Movie Review: Night Watch

This past weekend my oldest son, Amnon, turned me on to this Russian supernatural flick he discovered.

Think mash-up of Matrix, Lord of the Rings, True Blood and X-Men. This movie has it all,  sweeping epic battles, mysterious and intriguing characters, spine tingling VFX effects, wild stunts, blood and gore, gorgeous visuals, and even...vampires. This movie is the first post-Soviet Russian supernatural blockbuster, according to wikipedia. And it's on Netflix!

The film has a distinctive color palate throughout, a kind of red and blue take on film noir.  The characters have rich back stories which are only eluded to—the first film in a trilogy—which makes me want to go on to learn more about my new friends.

And who are these new friends? They are Others. Supernaturals who live among us and have the ability to go in and out of "the gloom." (Twilight in the original Russian, but Amnon and I figured they shied away from use of the literal translation to avoid association with a certain vampire series.) Each Other has their own superpower. And each one discovers their Otherness in a unique and often inconvenient way.

Richly imbued with visual symbolism throughout and with a soundtrack ranging from Classical to heavy metal, the movie is carefully crafted. Especially cool for the American viewer is the care with which the subtitles are applied. They almost become another character in the movie—changing fonts and colors, appearing and dissolving in different ways—a kind of visual onomatopoeia.

A few weeks ago this link Must See Sci Fi movies was circulating on Facebook amongst my sci fi writer friends. Night Watch was not on it, which makes me think think Amnon discovered an unknown gem. Day Watch is the sequel, and another one, Twilight watch, is supposedly in the works.

When it comes to the arts Russians just get everything better: literature, opera, ballet, music...corruption. And now they have even taken the lead in supernatural movies.

Concert Review: Cleveland Orchestra— Fauré, Britten, Franck

One of the benefits of spending these years in Cleveland is going to the Cleveland Orchestra, one of my two favorite orchestras in the world. (The other one is the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.)

orchestra takes the stage

This weekend we went to hear:
Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, Opus 80 by Gabriel Fauré
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Opus 31 by Benjamin Britten and
Symphony in D minor, by César Franck 

Marek Janowski, conductor
Matthew Polenzani, tenor
Richard King, horn

I loved the Fauré. The Cleveland Orchestra has the maturity to handle just about anything, and it really shows in the subtleties of this wistful, romantic, modally colored piece. The charming Sicilienne in particular was perfection itself, and I would gladly hear it over and over again.

The Britten, which is the piece I was excited about, was disappointing. The orchestra was superb and the music is absolutely fantastic. But the whole thing hinges on the soloists, and though the horn player was outstanding (what a wonderful instrument!) the tenor was a deal breaker. Though he was an excellent musician—his phrasing and diction were exquisite—the voice itself was stripped of all chest in the sound, and had a very fast bleating vibrato. I personally don't like that feminized sound in a male voice. Even a tenor should have a good warm baritone in the bottom that threads throughout the voice. And I believe Britten wrote the piece to balance the horn with a deeper male sound. Without the grounded male voice the sonorities were lost.

I would like to mention that, aside from Irad, I may be alone in this evaluation as the piece received a standing ovation. Truly, the horn player alone merited the cheers!

The Franck symphony was expertly performed but not my favorite music. Yes, it shows what can be done with a large symphony, but it is a lot of strings and brass, a lot of sound—as in look what a full symphony orchestra can do! —and very artful weaving of repeated themes throughout—but it reads bombastic to my ears. But people love it!

Best of all is sitting in the beautiful hall. It is like being cradled in an envelope of golden warmth. The art deco highlights, the marble staircases - just gorgeous. And the sound is better than any symphony hall I've sat in, with the exception of Carnegie Hall.

gold leaf ceiling

 

Theater Review: Animals Out of Paper

Tonight we went to the Ensemble Theater, "dedicated to the responsible production of works that celebrate the human spirit drawn from the rich cannon of modern American classics as well as other significant contemporary plays." http://www.ensemble-theatre.com.  We saw their production of "Animals Out of Paper," by Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist and fellow Cleveland Heights High alum) and directed by Celeste Cosentino.

