Voyage au centre de la Terre

Non, je ne parle pas du roman de Jules Verne, que je n'ai d'ailleurs jamais lu (il faudra bien que je le fasse un jour: je n'ai jamais lu de Jules Verne). Je parle de la section sur la Terre, la géologie et les activités telluriques (volcans, séismes et autres) du Musée de l'Histoire Naturelle. On y entre grâce à un escalier roulant qui passe à travers un globe terrestre géant. Rien que pour ça, ma visite vaut le coup. Même si ma femme avait trouvé cette section du musée un peu ennuyeuse, moi j'étais fasciné. Il faudra que j'y retourne en famille un jour. Quand petit loup sera capable d'apprécier. Je crois aussi que d'ici là, je lirai le roman de Verne. En fait, l'un de mes objectifs littéraires cette année serait peut-être de lire un peu de son oeuvre.

High sea adventures (and a song)

This photo is the sign of a local pub, aptly called The Ship. When I drink there, I usually have a Smuggler or a Mutiny, depending of what's available. Strange name for a pub, as this town is close to a river, but far from the sea.

I was thinking about my childhood games around the family swimming pool, and many of them were high sea adventures. In a way, I didn't really grow up: instead of playing make belief games about high sea adventures, I daydream about them, drinking a beer with an evocative name, in a pub with an evocative name. The ship image reminds me of a movie I particularly love: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . it was showing on TV recently. I watched a bit of it, distractly. I said back in 2008 that I needed to buy the DVD. I still haven't done it. It is the kind of movie that needs to be watched during summertime. I better hurry up, as it will not be summer for much longer. I know I uploaded this song before, but since this blog needs music from time to time and since it is still summertime and I had this in mind, I thought I would upload it again, this time with Kirk Douglas's movie performance. It is quite funny, if you think about it, a genuine musical number in an adventure, high budget blockbuster movie. And it works beautifully.

20,000 Leages Under the Sea

Hey, You can find 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on youtube. There's a nice little adventure movie right there. I always loved it. I am feeling a bit guilty about watching it on youtube, but sometimes it is the only way to get your hand on something when you want to watch it. And it has been put there by people who genuinly love the movie. I will need to buy the DVD eventually. Summer puts me in the mood for escapist movies and literature, especially sea adventures (that said I never watched Pirates of the Carribeans nor cared about it), or stories with tropical settings. If I want to watch a James Bond this time of year, it will most likely be Dr. No or Thunderball. If I want something a bit more serious, it will be Moby Dick with Gregory Peck. I was crazy about that movie when I was a child. Anyway, I read Moby Dick twice (once when I was 11 after watching the movie, once when I was 18 in cégep) and I promised myself to read it in original English. I will also have to read the original 20,000 Lieues sous les Mers novel one day. This year, I already have a lot to read for the summer and I don't have the book yet. I want to read it in original French of course. Jules Verne was not a great writer, but he was inventive. Sometimes that's all you are looking for. I am surprised I haven't read it yet actually. When I was a child, my brothers and I had an obsession for high sea adventures. Our family got a pool at an early age, and our child out games during summertime set around the pool usually evolved around pirates (ancient or modern), shark attacks, giant squid attacks, typhoons (use making waves in the pool) or a variation of everything. We had a wild imagination.