Category Archives: Art, Theatre, & Film

Yes, Yes, You Love Me, Thank You

Oh, honestly, people – I’m frustrated, not on my deathbed.

But thanks go out to everyone who left comments, e-mailed, or called as soon as they got off-line and tied up my phone for two and a half hours. Heartfelt thanks. Ceri even called long-distance from her writing retreat in Lower Prospect.

I’d be even happier if it would rain, damn it – really rain, indicating a low pressure front coming through, to break this dreadful humidity. Maybe I’ll head over to the secondhand bookstore around the corner this afternoon to look for the Dorothy Sayers books Ginger recommended for me – that ought to incite the heavens to hurl water at me, especially if I wear a white shirt.

Keeping things in perspective, I recently began to read Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo. And I thought I had problems with my back, and with mild chronic pain! Now I just occasionally feel guilty while I read it, knowing that in comparison, my health is far superior to what hers was.

I spent seven hours yesterday writing a 36 page take-home final exam (those who know will know), and to my stunned and utter incomprehension, I am still not done. It’s maybe only 80% complete, but after yesterday, I need a day away from it.

It’s That Simple; It’s That Hard

Caitlin says:

I will sit in this chair, in front of this iBook, until at least 5 pm. I may write. I may not. But I will spend the day sitting here in this chair in front of this iBook. Beads of blood may appear on my forehead. My back may ache. But I will sit here.

Stop trying to write, and frelling write.

I know it’s that simple. I know it’s that intricate.

Except today it’s reviewing and editing other work, and I’m just staring at it and nothing’s sinking in. Which is not at all the fault of the authors. The connection between my eyes and my brain appears to be under construction, and the route is closed until further notice.

It’s roadwork season in Autumn’s brain. Who says we don’t reflect our physical environment?

Rowling & Potter Stuff

In honour of today being the last day before Order of the Phoenix Day (come on, you know that most of the world thinks of it that way instead of as the Summer Solstice!), here are a couple of intelligent Harry Potter links that I’ve been keeping my eye on:

The Leaky Cauldron

The Hogwarts Wire

From The Hogwarts Wire today:

Rowling: Occult accusations are ‘utter garbage’
JK Rowling hates accusations that Harry Potter turns kids onto occult. “I think that’s utter garbage,” Rowling tells Katie Couric in an upcoming TV interview. “I absolutely do not believe in the occult, practice the occult. I’ve never … I’ve met literally thousands of children now. Not one of them has said you’ve really turned me on to the occult. Now, I’m convinced that if that’s what my books were doing, I would by now have met one child who would have come up to me, covered in pentagrams and said, ‘Can we go and sacrifice a goat later together?'”

So there. Honestly.

Classics scholars will get a kick out of this one, posted on April 17, 2003:

Here comes Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis
Bloomsbury recently announced they will be publishing a Latin edition of The Philosopher’s Stone. Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis comes out in hardcover this June along with a Welsh version. Harry Potter has been published in 40 languages already and Gaelic and Ancient Greek versions of the first edition should come out in 2004.

Both sites are great; they report a lot of the same articles, but with different spins. Despite the fact that both the above quotes come from the Wire, I actually prefer the Leaky Cauldron.

And is it just me, or does Harry look an awful lot like Tim Hunter on the US cover of Order of the Phoenix?

Farewell, Edvard

We were stuffed into the little music room last night, as the school auditorium where we usually rehearse was being used for graduation exercises. The heat was awful; there’s little ventilation, and about forty musicians playing lively stuff.

A decent rehearsal overall; we got some bad news, though. The Grieg is being cut from the program. A wind player exclaimed in relief when it was announced, and my stand partner seemed approving. I was apparently the only one who was disappointed, and I was sitting right in front of the conductor. “We could do it if we had just two more weeks,” I said. He smiled and shrugged at me, spreading his hands in a “no choice” sort of gesture. I love the Grieg, and I’ve worked really hard on it. Ah, well. We’ve been promised that it will be rescheduled, perhaps for our next concert in the fall.

