It seems, neither does anyone else, since she is more commonly known, like Cher and Prince, as just—Sissel. (I don’t know how to prounce that, either.)
I’m sort of out of the main information stream on the music world, so maybe you all know all about her already. But, just in case, here’s a little background:
Sissel is a Norwegian soprano. She’s internationally famous (except, it seems, to me since I just discovered her). She sings everything from pop to country to rap to classical music. She’s performed with everybody from Placido Domingo to Charles Aznavour to rapper Warren G.
Her voice is most often described as “crystalline,” and I can’t think of a better word. Her Wikipedia entry is here, her official website is here, and you can find a bunch of tracks for your listening pleasure on YouTube.
Joe Fenton is a London-based artist who works in graphite, ink and acrylics. His drawings are amazing. The content is a little macabre for my taste—Hieronymus Bosch is mentioned in his bio as an influence, and you can see why—but I am blown away by the clean lines and elaborate layouts of the drawings.
I don’t know what the proper art vocabulary would be to describe these works but “clarity” and “specificity” and “highly detailed” are the words that come to mind.
Since I’ve been giving myself drawing lessons—with mixed success—I am even more impressed by this particular style. A more freewheeling realism, such as that for which I have been striving, strikes me as being more forgiving than this. If your hand slips a bit when contouring a face, you can always fudge the shading. It doesn’t look like that’s really possible in Mr. Fenton’s work.
The symmetry blows me away, too, in many of them. I mean, it’s hard enough, I would think, to create one side of these ornamental drawings so cleanly. To balance it out on the other side seems like daring the art gods to make your hand shake.
Since my nieces and nephews (hereafter to be known as “the niblings”) were just old enough to walk, my sister has taken them to the dollar store to pick out Christmas gifts. This has resulted in some interesting presents. (The year my mom got a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, because of its pretty pink color comes to mind!)
I have loved each and every present that came to me this way, and this year was no exception. All the gifts are great! Decorative, inspirational, useful. I am very pleased with everything the niblings got me.
One item, however, is very appropriate for a post on Friday.
For sheer, practical make-your-life-betterness, I must point out the microwaveable slippers. One of my nephews wiped the shelves clean this year of these things. I believe everybody in the family got a pair.
I love mine!
I get cold feet. Real, ice cold feet. The kind that cause a husband to yelp if you happen to roll the wrong way in the middle of the night. And, since I have moved to Florida where it is often so warm that the heat doesn’t cycle on, my feet are often uncomfortably cold.
But now, 60 seconds in the microwave, and these little booties stay warm for an hour. And they have a nice lavendar scent, too!
You do have to be a little careful not to overheat them. They are much warmer on the feet inside them than they feel to the touch of a hand. If you get a pair, please use caution and common sense.
In addition, they are awkward to walk around on. In fact, the directions say it’s not recommended—but to heat them up, slip them on, lie down and read a book? Sheer bliss.
I think they are going to lower my heating bill and make my winter couch potato-ing much pleasanter.
The fact that Dodie Smith’s last name is the same as my own is purely coincidental—although I must say it gives me half an idea for a theme for my Sunday posts. What say you to Smith Sundays? In which we investigate famous people named Smith? I don’t know. I’ll have to think about that.
Anyway…I Capture the Castle is a quirky sort of coming-of-age novel about Cassandra Mortmain (Isn’t that a great name?) and her family. Her father is a once-famous and now-blocked writer, her stepmother is the overly-dramatic but not at all wicked Topaz, her elder sister is tired of the life of poverty in spite of the fact that the family really does live in the eponymous castle. There’s a younger brother and a family friend rounding out the household—all of whom have their lives up-ended when wealthy American brothers inherit the nearby Scoatney Hall.
It’s hard to do the book justice in a description.
Perhaps it will help if I tell you that the first sentence of the book is “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” (I’m a sucker for intriguing first lines.) Or that J. K. Rowling lists it on her website as one of her favorite books.
Book recommendations are hard. Fiction, especially. One person’s treasured tome is another person’s snooze-fest.
But I Capture the Castle has a lot to recommend it: multi-dimensional characters, a narrator with an original turn of phrase, a surprisingly involved exploration of the psychology behind writer’s block, plot twists, suspense.
When I am not thankful I found my way into the theatre.
In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I love theatre. I especially love musical theatre (maybe because it’s the one form I am really, really, really no good at).
That’s why I was so happy the other night to stumble upon a re-run of a PBS Great Performances presentation of Sondheim! The Birthday Concert.
Sondheim is a genius.
I’m fairly sure that’s an undisputed fact.
