Big. That’s the first word I can think of to describe Tosca. Everything about the whole evening was big and dramatic. From the moment we got off the subway, there was this huge building, which conveniently happened to be Lincoln center. (it was actually the wrong building, but if you don’t get the idea, check out Teresa’s post.) The inside was big and grand, clearly designed as much to be impressive as it was to fit all the people in. You could tell it was really intended to impress because all the people working there were dressed in fancy clothes. Once you got inside, all the seats were red, a very dramatic color, and we could walk up to the orchestra and see all the instruments there. I’ve never seen a full sized harp before! It must have taken months of practice to get all those instruments to play together, and no one even clapped for them! And all this, of course, was before the curtain came up.
When the opera started, it was more of the same. Every gesture, every phrase, every note was just slightly exaggerated beyond what a normal person would do. That’s really the whole point of the opera, to give people their fix of drama. The two main characters, Tosca and Cavaradossi, are both people who see things through the artist’s lens, meaning they see how everything could presented in an excited way, which makes them the perfect people to have a dramatic love affair. (Incidentally, that’s probably why Tosca is so jealous; she sees everything in the most dramatic way, i.e. as evidence of Cavaradossi’s affairs. Either that or she’s just fishing for compliments.) Watching the fireworks of their relationship helps people understand their less dramatic lives better. All in all, a very exciting night.

Last Saturday night, I went to a Benny Friedman concert. Benny Friedman is a rising star in Jewish music. His uncle is one of the biggest stars. I hadn’t been to concert in a long time, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I’ve listened to his CDs and they were really good, so I decided to go. Not only is he a great singer, but he’s also an amazing performer. He knew how to play to the crowd really well, singing a few really high-energy songs at the beginning to get everyone into it, and then singing some slower ones. He was also making jokes the whole time, which was cool because it showed that he was really focused on what was happening in who was there, not just playing a set list of songs. Maybe because he’s so new, he’s willing to do things other performers won’t do. Like when a kid got pushed on stage by his friends because it was his favorite song, Benny handed him the mike and let him belt out the last few lines. Not only must it have been really cool for that kid, but the kid sounded pretty good to. Later, when some other kids came on stage, he stepped aside so everyone could see some kid playing the air guitar. I thought that was pretty cool.
He didn’t play so many of his own songs, which was annoying, but its not that surprising because he doesn’t have that many. He opened with one of his own, and he closed with Yesh Tikva, which has become his signature hit. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIPCHjFC9yk). Alot of performs lose something when they perform live, because
they don’t have all the special effects, but he was the same live as he in his recordings. It was pretty awesome.

The truth is, I was planning on writing about the armor room, which is really cool and makes me want to watch “A Knight’s Tale” again. But first I walked through the Greek/Roman area, and I was really struck by it. I guess it’s a really big contrast from all the art we’ve been doing recently, because one thing that really struck me was how formal everything was, as opposed to everything we’ve seen this year which works to give off the impression that its informal and undisciplined (obviously a ton of work went into all of them). And I think the rooms were designed to highlight that effect. The high ceiling kind of gives off the feeling that you’re in some kind of important government building (part of that is because most government buildings in America are based on Greek/Roman architecture, but that goes back to the impression that Greek/Roman art represents formality).
In every field that has accepted standards of doing things, there will be innovation that pushes against those rules and eventually the rules change completely (For example, in the NFL passing the ball was frowned on back in the day. Now everyone passes all the time because they have to in roder to keep up). The art world is no different. In Ancient Greek art where the norm was formal and relatively simple (although part of the simplicity is artificial; it has something to do with the fact that all the statues have lost their color and are plain white), the innovator had to push the boundaries of that formality, as did every successive generation until we have so much abstract art today. I really got a kick out of seeing where all that came from in the Greek collection.

