Seasonal Saturdays - St. Patrick's Day

So, St. Patrick's Day - and likely its concomitant hangover - has been and gone, and the parades have passed by, and the green clothes are all in the laundry.

But I do want to share one extremely cute video that I saw marking the day. Well, screw it, why not two. The first is the Muppet homage to the day, and the second comes from the ever-popular 'Give Up Yer Aul Sins', an animated film which gave visual life to stories told by Dublin children in the 1960s. Here, for the week that's in it, is the tale of St. Patrick. I hope you enjoy it.

Seasonal Saturdays - March

Yesterday I had the honour of attending the Themed Entertainment Association summit in Universal City - it is basically an event where all the year's winners of THEAs (the awards given by the association for special achievement in various categories within the industry) present their works and achievements.

The Expo in China dominated the morning, and Harry Potter did the afternoon - all fascinating presentations and brilliant achievements. Perhaps the most interesting to me, however, was the presentation by Martello Media of the new museum at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. Certainly I think I must have been the only person in the room who could claim to have an immediate family member buried in the cemetery!

The beginning of March also marks the birthday/anniversary of said family member, my brother Kevin. He died before I was born, but somehow he has always figured in my consciousness, as I wonder what it might have been like to have an older brother, blazing a trail here or there for me. Oh well. Hopefully I've done a good job of doing so :)

Seasonal Saturdays - SPRING BREAK

I'm so excited for Spring Break. It's my last one as a student here at UCLA. Clearly I should be heading for Florida or Acapulco or Vegas to get trashed and end up in photos like the one above, but actually I'll be flying to Dublin.

After spending the winter in LA and NOT travelling (not least because of the horrific snowy weather that beset Dublin during the holidays) I am chomping at the bit with the prospect of getting back to Ireland for a bit. Here I come!

Seasonal Saturdays - The Met Opera

So actually I managed to see my first ever broadcast from the Met only this month. Disgraceful, I know, but I'm more than making up for it, since I'll actually get through at least three before the end of this quarter. (Or at least before the end of Spring Break.)

And what a three to get through - Peter Sellars' NIXON IN CHINA, Gluck's IPHIGENIE EN TAURIDE (with lighting by our dear UCLA professor and resident genius, Neil Jampolis) and then Mary Zimmerman's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, with everyone's famous pint-size French megastar, Natalie Dessay.

Funniest part of the Iphigenie broadcast - the moment when, just as the maestro was getting into position, the live feed from Dessay - as MC - was not switched off, and people all across the world, happily congregated to hear and see Gluck's incredibly beautiful opera, heard the soprano mutter "I fucked that up!". She really didn't. For someone whose English is apparently not great, she did a terrific job.

The opera itself is such a beautiful piece - quite, quite devastating. And Stephen Wadsworth's production has some really splendid moments. You'll be wanting this when it comes out on DVD...!

Seasonal Saturdays - Awards Season & Banksy

LA always starts to flutter in January and February with the wide range of awards ceremonies happening in town - SAG, Emmys, Oscars, Grammys and god knows what all else all demand a very high celebrity-in-town quotient, so sightings increase, and every weekend will doubtless have traffic jams caused by red carpets and limousines. Woop de doo.

This year, thanks - I'm assuming - to the Oscar nomination for "Exit Through The Gift Shop", a different kind of pre-award buzz has been going on, since a number of Banksy works have blossomed on the walls of buildings in and around LA.

I was walking around the corner from Profeta one afternoon and saw a crowd in an alley looking at a wall, and then saw a pretty funky image of a child soldier with a gun, but the magazine held crayola crayons instead of bullets - and the wall around him was covered in cute flowers. And this on the wall of an Urban Outfitters, no less! I didn't give it much thought, thinking it was a Banksy rip off or something. It even crossed my mind that it might be a hyper-cool tie-in to UCLA's production of 'Forgotten World'. Of course it wasn't - it is an actual Banksy!

Next thing to cross my mind was that maybe it was actually evidence that Jamie Oliver IS Banksy - since he too has set up shop in Westwood for some kinda healthy-eating project called 'Jamie's Kitchen'.

