Happy Halloween!

The News These Days

Take a look at a headline that came through on my email a few weeks ago:

Is this truly the best our newspapermen can do?  "The cold weather will make it more expensive to heat your house"?  And perhaps more importantly, how many of our tax dollars went to funding the study that issued that finding?

I'd like my money back.

SLSO Season -- Show #1

I picked up G's symphony tickets this year, and the first show of the season was this past weekend.  S and I were running right on time, which is to say that we sat down just as they dimmed the lights.

The first piece was Lutoslawski, Chain 3.  I was not a fan of this one at all.  It was loud and discordant and I had a difficult time following it.  If anyone can enlighten me as to what I should have gotten out of it, I would appreciate it.

The title piece was Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B Minor.  It was a lovely piece, especially the first and third movements.  The loudness I mentioned in Chain isn't necessarily a bad thing in classical music, as long as there is some melody, and Dvorak managed to put those two pieces - volume and melody - together in a lovely way.

S and I headed for the Met Bar (which, I learned, was once installed at the Met in NYC -- hence the name) and scored one of the coveted tables overlooking the lobby, which allowed us a lovely 15 minutes to enjoy our drinks.

Post-intermission, Stravinsky's Petrushka ended the show.  I particularly liked the first movement, The Shrove-Tide Fair, but overall I very much enjoyed how well the music told the story of the poor, doomed Petruska, heartbroken over the princess and the moor.

At the end of the show, S was kind enough to help an elderly gentleman out to his car when his younger date was only interested in leaving him behind.  S's good Samaritanism scored us two free drink tickets for our next show -- everybody wins!

What I Watched -- Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.  I was a bit of a Nirvana fan in my pre-teen years, but I just listened to their music.  I never really followed or much cared about the personal histories or the band members or Kurt's odd relationship with Courtney Love.

This film really is a "montage"; it's comprised of film footage, interviews, artwork, song lyrics, cartoons, letters, home video, and more.  Visually, it was appealing.  The soundtrack is obviously comprised of Nirvana songs, and there is a song to parallel every part Kurt's life story.  I don't know his library well enough to know whether the timing of the writing of a particular song played corresponded with that portion of his personal history, but I would be interested to find out, if anyone knows.

Kurt was a severely messed up human being, in the way that many artists are.  They are smart and sensitive, and that often leads down a path of both creation and self-destruction.  And so with Kurt.  He was 27 when he took his own life.

Bottom line: if you have any interest at all in music history, Nirvana, or wacky documentaries, this is worth 90 minutes of your time.

Quote of the Day

In light of yesterday's lighthearted quote from Sliding Doors, and in view of all the recent news about the Trump Tape, the responsive hashtag #notokay, and my recent watching of The Fall, here's something to think about:

"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them.  Women are afraid that men will kill them."
  -- Margaret Atwood

This blog quotes a section of a responsive commentary, where the writer asks which of those things happens more often, implying that women have very little to fear.  I am 100% on board with the blogger's response: not every man feels the need to exert violence against women, but there isn't a single woman in the world who hasn't been afraid.

I would add that there's a scene in The Fall where Gillian Anderson's character misquotes this Atwood quote.  She says "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them.  Women are afraid that men will rape or kill them."  I think The Fall's version is more accurate.

Why is this our world?

Quote of the Day

"Gerry, I'm a woman.  We don't say what we want -- but we reserve the right to be pissed off if we don't get it.  That's what makes us so fascinating -- and not a little bit scary."
  -- Lydia to Gerry, Sliding Doors

The Fall

You may have noticed my recent Netflix-inspired spate of binge watching.  The latest selection is The Fall, starring Gillian Anderson as a detective trying to catch up with a serial killer.

It's gripping, mostly because Gillian Anderson is cool, collected, and phenomenal.  Otherwise, it's a pretty typical season-long crime procedural, which makes it more interesting than your typical Law and Order type episodic version.  So far, so good!

What I Watched -- Carol

S and I picked up Carol recently, and it succeeded in putting me to sleep.

After toting it around in my purse for a while and trying to decide whether to finish it, I figured that I might as well watch it, since I had already incurred the late fees from the library.

There are two things, right off the bat, that I love.  First, it's set in Manhattan.  Second, it's set in the 1950s, and I love the dress and manners of that era.  The sets are phenomenal.

Other than that, it is an odd movie. It's a lesbian love story between two very different characters, and is based on Patricia Highsmith's 1952 book, The Price of Salt.  Carol (Cate Blanchett) is an unhappy wife and mother of a small child; Therese (Rooney Mara) is a floundering early-twenty-something.  There are several long, slow shots of the actresses faces, and they are both wonderfully talented at expressing their emotions while saying nothing.

Bottom line: it's not exciting, but if you're not sleepy, it's worth watching to see these two lovely ladies do some wonderful acting.

What I Watched -- The Intern

S and I picked up The Intern at the library recently, mostly because both Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway do good work.

The movie won't win any awards, but it was a super cute story of two people who needed something.  They didn't find what they needed in each other, because neither of them were looking for another person.  But they helped each other to find that thing that they needed.  There really is no antagonist in the story, other than his and her own troubles.

Both actors performed as well as I expected.  Anne Hathaway was just the right amount uptight and fun, but Robert DeNiro stole the show with his adorable, traditional company man ways.

Bottom line: cute, if you want something like that.