a rainy sunday

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring.


Well, he was.


Have you met my dad? He's loud when he does everything - talk, eat, walk, sleep, burp, fart. He's the King of Noise, if you know what I mean. How else did I wake up if it wasn't to his booming voice? Anyway, it's 12:38 pm right now, and my sister and I just came back from dim sum with the family.


I am officially on spring break now and am currently in Los Angeles, back with my family. I came via Southwest and finished Maus I on the plane ride over:

Maus is a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, and it's about his family's experience during and after Hitler's reign. I haven't read many graphic novels, to be honest, but I really liked this one. It was moving, and the pictures just go so well with the captions.

We're reading Maus I and II for my Scandinavian class, which is centered around the relationship between words and images. So to save money, I went to Shakespeare & Co. (a local bookstore in Berkeley) and bought used versions of both for about $7-8. Definitely no regrets. It's really interesting, actually, because the Jewish people in this novel are represented as mice (hence Maus) and the Germans are cats. But because Spiegelman uses animals to differentiate by race, there are no distinct features of specific characters themselves. Thus, you would have to read the words in order to understand which person is which because the pictures don't say enough. And going hand in hand with that, you would get the gist from reading the words but you won't understand what's going on if you ignored the pictures.

I'm a newb at graphic novels, so excuse all the obvious things I'm saying. I am just amazed by how much can be implied by both words and images, but how to get the whole picture you would have to marry the two and see them working together. Maybe I'm just getting really involved in the subject of my class.

Anyway, I enjoyed the novel. It ended in a cliffhanger, so we'll just have to see what happens in Maus II (which I have not read yet, obviously). As a final conclusion, the pictures were very well-drawn, the characters identifiable if you are American and your parents were immigrants, and the story captivating and moving. You really gain a sense of what Spiegelman is trying to do as you get deeper and deeper into the novel. There's also a bit of comedy amidst the drama and sadness. Talk about dimensional.

Anyway, it's a buy. So do it!

when classic goes modern

We've finally gotten to Mozart's Don Giovanni in music class this week, and the professor's been showing clips of the songs from different productions. It's interesting to see the different interpretations out there and how each actor embodies his or her role differently. I really like watching each production's take on the opera because the characters may look or dress differently, and though they're singing the same songs they may add their own personal twist as well.


But what happens when this idea of 'updating the old' enters Mozart's sphere? Yesterday the professor showed one production where Don Giovanni was set up in the present day, and honestly the costumes and props made me feel like I was watching a bad '80s movie. Don Giovanni was in a leather jacket and Donna Elvira had bright red lipstick and pink leopard-printed tights. In the party scene, Don Giovanni stripped down to wear only his boxers and was doing some odd dance with Zerlina, who as a peasant was wearing dowdy clothes that looked like they were taken from the thrift store.


Entertaining? Yes. Preferable? NO!

Avenue Q

Do you live on Avenue Q? "Your friends do, too."


Yesterday a group of us went in to the city to watch Avenue Q, a musical that is widely described to be like Sesame Street but for adults. There is a definite truth in that, but it still surprised my friend with its explicitness. So be forewarned: Avenue Q does not just contain adult language but also adult themes. And an adult scene. Accompanied the whole time by an adult song. So yes, Sesame Street for adults.


But I did enjoy it. It was exactly what I expected - funny, cute (at times), vulgar (usually)... I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite, perhaps because I didn't really feel an emotional connection to the characters. Initially I thought the reason may be because the comedy aspect of it was so large in the whole musical that it overshadows serious, emotional parts of it. But then my sister brought up a good point about the whole thing being about puppets. Did that affect the experience? I mean, we all know that the characters we watch on stage are usually fictional, but having actors hold in their hands the main stars of the show is something else entirely. It's metafictional and thus too self-conscious about how realistic the whole musical is.


Don't get me wrong though. I liked the songs and had a great time. But I'd take Wicked or Next to Normal over it.

tennis on my body

Man, when was the last time I've played tennis? It's got to be more than a year ago, but this past weekend I hit the courts again and my body definitely feels the lack of conditioning. How else did my wrists and ankles feel sore, and why would my back muscles (ha!) and arms hurt? And this may be a little too much information, but seriously you guys, my butt is killing me. When I walk, I can feel the sore muscles yelling at me there. Wow! Sports can really whip your body into shape. Or just whip your body.


But in other news, today I tried to make apple pancakes for the first time and it was... eh. It may have been delicious perhaps if I had more apples and if the apples were yummier. The pancakes themselves were also a bit too doughy and not fluffy enough, but now I know for next time that whisking is mucho importante. Also, today is the second time I've broken a whisk in this apartment. What a shame. I do love whisks.

cuz waking up's hard to do

I am a college student. I am a poor college student. I am a desperate, poor college student.


So I guess that all just means that I am a college student.


Today I got up at 8:30, left at 9, and went all the way across campus (like literally the farthest you can go) to meet with someone at 9:30 because I signed up to be a research participant. Some of my friends signed up before and got MRIs or got tested in some other ways, but I decided to be more low-key and just did a simple computer test where I just had to answer things as fast as I can. It was kind of interesting, but I came out after only half an hour with my eyes barely open and my mind completely blank. I got so tired just staring at the computer screen.


Anyway, it was an interesting experience and I made $6. Whoo, that's like two bobas!

happy birthday ophelia!

This post is dedicated to That Man. She has a sexy assistant (Odona?) and likes to stuff pillows in her jacket to make herself look bigger.

Just kidding. She does it to get into character, but she chooses that large type of character often, that's all. Anyway, it's Ophelia's special day! Go over to her page and say happy birthday to twenty five years of torturing my poor parents. Hurray!

Vanity Fair

Yes, I've finally finished reading Vanity Fair! This is a day to celebrate! It was just so long and with many filler chapters that after a while the book just sat there as if I thought it could read itself (It didn't). Well last night I stubbornly sat myself in bed and promised to finish the whole thing. Not just because I wanted to know what happens to the characters, but also because we're done discussing the book in class and I need to get to Villete by Charlotte Bronte.


There are not many people who would willingly subject themselves to more than eight hundred pages for hours and hours, but those who do are great lovers of the book. Here are the pros:
1. Vanity Fair was funny and smart.
2. There were pictures (I know!).
3. You could certainly apply what you learned from the book on your own perspective of the world.


Cons:
1. Good lord, it was longer than long.
2. There are many unnecessary bits, typical of serialized novels (Yes, inferring to Dickens here).
3. If you're looking for the ideal, perfect character, this is A Novel without a Hero.


There have been questions about the last point, whether the novel is without a hero may be because it suggests that the world is full of dirty characters or perhaps Thackeray is pointing out a heroine, genderizing a role that never was established before only because it is usually assumed to be filled by a male. Enter Becky Sharp, woman extraordinaire. In manners and appearance she is the epitome of femininity, but at the same time she tramples the weakness and helplessness that females as individuals typically represent.


Did I like the book? The first read was all right, but I think I'd have to skip all the skimming if I want to make a defiant stand on the book.