fidelioscabinet

The Dangers of a Quiet Sunday at Home

2008-05-11T17:03:31Z

All of the cats are asleep--three in the living room with me (one in the rocking chair, one in the window with the deep sill and the view of the tree with the birds and squirrels, and one one the couch). Another (Dread Pirate Roberts, still Not Convinced monkeys are worth the effort) is kipping on top of the ironing in the dining room, and Belle is stacking zs in the bathroom, where she can ignore all the other cats.

There's so much Cat Somnolence By-product in the air here that it's all I can do to stay upright.

More of The Legendary Warrior (Episode 3)

2008-05-09T20:37:37Z

The game pieces are still being moved into position, but that doesn't mean Things Are Dull in Chang'an. There's plenty going on,
We begin with Madame Liu fretting gently over her younger daughter, Yiny, asking which one of her many suitors she wants to marry. Maybe Mr. Zhang, he of the Very Large Betrothal Gift Of Silver Coins? No. Well, then who? because after all, it would never do for her to get to be what, 17 or 18 and still be single, because they neighbors would start to talk about the poor girl dying on the vine and all.
Yiny, dimples and all, looks terribly wistful and says she'll let Fate choose her husband. She's pretty much made up her mind, but being a clever girl, knows her parents aren't going to like her ideas on the subject, and since her Dream Man is a no-go, she might as well close her eyes and point as anything. So she'll toss a silk ball into the crowd, and whoever catches it is The Man. Mr, Liu immediately beings making plans to vet the candidates at the gate, before they even get a chance to catch things.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Gu, Yiny's old nanny, is telling Xue Rengui all about this, and urging him to take his chances. He is appalled. It's so inappropriate. Mr. Liu would never accept him as a son-in-law. Mrs. Gu tells him Yiny likes him, she really, really likes him. In the face of his obduracy, though, she finally admits that maybe it's a silly idea and leaves.

Come the day, a mob of anxious young men are on hand, waiting for the silk ball to fall from Yiny's lovely hand. She surveys the crowd. Is he there? Is her dream man lurking there in a corner of the courtyard, where a cooperative breeze can carry the silk ball to him, if she aims it more or less in his direction?
No. he's at the back of the house, hard at work, while Mrs. Gu nags him to get out there and try his luck with every other single man in town. Nunh-unh. Not happening. How, after all, can he support a wife? He lives in a cave! Please, Mrs. Gu, just let this go. Back on the other side of the house, Mr. Liu is getting impatient, and jostles his daughter ever so subtly so she drops the ball. Fighting breaks out below as the assembled suitors scramble for the prize. And then--an errant breeze shows up, catches the silk ball, carries it up over the roof of the house and--

(wait for it)

(you've can't even begin to guess)

(because in your universe narrative just doesn't work like this)

drops it on Xue Rengui's head, while a delighted Mrs. Gu watches. It's fate! It's fate! (What, you thought it was going to fall in the river, or land in the hands of a traveler from far away who had no idea what was going on? Please. Although having it land on the head of Tie Shimo or Wang Biao on his way back to Boliao would indeed be amusing, although awfully hard on the established plot conventions here. And I have to say I can't imagine Yiny getting along that well with Tie Shiwen and Meili; she's a very nice girl, with a strong sense of propriety.)

Of course, everyone has rushed around the house in pursuit of the silk ball, and while Yiny is delighted by the results, her mother is relieved to have things settled, and her older brother convinced that Heaven has spoken, and Yiny keeps telling her father he gave his word, Mr. Liu is apoplectic. He declares the proceedings null and void, and sends everyone home. Yiny and Xue Rengui are reduced to exchanging long looks.

