Thank you sir...

Older gentleman have been giving me odd compliments lately. There was the one in choir who told me I breathed beautifully. Today a man at the gym told me that I stretched well.

I miss writing papers in English class

Last night I watched a film adaptation of Jane Eyre from the late 90s starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt (sorry W, I like you but...boo). The description said this movie was a "faithful adaptation", but in an attempt to technically hit major plot points in 156 minutes they seemed to forget two little things: "emotion" and "reason".

The thing I love about Jane Eyre as a book is that, as Jane's personal recollection of events, you see that even though she is very good at keeping quiet she notices everything and has very thoughtful, emotional and deep reactions. Excellent example: Jane sits quietly in the parlor while Mr. Rochester's party goes on about her. No one pays attention to her but she notes and appraises each guest and their speeches. You see and understand how she struggles with the unjust and unkind treatment by her aunt, her school; how she learns to move on and forgive; how she comes to love Mr. Rochester and the pains and joys, large and small, that brings; and on and on.

When you can't read those internal thoughts you either have to externalize them as dialogue or show them physically with the motion/facial expression/setting/lighting/music/framing/etc. Somehow this movie skipped that notion, so it ended up being an extremely reserved film with very little dialog in which I gave not much of a damn about anyone. There was more emotion in the first 15 or so minutes showing Jane's childhood than in the rest of the film. By the time she heads to Thornfield she's just a quiet, dull, expressionless thing. Very resilient to be sure, but not showing any of the intelligent and strong yet well-mannered spark that connects her to Mr. Rochester. Even Bertha Mason, the freakin' MAD WOMAN, is basically an unkempt woman in a nightgown standing quietly by the fireplace. "Oh my GOD, she's BAREFOOT! Look out! She'll rend your flesh from your bones!"

And because you don't have the slightest clue as to Jane's feelings and internal reasoning behind her decisions to come or go or do such and such, many plot points seem abrupt and strangely off-handed. Her ability to love and forgive is reduced to one sentence - saying to her aunt, "I'm not vindictive." Her desolate wandering after discovering Rochester's secret is now an odd, forgettable 4 minute sequence and some abrupt scene changes.

I don't think this movie is a good recommendation of the book at all - it's more akin to picking up the Cliffs Notes and reading the first sentence of every other paragraph. If you're going to do an extremely abbreviated version of a story I'd rather you get the feeling behind it. Jane Eyre has heart, this movie had a checklist. If anyone is still tempted to give the movie a try, DON'T. Instead, read the next few sentences in a quiet English monotone with no change in facial expression other than a slight frown now and then. You'll get the gist of the movie but save yourself about 155 minutes:

"My aunt's mean and school sucks but who cares because I'm at Thornfield all of a sudden and there's a guy here who looked at me once and is almost amusing. My aunt's dying and, oh, I'm rich, that's nice, I'll wander back to Thornfield now, but, Rochester, you're getting married? that's sort of uncool, I guess I love you, so now we're sorta engaged. Crazy wife, huh, maybe I'll get in a carriage and go back to that St. John dude I met once for 15 seconds and be ill for no reason. 1 minute long proposal sequence out of nowhere? Sure, but I sorta think I'll go back to Thornfield now...wait...why did I leave in the first place? Meh. It's burned down and you've got a goofy eye now, but whatevs, I'm apparently not surprised. Looks like I'm happy."

SQUEEEEEEE!

Last night I went to a fancy charity auction with my roommate. It was to benefit the adoption agency she works for and it was a blast. We dressed up nice 'n' fancy, then went and sipped champagne and each won an item in the silent auction. I got two tickets for a theatre company in Redmond (about 30 mins away) and I think I'll use them in April for their production of A Doll's House. I remember reading it in high school and loving it. Depressing in the best theatrical way. Then there was a delicious dinner during which they had a regular auction, complete with super-fast-talkin' auctioneer. It was amazingly entertaining to hear him and watch other people bid. The best was a woman who fought hard for VIP Kiss tickets, didn't get them and then went on to win tickets to Oprah's day after the Oscars party. KISS....Oprah. I like this lady. Then Liz bid on a puppy for her sister who had said, "Just put in the first bid." Someone won the first puppy for $350. The second puppy came up and Liz went ahead and put in a first bid again...AND WON IT. We were shocked, SHOCKED. No one else even bid! Liz panicked a bit - "Oh my gosh, I hope she meant it BECAUSE WE HAVE A PUPPY!!!"

