LINKAPALOOZA

Peter Aspden on the problem defining cool + if Miles Davis is the solution.

Fashion Bloggers in the front row…Nicola Copping on how bloggers (example @bryanboy) are gaining influence with designers. Fashion Blogs I follow, well @meandmarisa found me on Twitter and I’ve been enjoying their photos and fashion thoughts.

Sarah Hemming talks to set designers about…set design.

Mexican left-wing printmakers took on church, politics + culture. Review of exhibit at British Museum.

Christine Lagarde, French Finance Minster, ranks #1.

Vanessa Friedman on how dressing for the EU President job will be almost as difficult as landing it.

And to end w/ a dinner tomorrow thought: a pumpkin risotto recipe. Also must make single serving apple crisps in these deep, white ramekins we have — feeling inspired by the season and the big nubbly apples sitting in our fruit bowl.

MERCHANT OF FASHION

Have been meaning to write a post about Merchant of Venice (#merven) and costuming thoughts for awhile, definitely since Vanessa Friedman’s excellent coverage of this year’s Paris + Milan Fashion Weeks. Gayle and I have been talking clothes. We’re thinking very modern so we may have to add an iron to our usual touring gear and hit up consignment shops in Baltimore and Philadelphia for some suitable ties, if not entire suits. I can imagine the thrill that will be felt by the actors wearing business suits outdoors in the end of July heat.

Merchant of Venice is striking me more and more as a sleek, ruthless play of marble chess pieces in sharp edged modern suits, always on the go, accumulating, communicating, sifting, betting, collecting, judging. I ordered the Oxford edition . The Pelican, my choice in the past, is only available as a Kindle download. And there is always the Riverside as a constant, but it’s not portable. So the Oxford is my carrying around copy. I don’t remember liking the Arden or the Folger and I won’t have anything to do with an edition that has anything to do with Harold Bloom. I do not like his commentaries. I’m a Northrop Frye kind of director.

The Oxford’s simple cover graphic — a balance/scales — also appealed. From a quick perusal of the commentary, that item is an excellent choice because Merchant seems to be more about capital letter CONCEPTS: Justice, Mercy and their cousins, than it is about any of the individual characters. Perhaps that’s another reason for Portia’s disguise: not only can she save the day, she can represent a quality.

I am directing/exploring Merchant because I have had so many reactions to it. As a child, Portia was my favorite Shakespearean heroine. I loved how she manipulated logic and legal concepts while riding in to save the day (I also loved the Lone Ranger). So I had good memories of Portia. Then, several years ago, I reread Merchant as a possible choice for the next summer’s Theatre Under The Trees (“yes, sir, that’s my baby”) and was repulsed by Portia’s cruelty. I had this sudden vision of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless and Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde but without any warmth or heart or humor — shearing sharpened pink sabers.

Plus, there’s the Jew thing. You can’t get around the “gentle Jew” problem. Once I had a vision of doing an indoor adaptation titled Merchant of Hong Kong, with dark woods, harbor motifs, Chinese Mandarin robes and a British Shylock. Jew switched for Brit. There’s high concept for you.

York has a troubled history with racial and other forms of discrimination so the inciting a race/religious war concern will remain present. I know I’ll have to be prepared for cast questions/discussions. And honestly, I don’t know what to say. That’s why I want to direct Merchant. Shylock has this incredible speech that not only humanizes him but explains his behavior is as the Christians taught him. Gayle’s theory is that the play is anti-banker, although she hasn’t read it recently. Bankers are right now, here in 2009, the villians of nearly every piece. The only way I know to figure out if my first or second impression of Portia is the more accurate one is to direct the play, with no idea how it will turn out. Shakespeare’s truths show in performance.

I think Merchant might turn on Bassiano, the character I’d forgotten. There’s always a character who matters more than you think, the way in for the audience, the point everything pivots around, the weather for the play. In Twelfth Night, it’s Olivia; in Midsummer, it’s Oberon. They’re the characters who bring all the pieces together. And I had forgotten Bassiano. You remember Shylock, Portia, even Antonio. But I think Bassiano might be the one who makes it all work. But that’s just my first THIRD impression, after a quick read. I’m sure there’s a few more to come.

ROBOTS + SHAKESPEARE

Because that’s what you’re here for, right?

