Fortunately, the weather didn't play havoc with my plans to see Coriolanus, a National Theatre Live presentation. This is the third one i've seen. I was disappointed to miss the Scottish Play (Macbeth for the nonsuperstitious) last month, because it was rescheduled eight days before Christmas, and on a day where we got quite a bit of snow. I had bought my ticket early, as the local venue where they show National Theatre Live productions offered a discounted price if you bought tickets for Othello, the Scottish Play, and Coriolanus. Because of technical difficulty, the October showing of Macbeth needed to be moved to a later date. I debated with myself about driving to see it, as the snow was just starting before it was time to go. I wondered how bad it would be driving home three hours later, and the answer was "Snowing hard enough that i probably chose wisely to give it a miss," although i was still unhappy about it.
That strengthened my resolve to see Coriolanus all the more, and, i'm happy to report, the weather co-operated. The sets were sparsely furnished, the make-up made Coriolanus's wounds look utterly believable, and it was an engaging watch. I was annoyed by the intermission as i wanted to keep watching the play. I know modern audiences expect an intermission, but Shakespeare didn't write with intermissions in mind, he meant for his plays to run nonstop.
With both Othello and Coriolanus, i found that the actors embraced the lines and made them their own, so they didn't come out sounding stilted. It's a shame Coriolanus doesn't get more press, and once again, i see that over the last four hundred years or so little about human nature has changed. People in a position of power often abuse their position and yield to their baser natures or insecurities. Coriolanus's tendency to speak his mind bluntly and his unwillingness to say something he doesn't feel simply to appease the masses or those who may be regarded as lesser reminded me very much of me.
I know people who drone on and on about Shakespeare, thinking that we should be duly impressed that they watch the Bard's plays, but really, the reason his plays have stood up so well is because they're damn fine plays. He understands the psychology of his characters has them stay true to themselves, and gives them great lines to utter, and THAT's what's so appealing.
We have some live theatre here, and i support my local thespians as i can. I must say, though, seeing these NT Live shows are a real treat, as i'd never see Tom Hiddleston appear in anything nearby. Yes, it's a bit more than the price of a regular film ticket, but worth every penny, and much less than the cost of a ticket were one to see it on Broadway.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
How cold is it?
We've gone back to pretty bloody cold. Today's high was 10°F (~-11°C). I awoke to the outside temperature being 0°F/-18°C. It's back to heavy sweaters and wearing thermal underthings. We've been like this pretty much all week and shall stay that way except for Saturday, then back to more of the Really Cold.
I drove the truck yesterday for an errand and had trouble starting it today. I was going to take the car today, but i found the lock frozen. I rarely lock my vehicles here, there just isn't much point, but on occasion one hears of people passing by and looking inside other people's cars to see if there's anything worth taking. One night a few weeks back, at my knitting group, i heard a car door slam, which seemed odd to me, and when i got in the truck to go home, i saw the centre console opened up wide. Nothing was missing, and the only things i had in the centre console were a couple CDs, a pen, and about 55¢. But that spooked me enough to lock my doors for a bit.
The only way i could get into my car today to see if it would start was to unlock the back hatch or the passenger door and crawl over to the driver's seat. The car is small, a first generation Honda Insight, and it's a manual transmission, so the gear shift makes for less space. I also have the seat pulled pretty far up because i'm short.
I finally got into the driver's seat and tried starting the car. Nope, a sad lurching sound. Too cold.
I didn't bother locking it. The driver's side lock will stay frozen for the next few days at least, and between having to climb over, know how to drive a standard, and then jump the car, to get it going at all seems like too much work for anyone to steal it.
Someone on facebook shared a story about two would-be car thieves who held up a pizza delivery guy and wanted to steal his car. Only they couldn't drive a manual transmission, so they took the money and ran. I'm viewing the frigid battery as simply another layer of my anti-theft protection.
We're supposed to get to a high of 30°F/-1°C on Saturday, and perhaps the car will start then.
I drove the truck yesterday for an errand and had trouble starting it today. I was going to take the car today, but i found the lock frozen. I rarely lock my vehicles here, there just isn't much point, but on occasion one hears of people passing by and looking inside other people's cars to see if there's anything worth taking. One night a few weeks back, at my knitting group, i heard a car door slam, which seemed odd to me, and when i got in the truck to go home, i saw the centre console opened up wide. Nothing was missing, and the only things i had in the centre console were a couple CDs, a pen, and about 55¢. But that spooked me enough to lock my doors for a bit.