He has a birthday every year, of course, just like us non-geniuses. His birthdays, periodically, are punctuated by tribute concerts that get televised—thus providing those far from Broadway with the opportunity to have a little taste.
This last one may be the best one yet. (Maybe not. They’re all good.)
There are lots of good numbers by lots of Broadway stars. It’s great fun to see Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason, the original Baker and his Wife, from Into the Woods, and Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, from Sunday in the Park with George, and two Sweeney Todds—George Hearn and Michael Cerveris—along with Patti LuPone, reprising numbers from those fabulous shows.
The pièce de résistance, however, is found near the end of the concert. As described on PBS’s website, it’s a “parade of legendary leading ladies who cap the evening with a non-stop succession of showstoppers guaranteed to quicken the pulse of all bona fide show fans.”
I’m not sure what’s more wonderful, the totally terrific numbers or the amazing ladies who sing them. First we get Patti Lupone and The Ladies Who Lunch, Marin Mazzie singing Losing My Mind, Audra McDonald and The Glamorous Life, Donna Murphy’s rendition of Could I Leave You, and Bernadette Peters’ beautiful Not a Day Goes By with Elaine Stritch capping it all off with I’m Still Here.
Big-voice belting and lyric sopranos. Gorgeous voices, gorgeous music., the pre-eminent performers of our time. It was kind of like dueling divas—but in a good way. And it was clear that—had anything happened in that theatre that night—Broadway was gone for a generation. (Fortunately, it’s all pre-taped, so any breathlessness at the end isn’t over fearing disaster but in tribute to the breathtaking qualities of the performances.)
I wish I could show you video clips of all of them, but we probably have to buy the DVD for that. I think it will be well worth the $25 bucks.
For a little preview, though, here’s part of Patti LuPone’s finale.
And the link below (it won’t embed) is the official PBS preview. Thirty minutes of selected numbers, including Elaine Stritch’s final number there at the end.
(And some of my readers, I know, will be interested to see John McMartin at time stamp 10:42.)
You know how Martha Stewart has all these great organizing and decorating tips…for the folks who won that $500 million dollars and can afford to spend six or seven hours a day weaving their own placemats?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time for all that. And the materials!
Half the time you have to make your own radish roses to attach to yew branches harvested from your own hedges to make a tasteful holiday wreath which will, in turn, be gilded by a paint recipe based on egg yolks gathered from your hand-incubated Buff Orpington chickens nesting in your home-made chicken coop modeled on Westminster Abbey.
It’s not like these are things real people actually do.
But over in New Orleans, there’s a little company called Clutter Clearer.
Each day on their Facebook page, they post two things: An inspiration photo and a tip.
The tips are realistic, useful and require inexpensive items to implement. More often than not, I think, “Whoa! Why didn’t I think of that?”
The inspiration photos are just that–photos of rooms that are both attractive and well-organized. Not every one will be to everyone’s taste, but there are good ideas in the pictures, too.
The tips on the Clutter Clearer Facebook page are the most consistently realistic ideas I’ve ever seen on a site like this.
Get on over there, search for “Clutter Clearer” in that little box at the top, and Like their page.
If you’re not on Facebook, you can find their website here. I don’t see any tips there, however, so Facebook is better!
You know, you can read about how to knit sweaters out of wool from your herd of alpacas—or you can take some actual small steps toward organizing your environment.
My grandfather collected books about Lincoln. Abraham, not Nebraska. I’ve read a few of them. Not all, by any means. So, I know a bit about our 16th president.
Most citizens of the United States do.
He’s one of the few that everybody remembers and everybody reveres.
Sometimes, we forget he was a masterful politician.
It’s going to sweep the awards. It deserves to do so.
What a gorgeous film on practically every level.
The acting—across the board—superb! Daniel Day-Lewis is the Lincoln I would have requisitioned if I could have imagined the perfect actor—and my imagination would have fallen short of this performance. The supporting cast: David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, Sally Field, Hal Holbrook and countless others disappear into the time and the story and the persons. After the first flash of recognition, all their star qualities, the tricks and trademarks, vanish as if they had never been. We are watching William Seward, Thaddeus Stephens, W. N. Bilbo, Mary Todd Lincoln, Preston Blair.
The script is fascinating. Based largely on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s A Team of Rivals, Tony Kushner has transcended the usual bio pic to give an in-depth study of the machinations surrounding the passing of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The wheeling and dealing, the lofty ideals and the base political machinations are all laid out before us.
