meme-sheep
Instructions: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
Topics frommousecatfish
-lyrics in German
-classical music
-knitting
-stage management
-Twelfth Night
lyrics in German
I guess I just think Schumann is pretty freaking awesome. And Schubert. And Mozart. And Wagner. And BEETHOVEN. All of whom wrote or set German to music. Schumann set some Heine poems as "Dichterliebe"; which, though overdramatic and sometimes self-indulgent (sort of the emo-rock of its day) is my current fave for "Ich grolle nicht" which roughly translates to "I bear no grudge":
I bear no grudge, even though my heart may break
eternally lost love! I bear no grudge.
However you may shine in the splendor of your diamonds,
No light shines into the darkness of your heart.
I have long known this. I saw you in a dream,
and saw the night within the void of your heart,
and saw the serpent that is eating your heart,
I saw, my love, how very miserable you are.
I've even thought about getting an "ich grolle nicht" tattoo. It's a good reminder to think about what the other person must be feeling. And that grudges aren't particularly good for anyone, something I've learned the hard way. I have a long-standing desire to learn German so I can direct Wagner's Ring Cycle and Fidelio (the *only* opera Beethoven ever wrote).
knitting
I learned to knit in the best way possible: from a whole group of people, a little bit at a time. I was working on Harold and Maude: The Musical, and *everyone* was knitting so I said I wanted to learn. Heather brought yarn and needles for me to work with, and between her, beeker121 , knittingordeath , kimmcarr , and a few others, they taught me how to cast on, knit a stitch, and decrease the random stitches I managed to add. So I made my first scarf in garter stitch out of Lion Brand Homespun and gave it to Dan. Then I kept learning from other people, and teaching other people, and helping people with their projects and making ones up as I went along. A lot of thought goes into my knitting. I think about the person I am making the object for, I plan the yarn and pattern carefully, I think about the things that are bothering me and how to solve them. I think about making something perfect. Knitting ties people together-from who you learn from and who you teach and who you subject to (and who puts up with) your scratchy wool sweaters (and socks, and hats, and scarves, and gloves, and.....). The thoughts are tied in the many, many interlocking loops. Every piece I knit is a tribute to those who taught me, even all the ones who don't realized what a large part of my life they still are.
stage management
Stage management is at the center of my current career-path-personal-crisis. I can get pretty decent jobs stage managing, but some of the time it just makes me miserable. I am happiest stage managing when I really believe in the work that is happening; and I am really happy knowing I can do something concrete to contribute, to make everyone's job easier and help them love coming to work every day. That's why I do it. My technical knowledge isn't the greatest, and sometimes I'm too easily flustered and a bit of a pushover, but I can mobilize my OCD to help people, and I think that counts for a lot. It's a great way to network in the theater world, because people are always looking for a good stage manager. But a lot of the time I would rather be directing, and I have to actively turn my director-brain OFF. But then sometimes it is incredibly helpful in thinking about how to make something work logistically and still look pretty to the audience. Some places will pigeonhole me as a stage manager, and that makes me very unhappy because it just doesn't satisfy my artistic cravings. I really resent the mindset that some people have about stage manager/directors: that if you have the skill set to stage manage, you do NOT have the skill set to direct. I think they are flat out wrong. Neither do I like the mindset that stage management is only a steping stone to directing (that one is "just" stage managing). This discredits the many incredible career stage managers I have met. Thankfully, these attitudes have started *greatly* changing in the past years, though there are some places where they still have a strong hold.
Maybe I should just become a producer.
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night is one of the best plays ever written. It's funny, and heartbreaking, and the central plot revolves around a strong young woman who loves someone so much she will woo another lady for him. And of course, it's all gender complicated by the fact that she's in disguise as a boy, the lady falls in love with her, and the man *must* have some feelings for her, seeing as they get married in the end. There's also that incredible parallel plot that darkens the whole thing: the lampooning and savage imprisonment of the lady's steward for his pride and uptight-ness. It contains some of the most incredible poetry, and persuasive language, and music. It challenges our assumptions about gender, about love, and what the human heart is capable of.
I was in a production at Los Altos Youth Theater (really totally awesome). I watched the Lincoln Center production (yay!) when it was filmed for PBS. I watched the Helena Bonham Carter/Imogen Stubbs version (yuck). I assistant directed an hour-long touring version in New Jersey (unfortunately, not the best). I saw the TheatreWorks production (very badly conceived and directed). I studied it in my Shakespeare 2 class my final semester of college (and probably said some snarky know-it-all things about it). I recently saw the CalShakes production (weird-the twins were played by the same actor, and probably confused a lot of the audience). Someday I want to direct it, but not now. It's hard to do it justice when you're young.
classical music
In writing this post, I've listened to Brahms' Symphony 4, the finale of Mahler's Symphony 3, and Beethoven's Symphony 3 (the Eroica); all representative of my tastes in classical music; all highly recommended. They are some of my favorites. I have pipe dreams of teaching a syphonic appreciation class, where we can just spend hours listening to great recordings on a really good sound system. A lot of the time, I feel like I can only feel something completely if I'm listening to music I associate with that emotion. Memories, fears, and joys are all deeply tied into the music, and I think I love syphonic music so much because it is purely abstract. It communicates on a level that bypasses all words.
