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Nov. 1st, 2010
SBD: a hodge podge of things
Nov. 1st, 2010 07:15 pmIt is Monday again, the first Monday of November. Don't forget to vote tomorrow!
For SBD, I have a hodge podge of things to share. A melange, if you will.
First, saw Next to Normal last night. Well-acted, great set, great music, yet I did not love the play. I think in part because of the subject; without spoiling the plot, I'll just say that it deals with family trauma and fracture. It does so with humor and sympathy, but I generally avoid books, movies, etc., that focus on that subject. Having said that, I really like the song Super Boy and the Invisible Girl. Also had dinner with The Biochemist -- we met after our respective matinees ended :P [Okay, in AI, Favorite Son was totally ogling Tunny in his boxer briefs. And Stark Sands blew a kiss to the audience at the end of the show -- is that normal? And Tony Vincent's St. Jimmy is more threatening than Billie Joe Armstrong's, edgier and sort of self-mocking and loathing too.] We picked a random restaurant on Ninth Avenue based on the menu -- ghoulish ginger carrot soup + watermelon martinis. Yum.
I may be going back to New York for work in the near future. If so, I really want to see The Merchant of Venice and Driving Miss Daisy. And still haven't seen Avenue Q or Billy Elliot.
Third, I enjoyed MoMA, despite my general preference for art produced between the 16th and 19th centuries, rather than modern art. Oh, wait, except then I remember how much I enjoy Monet, Van Gogh, Seurat, and others, all representated in MoMA. Particularly enjoyed the furniture exhibit (like Gaudi's prayer bench), and Van Gogh's The Olive Trees, which look like to me like the blurry view out a train window heading south out of Madrid to Andalucia. And Steichen's photograph of Rodin, The Thinker and sculpture of Victor Hugo is fascinating.
By Edward Steichen (Camera Work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
I have consumed too much pop culture. When looking at Steichen's photographs of Rodin's hand sculptures, my first thought was Oh, Han Solo at the end of The Empire Strikes Back! And then I thought, oh, creepy and threatening and desperate. This is the only one I can find online, but the other ones were much more striking, IMO.
Next, imagine my \o/ when I got home and found the new In Death book waiting for me!
And lastly, for the book related thing:
I finished an eARC of a book due out tomorrow (I think), and I'm kind of confused about it. The book, or rather novella, since it was fairly short, was a pleasant read and I think it was steampunk or supposed to be, but I'm not sure what was steampunkish about it other than some advanced science/tech. I thought the point of steampunk was to look at changes in society that result from the new tech, to show variations to what that historical period might be. In this book, not so much. Any steampunk aficionados reading my LJ? Can you make me smarter about steampunk so I can reread this book with a better filter?
For SBD, I have a hodge podge of things to share. A melange, if you will.
First, saw Next to Normal last night. Well-acted, great set, great music, yet I did not love the play. I think in part because of the subject; without spoiling the plot, I'll just say that it deals with family trauma and fracture. It does so with humor and sympathy, but I generally avoid books, movies, etc., that focus on that subject. Having said that, I really like the song Super Boy and the Invisible Girl. Also had dinner with The Biochemist -- we met after our respective matinees ended :P [Okay, in AI, Favorite Son was totally ogling Tunny in his boxer briefs. And Stark Sands blew a kiss to the audience at the end of the show -- is that normal? And Tony Vincent's St. Jimmy is more threatening than Billie Joe Armstrong's, edgier and sort of self-mocking and loathing too.] We picked a random restaurant on Ninth Avenue based on the menu -- ghoulish ginger carrot soup + watermelon martinis. Yum.
I may be going back to New York for work in the near future. If so, I really want to see The Merchant of Venice and Driving Miss Daisy. And still haven't seen Avenue Q or Billy Elliot.
Third, I enjoyed MoMA, despite my general preference for art produced between the 16th and 19th centuries, rather than modern art. Oh, wait, except then I remember how much I enjoy Monet, Van Gogh, Seurat, and others, all representated in MoMA. Particularly enjoyed the furniture exhibit (like Gaudi's prayer bench), and Van Gogh's The Olive Trees, which look like to me like the blurry view out a train window heading south out of Madrid to Andalucia. And Steichen's photograph of Rodin, The Thinker and sculpture of Victor Hugo is fascinating.
By Edward Steichen (Camera Work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
I have consumed too much pop culture. When looking at Steichen's photographs of Rodin's hand sculptures, my first thought was Oh, Han Solo at the end of The Empire Strikes Back! And then I thought, oh, creepy and threatening and desperate. This is the only one I can find online, but the other ones were much more striking, IMO.
Next, imagine my \o/ when I got home and found the new In Death book waiting for me!
And lastly, for the book related thing:
I finished an eARC of a book due out tomorrow (I think), and I'm kind of confused about it. The book, or rather novella, since it was fairly short, was a pleasant read and I think it was steampunk or supposed to be, but I'm not sure what was steampunkish about it other than some advanced science/tech. I thought the point of steampunk was to look at changes in society that result from the new tech, to show variations to what that historical period might be. In this book, not so much. Any steampunk aficionados reading my LJ? Can you make me smarter about steampunk so I can reread this book with a better filter?