The Further Adventures of Deluzy

Divine -- and not so very

Today was  an expensive day:  $200+ for the annual physical and shots for two cats, $200 to have my computer detoxed of the viruses that ail it (and it may be several days before I get it back, what with the upcoming holiday weekend).  Then there were groceries ... how can I be feeling this poor this early in the month, I ask you?!

I'm not going to be getting that scooter any time in the very near future, that's all I have to say (though my husband does seem resigned to the fact that I probably will get one eventually and is even willing to go with me this weekend to a look at a few -- which beats his former attitude of "You aren't going to get one, no way.  You'll die, and I married you for life, not for a few years only!"  Not a good approach to take with me, thouogh of course I understand that it's his love and fear for me talking.)

So, in an effort to distract myself from my technological and scale woes and my lack of enthusiasm for recent unavoidable expenses, I'm going to declare my total ignorance of contemporary music and ask -- who is Seal, exactly? Aside from being an extremely handsome man, that is.

I ask because, as I was falling asleep last night listening to a crazed late-night syndicated radio talk show called Coast to Coast AM (which focuses on all things paranormal and to which I've been addicted since the mid 1990s), I heard him sing "I Need Love Divine" -- which I instantly loved.  (Does this mean I'm a total musical nerd? Have really vile taste?  It may, I think, but oh well, what else is new?)

Anyway, I assumed then (correctly, I think) that, partly because it was being played as bumper music to an upcoming segment in which someone was going to be interviewed about his supposed experience with a guardian angel (about which said someone was wildly incoherent, I might add) but mostly because of the lyrics, the song is essentially spiritual in nature -- it's about spiritual crisis, the dark night of the soul, etc.   I mean, duh.  Given its ecumenical, non-denominational nature, its oblique but also clear references to a classic tradition of Judeo-Christian metaphor, and the melody, I really liked it,

But I checked out the music video that I knew I'd be able to find on YouTube, and it's kind of mawkishly awful, its very literal use of images stripping any depth (inherent or projected) from the lyrics and interpreting them as if they consituted the outline of a bad TV drama.  Feh. Possibly the bald woman (cancer patient?) at the end is kind of cool, but that's about it,

I still love the song itself, though. I might have to check out some of Seal's other work and see if it's just a one-time thing for me or if I really do like his stuff overall.

Cyd Charisse, 86, Silken Dancer of Movies, Dies

Cyd Charisse, 86, Silken Dancer of Movies, Dies - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com.

R.E.M.'s "Supernatural Superserious"

Okay, I saw them do this on The Colbert Report the other nifht and loved it.  (My taste in music is eclectic, wildly uninformed, and has no rhyme or reason -- I admit it!) The video itself is totally unremarkable; I don't even understand what the song's about, entirely, but I love the sound. 

Charlton Heston Dies at 83

Link: Charlton Heston, Epic Film Star and Voice of N.R.A., Dies at 83 - New York Times.

Not my favorite -- in terms of his films or his politics -- but Heston's death is another marker of an era that has passed.

Michael Kidd, Choreographer, Dies

Link: Michael Kidd, Choreographer, Dies - New York Times.

He had a long and creative life, that man.  He choreographed the truly odd-but-kind-of-wonderful trash can dance in It's Always Fair Weather (kind of like a less happy version of On the Town).

THE NUTCRACKER (Kirkland-Baryshnikov, ABT 1977)

Link: YouTube - THE NUTCRACKER (Kirkland-Baryshnikov, ABT 1977)

I pretty much bought the DVD of this production almost entirely for Baryshnikov's choreography of the grand pas de deux, refigured here from a dance showcasing the Sugar Plum Fairy to a pas de trois (is there such a thing?!) among Clara, the Prince -- and  Drosselmayer.

An Amazon purchaser had this to say about the production:

Even the storyline (in this video) of Drosselmeyer possibly having romantic feelings for Clara is not inherently creepy -- in Victorian times, the line between childhood and adulthood for girls was much more muddled. But I do think they take this way too far in the Second Act. Drosselmeyer dances with Clara and the Prince in the pas de deux, making it in this video an onscreen menage a trois of sorts. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth, frankly.

Hmm.  Despite the writer's protestations, I think he (or she) does find it creepy. It's true: "in Victorian times, the line between childhood and adulthood for girls was much more muddled" --  in lived experience and in different forms of representation, and things most definitely got distinctly "muddled."  Ahem. (There was a reason I was asked about tropes of incest in 18th- and 19th- century literature during my M.A. orals in the 1980s, after all.)

That's exactly why I like this version, however:  it's sexual and romantic, it's dark, it's all three. Deal with it. Despite the undistinguished direction of the rather stagey video, the choreography brings back some of the unease -- dis-ease --  of E.T.A. Hoffmann's dark tale. And Tchaikovsky himself wasn't exactly an upbeat, sweetness-and-light kind o' guy. This version seems to capture a little of their brooding, tenebrous qualities in certain moments, which is why it's the only one I genuinely like.

The Sugar Plum Fairy always did give me a pain.

Yay!

Good heavens, that was quick!  Classical Comics wrote back and told me they'd be happy to have me review their edition of Jane Eyre. I'm delighted.

Yup, this is moving past OCD and into something else, as Jules observed in her comment.  It's ridiculous of me not to turn all of this obsessing I've been doing this summer into a concrete, fun, academic project, and so I'm going to take concrete steps to do so.  Why not write about something I have passion for, for god's sake?!

I have a busy day planned tomorrow: ongoing preparation for the new semester that officially begins on Wednesday, yes, but also the first writing session I'm setting for myself in response to assignments established by me in connection with a friend-and-writing coach over the next two weeks.

Stunningly enough, I'm looking forward to both aspects of my day.  My study is vacuumed, organized, prettily decorated; my alarm is set for 5 a.m. (I have my most productive days when I get up early); and I have a planned treat of a quick afternoon excursion (for one hour, no more) to a local Starbucks to grab a soy latte.

Really, life is good.

JANE EYRE as a graphic novel

Link: Classical Comics - Bringing classics to life.

What would I do without BrontëBlog?  Once again it's alerted me to a cool phenomenon: a Classical Comics release of Jane Eyre is scheduled for Spring 2008. 

I took one look at the images on the Classical Comics website and fired off an email to the Managing Editor, indicating my eagerness to review an advance copy in my professional capacity as a university professor who teaches both literature and visual culture, or simply as a fan with a blog that raves on into the night about Jane Eyre.

Okay, I didn't put it quite that way.  But I hope she takes me up on it. There's a real mix of media influences in the preliminary drafts, and I'd love to address that.

My salary is going to have to go to theatre tickets

Link: Playbill News: Jane Eyre the Musical, Like Its Namesake, Reaches for a Brighter Future.

Sounds promising.  I saw this in its pre-Broadway incarnation and suspect I may prefer it as a chamber version.

First Minneapolis, now Sarasota

Link: Playbill News: Barbour Will Play Dark Hero of Tale of Two Cities Musical; Casting Announced.

Dickens.  Love, suffering, and sacrifice.  Musical.  Oh hell.  If I'm thinking about how to get my ass to Minneapolis to see a new production of Jane Eyre, now I may have to consider a trip to Sarasota as well to see this.

(Uh, I have to figure out an article on something about [musical] adaptations of certain kinds of narratives so that I can get some of this travel funded as research and get some professional publishing mileage out of my assorted obsessions.)

James Barbour.  I like him!  I saw him in the debut production of Jane Eyre in the La Jolla Theatre before it went to Broadway (and folded pretty quickly), and I also saw him in L.A. a couple of years ago in a musical adaptation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.