Had a most awesome evening in London and saw Verdi's Rigoletto (this one: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/sep/22/rigoletto-review) today. It was just brilliant, my favourite opera...probably, and SUCH a good production! Set in 1950's America, mafia-style, the sets were stunning and all rather Edward hopper-ish.

A Noiseless Patient Spider

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark'd, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark'd how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them--ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,--seeking the spheres, to connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form'd--till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

Walt Whitman 1860

It went so well with my latest crop of photos!

( Spider webs... )

...It was absolutely brilliant!



It's a pity we only saw that it was on a week ago (finishes tomorrow) otherwise I would have gone again. Not only were the costumes fantastic but the music, the lighting, everything was an amazing exhibition.

And I saw Jack Sparrow's ACTUAL COSTUME!

<3<3<3

....or Second Life?

Honestly, sometimes builders on Second Life pull out ALL the stops and then more so. Having been to Mont St Michel last year, I squeed when I saw someone had lovingly recreated it in Second Life. 'It can't be THAT accurate, the place is huge, rambly, incredibly complex...' I thought, but boy, was I wrong.

( Photos here... )

Yesterday went here...

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/waterhouse/

then here...

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/corot-to-monet

then saw these...

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/collection-overview/collection-overview/*/viewPage/2

Then saw this!

http://www.trh.co.uk/show_waitingforgodot.php

Lizzie is PARANOID about NOT leaving her hair straighteners on, putting them OUT of the way, making SURE they are safe...

...but obviously NOT today.

So she trod on them. And burnt her foot!

When is Lizzie going to get a break?

She had such a rotten time at school, left early before taking her A levels, due to her health and ALL credit to her, managed to pull herself back and has worked SO hard at her college with the costume and textiles.

She's tried to find out about getting into Edinburgh College of Art and they have been singularly unhelpful, Catch 22 situation (or rather Catch 21). She can't apply unless she has A levels/diploma (they won't consider entry just on portfolio and interview) and this is just to the foundation year. BUT...if she waits the SAME length of time it would take her to DO the foundation year, ie; by which time she'd be 21, she can go in as a mature student, straight to the performance costume course.

She's going to look at Arts College Bournemouth, see if they will take her September 2010 for a similar course and hope that they don't do the same as ECA.

Anyway, so she worked like a maniac over last Christmas too, ALL the hours she had and really pushed herself beyond her limits almost and earned enough money to go on her dream holiday to Iceland this September. She's always wanted to go and saved up everything to pay for it, planned it all out and found the one tour company trip she could afford and have some spending money...

...and they've gone and bloody CANCELLED it.

They said call and see if they can offer another week instead, but the EARLIER weeks are more expensive and she can't afford them and the LATER weeks go right into the rainy seaason, then after that, the days are so short it isn't worth it.

She's such a bright, positive person, in spite of all the setbacks, but for the first time she's looking defeated.

When she can't even get some independence going on a bloody holiday, it just seems so unfair. If she could get a JOB it would help too, but there is NOTHING at all.

Meh...

...but it was worth it. Went to 'Hard Rock Calling' yesterday at Hyde Park with daughter as she wanted to see Bruce Springsteen and I wanted to see Dave Matthews Band. I have to say, Bruce DID put on a good show and I bopped with the rest of them (in spite of not really liking him that much *gasp*) but the Dave Matthews Band were PHENOMENAL.

Got back at 2.30am, bed by 3, up by 8, so a TADGE tired today!

Been away this weekend at mum in law's, showing niece how to use Painter IX, so didn't get a chance to post here about Lizzie's end of year show.

( Behind cut for length and photos... )

1. First book to leave a lasting impression?
Dune by Frank Herbert. I'd just got into SF as a teen and was told to read Dune and I got totally lost in the mythology. I told middle son to read it at about the same age, and it affected him in the same way.

2. Which author would you most like to be?
Myself, if I ever got round to writing my selkie bunny! Started it more times than I can remember!

3. Name the book that has most made you want to visit a place?

Alan Garner's childrens books, 'The Weirdstone of Brisingamen' and 'The Moon of Gomrath'. Both set around Alderley Edge in Cheshire and the foothills of the Pennines and an area where the author lives. These 'out of fashion' books are the BEST of any 'Arthurian' based children's fantasies, with the possible exception of Susan Cooper's 'Dark is Rising' sequence. Alderley Edge is an utterly magical place and I visited it on the way back from Scotland a few years back.

4. Which contemporary author will still be read in 100 years?

Iain Banks. 'The Wasp Factory' is one of the most stimulating and brilliant books I've read recently.

5. Which book would you recommend to a teenager reluctant to try 'literature'?

Probably something like 'A Clockwork Orange'.

6. Name your best recent literary discovery.

If it wasn't number 4, then probably Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' series, being a real SF fan at heart. Good stories, very gripping, incredibly moving in parts and with enough depth and philosophical discussion to keep you thinking.

7. Which author's fictional world would you most like to live in?
Storm Constantine's Wraeththu mythos. Without doubt.

8. Name your favorite poet?

I have a list! Probably at the top, Benjamin Zephaniah, who I heard live (and got a kiss from!) others are T S Eliot, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Walt Whitman, Thomas Hardy (much better than his novels) and those are just off the top of my head.

9. What's the best non-fiction title you've read this year?

I tend to dip into non-fiction, working in the library I am always picking up books and dabbling. Probably 'Banksy' that I got for Christmas, a book of his graffiti art.

10. Which author do you think is much better than his/her reputation?

Heh, Tolkien actually. It's fashionable to say how turgid he is and so on, but his Silmarillion is an amazing, underrated book.