Robots: my friend @kristynburtt, the creator and host half of my friends @TheWebFiles (@SPWrite the director + producer half) is in Texas at the Texas State Fair running across robot + bird sculptures. So, of course, someone helped her solve the mystery + we have a link to The Traveling Man.

Shakespeare + Sarah Hemming, because those two names seem to go together, here and in The Financial Times. This past weekend she interviewed Mark Rylance, director, actor and theatre extraordinaire type. The interview made me nostalgic for The Tempest, which I swore I would never direct again (just read Act I, scene ii and you’ll know why — Shakespeare should have just written a prequel titled The Duke of Milan instead of that scene.) The actress playing Biondello this summer told Gayle she wanted us to do it + now I’m getting the urge again. We far exceeded our reach for the second year of a program + I got to put magic tricks in — remind me to tell you sometime about a half ton trunk, small children dressed as dogs and why they should never be combined in the same scene. Or about the 15′ tall mast that was magnetically attracted to swimming pools or the producer who had to hold down half our set by clinging to a rope thrown down from the stage…The Tempest seems conducive to epic stories, as the Rylance article reminded me. Hmmmm……

This afternoon’s alternate office discovery (thanks to Wired magazine): How about The Elements — yes, of the Table of Perodic fame. Theodore Gray has written a book about them and it looks great.

And @flyingmonkeyair linked to the site he did for Mizna, the Arab American arts journal/events promoter, where I found a book I must track down, The Night Counter.

What else…Great Vanessa Friedman article about fashion, Rio, Paris runways, no more one liner designs and everything else.

That should keep you busy for a bit. Bon soir.

A RANTING RAMBLE

Ok, I’m taking on faith you have those movie stubs to something original — Bandslam, (500) Days of Summer…I’ll let you off the hook if it’s Julie and Julia or District 9, but G.I. Joe, well G.I. Joe is part of the problem — Hollywood’s ADDICTION to remakes.

Tonight I was having a fairly long + involved Twitter conversation w/ @IDOL_HANDS about remakes starting with the news that Todd McFarlane (Mr. I created Spawn and own the world’s most expensive baseball) is planning a remake of The Wizard of Oz with some Ripley/Alien DNA mixed in. And then for a couple of days, the universe has been buzzing (mostly anti — there’s a Twitition against it) about Robert Zemeckis + Disney’s plan to remake The Yellow Submarine. TYS is not my favorite Beatles movie but it is so one of a kind you have to respect it…my favorite Beatles movie is Hard Day’s Night (must buy), one of the best, cleanest + simplest band movies (I’ve mentioned this before).

I think my friends @TheWebFiles sum it up best: “Telegraph of London says “Twitter killing Hollywood movies?” http://bit.ly/5uF1L Solution? Stop making crappy movies.”

I promised FT links…well, Peter Aspden had a column about Twitter but unlike Vanessa Friedman who paid enough attention to know it didn’t suit her, Aspden tweeted 3 times, follows 3 people + thinks that’s education enough to toss off a column about it…oh, and FT editor folks, if someone’s talking about Twitter in an article (this is happening more frequently + I first noticed it w/ The Pet Shop Boys profile), could you include a link to their @ tag. Thank you. @ me at @lonelypond

And another few links — in a non rant fashion — the aforementioned Ms. Friedman on Mad Men and their trousers.

And the aforementioned Mr. Aspden on Brigitte Bardot (he is considerably more informed + interested about Ms. Bardot than Twitter)…this bit made me perk up: ““Bardot is as important an export as Renault automobiles,” observed Simone de Beauvoir in her perceptive 1959 essay “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome”, a welcome reminder of a time when intellectuals were genuinely fascinated by popular culture.”

Simon Schama’s review of Nicholson Baker’s The Anthologist, which indulges/experiments in verse. I will have to get the library to track me down a copy of the book.

And Harry Eyres finally gets Man on Wire.

Have been transferring CDs to iTunes with plans to make a travel playlist for adventure so I must be getting to doing that. Disappointed to not find the Buffy CD where I expected but the pile included Red, Hot and Blue, Aly and AJ’s Into The Rush, all Depeche Mode The Singles Cds, Pet Shop Boys Very, Carmen McRae, Adam Ant’s Antics in The Forbidden Zone + E.C. Scott’s Come Get Your Love. Mix songs from that with what’s already in my library + it should be interesting. I’ll hit you with a mixtape when I’m done.

Good night!

