Three flavors of entertainment
Ballet - Complexions
I went to the ballet last night with Rachel and Christin. It was company called "Complexions" here from New York, very modern, consisting of seven men, seven women, and the Old Spice guy. Well... So their star dancer was this very muscular black guy who seemed contractually forbidden from wearing pants, and he definitely gave off the impression of being the man my man could smell like. He was fairly incredible, actually. The company as a whole was extraordinarily acrobatic and extremely technically proficient - but often at the cost of being very precisely together, which tended to bother me. But as a whole, it was really really excellent, and I had a great time. They did three pieces, as follows.
Mercy: The first piece was full of not so much religious undertones as tones. The music was a weird Mix consisting of very traditional Christian hymns ("A Might Fortress Is Our God"), what sounded to me like sung recitation of religious text, possibly Qur'anic, and...explosions. Some scenes had very much the feel of hiding out in a church while a war was raging outside. Another struck me as the Last Judgement. And one of the very early ones (in complete silence) looked like nothing so much as Kata. It was really cool. There was certainly meaning to be assigned - it just was never very clear what it was. There was really neat stuff being done with lighting and gobos (and possibly a smoke machine). One thing that struck me about this company is that it was very tall - and the three tallest girls for parts of the piece had these wonderful white flowing skirts that they did very color-guard-y things with at parts. The Old Spice Guy came into it about halfway through wearing a bright red jumpsuit (long sleeves, no legs - looked kind of like a majorette) with white lines all converging to the groin (it was honestly a little disturbing). For parts of it he seemed to be playing the role of a revivalist preacher. And then in the last scene they all dipped their heads in buckets of water. Maybe a baptism...thing? It was silly, and I thought of Marvin. But the rest of it was really really cool.
Hissy Fit: The staging and lighting for this was really minimal. Really minimal. Like, you could see into the wings and off the back of the stage, and the lighting was...white. Throughout. One of the coolest things was that one bank of lights started at stage level and was slowly raised during the opening section. The dancers were effectively in their underwear. The men wore tiny little shorts/briefs and long black socks. (I have to admit my thoughts went to "business socks"). The women wore tiny little shorts/panties and white sleeveless undershirts. The overall effect was evocative of maybe being in a gym or a dance class - possibly going to the Y to pick up chicks. This was the piece where I decided their star dancer was definitely the Old Spice Guy. He had this little jump slide choreographic bit that he did a few times that ended up with him either eating or kissing his own foot (it was unclear) - but it looked like he ought to have touched the ground more than he did, and part of it was striking this "Hey Ladies, I'm definitely Lounging" type pose. I'm not describing it very well. The music to this was some kind of pan-Bach remix. It had Bachs I'd never even heard of! (Johann Bernard was the one, I think). Also, Toccata and Fugue ... done up all Jazzy-like. It was weird, but cool. It was also noteworthy for involving a couples dance (pas de deux?) wherin both parties were men. This doesn't happen in dance too much because men are kind of hard to pick up - but it happened here. And then in the very end of the piece all the couples were being couple-y - and here comes the Old Spice Guy doing grand jetees across the front of the stage in an "I don't even care" sort of way. I cracked up. Then Christin smacked me.
Rise: The third piece was probably the best. The music was all U2 - I loved it. (Neither of the other two were big U2 fans, it was kind of a pity). Somewhat shockingly, all the people were wearing colors - red - in addition to the funny little underwear from the last piece. Sometimes you could tell which dancers went together because they were wearing the same shade. The men were all wearing sort of floaty shirts - open of course. This made Old Spice Guy come off a little like Superman at times (and he did this wacky Villain Exit Stage Left thing when some couples came on stage sort of during his solo number - *sneak sneak sneak* I think Christin had to smack me again). They used a live recording of "Elevation" and did staging and lighting as if it were an overproduced rock concert. It was awesome. The first piece was "Where the Streets Have No Names" and they did this really cool walking in place thing (which turned into running in place for a while). There was also a bit where they were just silhouetted against the back of the stage. It was almost like they were behind a scrim - they were completely backlit so you couldn't see anything but their shapes. It as really really cool. And they danced the curtain call - to "Beautiful Day." That part at least was brilliantly done. They timed it with the music such that you were forced to applause at certain points - and the rest of the time you just sort of clapped along to the beat because, well, it's U2. Yeah, definitely one of the coolest ballets I've ever seen. Gooood times.
True Grit
On Monday we went to see the Cohen Brothers' remake of "True Grit" at the Dollar Theater. It was fantastic. It really did not hit a wrong note from start to finish. Joel-Henry and I both left the theater thinking a) we should see the original and/or read the book and b) that is a movie I would not mind owning. All of the acting was phenomenal - and I don't even like Matt Damon most days. But I think I was most impressed by the little girl - Hailee Steinfeld - partly because I kept expecting her to get irritating and she didn't. I will watch her career with interest. Jeff Bridges, of course, is always good.
I was struck by how little swearing there was in movie. Like, none. Partly because the last time the Cohen Brothers made a Western starring Jeff Bridges it was "The Big Lebowski." And, you know, things like Deadwood. But not so this movie. I was actually very impressed by the language. It sounded very period. Not "Wha hello thar, I'm putting on a cowboy accent." Just...a little off of modern standards. No contractions for one thing. Extremely believable.
Another thing that was extremely believable was the Courtroom scene. Joel-Henry just about went giddy over it. Especially when they brought in exceptions to the hearsay rule. It was the opposite of your typical hollywood courtroom scene. All the rules of evidence were used correctly, the use of direct and cross were accurate to what people would do in real life, there was no grandstanding or particular drama. And it was all done with the Cohen Brothers' typical flair for timing that rendered it hilarious.
But far and away the best thing in the movie was the itinerant dentist in the bearskin. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen the movie, why have you not? Go see it! Now!
Doctor Who
I don't think I'm going to watch Series 6.
There's a couple of things. Firstly, I honestly didn't find the trailers that interesting. What made me watch Series 5 was that bringing in the Silurians and seeing how the new series would deal with that was a Big Deal. Nothing in this trailer looks like an equally Big Deal - I guess because I'm not that interested in finding out The Truth about River Song. I prefer the mystery to the Reveal.
Secondly, we're getting very close. We're up to season 18 in the original series - it's getting to the point where we can just wait and watch it in order. (When series 5 hit, I think we were in season 9 or so - it was farther away). Bear in mind that I also haven't seen series 2, 3, or 4, and have vowed not to watch them until we get there in order. On sort of a similar level, "Earthshock" is coming up in about four episodes or so (another month or so) and...I want to be fully in Old Series mode for it.
Thirdly, and most pettily, we just watched "K-9 and Company" (so adorkable). Which in turn made me go and watch "School Reunion." And that episode made me really angry at the entire new series (probably unjustly so) so I'm really just not in the mood right now.
And also...series 5 had a happy ending. I'd like to hold onto that for a bit longer, since I don't really think it's going to stick. *sigh*
So I guess this means I'm resigning from the fandom for the present. Oh well.
In other news, I find I'm liking "Kinda" a lot more this time around than last time around. I think I've aquired more of a taste for creepy and surreal. And evil!Tegan sure is something! Also, has anyone else noticed how Adric seems to pull a face-heel turn about once per episode? But he doesn't do that cherubic grin anymore...it makes me sad.
Also, my baby onions are sprouting! And I have a bag full of wild ramps I found growing in a gully in a wooded area behind my house! Exciting!