Normally, on a Saturday, I'd try to work early to have the evening, but since I have no evenings here, I spent the morning doing some of Other Work and various creative enterprise stuff, and am now going to stroll in the nice day. I need the sunlight and the exercise. And I'm thinking about treating myself to a new pair of fabulous eye-glasses here. I did just get three months of back overtime pay after all, and I deserve a splurge.
Last night I Skyped with my mom for a while, which was really nice. She was all, "Sometimes I think you're prone to hyperbole, but you're really courageous." I told her both can be true.
In exactly one week, I will be picking Patty up at the Zurich airport! I believe she is currently at her Cardiff farmer's market. I feel sad she'll miss both the Friday market here and, I believe, the Christmas market down in Zurich while visitng. We'll see.
Are you an artist with the desire to be a map-maker? If so, I may have a design project for you down the line. It's unurgent at the moment, but I'd like to know who's out there.
Having read more about the Olbermann thing? He fucked up. NBC/MSNBC needs a clearer policy, AND the select enforcement thing is crap or at least needs a clearer explanation. Meanwhile, Rachel Maddow for the win with the fairly accurate spin.
Friends of mine are running the New York City marathon this weekend. This is one of those things that has great emotional symbolism to me, but that I'll probably never do. I remain conflicted about this -- if it's a failing of desire, will, or simply my flesh; or it it's depressing to say "a life only so many hours and I need those ones for something else." But I think it's a fucking beautiful endeavor, and my heart goes with you. Be awesome.
The opening of Julie Taymor's Spiderman musical has been delayed yet again. The trials and tribulations of making Broadway shows happen is legendary, and I don't follow this stuff closely unless it's a show that involves either people I know or has creatives/narratives I've feel personally invested in (Taymor's Across the Universe is how I got into SAG, and I'm still heartbroken about some stuff that was shot for it that was never used, not because I was in it, but because it was so good). But that said, I suspect the level of "Oh, look, shit's fucked up!" that goes on in the coverage of this show has as much to do with her being a woman whose work a lot of people find very confronting and difficult as much as it has to do with "Oh, look, shit's fucked up!" And let us pause here to remember that not only did she bring us Titus, but she also brought us the Bway version of The Lion King. That's what we call range, while adhering to a core set of creative principles.
RE: New York Marathon I think we run our own "marathons". Yours is a different kind. None are any more or less important. My impression is that you go full energy at every task you take on and that's just as valid a marathon (thinking especially of Dogboy and Justine) as the running kind. Living your life with passion and energy no matter how you choose to expend it, counts.
Are you an artist with the desire to be a map-maker? If so, I may have a design project for you down the line. It's unurgent at the moment, but I'd like to know who's out there.
Yes! I also love maps (part of my undergraduate work was in urban studies). You can email me at my LJ username @ gmail.
Re: Taymor. The quote below from the NYT seemed a bit odd.
The director, Julie Taymor, a Tony Award winner for “The Lion King,” has spent chunks of the 11-week rehearsal period experimenting over and over with the flying stunts and other special effects rather than preoccupying herself with deadlines, those involved with the production said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had either signed nondisclosure agreements or feared being fired if their names were published.
Yeah, what's up with making sure that the stunts in your production don't kill the members of your cast or your audience?
Even if it wasn't a safety issue with the stunts and a design issue. A director, yes, is paid to get shit in on deadline. But they're also paid to make shit cool. An artist being an artist is not, inherently, a dereliction of duty. And I feel like people get on her ass for being an artist, and I don't get it.
A director's job is to meet deadlines. Not to be preoccupied by them. It's a bizarre sentence.
Do you think it is due to her films going for a big, visionary feel? I noticed with Kathryn Bigelow, folks seem to be puzzled by a woman director tackling a war film.
Sort of. I think it's the big theatrical feel. Her films don't, necessarily, feel like what we expect in modern film at all Luhrmann's stuff is like this too, but I find hers don't don't even let you lie to yourself about realism the ways his do -- and I think people would find a lot of her stylistic choices enraging no matter what, but since "women aren't supposed to direct" that it provokes intense, uninformed scrutiny of her work. I haven't seen her Tempest yet, but from the clips I've seen and the reviews I've read, I keep having a "are we really having this conversation AGAIN?" response.
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Date: 2010-11-06 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 04:20 pm (UTC)I think we run our own "marathons". Yours is a different kind. None are any more or less important. My impression is that you go full energy at every task you take on and that's just as valid a marathon (thinking especially of Dogboy and Justine) as the running kind. Living your life with passion and energy no matter how you choose to expend it, counts.
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Date: 2010-11-06 04:24 pm (UTC)I read this twice and read "rabbits" for "rabbis". LOL!
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Date: 2010-11-06 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 11:44 pm (UTC)~Sor
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Date: 2010-11-06 07:46 pm (UTC)Yes! I also love maps (part of my undergraduate work was in urban studies). You can email me at my LJ username @ gmail.
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Date: 2010-11-06 09:03 pm (UTC)The director, Julie Taymor, a Tony Award winner for “The Lion King,” has spent chunks of the 11-week rehearsal period experimenting over and over with the flying stunts and other special effects rather than preoccupying herself with deadlines, those involved with the production said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had either signed nondisclosure agreements or feared being fired if their names were published.
Yeah, what's up with making sure that the stunts in your production don't kill the members of your cast or your audience?
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Date: 2010-11-06 09:16 pm (UTC)A director's job is to meet deadlines. Not to be preoccupied by them. It's a bizarre sentence.
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Date: 2010-11-07 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 11:49 am (UTC)I can't decide if the Universe is trying to tell me something.