Oh, and I suppose you've got nothing better to do?
I am basically a magpie.I like to do what they supposedly do.
Look around. Get distracted. Peck and twitter over various shiny objects with no extrinsic value. Bits of tinfoil are a particular favorite.
So, up and around at 2 a.m., I made a productive list of three things I could actually do in my insomniac state, then promptly ignored all three so that I could instead type "www.magpie.com" into my web browser to see what I'd get.
See? It pays to procrastinate.*
Steve Manes's bio reads like a Who's Who list from a Breughel painting. And he's renovating a house not unlike my own. Who knew such a thing could be finished? Much less reported on so lovingly?
He's a dog owner, motorcyclist, former bass player (always the steadiest guy in the group), and software developer. Yet he still finds time to introduce a whole new generation of insomniacs to the Forgotten New York page.
The guy's a mensch.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Two gems, in fact. For Next Best in Show, click here instead)
[foil image via TurboSquid]
posted by lisa schamess @ 02:19
8 Comments:
So I went to the Forgotten New York page, where I found The Norse Code . That was pretty funny...
Keep it up dear bluddy!
OMG, that is too good! God bless the guy who took all those pictures.
Personally, I'd take Ibsen over that crabby misogynist Strindberg any day.
I guess I'm slightly partial, but I totally agree!
Though they both seemed to be sceptical to other human beings (to put it moderately) Ibsen's human analysises (God - that can't possibly be right plural form...?) ring a lot truer to me than Stindberg's. And Ibsen has some humor - but I'm being totally nationalistic and horrible, forgive me...
I'm also impressed you know them both well enough to make that accurate distinction - even if it IS your profession to know these things?
I'll impress you further: one of my favorite all-time movies, Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, came the closest to changing my mind about Strindberg. It's in that last scene (sorry to spoil it for anyone) when the grandmother opens a copy of "that new play by Strindberg, A Dream Play" and starts learning her lines. This movie was supposed to be Strindberg's goodbye to cinematic directing, and so it was sort of like a moment at the end of Shakespeare's The Tempest, in which Prospero releases all his spirits and retires from magic...the magician paying tribute to the theatre and its magic by leaving us with the image of the (then-new) theatre...The very female-oriented Bergman was hinting through this strong female character that S. did indeed have an important sensitivity to women.
As I say, he came close to convincing me. But I just can't budge. Plus I read S.'s biography while I was in theatre school, and dated two Strindberg fans, both of whom had serious mother issues.
So whatever.
I agree. Ibsen is funny, which is seldom acknowledged. His play A Man of the people has some very funny moments, as does the darker Wild Duck and even A Doll's House.
Do you know they still routinely have high schools produce A Doll's House for their drama clubs? Why? I've seen way too many reeeeaaally bad Noras and Torvalds in my day.
Did you know I played the much under-valued maid in Hedda Gabler while in college. I played her for laughs in fact!
Waitaminute...how did this get to be about me again? This is supposed to be about the intellectual and moral and--most of all--emotional superiority of Norwegians to their colder brethren and sistahs.
Later, byrxpkz!
Regional superiority aside - I bow to the hot sistah in the west! :o)
I hate a typo...F&A is Bergman's farewell to the cinema, not Strindberg's. DUH!
And anyway, it wasn't even, really. He got around it all sorts of ways, including writing the screenplay for a wonderfully creepy movie his son directed. What was it? Help me out here...it was another kid's point of view movie, the kid was a minister's son (of course), lots of scenes of lush Swedish countryside (of course), plus a horrible folktale about a clockmaker and the woman trapped in his clock whom he was in love with. Very Swedish.
I realized that - didn't seem necessary to point it out...
Anyway Bergman's done plenty since F&A, but F&A stands out I guess...
Incientally his daughter (with Liv Ullman - Norwegian actress, director etc), Linn Ullman, is a popular contemporary writer in Norway - not that *I* have really read anything - I'm somewhat reluctand to hit every "new wave" that comes along. Anyway many seem to think she is rather good...
Have no idea what movie you're talking about - all I can think of is "Den goda viljan". I'll check the net and see what I can find...
Nope, I got it: Söndagsbarn (Sunday's Children). Great flick. :-)
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