The fox went out on a chilly night…
He prayed for the moon to give him light He had many a mile to go that night Before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o, Many a mile to go that night Before he reached the town. Or to be … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Arts
Intermezzo
[NOTE: This is a revised version of a previous post.] Some time ago I was taking a walk, listening on my iPod to some ballet music, and I suddenly wondered—for no particular reason—whether the Eliot Feld ballet “Intermezzo” might have … Continue reading →
N. K. Jemison’s Utopia: breaking those eggs
Yesterday commenter “huxley” wrote: I just discovered there’s a new ultra-SJW-intersectional, black, female SF writer, N.K. Jemisin who has won three Hugos and a Nebula since 2016. That’s a very big deal. It puts her into grandmaster level with the … Continue reading →
More things in heaven and earth…
I often read about something that makes me think of Shakespeare’s line from Hamlet: A phrase used by the title character in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet suggests that human knowledge is limited: There are more things in … Continue reading →
I was in Burlington, Vermont this past weekend…
…visiting friends. I also had a yen to see sunset over Lake Champlain, and just to get away and do something a bit different. I had a good meal. The weather was fabulous. I saw a fascinating exhibit of the … Continue reading →
Franco Zeffirelli has died at 96
Franco Zeffirelli died Saturday at the venerable age of 96. But to me, he was and always will be the director of the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet,” a movie that breathed extraordinary life into Shakespeare. The sweep, color, costumes, … Continue reading →
Making gametes for humans
It’s not possible yet, but they’re working on it: Progress toward making “artificial gametes” has been accelerating. In Japan, mice were born from eggs scientists had manufactured in a dish from a tail cell. Chinese scientists later claimed they had … Continue reading →
I don’t know whether or not I like this…
…but one thing I can say about it is that it’s certainly different. I also love the guy’s accent.
Continue reading →How to do an entrechat quatre
In the dance of the little swans thread, commenter “Paul in Boston” asked: What’s the step where they all jump in the air together and “clap” their feet 4 times. How do they do that? I’ll let these pictures (videos) … Continue reading →
Swans, little and big
The dance of the little swans (“cygnets”) from the ballet “Swan Lake” is famous for its precision. It’s not one of those great moments in ballet artistry, but it’s a triumph of technique and synchrony among the four swans who … Continue reading →
“Game of Thrones” do-over
I watched the first two episodes of “Game of Thrones” many years ago at the urging of someone near and dear to me. But I begged off after that. For me, the whole thing was way way WAY too violent, … Continue reading →
More of the astounding Gwen Verdon
Once you watch a YouTube video on a certain topic, YouTube keeps suggesting more. And more. And sometimes I follow their lead—such as recently, with videos of Gwen Verdon that kept coming up following my writing this post about her. … Continue reading →