Back at the home of ACP in fabled Chang'an, his daughter is reciting from the classics. She's a bright child, and he tells her it's a shame she wasn't a boy. She tells him she'd be happy to pretend that she is one, because being a princess is Bo-ring. Her stepmother arrives in time to hear this, and asks her what's so boring about being a princess; the Baby Princess flounces out in disgust over the general cluelessness of adults, and the shortcomings of her stepmother in particular.
The lovely Zhang Meiren then proceeds to cajole her ailing husband into taking his medicine. Should we worry about her familiarity with the Tang pharmacopeia? Surely not. The dose swallowed, ACP and wife go out and watch his adopted son, Jianshan working out with his kungfu instructor. The boy's good, and when his father tells him he has a mission for him, off in Jiangxi, he listens attentively, because he is a well-behaved young man. He listens with real interest, though, when his father tells him, casually, while ordering him to go and see what he can find out about Xue Rengui, that it's entirely possible that Xue Rengui's kungfu may be better than Jianshan's. Jianshan, you see, is Keen. It needed only that to make sure Jianshan would pack his bag, and mount his horse, and set off down the road with his kungfu instructor, Wang Cheng in tow.
Zhang Meiren pouts a bit, ever so adorably. Does ACP not trust her father, who will be on the look-out for Xue Rengui while he's handling recruiting duties down in Shanxi? No, no, it's just that it's better to cover all the possibilities. Will it be possible to turn any of this to DtFP's advantage? The ACP is non-committal. And as Jianshan mounts up to ride of on the High Road to Adventure, the Baby Princess is on hand, demanding to go with him. Alas, she has to stay in Chang'an and continue to be bored.

We look back in on Our Hero, just in time for New Year's. Mr. Liu pays him, which he wasn't expecting, since the deal was work for food, not silver. Then Mr. Liu fires him, which he also wasn't expecting, although it's likely no one else is surprised. Mr. Liu suggests that surely Xue Rengui should go and see his family for New Year's. Mr. Di the butler appears, just about to leave to see his own family, and reminds Mr. Liu that they need a watchman for the building supplies, just in case someone steals them. Xue Rengui hears this and volunteers--entirely because he needs the work, of course, and although Mr. Liu is not happy about this, even he can see how hard it's going to be to find a watchman on short notice as the biggest holiday of the year is about to start. So he says yes, and of course we all know this means Something Big Will Happen. If only Mr. Liu and Xue Rengui were aware of that, poor souls.

Our hero watches. It is cold. It snows. He alternates between stomping around, trying to keep warm, and huddling in the straw in the porter's lodge. Yiny feels terribly sorry for him, and asks Mrs. Gu to do something for him. Mrs. Gu, being a benevolent woman, brings him a portable stove and some dumplings, but Mr. Liu, being entirely lacking in benevolence, arrives and puts a stop to this unnecessary generosity. (If Xue Rengui ever does get dumplings, it will be a Red Letter Day. So far his luck has not been good.) It continues to be cold and snowy, and Yiny, watching from her window, decides to throw down a quilted coat--but instead of the old, serviceable overcoat she intended to throw him, tosses down a fine embroidered one instead.

Comes the dawn, as Xue Rengui is sweeping up the snow in the courtyard, he takes off his own coat, and reveals the fancy garment underneath, and you know what happens next, surely. The houehold is thrown into turmoil, Mrs. Gu and Yiny take to the road, Xue Rnegui is lucky to escape with his life, and Mr. Liu is left under the impression that his daughter has thrown herself into the well. He order the servants to put a large rock on top of the well cover. I'm sure it is also no surprise to anyone that Mrs. Gu and Yiny then meet Xue Rengui entirely by accident at an abandoned temple outside of town, or that Xue Rengui takes them back to his cave so they can shelter from the snow there, or that Mrs. Gu talks them into getting married, to Brother Wang's and his wife's delight. After all, it is what Fate intended!

