coffeeandink: (utena (fairytale ending))
[personal profile] coffeeandink

Ghost Quartet is a band: Dave Malloy on keyboard, Brent Arnold on cello, Gelsey Bell and Brittain Ashford on various instruments, and everyone providing vocals. Ghost Quartet is a song cycle, a concert album performed semi-staged, a mash-up of "Snow White, Rose Red," The One Thousand and One Nights, the Noh play Matsukaze, "Cruel Sister", "The Fall of the House of Usher", the front page photo of a fatal train accident, and a grab bag of Twilight Zone episodes. The ghost of Thelonious Monk is sometimes invoked, but does not appear; whisky is often invoked, and, if you see the show live, will most certainly appear. "I'm confused/And more than a little frightened," says (one incarnation of) the (more-or-less) protagonist. "It's okay, my dear," her sister/lover/mother/daughter/deuteragonist reassures her, "this is a circular story."

Once upon a time two sisters fell in love with an astronomer who lived in a tree. He seduced Rose, the younger, then stole her work ("for a prestigious astronomy journal"), and then abandoned her for her sister, Pearl. Rose asked a bear to maul the astronomer in revenge, but the bear first demanded a pot of honey, a piece of stardust, a secret baptism, and a photograph of a ghost. (The music is a direct quote of the list of spell ingredients from Into the Woods.) Rose searches for all these ingredients through multiple lifetimes; and that's the plot.

Except it is much less comprehensible than that. The songs are nested in each other like Scheherazade's stories; you can follow from one song to the next, but retracing the connections in memory is impossible; this is less a narrative than a maze. Surreal timelines crash together in atonal cacophany; one moment Dave Malloy, or a nameless astronomer played by Dave Malloy, or Dave Malloy playing Dave Malloy is trying to solve epistemology and another moment the entire house of Usher, or all the actors, are telling you about their favorite whiskies. The climax is a subway accident we have glimpsed before, in aftermath, in full, circling around it, a trauma and a terror that cannot be faced directly; the crash is the fall of a house is the failure to act is the failure to look is the failure to look away.

There are two recordings available. Ghost Quartet, recorded in a studio, has cleaner audio, but Live at the McKitterick includes more of the interstitial scenes and feels more like the performance.

In Greenwood Cemetery, there were three slightly raised stages separated by batches of folding chairs, one for Dave Malloy, one for Brent Arnold, and one for Gelsey Bell and Brittain Ashford, with a flat patch of grass in the center across which they sang to each other, and into which they sometimes moved; you could sit in the chairs, or on cushions in front of the first row, or with cheaper tickets you could sit in the grass on the very low hills above the staging area, among the monuments and gravestones, and, presumably, among more ghosts. The show started a little before sunset; I saw a hawk fly over, and I could hear birds singing along when the humans sang a capella. It was in the middle of Brooklyn, so even after dark I couldn't see stars; but fireflies sparked everywhere.

7/6/2025 Loop Road and Laurel Canyon

Jul. 6th, 2025 04:59 pm
mrkinch: Erik holding fieldglasses in "Russia" (bins)
[personal profile] mrkinch
Every time I go it's a little bit quieter, but still fun. This morning, not at all early, it was even sunny! The Swainson's Thrushes and Wilson's Warblers were singing and I heard a Black-headed Grosbeak singing, which I did not last time. There was still activity at the Red-breasted Nuthatch nest hole, though I'm not sure what sort of activity, and I saw very likely the same juvenile Spotted Towhee scratching in the road. So nothing especially interesting but an enjoyable morning. The list: )

I was tired this morning for no good reason that I can see so I didn't get out to the bench, but I did hang out at the Blue Gum picnic tables for a while. It was such a beautiful day!
musesfool: Sam Wilson & Bucky Barnes (i'm your goddamn partner)
[personal profile] musesfool
I know I had some stuff I wanted to post about but now I can't remember what it was. Oh well.

I finally watched Captain America: Brave New World and it was fine. spoilers )

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RIP Julian McMahon and Mark Snow.

