12 Septembre
I arrived in Biarritz by train at six in the morning. The sky was clear, save for a a few wispy clouds, but it was encouraging to see the stars again. After walking about a mile, I arrived at the beach. The waves were about chest high, but the swell seemed to be fading. The wind was blowing offshore about 5-10 miles per hour. As the sun began to stir from its sleep, a girl stop[ed to talk to me for a bit. She found it funny that I was just staring at the ocean.
My friend hadn't arrived from Paris yet, so my days were spent relaxing in the mid-September warmth of the southeastern French coast. Gradually, the winds began to change and a storm moved in. I walked out to the outer rocks that extended several hundred yards into the sea. The sea was alive and furious, as the waves pounded the coast and rocks. Quite a number of people gathered out on the rocks to brave the weather.
As the storm began to lose its intensity, I gazed south for my first glimpses of the Spanish coast. This photo looks past Anglet, St Jean-de-Luz, and towards San Sebastian.
Most of my time in Biarritz was spent alone, thus, affording me some time for reflection. There was an oceanside cafe where I spent a number of hours reading. A beautiful British girl, in the midst of having some beers with her friends, walked over and said "You're reading...". I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just said that someone had to.
I finished Cinema: Memory of a Century, which is a long conversation between Jean-Luc Godard and Youseff Ishaghpour. Using Godard's lengthy film project "Historie(s) de cinema" as a starting point, they discuss Godard's take on the 20th century, history of cinema, relation to literature and other art, and the concentration camps, among other things. He also noted that the 20th century was the age of mass production and copying, obviously, but he placed the logic on the mass production of horrors, too - first and second world wars, Sarajevo, genocides, concentration camps, etc. Though examples such as these, Godard and Ishaghpour assemble the notion of cinema as not just a history, but the history of the 20th century. While literature address the camps, cinema was almost completely silent, in fact, Godard wrote that, referring to mainstream cinema, thought ceased at Aushwitz.
Then, the New Wave... Id mainstream cinema's thought was it's form, the "ugly child of cinema" the french new wave, its thought was the thought on form.
It's nice to read Godard talk about Henri Langois and growing up in the Paris museums. Unlike so many others, Godard's films contain an immense amount of explicit and subtly hidden references to past filmmakers, artists, poets, writers, activists, and their thoughts. It's easy to see how he was a film critic before he was a film maker. Every Godard film, book, or interview I've seen, read, or observed is an exercise in intellect, but also a history lesson.
Time passed. I looked forward to my friend's arrival.
I arrived in Biarritz by train at six in the morning. The sky was clear, save for a a few wispy clouds, but it was encouraging to see the stars again. After walking about a mile, I arrived at the beach. The waves were about chest high, but the swell seemed to be fading. The wind was blowing offshore about 5-10 miles per hour. As the sun began to stir from its sleep, a girl stop[ed to talk to me for a bit. She found it funny that I was just staring at the ocean.
My friend hadn't arrived from Paris yet, so my days were spent relaxing in the mid-September warmth of the southeastern French coast. Gradually, the winds began to change and a storm moved in. I walked out to the outer rocks that extended several hundred yards into the sea. The sea was alive and furious, as the waves pounded the coast and rocks. Quite a number of people gathered out on the rocks to brave the weather.
As the storm began to lose its intensity, I gazed south for my first glimpses of the Spanish coast. This photo looks past Anglet, St Jean-de-Luz, and towards San Sebastian.
Most of my time in Biarritz was spent alone, thus, affording me some time for reflection. There was an oceanside cafe where I spent a number of hours reading. A beautiful British girl, in the midst of having some beers with her friends, walked over and said "You're reading...". I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just said that someone had to.
I finished Cinema: Memory of a Century, which is a long conversation between Jean-Luc Godard and Youseff Ishaghpour. Using Godard's lengthy film project "Historie(s) de cinema" as a starting point, they discuss Godard's take on the 20th century, history of cinema, relation to literature and other art, and the concentration camps, among other things. He also noted that the 20th century was the age of mass production and copying, obviously, but he placed the logic on the mass production of horrors, too - first and second world wars, Sarajevo, genocides, concentration camps, etc. Though examples such as these, Godard and Ishaghpour assemble the notion of cinema as not just a history, but the history of the 20th century. While literature address the camps, cinema was almost completely silent, in fact, Godard wrote that, referring to mainstream cinema, thought ceased at Aushwitz.
Then, the New Wave... Id mainstream cinema's thought was it's form, the "ugly child of cinema" the french new wave, its thought was the thought on form.
It's nice to read Godard talk about Henri Langois and growing up in the Paris museums. Unlike so many others, Godard's films contain an immense amount of explicit and subtly hidden references to past filmmakers, artists, poets, writers, activists, and their thoughts. It's easy to see how he was a film critic before he was a film maker. Every Godard film, book, or interview I've seen, read, or observed is an exercise in intellect, but also a history lesson.
Time passed. I looked forward to my friend's arrival.
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