I remember reading quite some time back about a woman who decided not to buy or borrow any more new books until she'd read all the ones (the hundreds and hundreds of ones) she had in her house. That was her project for the coming year. I don't know how she got on, but I suspect she found it difficult to resist the temptation of new books.
I've gone through a funny patch in regard to reading: I've been reading a lot of kids' books this year, especially since I retired, but I've also found it quite difficult to get on and read a number of the books I've borrowed from the library, especially the fiction titles. I've found it even harder to read some of the non-fiction ones I've picked up. Must be a phase.
However, what I have done more of lately, is re-read books. As I wrote in my last post, I've just finished reading a Dale Ralph Davis book for the third time. But this month I've re-read three other books: William O'Malley's More Daily Prayers for Busy People (I'd re-read his Daily Prayers for Busy People earlier in the year - both of these must be up to their third or fourth readings in each case); Grahame Greene's Our Man in Havana which was a delight, full of wit and satire; and Steve Turner's Imagine, which is about art and Christianity.
You'll note that only one of those is a fiction title, in spite of what I said in the paragraph before that. I also re-read Philip Yancey's Prayer earlier in the year, and in September, Monday the Rabbi Took Off, and, Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red, both by Harry Kemelman.
Non-fiction books often need a couple of readings to get to grips with what the author is saying, or just to mull over again the points they're making. In fact, continual re-readings over a period of years probably wouldn't do any harm. And it's like catching up with an old friend over coffee and discovering what's been happening in the meantime.
Fiction titles - if you leave them for a few years (and in the case of the three novels mentioned here, it's been quite a lot of years) - often appear completely new: you've forgotten how the story goes, though you have a vague familiarity with some of the incidents, and you find new things that you don't remember at all. Plus you come at the story with a different life perspective. Age has a few advantages...!
I find the same thing with watching a movie again: it's surprising how much you've forgotten or missed the first time around, and even though you think you know what's going to happen, there are always surprises. One viewing is often insufficient for most movies (it's too much, of course, for a few!). I noticed with the New Zealand movie, The Insatiable Moon, that I enjoyed it a great deal more the second time around, for instance. You're no longer curious about where the story is going, and you can focus on other aspects of the movie.
Showing posts with label insatiable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insatiable. Show all posts
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
The Truth Game
Went to Simon Cunliffe's play, The Truth Game, last night. House wasn't very full, which was a bit of a surprise, since the play has had very good reviews, and it's new, and it's locally-written (Cunliffe works for the Otago Daily Times, which has sponsored the play, and also provided, no doubt, the mountains of newspapers that litter the stage and the foyer, and which the Fortune is going to have to recycle at the end of the season on Saturday).
The play has an excellent cast: Greg Johnson, Peter Hayden, Phil Vaughan, Michele Amas, Anna Henare and Kathleen Burns - more on them later - and a striking set designed by Matt Best. At first it looked as though the giant screen that dominates the stage (and is used by Belinda as a PowerPoint) is going to clutter up things. In fact, its screen is made up of modern-style Venetian blinds (I'm sure they have their own proper name) and these open up completely to reveal an office within the larger office that takes up the rest of the stage.
The play is basically about the conflict that's going on in the newspaper world between old hacks like the rough-edged Frank Stone (note the name) and his even older confederate Ralph (pronounced Rafe, as he carefully explains to the newbie journalist), and the New Media people who think running a newspaper is all about making money (which of course it is, but news comes into it too - real news, as Frank insists again and again), and the up-and-coming generation who can find reports and articles and tweets and blogs at the drop of a hat. No one wins - not in this play - and probably the competition is going to go on for a long time yet.
Frank may be rough-edged, but he's a very good editor and organiser - when the big story comes at the end of the first act, he's onto it in a flash. Frank is played by Greg Johnson - he was the irascible hostel manager in the movie, The Insatiable Moon. This is a somewhat similar character: a man who's hard-nosed, but has considerable integrity. A man who shouts at this clientele, but loves them dearly. A man with mistakes in his past (as the sub-plot brings to light - a sub-plot that's interesting, but not quite in line with the play as a whole; still, it provides variety. By the way, that use of a semi-colon there is much denigrated at one point in the play, along with a number of other woolly-liberal kinds of punctuation - the end-dash, for one.)
Peter Hayden plays Ralph. Hayden has had a long and successful career both as an actor and also as one of the men at the forefront of the Natural History documentary unit here in Dunedin. In this play, Ralph is a little fragile, past retirement age, but still living in a world where he is safe and snug doing what he's always done. Hayden provides a quiet foil to the noise that goes around him (he writes with large earphones on), and provides some of the more amusing moments with his didactic approach to grammar. Ralph spends his days puttering around doing the editorial (I always thought the leader was done by the Editor, says Jo, the newbie), pulling together stuff from his forty plus years of experience of writing, and also writing the wine column (a somewhat less-than-journalistic occupation in the eyes of some of the others).
