Seven Quick Takes Friday (vol. II)

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I've been receiving a lot of wonderful feedback for this blog entry, including this lovely email I received today from BalletMet: 

Just wanted to thank you so much for your blog entry on The Great Gatsby. It was wonderful--I'm so very thrilled you enjoyed the production and will make sure Jimmy (Orrante) reads your comments. I enjoy reading your Culture Cat entries throughout our season! You've got a great way of re-capping the story as well as all the elements that come together to create our productions. We've got a fantastic season coming up--as a subscriber, be on the lookout for the new season brochure in your mail next weekend!

I can't wait to see next year's season! If you live in Columbus and have not been to BalletMet, you are denying yourself true cultural enjoyment. They are really one of the best things about the city, and I have never, in five years of regular attendance, seen a bad show. 

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A sad note--no new ballet until the end of summer. ARGH! Maybe the Houston Ballet will be performing when I'm there? 

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Tomorrow we head to Pittsburgh for my cousin Paige's first communion. We always do these parties well, and with the Pens/Caps game series beginning tomorrow, we'll gather around the TV after food, presents, and cake. I can't wait to see Paige in her first communion dress, although I'm not sure how long she'll actually keep it on post-ceremony. 

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Not a lot of reading this week--too busy with ballet, Sing Out Louise and etc. But I am bringing David Copperfield in the car tomorrow, so I'm sure I'l get lots of reading done (provided I don't fall asleep on the car). 

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I received the third Ring Opera n the mail today from Amazon--Siegfried. I'll probably put it on later tonight. Since I can't get to the Met to watch Otto Schneck's production, I've been watching them at home. As I looked at the DVD case, I noticed that the actor singing Siegfried (the hero), is actually named Siegfried. 

Wow. I bet he hated that as a kid. Or is it fate that he was cast in this role? I hope he sings it well. 

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With the dawning of the age of Widget 2.0 I have been loading my new iPod classic with all my music. I've almost got it all in, and it's a wonderful thing to carry around in my purse, especially since it has ample room for movies (right now it's only got Prince Caspian). And the new computer (dubbed Widget 2.0) performs beautifully. 

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And last, an uncharitable comment: if my downstairs neighbors slam their door one more time...

Oh well. Happy Friday!

Seven Quick Takes Friday

--1--
Home for day two of plague, or whatever this is. Lungs are fine, probably just a virus or something. I think after a good, sunny weekend here (and Scali's food) I'll be fine.

--2--
One of my bestest friends, Liz, sent me this book for my birthday. I received it yesterday via UPS, and I am addicted. The trilogy is set in Sweden, in the Middle Ages, and follows Kristin, the title character, from her birth to death. It's absolutely enthralling. Liz wrote on the card that it's one of her favorite books, and I can see why. It took a lot of will power to get away from it and come write this. Trust me. Sure, Kristin can be a bit of an idiot at times (especially in book one, "The Wreath") but it's just absorbing. If you're taking a long flight or a trip this summer, bring this book. I guarantee you, you will be absorbed and entertained. These characters LIVE with you, they get into your soul. It's awesome. (And there's a MOVIE! Of course it's about $100 on Amazon. But I love the fact that it exists.)

--3--
Watched Slumdog Millionaire yesterday. I also got this for my birthday but I was slow in watching all my movies, so I finally got around to it. Very good. Not sure if I liked it as much as "The Reader". They are so vastly different. I did love Dev Patel's work. The captioning of the Hindi drove me nuts--it wasn't on the bottom of the screen, it was all over the place, and it was in color, which made it really hard to read against the screen. So not so much there. If you don't know how it ends, then it's thrilling. Even if you do know how it ends, the last few scenes between Jamal and Latita are so well done, it's very uplifting.
Bonus: This movie made me want to read The Three Musketeers.

--4--
Prayer request: Please pray for one of my friends, whom I've known since high school, who was just diagnosed with MS. He was received into the church on Easter Sunday, too. He's a great guy, and prayers would be most welcome.
Yesterday, when I first heard about this, I was thinking that we are on opposite sides of the illness spectrum. He is learning that his body can, at any time, betray him. Symtoms, quirks, all that has to be monitored and watched. I, after years of this, am trying to learn to disable that alarm, so that I can realize that, yes, I can get 'just a cold' and the world will not end.
Both of these are hard lessons to learn. Both go against the inherent thinking of your mind.

--5--
Spring has arrived (again?) in Ohio. The daffodils and tulips are blooming, and some of the trees even have all their leaves. It's beautiful.

--6--
Music: Been listening to lots of random things lately. Verdi's "Requiem" (nothing like that last movement, nothing); the "Set Your Life to Music" reading CDs of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms (the Brahms just ended a few minutes ago); mix CDs in my car. Spring brings out the music in me.

--7--
Making plans for my annual summer vacay--this time to Houston, to visit Diane, her husband Matt, and their new baby girl Susan. But I am also going to try to get to NYC in October. The Met is doing "Aida" and Renee Fleming is performing in Strauss' "Der Rosenklavier", one of her big roles. I might spend a whole weekend in NYC seeing opera. The met actually sells tickets that way--you can buy a "three opera package", where basically that's all you do for five days. You see opera. I would love that. Especially Renee. And I've never been to NYC in the fall. I bet Central Park is just gorgeous in October.