The only way i could get into my car today to see if it would start was to unlock the back hatch or the passenger door and crawl over to the driver's seat. The car is small, a first generation Honda Insight, and it's a manual transmission, so the gear shift makes for less space. I also have the seat pulled pretty far up because i'm short.
I finally got into the driver's seat and tried starting the car. Nope, a sad lurching sound. Too cold.
I didn't bother locking it. The driver's side lock will stay frozen for the next few days at least, and between having to climb over, know how to drive a standard, and then jump the car, to get it going at all seems like too much work for anyone to steal it.
Someone on facebook shared a story about two would-be car thieves who held up a pizza delivery guy and wanted to steal his car. Only they couldn't drive a manual transmission, so they took the money and ran. I'm viewing the frigid battery as simply another layer of my anti-theft protection.
We're supposed to get to a high of 30°F/-1°C on Saturday, and perhaps the car will start then.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Robbed, i tell you, robbed!
I don't see many films in the theatre, i don't know why, really, as there are some good ones out there. Part of it may do with the fact that i have an extremely low threshhold for violence, so i do not watch violent films. That takes care of, what 75% or so of what's playing?
Two people i know who don't gush about things both sang the praises of Saving Mr. Banks. They did so separately, unaware that the other had said anything, so i thought i'd go have a look.
I'd seen the trailer so knew it was not necessarily a happy-go-lucky sort of story, but hadn't read any reviews. I didn't want to read any spoilers or claptrap that would spoil a perfectly good story, much the way my 9th grade English teacher marred perfectly fine stories by wanting us to rip them apart in search of symbolism.
And so, i went to see Saving Mr. Banks Tuesday evening. It was pouring buckets here, much of snow melting, and i arrived just as the last preview was playing. Just in time.
The acting was superb, and i realised with a start how familiar everything in the film looked. I remember when those things were nearly new, bouffy hairstyles, all things gelatin, the way tvs first showed that thin, horizontal line in the middle when turned on, and when switched off, that fluorescent, nearly lavender dot that stayed behind in the middle of the screen, as if loathe to leave. How people dressed up when travelling, and nearly every adult seemed to sip martinis.
Hard for me to believe that was 50 years ago, and i thought about the film Mary Poppins. I had seen that in the cinema when it first came out, and was enthralled. The year in the movie was around 1910 or nearly 50 years before the time i saw the movie, and 1910 looked foreign. I wondered if youngsters seeing Saving Mr. Banks would find the world of 1961 as foreign. I mean, we had cars and phones and TVs and electricity, but would it look as strange to a milennial child as 1910 did to me?
I expected to see some Oscar nominations for this film. Where to start? The actors gave amazing performances. Strong script, great storytelling, the Australian scenes were enchanting....
Nary a nod. Not even an honourable mention. For shame, Academy. I, who may see four films in the theatre a year at most, talking nearly nonstop about how great this is, and to overlook it entirely?
Robbed. Snubbed. Call it what you will, it's an egregious oversight.
Meantime, if you haven't seen it yet, go watch the film. It's worth the watch.
Two people i know who don't gush about things both sang the praises of Saving Mr. Banks. They did so separately, unaware that the other had said anything, so i thought i'd go have a look.
I'd seen the trailer so knew it was not necessarily a happy-go-lucky sort of story, but hadn't read any reviews. I didn't want to read any spoilers or claptrap that would spoil a perfectly good story, much the way my 9th grade English teacher marred perfectly fine stories by wanting us to rip them apart in search of symbolism.
And so, i went to see Saving Mr. Banks Tuesday evening. It was pouring buckets here, much of snow melting, and i arrived just as the last preview was playing. Just in time.
The acting was superb, and i realised with a start how familiar everything in the film looked. I remember when those things were nearly new, bouffy hairstyles, all things gelatin, the way tvs first showed that thin, horizontal line in the middle when turned on, and when switched off, that fluorescent, nearly lavender dot that stayed behind in the middle of the screen, as if loathe to leave. How people dressed up when travelling, and nearly every adult seemed to sip martinis.
