So, I decided to go for a star , "little star of Bethlehem..."
so far 300 step jacks / 1000. I count on continuing tomorrow, taking Thursday of (going to the office physically), and finishing Friday.
What else?
The Owl striked again, with Duolingo changing again rules - no "night owl" and "morning owl" bonuses, which annoys me ; and at least at my level no "stable" zone, only promotion or demotion, which I find unmotivating and demotivating respectively. Agh.
@TopNotch , hoping this doesn't hamper too much our cooperation!
And I watched a great movie. Warning, it is a black-and-white oldie, but as I already liked the cineast a lot, I gave it a try: "le corbeau" (the crow) from Clouzot. Wow.
A very few very dated shots (like close-up on a a single, fat tear rolling on the seductress's cheek), but less than 1% of the movie, and the picture - and atmosphere, are just amazing. It deals with a little French town where anonymous letters (signed with the drawin of a crow) denouncing an abortionist-doc, an unfaithful wife and such, start wrecking havoc. It was filmed during occupation, but frankly, could be any date, any small town - including Belgium, Netherlands, Bayern, rural Pennsylvania... The stifling atmosphere; suspicions, the mob ... And though you may have a guess at who the crow is, the moviemaker will give you whiplash until the last minute. Some spectacular pictures - shadows, a lone woman running away from the mob in town, the final shot ... Really, if you have interest in historical movies, it is worth watching.
English wiki, with spoilers
Having been filmed in a german studio during occupation, the movie was shunned for some time (though as I said, I consider it time and place-less in its description of human nature, and the occupation is never mentioned), but now recognised for a treasure. It even gave in French the slang of calling an anonymous-letters-writer a crow. Clouzot has clearly no naivety about human nature, including kids, and is not optimistic, you're warned. The other two movies he made that I am a big fan of are "the wages of fear" and "les diaboliques", which I highly recommend.
Oh, very different style
but another movie I recently saw and liked, "candyman" - the 2021 version (paging
@GentleOx as it is his beloved fare, LOL). I didn't expect it;, but it really marked me, and made me think about the cycles of violence in a community (and wondering how to break / help break them). Highly recommend if you look for a less-gory but marking horror/fantastic movie.