Bread, Tulips and Roy Orbison

[tvordlj]

Next video watched, Bread and Tulips (Pani e Tulippani) Italian and subtitled in English. It was great! A light little comedy about a housewife who was on a coach tour with her familiy gets left behind at a motorway stop. She ends up in Venice instead of going home and it sort of has that "Shirley Valentine" feel without all the one-liners. Great shots of Venice. The characters she meets and makes friends with, mainly an older Icelandic man who talks very formally and a young scatty holistic masseuse across the hall are both great. The husband is frantic to find her but only, it seems, because he has nobody to iron his shirts and cook for him. He sends a somewhat hapless mama's boy plumber who loves detective novels to find her as a cheaper alternative to an expensive private investigator. The movie was absolutely delightful and ended very satisfactorily.

What's this got to do with Roy Orbison? Nothing. lol! I had today off and needed to buy my dad a birthday pressie and decided on a couple of cd's that he could play in the car. I picked up a Roy Orbison hits that i will probalby copy for myself before he gets it, and a Nat King Cole cd that has "Rambling Rose" on it. that was one of the songs in his limited repertoire when i was growing up. :) He's not that bad a singer but usually just gives you the chorus anyway LOL other songs that remind me of him are "White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation" (remember, he's from the 1950's era) and then there's his Burle Ives impression that goes along with "Itty Bitty Tear"... you can always tell the difference between his BI impression and Arthur Godfrey. The songs are different LOL! :D Me dad is great! Silly at times, but great!

Comments

bread and Tulips

[abishag.livejournal.com]

Sounds delightful, must see if my video shop, a whole lot nearer to Italy, and in an area full of Italians, has anything as enlightened as a video in italian. Sounds just the sort of thing my Italian teacher Anna would love. A bit Anne Tyler-ish?

Re: bread and Tulips

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Perhaps... I'm not that familiar with most of her books other than Accidental Tourist which was rather sad and downbeat. You take Italian lessons? I took them one winter in 95 with a friend to go to Italy in the fall of 96. Would have kept them up but i had no transportation and it was in an awkward spot of town for after dark travel on my own. I enjoyed them but i can tell my vocabulary is fading. Yes, give the movie a try, it's pretty new out and won awards i think in Italy and might have been up for the American Oscar for best foreign film.

Re: bread and Tulips

[abishag.livejournal.com]

Yes- my original entry was part of wind-down process after GCSE Italian exam[usually taken at 16]; I adore Italy [first visit 4 years ago], and just hated unfamiliar sensation of being in a country where I didn't speak the language at all. Can't go on for ever starting new ones though!
Yes Tyler could be thought downbeat I suppose, but she has several books which involve semi-accidental relocation of woman from an "accidentally" adopted routine life.

Re: bread and Tulips

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Hmmm i must add her to my list then. I have a stack of unread books that i've promised myself to get through before buying or borrowing more. Chance would be a fine thing but i'll get there ! I liked Italy and would like to go back to Venice and Florence especially. I learned enough Italian to at least be able to ask prices and stuff though they always answered me back in English! I used to trade postcards with a gal i Italy and wrote my travelogue to Italy and translated it into Italian with the help of a dictionary of course. couldn't get it all, there were a few phrases i wasn't able to sort but i guess it wasn't bad for a beginner.