My Week

I saw JK Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving this week at Radio City Music Hall. They got a rock-star type reception from the crowd. (Esp. JK, who was wearing very cool high-heeled serpent sandals and generally looking not only well groomed but also very foxy -- personal & professional success has obviously been very good for her. Cf. Rita Skeeter.) JK did her usual Q&A, but told us nothing new. Yes, we KNOW Dumbledore is dead and he won't pull a Gandalf. Duh. And we KNOW there is more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye -- she's even told us so before! I think she confirmed Salman Rushdie's hypothesis that Snape is good (which I never doubted for a moment in the last few books). Oh yes, did I mention that Salman Rushdie & his son were there, asking a question of JK in Radio City Music Hall? Pretty cool, eh?

Also had dinner with my brother at the mediocre Waterstone Grill (the wine was nice though), and saw Night's rather strange movie, The Lady in the Water. The movie is trying very hard to create a meaningful legend/fable in the real world (intersecting with a legend-becomes-real world), and seems to take itself VERY seriously. Oddly, at the same time, there are many self-consciously self-mocking moments. Some of it is very funny (possibly intentionally). Some of it is suspenseful. Some of it is just cause for head scratching. We are invited to believe that there are 15-20 strangers in an small-t0-medium sized apartment complex who are ready to believe - without any particular evidence - that a strange water-loving nudist needs to be saved from otherworldly beasts through weird rituals so she can return to her world and somehow help ours. Right.

Night himself plays a young procrastinator who is told by the nudist (or as the movie would have it, "nymph") that the book he's been avoiding writing will somehow inspire some kid to change the world (it is not specified if the change(s) will be for the better). But Night's character realizes that the nymph has not said the kid will meet him... so he realizes that he will die in a spectacular way that brings publicity to the book.... But luckily, his sister - who is currently single - is scheduled to have 7 children (according to the nudist/nymph), and Night's character will get to meet two of them.... So he will live at least another 9 months, if she has twins.... What a relief!

Then Friday I saw Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center. We sat on the stage behind the orchestra, which is great for kibbitzing ("I think you missed a note there." "You call THAT 'fortissimo'?!") but bad for cello-watching. Sigh. Can't have everything, I suppose. It was a nice concert, although it was not "mostly" Mozart. They played one overture by Martin, one symphony by Mozart, and one violin concerto by Beethoven. So for those of you keeping track at home, it is either 1/3 Mozart (one out of three pieces) or at best slightly less than 1/2 Mozart (since Mozart and Martin shared the first half of the concert). "Most" should be more than 1/2, and quite frankly it should be more like 2/3 or 3/4. Talk about false advertising! I want my money back! Luckily they were student tickets, so it was something like $20. And -- apparently intoxicated by the applause -- the violin soloist played an extra piece for us that was not on the program. So we probably did get our money's worth in the end. :-)