Jan 13, 2008 12:00:47 PM
Last year I improved on my previous records and read 38 books! It's not a huge jump over the previous year but I think it's heading in the right direction. Right now I'm in the middle of Remembrance of Things Past (still), close to finishing volume four (I think), "Sodom and Gomorrah," but that should be wrapped up in January and I'll be on to great things!
1. Water Witch - Connie Willis
2. Dragonhaven - Robin McKinley
3. Sodom and Gomorrah - Marcel Proust (only The Prisoner and the Fugitive and Time Regained left now!)
4. Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
5. The Knight of the Swords - Michael Moorcock
6. Drinker of Souls - Jo Clayton
7. Burning Chrome - William Gibson
February
8. Brideshead Revisted - Evelyn Waugh
9. Grave Sight - Charlaine Harris
10. Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris
March
11. The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
12. Club Dead - Charlaine Harris
13. Blue Magic - Jo Clayton
April
14. Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde
15. Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris
16. Shakespeare's Trollop - Charlaine Harris
May
17. Popcorn - Ben Elton
18. Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris
19. The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde
20. Real Murders - Charlaine Harris
June
21. The Darwin Awards - Wendy Northcutt
22. Iron Sunrise - Charles Stross
23. A Fire in the Sun - George Alec Effinger
July
24. Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Stroud
25. The Prisoner and The Fugitive - Marcel Proust
26. Silverheart - Michael Moorcock & Storm Constantine
27. Saratoga Longshot - Stephen Dobyns
August
28. Software Testing: An ISEB Foundation - Brian Hambling
29. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
30. Snares of Ibex - Jo Clayton
September
31. Saratoga Swimmer - Stephen Dobyns
32. Shakespeare's Champion - Charlaine Harris
33. The Atrocity Archives - Charles Stross
34. A Bone to Pick - Charlaine Harris
October
35. Exile Kiss - George Alec Effinger
36. Time Regained - Marcel Proust
37. Jennifer Morgue - Charles Stross
November
38. The Bell at Sealey Head - Patricia McKillip
39. Charles Stross - Halting State
December
40. The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde
41. Miracle and Other Christmas Stories - Connie Willis
42. Chalice - Robin McKinley
43. Promised Land - Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice
Posted by webcowgirl @ Jan 13, 2008 12:00:47 PM [Link]
Jan 12, 2008 12:00:38 PM
Between going to Egypt and being sick all of January, I got a very late start on my movie watching this year. Who'd think I'd be so sick I couldn't manage to get out of bed to see a movie! But so it goes .... not that last year's list was all that impressive.
February
1. Pavement Butterfly - 2 1/2 (1929 - starring Anna May Wong)
2. The Killers - 3 (1946 - fantastic cross between Memento and Pulp Fiction)
March
3. Stage Door - 3 1/2 (1937 with Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Lucille Ball - a knockout!)
4. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - 3 (great fun!)
5. Show People - 3(1928, with Marion Davies and a cast of silent movie greats) & Mabel's Dramatic Career - 2 (1913, with Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, and Roscoe Arbuckle)
April
6. Song of the Fishermen - 3 (1934 Chinese silent, with Chi2 (Liz and Sarah Liew), Jiang Li and Kimho Ip doing the score)
May
7. Forbidden Kingdom - 2 (good action sequences but ridiculously cheap makeup and bad dialogue make this a rental at best)
8. Iron Man - 2 (too long, too violent for my now softened sensibilities, not enough story - watch it on a plane)
June
9. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 2 (good special effects sequence, would give it an extra half star except that I got bored about 20 minutes in and never recovered)
July
10. My Winnipeg - 3
11. Sita Sings the Blues - 3
12. My Dad is 100 Years Old + The Saddest Music in the World (2003) - 2 1/2
13. Brand Upon the Brain + A Trip to the Orphanage (2004, 4min) and Odin's Shield Maiden (2006, 4min) - 2 1/2
14. The Heart of the World (2000, 5min) and Archangel (1990) - 2 1/2
15. Wall-E - 3
16. Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997) and "Odilon Redon, or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Towards Infinity" (1995, 5min) - 2
September
17. Mamma Mia - 2
18. The Romance of Astrea and Celadon - 1 (this movie was actively painful)
Posted by webcowgirl @ Jan 12, 2008 12:00:38 PM [Link]
Jan 11, 2008 8:45:21 AM
I'm continuing to try to reduce the number of books I buy, but with little luck. Last year's list is here, for reference.
