Sunday, December 26, 2010
Happy Boxing Day
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The King's Speech & Other Dark Matters
Oh, yes, the Angelika is an arthouse in the northern part of Uptown in Dallas, on the other side of the DART rail line. It's near some very trendy loft apartments, the type that have murals painted on the side and ooze attitude. (I may look plain, but you can't afford the rent!) Cheri went on and on about how it reminded her of New York or San Francisco, two places that -- as Joy reminded her -- we haven't seen, and probably will never get the chance to see. But Cheri, in the midst of reminiscing, overlooked the side comments. I kept quiet ... Whenever there's a monologue in session, you might as well listen and keep silent ... and observe the scenery.
The Angelika Theatre definitely was plain on the outside -- and a challenge to approach from the street. You parked in the DART parking lot (very tiny) or in the 3-tiered lot across the street and walked across the DART station, which is a 2-tiered station; you get your tickets on the street level, where we were, then descend to take the train ... The Angelika's interior has many arty posters, ranging from Charlie Chaplin to foreign films. There's a wine bar (very expensive) on the ticket level, and regular concessions upstairs near the auditoriums. We headed upstairs. Yeah, you need to dress up for this place -- even the quartet of teens were upscale, though I wonder which movie they were there to see. The remake of The Tempest with Helen Mirren as a school project? Who knows ... I didn't think they would find any films there to their tastes.
Still, we had time to kill and ate nachos and hot dog and popcorn while we waited for our film to begin ... oh, and the pre-movie ads were classy, too. What can I say? Still, Cheri and we could count on our fingers the times we'd been in an arthouse -- We'd gone to the Magnolia in Uptown Village with Cheri to see 13, and she had gone to 2 others, all to see Jeremy Sisto, one of her favorites, in a rather depressing film about a teenager who gets into cutting herself and drugs.
Angst and indeterminant endings are hallmarks of a well-made art film for the thinking man.
I guess The King's Speech didn't haven't to meet those criteria since it was based on history. I'm sure there were liberties taken -- no movie gets the official blessing from Buckingham Palace -- but all the actors did an impressive job. Naturally, the movie centers around Bertie, the unwilling King, and Lionel, his practical speech therapist. For Americans raised on the romance of "the woman he loved," the portrayal of David and Wallis is rather biting. Both are intent on their own pleasure, and everyone else be damned. It's enough to make you want to research the era a bit more ... although it's a bit before my time, pre-WWII times are as alien to me as the 60s are to my students ... the world before Hitlet changed everything.
I sense that Cheri might indulge in a bit of historical reading -- she does more history than fiction. I may take a visit to the local library to pick up a few books myself ... I need something that's the total opposite of what I'm trying to write. Back to the movie -- Joy commented that this one was mainly talking heads, but what expressive heads they were! As Bertie struggles to find his voice, the audience empathizes with him -- after all, the #1 fear of many people is speaking in public. The knowledge that this first wartime speech will be the first of many -- and Bertie's comment that he fears this is only the first in a long conflict -- adds solemnity to the triumphal moment.
And, on our exit, I noticed that there was a sign for "Teens Who Stutter" -- maybe the girls were coming to our movie. Who knows? We swept outside into the chilly winter day as a larger audience began to enter. I hope that "the boys" get those Academy nominations in 2011 ... They deserve it. (That means I have to follow the awards next year ... Jeff Bridges did out Colin Firth in 2010 ... True Grit won the Academy for the Duke, but I wonder if it can do the same as a remake in 2011.
All in all, if they ever show anime as the Angelika (they did, once upon a time), we may have to head northward once more.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Winter Solstice
The lunar eclipse occurred on the winter solstice ... and I didn't set the alarm to see it. By the time I made it outside this morning, the moon had set. I'd slept so late that I barely beat the garbage men to the pick=up site. (Mundane, I know, but when pick-up happens once a week, you don't want to miss anything!)
(Pictured -- Sir Dustin at Four Winds Faire 2010)
For now, it's time to close ... My mom and I are doing a "duty visit" to her sister. Old age and infirmity do not mellow people, I've learned. It tends to set whatever behaviors they possessed -- if they were pleasant, they remain pleasant despite calamity. If they're autocratic, they become tyrants ... Mom doesn't want to see her by herself, and I've been drafted since the boys are working. Imagine -- I get to dress in school clothes and wear make-up so Mom doesn't hear catty remarks later on my appearance ... I dress so casually that such remarks may be inevitable. Still, I'll do my beast.
Avanti!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Christmas Kittens, Oh My!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Holiday Cheers
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Babes, Ballet, & Bling
This is our 5th panto -- I think our first was Cinderella at the KD Studio Theatre ... If you Google, "British panto -- Cinderella," you might find Entsheawful and her sister menacing poor Cinderella.