Hard for me to believe that was 50 years ago, and i thought about the film Mary Poppins. I had seen that in the cinema when it first came out, and was enthralled. The year in the movie was around 1910 or nearly 50 years before the time i saw the movie, and 1910 looked foreign. I wondered if youngsters seeing Saving Mr. Banks would find the world of 1961 as foreign. I mean, we had cars and phones and TVs and electricity, but would it look as strange to a milennial child as 1910 did to me?
I expected to see some Oscar nominations for this film. Where to start? The actors gave amazing performances. Strong script, great storytelling, the Australian scenes were enchanting....
Nary a nod. Not even an honourable mention. For shame, Academy. I, who may see four films in the theatre a year at most, talking nearly nonstop about how great this is, and to overlook it entirely?
Robbed. Snubbed. Call it what you will, it's an egregious oversight.
Meantime, if you haven't seen it yet, go watch the film. It's worth the watch.
Monday, December 30, 2013
After the holidays
I always like the idea of 12 days of Christmas. It was especially helpful when we had to travel a bit to visit relatives, rather than have to try and see everyone on the 25th.
Apparently, some other people think the same way, as i received a few Christmas cards on Boxing Day. Which we don't celebrate here in the US, so it was a back-to-work day for me. I also got a late Christmas card on the 27th, and smiled as i opened it. So, when i saw an envelope on the 28th, i thought it might be a late Christmas letter and opened it eagerly.
It was a letter all right, written in delightfully clear penmanship, from a friend and former colleague's sister, C. I knew C, had spent some delightful times chatting away with her, as she and K lived together. I last spoke to K, my friend and former colleague late spring or early summer. C had moved closer to her job, which had moved from the city to a more southern location. They were thinking of taking a vacation, travelling northeast to Boston where they'd lived for a decade, and i invited them to stay with me if they wanted or i could meet them in Boston. It was all conjecture at that point. The summer came and went with no phone call, and i thought of her again in the early autumn. I meant to call, but got busy and during the holidays, i knew she often spent time with her son or siblings, so decided i’d call afterwards, in time for her birthday on 14 January.
The letter was brief. C said K had some health issues. Yes, I knew about those as K and I had discussed them a bit. And, that K had died unexpectedly in mid-October. My eyes filled with tears immediately. C wanted me to know as K was quite fond of me, and felt that I had been a good friend over the years.
I looked for her obituary on-line, still not quite able to believe the letter. The obituary was as brief as the letter, so there was no explanation other than “passing away unexpectedly.” She died on the day I was going to see Macbeth er, the Scottish Play with Kenneth Branaugh and Alex Kingston. The HD showing was cancelled due to technical difficulties and was later rescheduled. I didn’t make it to the rescheduled showing because we got a bit of snow and I was concerned about driving home in a blizzard. K always had her nose in a book and read all sorts of things, so she would have found it fitting that I was seeing something literary. And my mind dwelt on that, as often happens when one is shocked upon hearing news and frantically searches inside one’s self to make sense of it all. We first met nearly 18 years ago now, and she helped me tremendously. When I started at my current job and we needed someone else to do the same work I was doing as there was too much for one person, I called her at the old company. She no longer worked there. A former colleague at another company where many had gone (when I applied there for a job, I was known as “another refugee from that company”) had the old phone list and supplied me with her home number. I knew the phone was in her sister’s name but couldn’t remember C’s last name to save my life. K had married and divorced before I met her, and kept her married name.
And so I called to say hello and to see if she’d be interested in doing some work for us. We needed someone who could use Word very well, and I knew she could. She loved science, and this would most likely be right up her alley.
She ended up working for us and was hired on as a regular employee after several months. She stayed until she was laid off about two years ago now. Our boss at the time told me it was because of workload, or rather lack of it. There wasn’t enough to go around. But, she and K got on like oil and water, and everyone felt it was based on a personality clash, nothing more, nothing less. K had hoped to remain working until 65 to boost her retirement a bit, but at least she was 62 and could draw social security if she didn’t find another job.
