Wednesday, December 31, 2014

"And Let the Rest, of the World, Go By": Streep & Redford Simply Are New Year's Eve for Me

One of my favorite cinematic New Year's is in Out of Africa, Sydney Pollack's lyrical film loosely based on Isak Dinesen's memoir. Karen Blixen and Denys Hatton meet up at the British East Africa colonials' New Year's Eve dance as 1918 becomes 1919. They waltz to a tune played on a solo violin...
         

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas, 2014 Edition

There is little mirth in the world today, and especially closer to home in my beloved Gotham. The word "merry" seems very out of place this year. So it is with a heavy heart I go to sing in the celebrations to welcome the Word Made Flesh, the Son of God by Name,  to the world. The juxtaposition...
              

The Carol of a Chrismtas Carol: God Rest You Merry[ily], Gentlemen

The choir of King's College, Cambridge, is in the middle of it's Advent Lessons & Carols service, singing this classic carol. Their phrasing is impeccable, and you can hear the comma between "merry" and "gentlemen." Thank goodness.  But that is not always the case, leading to several hundred...
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Sunday, December 21, 2014

WeAreAllWinnie.blogspot.com

Today, 12/21/14, the exceptional actress Billie Whitelaw died at 82. I did not see her as Winnie in Happy Days (pictured above), but did see Fiona Shaw at BAM in 2008, and wrote this post that the woman buried in the sand, with just ritual and verbal/intellectual exercise to pass the time, defines...
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Friday, December 19, 2014

My Vistations of "A Christmas Carol"

 A Christmas Carol was first published today, December 19, 1843.  I wrote this post in 2009 when I saw the Disney 3-D version written by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jim Carrey with  Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, and Cary Elwes. It still bothers me that...
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