Three people in pain: a lonely high school teacher who is an origami fan,  a grieving teen with a intuitive ability to fold anything, and a world famous origami artist on the skids, collide in a way that will change them all. It was a wonderfully written and moving piece for three actors within the unusual setting of an origami studio and exploring the more usual themes of love, loss and human vulnerability. The acting and direction were excellent and the performance was riveting. The second act was an hour long and I couldn't believe when curtain call came because I was certain it had been only 20 minutes—and I have a very accurate internal clock most of the time. Dialogue was pitch perfect, I may pick it up to read.

Gruesome Playground Injuries; Animals Out of Paper; Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo: Three Plays by Rajiv Joseph

The theater itself is a black box theater with three-sided seating in a former elementary school, the old Coventry School, itself a landmark school in the personal histories of many people I know. All around the small concession stand and on tables in the back were many pieces of elaborate origami: animals and insects and dinosaurs and colorfully layered geometric shapes. At intermission we handled, examined and admired more kinds of origami than I have ever seen in one place. And we also had the privilege of speaking with Celeste, the young and enthusiastic director. She explained that all the origami for the show had been generously mailed to her in one giant box from a previous production in Maine.

Tickets were quite reasonable and Ensemble offers a very accommodating flex package. We will be back for more!

Swimming

Irad and I are both life-long swimmers. About eight years ago, we were drafted into a group of local enthusiasts who swim in the same high school pool we swim in—a Masters Swimming group.

ah. beautiful pool.

Swimming with this group has transformed my swimming experience from one of solitary drudgery to communal inspiration. Irad has gone from swimming a careful 1000 yards daily to 4000 yards (once a record 7000) and I have moved up to 2000 meters daily, with the occasional 3200 meters during weekend workouts. We have been exposed to different techniques, such as Total Immersion, (TI) and various approaches, including the one member of our group who is an open-water record setter. Article on first Ohioan to swim across Lake Erie

But most of all, we have gained an interesting and eclectic group of friends from different corners of the Earth—India, Iran, Israel, China and France have all been represented over the years, along with many professions—medicine, music, academia, journalism, engineering, business, home repair, home building. I look forward to first Thursdays of the month when we follow our workouts with "Pizza Night," and always enjoy the swimmer parties hosted at various homes throughout the year.
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Always a warm welcome

We have been so fortunate to have this group of people in our lives, and I can't say enough about the benefits of swimming. It is my lifeline to health and good spirits.

Meeting Facilitation II

It is a few days out from the intensity of our officer's retreat and I have been thinking about what worked best.

In order to keep meetings from dragging and turning into grueling sessions of room-coma, nodding napping and secret Words with Friends playing, I try and mix things around—one agenda item over dinner, one sitting outside on benches, one in small groups that report back, etc.

meeting at board table

meeting over dinner

much more fun

This year during the Happy Hour break we put all of our names in a hat and picked pairs of conversation partners. Whoever wound up  paired spent Happy Hour together in a structured conversation: What is your story? How did you get to this profession?  What have you accomplished in your role as an officer that you feel really good about?

Aloft has a very nice bar with cool conversation corners and the lobby view of the flats.

view from lobby balcony

The next day at the conclusion of the meeting, I used a closing exercise in which we stood and talked about one take-away and one appreciation for another person in the circle. I was struck by how many people cited the experience of one-on-one conversations as a highlight experience. Despite the fact that we have all known each other for years, and are often in large group situations together, setting aside time to really get to know someone one-on-one and in a deeper way had a profound effect on not just each pair, but the group as a whole.

We plan on using the experience in our larger group meetings in November to expand the circle of relationships and build a better team in the large group council of leaders.

Book Review: Just Kids by Patti Smith

It seems there is suddenly an amazing harvest of rock memoirs available. As a child of the 70's I grew up on rock and roll and as a teenager deeply regretted having missed the 60's. Now all the rebel stars I listened to have become the revered sages of our age; the hippies and freaks are now our tribal elders. And they are all rich and famous and impressively eloquent. Moved positions from "never trust anyone over 30" to modeling how hip 60 and even 70 can be. And now, like good elder statesmen and women, they are gifting us with their reminiscences.

My first foray into this field of literature was Patti Smith's memoir, which is about her very early years, how they lead to her meeting Robert Mapplethorpe, and how the two of them, deeply in love, became the nexus of the beat/rock/art scene in the last 60's and early 70's.