What I didn’t realise that day I called her to see if she could help us was that she’d been laid off from the company where I had met her and had been unable to find another job. She had oodles of experience, but not the schooling companies wanted, and she was an older worker. She later told me she had grown quite desperate, as her benefits were running out as was her savings, and she was in a pickle.
And then I called. Did she want work? Did she ever. And then it was my turn to walk her through what we did, what we needed her to do. We had a few other contractors to help as well. Our then boss and owner of the company wanted to make one of them a permanent employee, and K got the nod. On some very bad days, I’d apologise to her for getting her in this mess. She’d smile and say she was grateful for the job. On some very bad days she had, I reminded her that she had won out over a Ph.D. for the job. She had, too.
And then I got the chance to move back to the coast and keep my job, become a telecommuter. She was glad to see that I was able to have my dream become reality. We’d chat on the phone after hours from time to time, and would discuss projects and things in general, just like always.
After her departure, I’d send jobs that she might be interested in. After about six months, she decided she’d most likely stay retired, and we chatted about that.
That was the thing. No matter how much time elapsed, we always picked up the conversation where we left off. We were both curious about all sorts of things, so after a cursory catch up of work stuff, the topics could cover anything and everything.
I’d been thinking about what I was going to tell her when I called wishing her a happy 65th birthday.
I stared again at the letter. It was real.
I let some of my former officemates know the news. Some work for other companies now, and all were saddened by the news.
She was one of those really quiet people who showed up at work to work. What a concept. She was not the chatty Kathy sort. Heads down, get work done, and when she went outside for a smoke, she’d take a book to read.
Once you got past that quiet exterior, you found someone witty, bright, articulate, thoughtful, kind, and a solid citizen. The kind who hated injustice, questioned authority, played by the rules that made sense. Who liked decorum without being stuffy.
I shall write a note to her sister. I know how hard the holidays can be when loved ones aren’t around, and I’m sure there’s been just enough time since mid-October for the shock to wear off a bit and for the painful realisation to sink in that she’s truly gone and isn’t coming back.
I should like to do something to honour my friend. Not that she’d ever expect it nor request it, but I’d like to do something all the same. I’m thinking a donation to my local library in her memory just the ticket.
Apparently, some other people think the same way, as i received a few Christmas cards on Boxing Day. Which we don't celebrate here in the US, so it was a back-to-work day for me. I also got a late Christmas card on the 27th, and smiled as i opened it. So, when i saw an envelope on the 28th, i thought it might be a late Christmas letter and opened it eagerly.
It was a letter all right, written in delightfully clear penmanship, from a friend and former colleague's sister, C. I knew C, had spent some delightful times chatting away with her, as she and K lived together. I last spoke to K, my friend and former colleague late spring or early summer. C had moved closer to her job, which had moved from the city to a more southern location. They were thinking of taking a vacation, travelling northeast to Boston where they'd lived for a decade, and i invited them to stay with me if they wanted or i could meet them in Boston. It was all conjecture at that point. The summer came and went with no phone call, and i thought of her again in the early autumn. I meant to call, but got busy and during the holidays, i knew she often spent time with her son or siblings, so decided i’d call afterwards, in time for her birthday on 14 January.
The letter was brief. C said K had some health issues. Yes, I knew about those as K and I had discussed them a bit. And, that K had died unexpectedly in mid-October. My eyes filled with tears immediately. C wanted me to know as K was quite fond of me, and felt that I had been a good friend over the years.
I looked for her obituary on-line, still not quite able to believe the letter. The obituary was as brief as the letter, so there was no explanation other than “passing away unexpectedly.” She died on the day I was going to see Macbeth er, the Scottish Play with Kenneth Branaugh and Alex Kingston. The HD showing was cancelled due to technical difficulties and was later rescheduled. I didn’t make it to the rescheduled showing because we got a bit of snow and I was concerned about driving home in a blizzard. K always had her nose in a book and read all sorts of things, so she would have found it fitting that I was seeing something literary. And my mind dwelt on that, as often happens when one is shocked upon hearing news and frantically searches inside one’s self to make sense of it all. We first met nearly 18 years ago now, and she helped me tremendously. When I started at my current job and we needed someone else to do the same work I was doing as there was too much for one person, I called her at the old company. She no longer worked there. A former colleague at another company where many had gone (when I applied there for a job, I was known as “another refugee from that company”) had the old phone list and supplied me with her home number. I knew the phone was in her sister’s name but couldn’t remember C’s last name to save my life. K had married and divorced before I met her, and kept her married name.