In Boliao, Tie Shiwen's control over state affairs has strengthened to the point that his agents are bringing him all of the royal correspondence before King Jian sees it. Meili makes a reference to possible problems with An Daer, but her doting husband sets her mind at ease with a single sneer. The sneer has barely left his face when Wang Biao shows up, back from Chang'an and still bearing the marks of their last encounter. Maybe it's Stockholm syndrome, maybe he's just aware of what will happen if he doesn't report in, but he passes on Emperor Taizong's promise that Tie Shiwen will get to live just a little bit longer, but not to make any long-term plans about trips to Disney World. Meili is not happy to hear her man dissed like this, but her husband assures her they'll bury Tang. Over at the palace, the king signs some letters and gives one each to his son and daughter. They are to head for Chang'an and try and calm down the Emperor. Alas, a guard of insufficient loyalty overhears this, and hustles off to share the news with Tie Shiwen and his family. Shimo is annoyed. And also impressed--his sister-in-law was right! It HAS paid off to spy on the royal family. They must love the boy, because his elder brother and his sister-in-law let this slide, and instead spring into action--Shimo and Meili round up some of their men, and follow the royal pair--who have already made plans to rendezvous down the road in CHifeng. Alas, when the Crown Prince does get there, he is killed before his sister's very eyes, and she is wounded when Meili fires off an arrow at her. (Needless to say, since it's one of Meili's arrows, that this will have long-term consequences.)

Things are happening in Chang'an as well. The Emperor, Yuchi, and RPC visit the ailing Prince Qin and, after a certain amount of sparring, he turns over the commander's seal to Yuchi. As he is leaving, Yuchi expresses some sentiments not entirely flattering to his old comrade, and Qin's son, Huaiyu, overhears and is indignant--and Yuchi would have had trouble walking away if RPC hadn't broken up the fistfight. Nevertheless, The Emperor announces that he's going to marry his daughter Jingluo to Qin Huaiyu. In other news, the Emperor announces that in addition to Yuchi's appointment as commander, Xu will serve as general (chief of staff, I suppose), Zhang Shigui will command the vanguard, one of the Prince Chengs will handle the provisions, and Qin Huaiyu will assemble and train reinforcements. He'll leave his son Li Zhi behind as regent. And where is this Xue Rengui to be found, anyway?

He's in his cave, with his beautiful dimpled wife, but that's for next time.

fidelioscabinet @ 2008-05-08T12:03:00

2008-05-08T17:22:57Z

Life with the young spotted cat continues. he gets along pretty well with all the other cats by now (even Belle--go figure), is eating ike any other adolescent, and still refusing to settle down for a name. stringwoman has taken to calling him Bob, which he shows no response to, which either means he refuses to admit that the Church of the Subgenius exists, or he doesn't realize "Bob" is a name, or he is ignoring this for reasons known only to him.

I'm beginning to wonder if the sheer number of cats on hand (and I realize that in terms of People With Too Many Cats, we're pikers and amateurs) isn't making it less likely that he'll get to be friendly with the humans--he can ignore us because he has other cats to hang with, and the food shows up on time without him having to make a fuss. Yes, we're not Totally Scary Monkeys any more--but we're not past the Chopped Liver stage either.

He does hang out extensively with Jemmy, and frequently we find him doing whatever it is Jemmy is doing--a couple of days ago, Jemmy was parked on top of a hamper full of ironing, and Young Spotted Cat had parked himself on top of a basket right beside it, in bout the same position. They wrestle with each other (Jemmy holds back, more than you'd expect), and last night, in an effort to get out of range of the dog's nose, Young Spotted Cat made a flat-footed leap over Jemmy (once again kipped out in the ironing, and yes, I do need to get that done) and landed on the other side, without rousing Jemmy in the slightest. Then he jumped back in the other direction, because the dog looked to be coming his way, and then back in the original direction, because the dog was still in the hall after all.

He still doesn't match his feet.

fidelioscabinet @ 2008-05-06T08:21:00

2008-05-06T13:32:36Z

Mildred Loving is dead; the 1967 Supreme Court decision made in favor of her and her husband Richard's right to marry is as important as Brown v. Board of Education in changing this country for the better.

