This Blessed Plot, This Earth, This Realm: July 2012

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Happy Olympics!

In honor of tonight's festivities, I listened to Lord Sebastian Coe's Desert Island Discs. The man is absolutely fascinating. And really likes jazz.

I also have been gearing up for the Olympic Games by watching "Twenty Twelve". It includes an All-Star cast featuring Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham), Jessica Hynes (Spaced), and Olivia Colman (Peep Show/That Mitchell and Webb Look). The best part is that it's narrated by a completely dead-pan David Tennant, which ties the entire thing together. It's more of a parody/satire than an actual comedy but it also so close to real-life Britain where nobody ever wants to insult or cause problems but still continually causes problems. And you could urn this easily into adrinking game where you take a drink everytime Sioban Sharpe (Head of Brand from PR Company Perfect Curve) says "Sure" and Ian Fletcher (Head of the Olympic Deliverance Committee) says "Yes... no... absolutely..." And also every time I hear someone say "it's about Legacy," I think "no, I think it's actually about sustainability..."

I'm also wearing my Mind the Gap T-shirt, which I bought the very first time I was in London completely by myself. I will never get rid of it. Incidentally, it was also the very first thing I bought EVER on my first trip to London alone.

I was actually in London (and Paris) when they were vying for the Bid. I wrote a city comparison between those two cities and that was part of my focus. BACK THE BID certainly paid off for London.

And now here are my favorite things about the Opening Ceremonies. The most favorite thing was definitely how FAST the athletes walked in (Bob and Matt told us that about fifteen million times- what a quick clip! we're editing our notes! ok we get it!). But here are some other favorite parts- because I certainly loved the uniquenesss of these ceremonies.

Mary Poppins, the trampoline beds and fighitng the reallllly frightening puppets

The sets were incredible.... from idyllic green island...

to the Industrial Revolution that totally shaped Britain to be what it is today

This was hysterical.... "Mr. Bean" daydreaming about his life as a runner....

I thought this was so clever- each country carried one of these petals and then
the torch set one aflame and the rest quickly lit up as well...
finally the petals all rose to create the Olympic torch: breathtaking

Most people thought this was weird but I read an article about how the
Ceremonies were all about what gives England its identity. And the
NHS certainly is one of that

Oh Olympics, how I love you, for your good, your bad, your humor, your tear-inducing moments, your commercials, your national anthems, you moments of triump. Here's to two plus amazing weeks!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Week 1 of AXP Magic

Week One of AXP was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. We were really lucky with our excursions, seeing Spamalot on the first night, which was so much fun in its own way. I love seeing shows multiple times and being able to compare musical choices, budgets, creative choices and improvisational skills. The kids got some of it but Leslie, who was sitting a few seats down from me, was dying with laughter.

I enjoyed my CE class and the things they came up with. They liked to laugh, enjoyed listening to music, for the most part enjoyed sharing and if they didn't, wrote some really insightful things. I'm always impressed by what they come up with. I'm not sure I would have been as eloquent as some at their age. And of course, others are still very immature. Well, they still have time....

"Today I discovered that it wasn't very hard to make friends at arts express." -Sydney D.

"We sing weird songs on the bus." -Debbie

"My goal is to play By the River in music class correctly." -Hunter

"I discovered that British comedy is mostly in their actions, more than their words." -Allison

"Today I discovered that if you are positive all the time you will find yourself having more fun than before." -Amber

"My discovery is that I can learn a lot of people's names." -Toni

"I discovered that a person named Cole died and inspired people to start this program called arts-x-press." -Misael A.

"Today I discovered that there is no right or wrong in art." -Kianna

"During dance, we were trying to think about who inpsired me, I thought about as I was yelling Goodbye to my family. Who got me up in the morning? who made me want to be a better person? It was as simple as the sky was blue: Anna, my six-year-old sister was my inspiration. She loves me so much and as I sit here writing, I love her too! What an amazing discovery and I got in from dance!" -Matt

Yesterday we talked about what inspired us that started with the same name as us as: Sam is inspired by salmon, Sydney is inspired by salami, Matt is inspired by masterpieces, Debbie by dance, Allison by art. Today we discussed more in depth about what inspires us and how we might express that. Here are some of our examples.

by Sam

by Stephanie

by Gracelynn

by Morgan

by Taryn

by Jafeth

by Lily

On Sunday night, the kids were lucky to see West Side Story at the chance theater. You can kind of see in the picture below how the stage was set up. There is a row of seats on one side, the long stage in the middle (where the kiddos are standing... they took over the stage at intermission) and seats on the otherside facing the other seats. All the action took place in the middle, right in their faces, and also behind and above them. It was such a great show, really up close and personal, and the kids were entranced (and shocked and even let out some gasps and shrieks throughout the show). They did not want to stop asking questions during the talk-back. I'd go back and see if again if I could but they are sold out!

Festival of the Arts and Pageant were the same as usual although there were a lot of new artists being exhibited at FOA. It was nice to see some new blood and a slightly different layout instead of feeling like you see the same thing every single year. Pageant was a lot more subdued this year, which I appreciated, and it was slightly shorter than usual! They picked some great pieces of art though, including several Norman Rockwells and a lot of statues and sculptures.

Staff putting on their own Pageant piece

toilet seats at pink at FOA

Misael, Matt and Stephanie

me and Al Pal!

Hunter's raku pot

the "Allisons"

The kids did a great job at the Parent presentation and the talent show was nice and short because they were very collaborative- lots of HUGE groups doing skits which always cuts down. I didn't get to enjoy the party because my diabetic kid had low blood sugar and we needed to monitor that but if that was the worst thing that would have happened all week, I'll take it.

a rare feet up moment at AXP

no water for us that week.... :)

my sweet CE class

siblings! I had Gracelynn this year and Ernie two years ago

... so let's sing our song....

TIRED CE teachers

I usually teach two weeks in a row so it'll be nice to have a week off before Session 3. Can't wait!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Dying with laughter

I can't handle this. Words can't express how much I love this video. Oh Bobs-a-lot.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Frankenstein Part 2

Somehow I discovered that "Frankenstein" was playing as a double feature at the Barclay last week and so again, of course, jumped at the opportunity. The early show that I couldn't see was Benedict as the Creature so everything worked out just perfectly. Shiri, Youval, and Shiri's friend Dana came with me and we joined a sold-out showing. I had read that as good as Benedict had been as the Creature and Jonny as Victor, the flip cast was even better. I actually felt it was the other way around. First of all, the opening scene was a lot shorter the second time- it may have been because I knew what was coming, but I didn't feel as uncomfortable. I felt like Jonny as the Creature adapted to be more and home human than Benedict had as the Creature. And as believable as Benedict was as Victor, he wasn't as sympathetic as Jonny had made him. I had seen an interview with them where Benedict talked about watching stroke victims to get into character and Jonny had mirrored his two-year old and I certainly could tell that after seeing their performances. I loved seeing the show a second time and I loved picking up on things I had missed the first time. Again, if you ever hear of this coming to your town, go see it! You will not regret it!