Turns out that several Banksy creations have sprung up around LA, and many have already been defaced, and even worse REMOVED INTACT so that they can be sold! See, that's what is wrong with this town. They put a price on everything and know the value of nothing. (Thank you Ambrose Bierce.) Before the Westwood one was defaced, a substantial number of stickers had been put up around it - tacky opportunists trying to capitalise on the attention of passersby. But then, isn't Banksy one too?

Seasonal Saturdays - Valentine's Day

It's always interesting to me how people react to Valentine's Day. Some people are virulently opposed to this Hallmark-supported, cruel, chocolate-fuelled excuse to make single people feel inadequate. Others relish the opportunity to celebrate romantic love with hearts and cherubs, regardless of their own relationship or marital status. I vascillate between the two. Sometimes I hate it, and hate the enormous amount of money and pressure associated with a cold morning in February. Other times I remember that St. Valentine's heart (and, I'm reliably informed, other bits) is enshrined in a Carmelite church in Dublin close to where my mother grew up, and that the original impulse of celebrating love in the world surely can't be a bad thing.

And who doesn't love an excuse to give and/or get chocolate?!

Seasonal Saturday - Chinese New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Apparently people born in the Year of the Rabbit and those born in the year of the Rooster (like me) wind up being thoroughly incompatible and unable to stand each other. Who knew?

Within the realm of Chinese astrology, the Rabbit (and I'm assuming, therefore, its year, 2011...) is "most stylish, finds interest in different cultures. Classy and sophisticated, and can be found adorning one of the latest fashion magazines... Plenty of artistic ventures, generally quite present in such worlds. Loves to express themselves - lots of flair either entertaining at home or sharing a cup of coffee with friends". If that's what this year has to offer, I'll take it!

Seasonal Saturday - February

As January draws to a close, I'm quite excited for what this new month will bring. February 1st was always a quietly special day in our house, because it is St. Bridget's Day. My dad would always manage to bring home a bouquet of daffodils - just about ready to be in season! - for my mum, whose name-day it was.

I miss her dreadfully. But it's lovely that there's a whole day, even in the darkest depths of winter, that is entirely hers and always has been.

Seasonal Saturday - Year of the Satyr!

Chinese New Year is fast approaching, but I have to confess that this year really seems to have been the Year of the Satyr. Alongside the truly phenomenal exhibition at the Getty Villa (sadly it closed two weeks ago, but you can still get the catalogue!) about the Art of Ancient Greek Drama, there has been much attention paid to Satyrs of late.

Michael Hackett's production of fragments - presented at the Villa in November - was a fascinating insight into the frenetic, unknown and exciting world that is mostly lost to us. Tonight I also went to see Psittachus Productions' version of The Cyclops - a ROCK OPERA (!) - which was really exuberant, camp and crazy fun. Not to be missed, certainly.

In a few weeks there's yet more madness, when Poor Dog are presenting THEIR satyric meditations at the Getty Villa. Dionysus help us…

Seasonal Saturday - LAS VEGAS

Well, thanks to MLK Day, this is a long weekend. So - along with a substantial number of UCLA people - I'm heading to Las Vegas!

Observance of the seasons and delicate, nuanced haiku-esque awareness of the passage of time are all well and good, but this trip has been in the making since last summer. Indeed, it was supposed to be my birthday present!

[Happy Birthday to me. ]

Ironically, despite the glitz, awesomely manipulative architecture, 24-hour gambling and general extravagance, I'm thinking I'll spend much of the weekend with my nose in a new book. It's called 'Hidden Buddhas', and get this - it's by Liza Dalby, whose 'East Wind Melts The Ice' is the inspiration for Seasonal Saturdays on this blog!

Full circle. Om. Now for the slot machines....

Seasonal Saturday - What a Day!

This has been a pretty crazy week. The first week of any quarter invariably has been rather manic, but Winter Quarter Week 01 is also when a substantial number of UCLA productions hold their auditions. All at the same time. I saw a huge number of people, with great spirit and enormous talent, and it was rather brutal having to make the cull down to only seven people for Pains of Youth. (Those seven are a remarkable lot, and I'm very excited to get to work with them.) Erendira, Rent and all of the undergraduate one-acts are also fully cast at this point, and will doubtless be great shows, all.

