Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Chang

I've never considered myself an 'artsy' type of person. Aside from the tracing stage I went through when I was 8 -- when I thought I had some talent -- I really don't have an artistic bone in my body. I wish I were more of an art connoisseur.

Although I didn't like the book, one story in Almost French stunned me....when she told of her husband's disdain for most hotel art. His displeasure was at such a level that he would take the picture off the wall and place it on the floor so he wouldn't have to look at the repugnant art. Wow. I thought... imagine having such good taste you can't even look at something ugly without it making you ill!

Getting back to my day... today my son's best friend and his mother, and the two kids and I went to a "spectacle jeune public," a young children's event at the Louvre.

The 'spectacle' was a movie, Chang, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1929. Chang was supposedly the prototype for a later movie by the same producers, King Kong. Chang is a silent movie, with some written words to bring the viewer along on the ride. For our viewing pleasure, the Louvre had a band of three playing kind of a jazzy beat along the movie's storyline. There was a piano player, flutist and drummer. It was an impressive combination. It was kind of an 'artsy' movie and I really enjoyed it. Maybe there is hope for me!

Chang was created by two producers who stayed in the Thailand (Siam) jungle for two years filming a farming family (including their pet Bimbo the monkey) and the savage animals that threatened their existence. When my son was asked about the movie, he said, "it was about people killing animals." Yes, well that was a large part of it. The final scene was particularly powerful... a stampede of elephants... probably 150 or so. I just kept wondering, throughout the movie, how did they ever film this scene or that scene? It just seemed that the producers must have gotten really close to these animals... panthers, snakes, lions, and elephants.. and most of the time the animals weren't happy.

Taking the kids to a workshop at the Louvre has been on my list of things to do for some time and I was glad to finally get there. After the movie, the kids had a great time running around under the pyramid and walking up and down the grand staircase. Considering it was an overcast day, this trip to the Louvre worked out well.

Remember my picture last week? Well my son and his friend insisted I take pictures of their little stuffed animals while at the Louvre. Maybe Dan Brown could incorporate this into his DaVinci Code II book...


-- said Auntie M in Paris
11:45 PM

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