Jims of Wyzdom for 18 January 2019

Books: I have the questionable habit of reading half a dozen books at once. Having two Kindles helps with the logistics, as I can very simply shift from one to the next. On Kindle #1 I have 50 books in line. Kindle #2 is the larger Fire model that can grab anything off the other Kindle or from Amazon’s cloud. 

I have had dreams and I’ve had nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams. [Virologist Jonas Salk]

Another Book: I also finished A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, the companion novel to Life After Life, featuring most of the same family of characters. I was introduced to Kate by reading the Sunday Times “By the Book” column. If you are a fan of writings about WWI & II and Britain, you might enjoy these. That leaves me with the two I am reading side by side because I can barely stand to put them down except to sleep or plug Kindle into her power supply…Education by Tara Westover, that some critics have named the single best book of 2018…and I can understand why. It’s about a young woman that grows up in a nominally fundamentalist Mormon household, taught at home and ruled over by a survivalist father. WOW! And Meg Wolitzer’s new novel, The Female Persuasion, is as good as any of her books.

I don’t like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and isn’t of much value. Life hasn’t revealed its beauty to them. [Writer Boris Pasternak]

Theater: Next week, the WVU Schools of Music and Theater & Dance will present Mozart’s The Magic Flute. I’ll admit that since Julie Taymor’s version premiered at the Met, I will have trouble sitting through anything else. BUT…this production is being designed by two fine faculty people, Bob Klingelhoeffer (scenery & projections) and Mary McClung (costumes & puppets). I have seen the dragon, which is very cool. Elsewhere in the Bulletin, are details and dates.

At the end of January, on the 27^th (Sunday at 2 pm), you can see the 80^th anniversary showing by TCM of “The Wizard of Oz.” There may be other showings, but to find out check out the Regal Hollywood web site. All of the TCM presentations represent digitized and restored versions of the films, so they will look pristine. If you’re mad at me for not including this one on the spring Film Forum, then GO TO THIS! Grrrrrr!

Oh, and another good reason to keep an eye on the Regal website is to see when Fathom events is bringing something. Up-coming will be a production of Cyrano de Bergerac at France’s Commedie Francais, founded by Louis XIV in honor of his friend Moliere. Also, the Bolshoi Ballet will present one of its classics.

Perhaps one has to be…old before one learns how to be amused rather than shocked. [Writer Pearl S. Buck]

Can one know one’s self? Is one ever somebody? I don’t know anything about it anymore. It now seems to me that one changes from day to day and that every few years one becomes a new being. [Writer George Sand]

And with those little tidbits of wyzdom, I leave you. I won’t be cruel and tell you how wonderful “Adriana Lecouvreur” was last Saturday.

Jim