I finally got around to reading the last two volumes of the comic last night. Great ending to a great comic. I just wanted to say that the “wilderness sabbatical” bit is very Yoda-esque: Scott travels far away, goes into the wild, confronts his shadow, and returns, wiser for it. But at least Luke doesn’t kiss Yoda.
Certainly more than “absolutely nothing, y’all”.
I went, last night, to see Rusalka at the Denver opera house. Allie’s been working on it, and she got me a ticket. It was really good, but it intersected interestingly with my continuing reading of Peter Brook. Opera is almost intrinsically in the category of Deadly Theatre, if theatre it is. And that’s the question. Sure, it has all the inflexibility and Grand Tradition that Brook talks about, but ultimately? I don’t think it’s theater as such.
I don’t mean, by this, to denigrate opera at all. It’s just a different beast. I sat and watched this tragedy (and let me tell you, if opera plots are incoherent, opera-based-on-myth plots are even more incoherent) and felt nothing like catharsis. There was no characterization, in the sense of convincing the audience that the characters were real beings with real minds.
Instead, there was spectacle. There was amazing set and costume design, that interacted perfectly, and played with the lighting design. There was music, there was dance, there was fantastic singing.
So, there, I realized opera is not theatre. But it is great fun, if you stop looking for the fun of a story. (I think I compulsively look for stories. I’m working on non-story fun, ok?)
I was catching up on This American Life today, and heard about the Brooklyn Free School. It sounds great. Having homeschooled (or possibly unschooled?) myself through high school, I like the idea of it.
And then I’m confronted with taking attendance for my students, and it feels a little ridiculous.
My birthday party was last night. Absolutely lovely. A good bunch of people from various different circles all intersecting and seeming to like each other and stick around for hours. Good food, good drink. Today, nothing to do but dishes.
This is as it should be.
Well, we have a playtest version of Loom, the heroic fantasy RPG we’ve been working on, ready. If you’re interested, drop me a line. It’s rather in the vein of Star Wars or Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series, to my mind. Temptation, heroism, all that.
Beyond that, back in Boulder, getting over a sore throat, and watching the snow come down outside. Semester starts tomorrow; this’ll be a good one.
EDIT: Given various problems with the name Loom, it’s called In a Dragon-Guarded Land at this point.
I’ve been home a few days now, and in NYC, and now there’s snow. Lovely.
I’ve been working on one of the games; updates soon and possibly some further details.
I’ve also been thinking about security and society. More on that soon.
This is the last week of classes. Mostly done my papers (just need to edit a bit), and then there are some presentations and grading to do.
Also, I’ve made an unordered list of what I want to do with my life:
I recently, for no good reason and at no expense, won some money. This allowed me to spend tonight doing what I think is the highest calling in my life: treating friends to a good dinner. Good friends, good food, good conversation. We went to Himalayas, the best restaurant in Boulder in my estimation. We stayed a long while, talking and eating. We ended up talking with the guy who runs the place for a while, too. He gave us their chai and saag recipes, and then pointed out that they had accidentally made a double order for some takeout, and that we should take the extra.
Fortune, thank you.
(Beyond that, life has been busy—reading, writing, grading, playing.)
Language Log informs me that today is International Talk Like a Quaker Day, and so I think I’ll take the opportunity to think about plain speech, and what it means to me. I don’t think that thee-ing (not, as Language Log discusses, thou-ing) is really appropriate in the modern age. I’m generally against orthopraxy, and I think that the idea of plain speech is to set you apart not by strangeness, but by clarity, honesty and directness of speech. Continuing to thee really misses the point, as far as I’m concerned.
So, do I speak plainly? I try to. I fail in many ways, though: I certainly respond reflexively with clearly-false absurdities in many cases talking with small-f friends. I think I also, generally speaking, talk too much, and don’t allow time to consider my statements and what I’m responding to.
I’ll take today as a reminder to talk less, and mean more.
A short one: I saw Easy A today, and it was fantastic. A great movie, possibly a classic-to-be. A great soundtrack. Surprisingly deep and nuanced. Go see it.