Surpriiiiise! Now feed me and care for me for life.

She's half beagle half they don't know what ("The father is an unknown Don Juan," read the description). We picked her up and took her home for the night. She was a little scared and whiny so I took her out of her carrier and held her on the way home - so warm and soft and snugly and precious and unbearably lovable.

Bow to my pwecious snugwy wugwiness, puny humans!

I chew your stuffs?

At home she trotted around, sniffing and playing and jumping and exploring. We got down on the floor and she just hopped around and covered us in kisses and tried to wrestle and play and I LOVE HER. I'm glad Caitlin will have her since we can't have pets. 1. No dog could hope for a better home, Caitlin is the best dog mommy. 2. We'll get to see her at Thanksgiving and whenever we visit! I'm a proud God mother.

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!

O Fortuna

I'm done with Carmina Burana and sad to see it go. When concerts end sometimes I'm relieved, sometimes I'm sad because I just started to understand and enjoy the piece, this time I'm sad because I've always loved this one. We did a fine job and had an enthusiastic audience - both performances ended with swift and violently cheery standing ovations. I love hitting that last note. You're BELTING it out (in good choral form of course, never shouting) and then you hit it and hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, crescendoooooooo DONE! and know you've kicked some serious aural ass. It's just a wonderfully fun piece. It also makes me wish I were a dude because they have some amazing bits I thoroughly enjoy and deeply desire to sing. ("Hinc, hinc, hinc, hinc hinc equitavit, equitavit, equitavit, equitavit-tavit-tavit-tavit-tavit-tavit"!) And having done it once before and listened to it a lot since I've discovered so many more little parts that bring me joy (the flutes in 19 - the FLUTES! I've been loving flutes this year) and some of the rhythms just make me wanna DANCE! I've also realized that someday I'll need to see a performance of it myself instead of singing in it. That would be at treat.

Fun moment from the concerts: In warm ups one day I heard behind me, "Young lady. YOUNG LADY!" and turned to see an old gentleman with delightfully floppy hair and a slight stoop. "I've been watching you breathe - beautiful! You had an excellent teacher, he would be so proud of you!" Funnily enough, right before he told me this I was thinking of how Shas once told us, "You know, you can take a breath without losing your vowel shape," and was trying to do just that. Apparently it work - thanks Michael!

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Behold, mortals, the mighty and fearsome wonder of Stephen King!

I said BEHOLD!

Do you see that? DO YOU!? Well, perhaps not, it is an odd picture. Okay, I'll explain: His newest book is the frickin' width of my hand! And I don't have dainty little cute girl hands, either. That there, friends and neighbors, is 1000+ pages of hopefully pure insanity. So far there's been a smashed airplane and a woodchuck sliced in twain, so I have high hopes. Cross your fingers.

Creaaaatiooooooon!!!!

I've been working for quite some time on a pattern for a wrap that I found online. It's called "Muir" and I looked at it to start with because I have a fondness for Muir Woods. Fortunately it turned out to be a lovely pattern.

I am working the above lace chart 13 times before doing the upper and lower borders. I know, not the greatest picture, but it gives you an idea. I'm currently working on #7 of the chart repeats and you can see below (with my lovely feet "for scale") how far I've gotten and what approximately 50% complete looks like.


The wrap itself is not that wobbly looking, I just laid it out hastily and it's also pretty springy yarn so it doesn't want to lay flat. Once I've blocked it it will look square. I've never blocked lace before, so we'll see what that's like. I'm excited! I love knitting!

Emma: Thank You, Book-It Theatre!

