World Enough and Time

From The Friday Five:

1. Would you rather have the unpredictability of live theatre or the predictability of a movie?

I would choose a live play every time - I love live theatre. Live experiences in general. Not that I don't like movies, though I find that there are not many movies I am interested in these days

2. Do you prefer the symphony and/or opera to a live band or the other way around?

I prefer symphony or opera, but it depends more on the quality of the music - and how much I like it individually - than the type.

3. When you go to a museum, where do you head first?

Depends on the museum, of course. If there is a medieval area, I go there.(I love the Cluny, and The Choisters!) If there is an Egyptian area, I go there. If neither, I go to whatever the earliest historical era is, in the museum. If nothing is historical, or if it's 19th century and later, I go for textiles and fashion.

4. Would you prefer a pub crawl or a sampling of beer or wine in one restaurant?

I don't really like alcohol, and I'm always stymied as to what to order in a pub. I'd like a cafe where I can order tea or coffee. I like pubs in Britain - just for the ambience.

5. When you visit a new place, what is the first thing you like to visit – something recommended by a travel agency/travel book or something recommended by a friend?

I don't tend to go places I don't know much ahead of time. So usually I am either therefor an event- a convention, a play, a visit with a friend- or because there is something there that has drawn my attention, a castle or archeological site, usually. Sometimes I am lucky enough to go somewhere - say, on a cruise ship - where the joy is in being able to sit and watch the ocean,and read.

In Turkey, I kept hearing the phrase "boutique hotels", which was not a phrase I knew. For instance, in Cappadocia, there are a lot of cave dwellings where people lived until the 1960s, but the government made them move out because the housing was substandard.

Now, those cave-houses have been renovated as "boutique hotels" like the Giramisu Cave Hotel - which is near Urgup, where I stayed in a regular hotel. That wasn't a cave. Which had a nice pool and a great buffet.

Wikipeadia on Boutique Hotels.

Sounds to upscale for me, but I rather like the idea.

I'm all packed. I've double-checked everything I need, knowing I'll have forgotten to pack something. I've gone over the schedule for the Dunnett Siege...

And now I'm waiting for my friend to drive me to the aiport to go to Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey! So exciting.

Topkapi Palace, here I come.

Today I saw Jesus Christ Superstar at the Avon Theatre in Stratford, Ontario.

It was amazing. Some of the best staging and costuming I've ever seen, not to mention singing, dancing, acrobatics, and acting.

I saw this show in London, England in 1976. I knew the music; I didn't expect to be thrilled by it. But the show was so strong it was unforgettable; and I totally fell in love with that Jesus. For me, Jesus is usually a hard sell.

This show was just as strong, but it was the ensemble, the performances, and the stagecraft that were breathtaking: Jesus as played by Paul Nolan himself was less of a standout. More detached, more inner-directed, more vulnerable, less powerful in his presence.

It was Judas here, who was the stunning, tragic, memorable personality, mainly with the power of Josh Young's voice and acting.



Chilina Kennedy put across a very sweet and lovely Mary Magdeline.

Both were superb productions; they just had different strengths.



I realized more this time than I did in the 1970s what an amazing achievement this musical is. A show about Jesus that is equally effective for Christians and non-Christians - and which has some rather remarkable music.

~ ~ ~

A few online clips:

• King Herod's Song
  
• I don't know how to love him
  
• Highlights
  
• Superstar
  

And a few other clips of Josh Young:

• Maria
  
• Josh Young talks about Jesus Christ Superstar
  
• Later
  
• Seeing You There
  
• Living the Dream
  
• What are you doing New Year's Eve?
  

maaseru's comment about Josh Young: "If they take this version of Jesus Christ Superstar to Broadway, he's going to be very famous very soon."

I haven't found time yet to write about FanExpo in Toronto - and yes, I plan too - but I did make up a scrapbook page from the program book. Geared to the people I saw, the things I did.



I also framed the autographs I got.

Smiling at the memories...

When I was in Paris, there was a little grocery store around the corner from us on Ile Saint-Louis that sold fresh figs. I'd never seen fresh figs before - not in Ottawa stores. So I bought them on the theory that since I love dried figs, I'd love the fresh variety. And so I did. Tasia showed me how to eat them. I had them with breakfast just about every day.

On the last day in Paris, I bought and ate a few extra figs, on the theory that I wouldn't be able to have any more for a very long time, if at all. I'd never see them in Ottawa.

Yesterday in Ottawa, I was shopping in Costco and there were fresh figs for sale before my very eyes. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

I'm having a couple for breakfast. What delight.

The moral of the story: never say 'never'. Life has a way of pulling surprises.

