ceebeegee: (Spring!)

Lots going on right now!  A little too much actually--


  • A project for Tim's friend who is a playwright

  • Taxes (MUST force myself to get up early tomorrow to go to the tax prep's office, they've been ready to go for weeks)

  • Must take NYC tour guide test so I can become a tour guide for Amada

  • Have to get registered as a federal vendor (a huge pain in the ass--I first registered in OCTOBER and I'm still not showing up in the system)

  • I HAVE to write something in Cliopolitan but whennnn?

  • And a big, BIG thing which I'm not quite ready to announce at large just yet but which is very exciting (!).

So yeah, lots going on!  Now that spring is approaching I am looking forward to visiting DC to see the cherry blossoms--I'm going to stay with my brother and spend some time with the monsters.  I told Stuart I wanted to take the kids to some shows--specifically I'd like to start getting little William interested in Shakespeare, since we had such a lovely chat about it last Thanksgiving.  I looked around what would be playing in DC the weekend I'm planning to visit--so far I found a Voodoo Macbeth, a non-spoken-word, watery production of The Tempest and a puppet version of Peter Pan.  As I think a 7 year old is a *little* young for the violent nihilism of Macbeth (maybe when he's 10 ;) I am very tempted to take him to Tempest--its spectacle might be right up his alley, and they have a "Splash Zone" where we'll get wet :)  But the tickets aren't cheap :/ Luckily my SIL snagged a couple of tickets for my niece and me for Prokofiev's Cinderella at the Washington Ballet, which should be a blast!  Annika is a little tomboy but so was I at that age and I still loved ballet.  I can't wait. Things to look forward to:


  • St. Patrick's Day is in 2 weeks

  • I'm going to visit my brother's family in 3 weeks

  • Easter is in a month (and Game of Thrones!)

  • And in April beginneth The Tales of Caunterbury oops, I mean warm sunny weather and my big, BIG thing which I'm not quite ready to announce just yet.  (Oh, and Mickey's wedding!)

ceebeegee: (Vera Ellen)
So I saw Black Swan a few weeks ago. WOW. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who loves dance and over unafraid drama. Black Swan takes its tone from the genre it depicts--ballet is like opera, rich stories that wallow in pure emotion. It's about a young soloist at some NYC company (either ABT or City Ballet) who is cast in the double role of Odile/Odette in the upcoming production of Swan Lake--the director isn't quite convinced, as Natalie Portman's character is pretty uptight (perfect for Odette, the goody-goody White Swan--not so much for Odile, the evil Black Swan. In the course of trying to embrace her inner black Swan, Natalie undergoes a transformation and basically goes mad. It's gloriously imaginative and high-strung and very, very disturbing in places. At one point NP's character has a hangnail and she pulls at it, just pulls it right off--I had to look away, it looked so painful. There are some other thoroughly creepy scenes as well, some fantastic in nature, and others all too believable. There are a couple of times where the movie takes some real out-there risks but they pay off--one shot in particular* (scroll down for spoiler) during her performance just blew me away.

It draws on several influences including Showgirls (yes, really...) and The Red Shoes (brilliantly)--I love seeing all these movies that actually examine what it is to be an artists (Shakespeare in Love is another one), what we do for art, what defines the artist. One of my favorite exchanges in TRS: Lermontov asks Vicky "why do you want to dance?" She asks him in return "Why do you want to live?" He replies "I suppose because I must." She says--"that's my answer too." Similarly Nina says to her director "I want to be perfect." Unafraid, overt, passionate--I love the complete lack of irony, the sincerity, the passion.


















*That panning shot showing her transforming into the Black Swan during Act 3--you see her walking around with this dreamy look on her face and the gooseflesh on her arms becoming pronounced. GOD, what a shot!

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ceebeegee

May 2020

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