January
1. Samuel Pepys: the Unequalled Self - Claire Tomalin
2. Berlitz Arabic phrase book and dictionary
3. The Victorians - A.N. Wilson (from the bookstore near Putney station)
4. Indian Cooking - Savitri Chowdhary
5. Indian Cooking - Naomi Good
February
6. *The Prisoner and the Fugitive - Marcel Proust
7. *Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris
March8. Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
9. Memories of My Melancholy Whores - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
10. Hoo-Hahs and Passing Frenzies - Francis Wheen
11. Coram Boy - Jamila Gavin
12. Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia: the bizarre life of writer, actor, Soho dandy Julian Maclaren-Ross - Paul Willets
13. The Waves at Genji's Door: Japan Through Its Cinema - Joan Mellen
14. *Grave Surprise (Berkley Prime Crime Mysteries) Harris, Charlaine
15. *Shakespeare's Trollop Harris, Charlaine
16. *Shakespeare's Champion (Lily Bard Mysteries) Harris, Charlaine
17. *Dead to the World Harris, Charlaine
18. Something Rotten* (Thursday Next Novels) Fforde, Jasper
19. *Miracle and Other Christmas Stories Willis, Connie
20. Red Lightning - Varley, John
21. SuperHeroes - Varley, John
22. Master of Space & Time - Rucker, Rudy
23. Real Sicilian Cookery - Maria Concetta Arrigo
24. Cooking in Siciliy - Eufemia Azzolina Pupella
April
25. Candide - Voltaire (in French)
26. Tales of Toyland - Enid Blyton
27. Glasshouse - Charles Stross
28. Real Murders* (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries) - Charlaine Harris
29. A Bone to Pick* (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries) - Charlaine Harris
30. Shakespeare's Champion* (Lily Bard Mysteries) - Charlaine Harris
31. The Cambridge Companion to Proust (Cambridge Companions to Literature) - Richard Bales
32. Second ACT Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs - Steven Suskin
33.* The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse - Robert Rankin
34. *The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime - Jasper Fforde
35. *The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime -Jasper Fforde
May
36. Pinter in the Theatre - Ian Smith
37. Perfumes and Flavours of Liguria: The Real Ligurian Kitchen - Laura Rangoni
June
38. Sultry Climates: Travel and Sex since the Grand Tour - Ian Littlewood
39. When You Are Engulfed in Flames* - David Sedaris
40. Following Proust: Norman Churches, Cathedrals, and Paris Paintings - Susan Baker
July
41. The BFG - Roald Dahl
42. The Squirrel and the Pixie - Enid Blyton
43. The Tale of Samuel Whiskers - Beatrix Potter
44. Software Testing: An ISEB Foundation* - Brian Hambling
45. Time Regained* - Marcel Proust
46. Madame Bovary* - Gustave Flaubert
47. Spook Country* - William Gibson
48. Halting State* -Charles Stross
49. *Thursday Next: First Among Sequels - Jasper Fforde
50. Promised Land* - Connie Willis
51. An Ice Cold Grave* - Charlaine Harris
52. Explore the Coast of Devon - Paul Wreyford
53. English Architecture at a Glance - Architectural Press
August
54. Remembrance of Things Past - the play adapted by Harold Pinter and Di Trevis
October
55. Bologna: A City to Discover
56. The Cuisine of Italy: All the Recipes - Demetra Giunti
November
57. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency* - Alexander McCall Smith
December
58. Shakespeare's Christmas* - Charlaine Harris
59. Budayeen Nights - George Alec Effinger
60. Proust In Love - William C. Carter
61. The Architecture of Happiness - Alain De Bottom
62. Dead as a Doornail* - Charlaine Harris
63. Shakespeare's Counselor* - Charlaine Harris
64. All Together Dead - Charlaine Harris
65. Innamorata - Michael Manning
66. Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris
Posted by webcowgirl @ Jan 11, 2008 8:45:21 AM [Link]
Jan 11, 2008 8:40:14 AM
Last year I saw the most shows ever - seventy-eight! I'm off to a bit of a slow start for 2008, thanks to having a houseguest and now a powerful cold. You can find reviews of most of the shows I've seen on my Wordpress weblog.