Phil Vaughan is the fussy little manager; he still has a bit of journalism in his blood, but mostly its been diluted by the need to make money, please the Head Office and so on. The arm-wrestling he and Frank do at one point may be a bit odd, but it's significant in terms of their relationship. Anna Henare (a Fortune Theatre regular) is the up-and-coming editor, an able journalist, still with integrity, and still soft, but heading - it seems - towards being as hard-nosed as Frank has become. She's Frank's current lover, but journalism and truth keep getting in the road.
Michelle Amas (who's a poet as well as an actor) is the brittle Belinda. She opens the play with an almost-too-long seminar 'talk' to an Australian conference (Frank is there, and walks out in disgust). The least likeable character in the play, Amas still manages to give her some warmth - though never too much. Kathleen Burns is the youngest character in the play (meant to be a late teenager, I'd think, while Burns is around 25), and the one with all the Internet skills. Burns has a bit of a difficult role: her character, Jo, brings humour to the play, is meant to be a little gauche but also better-read than her years would indicate, and struggles with the interplay between the other characters. At times I felt Burns was acting the part rather than giving it to us direct; some of her moves had the air of being there to add character, rather than coming out of the character itself. This may be intentional on the director's part (Lara McGregor, who's done a superb job overall - she's also the Fortune's new artistic director) but at times it just didn't seem quite on a par with the other actors' work. Nevertheless, Burns is well-integrated into the cast, and my quibble is minor.
All in all, not only has this play been well worth putting on - and I'd hope there are other companies around the country who'll pick it up - but it's perhaps the best thing I've seen at the Fortune in a long time. Though that may not mean much as my attendance at the Fortune is pretty irregular!
The play has an excellent cast: Greg Johnson, Peter Hayden, Phil Vaughan, Michele Amas, Anna Henare and Kathleen Burns - more on them later - and a striking set designed by Matt Best. At first it looked as though the giant screen that dominates the stage (and is used by Belinda as a PowerPoint) is going to clutter up things. In fact, its screen is made up of modern-style Venetian blinds (I'm sure they have their own proper name) and these open up completely to reveal an office within the larger office that takes up the rest of the stage.
The play is basically about the conflict that's going on in the newspaper world between old hacks like the rough-edged Frank Stone (note the name) and his even older confederate Ralph (pronounced Rafe, as he carefully explains to the newbie journalist), and the New Media people who think running a newspaper is all about making money (which of course it is, but news comes into it too - real news, as Frank insists again and again), and the up-and-coming generation who can find reports and articles and tweets and blogs at the drop of a hat. No one wins - not in this play - and probably the competition is going to go on for a long time yet.
Frank may be rough-edged, but he's a very good editor and organiser - when the big story comes at the end of the first act, he's onto it in a flash. Frank is played by Greg Johnson - he was the irascible hostel manager in the movie, The Insatiable Moon. This is a somewhat similar character: a man who's hard-nosed, but has considerable integrity. A man who shouts at this clientele, but loves them dearly. A man with mistakes in his past (as the sub-plot brings to light - a sub-plot that's interesting, but not quite in line with the play as a whole; still, it provides variety. By the way, that use of a semi-colon there is much denigrated at one point in the play, along with a number of other woolly-liberal kinds of punctuation - the end-dash, for one.)Peter Hayden plays Ralph. Hayden has had a long and successful career both as an actor and also as one of the men at the forefront of the Natural History documentary unit here in Dunedin. In this play, Ralph is a little fragile, past retirement age, but still living in a world where he is safe and snug doing what he's always done. Hayden provides a quiet foil to the noise that goes around him (he writes with large earphones on), and provides some of the more amusing moments with his didactic approach to grammar. Ralph spends his days puttering around doing the editorial (I always thought the leader was done by the Editor, says Jo, the newbie), pulling together stuff from his forty plus years of experience of writing, and also writing the wine column (a somewhat less-than-journalistic occupation in the eyes of some of the others).
Phil Vaughan is the fussy little manager; he still has a bit of journalism in his blood, but mostly its been diluted by the need to make money, please the Head Office and so on. The arm-wrestling he and Frank do at one point may be a bit odd, but it's significant in terms of their relationship. Anna Henare (a Fortune Theatre regular) is the up-and-coming editor, an able journalist, still with integrity, and still soft, but heading - it seems - towards being as hard-nosed as Frank has become. She's Frank's current lover, but journalism and truth keep getting in the road.
