kadima

It would be very nice indeed if Kadima won the election and were able to form a government. Politics in Israel seems to have run out ouf steam, and they need time and willpower to form a new outlook. Will they succeed?

Time, and it's Quickness

It's already the 8th of February and it seems to me it was Christmas just the other day. What's that all about?

Last I wrote I complained about being at work but, as predicted, the next day went by in high spirits. I'm feeling confident and happy and it's ever so nice. It also helps that the atmosphere at the office is warm and playful. At my previous job on the other hand it seems it's been going downhill since I left. It's a shame actually.

Today I've seen Casablanca on the big screen, with a new print. It's certainly not the best of movies (and Howard Hawks' superficially similar To Have and Have Not made two years later is ever so much better), but it's still a very good film. It works on three levels: as a romantic thriller, as a political allegory about the Second World War and, today, as a mythological story which everybody knows and which has become a part of everyday life, with the music, the characters and the dialogue having a life of it's own. It has a kind of aura around it that very few films have. It's also a triumph of atmosphere and setting with Michael Curtiz' raw poetry being the perfect complement to the mixture of heartfelt romance and hilarious cynicism.

While I'm on the subject of the Second World War... I've also finished reading Unconditional Surrender. It's, as I've said, the last part of Evelyn Waugh's war trilogy Sword of Honour and it gets darker and more tragic as it progresses, up to its devastating climax. It's very good, and it made me want to reread Brideshead Revisited, still Waugh's masterpiece.

My next book is Gentlemen of the Road, by Michael Chabon. More on that later. Now I'd like to eat some crackers.

Beauty and the Ocean

There was precious little eating and maybe even less sleeping during my weekend, but that was only because there was so much fun going on I didn't particularly want to, or felt the need. And living with Lisa was a delight. She's delightful so that shouldn't have come as a surprise but still, you never know, do you?

There were a lot of strong emotions involved as well. For starters a very dear friend told me she and her girlfriend are getting married and I was surprised by the joy I felt, and the tears. There's so much beauty in the world all of a sudden, where was it two years ago? 

I had two perfect film experiences as well, Frost/Nixon and The Song of the Sparrows.

Today's been a long, rather tiresome, day at the office. I did my stuff on autopilot, still not recovered from the shock of being back there. Tomorrow will be better. I'm prepared now.

Now I think I'll read the last pages of Unconditional Surrender. It's good. Very good in fact. But first I'll listen to Sophie Zelmani. The Ocean and Me.