This show is based on an old English ballad about two children who get lost in the woods and die of exposure, even though the birds covered them with blankets of leaves ... well, THAT ending won't fly in a panto, so it's the principal boy (Paige Turner) and the dame (Governess Amplebottom) to the rescue, with the help of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Baron von Nasty Chap and his minions got some good musicals numbers -- and lots of heckling from the kids in front of us. Of course, we boo and hiss along with everyone else. That's the point of a panto!! The old "4th wall" just doesn't exist ... while we were heckling the Baron, however, I had a flashback to my 3rd period class who cannot shut up. Luckily, it's part of the script, so the actor took it in stride and sneered at all of us ... until he revealed his sad past and got reformed, another traditional part of Jackie Mellon's scripts. I think the only villain who didn't get reformed was the evil magician in Aladdin and the ogre in Puss in Boots last year ... but, technically, they weren't human -- or part of the hero's family. It isn't Shakespeare or high drama, but you'll have a great time. To see a expert critic's comments on the panto, go to
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Rings & Things
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Giving Thanks
- George Bernard Shaw
Friday, November 19, 2010
Bison Bits & Nano Novel Thoughts
The last two days were rather sad ones around SHS -- one of the teachers died of heart failure on Wednesday night, and today a senior died of leukemia. Unfortunately, I cannot put a face to either name ... and I've taught there 4 years. However, unlike RHS, the campus is so much larger -- and with a larger faculty that I don't know the majority of faculty or a class the way I did at Velt. (Sorry -- RHS. For some reason, the powers-that-be didn't like the old nickname.) Why the thoughts about my old school? I got a surprise today while I was fighting wind & papers on the way to the recycling bin ... a middle-aged lady was talking to her male co-workers after they had finished spraypainting over the graffiti on the retaining walls that lead from the back teachers' parking lot to the fine arts wings ... and she turned around and said those words guaranteed to recall the past: "Hi, Ms. Nickell."
Yep, I had taught her back in the days ... In fact, she asked why I hadn't retired. (Darling, I'm not THAT old!!) To tell the truth, it's the tax laws and the economy. I might be able to beat one, but not both ... Then one of last year's kids stopped to help me -- yeah, he's a junior. My first time sophomores are seniors now -- and very lazy, alas. Still, I was not ready to discover that (a) most of my early students ARE middle-aged parents and (b) that many work for DISD. There are days I feel a part of the problem of the future of American education -- rather egotistical of me since I'm not their only English teacher. Still, how do they find me?
We're in the midst of cleaning house ... a monumental task, believe me! Plus, I'm still working on the NanoWriMo novel. Since I'm writing by hand, it takes a while to compose 1500 words. (I've never done it in one day.) At the moment -- I should be at 25000 words; but, no, I have about 14000. Still, I haven't strung that many words together in one month in a loooong time. So, there is something to be said for the "no plot, no problem" approach to writing.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Cats & Dragons
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Nanowrimo, Week 2
Saturday, November 6, 2010
NaNoWriMo, week 1
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Dancing Doll Cats: Case of the Missing Kit
NaNoWriMo
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Bazeball dase
Happy Halloween from Pash't and her furry fiend
My anime boys tells me that BJDs are creepy; the life-like eyes and limbs create atavistic memories of tiny homuculi who create havoc when everyone is asleep -- a cross between Chucky in Child's Play and Woody's crew in Toy Story. There are guys out there who enjoy the dolls; however, most come into the doll fold because their SO likes them ... or they're gay and enjoy designing a OOAK doll (not all, mind you, but most that I know). I still love the name of one of Joy's groups: Creepy Old Folks Who Play With Dolls. Too much fun!
Tonight the Texas Rangers play the SF Giants in San Francisco ... I normally don't follow America's game; however, I am a Texan, which means that I follow "the boys" when they make the playoffs. To tell the truth, I'm using the internet to check on their progress (right now, lack of progress, since the score is 4-2) because baseball games just move too slowly for my taste ... even when my dad took the family to Arlington Stadium (now only a vague memory), I took a book along. I'm sure it was a fantasy book, though which one I could not tell. I saved Lord of the Rings for the long drives from Dallas to my grandmother's home in Evansville, IN, and my aunt's home in Morehead, KY. Like Christopher Lee, I enjoyed re-visiting Middle Earth every summer.
Of course, my students talk of nothing but the World Series ... if the Cowboys were doing better, there would be a choice of subjects; however, "da Boys" aren't winning much this year, like our Bison football team ... and this week is homecoming. Oh, well, I'm sure the Bison of years past will enjoy more than just the game ... I've never felt the need to visit Wildcat Country at Wildcat/Ram Stadium, perhaps because I deal with high school sports all the time. I feel little desire to re-visit the scene of my mis-spent youth. After all, I know where to find the 3 people who were my closest friends at that time -- Facebook just makes it a one-stop-shop.