And so I called to say hello and to see if she’d be interested in doing some work for us. We needed someone who could use Word very well, and I knew she could. She loved science, and this would most likely be right up her alley.
She ended up working for us and was hired on as a regular employee after several months. She stayed until she was laid off about two years ago now. Our boss at the time told me it was because of workload, or rather lack of it. There wasn’t enough to go around. But, she and K got on like oil and water, and everyone felt it was based on a personality clash, nothing more, nothing less. K had hoped to remain working until 65 to boost her retirement a bit, but at least she was 62 and could draw social security if she didn’t find another job.
What I didn’t realise that day I called her to see if she could help us was that she’d been laid off from the company where I had met her and had been unable to find another job. She had oodles of experience, but not the schooling companies wanted, and she was an older worker. She later told me she had grown quite desperate, as her benefits were running out as was her savings, and she was in a pickle.
And then I called. Did she want work? Did she ever. And then it was my turn to walk her through what we did, what we needed her to do. We had a few other contractors to help as well. Our then boss and owner of the company wanted to make one of them a permanent employee, and K got the nod. On some very bad days, I’d apologise to her for getting her in this mess. She’d smile and say she was grateful for the job. On some very bad days she had, I reminded her that she had won out over a Ph.D. for the job. She had, too.
And then I got the chance to move back to the coast and keep my job, become a telecommuter. She was glad to see that I was able to have my dream become reality. We’d chat on the phone after hours from time to time, and would discuss projects and things in general, just like always.
After her departure, I’d send jobs that she might be interested in. After about six months, she decided she’d most likely stay retired, and we chatted about that.
That was the thing. No matter how much time elapsed, we always picked up the conversation where we left off. We were both curious about all sorts of things, so after a cursory catch up of work stuff, the topics could cover anything and everything.
I’d been thinking about what I was going to tell her when I called wishing her a happy 65th birthday.
I stared again at the letter. It was real.
I let some of my former officemates know the news. Some work for other companies now, and all were saddened by the news.
She was one of those really quiet people who showed up at work to work. What a concept. She was not the chatty Kathy sort. Heads down, get work done, and when she went outside for a smoke, she’d take a book to read.
Once you got past that quiet exterior, you found someone witty, bright, articulate, thoughtful, kind, and a solid citizen. The kind who hated injustice, questioned authority, played by the rules that made sense. Who liked decorum without being stuffy.
I shall write a note to her sister. I know how hard the holidays can be when loved ones aren’t around, and I’m sure there’s been just enough time since mid-October for the shock to wear off a bit and for the painful realisation to sink in that she’s truly gone and isn’t coming back.
I should like to do something to honour my friend. Not that she’d ever expect it nor request it, but I’d like to do something all the same. I’m thinking a donation to my local library in her memory just the ticket.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
The best things in life...
...aren't things.
Despite not feeling much Christmas magic this year, i am grateful that i live in a beautiful place, that our electrics have thus far stayed on through the ice storms which have left many without electricity, and that two kitties are now peacefully napping, one in front of the coal stove, and the other between my keyboard and the screen.
Two things which have especially warmed my heart this Christmas season:
Someone doing his best to achieve sobriety.
A friend's fostering a badly abused white poodle named Toby. He's been at my friend's house a few weeks, such woeful eyes, and unsure what to make of his new surroundings. He's coming out of his shell little by little, likes cuddles, and is now starting to look at his human companions in the eye from time to time. Sometime in the night last night, my friend awoke to find Toby licking her hand. He stopped and went out of the room as soon as he realised she was awake.
Despite not feeling much Christmas magic this year, i am grateful that i live in a beautiful place, that our electrics have thus far stayed on through the ice storms which have left many without electricity, and that two kitties are now peacefully napping, one in front of the coal stove, and the other between my keyboard and the screen.
Two things which have especially warmed my heart this Christmas season:
Someone doing his best to achieve sobriety.
