La Vita è Bella

Today is my birthday!! Hooray!

My mother made me  a delicious red velvet cake with hot pink cream cheese icing and a vanilla pudding center. Even though it's half-eaten in this photo, isn't it beautiful? The color of the frosting reminded me of the gorgeous cakes and pastries in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. And it was so yummy!

Aside from the incredible deserts my mother made me (she is so talented when it comes to cooking and baking) I got some wonderful gifts. My favorite, by far, was a DVD from my father. It was the movie La Vita è Bella. Have you seen it?

It is truly a masterpiece. You have the option to view it dubbed in English, but I prefer to watch it in Italian with English subtitles. It's a beautiful story of love and family. It begins with Guido (Roberto Benigni) who keeps running into this beautiful woman, Dora (Benigni's true life wife, Nicoletta Braschi.) He eventually sweeps her off her feet and they marry. 5 years later, they are living happily and have an adorable son, Joshua. When the Nazis invade Italy, Guido (an Italian Jew) and Joshua are taken to a concentration camp. Since Dora is not Jewish, she is left behind. However, she forces herself onto the train to the concentration camp in order to stay with her family. Unfortunately, the men and women are separated. Guido must then hide Joshua from the Nazis, because if he is found he will be killed. In order to keep the tragedy of the situation from Joshua, he invents a game in which Joshua must earn 1,000 points. You gain points by hiding, and you lose points by wanting your mother, complaining of hunger, etc. The movie centers around Guido's continual struggle to protect his son and reunite his family.

If you have not seen it, I strongly suggest you do. It won 3 Academy Awards: Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Foreign Film. This DVD is one of my favorite birthday gifts ever. I'm going to pick up the soundtrack as well. The music in the film is beautiful.

All in all, my birthday weekend was wonderful. I had a lovely dinner in the city with my parents, and then a relaxing Sunday back home. I miss the country sometimes. The city feels so barren sometimes. I miss the green.

I'm in the process of writing another short story, but if I decide to just keep writing, it might turn into the novel I've been dying to write.  I'm wondering if and how I'm actually going to post it here. Perhaps a chapter every few days? Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when it comes up I guess.

Have a lovely evening.