I enjoyed college and grad school; however, I never kept up with any of those folks. Oh, I met some of them later when we were all theatre teachers in Dallas ISD; however, after I graduated from college, I only saw one of the folks from ETSU -- and that friendship shattered when she started sleeping with a married man ... That was one crazy spring! A fruit basket turnover of relationships, a veritable soap opera. As my niece says, I try to steer clear of drama; still, sometimes the drama finds you ... as it's done 3 times this year. After 3 blessed years of relative peace, we've had 3 fights among the sophomores -- 1 involved alleged gang rivalries, but 2 were girls fighting over name-calling and boys. (Puh-leeze! I teach the little brat -- he ain't all that.)
Dance Quote: “Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.” -- Voltaire
Sunday, October 24, 2010
We spent the weekend -- well, a second weekend, in Southlake. Petsitting is no joke, unless the pets are your own ... which wouldn't make it petsitting, would it, unless the dogs (or cats) literally DO sit on you. Mine have been known to do so, and Joy's birds use her as a perch whenever they can (usually while the cats are placed inside their room). Back to the subject at hand: the girls & Veronica (who is in her late 50s but prefers to party with younger females) decided to go on a road trip to the East Coast ... after toodling around the Big Apple and its environs, they came south to that center of Elvis worship, Graceland. Currently they're driving south and west towards their house ... where Joy waits in durance vile.
This was a weekend for old movies: Kind Hearts & Coronets, starring Alec Guinness in 7 roles; Laura, with Gene Tierney and Vincent Price, a documentary on the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and Return to the House on Haunted Hill, with no name actors ... oh, and we caught the last half of Disney's Princess & the Frog. No one could ever say our tastes weren't eclectic ... We interspersed the movie watching with reading -- Joy had found the final volume in one of her fantasy series, and I read a reprint of a Mary Balough romance, The Christmas Promise, as well as parts from The Chronicles of Narnia. I guess all the reading was to distract the mind from the fact that duty had trapped us in a place where we really didn't wish to be, caring for animals not our own ... Worse, two of Joy's cockatiels died this week, and she was unable to bid them a final farewell and mourn properly since she wasn't here. I know that sorrow bothers her -- I remember finding Lady Orchid, who had been quite ill for a long time ... She had died inside the hospital cage in the bedroom, since I feared that she might climb into the mattress or closet in her last moments. Such a lovely, loving queenly cat ... Her brother Skittles is still with us. He meowed and chatted me up since I had spent 2 nights in Southlake.
We now have bison on a chain ... well, chain earrings. This week is homecoming at Sunset HS, so I made some earring sets for teachers who want to show spirit on Friday ... and it's tough to find bison. Luckily, Mar found some pewter pieces at Intergem, so I have a bagful for earrings and pendants ... plus, a few buffalo nickels in a coin setting. They're too heavy for earrings, but perfect as pendants ... and I saw a few steers in the field next to Cheri's abode. They ignored us mere humans (after all, we didn't have any food for them), despite our "mooooooooo"-ing.
Dance Quote: If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. George Bernard Shaw
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Taken to TAKS --
So what's with the funny animals? As I commented below, I have an anime shrine -- most of my students aren't interested in furry art; however, there are two anthropomorphic bison -- a samurai and a geisha -- as the mascots for the anime club.
You have to be a good dancer to be this clumsy at the barre ... Lucy was a dancer for MGM before they discovered that she was a comedienne. My friend Mandy has a shrine to the Ricardos & Mertzes in her classroom; I myself have an anime shrine. Both of us enjoy movies, particularly the classics; when we taught next door to one another, we would play movie trivia. How many minutes into a scene did you need in order to identify the movie and its stars? I wonder whether she shows movies before school and during lunch the way she did on 3rd floor. I doubt it -- the powers-that-be (and lunch traffic) frown on cinematic stuff between 9 and 4. Then they wonder why the kids have so little culture ... it's all hip-hop and pop with the Web sites and Youtube thrown into the mix.
I did have to chuckle, however, because I had to shoo several kids away from the library since the seniors are testing all week. Sorry, kids, you can't check your manga or video stream ... see you next week.
Dance quote: What could I do? I couldn't dance. I couldn't sing. I could talk.
-- Lucille Ball
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Critter Crawlies & Senior Slides
Friday, October 8, 2010
In a Faire State
Today we teachers get the day off for the State Fair of Texas -- as you can see in the title, my fingers did the walking and used the ren spelling for "fair." Not a surprise, since we spend much of our time on the faire grounds in East Texas during the spring. The official State Fair is huge, and except for the new fried foods, there isn't much to tempt me to walk all day and check out displays ... Compared to Six Flags, the Midway isn't as fun as it was when I was in high school; altough the ticket gives us free admission, it doesn't pay for all the tickets you'd need to eat, drink and be merry ... Besides, I don't want to see any of my students during my "down time" this weekend.
