Life is just so full of good things

[theatokos]

First example: Last night I went to a birthday party for my longtime friend in San Francisco. It was an okay time. Trendy restaurant/bar with very good food, but lousy acoustics and I was stuck in the middle of the long table and therefore sandwiched in between conversations. My friend's friends are all very interesting, but there's a certain level of expectation and femininity that I am unaccustomed to - lots of squeaky "Oh that's so cute!" over things like cards with sparkly shoes on them. I felt not quite glamorous enough for the crowd, nor did I feel I had enough money for the night's meal.

But that's not what was good about last night. As I've mentioned before this friend's boyfriend is a rap and hip-hop producer. He asked that I and the Future Governor of Alaska sing backup for a track on a record he's producing! Of course, now that I've said it I'm sure I've just jinxed the whole thing, but since I don't really believe in that I'll say just a little bit more about it. Basically the Producer wants to start the album off with a rap song featuring opera singers. I really like this sort of thing, when genres mingle. However, I hope the Producer doesn't expect "traditional" (by that I mean stereotypical) opera voices. The Future Governor hasn't sung opera in years and honestly was born to sing country music. I certainly do not sound anything like the women we are usually fed as opera singers: large bodies, thick voiced, Wagnerian singers with horns on their heads. But he has heard me sing, so I guess he knows what he's getting into. Plus, I'm free. In any case, I get to sing on a rap song!! How cool is that?!

Second good thing: I am leaving in the wee hours tomorrow for Ohio. I am going to visit hrafntinna (that's Dr. Hrafntinna to you). She is in dire need of some company and some fun. I can certainly provide the former, no guarantees on the latter. I've never been to Ohio and everyone who's been tells me there's a reason they don't live there now, but clearly millions of people still live there so it's got to have something to recommend it.

While there I plan to drag the good Doktor to see Pan's Labyrinth. I saw this film over the weekend and I loved it. It's much darker than I expected, but still very beautiful. I was expecting the film to be more like 70% fantasy and 30% real life, but it's more like the reverse, which seems odd given that it was hyped as such a fantasy film. One complaint I've heard from friends who have also seen it is that the characters aren't fully developed. This is true, but I think this is appropriate since the world is set up to engage us in the life of Ofelia, the 11 year old protagonist. At that age, in those circumstances, adults are either Very Good and Safe or Very Bad and Scary. That's what we see; we don't see the complexities of what drives a man to be so cruel or why Ofelia's mother actually married such a cruel man. This flaw did not hinder my engagement in the film. The fantasy parts are beautiful but not overwhelming. Often fantasy film, and films with lots of CG in general, rely on the technology to propel the story rather than the imaginations of the characters, viewers, of film makers. This film uses the graphics as an enhancement of the imagination not as a crutch for lazy film making. The ending is also atypical - it is both happy and sad. I confess I cried. I look forward to seeing it again.

Comments

[fictional-emily.livejournal.com]

Just that it's delightfully positive!
Take it a step further: bathe Ohio in pink, fluffy bunnies, and rainbows. Lollipops. Freeway okay!