.....the time just flies by.....
Aside from the usual bridge and classes, there was Madama Butterfly at Met in the Movies on Wednesday, with a new opera buddy. I was talking opera at a break at bridge, and a gal I knew said she would like to go with me some time. I told her about Butterfly, and a date was made. Linda is also a recovering New Yorker, and has been to the Met live many times, as, of course, have I. This was her first Live in HD outing, though, and I was happy to recruit her. (You can't have too many opera goers....). The music, of course, was glorious, as were the costumes and most - but not all - of the staging. (As usual with staging these days, the directors don't trust you to have the attention span to watch a three hour opera, so they have to have glittery shiny things to divert your attention on the stage. In this case, it was a puppet - with four puppeteers - instead of the three year old boy the libretto calls for.) The thing is, even when the Met goes wrong, they do it in great style! Anyway, a fun evening at the opera.
The other cultural outing was a theater afternoon at the Coachella Valley Rep with friends Geoff and Marvin. Since the theater is only a few minutes from my place, we had brunch here, which I managed to pull off successfully, I think. (I entertain so seldom these days that I worry....) The play, Dinner With Friends, by Donald Margoulies, was only so-so, however. It apparently won a Pulitzer; I can't for the life of me figure out why. Well, that's the thing about live; theater; sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. It was a nice outing in any event.
Two more books. The first, Vasily Grossman and The Soviet Century, by Alexandra Popoff. Had you heard of Vasily Grossman before? I hadn't, before I read about him in The Economist. He was a popular author in Soviet Russia, until he wasn't - he spoke truth to power, and it was not - is never? - appreciated. His books were eclipsed by Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, and Solzienitsin's Day in the Life; that was probably the only reason he died of natural causes. He believed in freedom and the value of human life, and pointed out the sameness of Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany, communism, nazism, having in common the utter disdain for human life. Anyway, a very depressing piece of work.
The other book was a bit lighter, but not by much. It was called The Book of Dreams, and was told from the point of view of two people in a coma and two people who visited them.........Very well written, and I truly couldn't put it down, but I would be hard pressed to say I enjoyed it...
On a lighter note,
.....my feathered friend Harriet is back (....haven't seen her mate Ozzie yet, though....) I wasn't paying enough attention, so she hopped up to the table where I was reading, and then waited patiently til I retrieved her food...
.....and I do love the Desert sky....
More anon...
Aside from the usual bridge and classes, there was Madama Butterfly at Met in the Movies on Wednesday, with a new opera buddy. I was talking opera at a break at bridge, and a gal I knew said she would like to go with me some time. I told her about Butterfly, and a date was made. Linda is also a recovering New Yorker, and has been to the Met live many times, as, of course, have I. This was her first Live in HD outing, though, and I was happy to recruit her. (You can't have too many opera goers....). The music, of course, was glorious, as were the costumes and most - but not all - of the staging. (As usual with staging these days, the directors don't trust you to have the attention span to watch a three hour opera, so they have to have glittery shiny things to divert your attention on the stage. In this case, it was a puppet - with four puppeteers - instead of the three year old boy the libretto calls for.) The thing is, even when the Met goes wrong, they do it in great style! Anyway, a fun evening at the opera.
The other cultural outing was a theater afternoon at the Coachella Valley Rep with friends Geoff and Marvin. Since the theater is only a few minutes from my place, we had brunch here, which I managed to pull off successfully, I think. (I entertain so seldom these days that I worry....) The play, Dinner With Friends, by Donald Margoulies, was only so-so, however. It apparently won a Pulitzer; I can't for the life of me figure out why. Well, that's the thing about live; theater; sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. It was a nice outing in any event.
Two more books. The first, Vasily Grossman and The Soviet Century, by Alexandra Popoff. Had you heard of Vasily Grossman before? I hadn't, before I read about him in The Economist. He was a popular author in Soviet Russia, until he wasn't - he spoke truth to power, and it was not - is never? - appreciated. His books were eclipsed by Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, and Solzienitsin's Day in the Life; that was probably the only reason he died of natural causes. He believed in freedom and the value of human life, and pointed out the sameness of Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany, communism, nazism, having in common the utter disdain for human life. Anyway, a very depressing piece of work.
The other book was a bit lighter, but not by much. It was called The Book of Dreams, and was told from the point of view of two people in a coma and two people who visited them.........Very well written, and I truly couldn't put it down, but I would be hard pressed to say I enjoyed it...
On a lighter note,
.....my feathered friend Harriet is back (....haven't seen her mate Ozzie yet, though....) I wasn't paying enough attention, so she hopped up to the table where I was reading, and then waited patiently til I retrieved her food...
.....and I do love the Desert sky....
More anon...
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