Showing posts with label Waiting for Godot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waiting for Godot. Show all posts

Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween Flicks





There are so many movie options to match Halloween. From horror to gothic, to slasher, to humorous, this entry could last a while. Young Frankenstein, Rocky Horror, The Exorcist, all very viable options for Halloween viewing. As for me, I'm more 'Halloween-lite'. My picks this year? Nothing says Halloween like some good B-movies. Tonight is a double feature of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, followed by one from the Godzilla boxed set we have. Tomorrow we're going for some animation. There's the recent pic, Coraline, from the makers of Nightmare Before Christmas, about a spooky parallel universe. Another option is Spirited Away, an incredibly imaginative piece by the Japanese god of Animation, Hayao Miyazaki. I've seen it twenty times and I'm always blown away by its imaginative details. Don't ask me what it means; just know that it makes the incredible, credible. Finally, there's the ever-classic tale of faith-- The Great Pumpkin. In all seriousness, it is Waiting for Godot for children. How long do you wait for the Great Pumpkin? What alternatives do you have? Schultz was a devout man who infused the depth of his thought with childish irreverence. Of course there was a golden period with him-- they have an entire collection starting with the fifties, which are amazingly good all the way into the seventies.
I notice all of these pieces take place with the nighttime being a time of mystery, of depth, of transformation. My first novella, Searching for Moongirl is set at night. Most of my paintings, heck all of my paintings, are set at night. Surrealism, dreams, psychology, all realms of the night.
So on the night before All Hallow's Eve, a cozy night of movies and star-lit skies end the week in the most lovely way. I hope your night is wonderful, too.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Worth the Wait


Last Saturday night, I treated James to the recent production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot for his birthday. This is a show to catch if at all possible. The production, which features an amazing cast of Nathan Lane, John Goodman, John Glover, and BIll Irwin, has received rave reviews and I couldn't agree more. Irwin, whose wordless comedic performance in Fool Moon amazed us years ago, brought the ever faithful Vladimir to life with charm and wit. Lane has his usual outstanding stage presence, offering some surprising humor to the tragicomedy. Seeing the play brought us back to the moment when we first read it, and made us reevaluate the existential idea that Godot never shows up. This time around, we saw characters who might have seen Godot, even within themselves, but may have missed it because they were looking in the wrong places.