Note: Warehouse 13 fun; good Eureka so far; no, don’t take the Wizards of Waverly place characters’ powers away in the movie (Gayle claims it’s a tease — Dad will keep his + they’ll continue as wizards in training); enjoying The Middleman DVDs + looking forward to a new season of The Big Bang Theory. Now, read a book and go see Bandslam, darn it.

I did mention rant ; )

MONDAY READING

Yes, with no show + nothing scheduled, I zinged through my FT Weekend yesterday. Here’s some fun links for you.

Vanessa Friedman on Twitter as a communication accessory — I like the analogy, Twitter goes with everything I own.

From the House and Home section, an article on 12th century design and redecorating the medieval stone keep at Dover Castle.

Sarah Hemming (yes, at it again) profiles Brian Friel…oddly enough, I recently had a Friel conversation with a friend looking for a play to direct. I would love to see a good production of Translations; I’ve always been fascinated by how the language issues would play out on stage.

Harry Eyres ponders Galileo, his telescopes and the reach of science.

And today, an update on robots assisting with care of the elderly in Japan.

HEMMINGSPHERE

No, that’s not a misspelling; I’m just amusing myself.

Sarah Hemming interview this past weekend with Thea Sharrock, who is directing As You Like It at the Globe…we start off with a discussion of weather — The Globe being an open air theatre — and go from there.

Hemming has recently been reviewing shows I’ve always considered too dull, grim and beloved of academics for me. Her reviews of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” and Becket’s “Waiting For Godot” (can’t find a link, but fairly sure it was hers or else an interesting hallucination) actually might have had me in the house for a performance but I am hobbled by the width and depth of the Atlantic — and a strong aversion to “idea” plays. But I pay more attention to reviews than lectures.

Vanessa Friedman has been in politics + fashion + thinking mode; last week, she delved into the “gender based clothing double standard” and a discussion of why Barack Obama’s tailor is filing for bankruptcy and this week, how just because you’re pretty, stacked and the Prime Minster of Italy likes you, doesn’t mean we can assume you are a bimbo.

Interview with Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami. He discusses censorship, the Mozart opera he’s directing and develops a metaphor along lines that I’ve been mulling over myself recently, himself as a tree.

And another article on the play I most want to direct, Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia” that reminds vividly of the humor and beauty contained therein.

And Jan Dalley’s guest culture column(so far a happy thought) on previously unseen Jodphur art from India in the Garden and Cosmos exhibit at the British Museum reminds me that Sita Sings The Blues is still on my list of movies to watch; I’ve got my Tweetdeck set to topic search for it; a new glowing comment pops up with notable frequency.

WHY I MISS THE FT (+ WHAT I MISSED)

Vanessa Friedman on the return of 80’s fashions.

Sebastian Coe on winning and excellence.

And, of course, in the interval before when my Miser directing stipend restarts my FT subscription, one of my new favorite bylines (drink offer still stands, Ms. Dalley, a portion of the stipend remains unspent) — Jan Dalley — has lunch with one of my favorite playwrights — Tom Stoppard — talking about the play of his I want to direct (and other topics) — Arcadia — so very badly (yes, I want to direct it well, but directing it has been a dream ever since I read it). I need a theatre that will let me stage Arcadia: it’s a beautiful, glorious and delicate thing.

And from a couple weeks ago, before the temporary lapse, sculpture gardens and a return of my need to visit the Isamu Noguchi museum, thanks to article on The Storm King Art Center — or any museum. Sculpture garden w/ a Noguchi + multiple Rodins + excellent brunch at Gertrude’s at the Baltimore Museum of Art might be a doable birthday treat.

And another sculpture article, with a Matisse quote which made me think of @AlejandroAdams and throwing oneself into the critical fray.

THINGS I READ IN THE PAPER

Good The Princess and The Frog coverage in the Washington Post this past Sunday.

Excellent Germaine Greer review of a bad Chaucer translation. I might buy the suggested alternate Bantam with both the original and a translation when I have some spare cash.

Vanessa Friedman’s bracing and fun warning about Earth Day hype.

David Hockney Lunch with the FT and Jackie Wullschlager…looked at the picture, thought won’t like him, but after reading the interview (he actually does some portraits using a Wacom tablet now), want to go tooling around somewhere in a fun gadget with him.

And Harry Eyres on technique, and how it can help in tennis (and other areas).

