So I have been home on Long Island for the holidays. It has all been very pleasant. Lots of eating good food, play board games, and seeing old friends. Already seems like ages since exams, which is exactly what I needed.
I got some very nice Christmas presents (gave some good ones too). Since I do not read non-legal texts for law school I am trying to become a more avid reader, both in English and Russian (I can read for pleasure now and not just torture!). For the moment I am working on rereading Faust II, reading the Whispers by Orlando Figes (personal stories about the Stalinist repression from my favorite academic writer), and Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (he's my kind of cynical sceptical American).
Also I am trying to catch up on my movies. Seriously. I feel like I haven't seen anything since I went to Vienna last years. So far I manages to see Super Bad (a great stupid movie) and the Simpsons Movie (good, but I need to rewatch it). Still on the list: Stranger than Fiction, the Departed, Hairspray (the original was descent), and Knocked Up (which I keep calling "a little bit pregnant" since that is what it was titled in Russian).
I managed to see Sweeney Todd before heading home. I liked it a lot. It is sort of amazing how it manages to be a cross between a slasher and a musical, though I suppose that is what it always was. Still, it is much more than opera than in musical with no dance numbers and tremendous intensity. The lyrics are wonderfully cynical.
On Friday I am hoping to make it to see War and Peace at the Met. I don't know the opera, but Prokofiev composed the score and it is War and Piece so it has to be a healthy serving of Russian Nationalism. For whatever reason, I tend to go for the grander more Wagnerian operas (not that I can take Wagner on any sort of regular basis), which so far has kept my mother and I from being able to see an opera together (she likes the lighter Italian ones).
Well, that is it for now. Before New Year's I'll be back with some sort of year in review entry. I'll have to come up with some observation by then.
I got some very nice Christmas presents (gave some good ones too). Since I do not read non-legal texts for law school I am trying to become a more avid reader, both in English and Russian (I can read for pleasure now and not just torture!). For the moment I am working on rereading Faust II, reading the Whispers by Orlando Figes (personal stories about the Stalinist repression from my favorite academic writer), and Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (he's my kind of cynical sceptical American).
Also I am trying to catch up on my movies. Seriously. I feel like I haven't seen anything since I went to Vienna last years. So far I manages to see Super Bad (a great stupid movie) and the Simpsons Movie (good, but I need to rewatch it). Still on the list: Stranger than Fiction, the Departed, Hairspray (the original was descent), and Knocked Up (which I keep calling "a little bit pregnant" since that is what it was titled in Russian).
I managed to see Sweeney Todd before heading home. I liked it a lot. It is sort of amazing how it manages to be a cross between a slasher and a musical, though I suppose that is what it always was. Still, it is much more than opera than in musical with no dance numbers and tremendous intensity. The lyrics are wonderfully cynical.
On Friday I am hoping to make it to see War and Peace at the Met. I don't know the opera, but Prokofiev composed the score and it is War and Piece so it has to be a healthy serving of Russian Nationalism. For whatever reason, I tend to go for the grander more Wagnerian operas (not that I can take Wagner on any sort of regular basis), which so far has kept my mother and I from being able to see an opera together (she likes the lighter Italian ones).
Well, that is it for now. Before New Year's I'll be back with some sort of year in review entry. I'll have to come up with some observation by then.
1 comment:
I would suggest reading The Good Soldier. Such scortching cynicism about love and relationships that its almost too realistic. If the protagonist in Cat's Cradle is you, then the protagonist's wife in this book is me...
The Departed was over-rated. I think you should rent The Blue Kite. Saw it with Ed last year. Awesome! Juno and Persepolis seem promising.
I agree with your mom on the lighter operas...but a mix is also good! I'm just biased because I prefer operas in languages I can (almost) understand... but tend to despise them in English. I have no idea why!!!
Perhaps you and your mom would both like La Traviata if/ when its at the Met. Its grand and light at the same time!
Post a Comment