In a virtual repeat of the first part of the day yesterday, I stayed at home for most of the day as well today. I say a virtual repeat, because the time I spent at home matched almost to the hour how much time I spent on Saturday, given the fact that we had an extra hour due to the clock being moved back from 3am to 2am early this morning.
Anyway, I accounted better for the time spent today trying to reply to my prospective hosts and potential friends in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. An exchange of e-mails with Roi and chats with Haithem and Liat Rogel helped me form the kernel of an itinerary by around 3:30pm. Knowing that one of the popular Russian films now showing, Nulevoy Kilometr, would be playing at 5-Zvyozd Novokuznetskaya (my cinema of choice recently, where I'd seen Dans Paris and Mongol as well), I start preparing to leave at 3:50pm.
Somewhere along the way, I shift from my computer and my cellphone to my wristwatch for checking the time. Confused by plumbing difficulties, I failed to take note of a missing hour and proceed to think in the old time. Having just 90mins before my rendezvous with Yulia at 6:45pm, I gave up going to the cinema, instead opting to have a late lunch. I hurriedly made myself corned beef and rice, which I share with Sarah and Maria. Hurrying to Voznesensky Per. 9, I set up a meet with Yulia in front of the boxed-up Tchaikovsky statue in front of the Conservatory. Since life often comes in pairs, Yulia and I head for Kvartira 44 along Bolshaya Nikitskaya 22/2 after getting cash at VTB and a money changer. This time, we sit at the upper level, across the bar. A striking short- and dark-haired girl waits on us as we whiled away the 30mins we had until curtain call. A grog and a martini bianco later, we're back into the 3 C streets, pretty much ahead of Ira, Yulia's friend, and her brother, Dima.
Yulia was for a while quite mysterious about the play we were supposed to see. (Admittedly, I was hoping for something like Griboyedov's Woe From Wit or Konchalovsky's direction of Strindberg's Miss Julia; after all, I had decided not to go to St Petersburg for a couple of Mariinsky performances when Yulia first invited me to accompany her more than three weeks ago. Even as of Friday, I was still drooling over the fact that soprano Anna Netrebko was going to perform at Tchaikovsky Hall for a paltry 600r. Why, in Salzburg, they might charge you hundreds if not thousands of euros to see her perform!) Anyway, it was pleasant to know that we were going to a real connaisseurs' venue, the Teatre Okolo Doma Stanislavskogo, to see Stranniki i Gusary (Wanderers and Hussars). Directed by Yury Pogrebnichko, the play starring A. Levinsky (not related to Monica, I presume) was tersely described by Yulia as being of a "philosophical" bent that is loved by very few of her friends.
Having psyched myself up for a long, complicated Russia drama, I and Yulia had to ring the door for them to open. As it turned out, the play was canceled. Yulia and Ira said there might have been an emergency among the actors. Anyway, we rescheduled for 15 November 2007.
In order to not end the evening too early, we decided to go Rolan cinema to catch the latest (and seventh) film of the Serbian director, Emir Kusturica: Zavet (Promise Me This), a French and Serbian co-production. A raucous romp in the Serbian countryside, this film is very simple -even naive- in mentality and execution. I didn't have difficulties in following this film in dubbed Russian. In fact, Serbian is probably close enough to lip-synch the actors' dubs. However, Kusturica's slapstick humor often falls flat; they are however a hit with certain members of the mainly Russian audience. As for eye candy, there's Marija Petronijevic, a young Bosnian girl who plays Jasna, the young hero's love interest. The summary from the Cannes official site is as follows:
After the film, I just take Yulia and Ira to Novokuznetskaya before going home. At home, I spend a couple more hours talking to my new guests, Philipp and Annegret. Have to turn in now as I have class tomorrow.
