
Posted March 15, 2004 12:03 PM