I’D BUY A DRINK FOR…

Jan Dalley, whatever she wants, up to the limit of the $20 currently in my wallet. Peter Aspden’s back on the culture beat and I will enjoy his insights, but I must admit to having had a pleasant month without him. Ms. Dalley, pick your topic and your drink, if you’re ever in the lonelypond environs. Thoughtful insights on e-altruism, opportunity and the internet business model. Loved her Kate Winslet wit and taking her Darwin/Picasso tangent transit. Thanks for the ride.

Harry Eyres also has an open invitation. Here’s his column listing Crow Chief Plenty Coups third way between despair and glory. I think this is the sort of thing that would make me a better Taoist (I’m bad at the invisible part — yes, yes, I know, major paraphrase; I’m good at the distracted by 10,000 things part).

There’s been a lot of fashion coverage in the FT recently, good tight writing, mostly tight pants, lots of Vanessa Friedman, tons of pictures, but nothing that will help me come up with a clothing theme/direction for directing Moliere. It always helps to have a style in mind (well, minor riffing on the classic me, but rehearsal indoors instead of out, with parents who aren’t used to me so slightly more formal (no shorts)). I think this situation requires a new hat.

Interesting interview with French artist Annette Messager concerning her puppet/Pinocchio pieces.

Book reviews and profile of maverick scientist and Gaia theory originator James Lovelock. Fascinating stuff.

And that’s probably enough for now, although I was glad several weeks ago when Luke Johnson admitted that perhaps he had erred in ignoring age and guile.

And I would, of course, buy Mr. Altucher or Ms. Hemming the drink of their choice any time they choose to call in my marker.

And now to sleep and dream of robots and bands and kittens and misers and jazz and if any of it is in French, I may be back. Bon nuit.

BEHIND THE TIMES(FINANCIAL)

Well, the Post Office has seemingly picked up some touch of my paper reading lag(or a holiday slowing germ) and now at least twice a week, no pink paper gets half shoved into the mail slot (so much fun to get the occasionally shredded FT Weekend front page). Which puts me even further behind in my reading. So now, here’s some of the things that stood out and/or annoyed me recently.

Cher — well, it’s the fault of the 11/29 11/30 Life and Arts article on the Auto-Tune (or how singers utilize technology invented by Andy Hildebrand a geophysicist (so why don’t the Big Bang nerds tweak Penny’s voice for her?) to fool you into thinking they can sing better than you do in the car) — that the default song in my head is now “Believe.” As one of the primal Loreleis – and like Cher, a born queen of the universe — would say breathlessly, “Thank you ever so.”

Vanessa Friedman, although she never mentions any product I can afford, has been doing interesting writing on price, luxury and value these past two weekends.

Good interview from the Wealth Page’s philanthropy window with David Rockefeller, Jr. It’s nice to see money matched with a sense of responsibility — or even just good common sense. Made me bump up return to Acadia and bike on the carriage trails on the potential vacation list — after Quebec, Seattle and New York City (Isamu Noguchi Museum).

The FT’s seasonal charitable appeal this year supports WaterAid, a very good cause addressing the roots of disease. One of the first articles was a profile of “The Professor” who transformed life in his village in Bangladesh.

The Slow Lane again scores with Harry Eyres’ support of leaving a little mystery in art and not requiring an artist to break down every detail, becoming his or her own critic. Great quote from Edward Hopper (used in a show curated by Gerald Matt). Hopper states: “Most of all the important qualities [of every art] are put there unconsciously and little of importance by the conscious intellect.” Eyres continues thinking through that concept to close his column. I think I now have a FT writing triumvirate + 1. Excellent review also by Eyres of an intriguing book about writers and illustrators.

Horrid Henry, yes or no..Ian Shuttleworth profiled Hull Truck Artistic Director John Godber and the description of Godber’s adaptation of Horrid Henry made me think I should perhaps e-mail the article to the powers that be at DreamWrights; Sarah Hemming’s accompanying review made me reconsider that. Have decided I should just read the original book and see what it’s all about. The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me sounds like fun though, both as a play and a book. But Roald Dahl rarely goes wrong.

Haven’t had a chance to sit down and enjoy the Best Books of 2008. Looking forward to sitting down with that and comparing to the Economist’s list.

Going to have to read the darn French horn book. I first heard about in an Economist review, but Hemming’s review of the stage adaptation has pushed me into the “read the book” camp. Isn’t that what winter’s for?