I notice that it’s raining. That might be my fault. I decided yesterday afternoon that it would be nice to have my husband home today. He hasn’t come back yet, though; it probably won’t be much longer, since it’s hard to mow in the rain. Think of it this way: if it’s raining now, maybe it will actually be sunny on the weekend for a change.

Hellboy, Where Have You Been All My Life?

Best line in a work of fiction that I’ve read in a while:

HELLBOY: Lady, I was gonna cut you some slack, ’cause you’re a major mythological figure…

[Hellboy proceeds to gift the Lamia with a sweet uppercut to the jaw: BAPP!!]

Hellboy. Oh, yes, amusing. Witty, sarcastic, well-researched, and full of the mythological, folkloric, and occult. Terribly good. It’s taken me a while to discover it, but now that I have, wow.

Book Browsing

So naturally now that I have a lovely big pile of books of and about Norse mythology, I’ve decided I’d rather be reading fiction.

This necessitated a spontaneous trip downtown to second-hand bookstores, where I found four (yes four) out-of-print fantasy titles, plus a Terry Pratchett book (who sells off their Pratchett?), and a nearly-new copy of a recently published book. Then as I wandered through Chapters with my notebook, taking down more titles to look for in second-hand shops, I came across a discounted hardcover edition of a title I’d noted down almost a year ago. Yay me.

What a gorgeous day; it was so nice to be strolling city streets. Everyone’s in a much better mood come the beginning of summer. It won’t last long, of course; soon everyone will moan about the humidity and the heat. Until then, however, I’ll enjoy the sun and the smiles.

On Being Wrong, Diana Krall, And Car Commercials

I’m always impressed and approve of the courage it takes when someone admits that they were wrong, so I thought I’d extend the same courtesy to you all by taking this opportunity to tell you about today’s discovery of my own error in judgement.

It’s about Diana Krall.

I’m a jazz fan, particularly of big band and swing, Porter and Gershwin; I especially enjoy vocalists like Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald. I heard a clip from a very early Diana Krall album a few years ago and hated it. The steadily increasing Krall-appreciation in Canada left a bad taste in my mouth.

Enter Chrysler. Yes, the car company.

Classy car commercials impress me as much as beer ads do not. The use of black and white film and jazz in the soundtrack grab me every time. I got sick of “The Look of Love” when these commercials first debuted on TV, but for the past month I’ve been clicking the mute function off when the new Pacifica ad runs, because I love the clip they use of “Charmed Life”. (“Does she come with the car?” my father wanted to know when the first Krall Chrysler ads came out. Be glad you live in Canada, Dad; south of the border they use Celine Dion for a soundtrack.)

If I’m turning up the volume to listen to thirty seconds of car commercial soundtrack, I might as well admit to myself that I want to hear the whole song.

I turned to the Wide World of Web to find out which album contained “Charmed Life”, and discovered that to my dismay it exists solely as a Canadian bonus track on the live album or Look of Love, which means that both are collectibles and priced accordingly, between forty and fifty dollars, even on Canadian sites.

I stopped by Future Shop to buy a non-moving part today, and on a whim I checked the CD section.

Look at that. Diana Krall, Live in Paris. With the Canadian bonus track “Charmed Life”. And a pleasant price sticker that tells me it’s priced at fifteen ninety-nine.

Score one for Autumn and Diana Krall.

I love this album. “Charmed Life” is even more fabulous in its full 2:48 minutes of glory. And she does a terrific cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Case of You”.

So, I freely admit that I was wrong. Diana Krall’s great. I love her voice. I love her style. (Well, her current style; I might not be as enamoured of her earlier albums.) She’s not Ella Fitzgerald, but she isn’t trying to be. Plus, she’s Canadian. Yay her.

I may not have bought a car as a result of those Chrysler ads, but I’ve discovered a new jazz pianist and vocalist. If anyone wants to surprise me with a PT Cruiser, however, I still won’t say no. It has to have a DVD player in it, though, so I can play my new Diana Krall CD and pretend I’m in my own commercial.