Old and new

STAGES

I’m going to expand a little into film – a film about the ballet world – BLACK SWAN.  It was hypnotic.  My companion, an actress, was muttering and groaning to herself through many scenes and I thought she was hating it.  When it was over, she said she had to see it again.  She thought it was brilliant.  So did I. 

Getting inside the mind of someone who sees the world askew is always fascinating and often terrifying.  Dostoevsky was a master at this. .

 As an audience, knowing what is external reality and what is internal is a challenge that keeps the movie even more suspenseful.  Discussing the picture days later, we agreed it was a stunner, that the cinematography, the direction, the acting were all superb.  I have had friends with delusions.  I found the film true to the way I have seen them behave.  The ballet music was thrilling throughout, and if I have a favorite music, I guess it is the music I relate to classical ballets.  It was at the ballet I learned to appreciate Stravinsky and  Gould.

I once had a funny quarrel with a friend who adores classical music but was unacquainted with ballet.  A radio station we were listening to on our way to a play was playing a classical selection. We tuned in in the middle.  I named it for the ballet that I could see as I listened.  She named it as the original piece of music.  I finally said she was probably right about its original name, but for me it would always be the music from the ballet.  We both knew it was Tchaikovsky, however. Would love to have your reactions to this film posted below.

PAGES

I just had the joy of reading, in original hard cover, James L. Ford’s novel, Dolly Dillenbeck.  I know it is now also available on e-book format.  I learned by googling the author that it was sold for $1 when first published.  I read a short story by the author online, also courtesy of a google contact, as well as an original review.  For me, holding that little book, with its cover design of a gilded bottle of champagne and comedy and tragedy masks, with its gilded top pages, was a thrill in itself.  In terms of its depiction of the theater, it is not as out of date as some of the language or its use of names which indicate character. I enjoyed it immensely since it combined both my loves, stage and page! Read it when you can.

I also finished reading KARMA by Nancy Deville which graphically depicts the sex slave trade and is a stomach churner. While not always well written, it is a thriller that you find hard to put aside – and even harder to put out of your mind for days afterwards.

This brings to our attention a hideous situation in our current world, one we generally do not like to or bother to think about.  I congratulate Nancy on her thoroughness in writing this book.  I urge you to consider reading it even if you must lay it aside for a few hours because it is so distressing to realize that so much is truth concerning what is going on around our world today.  If you read it, do come back to this blog and write your opinions. Just hit comment under this entry and fire away.

I have begun reading Jendi Reiter’s BARBIE at 50 – an image-strong book of contemporary prose poetry.  Will report on it soon.