Anyway, I accounted better for the time spent today trying to reply to my prospective hosts and potential friends in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. An exchange of e-mails with Roi and chats with Haithem and Liat Rogel helped me form the kernel of an itinerary by around 3:30pm. Knowing that one of the popular Russian films now showing, Nulevoy Kilometr, would be playing at 5-Zvyozd Novokuznetskaya (my cinema of choice recently, where I'd seen Dans Paris and Mongol as well), I start preparing to leave at 3:50pm.
Somewhere along the way, I shift from my computer and my cellphone to my wristwatch for checking the time. Confused by plumbing difficulties, I failed to take note of a missing hour and proceed to think in the old time. Having just 90mins before my rendezvous with Yulia at 6:45pm, I gave up going to the cinema, instead opting to have a late lunch. I hurriedly made myself corned beef and rice, which I share with Sarah and Maria. Hurrying to Voznesensky Per. 9, I set up a meet with Yulia in front of the boxed-up Tchaikovsky statue in front of the Conservatory. Since life often comes in pairs, Yulia and I head for Kvartira 44 along Bolshaya Nikitskaya 22/2 after getting cash at VTB and a money changer. This time, we sit at the upper level, across the bar. A striking short- and dark-haired girl waits on us as we whiled away the 30mins we had until curtain call. A grog and a martini bianco later, we're back into the 3 C streets, pretty much ahead of Ira, Yulia's friend, and her brother, Dima.
Yulia was for a while quite mysterious about the play we were supposed to see. (Admittedly, I was hoping for something like Griboyedov's Woe From Wit or Konchalovsky's direction of Strindberg's Miss Julia; after all, I had decided not to go to St Petersburg for a couple of Mariinsky performances when Yulia first invited me to accompany her more than three weeks ago. Even as of Friday, I was still drooling over the fact that soprano Anna Netrebko was going to perform at Tchaikovsky Hall for a paltry 600r. Why, in Salzburg, they might charge you hundreds if not thousands of euros to see her perform!) Anyway, it was pleasant to know that we were going to a real connaisseurs' venue, the Teatre Okolo Doma Stanislavskogo, to see Stranniki i Gusary (Wanderers and Hussars). Directed by Yury Pogrebnichko, the play starring A. Levinsky (not related to Monica, I presume) was tersely described by Yulia as being of a "philosophical" bent that is loved by very few of her friends.
Having psyched myself up for a long, complicated Russia drama, I and Yulia had to ring the door for them to open. As it turned out, the play was canceled. Yulia and Ira said there might have been an emergency among the actors. Anyway, we rescheduled for 15 November 2007.
In order to not end the evening too early, we decided to go Rolan cinema to catch the latest (and seventh) film of the Serbian director, Emir Kusturica: Zavet (Promise Me This), a French and Serbian co-production. A raucous romp in the Serbian countryside, this film is very simple -even naive- in mentality and execution. I didn't have difficulties in following this film in dubbed Russian. In fact, Serbian is probably close enough to lip-synch the actors' dubs. However, Kusturica's slapstick humor often falls flat; they are however a hit with certain members of the mainly Russian audience. As for eye candy, there's Marija Petronijevic, a young Bosnian girl who plays Jasna, the young hero's love interest. The summary from the Cannes official site is as follows:
"Tsane lives with his grandfather and their cow, Cvetka, on a remote hilltop. Except for their neighbor, Bosa, they are the village’s only inhabitants. One day, Tsane’s grandfather tells the young man that he is dying. He makes Tsane promise to go over the three hills into the nearest town and sell Cvetka at the market there. With the money, he must buy a religious icon, then anything he really wants, and finally he must find a wife to bring home. In town, Tsane easily fulfills the first parts of his promise but how is he going to get home with a wife before his granddad dies? That’s when he meets Jasna, who’s late for school as usual..."
After the film, I just take Yulia and Ira to Novokuznetskaya before going home. At home, I spend a couple more hours talking to my new guests, Philipp and Annegret. Have to turn in now as I have class tomorrow.