January
1. "Les Patineurs" and "The Tales of Beatrix Potter" (both choreographed by Frederick Ashton) - The Royal Ballet - Royal Opera House
2. Othello - The Donmar
February
3. David Mamet's "Speed the Plow" - The Old Vic
4. Annie Get Your Gun - Union Theatre, Southwark
5. Chita Rivera - Shaw Theatre, London
6. The Mikado - Carl Rosa Theatre at The Gielgud
7. Chroma (ballet, again, because it rocked) - Royal Opera House (and I was horrible and left before the other two pieces even started)
8. Shen Yu Performing Arts Ensemble - Royal Festival Hall
9. Homecoming - The Almeida Theatre
March
10. Dealer's Choice - Trafalgar Studios
11. "The Lover" and "The Collection" (two Pinter one-acts) - Comedy Theatre
12. Spring Dance at the Coliseum - City Ballet's Jerome Robbins Program (Four Seasons, Moves, The Concert)
13. Spring Dance at the Coliseum - City Ballet's "Four Voices: Wheeldon ("Carousel"), Martins ("Zakousi"), Bigonzetti ("In Vento"), Ratmansky ("Russian Seasons")
14. Royal Ballet Mixed Rep (Wheeldon's "Electric Counterpoint," Robbins' "Afternoon of a Faun," and Balanchine's "Zigane" - there was also an Ashton piece that I skipped in favor of sleep)
15. Cor Blimey, a Cockney Knees Up - Bethnal Green Working Men's Club
16. The Importance of Being Earnest - The Vaudeville Theatre
April
17. Royal Ballet's "Sylvia" - Royal Opera House
18. Timecode Break - Toronto Dance Theatre - Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House
19. Nederlands Dans Theater - Jirí Kylián's Wings of Wax and Tar and Feathers; Lightfoot and León's Signing Off - Sadler's Wells
20. Ballet Black - Linbury Theater - Royal Opera House
21.Carlos Acosta and Friends (the friends being the Danza Contemporanea de Cuba) - Petipa's "Don Quixote Pas de Deux, George Cespedes' "La Ecuación" and "El Peso de Una Isla," Acosta's "Tocororo Suite"- London Coliseum
22. Wayne McGregor's Random Dance company - "Entity" - Sadler's Wells
23. Slippery Mountain - Not So Loud Chinese Opera Company - New World Restaurant, London (great fun!)
24. Contains Violence - Lyric Hammersmith (bah! too cold and boring to boot)
25. Fram - The National Theatre (vile, avoid at all costs)
26. Major Barbara - The National Theatre (really good show though a bit speechy at the end)
27. Northern Ballet Theatre's "Hamlet" - Sadler's Wells (very good)
28. Dina Martina - Soho Theatre
May
29. Good Soul of Szechuan - Young Vic
30. Lady from the Sea - Arcola
31. The Birthday Party - Lyric Hammersmith
32. New Works in the Linbury - Royal Ballet ("What If," choreography Ernst Meisner, danced by Romany Pajdak and Sergei Polunin; "b," choreography Viacheslav Samodurov, danced by Sarah Lamb and Ivan Putrov; "Of Mozart," choreography Liam Scarlett, dancers a cast of hundreds (or rather eight); "Agitator," choreography Matjash Mrozewski, danced by Isabel McMeekan and Thomas Whitehead; "Monument," choreography Vanessa Fenton, also many dancers; "Stop Me When I'm Stuck," choreography Jonathan Watkins, danced by Yuhui Choe, Lauren Cuthbertson)
33. The Only Girl in the World - Arcola Theatre
June
34. "The Peony Pavilion" part one - Suzhou Kunqu Opera company - Sadler's Wells
35. "The Peony Pavilion" part two ("Romance and Resurrection") - Suzhou Kunqu Opera company - Sadler's Wells
36. Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens - some pub in Bedford
37. "The Peony Pavilion" part three ("Reunion and Triumph") - Suzhou Kunqu Opera company - Sadler's Wells
38. "Dances at a Gathering" (Jerome Robbins) - Royal Ballet - Royal Opera House
39. "Rosmersholm" - Almeida Theatre
40. "Marguerite - the Musical" - Theatre Royal Haymarket
41. The Revenger's Tragedy - National Theatre
42. "Noel Coward's Brief Encounter" - Haymarket Cinema (fantastic!)
