Movies and Music: La Joie de Vivre

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to see Midnight in Paris with a friend of mine to kind of take the edge off a little bit after last week... and I must say, if you haven't seen this movie yet and like it a little bit exaggerated and satirical, GO SEE IT! It was so entertaining with such witty, sarcastic and subtle insinuations to art works, literature or even politics that I found it highly amusing. It has definitely made it among some of my favorite movies and I think I might just go and watch it again. I do admit, my expectations were not too high of it just because of how much I adore Paris, I figured it would just be an understatement of its amazingness (I know that that's not a word!) and I mainly wanted to go see it because I had met one of the actors in the movie (whose scenes were quite short, but oh well..) but already the first couple of shots were so corny and true to reality, it is definitely an appreciation of the city's beauty. And the coolest part was that most of the time I was like: Oh, I know where that is! Hey, that's my bakery! Yeeeaaaahh my street!!! Yuuuupppppp...I'm on that bridge every day.. The movie absolutely caught my adoration for the unreality of the phenominality of Paris. I could really relate to it and to some of the things that were being said about Paris, for example that it's all a little bit unreal and phantasylike. Or how the lights of the city are so bright, they can see them on Mars and that the world is in Paris (or something along those lines...). But it wasn't just the whole Paris-is-awesome message of the movie that made me like it so much. The message that we humans are never satisfied with what we have really touched me. How true! We're always longing for something else, never happy, even when what we have is great -- we're insatiable. It's sad, but so true :( 

And obviously there is also a romantic storyline, nibbling on the issue of do we really love the person we're with or do we just think we're in love with them? How do you know when it's right, or better yet, when it's not right?

But I don't want to spoil the movie or say too much if there's a person who' reading this, who hasn't yet seen the movie and wants to see it.... ;) 

 

Jazz Festival at 59Rivoli

Another cultural event that has been going on this weekend was the Festival de Jazz: All over Paris were different little free jazz concerts. My friend and I went to this stunning exhibition/concert after the movies, with such inspiring art, if you ever want to see art that deals with all kinds of different topics, with such an interesting mix of media, light, paint, collages, photography, metal, statues, glass, barbie dolls.. you name it, go to the 59 Rivoli (59 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France) which is open every Mon-Sat and is truly worth a visit.

    =>  http://www.59rivoli.org/

Which leads me to my last point: One reason why I love Paris so much because there is always something gong on. There is so much life, and so much joy in living. It makes you want to go out and do things. People are outside in the parks when it's remotely warm and the sun is shining, and then this weekend was this festival for example, then Saturday was some carnival in the streets with dancing and music, free concerts, people hanging out and dancing and singing on the Pont des Arts, street artists like magicians, dancers, musicians trying to earn some money with their talents, bars and cafes are crowded until late in the night in the middle of the week or little art exhibitions in galleries and museums everywhere..It's so uplifting and colorful! Simply fabulous =)

The first group of the Carnival dancers: