Well, dear readers, I am operating on five hours of sleep. Five hours of sleep needs an operation and since I’m the only one in sight I’m doing the operation. Hopefully, five hours of sleep will be fine. But here’s the thing: I’ll talk more about the motion picture I watched on Blu and Ray last night, but as in certain historical dramas made in the last decade or so, I was mightily confused by the repeated use of the “F” word in a film that took place in the 1400s. Were they really walking around France saying the F word repeatedly in 1400 France? Well, I did a little research on the F word and I’ll be hornswoggled but the oldest sort of references to the F word were indeed from late 1400. Who knew? Apparently the oldest known use was in a poem in Latin and English called Flenn Flyys, a poem satirizing Carmelite friars. The line that supposedly contains the use of the F word, in code, is “Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk. When one decodes the last four words it apparently translates to “They are not in heaven because they F wives of Ely.” Poor Ely. I’m using the initial because this is, after all, a family site, family also starting with an F. According to those in the know, the word has other probable origins in Germanic languages, where it appears as ficken, fokken, fukka, fokka, and fock. Ficken, Fokken, Fukka, Fokka, and Fock – that sounds like an attorney’s office, doesn’t it? That’s German, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish, for those who are keeping score. Well, have we achieved a new low here at haineshisway.com? I happen to find etymology interesting and frankly etymology finds me interesting therefore etymology and I are fast friends and that is no ficken fokken lie. I know someone out there thinks I’m making all this up, but I am not. It’s the fokken truth. What the HELL am I talking about? Yesterday was less dramatic than the day before, thankfully. I only got five hours of sleep, then got up but was simply too tired to jog, so I did some ficken work on the computer and then toddled off to have an early lunch meeting at Junior’s Deli in the Wood of West. I have had some pretty sketchy meals at Junior’s in the last couple of years, but yesterday’s pastrami sandwich and kishka was out of this world – in fact, the kishka was the best I’ve ever had anywhere. The meeting was very productive, and the co-author of the long musical finally had an epiphany about one of the leading characters, because I kept prodding and prodding. So, that was a very good thing. Afterwards, I came back to the Valley and went to pick up some packages and mail – there was some unimportant mail and no packages. However, when I got home, I went to amazon just to make sure that everything I’d ordered had indeed shipped. And what did I find? I found that a Blu and Ray had been shipped and signed for – two days ago. In other words, the package has been sitting there for two days and no one thought to tell me or put a slip in my box. Now, two days ago I picked up three packages and I asked specifically if there was anything else, and they supposedly looked (not) and told me no. Needless to say, I was not happy and no one could tell me how it happened. Obviously, as soon as I asked about it, it took them ten seconds to find it. So, I’m going to have a little conversation with the manager tomorrow, when I pick up the package that’s been there since Monday. I then came home, had a couple of telephonic conversations, and decided not to go to the screening I’d been invited to. Instead, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture entitled The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, starring Milla Jovovich, John Malkowitz, Faye Dunaway, and Dustin Hoffman, directed by Luc Besson. I’ve become rather fond of Mr. Besson’s films and that held true for this sprawling and long film, which I quite enjoyed even though it doesn’t quite work. Miss Jovovich gives it everything she’s got and her interpretation of Joan of Arc is really interesting and quite fascinating. The other actors are all excellent, and yes, they frequently use the F word and every time they do, historically accurate or not, it took me right out of the movie. I think the one thing we know is that if its first use was in the 1400s in code they wouldn’t have been spouting it like it had been around for five hundred years. The transfer was quite lovely and despite its close to three-hour running time, I was never bored. Interestingly, while the film was sold as The Messenger, the actual title of the film in its credits is simply Joan of Arc. I then finished a DVD I’d been watching in the bedroom environment entitled Sundays and Cybele. This film was one of my all-time favorites and I saw it many times back in 1962 when it came out. In fact, I was a little obsessed by it and followed it wherever it played. Mostly I saw it in French with subtitles, but I even saw it several times in its dubbed version. It remains one of the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful films I’ve ever seen, with luminous black-and-white scope photography by the great Henri Decae. Hardy Kruger is wonderful as an emotionally troubled war veteran who’d accidentally killed a young girl when his plane crashed in Vietnam. He’s blocked out his past, and has reverted to a very childlike state – watching trains arrive, living with the nurse who helped him and who is now in love with him. One night, while at the train station he sees a father and his young twelve-year-old daughter – the father is taking the daughter to an orphanage, and lying to her, saying he’ll visit every Sunday. She’s weeping and unhappy and promises she’ll be good, but he leaves her at the orphanage – the Hardy Kruger character, Pierre, has followed them. The following Sunday, Pierre shows up and the nuns just assume he’s the father of the girl and off they go. And they develop a beautiful loving relationship and spend every Sunday together. You know that people are going to get the wrong idea and that it’s all going to end badly – in fact, I don’t think they could even make this movie today, certainly not in the way they made it then. The ending of the film and the film’s final lines are gut wrenching. But it’s the performance of Patricia Gozzi as Cybele who elevates the film into pure poetry and magic – simply put, it’s probably one of the five greatest child performances ever put on film. For years, the only way one could see the film was on a VHS videotape that was letterboxed but of truly poor quality (it was a legal release – but their source material was awful). I’d had that transferred to DVD long ago, but it’s pretty hard to watch. So, the other night I just happened to search the film on eBay and was surprised to see a DVD, homegrown, but a scope transfer off a 16mm print. It was really cheap so I bought it. But just a couple of sellers down I suddenly found a brand new legitimate release from Spain (I later found out it’s also been released by the same company, Columbia, in Italy and the UK – same transfer and packaging). I ordered it immediately and it came just a few days later. Well, it’s pretty terrific – an scope transfer off an excellent quality element, anamorphic, French with subtitles (and even the English dub – Kruger does his own voice, but the little girl who does Gozzi isn’t very good). Highly recommended by the likes of me, but you’ll need an all-region DVD player.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must ficken get my fokken beauty sleep or I will be truly focked up.
And they say you never learn anything here at haineshisway.com. I showed them, didn’t I? We now know all about the F word and they can’t take that away from us – and if they try, fick them.
Today I have nothing at all planned and I’m hoping for some positive news regarding the Holy Grail release even if it’s just to know that we’re inching along to the finish line or, at the very least, the Finnish line. I was invited to go to the opera tonight, but I don’t think I’m up for a three hour deal when I’m this overtired.
Tomorrow, I may be lunching with Mr. Barry Pearl – we’re playing it by ear and also elbow. The weekend seems to be somewhat free, so that’s nice. I do have to do the liner notes for our next release, so that will definitely get done today.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, I must do errands and whatnot, I must write liner notes, and I must hope for good news about the Holy Grail release, so keep those excellent vibes and xylophones coming strongly. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite curse words? We can use symbols if you don’t feel like spelling them out. And what was the first curse word you ever heard, and when was the first time you ever used a curse word and what was the occasion? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I fokken go to my ficken bed.