A disturbing look at a cult. I try to be respectful of religions that differ from my own, but this is a horrifying account of a young girl married off into an abusive relationship, and a controlling cult.
MUSIC, MY LOVE An autobiography with Deborah Wise
Great and entertaining, about the flute and Rampal's travels around the world while playing it. Told in an acessable tale that's as much about the food he ate as the pieces he played.
A great feel- good movie about a man who coaches girl's basket ball in Oklahoma in the 1960's. He arrives expecting to be the boy's coach, and then is demoted to girl's high school coach. They teach each other how to win, how to succeed, how to be proud even though they are "just girls". Subscribes to some predictable tugs of emotion, but overall an entertaining film!
EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU
(After Derek Mahon)
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
~ David Whyte ~
Watch over 1,400 hours of television and 2,000 hours of online coverage
headline from nbc. oh my goodness. even i am overwhelmed by the olympic fervor. I LOVED the opening ceremonies. I'm still trying to navigate the tv times to figure out what/when will be on.
I guess I'm firmly back into my movie obsession. It seems like every time I see a bunch of trailers, I want to see every one! Here's a list of what's hopefully coming to me:
Bottle Shock
Hamlet Two
Religulous
Sixty Six
Encounters at the End of the World
Up The Yangtze
reviews to be posted as I see them - wish me luck!
A disturbing tale, but well written. A fictionalized account of the affair between Mamah Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright. A picture i guess of a woman trapped in conventions of society, and the choices she makes to escape them upon finding the true love of her life. I was fascinated by the commentary on children and feminism the book presented. I am sure I would have made different choices, but I could see Mamah's motivations as valid too. A little stereotyping with Wright as the "tortured artist", but I do not know much of his life and work yet. A tragic ending I was not aware of - I am going to read the real accounts of what we know of these two soon!
What happens when you’re asked to build the city of tomorrow… today? Set on the rugged streets of South Boston, The Greening of Southie is the story of a revolutionary Green Building, and the men and women who bring it to life. From wheatboard cabinetry to recycled steel, bamboo flooring to dual-flush toilets, The Macallen Building is something different––a leader in the emerging field of environmentally friendly design. But Boston’s steel-toed construction workers aren’t sure they like it. And when things on the building start to go wrong, the young development team has to keep the project from unraveling. Funny and poignant, The Greening of Southie is a story of bold ideas, unlikely environmentalists, and the future of the way we live. (from The Greening of Southie website)
An interesting film from a more interesting premise. Apparently this is the "cutting edge" building of the future. But.... what they do not emphasise here - the cost of shipping all these new-fangled materials to Boston for construction. A key issue - although the building is "green" and cheaper, the cost over the life of the building for the materials will not be paid for in money saved. Not counting the ripping up of the first round of bamboo floors from China. I was glad this was shown on Sundance - I had heard about it but didn't want to buy it. I'd like to look into how these building options can be sustainable.
We went to York's Wild Kingdom yesterday. We patted an elephant (Lindsey) and feed lots of deer and goats. Expensive, but worth it for her age, when even simple animals are very exciting. Hard to see some of the smaller animals in the cages, but being surrounded by deer and goats was a big hit!
from 
Amazon.com......
It earned Oscar nods, yet this cinematic look at a genius--that of English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who enraptured audiences with her bold, emblazoned, and wholly unconventional playing style, and who died at age 42--was criticized for its "lapses" in truth by people who purportedly knew du Pré. Some of the controversy revolved around the other main character in Anand Tucker's gorgeous, involving movie--du Pré's sister, Hilary, whose book, A Genius in the Family (cowritten with brother Piers), dished some dirt on Jackie's sleeping with Hilary's husband. But don't let that deter you from this ebullient movie experience. The film is a bisected story (each sister's tale is told in the same amount of screen time) teeming with heartfelt drama that belies the cheap shots it received from its detractors. It's stirring, reckless, loving, involving, and rife with unconventional passion; passion for music, life, art, and the delicate relationship between these two synchronous, extraordinary sisters as played by brilliant actors Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths (both of whom earned Oscar nods). Though Watson got the juicy, showy role as Jackie, it's Griffiths who provides the heart, soul, and spine of the film. And director Tucker has that gift of being able to explain through the visual medium what is happening inside of his character's heads. He's helped by a fine screenplay by Frank Boyce Cottrell. No matter what the truth of Hilary and Jackie might really be, this is an exceptional, rare film that is defined and graced by fine acting and writing. --Paula Nechak
I liked this disturbing film. I have reserved the book from the library to read and compare. I knew little of either du Pre sister, beyond the basic fame. I saw it on Sundance, but apparently it is readily available (in Amesbury, anyways).
Can't get it out of my head
A father's yearlong quest to grasp the infant musical mind from the Boston Globe
We certainly never hooked Maille up to monitors (see above). But... I must admit, musical choices did cross my mind. Here is a very entertaining article about someone else who thought perhaps what music a child listens to will determine more in the future.