Tonight I saw Book-It Theatre's production of Emma. That story brings me no end of joy in book form, in film form and now in play form. It was a small theatre in the round and when I showed up someone had cancelled, so I had a front row seat. At times I literally had to tuck my feet in so that the actors wouldn't trip on me - now THAT'S a theatrical experience! There is a lot of humor in Emma and they did a bang up job of bringing it out. One excellent facet was the "imagination sequences", for lack of a better description. Emma would get carried away making up stories in her head and suddenly you'd hear the classic harp trill, the lighting would shift and other actors would come out and perform what she was imagining - all overacting and silent movie-style physicality. They also did quite well with a lack of set pieces - there was some ingenious work with ribbons, descending light fixtures, chair positioning, lighting and acting skill. By far the best occurred when Mr. Elton and Emma are alone in the carriage after the Christmas party. To represent the carriage they put four chairs very close together facing each other...and then the actors bobbed and shook and joggled themselves in their seats for a jiggly carriage ride! Amazing! And after the disastrous declaration of love, the awkward silence while they joggled themselves - the overly long, profoundly awkward, unbearably hilarious silence - PERFECTION.

John Bianchi as Mr. Elton was PRECIOUS - in a hilariously over the top, grossly off-putting way. Frank Churchill's wardrobe design made me smile - everything just a bit more flash than everyone else's. His coat (and sometimes pants) were velvet, his buttons a little bigger, a little shinier, a little more profuse, his trim a bit more...trimmy. And my favorite part: his jacket shoulders just a bit poofier. Sylvie Davidson as Emma was delightfully enthusiastic and prim and self-assured and selfish and sweet. You could actually feel that Emma was a young and naively spoiled 21-year old who sincerely thought that she was right in determining every one's best interest. Dylan Chalfy as Mr. Knigtly was spot on for an upright, good and no-nonsense gentleman with a sense of humor. I think the casting department watched the Gwyneth Paltrow/Jeremy Northam film and cast as Jeremy-Northam-ish an actor as they could find in Seattle. Not that it was a problem, he was EXCELLENT, but I wonder if they knew. Or maybe Knightly just calls for a man with dark hair, a straight nose, direct eyes and a mouth that looks ready to smirk at any moment. It's a combo that certainly seems to work.

Oh my, I do love plays, and I do love Emma. And something else - when people talk about romantic male heroes in classic literature etc Mr. Darcy ALLLLLWAYS comes up. Always. He makes some women all gushy. While I don't deny that the whole Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth Bennet thing is great, I just have to think that not enough people have read/seen Emma. That's the only explanation that makes sense - forget Mr. Darcy, he's rubbish compared to Knightly! I'll take one Mr. Knightly, please.

What Makes a Weekend...

1. Last night I couldn't sleep because of the lighting blazing in my room. And the rain POUNDING. And the hail plinking off my windows. And the thunder so loud I could FEEL it in the floor hear it rattling my blinds.

2. Today during work: rain, rain, RAIN, rain, HAIL, hail, RAIN, rain, blue skies bright and clear, RAIN.

3. Tonight there is a small steak with sauteed mushrooms. Sunday there will be a pot roast. And turnips.

4. Tomorrow there will be the Book-It Theatre production of Emma.

5. I'm a potato slut. In my cabinet right now I have red potatoes, yellow potatoes, russet potatoes, blue potatoes and one sweet potato.

Don't Stop! Belieeeevin'!

Got some new music recently. Tonight's workout mix was comprised mainly of:

Foreigner Eye of the Tiger
Journey Any Way You Want It
Journey Don't Stop Believin'
Journey Separate Ways
Lesley Gore You Don't Own Me
The Chiffons One Fine Day
Frankie Valley & the Four Seasons December, 1963
Queen Don't Stop Me Now
Queen We Will Rock You
Cat Stevens Here Comes My Baby

Best 4 miles ever. Good Lord, how does good music make everything better? These are all great, but let me tell you, Don't Stop Me Now is the mood boosting ass-kicker of all mood boosting ass-kickers.

Things to look forward to in the next week or so:

• Casual Friday - I loves me some jeans
• Knitting even more!
• Liz coming home
• Trying my hand at a pot roast
• New Stephen King book

I enjoy the little things :)