I'm in a good mood!

James Cagney (to his veteran brother): "You didn't get those medals by holding hands with them Germans!"--The Public Enemy

Why am I in a good mood?  Because Debi in the History Discussion Group told me that her apartment building has a common room with a DVD player that we might be able to use for screening historical movies as I planned! (Malcolm in the Classic Book Club has several DVDs we can show.) But we'll have to see how things work out, of course.

I'm also in a good mood because Bernie Sanders has been winning several state caucuses and can't yet be counted out of the race. (If the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton, they'll be taking a big risk!)

Wednesday night we had choir practice and Paolo was pleased by my list of our past material.  That evening we tried some new folk songs, some of which I remember doing in past years.

Thursday night I saw William Wellman's The Public Enemy yet again with the Classic Movie Meetup at Eton House.  It's one of those movies I can see over and over!  Besides James Cagney and Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell has a supporting role. (She's one of my favourite '30s actresses.) That's when I met Debi, who mentioned the room.

This afternoon I went to John Snow's book club.  I didn't have time to read Camus' The Plague or the Wilde story "Birth of the Infanta," but I did finish the Mann story "Little Herr Friedemann"!

Afterward I saw the documentary Crazy About Tiffany's at the Bloor.  Luxury kind of depresses me.

Danny Boy

I mentioned that I sang "Danny Boy" at the History Discussion Group the other week.  Since this is the season of St. Patrick's Day, I got to do it a few more times.

Last week I sang it to the memoir group and they were charmed.  The room where we meet has a curved ceiling which causes echoes.  That's an obstacle to hearing conversation, but it's well suited to singing.

Saturday I sang it at the Play Readthrough Meetup, which I hadn't been to for a while, at the Annette library.  We had fun reading through J.M. Synge's Playboy of the Western World, which I saw on the stage back at age eight! (I was a bit late because the St. Clair streetcar wasn't operating, but that didn't matter.) I think I can speak with a brogue!

Sunday I sang it for the Reading Out Loud Meetup, where the topic was Irish writing.  I read the chapter in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels where he visiting the grand academy of Lagodo (he was making fun of the Royal Society, I now realize); the section of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes where he made good money selling a banned magazine page on birth control; the introductory verses of the first three cantos of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen; and W.B. Yeats' "A Prayer for My Daughter."

I've made a list of all the music the choir's done since I joined it a dozen years ago, and printing it out took a dozen pages!  (I'd saved all the scores they gave me.) I was going to give it to Paolo at Monday night's rehearsal, but it got delayed to tomorrow night!

Tonight I went to a Theology Meetup with a pastor talking about translating and codifying the Torah.  This stuff fascinates me!

Reading Doctor Zhivago, I've found myself slipping in and out of it. (I felt the same way reading a long essay by fellow Russian Joseph Brodsky.)

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO

"He invited Mama, but Mama could not go, she was indisposed.  Mama said, 'Take Lara.  You're always cautioning me, "Amalia, see to Lara." So go now and see to her.' And he saw to her all right!  Hahaha!"-- Doctor Zhivago (whoopee, a triple-iterated quotation!)

(after a handshake) "You have quite an imagination!  That's what comes from writing movies." "You have quite a grip!  That's what comes from counting cash"--In a Lonely Place

I finally finished the philanthropy issue of Lapham's Quarterly and now I've started the fashion issue.  I've also started reading Doctor Zhivago in its new translation, for John Snow's book club.  In the first chapter he introduces two important characters who aren't in the movie!

I've had mixed feelings about the movie--beautiful but a bit superficial--but the novel is starting to grow on me.  The description of the protest march is pretty vivid. (When I was reading it I missed my subway stop and had to get off at Eglinton West to return to St. Clair West!)

Sunday afternoon I was going to see the movie of South Pacific at the Event Screen, but I was an hour late! (Bloody Daylight Savings Time...) But at least I wasn't late for a Meetup event.  That evening I saw the documentary Guantanamo's Child:  Omar Khadr at the Bloor.  He clearly should have been treated as a child soldier instead of being railroaded for murder and subjected to a show trial.  His case reminds me of a classic Apocalypse Now! line: "Charging a guy with murder here was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500!"

Last night I saw Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place (for the second time) at the Lightbox with the Movie Meetup.  It has one of Humphrey Bogart's scariest performances, and great dialogue by Andrew Solt.  Today they'd put Bogey in "anger management." Which reminds me, it's always seemed to me they should have something like anger management for people who make other people angry!

History Discussion Group

"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one"--Spotlight

Wednesday night I finally saw Spotlight at Canada Square. (There were only half a dozen people there!) It's a pretty intelligent look at the newspaper business.  Journalists are a bit like lawyers and soldiers:  some people would consider their work unsavoury, but society ultimately depends on them.  In her famous profile of Joe McGinnis in The New Yorker, Janet Malcolm asserted the paradox that reporters play con games to get to the truth.  Now I want to read the book it was based on.