Mildred Loving, June 12, 2007, on the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision:

"Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard [NB: Richard Loving died in car accident in 1975] and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights. I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about."

I do think my LOLPhilosopher is especially apt for this post, don't you?

be afraid

2008-05-05T17:11:17Z

There are things man was not meant to tamper with.

Just sayin'.

*eyes drawer full of silver serving pieces anxiously*

*remembers the olive fork--the one with the plunger that pushed the olive off the tines*

*shudders*

My eyes, my eyes!

2008-05-05T16:01:20Z

Saturday night I caught Curse of the Golden Flower, which is the idiotic Sax Rohmerish name someone stuck on the American-release version of Mancheng jindai huangjinjia, which is literally something like "When Golden Armor Covers the Entire City*".

It's gorgeous. (See the pictures!) It's pseudo-historical! (Here's why.) It's about a very dysfunctional family, who have a lot of people ready and willing to enable their dysfunctionalities. It has Chow Yun-fat, being worldly-wise and jaded. I haven't decided yet if he's evil, or just really, really Over it All. Or both. He clearly has issues. It has Gong Li, wearing clothes** that stand up by themselves and enough gold ornaments to pay for at least one of the new Olympic venues, and working the femme fatale<>/i> thing for all it's worth. She may be evil, or just really Over It All. She really has issues. It's got Liu Ye and Jay Chou being in over their heads (all right, their characters are over their heads--Liu Ye at least seems to be coping just fine). They have a plenitude of issues--the Crown Prince even has issues he doesn't know he has. It's got assassins in black, and rival groups of guards in gold and silver armor. It's got a royal palace teeming with servants carrying out perfectly-choreographed daily routines. And chrysanthemums. Pots and pots and pots and pots of chrysanthemums, and later on, even more chrysanthemums, because they needed more. But not a lot of kungfu, in case you were under the impression it was illegal to make a costume movie in either Hong Kong or mainland China that didn't depend on this for at least one quarter of the screentime.

It's supposed to be on again May 14***. Maybe my eyes will have recovered enough by then to watch it a second time.

*It's from a poem by Huang Chao, Failed civil service examinee, illicit salt-trade kingpin, and rebel, called 不第後賦菊/不第后赋菊, or "On the Chrysanthemum, after failing the Imperial Examination"

待到秋来九月八，我花开后百花杀。
冲天香阵透长安，满城尽带黄金甲。

"When autumn comes on Double Ninth Festival, / my flower [the chrysanthemum] will bloom and all others perish. / When the sky-reaching fragrance [of the chrysanthemum] permeates Chang'an, / the whole city will be clothed in golden armour." (Translation taken, as those who have clicked on all the links already know, from the Wikipedia article.)

Compare and contrast with such outstanding specimens of American political poetry as "Tippecanoe/and Tyler, too!" Clearly, we have much progress yet to make as a culture. Our political malcontents are not yet as adept poetically as they could be.

**With entirely ahistorical cleavage.

***Encore Action Channel, or you could try Netflix. Readers outside the US should consult their own resources.

fidelioscabinet @ 2008-05-04T11:45:00

2008-05-04T17:18:05Z

The latest opera DVD I've exposed my eyes and ears to was Mitradate, Ré de Ponto. This was Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production of a 14-year-old Mozart's first opera, and while I realize Ponnelle is not lightly criticized, I'll start by saying I'm not in love with having the role of Arbate, one of Mitradate's ministers, sung by a boy soprano? Why the allergy to countertenors, if he wasn't happy giving it to a woman? Or transpose it down for a baritone, even if it's not what Mozart would have done in an opera seria.

I wasn't in love with the camera angles a good bit of the time, either.

Once I got over the fact that Gosta Winbergh reminded me of a tenor Brian Dennehy (not just physically; the same near-manic, ferocious intensity is there as well), I was happy except for the men's costumes, which attempted to follow the hooped shirts of the female characters, and ended up looking as if they were carrying donut-shaped pool floats under their coats.

