n. – centipede
Chenille
n. - caterpillar or soft thick fabric
Chenil
n. – dog pound
The French have a flair for the dramatic, which can be demonstrated in their language. Take centipede as an example, centipede literally meaning 100 feet, in French translates to a thousand feet. I’m not sure exactly how many feet centipedes actually have, though because 100 already seems like a lot.
I discovered this because I happened across an article on a film titled The Human Centipede. I will leave it to you to discover what it’s all about at your own risk. In an email exchange with friends in Milan, fellow transplanted New Yorkers like us, I told them about it and suggested they google it to find out more. One did and emailed the other with me in copy saying WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T GOOGLE THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE!!!! It made me LOL as the kids say. In French that would be MDR for mort de rire or dying of laughter.
Well, I’m sure by now I’ve piqued your interest. My husband and I both indulge in the guilty pleasure of watching horror movies. I discovered in the review of the above mentioned film that what sets it apart from other “horror porn” films as they’re called such as Saw, Hostel, etc. is that more is left to the imagination thereby making it even scarier.
I can’t actually watch films like Chuckie or Halloween because of the sneak-up-on-you scare factor. I had to watch The Ring from the walk-in closet and when I was young I remember leaving the theatre in tears during Dawn of the Dead, which gave me nightmares for months afterwards. The Others and The Orphanage actually freaked me out pretty well, too. I’ve seen one French horror film with Cecile de France, a popular pretty French actress who plays a violent sexual serial killer. It was disturbing.
So I don’t know if I will allow myself to watch The Human Centipede. The premise alone is already shocking enough. And like a car wreck, I wished after the fact that I hadn’t looked at the trailer. The human imagination never ceases to amaze me – just when you think you’ve seen or heard it all, someone comes up with something unthinkable. And just to prove that point, there is already a sequel in the making.
May 13, 2010
May 9, 2010
Jogging
n. – jogging
Here jogging is a noun and it is made. “Faire un jogging” is the equivalent of going jogging. We live just near the lovely park, Champ-de-Mars where the Eiffel Tower is located. It’s great to go in the summer for picnics and it’s a runner’s haven.
I bought running shoes over a year ago, but today was the first time I put them on for my first run. I don’t have running clothes, but I have a large collection of yoga wear, so I put on a pair of my fancy yoga pants and I was good to go.
My husband and I decided to start slowly, taking one lap around the park, which is roughly 2 kilometres or 1.35 miles. I lasted about 3 minutes I think before I decided to walk. Running is hard. Walking is a lot easier, even fast walking, which while it looks ridiculous, is just as good for you – better even when you think about the pressure running puts on your knees and other joints.
I tried to keep up with my husband by resuming a light jog and then would revert back to walking. In any event, we succeeded in our mission and circled the park once. It took 15 minutes and we were tired. After standing in line to get our sandwiches at the baker, we proceeded to our favorite “primeur” or grocer to pick up a melon. Add to that a box of radishes and a few clementines and the bill came to 20 euros. Embarrassingly we didn’t have enough, but it’s just below our apartment so we ran up to get more money. The melon came to over 12 euros alone! I saw other melons outside that were half the price so we asked the grocer what was the difference. The one we bought was, of course, “top” as he called it.
I bloody well hope so for 12 euros! Seeing my scepticism, he said, “Je ne vous raconte pas de salads,” which is an expression that means, I wouldn’t lie to you, but funny that a grocer would use it since literally translated it means, I wouldn’t tell you salads. Well, the melon was good and after making all that jogging, we earned it.
Here jogging is a noun and it is made. “Faire un jogging” is the equivalent of going jogging. We live just near the lovely park, Champ-de-Mars where the Eiffel Tower is located. It’s great to go in the summer for picnics and it’s a runner’s haven.
I bought running shoes over a year ago, but today was the first time I put them on for my first run. I don’t have running clothes, but I have a large collection of yoga wear, so I put on a pair of my fancy yoga pants and I was good to go.
My husband and I decided to start slowly, taking one lap around the park, which is roughly 2 kilometres or 1.35 miles. I lasted about 3 minutes I think before I decided to walk. Running is hard. Walking is a lot easier, even fast walking, which while it looks ridiculous, is just as good for you – better even when you think about the pressure running puts on your knees and other joints.
I tried to keep up with my husband by resuming a light jog and then would revert back to walking. In any event, we succeeded in our mission and circled the park once. It took 15 minutes and we were tired. After standing in line to get our sandwiches at the baker, we proceeded to our favorite “primeur” or grocer to pick up a melon. Add to that a box of radishes and a few clementines and the bill came to 20 euros. Embarrassingly we didn’t have enough, but it’s just below our apartment so we ran up to get more money. The melon came to over 12 euros alone! I saw other melons outside that were half the price so we asked the grocer what was the difference. The one we bought was, of course, “top” as he called it.
I bloody well hope so for 12 euros! Seeing my scepticism, he said, “Je ne vous raconte pas de salads,” which is an expression that means, I wouldn’t lie to you, but funny that a grocer would use it since literally translated it means, I wouldn’t tell you salads. Well, the melon was good and after making all that jogging, we earned it.
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