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alethia: (GK Doc)
[personal profile] alethia
Those We Carry With Us (10028 words) by Alethia
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Pitt (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Characters: Jack Abbot (The Pitt), Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Additional Tags: Pre-Season/Series 01, COVID-19 Pandemic, COVID-19 Lockdown, Grief/Mourning, First Kiss, First Time, Porn, adamson's death, creative uses of stethoscopes
Summary:

Gifting someone a stethoscope at a milestone was very traditional, he knew, but some traditions should be observed. They kept you anchored to something greater than yourself. And this one was just...warm. Jack always thought of the people who'd given him his steths—Colonel Jacquemin, who'd gifted him his first Littmann when he finished residency, or Lizzie, who'd given him his current Littmann III when Adamson hired him as an attending. It was a reminder of the people who loved you, believed in you, helped you along the way, a physical token of those you carried with you.

Sure, maybe it wasn't exactly Jack's place to give one to Robby, more properly the domain of family or mentors. If Adamson had lived to retire, he would've gifted Robby a steth to celebrate his promotion, Jack was sure. Robby's family was gone, so that wasn't an option, and Jack would be damned if Robby's elevation to one of the highest posts in their field would go uncelebrated.

mrkinch: Erik holding fieldglasses in "Russia" (bins)
[personal profile] mrkinch
I fully expected to be sent on detour on my way up to Inspiration Point this morning. Centennial Drive and Grizzly Peak Boulevard have been closed for holidays involving fireworks for many years, being both the best places to watch from and extremely vulnerable to fire. But although Centennial was posted closed from 5 am this morning to 5 am tomorrow, at 5:30 am I met no impediment. I started down the trail just about sunrise, very windy but clear. Last time I wasn't sure whether EBMUD had mowed or whether the grass had simply dried up, a natural subsidence, but by this morning they had seriously graded the entire fire trail. That largely took care of the ticks and the big cracks in the dry ground that made it tricky to walk with a stick. However it also meant that they had cleared away the fallen tree debris, including the log I've been using as a bench for the last few months. Oh, well. It wasn't an exciting morning but a few cool things happened. As I stood at the top of the slope down to the big oak, a Cooper's Hawk made a pass up the road towards me. There were small birds and a rabbit on the road but they didn't take anything. At the north end of the trail the huge dead tree was temporarily alive with very small birds, Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches as far as I could tell. I'd never seen it so well-used. The list: )

No MacGillivray's. I didn't stay as long as usual, less than three hours, and as always I didn't want to go home, so I parked the EBR Botantic Garden and sat on the bench at the top of the garden for forty minutes or so. My list there was a bit different, as the garden is sheltered and has a creek through it. The Swainson's Thrushes were singing and the American Robins were rushing around presumably feeding families. Right across a lawn from me there was almost certainly a Black-headed Grosbeak nest from all the adult activity. I even heard a Western Bluebird! I haven't had one on Inspiration Trail in some time. The list: )

I should do that more often. I drove home the long way, all the way through Tilden and down Spruce, avoiding possible roadblocks.
cimorene: Blue text reading "This Old House" over a photo of a small yellow house (knypplinge)
[personal profile] cimorene
It's taken five years to caulk the seam between the two pieces of butcher block on our counter, so I had to dig a bunch of breadcrumbs out of it first with a fruit knife (it's right in front of the toaster). We also re-caulked the seam between the butcher block and the stainless part of the counter by the sink. (The sink is only a few cm from the edge of it, which is very bad design, and the edge of the butcher block there has inevitably suffered and swollen, as the caulk was never going to be adequate; there was no easy way to get the whole counter in stainless, but we should have figured it out anyway. Or alternately, just called up the companies that make tiles and fireplaces out of Finnish soapstone until we found one that would sell us a counter, even though none of them make counters.)

We also oiled the hinge of the bathroom door - the one modern, new door in the house - which has been squeaking for years (unlike all the other doors, which are from 1950 and work flawlessly). And then we glued the aluminum threshold down over the tile floor at that door - it was already loose when the contractors left because the initial adhesive they had used wasn't in contact with the front face of the cement under the tiles, because the tile sticks out a few mm proud of the subfloor. I scraped a layer of gummy glue off the back of the threshold (glue which had never stuck to the tile and instead became impregnated with dust and dirt), then applied some construction adhesive. It's extremely stinky upstairs now as it dries, even with the windows open.