I spent the day in Bath with maaseru, Sarah, and our friends Neil and Jong from Ottawa, who met us at the Bath Spa train station. We took the bus tour and then I went to the Fashion Museum at the Assembly Rooms, which had an interesting exhibit of the clothed worn by Princess Diana. Found a wonderful place for dinner, called All-Bar-One, which had the best calimari I have ever tasted - followed by the best rice pudding.

At one point, I walked into the square in front of Bath Abbey and had a strong, vivid memory of being in exactly the same place, looking at exactly the same thing, when I was seventeen years old.

Nice thoughts of Georgette Heyer -- !

And my laptop is deteriorating every day.

It was a day full of adventures and misadventures - we went to Chantilly to see an equestrian show that was amazing. I will have much to say about it. Unfortunately, going there involved dealing with the striking French railway system, waiting for trains that didn't come, and finding ourselves on a cold and windy road at the gates of a castle waiting for a taxi that got lost.

We survived with aplomb. And now I have to pack and get ready for an early start on the Eurostar tomorrow.

Eating clafouti aux cerises and drinking Lady Grey Tea as I sort my photos today. A busy, delightful day of sightseeing in Paris. I took one of the tour buses with Tasia and rosiespark, then left them at the Opera and went to see an exposition of arte des bandes desinees. Then walked around the Bois de Vincennes, and watched another episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with cerulean_cat and baronjanus. Ducks on the pond, sunlight on the trees...

Photos of the day:

1. Cleaning Notre-Dame. ( Someone... )

2. ( A kiosk... )

3. ( The Arche de Triomphe... )

4. ( The Eiffel Tower. )

5. ( A beggar in the street. )

6. ( Tasia and rosiespark... )

7. ( You can see... )

8. ( The pyramid at the Louvre. )

9. ( Booksellers along the Seine. )

10. ( A gorgeous half-naked man sunning himself... )

11. ( Biblioteque Forney. )

12. ( A bicycle. )

13. ( At the Place de La Bastille... )

14. ( Duck pond... )

A wonderful, wonderful day in Paris. We (me, Tasia and rosiespark) went to the Musee D'Orsay. Regardless of the art inside that building, the building itself is worth going to France to see: a huge old railway station transformed into an art gallery, surmounted by the most resplendent clock ever seen.

Now, whenever people talk about the Musee d'Orsay, they talk about Impressionists. Confession: I'm not too fond of the Impressionists. I heard a lot in my youth about how they did magnificent things with light, and how they were a breath of fresh air after the boring and stodgy art of the 19th century, but you know what? I prefer the 'boring and stodgy' romanticism, neo-classicism, and pre-Raphaelistes that were being produced at that time.

So I wasn't there for the Impressionists. Nor for the Gaughin, which was (almost) the first thing we saw. I've always been skeptical about Gaughin - wanted to like his art, never really did. Looked at a whole bunch of it together here, thought, "Eyeu, I hate this!" and decided I was allergic to Gaughin.

Not Van Gogh, who was the good friend of the Doctor and Amy and thereore worthy of admiration and love. I particularly liked the Church at Auvers (with or without the alien monster in the window) and the sequence about the doctor's garden and his daughter. Okay, I still don't really get Van Gogh in terms of thinking he's the best artist ever - give me Moebius, give me Caravaggio, give me Burne-Jones and Fra Filippo Lippi - but he had spirit. I love the painting of the couple asleep on a haystack.

I desperately wanted Bill Nighy to be there in a bow tie telling me how wonderful Van Gogh is.

We wandered, and found some magnificent stuff that I may find time to talk about later, and then... we found two works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. I hadn't done my homework; didn't know they were there. The first was La roue de la fortune, (The Wheel of Fortune), and the second was a magnificent tapestry made for a banker, done through the William Morris Co., Adoration of the Magi.

I was in art heaven.

We then meant to have lunch elsewhere, but we saw the splendour of the restaurant at the Musee Orsay and decided to have their plat du jour, mostly because it included a dessert of Ile flottant such as Captain Jack Aubrey once had. Must find recipe.

Then we walked to the Rodin Museum, and browsed, and wandered the lovely gardens.

Then I went and visited baronjanus and ceruleancat and had a wonderful time. We wandered around the Chateau de Vincennes, and they were as delightful as I always imagined they would be.

Photos of the day:

1. After having breakfast and saying good-bye to Jo, we crossed the bridge to visit rosiespark. On the bridge, ( a piano. )

2. The restaurant at the Musee d'Orsay, where we had lunch. It is not permitted to take photos in the Musee d'Orsay, but the restaurant is ( fair game. )

3. Outside the Musee d'Orsay: ( Three Amazons and a Moose )

4. ( The Rodin Museum. )

5. ( A Rodin statue. )

6. ( Rodin's roses. )

7. ( A Rodin head. )

8. ( The Kiss. )

9. ( The Paris Metro. )

10. ( The Chateau de Vincennes: A Wedding and the X-Men. )