Jyms of Wyzdom for March 22, 2019

Welcome to Spring!  We’ve been waiting for this date come around, as it does every year about now. We saw blooming daffodils and crocuses on a drive last Sunday. The signs are improving.

Things are about to get busy! 

Movies: On March 24 and 27, Turner Classic Movies selection is To Kill a Mockingbird, perhaps one of the most perfect translations from book to film ever made. The cast is about as perfect as you could asks for: Gregory Peck in his Oscar-winning role as Atticus Finch, Mary Badham as Scout, and the very first screen role for Robert Duvall as “Boo” Radley, Brock Peters as Tom Robinson. The screenplay was written by the wonderful (and late) Horton Foote and the musical score was by Elmer Bernstein—one of his best.

Next week includes our “Space Week,” anchored by Tuesday’s double feature, special winter member event: 2001: A Space Odyssey and Forbidden Planet. Read about them in your winter catalog. Both are based upon classics of literature. I urge you not to stay home just because it is Science Fiction! OK, a movie mogul asked Stanley Kubrick what he wanted to do after the big hit of Dr. Strangelove, and he said, “Science fiction.” The mogul scoffed and said, “Scifi? That’s a step above PORN. You really are crazy!” I will reveal what the black monolith is and what all that crazy psychedelic lighting from the third act means.

Opera: The Met is bringing back the entire Ring Cycle. For the Met in HD cinema series, we’ll get to see Die Walkure on Saturday, March 30 at NOON. Running time is 5 hours and 20 minutes, so sneak in some snacks. According to the NY Times, quite a few tweaks have been made to this amazing, hi-tech production. It is without doubt my favorite Ring, though I do not pretend to be an expert. I love the incredible work of Robert LePage of Cirque du Soleil fame.

Music Lovers Alert!  I assume you all know that J.S. Bach was born on MARCH 21, 1685? What better way to celebrate the first day of spring than to listen all day to Bach…or have it playing in the background…

Poetry: I offer the following spring poem instead of my usual quips and quotes…

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud   

By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

 

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

 

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Happy Spring, everyone!

Jim