After I grade some papers -- yes, I'm trying not to drown in student papers this 6 weeks -- I shall begin to bead. I found an interesting book on bead embroidery, which might tempt the BJD ladies into parting with some cash ... we shall see. Plus, I have bison earrings to create for the theater teacher and others. A few students are interested; the rules may bend for teachers who want jewelry, but they are adamant about student sales ... Too many dirty deeds done at DISD during the Naughty Nineties, I'm sure, when many higher-ups and business managers used district funds to feather their own nests. Most of the earrings are simple ones -- beads on a headpin (I almost wrote beads on a stick ...) or simple beadweaving. I hope some are bought, since we spent $$ at Intergem and Rock Barrell to obtain purple and white pearls and crystals.
So -- who's the little vampire in the picture? He's an ABC vinyl BJD created by Paulette Goudreau; Joy spotted the little man at BJDC Austin ... but bought a smaller magician instead since he resembled her chara Harry St. Cloud. She'd given Paulette a jewelry pendant; to our surprise, Paulette sent this little guy our way ... A few resin purists insist that he shouldn't be called a BJD since they insist that only an "Asian-inspired" aesthetic defines a true ball-jointed doll. Oh, please ... first, he has the changeable hair and wig; he also has joints; he's strung, even if he is made of vinyl ... And if you're looking for an "Asian aesthetic," he still fits the definition because many manga and anime will create a "chibi" version of all but the most serious chara. He's just a chibi Dracula ... a distinction that some BJD purists wouldn't know because they don't know the entire "Asian aesthetic" that influences the sculptors who create the dolls. I think they're narrowing the definition more and more because they don't want outsiders to invade their private party ... Now I'm the first to agree that reborn dolls (dolls which look like newborn babies, complete with the redness associated with babies who are just born) are not BJDs ... and neither are most Barbie dolls or many fashion dolls since they don't have changeable eyes or hair ... but Goodreau's dolls (and some other lines, too) DO follow the definition. Check them out for yourself and see.
Dance Quote: "I could dance with you till the cows come home...On second thought, I'd rather dance with the cows when you came home."(Groucho Marx, Duck Soup (1933))
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Gemstones & Bison Bits
Ginger used all of the stage areas -- since we can place furniture anywhere we like in our own space, she used the steps, the side stages (which are really fire exits), and back stage. The lights and sound were a bit iffy -- she still needs to train her techs. However, the main thing was getting the actors on stage. They had moments -- they weren't the UIL Best Actors or Ensemble -- and I felt proud to be the teacher (I can claim some of them, if only from last year.) of such talented students. Congrats to Ginger for pulling it off.
The weather has turned coolish, so I'm off to walk off the weight. For a while, the weather was too warm -- or too rainy -- for me to go outdoors before dawn (the main time I have to exercise unless it's ballet class). Today looks like it's prime walker weather. Carpe diem!
Dance quote: "We should consider everyday lost in which we don't dance." -Neitzsche
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Another Opening, Another Show
Tonight the Sunset Theatre opened Clue for a 2-night run. They were rehearsing when I left about 5 o'clock, and the curtain goes up at 7 ... Sunset's football team also plays tonight, so the school was filled with band, drill team girls, majorettes, AND theatre kids as they wandered around looking for food. My only duty tonight was getting change for the box office; I'll help out on Friday night ... Michelle did tonight. As director, Ginger does both nights. I wonder if any administrators will bother to show up -- after all, the school IS open after hours. Break a leg, bison!
Steampunk jewelry -- a bit dolled up to my mind -- made the cover of Beadworks magazine; I bought it for the ideas ... it's not the "factory chic" with gears and cogs that hint that someone broke up a clockwork man for parts; in fact, some manufacturer used the pattern as an advertisement for his goods ... a DIY project, so to speak, since the cost of materials and labor would put it beyond most fans' budgets, and many mundanes might not wear the style -- after all, it does not show a neat, corporate style. I enjoy doing traditional beadwork myself, but I'm branching into chain maille and other metal=infused jewelry styles. In fact, I sold a pair of purple and white earrings to another Sunset teacher ... after all, we like to sport school colors in a stylish fashion.
On Friday Intergem opens at Market Hall. I shan't attend on Day 1, since I teach -- and assist -- at SHS. I'll go Saturday and Sunday, sit behind the table, and smile at the folks ... I only hope that the ladies who shop the Indian bazaars don't come round too often; they want to haggle and will wear you down unless you get firm and downright unpleasant. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Their actions created several recent rules, such as the "no stroller" rule and "no haggling" signs. We need customers, but it would be nice to have customers who are willing to pay for well-done work. It may be a hobby, but we're not giving away our jewelry!
Dance Quote -- If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance. -- Anonymous