Street Books - Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert

Found - Central Park
Picked up because - Its a classic

In the days of high speed Internet and cable T.V. its hard to realize how monotonous life was back in the 1850's. In France at the time there was a big difference between everyday life and the popular novels. Gustave Flaubert wanted to point out this fact in his first novel "Madame Bovary." In this story a young Doctor marries an older widow his mother picked out. Then he becomes a widow himself, ah such is life. When he meets the young Miss Bovary she marries the Doctor. He moves from one small town to a slightly bigger town in northern France, near Rouen in Normandy to please his new wife. The book is told through his "eyes" till this point. Then the reader gets into Madame Bovary head. She wants luxury and romance, but gets bored with her not so sharp husband. Walk with her down the wrong road of infidelity and debt. This bestseller of the 1850's was put on trial when it came out for "offenses against morality and religion." The story of longing and seduction is considered a masterpiece. Reading it now over a century latter the themes seem to echo forward. After all life might be different but the struggles of love are the same.

Get Ready to See Red - Its SantaCon NYC

Every December there is one day when all the the crazy Santa dressed people get drunk and jolly. Tomorrow is NYC's SantaCon and be ready to see red and white all over the city. Here is the run down, Santa's meet and go out to drink the day away and then split up into subgroups. This goes on long into the evening. In there own words "Santacon is a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-seniecal Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason." So get a suit find a hat and get a ho ho ho'in.

PHIL SPECTOR In All His Crazy Glory Once More at the Film Forum

In life there are ups and downs, highs and lows, agony and ecstasy. This is true for everybody. Some weirdo geniuses have very high ups and the lowest lows. Does Agony bring the genius that gives ecstasy? Phil Spector was a musical savant. He came up with a sound big enough to be called "The Wall Of Sound." Everybody wanted to find out his secret that brought hit after hit. ( "He's A Rebel" "Then He Kissed Me" – The Crystals, "Be My Baby" – The Ronettes, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'" – The Righteous Brothers, "Imagine" – John Lennon, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" – Ramones ) Not just hits, songs that are different but still linked with that "thing." This music that Phil heard in his brain he had to mach with what came out of the studio. How was he able to produce pure magic? Know one may ever know. He is not the first to be loved for one thing but despised for another. His music changes peoples lives even now 40 years latter. He helped shape Rock-n-Roll and forever changed the way people listen to the radio. Lots of good things come from bad people. This film shows that maybe Phil is not bad, just misunderstood like the Rebel in his songs. This exclusive interview done during his second trial for the murder of a struggling actress seems like a "I told you so" from Phil. In it he is as funny as he is serious. This interview is stuck together with courtroom footage, news reports, and vintage video from the 60's and 70's. The music with the muted courtroom in the background is Enough to look at without the subtitles to read. This makes one miss the point of one if not all three. Other then that, this is an eye opening documentary for the BBC. Just what the music public wants, history with dirty laundry. This time he gets off, but the next time he goes to court he gets19-years-to-life in prison. We know he did not write it but "He Fought the Law and the Law Won."

FILM FORUM
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND - 1 WEEK ONLY!
NOW TILL TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14
http://www.filmforum.org/films/spector.html

25% off at the Lincoln Center

NYC youarehere wants to see you Jazz it up at the Lincoln Center this holiday season. The Red Hot Holiday Stomp is how cool cats celebrate. And how! In the Santa's red and white will be Wycliffe Gordon and other friends of Jazz at Lincoln Center. So get balled up, find a doll and head up to the Rose Theater between December 9Th and 11Th. Use the link to Save 25% on tickets with code “Red Hot 25”!

Tickets start at $15 with your discount!
Link: http://jalc.org/concerts/details309a.asp?EventID=2353

Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless is back!!

There are lots of Turkey Day traditions. For the film buff going out the theater on ThanksGiving is the whipped topping on the pumpkin pie. This last Thursday while celebrating with a late show at the Film Forum this New Yorker picked up a postcard for Breathless. Back by popular demand this 1960 classic of the French New Wave will be playing through December 7th.

When one thinks of New Wave men with strange hats and whips come to mind. "Whip It" was Devo's biggest hit and was a part of American New Wave. But long before this strange video the French New Wave was brought out in film. Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most recognized directors of the French wave. When he collaborated with fellow director, François Truffaut on Breathless 1960. They brought out this new style with beauty and a "Cool" all its own. "À bout de souffle" in French literally means "at breath's end." The way the characters breath seems to be connected to the meaning of the film like when Patricia "sighs", or when Michel "huffs." He has got some problems with the cops but is as cool as a cucumber, his only worry being how this American girl has him falling for her. Michel played by Jean-Paul Belmondo is Godard's homage to Humphrey Bogart, with his fedora and suit. More then that Jean-Paul hits it on the head he is the French "Bogie." He is sexy, slick and troubled. He might be nothing but trouble for Patricia who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris with dreams of being a journalist. This love story is played out on those streets. What a ground breaking film that it seems to be get more and more praise every year.
http://www.filmforum.org/

Take Over Manhattan With The Muppets

This weekend take over Manhattan with the Muppet's. The third of the original feature films starring Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and the rest. In this movie the Muppet's take their musical show to New York in hopes of making it big and becoming stars. They make friends in the big city, but have little luck in breaking into Broadway. Will they stick it out in the Big Apple? The film is directed by Frank Oz who also plays Fizzier Bear, Miss Piggy and Animal. The creator of the Muppet's artist Jim Henson plays many different roles including Kermit. This was Henson's final film before his death in 1990. He started creating puppet characters in 1954 and gave us not only The Muppet Show, but other T.V. shows like Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies and Sesame Street. He also brought us into his imagination with films like the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. So go out and hit the town with the Muppet's in "Muppets Take Manhattan" playing at the Sunshine Cinema at Midnight for four days this weekend.
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/newyork/newyork_frameset.htm

Must See in NYC - John Lennon's Imagine Circle

John Lennon lived in NYC for the last years of his life. He worked on his solo material and lived the family life with his wife and child in the Dakota Apartments on the Upper West Side. It was outside the well known building that Lennon was gunned down in December of 1980. Many fans would come to mourn for the loved Beatle in front on West 72ND Street. So many that the city of New York had to make a memorial. "Strawberry Fields" and the Imagine Circle designed by Bruce Kelly was opened on what would have been Lennon's 45Th birthday, 9 October 1985. A grassy hill on the west side of the park is "Strawberry Fields" The Imagine Circle in just inside the opening to the park at Central Park West at West 72ND Street. This triangular pathway with a round mosaic of inlaid stones with the word "Imagine" at the center is black and white but is always covered with colorful flowers from fans. The mosaic is a reproduction of one from Pompeii. A city near modern Naples that was completely destroyed and then buried by the volcano Mount Vesuvius. This is not just a beautiful part of Central Park its a gathering place for lovers of John Lennon and his message of peace.