Giving thanks, and a mea culpa

I realize that I have been severely deficient in the upkeep of this blog the last few weeks. Its been a situation it seems, most nights, that I'll come from work or the gym with the intention of writing something, then sitting down and having nothing flow out immediately, getting distracted, then finally not actually writing anything for whatever reason. I'm hoping that the Thanksgiving break might help recharge things, so here we go. As I've said, things have been busy and interesting up here the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, I had the kind of weird privilege of going down to Alton Central School and reading to kids as part of their "Celebrity reading day." Seriously. I was considered a celebrity. I think this probably says more about where I live than anything else. Anyway, I read through a couple of children's book's (I read to two third grade classes) as the two books I brought from my personal library, Moby Dick and Walden probably wouldn't have been too entertaining (though I did read part of Chapter one of Moby Dick to the first class, who kept asking me to keep going, though I assume that was because they didn't want to actually learn stuff in their other courses.

Thanksgiving as interesting, mainly because I had to make the long drive(s) myself. Even last year, I drove from Chicago to home, then to Euclid with the family (though I should say, the trip from Chicago, which usually took four and a half to five hours took eight because of snow and slow traffic). This year, I left Wednesday morning, then drove about 13 hours to Cleveland. The drive was actually quite simple, there were only about two or three turns the whole trip, as it was almost entirely on I-90, including the Mass. and New York thruways. The ride back took less time, but again, took the same route.

While I was down in Euclid, I saw two movies, about which I wanted to share some quick thoughts. First, Thanksgiving night, I saw Rent with Robert, Annie and Kenny and their kids, along with some of the drama students they know. I enjoyed it, though it wasn't as good as Chicago as an adaptation. I think more of my problems with it were related to the source material, the play itself. I've seen a lot of online reviews, especially from a lot of regular folks who hated, hated, the show, and pretty much hated the movie too. The thing I can see, even having never seen it onstage, is that Rent is, if anything, a product of two time periods- the AIDS epidemic years of the late 80's, where indeed, it cut a wide swath through whole communities, and then the mid-90's as a theatre piece. It is, more than anything, totally different from anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber or Les Mis, less biting and cynical than Sondheim, and more accessible for many because of the style of music. It will always have a home at colleges once it leaves Broadway, but I don't know if it will ultimately be remembered as one of those musicals that fundamentally changes things. It will probably be thought of, along with Hair, as it's own category.

The second one I saw was GoF, which I found, more than anything, to be incredibly dark. Having not read the books, I track the progress of the kids through the movies, and I was surprised just how dark and intense the movie was. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but I was just a little surprised. I have to say, too, that its great to see the development of each of the actors grow up before our eyes.