At the National Portrait Gallery (London). One of the best art exhibits I’ve ever seen (and I’ve been (dragged sometimes) to Many).
Really truly amazing; blew us all away. Portraits in oil, in acrylic, in pen, in crayon, in charcoal, in photo. Different styles, techniques, formats. Sitters repeating throughout the years; you can see how their relationships to Hockney change and grow, how they themselves change and grow.
What an amazing artist. If you can’t get to London, the exhibition book is well worth the price (I paid 35 pounds, so about $70).
Monthly Archives: January 2007
Plane: The Guardian
Well, if you remember that I’m a sucker for this kind of movie, then you already know I quite enjoyed this. Although it’s probably fine that I saw it on a plane and didn’t pay $10 to see it in the theater.
A little frightened that this makes TWO Ashton Kutcher movies on my list, but I thought he was good in this, although the script certainly didn’t do him any favors.
Nice bit part by Sela Ward.
Theater: Pirates of Penzance
A Chris Monks production. The pirates were dressed as ’50s mobsters. The Major General’s daughters looked ready for yoga (except for Mabel, of course). Performed at a very small theater in the round (the Orange Tree in Richmond [outside London]), but masterfully filling the space with movement and sound.
Really well done: well acted / well sung. Well updated: the present day politics inserted into “For I Am a Major General” were hilarious and the ending (“For We Love the Bard”) was just perfect.
Loved it.
Theater: (Tom Stoppard’s) Rock ‘n’ Roll
Great, great show. Worth the trip to London all on its own.
Dominic West is great. The rest of the cast is compelling. The music (functioning as scene breaks) is a thrill to hear (as loud as if you were hearing it live). The story unfolds as the characters’ lives do. Written based on a conversation with Vaclav Havel about a rock band dissenting (in their own way) under communism: the Plastic People of the Universe.
Pink Floyd fans will enjoy the Syd Barrett side story (my mom didn’t know who Syd Barrett was of course).
Really well done.
Mystery: “Great Black Kanba” by Constance & Gweynth Little
A 1944 murder mystery gifted to me for Christmas. A comedy of errors — you can imagine this somewhat like Woody Allen’s (great) film “Manhattan Murder Mystery” — where a young woman’s amnesia means she doesn’t know whether she’s the killer, a victim, a fiance, or a member of the family she’s traveling with…
Short and sweet, a quick read. Fun!
Fiction: “Blameless in Abaddon” by James Morrow
One of the funniest books I have ever read in my life. If I had underlined every phrase I thought was funny, there would be ink on every page, in almost every paragraph.
The second part of a trilogy that began with “Towing Jehovah.” Exploring a world where God’s dead body is the hot topic. Incredibly funny, culturally aware, poking fun at every race, age, religion, and stance.
Particularly loved the bits written from the Devil’s point of view: The one thing he got wrong was my age. While poets commonly produce their best work in their thirties, and mathematicians typically tend to burn out in their twenties, miscreants tend to be late bloomers. Hitler didn’t get around to invading Poland until he was fifty. Ceausescu got the hang of atrocity only after turning sixty-four. I am an eternal seventy-two.
Highly recommended.
Memoirs: “12 Edmonton Street” by David Malouf
A memoir anchored by place: his childhood home, a vacation home in Italy, travels in India and Australia.
I first read Malouf last year in Australia where I picked up some of his fiction. This book is nonfiction but the tone and voice are cohesive with his novels. I think he’s a great writer.
Calm, thoughful. Sometimes pensive. Redolent of time and place.
Big Screen: Deja Vu
The person who cut the trailor should be fired: it completely misrepresented the movie.
Pretty good, but definitely a movie that requires you to suspend your disbelief. One of those very “real” feeling movies with just a little sci fi thingy thrown in to make it all work (similar to the way the book “Time Traveler’s Wife” works).
Denzel was good (when isn’t he).
Plane: All the King’s Men
OK. Sean Penn overemoting a bit, no? Jude Law was good; surprised to find his character was the narrator. Funny to see he and Kate Winslet together again so soon after seeing The Holiday.
Not bad, but not anything special either.
Quotes of the Fourth Day of the First Week of the New Year.
As useless as tits on a boar.
-from a Mel Bochner “piece of art”
Destruction is easier than harmony, but not more powerful.
-source unknown? This is what happens when I watch TV sometimes…