Topics frommousecatfish
-lyrics in German
-classical music
-knitting
-stage management
-Twelfth Night
lyrics in German
I guess I just think Schumann is pretty freaking awesome. And Schubert. And Mozart. And Wagner. And BEETHOVEN. All of whom wrote or set German to music. Schumann set some Heine poems as "Dichterliebe"; which, though overdramatic and sometimes self-indulgent (sort of the emo-rock of its day) is my current fave for "Ich grolle nicht" which roughly translates to "I bear no grudge":
I bear no grudge, even though my heart may break
eternally lost love! I bear no grudge.
However you may shine in the splendor of your diamonds,
No light shines into the darkness of your heart.
I have long known this. I saw you in a dream,
and saw the night within the void of your heart,
and saw the serpent that is eating your heart,
I saw, my love, how very miserable you are.
I've even thought about getting an "ich grolle nicht" tattoo. It's a good reminder to think about what the other person must be feeling. And that grudges aren't particularly good for anyone, something I've learned the hard way. I have a long-standing desire to learn German so I can direct Wagner's Ring Cycle and Fidelio (the *only* opera Beethoven ever wrote).
knitting
I learned to knit in the best way possible: from a whole group of people, a little bit at a time. I was working on Harold and Maude: The Musical, and *everyone* was knitting so I said I wanted to learn. Heather brought yarn and needles for me to work with, and between her, beeker121 , knittingordeath , kimmcarr , and a few others, they taught me how to cast on, knit a stitch, and decrease the random stitches I managed to add. So I made my first scarf in garter stitch out of Lion Brand Homespun and gave it to Dan. Then I kept learning from other people, and teaching other people, and helping people with their projects and making ones up as I went along. A lot of thought goes into my knitting. I think about the person I am making the object for, I plan the yarn and pattern carefully, I think about the things that are bothering me and how to solve them. I think about making something perfect. Knitting ties people together-from who you learn from and who you teach and who you subject to (and who puts up with) your scratchy wool sweaters (and socks, and hats, and scarves, and gloves, and.....). The thoughts are tied in the many, many interlocking loops. Every piece I knit is a tribute to those who taught me, even all the ones who don't realized what a large part of my life they still are.
stage management
Stage management is at the center of my current career-path-personal-crisis. I can get pretty decent jobs stage managing, but some of the time it just makes me miserable. I am happiest stage managing when I really believe in the work that is happening; and I am really happy knowing I can do something concrete to contribute, to make everyone's job easier and help them love coming to work every day. That's why I do it. My technical knowledge isn't the greatest, and sometimes I'm too easily flustered and a bit of a pushover, but I can mobilize my OCD to help people, and I think that counts for a lot. It's a great way to network in the theater world, because people are always looking for a good stage manager. But a lot of the time I would rather be directing, and I have to actively turn my director-brain OFF. But then sometimes it is incredibly helpful in thinking about how to make something work logistically and still look pretty to the audience. Some places will pigeonhole me as a stage manager, and that makes me very unhappy because it just doesn't satisfy my artistic cravings. I really resent the mindset that some people have about stage manager/directors: that if you have the skill set to stage manage, you do NOT have the skill set to direct. I think they are flat out wrong. Neither do I like the mindset that stage management is only a steping stone to directing (that one is "just" stage managing). This discredits the many incredible career stage managers I have met. Thankfully, these attitudes have started *greatly* changing in the past years, though there are some places where they still have a strong hold.
Maybe I should just become a producer.
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night is one of the best plays ever written. It's funny, and heartbreaking, and the central plot revolves around a strong young woman who loves someone so much she will woo another lady for him. And of course, it's all gender complicated by the fact that she's in disguise as a boy, the lady falls in love with her, and the man *must* have some feelings for her, seeing as they get married in the end. There's also that incredible parallel plot that darkens the whole thing: the lampooning and savage imprisonment of the lady's steward for his pride and uptight-ness. It contains some of the most incredible poetry, and persuasive language, and music. It challenges our assumptions about gender, about love, and what the human heart is capable of.
I was in a production at Los Altos Youth Theater (really totally awesome). I watched the Lincoln Center production (yay!) when it was filmed for PBS. I watched the Helena Bonham Carter/Imogen Stubbs version (yuck). I assistant directed an hour-long touring version in New Jersey (unfortunately, not the best). I saw the TheatreWorks production (very badly conceived and directed). I studied it in my Shakespeare 2 class my final semester of college (and probably said some snarky know-it-all things about it). I recently saw the CalShakes production (weird-the twins were played by the same actor, and probably confused a lot of the audience). Someday I want to direct it, but not now. It's hard to do it justice when you're young.
classical music
In writing this post, I've listened to Brahms' Symphony 4, the finale of Mahler's Symphony 3, and Beethoven's Symphony 3 (the Eroica); all representative of my tastes in classical music; all highly recommended. They are some of my favorites. I have pipe dreams of teaching a syphonic appreciation class, where we can just spend hours listening to great recordings on a really good sound system. A lot of the time, I feel like I can only feel something completely if I'm listening to music I associate with that emotion. Memories, fears, and joys are all deeply tied into the music, and I think I love syphonic music so much because it is purely abstract. It communicates on a level that bypasses all words.