Review: The Kreutzer Sonata

The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If there’s one thing my TV brain needs, it’s audiobooks and a long commute to finally get me through “War and Peace,” to even think about approaching the Russians even. I read “Fathers and Sons” when I was younger, but I am not sure if Turgenev counts? So this is my first flirtation. It’s an odd, short book. The reader Jonathan Oliver was a somewhat shrill, whiny Brit in his performance: http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.a... I am not sure if that was on purpose or not. Is this book meant to portray a classic, moralizing tale of a cuckold? Or is it a foreshadowing of the psychological novel and a direct line to “Lolita”? If you took Tolstoy’s afterward/apologia, considered him crazy and placed it in the front of this novella, it is as much a precursor as Nabakov’s own “The Enchanter.” I will have to look all this up a bit more, for now: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing ;)

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Naomie Kremer's Ghosts

As part of the Magnes WINDOWS series , the latest installation is by Israeli-born, Berkeley-living artist Naomie Kremer . The WINDOWS series was launched to use the Magnes new facility to positive effect, namely as public art to be viewed at night: to bring more cultural content to downtown Berkeley and in the evenings when the street traffic is less -- to light up the night. Kremer's opening was this evening and we had a really nice turn out, including important local patrons of the arts, collectors etc. Here pictured are Jeff and Jane Green , Penny Cooper (one of the Bay Area's finest collections, focused primarily on women artists with her wife Rena Rosenwasser ). Here Naomie introduces her video piece on Bluebeard's Castle, by Bela Bartok .

Why Go to A Conference Anyways?

@lidja @lyndakelly61 @futureofmuseums @creativemerc @museum_flavor pLz look http://tinyurl.com/qxlja4 &here http://bit.ly/q1mhV assoc./conf. grpthink @RichardMcCoy @DanielCull very import.

Review: Macbeth

Macbeth by William Shakespeare My rating: 4 of 5 stars Four and a half stars, with one major flaw: the producers chose to do this funny little trick of overlaying Cumming's voices when he was multiple characters, namely three weird sisters when they spoke at once. The result was echo-y and distracting. Otherwise, the whole thing felt like the smartest guy in the neighborhood inviting you over to listen to him read, and you cared: knew the story and really wanted to hear how he delivered. It was intimate and rewarding. It also made me think about how it is a story of Scots and English. View all my reviews

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