But anyway, all that didn't even take all day. We've done a bunch of laundry and sat on the sofa cuddling cats in between. Can't believe it took us five years.

7/3/2025 Loop Road and Laurel Canyon

Jul. 3rd, 2025 02:18 pm
mrkinch: Erik holding fieldglasses in "Russia" (bins)
[personal profile] mrkinch
There was sunshine not long after I got there, which was very welcome. Nothing exceptional turned up until I started up the Canyon. To my surprise the Red-breasted Nuthatch nest was still being attended; this time I saw two adults coming to the hole. Other juveniles noted were a couple of fledgling Wrentits, no longer chasing parents but sitting on bare twigs right out in the open as their parents would never do - I guess they have to learn to be skulky - and a Spotted Towhee, fluffy and still brownish and spotted. The list: )

No Common Ravens! It was very strange. They are always around and vocal.

and this guy right here

Jul. 3rd, 2025 08:16 pm
musesfool: bodhi rook (honor the heart of faith)
[personal profile] musesfool
The Old Guard 2 aka 2 Old 2 Guard dropped yesterday. I enjoyed it for the most part. spoilers )

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musesfool: a loaf of bread (staff of life)
[personal profile] musesfool
Last night I watched a cute movie on Netflix called Nonnas about that restaurant on Staten Island that hires grandmas as chefs. Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, and Susan Sarandon play the nonnas, and Vince Vaughn plays the guy opening the restaurant. It's kind of a nice mellow detox from The Bear in terms of a bunch of Italian-Americans yelling at each other in a restaurant kitchen. *g* Plus a really horrifying rendition of capuzelle, which is a roasted (or baked?) sheep's head, which is one of those dishes I try to forget knowing about. Anyway, the restaurant still exists, and now it has grandmas from all different backgrounds who cook there (a review of the real restaurant).

Today was my Monday, and tomorrow is my Friday at work. I could get used to a 2 day work week!

*

the extroverts were right

Jul. 1st, 2025 12:40 pm
cimorene: Cartoon of 80s She-Ra on her winged unicorn flying against cloudy blue sky (where are we going?)
[personal profile] cimorene
I was making smalltalk with the bus driver along with the other guy at the bus stop and he asked if I was a student, lol. (Wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses took twenty years off I guess.) I said, No, but I'm going to driving school!

And he said close enough and gave me the student ticket rate.

6/30/2025 Tilden Nature Area

Jun. 30th, 2025 03:35 pm
mrkinch: Erik holding fieldglasses in "Russia" (bins)
[personal profile] mrkinch
After birding the parking lot, which is always a fun beginning to our morning - the Great Blue Heron was there again - U and Chris climbed up the slope while I took Jewel Lake Trail, which I had not done since I began going up into Wildcat Canyon instead of staying in the Nature Area. It was fun to go there again, but omg the poison oak is looking amazing.:( The Anna's Hummingbird nest at Jewel Lake was indeed empty, but there were several hummingbirds in the area, feasting inside a large swarm of gnats. An all you can eat buffet! And I watched two individual Brown Creepers slip into the nest under the bark of the tall snag. The list: )

The Orange-crowned Warblers have gone silent, as they seem to do later in the breeding season, but the Wilson's Warblers are still singing as are the Swainson's Thrushes.

waiting for the moment to turn

Jun. 30th, 2025 06:24 pm
musesfool: ROBIN (never enough robin)
[personal profile] musesfool
Recs update ahoy:

[personal profile] unfitforsociety has been updated for June 2025 with 15 recs in 3 fandoms:

13 Batfamily
2 Percy Jackson crossovers



I'm not sure why I went looking for PJO crossovers but I'm kind of glad I did?

Anyway, I took today and Thursday off and I'm looking forward to this 2 day work week. *g*