The One With Where 10 Books Moves Out, 10 Moves In

Another book exchange in Cracow (I had already been to one before).
Actually, it is the whole series. They organise such event one a month in the city centre.
It works a tad differently: you get the ticket with the number of books you have brought and you are allowed to take out the amount of books up to that number. It you take less, the ones that are left are going to be passed on to the library.

Rip Van Rinkle, a collection of children's classics by Washington Irving (in English!), seems to be the most promising part of my today's haul.

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The moment I was closing the door behind me, leaving to catch a bus, I thought I could go by bike as well. And so I did.

First time a sign like this came in handy. More than once, actually.
It turns out there are quite a lot of them in the city centre. And thank heavens for that!

Stay tuned.

The One With The Wall. Or How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I built a wall.
I have build a wall.
The wall in my friends' house-in-progress.
The wall that some day some one will lean on or hang a picture or sth.
In case you do not believe I have superpower: see proof.
It took me approximately five days of hard work.
But it feels... WOW!!

Stay tuned!

The One Where You Realise Summer Is Here Already

The Summer holidays are here. Which means: lots of great, non-mainstream movies all over my favourite cinemas, all days, every day, for the whole three months, and as cheap as a beer.

Perfect Sense

A chef (Ewan McGregor) and a scientist (Eva Green) fall in love as an epidemic begins to rob people of their sensory perceptions.
I did not know what to expect of that movie, since every description was so obscure; you could find more detailed ones, or some trailers, but they all failed to shed any more light on what to prepare yourself for.

In short: perfect music; perfect words; perfect moments of silence; perfect contrasts; perfect movie; perfect sense.

It left me speechless, crushed - in a similar way Melancholia did. As a matter of fact, the films are alike in some aspects, e.g. each of them presents two different attitudes towards the imminent catastrophe; they both give you different perspectives on how people can act on, approaching inevitably, end of the world as we know it.
Despite (or rather owing to?) the overwhelming feelings, I believe the film to be perfect.

Copie conforme (Certified Copy)

A middle-aged British writer has just published a book on the value of a copy versus the original work of art. At a book reading, a woman (Juliette Binoche) gives him her address, and the next day they meet and take a country-side drive to a local Italian village. Here, they discuss various works of art found in the town, and also the nature of their relationship - which gets both more revealed and concealed as the day progresses.
The movie copies the scheme of Before Sunrise / Before Sunset: we constantly follow a couple - we watch them walk, eat, have some chance encounters, we listen to them discuss various subjects, we observe them argue and see them reconcile etc.
I liked Before Sunrise and Before Sunset more, though. Maybe the reason would be that the protagonists of the Certified Copy were older, more experienced, and in a much different place in life, so I could not really empathise with them. I am not saying it was a waste of time, on the contrary, I did like it and had fun watching it and trying to unravel the puzzling story and the enigmatic nature of the couple's relationship. It just did not move me much.

Stay tuned.

The One Where Karo Discovers Her Superpower

It turns out I can build walls. And I can do it well. My hands have been made to level brick blocks without aids such as spirit level or any other similar device.

If I do not make it in IT or as a chef, I can always become a bricklayer. Cool.

Stay tuned.

The One With Extremely Good Food And Moderately Good Musical Performance

Maria

A long forgotten opera from 1904 by Polish composer Roman Statkowski. Performed in the Cracow Philharmonic Hall; hence - a concert version, no stage performance, only music and singing: soloists and choir.
I wish there had been the theatrical part, though. I mean the plot was sooo weak that some distraction in form of costumes, dances and performances would have been in order.
The musical part was good, but uneven - the second act seemed much better than the fist one. And the soloists did not really get along with the choir (or the choir did not go along with the soloists...?) Other than that, it was fine; no revelations, but you do not look a gift horse in the mouth (free tickets).

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Make food, not war.