The plot is as slim and frail as any in opera seria, and aside from modern child labor laws keeping any 14-year-old from being hired as an opera composer on the deadlines Mozart was expected to meet, I'm pretty sure any child protective services officer worth their salt would have issues with the content of the plot. Mitradate's two sons, Siface and Farnace, are both enamoured of Aspasia, their father's fiancée. Mitradate loses a major battle and returns to the capital, where his suspicions are aroused. The elder son, Farnace, sells his father out to the Romans, and is arrested and imprisoned. Mitradate tries to poison Aspasia. Romans arrive and free Farnace, who decides to side with his father after all. The Romans disappear like the well-trained plot device they are, only to appear again right near the end, where Mitradate kills himself rather than surrender, posing with his sons, Aspasia (still not dead) and Farnace's rejected fiancée Ismene. This being opera seria, the high voices outnumber the low ones.

The whole thing is shot onstage at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, which is an eyeful, and which Ponnelle uses for all it's worth. This is not a live production, although it's filmed onstage, and I found some of the cuts, as well as the camera angles annoying. The ships of Mitradate's navy are well-done, though, and there's lot to love here, although I'm not sold on the pool floats. Even allowing for that. though, there's plenty of gorgeous to go around.

unwaxwed cat

2008-05-02T16:00:07Z

Shorter Minerva the Cat, on being brushed yesterday: yesyeysyesyeysyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then she purred herself to sleep and purred all the way though the nap. I think she may be shedding.

I tot I saw a puddy tat

2008-05-02T15:21:59Z

I caved and bought the Parker Vector pen with the picture of Sylvester. I am able to report that the Levenger long ink cartridges will fit it. I wasn't sure I could manage this, as Parkers have skinnier cartridge receptacles than some other makes of pens--I haven't been able to store a spare short internation-size cartridge in the receptacle, which is possible with other makes when you're using short cartridges.

The magical-thinking part of my brain* says the fact that I order this pen last Friday is the reason I found the missing Waterman half over the weekend.

*Oh. come on. We all have one, so don't act like it's a big deal. The problem is when you start taking that part of the brain seriously for purposes other than creative inspirations.

May Day

2008-05-01T13:07:17Z

The ILWU west coast longshore workers have voted to stop work to protest the US war and occupation on Iraq and Afghanistan on May Day 2008. They have also called on the AFL-CIO, Change To Win (CTW) and other labor organizations to join them in action on May Day against the war and to commemorate the International Workers Holiday. This website has been set up to help publicize this action and to get support from workers throughout the US. Please let us know if your union or organization can endorse and take other actions.

The Longshore Caucus passed an antiwar resolution to stop work in all U.S. West Coast ports on May 1, 2008 for 8 hours to protest the Democrats' and Republicans' continuing to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The resolution from Local 10 encountered vigorous debate. In the end the overwhelming consensus to take dock action to stop the war prevailed. It was Vietnam veterans who turned the tide in the debate overwhelmingly in favor the resolution, "For Workers' Action to Stop the War". As the President of Local 34 Richard Cavalli stated this resolution follows ILWU Local 10 and 34's successful Labor Conference to Stop the War held in San Francisco Oct. 20, 2007, as reported in the ILWU's newspaper, The Dispatcher.

When I told my landlord, the old railroad guy, about this, we ended up talking about unions and work issues in the US currently. He said he felt the unions made a major mistake when they didn't call a general strike when Reagan fired to air traffic controllers back in the 1980s. They showed they were willing to be pushed around. If the question is "What would Walter Reuther or John L. Sullivan do?", the answer is not: Let them take other workers down because, hey, it's not your problem.

