Friday, August 29, 2008

Interesting Facts, Interesting Evening

So last night Cyr and I did the picnic thing, which turned out to be pretty cool. We showed up bringing fruit and others brought quiches, cheeses and other assorted goodies. We ate our fill then rode our bikes along with the group to the movie theater. We saw a British film called "Be Happy". I really liked it. Not much of a story, just the theme that one chooses to be happy or not. I completely agree with this. When life happens and things occur, you choose how you react. You can be angry, aloof or slightly entertained all by the same happening. Read on...

Before I get to my theory of Conscious Optimism (as I have just named it) I would like to post an observation about French movies and movie theaters. The first is the need for the French to retitle something in French, even if it isn't necessary. It's as if they have to change the title to sort of make it their own by saying; "We do not sink zat ewe can make a good title, so wee do zis for you. D'accord?" Take for instance a few titles they have changed;
"Knight Rider" - "K2000" Please don't Hassel the Hoff...
"Happy-Go-Lucky" - "Be Happy" notice the new title is in English?
"The Departed"
- "Les Infiltres" Translated: "The Infiltrators"
"The Dukes of Hazzard" - "Sherif fait moi peur!" Translated: "Sherif, I dare you to scare me!" This one is my personal favorite as "The Dukes" are the people, their last name being "Duke" and "Hazzard" is the county where they live...so it should be the same no?
Another thing I find interesting is that at the end of the movie they don't turn the lights on. The whole audience sits there and watches the credits. This I don't actually mind and sometimes it's fun to see if my favorite gaffer or grip was on the shoot, but sometimes I need to run to the ladies room and it's all dark. Maybe this is a good thing though, this way all those folks who worked their butts off for George Clooney and other celebs can be recognized. Just an observation...something different.

So at the end of the evening, after we have given everyone kisses goodnight, I hear Cyr say; "Hey, I don't see your bike." Yes...you are correct...someone stole my BRAND NEW BICYCLE!! It was only the third time I had ridden it! I didn't even get to take a picture of it! It was locked up and someone just came along with some clippers and snapped the lock in two. I have to say though, I was super duper glad it was just my city bike and not my road or mountain bike. I would be all kinds of torn up if Blue Bell or Lana went missing. An APB would have been put out to all points! And since APB probably doesn't translate it would have been a rough evening.

Since it was 11:00pm when we made the discovery we were able to walk to the tram station and take the tram home. The sad thing was that they cut the lock, took my bike, but left Cyr's there. Poor guy, he has such a battered bike the thieves didn't even want it. I was a little offended for him. Funny thing was, I was never really upset or mad about it. I'm following the example of Poppy in the movie (who by the way, gets her bike stolen too) and not going to let it tarnish my optimism. I can choose to be pissed off and angry, but instead I am choosing to believe that the person that stole my Black Beauty really needed it. I think that this thief, who is a good person forced to do a bad thing, will ride Beauty to pick up medicine from a pharmacy far-far away, that he could never have gotten to on foot, to pick up a cure for his extremely sick child who would parish without it. So in fact, it is a good thing my bike is gone. It is serving a higher purpose.

Of course I would be hunting the bastard down if he had stolen one of my other bikes. One can only be so optimistic you know...

5 comments:

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Hola Chica,

Sorry to hear about your bike... first off...
And second.. LOVE LOVE LOVE your wonderful 'tude!!
You go girl.. I am with you, though I would have been po'd you know... Can you take pics of your other two bikes-you got me curious, esp. since they have names... I am picturing TWO REALLY RAD bikes that you must have bought in the States.. cuz they've got some really killer bikes there- and here, I haven't seen the same variety.. They have pink, turq. and pale yellow, even spearment green coloured beach cruisers in San Diego.. Wish I had brought one back with us.. Next time...
The part about the changed film titles really cracked me up.. I will give you my own example to make you laugh.. The film with Colin Farell- Bons baisers de Brugges," I thought meant Good f**ks from Brugges... I really thought the title was sooooo vulgar until Alex told me that Bon baiser de... somewhere means Kisses from Brugges... not have good shags from Collin Farell in Brugges.. AIE!!! N Take care and I hope you have some wonderful things come your way!!

BlondeInFrance said...

My parents always sat to watch credits, and my friends would always awkwardly stand around while I did the same back in the states, lol. I like to think the second assistant gaffer really appreciates the effort :-)

Anonymous said...

Leesa- LOL I had the same reaction about the title of that movie! LOL!! Did you see it? It's actually a really good film, surprisingly, since the French preview for it made it look so dumb. Even Christophe, biggest film snob ever, thought it was pretty okay.

Good on you for rising above Susan! I would be so pissed if someone stole my bike. A friend of Christophe's couldn't get her bike out of it's lock and one of her former students rode past with a giant pair of clippers and clipped it loose. He'd obviously just stolen the bike he was riding..sigh. She works in Forbach which apparently France's poorest area.

wcs said...

I, too, enjoy sitting through the credits when I go to the movies (which is rarely). I also sit through them when I see a movie on tv. I want to know who the best boy is.

The french version of Hogan's Heroes is called "Papa Shultz." Go figure.

Susan in Lille said...

Leesa - I am going to look for pictures of my other bikes and post them! They are feeling ignored right now anyway...poor babies!

Andromeda - Ha, love it. I agree!

Le Tigre - I did like the movie, very uplifting I though! That is so funny about the teacher friend, crazy world eh?

WCS - I love me a good best boy myself. It's hard for me not to make a joke about how I am having to cut down my "best boy" fetish myself. I need to grow up...going to do that right now.