I saw this on may way home from school, and I just had to snap a picture. I’m not really sure what’s going on here, but this is a stretch limo that seems to have had some muscle added on. I’m not sure why anyone would have done this, but it looks really cool. I guess the ladder on top (which might not be so visible in the picture) makes me think it might be for a practical reason, like the old Elliot Ness Untouchables truck, but why would anyone do that? Is the owner some kind of vigilante superhero? Or are they just some kind of weird macho kind of thing? Either way it looks really cool.

This picture really says it all. The elation of being the absolute best, the team that no one could stop. The pure joy of being a world champ. The truth is that we shouldn’t be surprised to see the Red Sox as World Series champs. Since day one of the Baseball season, the Red Sox have been the best overall team in baseball. They haven’t been a team of superstars, but they have been a team with superb stories.

Whether its been Koji Uehara, the 38 year old reliever who  rose from the ashes of the Red Sox bullpen to have one of the most dominant stretches a reliever ever has; or David Ortiz, coming back from a few down years and offseason surgery to lead the team in home runs, RBIs and batting average; and who can forget Game 6 hero Shane Victorino, who did everything he possibly could, including getting hit more than any other player in the league to help his team win.

All of these were just part of the biggest story of all: how a team can execute a complete turnaround from last in the AL East to by far the best team in the game, and without any of the big names that they had when they struggled. GO SOX!

(sorry its late)

The first thing I have to say is that my favorite line was definitely about the delivery woman’s key ring. I noticed that in the picture in the novel, and I was really excited that they made a point of it.
Having said that I think there were two really interesting things about the production. One was the” author” character watching the events of her life. That included the way that the “author” kept looking over the shoulder of her younger selves and reading what they wrote in her diary. Often she read it with a different tone than it had been intended. This fits well with what we discussed in class about the reliability of a person looking back at their own memories. It also included the way she saw things and then tried to dissect what the people in the scenes, including herself, were thinking. She had the sense of a person trying to put the pieces of her life back together, not sure as to where she was going or she had come from. The novel didn’t have that same tone of self-discovery.
I would say the other thing that struck was the way the one blue door was used to represent choices that Alison had to make, as well as the major events that had a tremendous impact on her. For example, the door to her room were she had all those important conversations with Joan, or the door to the Gay Union room, that represented the choice she had to make about herself. Part of the re-use of the door was probably practically, but I think there was definitely a greater meaning, because I got a similar vibe from the novel.
I also felt the father was much more menacing in the novel.

We passed this building a couple of times on our way to the park on our trips, and it made curious. What was this big elaborate building? Thanks to Google maps and Wikipedia, I found out that its the NY Appellate building. It was built in 1899, and is a New York landmark. It has a few statues on the building representing justice, wisdom, and strength. I think its a beautiful building, but its also cool becuase its a remionder of what you can find if you just look around (and don’t get distracted by the big Credit Suisse building). photo from manhattansideways.com

I was just looking at news headlines on Yahoo when I saw this slideshow of optical illusions. There about thirty, and almost every one of them is worth seeing. I think this one below is my favorite, because it must have been really freaky to stand there, and then look down at empty sky. My favorite part was seeing the illusions and trying to figure out what was going on. I think that in general, optical illusions are interesting because they make you think twice about believing everything your eyes tell you. Sometimes you see a friend doing something crazy, and after thinking about it for second you realize your perception is just skewed because you walked into something in the middle. Posting the link so everyone can check it out.
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/optical-illusion-photography-slideshow/

I was sitting in the succah (jewish ritual hut for the holiday of Succot) in Madison Square park last Wednsday (the door to Baruch’s succah was locked), when I heard music playing. I listened for a minute or two before I realized that someone outside was playing Jewish music on a trumpet. I looked out the door, and I saw an older guy in a leather jacket who didn’t look Jewish at all, sitting on a bench playing the trumpet. I was glad to be able to have something to do while I ate lunch. I asked the rabbi who built the succah if he knew who that guy was, and he said he knew him because he always played outside their succah. I didn’t have time to ask this guy why he spent all day playing Jewish music in the park, but I certainly wasn’t complaining.