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Dec. 14th, 2005 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenkushnerMy computer is screaming. No, really and literally. After I waited almost *3 weeks* for AppleCare to deliver a goddamned hard drive for the godlike men of Computer Loft (in Allston - all hail! though not godlike enough to recover anything from my old drive, which was utterly wasted - I did have Word docs backed up, just lost mail & photos) to install, and Yevgenia (whose LJ moniker I've misplaced) being kind enough to load the new one with all kinds of cool stuff, the next day it started making that scarey grinding noise again. So I drove through the end of the freaking snow storm (a 50-minute trip that is usually 20) so that they could ascertain that the NEW hard drive was indeed defective, and begin the arduous process of ordering me a new new one. Took the machine with me the next day to Holyoke (Golden Dreydl performances were just grand!) and on to NYC*, where it still worked OK, but the grinding sound has now progressed to an intemperate shriek, kind of like baby pterodactyls in a bad horror movie. Had received call that new part was in, so dropped it off at Computer Loft on way home from Mass. Pike, and then at least got to go to Pho Pasteur for a steaming bowl of Pho.
But that's not why I called you all here.
Boston-area folks: Do come to see us at the Burren in Davis Square on Saturday at 3 - and THIS WEEKEND DON'T MISS the Radcliffe Pottery Holiday Show & Sale: gallery-quality ceramics as well as student stuff, all for sale at realistic prices directly from the folks who make it at this state-of-the-art studio. Begins Thursday 12/15 at 3 pm, runs through Sunday (and they usually put out the Seconds on Sunday for super-cheap): http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ceramics/sale.html
We go every year - even if you don't buy anything (and try and stop yourself), it's wonderful to see what people are making.
*In NYC, went over final plans with architect, and prepped apt. for DEMOLITION which we earnestly pray will begin next week. We're not demolishing much, just some walls and 2 very scarey old bathrooms. Oops - forgot to say: we bought a place on the Upper West Side, and are moving there when renovations are done. Delia's been wanting to move back for years, and this seems like the right time for us. We've been looking for almost 3 years, and found a place we really love. Sound & Spirit will continue on most stations, in reruns; since we have over 120 shows archived, there's a lot still to offer. But what I really wanted to talk about was: we went to the Memling portrait exhibit at the Frick. Don't miss it. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/memling/ I have loved his people for years. And the backgrounds - oh, the little worlds peeking out behind the portraits' shoulders!! (There is one I am quite sure is a man teaching a dancing bear to dance, but Delia says it's just a dog. Looks like a bear to me.) That evening, to waste no precious NYC time, we saw the new production of "Sweeney Todd" (which made a godawful contrast to the peace and kindness of Memling's world, but needs must etc.). The production is beyond brilliant: spare and careful and intelligent. Patty LuPone in particular is a stunning Mrs Lovett - not wacky and cuddly like Angela Lansbury's cheerful foil to whatsisname, but a calculating, charming, dangerous personage who gets her laughs with the contrast between what she says and what she does. You can get a little of the flavor at:
http://sweeneytoddonbroadway.com/
It's kind of "Weimar Sondheim." All the musicians (for a stripped-down orchestration) are onstage and also play the characters. When they're killed they simply put on white lab coats dripping blood. So at the end, nearly everyone onstage is dead. Like Hamlet? - we agreed, though, that it's not a tragedy: no real moral, and definitely no catharsis. A Jacobean-style Revenge Tragedy, maybe? The jury's still out, but we think maybe not.
Drive home was lovely; we stopped, as always, on the Merrit for tea and cookies - those Mobile stations all stock homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies made by some family in Woodside (Queens) who clearly just drive up and down 15 delivering them as a reward to us....
But that's not why I called you all here.
Boston-area folks: Do come to see us at the Burren in Davis Square on Saturday at 3 - and THIS WEEKEND DON'T MISS the Radcliffe Pottery Holiday Show & Sale: gallery-quality ceramics as well as student stuff, all for sale at realistic prices directly from the folks who make it at this state-of-the-art studio. Begins Thursday 12/15 at 3 pm, runs through Sunday (and they usually put out the Seconds on Sunday for super-cheap): http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ceramics/sale.html
We go every year - even if you don't buy anything (and try and stop yourself), it's wonderful to see what people are making.
