Thoughts on The Matrix Reloaded

Before I enter the realm of the cut-tag, I will say that I liked it. I haven't seen the original Matrix in absolutely ages, and maybe this helped, in that I didn't have it so fresh in my mind to compare this against. But I also think that one thing that might make people dislike the movie is if they're expecting it to try to answer questions raised by the first one. It didn't. I don't think it tried, either. My guess is that basically, at the end of the third one, we're going to be sitting there saying "Oh, that's what was going on? I had no clue that was even in the offing!"

( Now for some of my thoughts. )

There and back again (OK, actually just 'There.')

The Matrix Reloaded was playing in the Original Version (i.e., not dubbed into French) at the Gaumont Alésia; I knew this because I'd seen it there when I went to see The Secretary last week. And Katie had a brochure for them, and it confirmed that it was playing there, and told us that there was a showing at 9:40pm. So we left the Cité at 9:15 and walked up there (it's about a 15-20 minute walk).

But it wasn't listed among the movies playing when we got there. It must've just ended a couple days ago. I knew that it had been playing in the French version across the street, at the theater where I actually saw The Secretary, and I suggested that we head over there in the hopes that maybe the V.F. had been replaced with the V.O. No such luck, but when I asked if they knew where it was playing in the original, they did say Montparnasse. So we walked quickly to the Alésia métro stop at the end of the block and caught the train to Montparnasse-Bienvenüe. When we got back up into the night air, we realized that we had a bit of a treasure-hunt on. There were at least four theaters that we could see immediately surrounding us, and possibly more further on. The first two we headed towards were both showing the film, but only in French. The third one, however, held our goal. We ran in and discovered that the film theoretically started at 9:45, and it was currently 9:55. However, this ignored the idea of previews, and while it's true that there were no previews when I went to see The Secretary, this was, I think, an anomaly. And more to the point, there was a screen further away that said the movie started in 4 minutes. This is one organized cinema we're talking about, here! So we bought our tickets, headed up two flights to the salle the movie was playing in, and claimed seats in the front row (the only place where there were two together) just as the last French preview was finishing. Then we sat through a preview of Pirates of the Caribbean (I can't figure out whether it will just be amusing, or whether it'll be awful) and... ta-da. So, just barely in time, but it worked out, which seems to be what all my adventures in Paris are like. See my previous post for thoughts on the movie.

On an entirely different note, I found out tonight that I could have gotten a year-long ticket for the Louvre for only 15 euros. Despite having already spent 5 euros on my last visit, I may well do this. It'll give me an incentive to go lots, which I need. And I'll probably do the same at the Musée d'Orsay when I (hopefully) go this weekend, because I like impressionists. It'll also mean not feeling like I have to stay at the museums until they close, on the Mondays/Wednesdays/Thursdays that they're open late, which makes dinner and homework both a bit difficult.

Sleep time. Yum. (Oops, still haven't done laundry. Bugger.)

LJ Match

I'm a sucker for quizzes, you know that. So:

	

	

	

		
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How compatible with me are YOU?

OK, I find it disturbingly funny how apparently uncompatible girlwithjournal and I are.

Wine and food, what else?

The second half of French today was completely taken up by discussions of wine and its appropriate consumption. I kept wishing that mciac and Ray were there, because I'm sure that they (especially Ray) would have appreciated the conversation a million times more than I did, and I did enjoy it quite a bit.

This occurred because we have an Italian girl (well, two, actually, but only one is relevant to this happening) in our class, and it somehow came up on the first day of class that she is (or at least considers herself) to be an expert on wine, at least Italian wines. So since apparently everyone is gradually giving presentations of one sort or another in class (the professor's not yet said anything to me!), her presentation was today, and on wine. So she explained the different types of wine glasses, and which wines they were used for (I now understand why there are two different types of champagne glass), and we learned that the wine will by and large be better if it says it was bottled at the chateau than if it's been bottled by a company. I amused myself by asking if it was worse to drink wine directly from a bottle or out of an ordinary-shaped glass, since she'd so expressly shuddered at both ideas. (Our Australian classmate, Richard, had previously asked about drinking wine directly from bottles, and she had voluntarily proscribed an ordinary glass.)

So that, and the following discussion, took up the entire second half of class. Fun. This evening, Sharon and I went out to dinner. We met up at Glacière métro station and started walking; a block or so away, on rue Arago, we came upon a restaurant, La Girondine, that looked like it had good choices and wasn't too too expensive (16 euros for the formule menu, which isn't really any worse than you see anywhere, and better than some places). Being as how we got there at 7:30-ish, the restaurant was also happily empty and could seat us.

We both got the formule menu, particularly given the relative prices between it and everything else, and we got the bottle of wine that they had sitting on the table. (I figured they wouldn't have any bad wines, it was cheaper than most of the others, and it read mis en bouteille à la proprieté, which, given the afternoon's lessons, I figured ranked as a Good Thing.) The wine was, in fact, very good; for my own records, it was a Côtes du Rhône from Chateau de Marjolet, 2001. I ate grilled sardines, a brochette of lamb, and a tarte aux pommes; Sharon had the same thing but with crayfish instead of the sardines. This was something of a surprise to both of us, as what she ordered from the menu read "bouquet Breton. mayonaise." It could have been a disaster, as she doesn't like seafood (particularly fish), but she decided to be brave and try it, and in fact liked it fine. I got a sardine bone stuck in my throat, but it disappeared eventually.

Just to make myself feel better for not getting to be in Oxford singing in the Marathon this weekend, I'm going to a Medieval Festival tomorrow in Provins. (OK, not just to make myself feel better; I would have gone anyway!) I'm going with Sharon, 'cause she'd already planned to go, and I'd wanted to go but had failed to get any information on the subject, and we decided that it, like Disneyland, was something better done in company than alone. So despite my not having my snood (*sniffle*), I will be Mediaeval-ing it tomorrow. Unless things go whacky, as my plans seem to, but I do know of one way besides the train to get there if the strike decides to play its little games again.