The Gates Of Hell

I have twice stood before The Gates of Hell--while on vacation in Paris--mesmerized by the scope and detail. And if there had been fewer people running up and touching the sculpture and acting like they were going to enter the Gates (ha ha--so original), I probably would have stayed and studied it for the better part of an hour.

The Gates of Hell were originally supposed to have been a pair of bronze doors to be used as an entrance for a museum in Paris, the Museum of Decorative Arts, which was never built. Rodin worked on the sculpture for 37 years in the lobby of the Hotel Biron, which later became the Rodin Museum.

The photo tends to understate the hugeness of the object (sorry, a This Is Spinal Tap reference regarding Stonehenge). The Gates of Hell are close to 20 feet high, 13 feet wide, and over 3 feet deep (6 meters by 4 meters by 1 meter).

Rodin chose a scene from "The Inferno", of Dante's Divine Comedy as the subject for the sculpture, but ended up not sticking to the narrative of the poem. If you are at all familiar with Rodin's other works, there are many of his famous sculptures embedded in the Gates--and were originally created on the Gates and later became works of their own.

In this photo, note The Thinker just below The Three Shades atop the Gates. But there are many, many more of his famous sculptures adorning the Gates, all in various states of joy, suffering, and damnation.

My photos here also do not show how black this bronze cast--displayed at the Rodin Museum--is. By the way, the plaster original is displayed at the Musee d'Orsay, also in Paris.

So what if you can't make it to Paris? You're in luck. There are two more original bronze casts outside Paris--one at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia (the first bronze cast, actually) and another at The Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.

Rodin never saw his creation cast in bronze, and only ever saw it as the full-size plaster model. I highly recommend visiting the Rodin Museum if you ever find yourself in Paris--the sculptures are amazing and the gardens are relaxing.

The French 75 Cocktail

It's no secret my wife and I enjoy love champagne, and while we usually drink it unadulterated, there are exceptions...

The French 75 cocktail is one such exception.

I first tried the French 75 during a trip to New Orleans when I found a small, but classic bar in the French Quarter adjacent to Arnaud's main dining room, named--yep, the French 75 Bar. How could I not try the cocktail responsible for the bar's name?

The French 75 Bar, pictured above, has everything I look for when sizing up a joint to sip cocktails and relax: sharply dressed bartenders and wait staff, a clean and well-kept bar, well-dressed and civilized patrons, and ambience befitting a throwback sort of establishment, and not a hangout for hipsters wearing trilby hats, jeans, and t-shirts. A bonus for me is the selection of fine cigars on hand at this particular bar. 

Back to the cocktail: the French 75 got the name from its kick, like a piece of artillery--specifically, and I'm thinking you'll guess this one--the French 75-millimeter field artillery used in World War I.  Legend has it the drink was was a favorite of the Lost Generation, and first created by Harry MacElhone, bartender of Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France.

For those who know me well, how could I not love a cocktail created in Paris and enjoyed by the Lost Generation?

There are a few recipes floating around out there, and I prefer the one listed in the Savoy Cocktail Book which can be purchased at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, and likely many independent book shops. The book has been in print since forever, well since 1930. I, however, deviate a tiny bit from the method in that book, but only in the preparation and the type of glass.

Glorious, isn't it? All right, it doesn't look all that special, but here is what comprises this delicious concoction:

• 4 cl (1.35 oz) Gin
• 2 cl (.67 oz) Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Put those ingredients (and only those, don't add any champagne yet) into a cocktail shaker or glass. Now, rigorously stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Okay, most of the instructions I've seen have you pouring the ingredients into a tumbler or collins glass, but please use a champagne flute or a champagne coupe (or saucer as they're called in the United States) like the one pictured above (from a set of Art Deco period Baccarat champagne coupes we bought in Georgetown back when we lived in the D.C. area). I think sipping champagne or any drink with champagne as an ingredient needs to be sipped from a flute or saucer.

All right, the initial ingredients are in the flute or coupe, now top off with champagne (if you want to cheat and use sparkling wine, go ahead, but I'm a purist and stick to champagne).

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite champagne?  Or favorite cocktail with champagne as an ingredient?  My wife adores the standard champagne cocktails (angostura bitter-soaked sugar cube topped with champagne).

Moving Picture Monday: Writing Films

Writers have featured in so many films over the years,  but I have a few favorites I can watch over and over, and not all of them are critical or commercially successful.

Oh sure, we have Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend, Finding Forrester, Misery, Capote, and Adaptation among others--they are all wonderful films that I've seen more than once.

Spoiler Alert - sort of.  These movies have all been out for awhile, even Midnight In Paris.

1. Throw Momma From The Train:  a comedy version of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train starring Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, and Anne Ramsay. And for you Star Trek fans out there, Captain Janeway makes an appearance as Billy Crystal's ex-wife. This movie tickles me for some reason--but there are some great moments about writing and plotting and procrastination.

2.  Midnight In Paris:  This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Owen Wilson plays a Hollywood screenwriter who wants to be a novelist and finds inspiration during his midnight walks in Paris. I won't go into the details, but he meets some fascinating people that many writers would love to meet and hobnob with. There is so much more to the movie than I'm writing here--a must see.

3.  Funny Farm:  no heavy lifting with this movie, but this is back when Chevy Chase was kind of funny, well on the way to being boring. You have to admit Fletch was pretty good (probably his last decent role). Anyway, Funny Farm is about a newspaper sports writer who quits and moves to the country to write a heist novel.

4.  Gentlemen Broncos:  brought to you by the director of Napolean Dynamite--but nowhere near as funny. It's strange, really strange, but enjoyable for all the writerly bits.  Basically, it's about a kid who writes a novel, submits it to a contest and a sort of washed-up writer he idolizes steals his idea.

 If you were going to watch just one of these, I'd say Midnight In Paris. Throw Momma From The Train would be a decent second choice. The other two you can skip, but they're fun background type movies for me.

My wife and I watch Midnight In Paris quite a bit and dream of being in Paris in the 1920s.

One more guilty pleasure:  Her Alibi --I'm a huge Tom Selleck fan, and while she can't act, looking at Paulina Porizkova for an hour and a half is pretty easy on the eyes.

What are your favorite movies about writing or have a writer as a protagonist?