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
- Henry Wordsworth Longfellow (from "A Psalm of Life")
The Little Ways That Encourage Good Fortune
Wisdom is having things right in your life
and knowing why.
If you do not have things right in your life
you will be overwhelmed:
you may be heroic, but you will not be wise.
If you have things right in your life
but do not know why,
you are just lucky, and you will not move
in the little ways that encourage good fortune.
The saddest are those not right in their lives
who are acting to make things right for others:
they act only from the self—and that self will never be right:
no luck, no help, no wisdom.
—William Stafford
It's been a tough week of soul searching for me. No need for details - but Stafford, as usual, sums up some life issues. This poem is on my fridge. Still on the path towards Wisdom......
more Stafford can be found here
Let's face it - I don't get football. But perhaps by linking it with obscure literary-style musings, I will at least be entertained..... get the full link here at McSweeney's.
NFL PlayersWhose Names Sound Vaguely Dickensian,and the Characters They Would Be in an Actual Dickens Novel(2007–2008 RegularSeason Edition).
Ethan Albright
Honest and upright youngest son of the dissolute Lord Albright. Childhood favorite of his deceased mother, Lady Alicia Albright, and said to resemble her most uncannily. He comes to grief attempting to foil his father's plot against the innocent Jeremy Trueblood.
Marcus Maxwell
Dodgy owner of the disreputable Circus Marcus. Suspected by Magistrate Petitgout of feeding the circus's performing tigers upon surplus orphans.
Darnell Dinkins
Ticket-taker at Marcus Maxwell's Circus Marcus. Testifies against his employer before the Queen's Bench, though he knows it may well cost him his life.
Luke Petitgout
Energetic city magistrate who appears, early in the story, to be integral to the plot, but spends the last two-thirds of the novel on injured reserve.
Channing Crowder
Disreputable eldest son of the hidebound and sanctimonious banker Mr. Epaphroditus Crowder. Employed by Marcus Maxwell on an unsavory bit of business, he returns home transformed in a truly startling fashion.
Rex Hadnot
Orphan.
James Dearth
Orphan.
Will Witherspoon
Dead orphan.
The Year of The Yao (DVD)
Really fun film. Also, I couldn't understand a word of the Chinese - how embarrassing after that UMASS minor! Yao's first trip into USA and NBA history is accompanied by a 29 year old translator who is also thrust into the media spotlight. Good to see that too. I saw this film on IFC - but I think it's also at our local library.
Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex (and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple) - Kluger
Great read. Fascinating. Especially when he reduces everything, chapter by chapter, and then can't seem to simplify the arts. Too legitimately complex - I could have told him that without the research!
Fire in The Grove - John C Esposito
A terrible fire, a horrible moment in Boston's history, told moment by moment in this fascinating book. I had heard the tale of the fire, but was not sure of the horrible details. This book also contains a summary of the Station Nightclub fire from a few years back, and shows how perhaps we have not yet learned our lessons?
“Just remember, the same as a spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter how close you follow the jumps: Continued on page whatever. No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention. Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day. This is all practice. None of this matters. We're just warming up.”
-Chuck Palahniuk
I have spent the past 2 weeks feeling a little lost. Most likely a lot of medical issues (that luckily are being resolved - hooray!) started the spiral. Taking too much too seriously. Not stopping to see the value in the little things.
Good to have a little school vacation time to get back to some reading and writing. I fought a bad case of stomach flu yesterday - but it left after only a day of explosive fury. I wonder how much of it was me mentally purging the past few weeks. I emerged feeling tired and spent, but more open to new experiences. I always seem to get physically ill after mental challenges. Coincidence?
I look forward to adventures and rest. Balance! Onward!
The Olympic Torch's Carbon Footprint
The 2008 Olympic torch relay has not exactly inspired warm feelings of international cooperation, as in years past. Pro-Tibetan activists mounted protests in Paris and London, and even managed to force the extinguishing of the flame on a few occasions. But in the long run, the torch could generate more pollution than political dissent. Its journey across the world (and back again) is leaving a historic trail of CO2 emissions. (Slate.com)
You can track the path on Google. Follow the link to see. After all the political torch hoopla, you'd think someone would notice this.
And we are debating buying a Prius for our next car. Who cares with all this torch carbon - we are all doomed. =(
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We are 4 weeks away from our spring concert. We like the Britten (almost) and it's all coming together. Even as someone who knows what it's like to put things together over time, it's hard not to have heard it all with soloists. But I am convinced it will be a phenomenal performance!
This weekend I heard another group (and my friend Leslie, their outstanding soloist) perform the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem. Another reminder of how difficult pieces can come together. Our performance last spring was very moving, after some challenging rehearsals.
All this choral stuff! It is very satisfying. Come see what it's all about!
http://www.newburyportchoralsociety.org/
Okay, okay - so much for new year's resolutions. Things come and go. Like old Dunkin Donut signs.
Fascinating things have been happening. Lots of good books and films and life. Time to record more....
My Yard Our Message.
