Monthly Archives: March 2002

Happily Ever After

In my opinion, Beauty & The Beast is without question the finest film of the Disney oeuvre.

My husband and I gave ourselves a much-needed treat and travelled to the Paramount Sunday night. This in itself is rare; the flashy, loud atmosphere doesn’t turn us on. Nor does the flashy, inflated price of entry. This was a special occasion, however: the tenth anniversary IMAX version of the first animated movie to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. It�s been cleaned up a bit, and a cut sequence has been restored.

Breathtaking! From the opening truck in past the bushes and trees, we were gasping. Nothing like seeing your favourite Disney story on a screen three times the size of the one you saw it on originally; or like hearing the score you know backwards and forwards on a sound system like the one the IMAX theatre has. Woo! There is also something rather special about re-living the story at that proportion. I know IMAX is designed to overwhelm the viewer to a certain extent, and I’m usually not able to take all of an IMAX show in, but this one was really quite well done.

The restored “Human Again” sequence was terrific. I own the Broadway recording so I know the song, and I was eager to see what Disney had originally conceived for it. The inclusion makes a lot of sense. If you’ve ever wondered how the castle goes from grimy and gloomy to bright and shiny, here’s your answer. The enchanted objects decide to facilitate the romance (and thus their restoration to original form) by creating appropriate atmosphere. The sequence also includes Belle and the Beast in the library reading books, a scene in the Broadway recording that always touched my heart. Both characters are ciphers with a polishing of personality, but Belle’s love of storybooks is the trait that makes her, well, human. What was eliminated from the Beast’s character along with the “Human Again’ sequence is the fact that he is virtually illiterate. I had no idea that his shameful revelation was a part of the original Disney script, seeing as how there was so much other new material created for the Broadway version, so the scene was a delightful and exciting surprise! In the Broadway show, Belle is reading a King Arthur story to him. In the original animated version, she’s just finishing up Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, an interesting difference.

What they didn’t restore for the IMAX version (which irritates me no end) is the pause at the end of LeFou’s song for Gaston where he tries to spell Gaston’s name. I’ve heard that it was cut from the movie because they didn’t want to make fun of people who couldn’t spell. It was a really amusing snippet of (again) character action, and I would have appreciated seeing the entire movie in its original form.

It was a truly special evening. My husband and I love Beauty & The Beast for several reasons, but the ones uppermost in our minds Sunday night were that in the end it’s a terribly romantic love story, and romance is something that’s been quite absent from our lives these past few difficult months; and the associated fact that, physically, we embody the pair. In fact, it’s a comment a lot of people make when they see us, and especially when looking at our wedding pictures. (I would like to take this opportunity to state that my husband looked fantastic on our wedding day, and the Beast could never pull off a kilt the way my husband does! It’s the size ratio that tips most people off. Okay, and our colouring, and the length of hair on both of us, and my love of literature, and his slow warming to the idea of reading books�) A few Hallowe’ens ago we did the Belle and Beast costumes and pulled it off quite nicely, thank you. There are pictures somewhere, but I am scanner-less. My costume (the blue dress) is still intact, and I think we’ll repeat it some Hallowe’en in the future. This time, though, instead of the scruffy cloak, we’ll find a nice blue jacket and a white shirt with a jabot for my beau!

So, to my shaggy Beast of a husband, from your very own Beauty: may we have a happily ever after, as well.

CURRENT READING:

Spells of Enchantment, a well-loved collection of fairy tales. I’m big on the “happily ever after follows trials and hardship” thing these days.
Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
Actually, I lie. I finished The Eyre Affair (criminal that the second book remains yet to be published! How can I wait until July?), and I know I said I’d pick up Perdido Street Station (“[r]eminiscent of Charles Dickens, Franz Kafka, and Neal Stephenson”), but, um, I can’t find it. So I picked up…
An Exultation of Larks instead. Turns out that the collective noun (or “term of venery”) for a collection of rooks is a building. I wasn’t far off by guessing that they were called a house of rooks. I adore English; it’s such an illogical language. A book like An Exultation of Larks is just the kind of etymologial feast that I love to sink my beak into.

Now, if I could just find Perdido Street Station…

ALSO READ:
I’ve been polishing off books like After Eights. Books I’ve swallowed recently which didn’t get Current Reading mentions all their own were Light-Bearer’s Daughter by O.R. Melling, Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland, and Element of Fire by Martha Wells.

Show’s Over; Go Home

Well, the show’s over. We all got together to strike the set yesterday, and I had more fun there connecting with people than I’d had through most of the run. It’s so painful to realize that the cast just hits its stride both on and off stage right around the time our two-week run comes to a close. We came close to selling out the house for the last week of the run (missed it only by a couple of seats each night), and the audiences loved it. A good show all around, in the end.