Me, I'm not in a union (state employees here have a lobbying group, not a union; we can't call a strike). I'll be at my desk, because these claims for Iraq war vets keep showing up, and I'd hate to make one sit an extra day. But May Day is the day for workers' rights, and even if you have a nice white-collar job, remember--capital is not instrinsically evil, but capitalists need watchin'. You may work in air-conditioning and not have to punch a clock, but you're still a worker, and if the workers don't watch out for each other, who will?

The ILWU are standing up for some people who right now are getting a lousy deal. Perhaps you've seen the bits in the news about the VA falsifying reports of the suicide rate for Iraq War veterans, or the recent piece about the vile state of the barracks some returning troops found waiting for them at Ft. Bragg, complete with backed-up sewage from malfunctioning bathroom plumbing. You have surely heard about the stop-loss phenomenon, and the equipment and supply problems our troops are facing, and the inadequacies in medical care at places like Walter Reed. The military payroll system is so antiquated that wounded troops are charged for equipment losses for items that should be recorded as "lost in service"--like the things thrown aside when the medics treated their wounds in the field. The Republicans in Congress blocked a pay raise for the troops not that long ago because it was, in their considered opinion, too generous.

It's an election year. Find out how your senators and congressional representatives voted on these issues. Demand clear statements from all the candidates about military issues, all the way from "How do we get our people the hell out of there?" through the medical care, housing, pay, and equipment issues. Do not settle for weasel words. Make it plain that you'll be checking up on whoever gets elected, and letting them know if you think they delivered. As citizens, we have a moral responsibility to support our troops, the people in the funny-looking camouflage uniforms, whatever we may think of the people in the Pentagon, or the wars the government sends them out to fight. We have a duty to make sure they get fair and decent treatment, and that they don't get sent out to fight just because it seems more exciting to a neoconservative that other means would. War should always be a last resort, not the multi-tool you try and fix everything with, but the men and women we keep around for that last resort deserve to be treated as well as we would like to be treated ourselves.

And three cheers for the ILWU for representin'.

More of the Legendary Hero

2008-04-30T03:46:53Z

Because it amuses me.

Episode Two

We resume with the Zhangs, father and daughters, along with the husbands, the ACP* and DtF, discussing what to do about Xue Rengui, should he indeed exist. They decide that if there is a Xue Rengui out there, they’ll get him on their side. Zhang Meiren then smiles her lovely angular smile, and observes that if they can’t get Xue Rengui on their side—well, that will be unfortunate for Xue Rengui, won’t it? The ACP rejoices in having a wife who is lovely, charming and smart (and possessed of no more scruples than he himself), Zhang Shigui rejoices because his daughter is clearly a chip off the opportunistic old block, and DtF and his wife rejoice in the fact that someone is looking out for DtF’s interests, because he plainly cannot.

Back in the Imperial court, a eunuch is reading Wang Biao’s face (and I have to say Tie Shiwen is an impressive calligrapher—I’d like to see what he could do with better materials than a sharp knife and a writhing, screaming human; the message on Wang Biao’s face is in small, neat characters which are plainly legible and neatly spaced.) It’s a message of defiance, and the Emperor is moved to announce that instead of sending the tribute and groveling that Tie Shiwen wants, he’ll behead Tie Shiwen. While the formal letter to this effect is being drawn up, Wang Biao should rest up, so he’ll be in good shape to carry back this letter. The court erupts into debate (more or less—they’re all mindful of proper decorum). Xu (who is a fountain of good sense, as well as a crack interpreter of dreams and cryptic poems) points out that Tie Shiwen is a formidable foe and that the Boliao army, although not as large as the Emperor’s, is well-trained.

