Where We Are With Beauty

Been a great (but busy!) quarter, especially with my Freshman Seminar classes. We're again examining different accounts of the relationship between beauty and knowledge.

Spent a nice afternoon at the Seattle Japanese Garden last week.


And last night we saw a very, very odd shadow puppet and silhouette-based modern-day adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. The show (Shadow Odyssey) was pretty raunchy and definitely a loose translation of Homer, but how could anyone resist this description from their website:

Picture this: you walk into a dimly lit tent. You sit back in a chair or get comfortable on a pile of pillows. Then, the show begins: on all four walls surrounding you (plus the roof above) live actors in silhouette, shadow puppets and hand drawn projections interact to bring to life Shadow Odyssey.

I don't see the students until next week, but I can't wait to find out what they thought!

Finally, have you seen this video clip?

It's a version of Aristophanes' speech in Plato's Symposium, from the 2001 movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and I absolutely love it. Showed it in my classes just yesterday.

A Paradise So Nice, I Had To See It Twice

No disrespect to Leonard Nimoy, but this is clearly the cutest Spock ever:


Just loved the Hello Earth live performance of This Side of Paradise, from the first season of the original Star Trek series.

They recently released a great poster and video teaser:

Just two more shows! Saturday August 6th at 7:00, and Sunday the 7th at 2:00. I've seen it two times already, but who knows—you may even find me there again next weekend :)

A Thing or Two Before I Run to Class

Hey, so when we visited family last month, I heard about readers sometimes wondering when a new post would show up here, and I don't want you to give up hope...

On the other hand, despite conversations about how easy it is to take decent photos with cell phones, we failed to take many pictures. Fortunately Emily did get this shot of Evan:

So glad to have met our new nephew!

Anyway, this quarter has me way too busy, so I should go.

Thanks to Scott Hughes for this reminder of what things looked like when I wasn't so busy:


Oh, and we did take a little break the other day to see The Threepenny Opera. Good music there. It wasn't performed quite like this at the show we saw, but here's a song you might know:


Cheers, reader. Happy March!

Suit the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action

Maybe you heard that we were at the Center House Theatre.

We were there to see Hamlet, which continues to amaze me. This production got some raves, so we checked it out. A few interesting moves, but on the whole a pretty straight and very good version of what is by far the greatest work of literature I've ever spent time with.

Last shows are this weekend, so you'd better get moving if you want to see it! ;)

In other Shakespeare news, did you hear about Patrick Stewart doing Macbeth a couple of years ago? The review in the Times was so positive we were checking airfare to New York at the time.

Alas, we didn't make it, but don't worry: PBS has put a recording up online! Haven't had a chance to watch yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Can't wait any longer? Here's the opening scene:

Watch the full episode. See more Great Performances.

Play on!

Yes, It's True: I ♥ NY

Among the many things we enjoyed in New York, maybe what I liked the most was simply walking around surrounded by millions of people, and surrounded by some of the best food, theater, art, and literature in the world.

Not the best coffee, though: turns out there's at least one thing we do better here :)

Originally I'd planned to split this into multiple posts, but I'm hoping that putting everything in one place will help convey some of the feeling of being in Manhattan, where it really does feel like just about everything is in one place...

Anyway, we enjoyed a interesting and impressive exhibit about Mark Twain at the Morgan Library.

They also had some cool Lichtenstein drawings, but we'd taken the overnight flight, and it was around then that I started day-dreaming about checking into the hotel for a nap...

Our main reason for visiting was the annual meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS). It's a huge, inclusive, and fascinating conference. I organized and chaired a panel about Plato featuring myself, my current department chair, and my dissertation advisor. From my point of view, it went very well, but my paper was about how things might look different to different people, so I suppose you never know...

Meanwhile, Emily spent the day with her college roommate, Jessica, Jessica's husband Jer, and their daughter Susannah:

I wish I could have seen them too, but at least Emily got some great photos!


Just a few days before we left for New York, we happend to see the play Alphabetical Order reviewed in the Times.

A positive review of a play about a newspaper archive? I mean, the two of us really had no choice. Was in the very tiny and very cute Clurman Theater.

And it was very good.

On our last morning in town, we took the ferry over to Ellis Island. The whole experience was fascinating and I'd even say awe-inspiring.

We were especially interested in the travelling exhibit called Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America, which featured some items from Providence Archives.

Cool exhibit--impressive what these women accomplished.

On either a lighter or a grimmer note, here's an excerpt from an ad for one of the orders:


Okay, I'll end where we began, with a few more photos from the High Line.


