French Film Review, "Merci Pour Le Chocolat."

I signed up for classes this semester, online through my local community college (I have a few courses left I can take for cheaper than university tuition, so I will take advantage of this). One of my classes is French. 

In the past, I have taken 3-4 years of Spanish and worked in a Spanish-speaking environment. Living in Texas, Spanish comes in handy. At my current job, I am able blunder through my Spanish-speaking appointments, which usually end in a Google Translation session to help both parties out. 

Learning French has been easier for me - trés facile por moi. My brain seems to be adapting well to another language, and I have been watching French films in order to stimulate that part of my brain. (I also recently downloaded the French audio book translation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).

Tonight, I watched "Merci Pour Le Chocolat."
(Bear with me, I don't write film reviews).

It was actually pretty good, despite being filmed in 2000 and having British subtitles, AND poor film quality on Netflix. It was about a pianist who takes on a new student (there's a twist to how they meet), and his current wife gets jealous and does a bit off shady things to try and off the new student. Isabelle Huppert is in the film, whom you probably know from I Heart Huckabee's. I really like the classical piano music the film visits and it makes me miss playing classical piano...

Anyways, the film starts out awkwardly, because the scene begins at a wedding, but they're talking about deaths, and then you get confused. Apparently, (after the film I read the synopsis on a few film sites for clarity), Mika and André marry, divorce and then remarry after André's wife, Lisbeth dies in a car crash. The characters develop slowly at the beginning, and almost unnaturally. I can't write much more without giving away the twist in the plot, but I did enjoy it and recommend it. It's easy to follow once you realize who is who, and what not. 

Anyways, learning French is opening up some new experiences for me and also has opened my eyes to French cinema. After Iceland, I see a trip to France on the horizon. 

Bonsoir! 

Iceland in Eight

EIGHT DAYS. 

Heather and I are going to be on a plane to Boston, where I will explore Salem and Cambridge before departing the country for the first time to Iceland! I cannot wait. I'll have my computer with me and will try and blog about everything I see and do. I will be taking 3 or 4 cameras, including my iPhone. 

We will be landing in Reykjavik on the 29th and then we have two days to explore the city before Iceland Airwaves starts! After Airwaves (Sigur Ros closes Sunday night out...) we will head north to a mussellfarm I thought would be interesting; it is on the tip of the Arctic Circle. I also cannot wait to see the Norther Lights. 

image courtesy of telegraph.co.uk

I might turn this blog into a travel blog since I haven't been able to keep up with my art lately. 

-T

Weekend Adventure Photos

I went to Denton this weekend for the Music Festival, "35 Denton." My boyfriends' band, War Party played along with over 100 other bands. It was much fun. Pictures will speak better than words on this post:

The program booklet

The Rich Hands, from San Antonio, TX

Amanda, Instagramming me!

Amanda + bird

War Party playing at Mellow Mushroom in Denton, TX

Driving in the van

JOHN VANDERSLICE!!! (I love him so much. I wish his full band had been there!)

We used a blow dryer instead of an air pump for the air mattress...

Atlas Sound and rain. 

My nice young man, Peter. :)

Interesting floors from the weekend.

I had the most wristbands at one point this weekend.

There were old VW Buses EVERYwhere. I want to remodel one and travel with it one day. 

Vern, Peter and Tyler being silly in the hotel room.  

Sweet guy.

When I got home, I finished up my sisters' birthday present: A painting of her cat, Wonky! 

(Visit my shop for ordering information if you want a custom pet portrait!)

I also made War Party a merch-case, complete with a chalkboard so they can write whatever they want on it and sell their tapes and shirts. 

Cheers,

Tiff

Found: Art

Got the idea to start a new little series about things I find. "Found: Art," is the kick-off post, so I will be  sharing the random and interesting works of art I have acquired over the years from estate sales, thrift stores, etc. 

This first piece I'm sharing is a painting I picked up at a thrift store in Arlington, TX:

I tried to find information about the artist, "G. Pierre," but apparently this guy is elusive as all my searching concluded in other peoples' searching on message boards trying to find out who he was. I did gather he was a 1930s French artist, but that is about all I could find. 

I love this painting - it is one of my favorites I have. It was $12 at the thrift store. My research shows that other paintings by G. Pierre may be worth about $300-$500.

...

Enjoy.

"26 before 27" - #4: Sing at an open mic.

As mentioned in the previous blog post, I have a list of goals I'd like to finish by the time I hit 27 - which will be in October. 

I'd like to tell you about the most recent achievement: Singing at an open mic!

My fear of performing in front of people is odd because I used to be in theater and performed in a band during high school, as well as piano recitals. I also LOVE karaoke. So why be so scared of an open mic performance? Because I would have to sing AND play at the same time. Doubles my chances to mess up.

However....this past Sunday, I was able to kill this fear by playing with Peter at an improv open mic. We played a Johnny Cash song. Now that I've done it once, I'm fine to do it again. Funny how that works. 

XO

Welcome!

Hello! This is my first post on my new blog, "Tiffiny Epiphany." I will be posting weekly at first, and hopefully have enough content to post daily.

This blog will feature DIYs, recipes, fashion, cats, and also links to my shop on Etsy, where I sell custom Pet Portraits and polymer clay charms.

I hope to bring creativity, inspiration and enjoyment to my readers.

XO

Tiffiny