A friend's fostering a badly abused white poodle named Toby. He's been at my friend's house a few weeks, such woeful eyes, and unsure what to make of his new surroundings. He's coming out of his shell little by little, likes cuddles, and is now starting to look at his human companions in the eye from time to time. Sometime in the night last night, my friend awoke to find Toby licking her hand. He stopped and went out of the room as soon as he realised she was awake.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Christmas is coming....
I've somehow found myself in a place where i think we have oodles of time until Christmas. It's three days away. Well, less than that, as we're hurtling towards early evening on Sunday.
Even if i don't do a lot of decorating for it, i usually feel a change within me, anticipating its arrival. Not so this year, and can't say why, really. Maybe it's because it falls on a Wednesday this year. It can't be for the lack of snow, the last two storms brought a foot or more each. We had a bit of melt, and now we're gripped in this icy mess, since the warm and cold weather fronts are fighting one another, jockeying for position. We've had rain and freezing rain start last night and fall on and off today, leaving us with a half-inch (~1.75 cm) or more of ice on top of the remaining 10 inches (~25 cm) or so of snow.
I had such inside plans for today but chose instead to watch a movie in the late morning, leaving me in a dreamy state all afternoon. I've got the heat turned up, in case we lose power, and i've only just realized i don't have a flashlight within arm's reach and shall remedy that soon enough.
The presents are wrapped under the tree, except for one gift i bought for myself, i had planned on doing baking, but that didn't occur, and i can't believe we are almost to the end of the year.
I don't like to make New Year's resolutions, i much prefer thinking about those kinds of things around my birthday, but i do think i need to immerse myself more in real life and less in the virtual one. It's so easy when one works on a computer all day to keep staring at the screen after hours to catch up on one more thing, and suddenly the whole evening's gone.
One of the things i plan on doing with some of the away-from-the-computer time in 2014 is to make some Scotch eggs. I found a recipe in an old Watkins cookbook, and as i've got some packages of ground pork from my recent purchase of half a pig, this seems like a good time to try.
I'm also thinking more regular blog-posting should be on the list. I very much enjoy reading other's blogs, don't always feel like saying anything on my own.
So, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Season's Greetings, Jul, solstice, however you wish to mark this time of year as we see the days increase in the northern hemisphere, i hope it's a good one.
Even if i don't do a lot of decorating for it, i usually feel a change within me, anticipating its arrival. Not so this year, and can't say why, really. Maybe it's because it falls on a Wednesday this year. It can't be for the lack of snow, the last two storms brought a foot or more each. We had a bit of melt, and now we're gripped in this icy mess, since the warm and cold weather fronts are fighting one another, jockeying for position. We've had rain and freezing rain start last night and fall on and off today, leaving us with a half-inch (~1.75 cm) or more of ice on top of the remaining 10 inches (~25 cm) or so of snow.
I had such inside plans for today but chose instead to watch a movie in the late morning, leaving me in a dreamy state all afternoon. I've got the heat turned up, in case we lose power, and i've only just realized i don't have a flashlight within arm's reach and shall remedy that soon enough.
The presents are wrapped under the tree, except for one gift i bought for myself, i had planned on doing baking, but that didn't occur, and i can't believe we are almost to the end of the year.
I don't like to make New Year's resolutions, i much prefer thinking about those kinds of things around my birthday, but i do think i need to immerse myself more in real life and less in the virtual one. It's so easy when one works on a computer all day to keep staring at the screen after hours to catch up on one more thing, and suddenly the whole evening's gone.
One of the things i plan on doing with some of the away-from-the-computer time in 2014 is to make some Scotch eggs. I found a recipe in an old Watkins cookbook, and as i've got some packages of ground pork from my recent purchase of half a pig, this seems like a good time to try.
I'm also thinking more regular blog-posting should be on the list. I very much enjoy reading other's blogs, don't always feel like saying anything on my own.
So, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Season's Greetings, Jul, solstice, however you wish to mark this time of year as we see the days increase in the northern hemisphere, i hope it's a good one.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Funny moment
Today as i was running errands, a car parked next to mine, driven by an elderly man, who looked very serious. The car sported a bumper sticker, which read,
Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
Puke, and you're on your own.
It made me laugh out loud, as the old gent didn't look the type to have that sort of humor.
Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
Puke, and you're on your own.
It made me laugh out loud, as the old gent didn't look the type to have that sort of humor.
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