Man. I am behind on everything except my actual job. Somehow that isn't the consolation I feel it should be. I have at least four movies I want to write about, three of them recent releases, and my brain feels like a blank screen. Too little sleep and too much pain. I had an orthodontist's appointment this afternoon; I am hoping it will help at least with the latter. Until then, have some links.
1. Thank you, Julian Barnes; I get interested in Shostakovich and you write a novel about him. "The book is, partly, an exercise in cold war nostalgia. But it's also, more interestingly, an inquiry into the nature of personal integrity . . . The process brings out all his characteristic qualities as a novelist—his essayistic lucidity, his preference for distillation and abstraction, his sympathetic interest in morally compromised figures, his faith in the transcendent value of art." All right, sold. I am reminded of John Hodge's Collaborators, which I still wish I could purchase on DVD.
2. JPL's retro-futuristic space tourism posters are pretty great. "The Grand Tour" looks like the Signet covers of the Lucky Starr novels I grew up with. I think Enceladus is my favorite for design.
3. I didn't realize there was any footage of New Faces of 1952 that wasn't the 1954 film version. I can't tell if this is the stage show itself or some kind of television special, but the salient points are Paul Lynde in a monologue that owes Charles Addams at least a program credit and Alice Ghostley performing "The Boston Beguine" with its inimitable romantic lament "How could we hope to enjoy all the pleasures ahead / When the books we should have read / Were all suppressed in Boston?" I should point out that I found this video in the first place because![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kore linked a Captain America filk to the tune of "Lizzie Borden." That was not a crossover I expected in my lifetime.
4. I can't believe I missed a local production of Victory Over the Sun last spring. It was even free and open to the public. Last year really was dreadful. It is a minor silver lining that at least I found Larissa Shmailo's translation.
5. Courtesy of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rushthatspeaks: the 2016 All-Candidates Debate. I apologize for the earworm in advance.
Yesterday my two-year-old niece asked me for a hug for the first time. Previously she had assented to the offer of a hug about half the time; the other half I did not hug her, because of boundaries. She would be fine with me waving hello or goodbye. This time she not only wanted me to hug her, she wanted me to hug her two stuffed animal bunnies, Purple Hop and Yellow Hop, and would not consider the farewell properly finished until I had done so. It was like the moment when a cat suddenly comes to you of its own free will. I felt very honored.
1. Thank you, Julian Barnes; I get interested in Shostakovich and you write a novel about him. "The book is, partly, an exercise in cold war nostalgia. But it's also, more interestingly, an inquiry into the nature of personal integrity . . . The process brings out all his characteristic qualities as a novelist—his essayistic lucidity, his preference for distillation and abstraction, his sympathetic interest in morally compromised figures, his faith in the transcendent value of art." All right, sold. I am reminded of John Hodge's Collaborators, which I still wish I could purchase on DVD.
2. JPL's retro-futuristic space tourism posters are pretty great. "The Grand Tour" looks like the Signet covers of the Lucky Starr novels I grew up with. I think Enceladus is my favorite for design.
3. I didn't realize there was any footage of New Faces of 1952 that wasn't the 1954 film version. I can't tell if this is the stage show itself or some kind of television special, but the salient points are Paul Lynde in a monologue that owes Charles Addams at least a program credit and Alice Ghostley performing "The Boston Beguine" with its inimitable romantic lament "How could we hope to enjoy all the pleasures ahead / When the books we should have read / Were all suppressed in Boston?" I should point out that I found this video in the first place because
kore linked a Captain America filk to the tune of "Lizzie Borden." That was not a crossover I expected in my lifetime.4. I can't believe I missed a local production of Victory Over the Sun last spring. It was even free and open to the public. Last year really was dreadful. It is a minor silver lining that at least I found Larissa Shmailo's translation.
5. Courtesy of
rushthatspeaks: the 2016 All-Candidates Debate. I apologize for the earworm in advance.Yesterday my two-year-old niece asked me for a hug for the first time. Previously she had assented to the offer of a hug about half the time; the other half I did not hug her, because of boundaries. She would be fine with me waving hello or goodbye. This time she not only wanted me to hug her, she wanted me to hug her two stuffed animal bunnies, Purple Hop and Yellow Hop, and would not consider the farewell properly finished until I had done so. It was like the moment when a cat suddenly comes to you of its own free will. I felt very honored.
