bonni's cultural update
I've started ushering part-time at a local professional theatre in exchange for admission to the plays. So far I have enjoyed King Lear and Crime and Punishment, and in the next two weeks I'll be at China: The Real Enchilada, Really Rosie, and Barrio Hollywood. The shows are top-notch, and the seats are usually pretty good as the ushers get to sit in any unsold seats, which usually end up being the more expensive and better quality ones.
Seeing Crime and Punishment performed so masterfully was the trigger to get me started actually reading the novel by Dostoevsky -- can spell it, but can't pronounce it! (Watching The Phantom of the Opera a couple of years ago was the trigger for me to read Leroux's novel, so I now take the side of those who applaud adaptations of the classics.) Crime and Punishment was my favorite live theater of the decade -- major kudos to the scriptwriter for his masterful job of condensing this 700+ page novel to an understandable and emotional hour-and-a-half.
I also just read Atonement Child by Francine Rivers in one sitting. In the first chapter, Bible college student Dynah Carey is raped by an unseen assailant -- and two months later discovers that she is pregnant by the attacker. The book dives deep into Dynah's own thoughts and emotional struggles, but what I thought really brave is how the book so thoroughly tackles the reactions of those around her -- her fiance, parents, grandmother, school administration, roommate, pastor, doctor, and friends. Far from being suffocating, it's overwhelming all the same. Is it any wonder that there are so many hurting people in this world? The curse of sin keeps passing down over and over and over until one person takes God's grace and breaks it.
Movie-wise, I watched My Date With The President's Daughter on President's Day. "Lite" fare (hello, it was on the Disney Channel!) but perfect for my mood that night -- I was coming down with a yucky two-day flu and wasn't ready to sleep yet but neither ready to engage my brain too much.
Also watched Four Weddings and Funeral. What a total heap of "junk," as my brother would say. Don't prostitute your time on it.
And on TV -- since I was still sick last night, I stayed home from my weekly care group meeting and watched American Idol. Man! Those girls blew the guys out of the water! If it wasn't for the program's structure of picking six guys and six girls, sorry, I'd agree with Randy and split it four and eight. But since that won't happen, watch with me as this season closes out with all the guys eliminated and only girls still in the running. Top picks for the guys: Phil, A.J., and Blake (that order). Top picks for the girls: Stephanie, Sabrina, Jordin, Melinda, LaKisha (no particular order).
Anyone want to tell me what's going on with Lost? I'm particularly curious about the group of people who so nonchalantly wandered past Jack's cage last night -- he recognized one of the women from the plane (?), and there were children in the group. Who in the world are they?
Seeing Crime and Punishment performed so masterfully was the trigger to get me started actually reading the novel by Dostoevsky -- can spell it, but can't pronounce it! (Watching The Phantom of the Opera a couple of years ago was the trigger for me to read Leroux's novel, so I now take the side of those who applaud adaptations of the classics.) Crime and Punishment was my favorite live theater of the decade -- major kudos to the scriptwriter for his masterful job of condensing this 700+ page novel to an understandable and emotional hour-and-a-half.
I also just read Atonement Child by Francine Rivers in one sitting. In the first chapter, Bible college student Dynah Carey is raped by an unseen assailant -- and two months later discovers that she is pregnant by the attacker. The book dives deep into Dynah's own thoughts and emotional struggles, but what I thought really brave is how the book so thoroughly tackles the reactions of those around her -- her fiance, parents, grandmother, school administration, roommate, pastor, doctor, and friends. Far from being suffocating, it's overwhelming all the same. Is it any wonder that there are so many hurting people in this world? The curse of sin keeps passing down over and over and over until one person takes God's grace and breaks it.
Movie-wise, I watched My Date With The President's Daughter on President's Day. "Lite" fare (hello, it was on the Disney Channel!) but perfect for my mood that night -- I was coming down with a yucky two-day flu and wasn't ready to sleep yet but neither ready to engage my brain too much.
Also watched Four Weddings and Funeral. What a total heap of "junk," as my brother would say. Don't prostitute your time on it.
And on TV -- since I was still sick last night, I stayed home from my weekly care group meeting and watched American Idol. Man! Those girls blew the guys out of the water! If it wasn't for the program's structure of picking six guys and six girls, sorry, I'd agree with Randy and split it four and eight. But since that won't happen, watch with me as this season closes out with all the guys eliminated and only girls still in the running. Top picks for the guys: Phil, A.J., and Blake (that order). Top picks for the girls: Stephanie, Sabrina, Jordin, Melinda, LaKisha (no particular order).
Anyone want to tell me what's going on with Lost? I'm particularly curious about the group of people who so nonchalantly wandered past Jack's cage last night -- he recognized one of the women from the plane (?), and there were children in the group. Who in the world are they?