The lovely and wonderful sesa777  took me to see the revival tour production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" yesterday evening.  I was very happy to accept her invitation, but also a little worried; the only other live performance of JCS I've ever seen was rewritten to be more Fundie-friendly, featuring such innovations as a troupe of demonettes tempting ( Read more... )

I just got finished reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson.

Oh. My. God.

This is a Heinleinesque teenagers-save-world adventure story. It's also a stealth delivery system for some of the most interesting, thought-provoking scientific philosophy I've ever encountered. The key idea he introduces as an element of his fiction may actually be correct, and ( Read more... )

We're gradually getting settled in at the new apartment.  I love the place, especially its roominess; 10 years crammed into our previous home has made me really appreciate room to swing my arms without knocking over a lamp.

I haven't had net access at home since we moved.  Nor have we had TV.  The all-in-one cable installation is due to happen on ( Read more... )

laurellady and I watched Fargo last night; neither of us had seen it before. Now I know why people have been pestering me to see it for more than a decade. What a weird, wonderful film! Frances McDormand in particular gave one of the most textured, beautiful performances I've ever seen; for once I agree with the Academy. Her "I just don't understand" at ( Read more... )

I keep forgetting to post that I saw Grindhouse with my family last Friday, and we all loved it.  If it's still in theaters where you are, see it.  It's the kind of movie that needs audience reactions to work well.  We saw it in one of the shoebox-sized theaters at the Beverly Center, but fortunately the fifteen people in there with us were in the ( Read more... )

fraterviao is rapidly becoming one of my favorite poets. I'm lucky enough to be able to attend his live performances at LVX Lodge. His poetry and his delivery both harken back to the Beat poets, but with his own special sardonic twist. When he gets on a roll it comes out as something between recitation and chanting; you find yourself tapping your foot to ( Read more... )

Last night
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After a long dry spell, I saw two really good movies over the past three days.

The first, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, is only playing in four theaters at the moment; fortunately, one of them is within walking distance of my house.  Sometimes it really pays to live in Hollywood.  I went to see this Sunday evening with
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I finally finished C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength, the final book of his "Cosmic Trilogy".  My slowness in reading this was not due to lack of interest, but rather lack of time; I have become very frustrated over the last week as I was forced to read the last hundred pages in ten- and twenty-page increments during brief pauses in the general ( Read more... )

I'm approaching the halfway point in That Hideous Strength, the third book in C. S. Lewis's "Cosmic Trilogy".  My capsule summary of the trilogy:  "It's certainly evil to destroy the entire upland ecosystem of a world; and, yes, it is quite evil indeed to engineer a second and more devastating Fall from Eden on an as-yet-innocent planet.  But ( Read more... )