Tadek

I made a delicious red wine-marinated pork stew. And, probably, I will not be able to recreate that wonderwork ever again, since the seasoning looked more or less like this: take every spice jar you have, smell the content, and - if you think it appropriate - put as much as you think will be suitable; add some wine for each pinch of spices.
As it turns out, improvising has some dark sides as well.

Stay tuned.

The One With No Shoes

I went shopping with a friend. In particular, I went shoe-shopping, since I was in a desperate need of new sandals, so finding those was my primary goal.

4 hours later...
No shoes. A pair of very nice jeans and an elegant shirt found instead. Which makes it quite a successful and fruitful hunt.

A little madness regarding sizes of cloths: 36 is supposed to be my actual size; the jeans I bought are 34, the shirt - 38 (usually, when such variations happen to me, it is exactly the other way around). Which explains pretty clearly why it takes sooo much time: you simply have to take to the fitting room two or three versions of each piece of clothing you want to try on.

I am done with shopping for another year!
Though I feel like I should go searching for trousers now - maybe I will find some shoes then...? Or, perhaps, a dress or a skirt...? (Which would also be fine, since there is no such thing as 'too many' when it comes to skirts or dresses).

Stay tuned.

The One Not In The Traffic Jam

YOU ARE NOT STUCK IN TRAFFIC.
YOU ARE TRAFFIC.
Get a bike. Break Free!

CYCLE CHIC (from Aggie)

On my way to work, on a bike, between 7 and 8 am.
I always pass by a huge market and the traffic around there usually gets quite big. But it was the first time that I was cycling there on a weekday and during rush hour, when, of course, the traffic gets even greater.
So it was also the first time when the cars were stuck whereas I, at the same time, was moving along the line of vehicles.
I wish you could see the smile on my face at that very moment.

Stay tuned!

The One Where The Audience Leaves The Cinema

Cosmopolis

Well, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, so when I got tickets to see Cosmopolis I simply went to the cinema and watched the film. Although, having watched Crash, I had huge doubts about seeing another David Cronenberg's movie. However, I did like Cosmopolis. As opposed to other people, who apparently felt quite another way about it - three couples from the audience left during the screening...

A 28-year-old billionaire, Eric Parker, rides across Manhattan in order to get a haircut. So what we see is one day of his life, a very eventful day, plus a cast of characters fliting through his stretch limo.
Each scene of this film, each conversation makes a separate novella and may seem incoherent or disconnected from the other parts; each of them, however, gives you a better, closer look into Eric's mind - you see his passions and desires as well as his fears and obsessions.
What may become of that? You have to find the answer yourself.

[Spoilers]

I have got a theory regarding the ending and Benno Levin, the character that wants to kill our Mr Parker: what if he is not real? What if he is just a figment of Eric Parker's imagination? What if he is his alter ego? And the whole scene plays only in Eric's mind. After all, he turns out to be an obsessed and strongly self-destructive man.
Wouldn't that be an interesting interpretation...?

Stay tuned.

The One With The Remake's Original

Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire)

I should have known better what to expect. I only knew that City of Angels was the remake of Wings of Desire and heard the original was better. And I do like City of Angels. But when Americans produce a remake they always make it shallow in comparison with the original. No exception here.

Yet another Berlin movie (see The One With The City Symphony), where the city of Berlin is the most important character. Interesting narration: a story of many people through the eyes of an angel who wishes to become one of those people he observes and helps every day. As a result, we get not a romance, not a drama, but rather a philosophical odyssey throughout the city and its citizens' lives.

And supporting Peter Falk as a fallen angel - ingenious!!


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This is one of these moments when I start wondering if the Universe wants to tell me something...
Should I go and visit Berlin after all? This Summer? Now?

Stay tuned.

The One With The Time Machine

First time the route (North by Northwest) took me 60 minutes.
Next time it was 55 minutes.
Another time - 50 minutes.

If this trend holds, does it mean that eventually I will get my private wormhole...?

Stay tuned.