This week - as well as my own New Year New Blog New Everything stuff, I also had a full load of reading for one class, another that began very first thing Monday morning, and then auditions every evening. On top, we have also started rehearsals for the opera I'm working on in the Music Dept, so there was time to be spent down there too. AND the Entertainment Design class I'm TA-ing kicked in again on Thursday....!

So you'd imagine that after all that I'd take Saturday off and chillax a bit, eh? Not so! I was in Westwood first thing (guess where I got my coffee...) and then up to UCLA at the crack of noon for the first of a series of classes with the enormously charming Alfred Molina, who is teaching Shakespeare. He is splendid. Thereafter it was back to Schoenberg Hall for a full sing-through of Dialogues des Carmelites. Despite how many times I've heard the music on cd, I wasn't really prepared for the incredible punch that it packs. I look forward to it being a very deep, very rich experience. After THAT it was back to the Theatre Dept, for the Thesis performance of the MFA actors in my year. It seems like only yesterday we were all performing our autodramas for each other, and already they have presented their final iterations of that process. Time flies!

After the performance I went to my new favourite Indian restaurant, Nizam, at Westwood & Pico, and tried Mulligatawny soup for the first time. It's delicious! Spicy Sunday began early ;)

A New Look!

Well Hello!

I'm sorry I didn't make it into 2011 with a blogpost, but I managed to pick up a cold between 8pm and midnight on New Year's Eve (or possibly a strong allergic reaction to cats, but I doubt that) and so I've spent much of the year so far in bed, medicated.

Regardless, I am HERE, and happy to announce that, as one of my New Year Resolutions, I have decided to blog every single day for 2011. Even if it means that I wind up posting digests if/when I'm away from computer access. Just a little something every day.

In the hope of focusing my posts this year, I'm proud to be telling y'all that every day will have a different 'theme' this year, and they're gonna be something like this...

Spice Sundays

In my new career as a foodie, I'll be trying out a new spice every week - or re-examining one - and trying to cook something with it. Mild to wild...!

Movie Mondays

I watch a lot of movies. Some of them are so weird you may never have heard of them, but I'll be happily introducing what wonders I come across as we go through the fifty-two weeks of this new year.

Tune Tuesdays

Likewise I go through a bunch of music. Maybe it'll be an album, a song, a piece of classical music or maybe even an artist that I wanna talk about.

Wild Card Wednesdays

Just you wait and see!

30-Mad-Thursdays

I'm going to turn 30 on July 11, a little less than 200 days from now. As has become quite a popular blogger meme, I have put together my list of '30 before 30' - admittedly later in the game than some enterprising souls! Stay tuned as every week I let you know how I'm progressing. (Although I am cagey about posting the whole list. It's handwritten and posted on my wall above my desk - I'm gonna do it, but I probably won't post it until the big day!)

Foodie Fridays

As well as my own experiments and adventures in the kitchen, I'll be sharing food adventures and tastings in Los Angeles. Despite my status as a cash-starved graduate student, I manage to get around a bit here in LA, and there are lots of fun places I've discovered that I'm gonna tell y'all about. (And failing that I'll just comment on whatever madness is going on on the Food Network....!)

Seasonal Saturdays

This blog's title comes from the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, who wrote so many pithy entries documenting life in the Japanese court. Another favourite of mine is Liza Dalby's truly beautiful 'East Wind Melts the Ice' (buy it here) - a book that guides through the seasons of the Japanese (and, indeed, Northern Californian) year. As an homage, I am hoping, every week, to note something special - or note-worthy - of the time of the year, so that the daily beauty, the ordinary plenty, of 2011 does not go unnoticed.

Are you excited?

Stay tuned, add me to your RSS feed, leave comments, get in touch, let me know if even one single soul out there is reading any more!

(I'm gonna be posting regardless. But I hope you'll be coming along for the ride!)