Part love story and tribute to Mapplethorpe, and part documentation of an era, the book flits between autobiography, eulogy to a lost love, and zeitgeist roman. And it is equally successful on all fronts.

First and foremost, from the first paragraph on, I was struck by Patti Smith's voice. I have been a fan of her music since my teens, and I still have her iconic "Horses" album in vinyl and her latest "12" digitally. I have turned many people on to her music.

But I knew nothing about her. Based on her raw, punk look and hoarse, expressive sprechstimme singing style, I just assumed she was a drugged out, possibly gay, hard living rocker. But this is not the woman who emerges from the book at all!

Wholesome, spiritual, deeply artistic, loyal, loving, nurturing and wholly without anger or rancor. She is warm, down to earth and utterly lyrical. Writing of her childhood in the late 40's and 50's, growing up in a very working class Catholic family, I see the world of post WWII that shaped her as well as her fervent religious heart, fascination with books and art, and burgeoning poet's sensibilities. Somehow it reminded me more of "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" than of the expected lurid rock star tells-all.

Her relationship with Mapplethorpe is beautifully portrayed. The absolute childlike love and devotion they shared for each other, the romance of their lives as artists living in what was—though the words were never used— abject poverty, and the wild and wonderful paths their lives followed until they eventually lead away from each other, to separate realizations of fame and glory. He discovers his homosexuality during their time together, but that does not detract from the purity of her love for him.

  Ms. Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe in 1969 (NY Times)

The description of the Chelsea hotel and its clientele, Max's Kansas City and the Warhol factory was sometimes lost on me because there are a lot of names—not all known to me. I had the feeling I was reading through a condensed version of an American Studies class that focused on that decade. It certainly would be a great text for that course, but without looking up every name as I read, I know some of the significance of this aspect of the book was lost on me.

Highly recommended—most of all for the sweetness (a quality I hadn't expected to find) of Patti Smith's voice and her depiction of the magic of her life. There was something almost prayerful between the covers as she shared the wonder and artistry of her generation, without hubris, only her truth. I felt like I would like to sit across a table from her and get lost in conversation, as if I could ever be so lucky...

 Patti Smith (from www.daysofthecrazy-wild.com_)

Addendum: A few days after writing this review I read Scott Turow interviewed in the New York Times Book Review, "When I noticed that Patti Smith’s “Just Kids” had won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2010, I ranted about contemporary culture, so celebrity-besotted that we were now giving vaunted literary prizes to rock stars. Then I read the book. It is profound and unique, a perfectly wrought account of what it means to give your life to art and to another person. I expect it to be read with wonder for a long time." Amen.

Meeting Facilitation I

Part of what I do professionally is facilitate meetings for the Executive Council and the Officers of the Cantors Assembly. Yesterday and today we are meeting as a group of 11 at the Cleveland Aloft for two days of strategic planning, goal setting and action planning for the coming year.

One of the most transformative tools I use with this group is called Dialogue Circle. We, as a group of cantors, are all leaders in our own communities and many come from a strong performance background. This makes for a group of people used to being in charge, accustomed to speaking in public, and very very comfortable being the sole star of an event!

Dialogue Circle is deceptively simple. The group chooses an object (in our case it has been a tallit, a marimba and courtesy of the Aloft today it is a rubix cube) which is passed from person to person. Only the person holding the object can speak. They hold the rubix cube until they have exhausted what they have to say—everyone else at the table listens. No texting and checking phones, no getting up for coffee, no doodling on notepads. The rubix cube transverses the circle fully, and then, if necessary people raise their hand to receive the cube and speak again.

Time was that Cantors Assembly discussions were characterized by leadership by whoever could talk the loudest, and nobody ever got to express a thought without being interrupted several times to either be disputed, corrected or improved upon. It was a jangling exhausting experience and there was a certain aggressiveness in the room, with people according to their nature getting more and more animated, or more and more resigned.

Come the Dialogue Circle and there is a completely altered atmosphere. One of respect, relaxation and attentiveness. Meetings—the bane of our existence in the work world—are effective, pleasant and more akin to a lingering conversation over dinner than a battleground. And during the five years that we have been doing this as a group, we have noticed an incredible shift in our relationships and effectiveness as a group. Simple but powerful!