*In NYC, went over final plans with architect, and prepped apt. for DEMOLITION which we earnestly pray will begin next week. We're not demolishing much, just some walls and 2 very scarey old bathrooms. Oops - forgot to say: we bought a place on the Upper West Side, and are moving there when renovations are done. Delia's been wanting to move back for years, and this seems like the right time for us. We've been looking for almost 3 years, and found a place we really love. Sound & Spirit will continue on most stations, in reruns; since we have over 120 shows archived, there's a lot still to offer. But what I really wanted to talk about was: we went to the Memling portrait exhibit at the Frick. Don't miss it. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/memling/ I have loved his people for years. And the backgrounds - oh, the little worlds peeking out behind the portraits' shoulders!! (There is one I am quite sure is a man teaching a dancing bear to dance, but Delia says it's just a dog. Looks like a bear to me.) That evening, to waste no precious NYC time, we saw the new production of "Sweeney Todd" (which made a godawful contrast to the peace and kindness of Memling's world, but needs must etc.). The production is beyond brilliant: spare and careful and intelligent. Patty LuPone in particular is a stunning Mrs Lovett - not wacky and cuddly like Angela Lansbury's cheerful foil to whatsisname, but a calculating, charming, dangerous personage who gets her laughs with the contrast between what she says and what she does. You can get a little of the flavor at:
http://sweeneytoddonbroadway.com/
It's kind of "Weimar Sondheim." All the musicians (for a stripped-down orchestration) are onstage and also play the characters. When they're killed they simply put on white lab coats dripping blood. So at the end, nearly everyone onstage is dead. Like Hamlet? - we agreed, though, that it's not a tragedy: no real moral, and definitely no catharsis. A Jacobean-style Revenge Tragedy, maybe? The jury's still out, but we think maybe not.
Drive home was lovely; we stopped, as always, on the Merrit for tea and cookies - those Mobile stations all stock homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies made by some family in Woodside (Queens) who clearly just drive up and down 15 delivering them as a reward to us....
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Date: 2005-12-14 08:51 pm (UTC)the grinding sound has now progressed to an intemperate shriek, kind of like baby pterodactyls in a bad horror movie.
Friday the 13th: Jason Goes Mesozoic? It might even be interesting, with the right director.
--Kris
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 07:03 am (UTC)I would love to see that movie - traumatic though it would be to relive the experience!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 06:11 am (UTC)Well, at least you had a good time in NYC.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 07:06 am (UTC)Sigh no more, lady(s): I believe they're going to be able to move the data from the Screeching Hard Drive right on over to the new one, since it is merely vocalizing and not yet gefunkt. I'll know for sure tonight.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 11:48 am (UTC)I really really REALLY want to see that production of Sweeney Todd.
The song lyrics get oddly mashed up in my head with "Off to See the Wizard:
If I were Mike Ford, I might do something amusing with this, but, alas, I'm not.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 06:43 pm (UTC)I expect to be traveling to NY on business far more than I want to over the next year - mayhap we'll get together?
no subject
Date: 2005-12-15 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-18 08:55 am (UTC)I'm sorry to say I missed all of Delia's shots. She usually had her back to the window, and my camera couldn't endure the contrast... (Patrick)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-18 11:38 am (UTC)Those photos are wonderful! Truly, you are a man of parts. They bring back many good memories. I do like the ones of me reading from the novel, because I suspect I am portraying different characters with my face as I read . . . wonder which is which?
no subject
Date: 2005-12-20 03:12 pm (UTC)Thanks for the compliments for the photos. These are actually the very very few that were usable. most of the ones I took were fudged because of the poor lighting and the limited capacities of my camera. But it's okay, with digital cameras, you can take so many pics, there's bound to be a few good ones in the batch! (PM)