It's now Friday, October 16, and i'm now in Berlin to start my ten-month residency as a Fellow at the International Research Center: "Interweaving Performance Cultures" of the Freie Universitat Berlin. It's already been rather hectic. And there's still more to do.

I've never been out of New York City for more than three months at a time. So this is really quite a change. I've also never really been on my own for an extended period of time. Never, in fact.

So in a way i'm at sea.

But first things first. I left as the New York Film Festival was ending. A very strange festival, this year. I think the selection committee was constrained by what was actually out there. Not much that was startling.

The opening night film was Alain Resnais's "Les Herbes Folles"; the film was quite polished and smooth. While watching it, i was lulled by the absolute command that Resnais has. And when i walked out of the movie, i felt slightly disoriented, but then i flashed onto the major disorientations i had coming out of "Hiroshima Mon Amour", "Last Year at Mariendbad", "Muriel", even "La Guerre est finie". Walking out of those movies for the first time, i didn't quite feel the same; it was like i had to look at the world with new eyes. "Les Herbes Folles" didn't have that same uncanny ability to totally redirect one's perceptions.

Still, it was a film of great charm and accomplishment. Though to like late Resnais (certainly since "Melo"), you've got to like Sabine Azema.

Didn't sleep much last night, and starting to fade. A few things to check out, and then i'll probably go back to the apartment where i'm staying and take a nap.