Michelle Amas (who's a poet as well as an actor) is the brittle Belinda. She opens the play with an almost-too-long seminar 'talk' to an Australian conference (Frank is there, and walks out in disgust). The least likeable character in the play, Amas still manages to give her some warmth - though never too much. Kathleen Burns is the youngest character in the play (meant to be a late teenager, I'd think, while Burns is around 25), and the one with all the Internet skills. Burns has a bit of a difficult role: her character, Jo, brings humour to the play, is meant to be a little gauche but also better-read than her years would indicate, and struggles with the interplay between the other characters. At times I felt Burns was acting the part rather than giving it to us direct; some of her moves had the air of being there to add character, rather than coming out of the character itself. This may be intentional on the director's part (Lara McGregor, who's done a superb job overall - she's also the Fortune's new artistic director) but at times it just didn't seem quite on a par with the other actors' work. Nevertheless, Burns is well-integrated into the cast, and my quibble is minor.
All in all, not only has this play been well worth putting on - and I'd hope there are other companies around the country who'll pick it up - but it's perhaps the best thing I've seen at the Fortune in a long time. Though that may not mean much as my attendance at the Fortune is pretty irregular!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Guitar players
Luke Hurley, well known in music circles around the country, and one of my former customers (from the time I ran O C Books) wrote on Facebook that one of his songs, Sound, features in the opening of The Insatiable Moon - which premieres in the middle of next month.
He (no mean guitarist himself, as his Sound video shows) also put some videos on Facebook: this one appealed in particular. Just goes to show that it's possible to play an instrument in more than one way - and it's probably easier on the wrist as well, as you don't have to twist it while playing.
He (no mean guitarist himself, as his Sound video shows) also put some videos on Facebook: this one appealed in particular. Just goes to show that it's possible to play an instrument in more than one way - and it's probably easier on the wrist as well, as you don't have to twist it while playing.
****************
5.7.24 That was the original short post, but the video that accompanied it originally has been removed from YouTube. You can now see a better video of The Sound (not just 'Sound'). The direction is by Simon Raby. The girl who appears is Zippora Rose Seven, who now a top model in New York.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The loss of storytelling
On the Insatiable Moon blog there's this comment from filmmakers Tom Burstyn and Barbara Sumner
At the Berlin festival one thing became obvious – we’re a little old to be embarking on what is a new career for us both. Young people should be making low-budget documentaries. Passion and obsession should be the preserve of those with energy to spare. We’re grandparents and we like to sleep, while we really don’t do well in the two-star accommodation kindly provided by the festival.
At the Berlin festival one thing became obvious – we’re a little old to be embarking on what is a new career for us both. Young people should be making low-budget documentaries. Passion and obsession should be the preserve of those with energy to spare. We’re grandparents and we like to sleep, while we really don’t do well in the two-star accommodation kindly provided by the festival.
And yet we found ourselves repeatedly in conversations about our increasingly technical world – which is clearly the preserve of the young – and the loss of storytelling. At dinner one producer wondered if in fact we were in the grip of a cultural autism. As she saw it, the more technology (and thus budget) a film requires the more it appeals to and tunes the left-brain. And that’s perhaps what I hated most about Avatar – all that film wizardry in service of itself, instead of story.
The trick of course is to harness the fantastic benefits of the digital world to the needs of the heart to make intense, emotionally connected films. That’s certainly our goal. And one of the benefits of going to Berlin with This Way of Life was the solidifying of that purpose. Vive l’obsession!
The documentary, This Way of Life features Peter Karena, his wife Colleen, their six children and many horses who live almost wild in the stunning beauty of New Zealand's rugged Ruahine Mountain
s. Until, that is, Peter's escalating battle with his own father has profound consequences for the whole clan.
PS - If you want to win a piece of film history, go to the Trade Me auction featuring a vehicle used both for transport of crew and stars in the movie, The Insatiable Moon. (Pictured at left)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Insatiable Moon
A number of years ago, a Baptist minister by the name of Mike Riddell wrote a novel called The Insatiable Moon. It had a rather full-scale sex scene in it, the sort of thing that could trouble certain hearts - and did. (In fact, the scene is comparatively mild by some standards.) The end result was that Mike resigned from his Baptist ministry, and went onto write several other books and at least one play.
I used to meet Mike in my bookshop, and got to know him a little. He's a great fellow, affable, with a lovely sense of humour. I read almost all his books, I think, including The Insatiable Moon, and I enjoy his writing.
Before he left Dunedin he was already talking about making a movie out of his most well-known novel, and below you'll find a kind of pre-production promo. At this point it looks as though the script might be done, the director's in place, the main character is cast, and there's some sort of production team. Beyond that, I don't know how much more is on the way.
I used to meet Mike in my bookshop, and got to know him a little. He's a great fellow, affable, with a lovely sense of humour. I read almost all his books, I think, including The Insatiable Moon, and I enjoy his writing.
Before he left Dunedin he was already talking about making a movie out of his most well-known novel, and below you'll find a kind of pre-production promo. At this point it looks as though the script might be done, the director's in place, the main character is cast, and there's some sort of production team. Beyond that, I don't know how much more is on the way.
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