An amphitheater overlooking what must be, what, 9th Avenue 10th Avenue?


More park on the way, not quite ready:


I love how they left the rails:


Okay, when can I go back?

Arts in Parks

Been out enjoying some of the summer fun around here, including this piece from the MadArt exhibit in Cal Anderson Park.

Also went to the Central District to see a live production of a Star Trek episode.

A group called Hello Earth Productions did an amazing job--they even had a band to perform the theme song and play sound cues. So cool. Interesting casting choices too, as you'll see if you click over to their website.

They performed The Naked Time (Spock cries! Sulu fences!), which is available to watch online for free at cbs.com. It is also available for purchase on iTunes. In fact, you can buy all of season one for only $13! Done!

A bit from MadArt:


Here's one I tweeted the other day:


Pieces are supposed to be completed tonight, so maybe more pictures to come?

Meanwhile, just down the street a mural's gone up on the wall around the light rail construction site:

Yeah, we're pretty happy living here.

Bells

Spent a nice afternoon at the Seattle Center on Saturday. Apparently the area around the theaters has been newly redesigned and reopened as the charming Theater Commons.

Also includes some compelling outdoor art:

From the Seattle Center website:
A sound installation with visual components by artists Annie Han + Daniel Mihalyo, funded by the City's 1% for Art program, covers the entire main walkway of the Theater Commons - and will remain up through the summer.
The project, entitled Windfall, places a thousand small chimes in the street trees along the main pedestrian corridor, enclosing it in sounds and significantly altering the experience of walking through the long passage way. The fluttering lightweight chimes, also known as Furin, add a sea of color to the green landscape, mimicking a large flock of small birds weaving through the tree canopy.

We were there to see Ruined, an excellent play with an excellent cast.

Seattle Times liked it, as did the New York Times when it played in New York with most of this cast.

If you're around Seattle, you should probably go see it.

Biking and Wining

Finally, more photos!

Fran and Dave joined Emily on a tour of some of the many vineyards out in the Yakima Valley. I was at some conference or other (shh!), so I missed it. Looks nice, though. Lovely weather too.

And tasty wine when they got back, so it worked out all right for me.

On the way, Dave took a look at the Pacific Crest Trail.

Not quite ready for hiking...


Maybe just a short walk.


Grape vines:

Among the wines I sampled (a fraction of what they tried, of course), a highlight was from the Bonair Winery. So if you see it at your local Binny's (?), check it out.

Fun visit all around: had a great dinner at Lola, saw a fun production of Sunday in the Park with George at the 5th Avenue Theater (cool slideshow on their website), and enjoyed some surpisingly nice May weather together.


On an unrelated note, Emily's been rehousing these wax babies lately:

You be the judge: cute or freaky?


Oh, and I got a new bike!


Took it on a nice ride out to Golden Gardens Park:


So far, so good. Here's the look for the morning ride to work:

That Wooden O; A Bit of Good News; and O Fenômeno

(With apologies to readers of my other blogs for the overlapping posts.)

We finally did attend the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival's production of Henry V yesterday with Nathan and Micah. A lovely evening, a handsome set, and some decent readings of some nicely written words.

I was asked to take no pictures during the performance, but here's hoping these shots do justice to the setting.

Mimi, enjoying a beverage before curtain.


Emily and myself at halftime (that's what they call it, no? and yes, I do love that t-shirt).

For those who wish they knew me or the Bard a little better, here's my favorite bit of the play, from lines spoken by the King to the Bishop of Canterbury, concerning whether England should go to war:

Therefore take heed how you impawne our Person,
How you awake our sleeping Sword of Warre;
We charge you in the Name of God take heed:
For neuer two such Kingdomes did contend,
Without much fall of blood, whose guiltlesse drops
Are euery one, a Woe, a sore Complaint,
'Gainst him, whose wrongs giues edge vnto the Swords,
That makes such waste in briefe mortalitie.

Ah, if only. . . . (Of course, they do go to war; but it's a good speech nonetheless. . . . )

Speaking of current politics, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Administration's plan to try those held at Guantánamo in military tribunals is illegal. Full text of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld here. As Amnesty International put it, a victory for the rule of law. Huzzah.

Read more on the case on the Truth Will Out blog.


Finally, a huzzah for Ronaldo (or O Fenômeno), who set a new record for goals scored in a World Cup (in its 76th year) with 15 the other day. See the goal here.

Read more on Ronaldo on the Jayhawk Nation blog.