art: sol lewitt

when family visited the other day, we went to mass moca (my first time since i've been here...sad i know) and though there were a bunch of exhibits that i really liked, my favorite was the sol lewitt exhibit. i really like contemporary stuff that brings it back to basics, but not just in a red circle on a white canvas kind of way, in an innovative way too. the style of having the work painted directly on the walls and covering the entire thing only adds to the impressiveness. it's divded into phases of the artist's life and by the last floor, the walls are bursting with color. anyways, check out the mass moca's website to get a glimpse at the stuff, although really, pictures just don't do it justice.

movie: away we go

like i said, lots of movies. but this one was really good, like legitimately good and i would definitely recommend it, starring john krasinski from the office and maya rudolph from snl, it's a cute, funny, touching story about a couple that's about to have a baby and is looking for a place to call home. on top of the good story, there's allison janney and jim gaffigan, maggie gyllenhal as a crazy hippie person, and a fabulous soundtrack.

holy jellyfish.

I just saw this picture as I was scrolling through CNN's international news with its accompanying article. This is absolutely crazy! If the whole crisis wasn't so devastating to the coastal villages in Japan it would be funny. But it's not funny :( The jellyfish destroy fisherman's nets and then ruin whole catches which are the basis of these people's livelihoods = economic devastation on top of economic crisis = bad news. Too bad, these things look cool but I can see how much damage potential they have too. Especially when you think about them in large groups.

what i'm listening to: taylor swift

so that everything's not just text, here is one of my current music obsessions if only because the music video is so cute/sweet/disney movie in four minutes.

theater: true west

yea, i document my lives based on shows and movies and events. i probably have more opinions and feelings than show up here, but they haven't come to mind as much recently when i'm in a blogging mood or moment.

so yesterday (yes! almost caught up!) i ushered for the williamstown theater festival's production of true west. it was the preview performance so not everything was to be perfect but still i was not too impressed. i'm not gonna lie, i didn't like it very much. the acting was pretty good though some of the intenser moments/screams could have been more real - but i wasn't a big fan of the plot line, maybe it's because i'm not a very big fan of westerns, who knows. in any case, the fact that i was sort of waiting for it to be over is generally not a good sign.

what does it say about me that i walked out of the kid's musical the festival put on (schmoozy togtherness - about a girl who loses her imagination) much more content and pleased than i did walking out of true west? i don't really care actually, i'm learning more and more to just go with my gut and try not to think about it too much (speaking generally now...it really doesn't matter with theater productions). hopefully it's a good trend.

movie: harry potter and the half-blood prince

i guess i'm going to see a lot of movies...anyways, last tuesday i went to see the midnight premiere of hp6 which was exciting for several reasons. 1. it was midnight, anything is more exciting at midnight 2. i have not gone to see a harry potter movie in theaters ever i believe 3. i went with really cool people 4. the actors are starting to learn how to act 5. luna lovegood is the BOMB 6. i thought the movie was pretty good

ok, so the ending was not as epic as it could have been. i still thought the movie overall was good. it helps that i haven't read the book since it came out, so i didn't do all the nitpicky things i probably would have had i read it recently. also i LOVE awkward romantic moments of which there are PLENTY. the movie in general is a lot lighter than the fifth one but in a good way (according to me).

now i'm going to have to go back and read all the books. again. teehee. i feel like that's a good thing to do over the summer - we'll see if i actually get to that or not aha.

movie: public enemies

so last, last tuesday (i think i've mentioned this before...blogging in bunches? well here's another handful) i went to see public enemies with johnny depp with some friends. i'd say it was a fine movie, not excellent, not horrible but somewhere in between. worth seeing once but probably not again especially considering how long it was. i really liked the actor who played depp's love interest although that story in itself was a bit too contrived for me. to take off my friend's reaction, it should have been more surreal - they had a lot of untapped potential in that area. to me, it really just seemed like they were trying to fit too much into a movie and so everything came out half-baked. still, the 2.50 i payed to see it was worth it. and johnny depp is still an amazing actor.

art: dove/o'keefe

a few weeks ago (i forgot about this until just now and want to write it down before i forget), i went to the clark art museum and saw a special exhibit comparing and contrasting dove and o'keefe, most particularly each's earlier works. overall i thought it was a really interesting exhibit, unlike many people i know, i happen to like georgia o'keefe even if some of her southwestern scenes are less exciting and her paintings enormously feminine. dove's offer a constrast of masculinity and inspiration that is fascinating.

anyways, that's all for now, perhaps more later.

theatre: children by a.r. gurney

while i'm posting (i tend to do this in chunks anyways), i thought i'd just mention the play i saw, let's see, on thursday night. it was a play about family and children and grandchildren, but, as with everything in life, it was more than that too. about choosing, about living, about greiving, about moving on, about winning, about losing, about life. but then, the best plays are like that. they leave you somewhere - you don't know where - but it's somewhere and half journey is walking out of that theater in some kind of messed up form of discovery, recalling the experience. that's what i love about plays and musicals and shows - you can spend the entire show just being there, listening and watching, and it's not until the end when you actually think about it. it's that digestion period that somehow intrigues me. anyways, now that i've told you nothing about the play, i'll tell you that it was very well done and i think i am, thus far, rather a fan of a.r. gurney's plays (he also wrote love letters which a friend of mine was in this past winter).

i believe that whole incoherent ramble is my cue to stop.

happy fourth

so me and a friend of mine went to the parade down spring street today and it was surprisingly excellent - veterans, lots of fire trucks (who knew we had so many?), tractors, ponies, horses, covered wagons, goats, bicycles, brownies (the girl scouts, not the food), antique cars, and more that i'm forgetting. as we sat there, we did a lot of people watching waiting for the parade to start and get to where we were sitting on the curb. sooo many people on spring street, it was crazy. but anyways, we talked about how all the little kids were dressed up in their patriotic red, white and blue, but probably had no idea of what they were celebrating. things sort of get less exciting once you get to the point where you actually know what they're about - when you're little everything's really exciting or really sucks. at least that's the way it seems.

in any case, i realized that though i'm truly not patriotic at all, this was a fourth of july that i have, so far, enjoyed. it was great to see all the townsfolk who seem to be almost non-existant during the school year except for at a rare few moments and even if i'm not patriotic, i'm glad that i live here and that we celebrate this even if i only say that because it brings people together. despite the screwed up government (which, fingers crossed, is getting better) and the huge problems that never go away (think isms), i can't think of somewhere that i would have rather grown up. i don't know what it's like to live in another country but if i'm honest, i liked growing up here - i like the freedom of speech even to stay stupid things, that i could vote in the last election, among other things. living here, i've been blessed and altogether luckier than i should have been.

so on that note, happy fourth! and enjoy the fireworks! (even if they are bad for the environment =] )