So I've updated some of my links to reflect some more blogs/people I like to keep up with ... most of them are people I actually know. So far. ;) I got rid of a few that seemed truly dead, and I noticed that one or two of you have been awfully slack. Yep, boys, I'm looking at you.
I'm kind of slack, too, I admit it. I suddenly find that I have a minor interest in many things, as evidenced by my internet habits: cooking, style, movies, etc. Perhaps I shall make a better effort to pick one thing that I am thinking about in a week and post about it. I'm even considering a not-so-daily outfit posting. Good lord.
Here's what I'm thinking about today: the chalk directive, "Love your bodies" on the library steps. I do love my body. I also love college campuses, and that message is just one reason why. Movies. I'm becoming more of a "movie buff" every day.Subject headings. Seems to me they're being used less frequently, and with less efficiency. What gives? I thought everyone just loved "keywords". Arthur and Arthuriana. I'm cataloging it and reading Malory. Yoga/exercise. Looking forward to going home and doing some.Food. I'm hungry. We've been making lots of new recipes lately, and have successfully experimented with making "homemade" ravioli from wonton skins on two occasions! Also, looking forward to some new eats and socialization with newish friends this weekend. Decorating. Still unpacking.
What are you thinking about?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
My wishlist:
Per a discussion with the fabulous Mari, I would like:
For all of my friends to be in happy relationships, an awesome job at Yale, a kid, loads of cash, a smaller waist, Frye boots for everyone!, tons of cute interesting cardigans in a variety of colors, less cellulite on everyone's thighs, and maybe some Dom Perignon.
Also new kneepads for Mari, and pants for me.
If anyone can do anything about any of that, I'll be your best friend forever. I can give you a list of acceptable cardigans right now,even. :D
For all of my friends to be in happy relationships, an awesome job at Yale, a kid, loads of cash, a smaller waist, Frye boots for everyone!, tons of cute interesting cardigans in a variety of colors, less cellulite on everyone's thighs, and maybe some Dom Perignon.
Also new kneepads for Mari, and pants for me.
If anyone can do anything about any of that, I'll be your best friend forever. I can give you a list of acceptable cardigans right now,even. :D
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Opera #3: Duke Bluebeard's Castle
Duke Bluebeard's Castle
Music by Bela Bartok, libretto by Bela Balazs
The story of Bluebeard and his wives is a reasonably well-known (?) fairy story written by Charles Perrault (best known for Cinderella). Bluebeard brings a new young bride to his castle, wherein she snoops behind locked doors and discovers that her new husband has horribly murdered his former wives. In the story she manages to escape and live happily ever after. Perrault apparently likes to get a little scary and gory before he serves up the happy ending.
In the operatic version, the bride, Judith, arrives at her home to find seven locked doors. The opera centers around her demands for the doors to be unlocked (based upon her love for Bluebeard and her desire to bring light to his dark home), Bluebeard's protests and eventual relentings, and what she discovers behind those doors. In succession: a torture chamber, an armory, a treasury, and a vast realm, all stained with blood. Behind door number six is a lake of tears. Judith doggedly moves ahead with each door, despite her horror at all the blood, and when she reaches the sixth door, she declares that she's solved the mystery: Bluebeard has murdered his former wives, and it is their blood that stains his castle, their tears that make up the lake behind door six, and their bodies that lie behind door seven. The final door is opened to reveal one part of her theory correct: the wives are there, alive, and shadows of their former selves. Judith takes her place among them, and the opera ends with the castle (and Bluebeard) once again thrown into darkness.
Clearly, this is a much more psychological and ultimately darker interpretation than Perrault's original story. The journey Judith takes is apparently one through her new husband's soul, and in the end, she is assimilated into his life, losing her "self" and merely becoming a part of his whole. I suppose the moral of the story would be that perhaps one doesn't really want to know everything about one's partner's past and psyche. There is, of course, also the notion of a wife's duty to defer to her husband in all things, becoming a part of him rather than an individual.
What is tremendous about Bartok's opera is the music. It rises and falls with creepy/scary tension and tender moments. The accompaniment for each of the rooms truly paints the picture, making this opera a little easier to envision on stage, even while merely listening to a recording. I'd have to say I enjoyed this one, perhaps more than the others ... the story, though, is clearly a hard one to really follow or interpret. I suppose I prefer simple plots and execution, rather than something requiring serious psychoanalysis.
Music by Bela Bartok, libretto by Bela Balazs
The story of Bluebeard and his wives is a reasonably well-known (?) fairy story written by Charles Perrault (best known for Cinderella). Bluebeard brings a new young bride to his castle, wherein she snoops behind locked doors and discovers that her new husband has horribly murdered his former wives. In the story she manages to escape and live happily ever after. Perrault apparently likes to get a little scary and gory before he serves up the happy ending.
In the operatic version, the bride, Judith, arrives at her home to find seven locked doors. The opera centers around her demands for the doors to be unlocked (based upon her love for Bluebeard and her desire to bring light to his dark home), Bluebeard's protests and eventual relentings, and what she discovers behind those doors. In succession: a torture chamber, an armory, a treasury, and a vast realm, all stained with blood. Behind door number six is a lake of tears. Judith doggedly moves ahead with each door, despite her horror at all the blood, and when she reaches the sixth door, she declares that she's solved the mystery: Bluebeard has murdered his former wives, and it is their blood that stains his castle, their tears that make up the lake behind door six, and their bodies that lie behind door seven. The final door is opened to reveal one part of her theory correct: the wives are there, alive, and shadows of their former selves. Judith takes her place among them, and the opera ends with the castle (and Bluebeard) once again thrown into darkness.
Clearly, this is a much more psychological and ultimately darker interpretation than Perrault's original story. The journey Judith takes is apparently one through her new husband's soul, and in the end, she is assimilated into his life, losing her "self" and merely becoming a part of his whole. I suppose the moral of the story would be that perhaps one doesn't really want to know everything about one's partner's past and psyche. There is, of course, also the notion of a wife's duty to defer to her husband in all things, becoming a part of him rather than an individual.
What is tremendous about Bartok's opera is the music. It rises and falls with creepy/scary tension and tender moments. The accompaniment for each of the rooms truly paints the picture, making this opera a little easier to envision on stage, even while merely listening to a recording. I'd have to say I enjoyed this one, perhaps more than the others ... the story, though, is clearly a hard one to really follow or interpret. I suppose I prefer simple plots and execution, rather than something requiring serious psychoanalysis.
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