H is for....
Hats, Horror, and Hah!
I’ve been knitting wee little chapeaux for Hats for Alex. For my non-ravelry, non-knitting friends, this is a charity started by a knitter to provide hats for Children’s Hospital in Omaha, NE in honor of a little boy who lived far too short a life. His story can be found on the linked site, but beware. It’s a sad tale.
Anyway, my local knitting gang has taken this on as an unofficial service project and it’s been fun to make a few cute tiny hats in between working on my larger and more time consuming projects.
. . .
Several friends and I saw MacBeth at the Folger in DC on Saturday. It was so damn perfect that I’m still floating. It was well worth the long drive and the fairly expensive ticket. Poor P was too sick to go with me as we’d planned, but I’m very grateful that he’s the kind of guy who can mumble hoarsely “Go….have ….*hack, cough, wheeze*…. fun.” Bless him.
Teller (of Penn and Teller) co-directed this production and his contribution is unmistakable. But it’s never gimmicky stage magic…rather, it immensely added to the breathless wonder and fear that’s right there in the text. I can well believe that every bit of trickery would have been enthusiastically embraced by the Bard himself if he’d had the technology available to him in his time.
I’ve never seen such a nuanced, exciting, relevant, and darkly funny production of anything. It didn’t hurt that the Folger holds just over 250 people, and we were close enough to the stage to see the sweat bead on MacBeth’s brow and the spit fly from his lips as he raved, and catch every widened eye and grimace on every face of the very talented cast. I am hoping with all my heart for a touring production so more people can see it (including poor P!).
Teller’s production blog is a very entertaining read for those who like such things.
. . .
So, I had dropped D off at my sister’s on the way to DC, so that P could rest and D could be spoiled rotten to take the sting out of being left behind. His aunt did her job admirably, showering him with affection and new toys to the point where he forgot himself a little, acted up, and got one of them confiscated. That’s the setup….
I was working from home Monday, recovering from the whirlwind trip, listening to D and his friend play in the other room.
D was showing off the new stuff his aunt got him and he says, there's one more toy, but I can't play with it for a week.
Other kid: Why?
D: I don't want to tell you
[short pause]
D: Ok, I'll tell you. I shot someone.
[long pause]
Other kid (very quietly and seriously): Does it KILL PEOPLE?
D: (sigh) No, but it can REALLY mess up your eye.
This proves one thing. Remember the Far Side cartoon, What Your Dog Hears? I’ve always sort of assumed that when I was lecturing D, he was hearing “blah blah Duncan, blah blah blah blah.” But apparently, somehow one fact did get through.
You can, in fact, put someone’s eye out with that thing.
I’ve been knitting wee little chapeaux for Hats for Alex. For my non-ravelry, non-knitting friends, this is a charity started by a knitter to provide hats for Children’s Hospital in Omaha, NE in honor of a little boy who lived far too short a life. His story can be found on the linked site, but beware. It’s a sad tale.
Anyway, my local knitting gang has taken this on as an unofficial service project and it’s been fun to make a few cute tiny hats in between working on my larger and more time consuming projects.
. . .
Several friends and I saw MacBeth at the Folger in DC on Saturday. It was so damn perfect that I’m still floating. It was well worth the long drive and the fairly expensive ticket. Poor P was too sick to go with me as we’d planned, but I’m very grateful that he’s the kind of guy who can mumble hoarsely “Go….have ….*hack, cough, wheeze*…. fun.” Bless him.
Teller (of Penn and Teller) co-directed this production and his contribution is unmistakable. But it’s never gimmicky stage magic…rather, it immensely added to the breathless wonder and fear that’s right there in the text. I can well believe that every bit of trickery would have been enthusiastically embraced by the Bard himself if he’d had the technology available to him in his time.
I’ve never seen such a nuanced, exciting, relevant, and darkly funny production of anything. It didn’t hurt that the Folger holds just over 250 people, and we were close enough to the stage to see the sweat bead on MacBeth’s brow and the spit fly from his lips as he raved, and catch every widened eye and grimace on every face of the very talented cast. I am hoping with all my heart for a touring production so more people can see it (including poor P!).
Teller’s production blog is a very entertaining read for those who like such things.
. . .
So, I had dropped D off at my sister’s on the way to DC, so that P could rest and D could be spoiled rotten to take the sting out of being left behind. His aunt did her job admirably, showering him with affection and new toys to the point where he forgot himself a little, acted up, and got one of them confiscated. That’s the setup….
I was working from home Monday, recovering from the whirlwind trip, listening to D and his friend play in the other room.
D was showing off the new stuff his aunt got him and he says, there's one more toy, but I can't play with it for a week.
Other kid: Why?
D: I don't want to tell you
[short pause]
D: Ok, I'll tell you. I shot someone.
[long pause]
Other kid (very quietly and seriously): Does it KILL PEOPLE?
D: (sigh) No, but it can REALLY mess up your eye.
This proves one thing. Remember the Far Side cartoon, What Your Dog Hears? I’ve always sort of assumed that when I was lecturing D, he was hearing “blah blah Duncan, blah blah blah blah.” But apparently, somehow one fact did get through.
You can, in fact, put someone’s eye out with that thing.