Day 59 (D-2) What have I forgotten? Lots!!!

After today, just two days before we leave.  I must stop all this work and get my bags packed.  But I keep thinking about all the things I have forgotten to share with you on this blog.  I'll add just a few things and then say what is done is done!

1. Films
I didn't have time to mention all the films which take you to this part of the United States.  We saw Hitchcock's North By Northwest when we were at Mount Rushmore, and Little Big Man when we took a look at the Native Americans and Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn.  But I didn't mention Dances With Wolves when we were in South Dakota.  Part of it was shot near Dan O'Brien's ranch.  I'm sure that you have all seen this Kevin Costner film which one 7 Oscars in 1991, including Best Film and Best Director.  And there is also Heaven's Gate, Michael Cimino's epic Western film (1980) about Wyoming in the 1890s, starring Isabelle Huppert.  An amazing film: its story, its length (the shortened DVD version is 3 hours and 28 minutes!) and the story of the making of the film and the cost of the film and the consequences.  Here's wikipedia in French, if you are interested:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Porte_du_paradis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiNlthlz1d8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZfoi59-1to

And there is an older Western film Shane (1953) with Alan Ladd, in Wyoming, sometime after the Civil War (1861-1864) with the beautiful Teton Mountains in the background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWdPmapuOd4
"We'd all be much better off if there wasn't a single gun left in this valley."
"A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it."

There's The Virginian and My Friend Flicka that you perhaps know.

And of course, I think everyone knows the 2005 neo-western romantic drama film by Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain, based on the short story Brokeback Mountain, by Annie Proulx (Close Range/Wyoming Stories).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEdhYYTp7lc

It's interesting to note that many of these "Wyoming" films were not shot in Wyoming!  Although Brokeback Mountain is set in "Riverton", a real town in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, and in Texas, it was largely filmed in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta!


2.  Cowboy vocabulary
howdy = hi
howdy partner = hi friend
ya'll = all of you
ya = you
giddy up = let's go (often said while riding a horse)
Head 'em up, move 'em out. = Let's go (Let's move this cattle.)
a dude = a person who tries to dress like and talk like a cowboy, but is really a city person
wet your whistle = have a drink (usually alcohol)
**hoedown = a dance
a half-wit = a stupid person
tenderfoot or greenhorn = a new person, inexperienced
namby-pamby = not brave
pony up = hurry up
skedaddle = get out of here, leave
The jig is up. = The game is over; the truth has been exposed.
He's a goner = He's dead.
by hook or by crook = any possible way
in cahoots = doing something in secret
yokel = a person from the country (not the city)
yonder = over there
saloon = a bar/ restaurant

Now, here is a brief conversation between two cowboys that uses some of this vocabulary from above to help you put these phrases in context.

A: Howdy.
B: Howdy partner.
A: Are you going down to wet your whistle at the saloon tonight?
B: Not me, that saloon over yonder is full of namby-pamby city slickers. I don’t go there anymore. I’m going to the hoedown tonight.
A: By hook or crook I think I’ll join ya! I’m tired of being around all those dudes at the saloon.
B: Well, we better head ’em up and move ’em out and get back to town. Pony up!
A: Giddy up, I’m right behind ya’.

3. Aaron Copland
**Rodeo is a ballet scored by Aaron Copland, choreographed by Agnès de Mille (1942).  There are 5 sections and the last one is Hoedown.  You can listen here:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ajQYANLiug 
Copland, the American composer as we saw in Post 37 also scored the ballet Billy the Kid. 
http://uiadfarwest1.blogspot.fr/2010/03/70-d-61-aaron-copland-american-composer.html

I'll stop now.
I must return to packing my bags and I'm sure that the travelers won't be reading this until after they return.  They too have bags to pack!
My best,
Jane
_____________________________
Sorry, no time to help you with vocabulary today.
Sorry, there are a lot of links.  But maybe someday you'll find the time and enjoy opening them.