SPARTACUS

"If there were no gods I'd still worship them; if there were no Rome I'd still dream of her"--Spartacus

Sunday afternoon I saw the cinemacast of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet again, this time with Mary of the Classical Music Meetup.  The popcorn disagreed with me:  I should lay off it for a while.

Monday I went to Paolo and Catriona's open house in North York.  I bought mixed berries for the potluck at the Loblaw's near Bathurst Street and used their self-service checkout for the first time.  (Remind me to go there when it's less busy!) Getting to those places is an adventure for me.

Last night I saw Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, for at least the fourth time, at the Lightbox in all its 70mm glory.  I'd hoped to make it a History Discussion Group event but this was the wrong time of year.

It's one of those movies that gets even better with repeat viewings.   It's more intelligent than most of the ancient epics that were fashionable in the '50s and early '60s.  Kubrick didn't have the creative control he later became accustomed to, but he keeps things moving for the whole three hours.  What a Polish face Kirk Douglas has!  It's minor flaws seem very minor. (John Dall's delivery of the line "I don't know how I shall ever be able to repay you" makes the audience laugh.

I just finished watching the last episodes of Mad Men.  When you think about it, it's a pretty depressing show.  It ended with one of the most cynical commercials of all time:  the Coke ad with young people singing "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"!