Thursday night at the History Discussion Group we talked about mass emigration from Ireland and Ken McGoogan's Celtic Lightning.  There was a bit of confusion because we got confused with another reservation for just two people!  But we got straightened out and got the big room in back. (I'd made a reservation for ten people, and eleven showed up.) I didn't do much talking, but toward the end I sung "Danny Boy" a cappella!

Last night I saw The Revenant at Canada Square.  The photography was breathtaking!  The land was almost a character in itself.

I finished I, Claudius yesterday.  Now it's time to start getting caught up with Lapham's Quarterly:  I still haven't finished the fall issue!  John Snow mailed me a copy of Thomas Mann's short story "Little Herr Friedemann," which we'll be discussing at his next book club, so I'll have no excuse not reading it.

This afternoon one of my Movie Meetup groups had a colouring session! (Mathew rented a space near Glad Day bookstore.) I coloured a design of roses and one called "Secret Garden."

Just now I've been watching Peanuts specials on Youtube.  I like the jazzy music and the sound that indicates teachers' voices!

THE FORCE AWAKENS

"Women always figure out the truth.  Always!"--Han Solo

We've put both operas to bed.  Elixir finished Saturday night, Fledermaus Sunday afternoon.  At the last performance, before coming onstage in the second act I felt unusually sleepy.  Moira and our friend Pui-tak came to see it. 

Beatrice didn't announce what we're doing next year like she did at the final show last year.  On Thursday night the opera group is coming together to take turns with informal singing, which sounds fun, but that's the same night as my History Discussion Group!

I like the weather just now, with some snow still on the ground but the temperature above thawing. (I've come to see March as a favourite month of mine.) I've put away my winter coat and brought out my spring jacket.  This afternoon I visited the Davenport and Wychwood library branches to see if I could spot any books suitable for my Classic Book Club or my History Discussion Group.  I didn't find anything, but I really just wanted to get out of the house!

Since I have some free time now, I went to see J.J. Abrams' Star Wars sequel The Force Awakens tonight at Canada Square.  Lots of plot elements from the earlier movies getting put together in a new way.  It was competently made, but meh.  I think I'm too old for the fantasy adventure genre. (In middle age I've come to understand how my parents felt about this kind of entertainment--or didn't feel--back when I was young.) It was a bit sad to see Harrison Ford reprising Han Solo:  unlike Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, he outgrew this kids' stuff.  I could have seen it in 3-D, but didn't bother.

Super Tuesday

In case you're wondering, I've proved well enough for the last week of the opera.  I even managed to bake the gingerbread for them to sell as I'd promised. (It sold out completely!) Before tonight's performance of Elixir, while putting on my makeup, as usual I put a kleenex over my peasant costume's neckline to keep it from being smudged.  Only tonight, I forgot to take it off and wore the kleenex onstage!  And the twist is, it actually improved the costume a bit.

After Super Tuesday, some Clintonites have been claiming that the Sanders campaign is finished.  They remind me of General Santa Anna in Texas Rising saying about Sam Houston's Texan army, "They're too stupid to realize they've lost the war!" (He says this after taking the Alamo but before being routed and captured at San Jacinto.)

Last night I finally finished Celtic Lightning and can now focus on finishing I, Claudius.  The battle scenes are tightly depicted, reflecting Robert Graves' own experience in World War I.  The depiction of Rome's war with Germany surely has a subtext about that conflict.  No doubt there's also a subtext about the uneasy British Empire between the world wars.

After really warm weather on Sunday, it got really cold again for the last few days.  I can't wait to be finished with my winter boots!

Our cable company is now offering a la carte channel subscriptions, so I'm now considering what we might pick up.  The CBC and BBC news channels are our highest priorities, and al-Jazeera and CNN International also sound interesting.  I'm also thinking of Turner Classic Movies.

Leap Day

I'm almost over my cold.  It's past its peak and is now in the final headache phase.

I'm finished with "hell week." I warned Beatrice that I might not be able to make the last week of shows, but I'm still hopeful that I can.  Sunday Moira came to see Elixir and afterward we walked home together. (The weather was nice, but today the temperature dropped sharply.)

At Thursday's opera show, I ended up putting on way too much shade and had to add a whole lot of powder to blend it.  But overall I've got pretty good at applying my own makeup.  For me the hardest part isn't being onstage but waiting in the wings.  When a task is impending it looks really big, but it doesn't seem so big once you're actually doing it!  In my spare time backstage I've been reading I, Claudius.

Moira borrowed the miniseries Texas Rising from the library, about the 1836 Texan War of Independence.  She seemed to lose interest when she found out how long it was, but I've started watching it.  It doesn't stint on brutality. (Crispin Glover, an actor who's always interested me, has a supporting role.)

At today's memoir group there were eighteen people!

I'm depressed about Hillary Clinton winning the South Carolina primary.  If she gets nominated Trump will crush her for sure! (She's the sort of "establishment" figure who'll be convenient for him to run against.) The online people who keep denouncing Bernie Sanders with talk of "free stuff" and "unicorns" remind me of Joseph's brothers saying, "Here cometh the dreamer.  Let us slay him, then we shall see what happens to his dreams!"