We had a terrific party after Saturday’s show, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit (to my utter surprise). We got there early, so we had a choice of seats. I firmly believe that sitting with Rob, Andee, Christina and Richard made our evening much more fun than it would have been had we arrived later than most (which is what we were expecting, having to drive back to NDG to wash up and change, then drive back to Dorval where the party was being held) and been relegated to whatever seats were left free.

And now… the glorious knowledge that my Tuesdays and Fridays are free once more until September! (And what have I done? Booked them up for the next couple of months teaching workshops at work. Sigh…)

Virtues

So I’ve picked up the latest issue of Alan Moore’s Promethea (number 19 for those who are following it), and wow. Wow not only for the lush Van Gogh artistic tribute, but for the portrayal of this particular stop along the storyline.

Okay, having some sort of background in occult studies made following Promethea’s trip through the Major Arcana possible, and I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around the journey through the sephiroth along the Tree of Life as it progresses. Then last month I read The Witches’ Qabala by Ellen Cannon Reed to prep myself for a lecture on the Qabala, and it was the proverbial shock of recognition — my brain encompassed it all for a moment, then lost it as I saw that I had understood. (Never make the mistake of remarking that you’ve succeeded at something, particularly grasping the truth of the universe.) I proceeded to devour the first third of Self-Initiation Into the Golden Dawn (for the info, not to actually — oh, never mind) and amused my husband by exclaiming frequently in happy discovery and wearing out a highlight and a half. Qabala is like the blueprint for the universe, or a filing system in which every aspect of the universe is organised. It’s nifty.

Anywhats, all this led to another flash of recognition when I opened Promethea #19 (“Fatherland”) which talks all about Chesed, the sphere of greatness, benevolent ruler gods (excellently illustrated in a double-page spread), and the vision of perfect love. Seeing how the Virtue of this sphere is Obedience, the leap at the end into the unknown is just perfect. The next sphere will be the second to last, that of Binah, understanding and intelligence, or form and restriction, but not in a negative sense; more like a container. Binah is the feminine principle to Chesed’s male principle; the passive/negative side to the universe. It will be interesting to see how Moore envisions it.

Interesting Fact

Interesting fact:

“It may be surprising to learn that the potato, a staple crop in many Celtic lands, does in fact come from a family of poisonous plants that includes henbane and deadly nightshade.” (pp.197, Celtic Folklore Cooking – Joanne Asala)

Well, you learn something new every day.

CURRENT READING:
The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde. Working in the cynical and asinine world of publishers and booksellers, I’m not quite sure how this got published. I think the editor must have come across the manuscript, started reading, scratched his head a bit, tried to figure out if this book was (a) a mystery, (b) a comedy, (c) a science fiction novel, (d) a historical, (e) literary criticism, (f) all of the above, or (g) none of the above. Then he probably read a while longer, and at last leapt to his feet and jumped around a bit, then drew up a contract to publish this debut novel of brilliance which defies classification. I recommend it to everyone, especially starving English M.A.s (like yours truly) who will get all the jokes and laugh a lot. It helps, although it isn’t necessary, to be familiar with Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, John Milton, the X-Files, the basics of temporal mechanics, and how a basic sense of humour functions. A knowledge of twentieth century history is actually a hindrance. If you like Connie Willis, you’ll enjoy Fforde too. (And if you don’t know if you like Connie Willis, go look up Passage, or The Doomsday Book, or any one of her numerous award-winning novellas and short stories. If you want the humourous taste of Fforde, though, check out Willis’ Bellwether or To Say Nothing of the Dog.)

Ever Onward

Fourth show down, two to go!

We were sold out last night, standing room only – and people were willing to pay for the standing room. We began fifteen minutes late as the Front of House crew were still trying to find seats for people at eight o’clock! As nice as it is to have a complete audience, it makes it difficult for the singers on stage: a full house soaks up sound, causing it to seem as if you aren’t projecting, as you cannot hear your voice bouncing back. As a result, all of our soprano soloists thought they weren’t pushing enough and had to keep reining themselves in from forcing their voices. Our first act ran 75 minutes long; usually we clock in at just under an hour. That may not sound like a lot to you, but when a well-rehearsed show can be clocked down to the minute, it’s an eternity!

I had an interesting conversation backstage last night with two young ladies who through circuitous conversational coincidences ended up wanting to know more about where I worked, and what witchcraft was all about. There were four other ladies listening covertly. Well, part of my personal mission is to educate, after all! The Pagan Poster Girl strikes again…

CURRENT READING:
Well, I’m book-less again, actually; I read Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland last night, a lovely collection of thematic stories revolving around a painting by Vermeer. I intend to begin Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair tonight. The subtitle describes it as “An Out-Of-This World Tornado of Adventure and Imagination Featuring the Feistiest Literary Detective Ever To Hit The Page”. Her name? Thursday Next. (I kid thee not.) It looks hilarious, and combines two of my favourite themes, time-travel and literary archaeology. After that’s done, I’ll finally read Perdido Street Station by China Mieville; borrowed it from a friend after she met him at the World Fantasy Convention here in Montreal last November. Updates as events warrant.