The cinematography is beautiful. The film is shot in a palette almost indescribable. Suffice it to say that the historical details of setting and costume are crisp and clean, and yet, the whole thing has a patina of age, a not-quite-sepia tone of old photographs.
The direction—okay, I have a few quibbles—but the overall achievement is of such high quality that I’m not going to pick nits.
The score—one of the few movie soundtracks I feel I ought to buy.
I am going to buy the DVD. The minute I can.
This movie is a FIND. With a capital F.I.N.D. Run—with a capital R—to see it.
In general, I suppose I would lean towards a “no.” Thinking is almost always a good thing. I think, however, if you’ll take a look at this Friday’s Find, you will probably agree that over thinking is possible. (Over rehearsing is not. That’s a myth. We’ll take that up at another time.)
In some instances—like this Friday Find—we might all agree about over thinking.
Take a look at OverThinkingIt.com. Their descriptive line says the site ‘subjects popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn’t deserve.’
This is true.
But it’s great geeky fun when they happen to subject any of your personal favorites to analysis. I found them because a post analyzing the Law & Orderverdicts of the past 20 years popped up on Digg, and, of course, I had to take a look.
Firstly, having worked with statistics for more years than I care to remember, I find statistical analysis of TV shows that I have viewed to be oddly fascinating. Secondly, I was an extra on a Law & Order episode once. I feel a proprietary interest. (My episode was called Bait, and I am briefly visible when the camera pans the grand jury. Don’t worry if you can’t find me. My own parents didn’t recognize me. I am also briefly visible as a lawyer at the end of a hallway in another courthouse scene. I’m so out of focus in that shot, I wouldn’t have recognized me.)
Anyway, I’ve watched a lot of L&O over the years. Part of it is for the fun of seeing friends—since practically every New York actor worked the show at some point in some fashion. Part of it is the scripts are smart enough to hold your attention while you’re watching and not memorable enough for your brain to recognize that you’ve seen them before while you’re watching them again. So, they’re a reliable temporary distraction.
Which is sort of the point of the OverThinkingIt website. Another excellent distraction.
“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”
~ Twyla Tharp
Do y’all know Twyla Tharp? I find it hard to believe you’ve never heard the name—and once heard, it’s likely to be remembered, isn’t it?
But, not everybody pays attention to certain things, so it’s possible that you don’t know that Ms. Tharp has been one of our most eminent choreographers for over 40 years. She has studied with the greats of Modern Dance, had her own dance company, worked with the American Ballet Theatre, created Broadway shows.
One of those careers of stunning achievement.
When that happens, it’s really great when the achiever lets you in on some of the secrets.
So, here’s something I found a few years ago that I re-read from time to time:
It sits on my shelves near my copy of The Artist’s Way with which it shares some common ground. Not quite as much of a workbook, maybe, The Creative Habit reinforces the idea that creativity is something you can work toward.
There are useful exercises and a strong, practical approach, an understanding that creative work is work. I get the sense that Ms. Tharp agrees with Pablo Picasso: Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
I know that this book is a good one for me to go to when I’m just floundering around, not doing anything. At the very least, it reminds me that doing something is better than doing nothing. It gives me practical tips on figuring out what to do and how to shape it. At the best, it inspires me to keep working.
Everybody loves behind-the-scenes info. Don’t they? I know I do. I love to hear how writers and actors and producers got started, what they remember most about their work experiences, what advice they have for others aspiring to similar achievements. It’s fascinating.
Of course, it’s best if it’s someone whose work you know, but an opportunity to hear from someone you’ve never happened to encounter is a gift, too. It can open your eyes to treasures you might not otherwise find.
Agnes de Mille came to speak at my college once. I’d heard of her. I knew she was, famously, the choreographer for the original Oklahoma. What I didn’t know and was delighted to discover was that she was a terrifically entertaining speaker and a wonderful writer. I went and found her books, learned a great deal and enjoyed them thoroughly.
So imagine my glee when I stumbled upon a website created by the Television Academy Foundation which hosts over 700 oral history interviews conducted in-depth with the legends of television.
There are over 3000 hours of interviews with actors, writers, directors, newscasters, tv executives, technical gurus and more. And they are not drive-by, promote-the-project-of-the-moment interviews. They are hours-long, thoughtful discussions. What I always thought talk shows should be and almost never are. (Dick Cavett’s show being a notable exception.)
It’s all fascinating. Sometimes funny, sometimes inspiring, sometimes eye-opening. The interviewers are good. They ask excellent questions, and they stay out of the way. Interesting facts come to light, and personalities are revealed.
You can spend a lot of time there. So, be warned. But spending your time in the company of some of our most creative people? Is there any better way?