43. "The Quiz" - Trafalgar Studios
44. "Dickens Unplugged" - The Comedy Theatre
July
45. Jordi Savall- The Apotheosis of the Viol (York Early Music Festival)
46. Emma Kirkby and Peter Harvey - How Shall We Sing The Lord's Song in a Strange Land
47. Yorkshire Bach Choir and Yorkshire Baroque Soloists - Handel's "Israel in Egypt"
48. Hairspray - Shaftesbury Theater
49. Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras - "Sabores" - Sadler's Wells
50. Under Blue Skies - Duke of York Theatre
51. Monkey (Journey to the West) Opera - Royal Opera House
52. Giselle - Mikhailovsky Ballet, London Coliseum
53. They're Playing Our Song - Menier Chocolate Factory
August
54. Wink the Other Eye - Wilton's Music Hall
55. Wizard of Oz - Royal Festival Hall
56. Pygmalion - Old Vic
57. I, Lear - Trafalgar Studios
58. West Side Story - Sadler's Wells
59. Jordi Savall and Rolf Lislevand - BBC Proms Series - Cadogan Hall
60. Miss Behave's Naugty Nighty - The Roundhouse
September
61. Matthew Bourne's Dorian Grey - Sadler's Wells
62. Proprius - Random Dance company at Covent Garden
63. "Landscape" & "A Slight Ache" - National Theater
64. Living Together - Old Vic Theater
65. Helium - Barbican
66. Fat Pig - Comedy Theatre
October
67. Merce Cunningham mixed bill (Crises, Xover, Biped) - Barbican
68. La Clique - London Hippodrome
69. Mariinsky ballet all Forsythe mixed bill (Steptext, Approximate Sonata, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, In the Middle Somewhat Elevated) - Sadler's Wells
70. Zorro - Garrick Theater
71. Creditors - Donmar
72. Flamenco Concert (El Capullo de Jerez, Remedios Amaya, El Farruco) - El Palau de Musica, Barcelona
73. Now or Later - Royal Court Jerwood
74. Spyski - Peeoplykus at Lyric Hammersmith
75. All Stravinsky Program (Petroushka, Firebird, Le Baiser de la Fée) - Birmingham Ballet at Sadler's Wells
November
76. Impressing the Czar - Royal Ballet Flanders - Sadler's Wells
77. Partenope - English National Opera
78. Firsts (Compania LA, Chisato Minaminura Dance Company, Albert Quesada and Vera Tussing, Helen Stromberger) - Linbury Studio
79. Three Short Works (Voluntaries, The Lesson, Infra) - The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House
80. August Osage County - Steppenwolf Theater at the National Theatre, London
81. Cinderella - Lyric Hammersmith
82. Riders to the Sea - English National Opera
December
83. Gesthemane - National Theatre
84. A Little Night Music - Menier Chocolate Factory
85. In A Dark Dark House - Almeida Theatre
86. “Mother Goose” - Hackney Empire
87. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - 1927 at the Battersea Arts Centre
88. Emma Kirkby - St. John's Smith Square
89. Dance Dance Revolution -
90. South Pacific - Lincoln Center
91. Klezmer Nutcracker - Vital Theater Company
92. The Nutcracker - New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center
93. Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab - Some Small Theater, NYC
Posted by webcowgirl @ Jan 11, 2008 8:40:14 AM [Link]