HoodedHawk

This week’s Nature has a report by researchers studying the moray eel. Seems they have found that the eels’ have a second set of jaws (ala the alien in the movie Alien) that helps them to hold on to prey. Unlike Alien, the 2nd set of jaws doesn’t pop out of the animal, but it does move forward to grab on to prey and help the eel swallow. Neat!

Kirsten and I went to see 33 Variations Sunday night at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. The play, written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, is about a present-day musicologist (Katherine, played by Mary Beth Peil) who (despite her daughter’s objections) travels to Bonn for research on Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli. The daughter, Clara (played by Laura Odeh) begins an initially awkward relationship with her mother’s (male) nurse Mike (played by Greg Keller) and they both eventually follow her mother to Bonn.

The staging of the play is great – for example while a librarian in Bonn is showing Katherine a manuscript of some of the variations, the stage behind the actors shows a projection of the manuscript, with the portion of the text highlighted. Musical accompaniment on stage is by Diane Walsh on piano – she times the music perfectly with the performers. The music is great (hey, it’s Beethoven!), and I picked up a CD by Diane Walsh while there.

The play is at times poignant, as mother and daughter come to terms with the mother’s wasting disease – and at times hysterically funny, as when Clara and Mike go out on a first date.

I really enjoyed this play (as did Kirsten) and highly recommend it. It runs through September 30, 2007.

Yesterday I went to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. to see the Desiderio da Settignano (c. 1429–1464) exhibit. Desiderio was a Renaissance sculptor, working in Florence. It’s a small exhibit (just 2 galleries), but the sculptures on display are wonderful. The details in the busts, especially of children, make them seem so lifelike – almost like a cast was made directly from a real person. Photography wasn’t allowed in the exhibit, but it is allowed in the rest of the (permanent) collection. I wandered about after looking at the Desiderio exhibit, and I’ve put some pictures online. I’d been to the East Building a number of times, but this was the first time (that I can recall) that I tried the West Building. Well worth a visit – and like most of the National museums it is free.

I especially liked Titian’s portrait of a gentleman (see below). I love the expression on the man’s face.

Giorgione and Titian: Portrait of a Venetian Gentleman, c. 1510

Spanish Lady

I went to see William Gibson at Politics and Prose bookstore last night. As expected, the place was packed – but since I got there an hour ahead, I got a seat up front. He was giving a reading and signing of his new book, Spook Country. I enjoyed both Pattern Recognition (his previous book) and Spook Country – though neither are Science Fiction. Gibson read a chapter from Spook Country that was based in DC. He then answered audience questions and signed books.

In the past 2 weeks I have read Pattern Recognition as well as Spook Country back-to-back. Both books are mainstream novels and are both set in the present day; they have one character in common. However, Spook Country can be read without having read Pattern Recognition first. Basically Spook Country is a crime caper of sorts. The main character, Hollis Henry is a former rock musician turned journalist. She is working for a new magazine “Node”, and doing an article on a new art form, “locative art”. Locative art is basically using virtual reality tech to overlay scenes on real-life places. Hollis’ employer subsequently asks her to investigate something else.

Another thread has a Cuban-Chinese mob family helping to get something smuggled into the country. A third thread has Mr. Brown (who may or may not be a govt. agent) following Tito (of the Cuban-Chinese family). Mr. Brown “employs” (ok, blackmails) a Russian speaking junkie to help him. All three threads come together eventually…

I just finished a book by Geoff Dyer, Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It. It was on the “recommended” shelf at a local bookstore, Olsson’s Books. Intrigued, I picked it up; it’s a quick read. It’s not a self help or yoga book – rather, it’s basically a collection of 11 essays by Dyer on his various travels around the planet. It involves quite a bit of drinking and getting stoned, but he does meet a lot of people. His writing is at a level or two above what you might think from the previous sentence, and many of the essays/chapters are quite humorous. My favorite essay/chapter is #7, “The Despair of Art Deco” – mainly for his hysterical rendering of his quest for a mouse-free hotel room. Dyer tells about his travels to New Orleans, Chicago, and South Beach (chp 7), but also Cambodia, Libya, Thailand, etc. This book is also the first time I got a good explanation of the “Burning Man Festival” in the Southwest.

Recommended.