From "Lines"
By Arthur Rimbaud
Translated by Paul Schmidt
When the world comes down to this one dark wood
Before our four astonished eyes...
To a beach for two faithful children...
To a house of music, for our clear accord...
I will find you.
Let there be no one here below but one old man,
Beautiful and calm, surrounded with "unimagined luxury"...
I will be at your feet.
Let me penetrate all of your memories...
Let me be that woman who can bind you hand and foot...
I will strangle you.
When we are very strong -- who can hold us back?
And very gay -- how can ridicule harm us?
When we are very bad -- what can they do to us?
Dress yourself up,
And dance,
And laugh.
I could never throw Love out the window.
--------
Am home, with
In the meantime, since neither of us could sleep, we watched Total Eclipse. I should probably note that while I adore Rimbaud's poetry in both French and English, I know little about his life beyond that he died very young -- I'd been under the impression that he committed suicide after he and Verlaine separated -- so a lot of the story was news to me. (Is it spoilers to talk about French poets who were known to have had an affair in the 1870s? Is it RPS?) DiCaprio was really quite wonderful as Rimbaud, and even looked like pictures I've seen of him (there's one here for instance). But Thewlis was beyond amazing...played Verlaine as something of an asshole, a man who got abusive to everyone around him when he was drunk and then drank to forget what an abusive asshole he was. I've generally seen Verlaine described as a gay man trapped in marriage to a woman, but he played him bisexual, not wanting to give up either his wife or his lover, though every time he had to make a lasting choice, he chose Rimbaud. DiCaprio has never done a thing for me and neither did Thewlis in a bald cap in stills from the movie, so I did not expect the sex scenes to be so astoundingly hot, and Thewlis has the greatest post-coital face I have ever seen...true smashed-in-the-pillows oh-my-god-he-actually-fucked-my-brains-out daze.
Speaking of David Thewlis, sort of, meme gacked from everybody:
In 1966 (the year you were born) |
Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US As part of nationwide protest against the Vietnam War, demonstrations are staged all over the US In Miranda vs. Arizona, the Supreme Court rules that criminal suspects must be apprised of their rights before interrogation US planes begin bombing of the Hanoi area of North Vietnam Controversial American comedian Lenny Bruce is found dead of a drug overdose in his home John Lennon says, "We are more popular than Jesus" sparking controversy in the US The first black Senator is elected to the United States Senate Cindy Crawford, Janet Jackson, Mike Tyson, Halle Berry, Adam Sandler, and Kiefer Sutherland are born Baltimore Orioles win the World Series Green Bay Packers win the NFL championship Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the top grossing film Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann is published Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys and Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel are released Star Trek and The Newlywed Game premiere |
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