Why? WHY?

After learning the rules of "double pronoms" last week in French class, I felt like Nancy Kerrigan after getting clubbed with a lead pipe by one of Tonya Harding's goons. Why? WHY?? Because it's the French language, that's why. The rule is that with sentences in which both direct and indirect objects are used, there are some indirect object pronouns (me, te, vous, nous) you place before the direct object (e.g., "Je te le donne" = "I give it to you") whereas other indirect object pronouns (lui, leur) you place after the direct object (e.g., "Je le lui donne" = "I give it to him").

But rather than dwell obsessively on points of French grammar, I'm going to talk about the new sci film "Sunshine" that I saw yesterday. I'm still in the process of deciding what my feelings are on the movie. On the one hand, the atmosphere was perfect: interesting premise (the sun is going to die and astronauts travel through space in an attempt to re-start it with a bomb) which is at least somewhat explained by real science, an eerie spaceship with stylish sunshields to protect it from the awesome power of the sun hurtling through space, and neato spacesuits to boot. Furthermore, there are some references to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Oddysey" (a ship computer that is similar in many respects to Hal, plus I think I saw a "monolith" at the end of the film when they pan back to Earth) one of my favorites. But about 2/3 of the way through the movie, right about when the crew of Icarus II boards the failed Icarus I ship, the tone changes from a realistic, plot-driven movie to an inexplicable "dream-sequence"-like horror film which features a bizarre Freddy Krueger-like character that terrorizes the crew. In general, I like a good dose of the bizarre and fantastic in my sci fi movies, but as this one did not have a logical explanation or interpretation to go along with it, I was left feeling a little disappointed in the ending, as if I was expecting something at the end which would "tie everything together" which never came. That said, the scenery and effects are riveting, and the story was stressful enough that I was involved throughout. A review similar to my own thoughts (but a tad more negative) is here.

French for the Day: the word "rose pétant" is French for the color "hot pink." It has as its origins the verb "péter" which also means "to fart." So I like to think of the translation of "rose pétant" as "farting pink".

Finally, I leave you with some photos of the Chateau de Nantes (and people doing backflips on its front lawn), which we explored the day after Easter during our brief vacation.