The Ballet

I went to the ballet last night with Barrett and his beau. Call me a third wheel, but I couldn't pass up the chance to see American Ballet Theatre's All Star Opening Night Gala. It was amazing! The dancers were the best I've ever seen. The choreography, too, was thrilling and beautiful and superlative in every way. They performed several pas de deux, including two Tchaikovsky pieces. These elegant performances were my favorite, I think. Barrett preferred the finale: scenes from Rodeo. Read his thoughts here.

The Writing on the Wall

The walls of the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago are adorned with quotes for book lovers. Here's one of my favorites:

The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.

-T.S. Eliot

Self-portrait or A Train with a View

A Case for Mass Destruction

Something's been bothering me. I don't understand how anyone could have thought that the war in Iraq would be quick and the transition in government "manageable." I can't decide if our trusty leader and his advisers REALLY thought this or if it's just another ruse. It also makes me think I'm a lot smarter, even, than I thought I was. The following is from an article at the NYT:

The memo indicates the two leaders [Bush and Blair] envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups." Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.

Ah, the difficulties of coming up with reasons for attack. Pesky Americans who feel like there should be a reason for war. From the same article:

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.

While I Was Sleeping

Well, loyal readers, it seems that while I was living it up (i.e. nursing a head cold, cajoling letters of recommendation for a scholarship, watching Bonanza with my grandparents) in KY this spring break, the newshounds were hard at work. I was scooped. Our friend Trent posted this on his blog, Catallarchy. He has dedicated himself to gaining 15 lbs of muscle mass in 100 days, but what he didn't expect is the attention he would attract. He said he's had comments from people who saw his post on a blog roundup on ESPN's Cold Pizza. He also had a mention in the Evansville Courier-Journal (I have a PDF scan of this clip on my e-mail, but obviously can't link to that), the Lexington Herald-Leader and the L.A. Times.

I may be a little slower on the uptake, but I'm one step ahead. As it turns out, I have before pictures. I won't publish them here...unless the price is right. Any takers?

Check Trent's progress here, here and here.

Also, from the looks of this, this and this, it seems like somebody has enough time on his hands to write me a letter.

By hand.

With an honest-to-God envelope and a stamp.

What's In a Name?

Here's something I thought was interesting. I went to an Oscar Party last weekend (and won a game to pick the winners with a whopping 12 correct!) with friends from school. One of them received a text message just after the winner of the Best Foreign Film category was announced. The text was from another friend who is Palestinian, and she was commenting on the Academy's decision to refer to the film "Paradise Now" as a movie from the Palestinian Territories, rather than Palestine. It's not something I would have noticed otherwise. People do, though, and, once again, I am surprised and enthralled by the power of language! Here's an excerpt from a Los Angeles Times article (via Boston.com):

Some Israelis were incensed that the organizers of the Golden Globes listed the film as coming from ''Palestine," because there is no state by that name.

''The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was not appointed by the international community to give out franchises for establishing sovereign nation states," columnist Sever Plotzker wrote in Yediot Aharonot, an Israeli daily newspaper. ''The organizers of the Golden Globe contest were not, therefore, given a permit to establish 'Palestine.' "

Israel quietly lobbied Oscar organizers in favor of ''Palestinian Authority," the term that applies to the formal Palestinian government structure in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The official Oscar website lists the movie as from Palestine, though organizers may opt for a different designation on awards night.

How about that quote from Plotzker? GEEZ. It's no wonder there's no peace in the Middle East.

Along the same lines, I was reading a book by an Arab-American guy I'm profiling and he says that when his mother would write letters to her family in Jerusalem in the 1950s and '60s, she would have to write "Israel" on the envelope. If she wrote "Palestine," the letter would be returned with a stamp saying, "No Such Address." He said his mother would always write "Jerusalem, via Israel" as a quiet, but stubborn protest. I asked him about this in an interview and he said, "and it’s both sides the Arabs and the Jews do that to each other all the time." He also wrote that when his parents traveled backhome they didn't allow Israeli customs to stamp their passports, because if they did, they wouldn't be allowed to enter other Arab countries with those passports.

The Last Supper

The Berghoff, a Chicago landmark, closed on Tuesday after 107 years in business. I've been to the bar - the bar that was the first in Chicago to get a liquor license after Prohibition, the bar that didn't serve women until 1969, the bar that, therefore, has an easily accessible men's restroom but requires women to go through the restaurant, down a winding staircase and into a wood-paneled basement where alas! there is a women's loo and another men's as well - but I intended to eat at the restaurant before they closed the doors for good. I didn't make it. The lines and the cold, the school work and the abject poverty kept me away. Sad! I've just thought of the name of the post (above) I would have written about the experience, and now I'm kicking myself (again!) for not going.

Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the new edition to the blog. ..the advertisement. That's not entirely true. I don't like it, but I've attached it in part to remind myself to listen to Kate Havnevik's album. Mayhaps if I had done something similar with the Berghoff visit, I wouldn't be where I am now. Where is that, praytell?

Without any Weiner Schnitzle, that's for sure.

Pandora's Box Set

So here's something. The last couple of weeks I've been really tired of all the music on Rococo -my dainty, pink ipod mini. It's frustrating. The days of stealing music with any kind of ease are over. This website has a program called Pandora that uses your favorite artist or song to figure out other music you'll like. It plays songs, and you can vote on the program's picks to make the process more precise. You can't rewind or replay favorite tracks, but there are direct links to Amazon and iTunes Music Store. Ahhh, the beauty of capitalism.

Good News!

The Chicago River will be turned green on my birthday! I'm going home on the 15th, and I thought I was going to miss it. There's even a parade.

Swan Lake Lite

Last Friday I went to see Matthew Bourne's interpretation of "Swan Lake" with my ballet buddy Barrett (two weeks ago we went to see "Romeo and Juliet") and my friend Lauren. I've been waiting for Barrett to post his review of the show on his blog, so I could link to it rather than write my own. I think his review is right on. That said, I much prefer the original ballet. I was skeptical going in about the male swans, but they turned out to be the show's salvation. Call me a purist, but I love, love, love traditional ballet - the tip-toe steps, the spins, the jumps - and that is why this rendition just didn't thrill me. I enjoyed it, though. Check out Barrett's review here.