Yesterday
I woke up with a headache yesterday, and as it wasn’t getting better, I crawled back into bed after breakfast and watched Fargo on DVD.
Very good film! The characters sometimes make you laugh out loud because they are so normal it’s comic. However, the story itself is rather sad, especially because it is a true story. I wonder how ‘Jerry Lundegaard’ is feeling about what happened.
Now is this really a true story or not? At the beginning it says,
“This is a true story. The events in this film are based on a crime that has been committed in Minnesota in 1987.
To respect the living, the names of the survivors have been changed.
To respect the dead, the rest of the story has been told exactly as it happened.”
[My translation from German]
but there’s a disclaimer in the credits,
“The persons and events portrayed in this production are fictious. No similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred.”
Can anyone help me out?
Update: Scott posted a reply in my discussion group. He has relatives who live near Brainerd and points me to brainerddispatch.com/fargo/.
So I guess it’s mostly fiction…
Sunset
Craig has a wonderful sunset photo today!
As to your question about the election: I doubt anyone will ever know if Bush truly won.
Potatoes
Later in the afternoon [yesterday] I felt much better, so I did some experimental cooking for dinner. Inspired by Al‘s Potato Gratin recipe, I made a potato casserole. I put lots of carrots and celery in it and tossed some smoked sausages in as well. Then I mixed some eggs with sour cream, poured it over the whole thing and put some grated cheese on top. I think it turned out pretty well, and we have enough leftovers for dinner tonight.
We still have several pounds of potatoes left, so I’m thinking about trying Fresh Corn Chowder or Smoked Salmon Potato Patties next. Lots of great recipes to be found at VanEats!
I love the Coen brothers!
My favorites are Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski.
Raising Arizona was released while I was matriculating. Fortunately it was playing at a theater about a block from my apartment. I caught the matinee every afternoon for a week. Often I was the only person in the theater, laughing my ass off and rolling in the aisle.
Unfortunately I missed The Big Lebowski in the theater, but I now have the DVD so that I can enjoy it over and over…
Now I have to run out and see Oh Brother, where art thou?!
Hey, I’ve never heard about Raising Arizona, but I’ve seen both The Big Lebowski and Oh Brother, where Art Thou in the cinema.
Raising Arizona was released while I was matriculating. Fortunately it was playing at a theater about a block from my apartment. I caught the matinee every afternoon for a week. Often I was the only person in the theater, laughing my ass off and rolling in the aisle.
The only person in the theater? Incredible. There are always few people when André and I watch movies in the original version (all films are dubbed in German, and they are rarely shown in English here), but we have never been the only ones.
Seems like André and I have to watch Raising Arizona one as well.
I just checked the other films by the Coens and discovered they have done Hudsucker. I think I saw that one as well, but that was years ago…
The Coen brothers are my closest brush to Hollywood fame. Their father was chair of the Economics Dept at the University of Minnesota, and was the advisor for my BS degree. The Coens’ first film “Blood Simple” was in fact financed by various professors in the Econ department.
I also have an uncle and a cousin who live near Brainerd. See http://www.brainerddispatch.com/fargo/ to see what the newspaper there thought of the movie.
We saw Fargo on video a couple years ago. We both agree that it’s depiction of Minnesota in the mid ’80s is pretty accurate. It seems to me that there was a real kidnapping/murder case, but I’m sure that 90% of the movie is fiction.
Hallo Andrea!
Thanks for the VanEats plug!
I read your site almost every day and really enjoy the German bits! The style and the length of the German pieces are perfect for my level of German!
Vielen Dank!
…Roland
You’re welcome! I very much enjoy reading VanEats as well, and I often browse the recipes for inspiration. I especially like the baking section. Ah, if only I had more time for cooking and baking – I’d surely work my way through all of your recipes!