Meanwhile, in Boliao, the king and crown prince are trying to figure out how to save the situation. The king hopes that sending the tribute a second time will calm things down; the prince thinks it would be even better to deliver the tribute and Tie Shiwen, suitably restrained. The idea has its charms, but, as the king notes, Tie Shiwen will revolt. The prince suggests using An Daer to do the job. Perhaps, the king muses, we could just take his troops away. The prince points out that this will also cause Tie Shiwen to revolt. At this point, the lovely Princess Zhaoyang bounces in, with her crimped hair (remember crimping irons, or am I showing my age?) decorated with fluffy white feathers, and a matching collar of fluffy feathers around her neck. She’s an entirely perky little barbarian, with a good grasp of hardball politics, and when her father asks her for suggestions, she notes that she told them both to execute Tie Shiwen a good while ago, and that’s too late for that now. Therefore, they should assassinate him. Her brother tells her she should be a better person. She is not impressed by this.

In Xikou Village, Xue Rengui has improved enough to come to the table and eat dinner with the Wangs, and we get our first demonstration of his legendary appetite. The Wangs are impressed; he’s embarrassed. They ask where he lives; he explains he lives in a nearby cave. Mr. Wang tells him it’s too cold for him to do this, and that he should come and stay with them. Xue Rengui demurs, and Mrs. Wang tells him she’ll get him some warm bedding and clothes together. He promises to pay them back, and Mr. Wang has a Brilliant Idea—he and Xue Rengui should become sworn brothers. So they run out into the snow and swear to be brothers, while Mrs. Wang watches, beaming.

Back at the Imperial Court in Chang’an, Emperor Taizong laments the fact that all his officers are either too old or too young, and where is he going to find someone to run this war? Especially since no sign of the Dream Hero has been found, more’s the pity! At this point, the Really Old Prince Qin totters into court and announces “I'll lead your army!”, As he is leaning on the arm of the Real Prince Cheng (henceforth the RPC), no one can believe this, and Emperor Taizong points out that Prince Qin is really pretty old. Qin tells him that having a war will make him young again; once he’s out among the soldiers and the fighting begins, all his ailments will clear up. At this point, the rest of the court can barely resist rolling their eyes, from the Emperor down through the princes, all the way to the eunuchs and the girls holding the ceremonial fans. Prince Yuchi Jingde, who is very nearly as old as Prince Qin, offers to take the command. There is intense discussion, Xu offers more good advice, the ACP offers to take the command, Qin declares he wants to go out fighting, the RPC offers to take command, there’s more arguing, Xu offers more good advice, and Emperor Taizong announces they’ll settle things by the Golden Lion contest. Four soldiers stagger in, carrying an immense golden statue of a lion, and the Emperor explains that the commander will have to succeed in carrying the thing, which weighs 1000 catties, around the hall three times. The RPC taunts the ACP, and suggests he give it a try, but the ACP declines. The old-timers argue some more, and the Emperor must deploy the dreaded Imperial Sarcasm to get things back on track. Yuchi Jingde tries to lift the lion, but fails to get it all the way off the ground. Old Qin then gives it a try and is, amazingly, able to hoist it up, although it takes several attempts and a stern internal monologue before he can do this. He then carries the thing around the hall once, twice, and—collapses in the middle of his third trip around. There’s a great deal of concerned fluttering, the Emperor tells Qin to go home and rest, and then laments, along with Xu, the fact that they aren’t any of them getting younger.

Back in Boliao, the crown prince confronts General An Daer, and makes him An Offer. An Daer tries to hedge, but the prince corners him and he promises to stand by the king. As soon as the prince has left, another offer arrives, attached to an arrow which passes a little too close to An Daer for his comfort before it sticks in the wall of his room. Wise in the ways of politics, An Daer recognizes that this offer, unlike the king’s offer, is the real Offer That Can’t Be Refused.

We then see Xue Rengui helping Mrs. Wang. Wang comes home, worn out after delivering the morning’s bean curd, and is ready to collapse. Xue Rengui insists on making the rest of the deliveries while Mrs. Wang tucks her husband up in bed. The next delivery is for the Liu mansion, and we see Mr. and Mrs. Liu (he’s another unpleasant rich man in a fancy brocade robe who spends his time polishing his horse figurines) entertaining a wealthy young man named Zhang who was given Mr. Liu a betrothal gift of large amounts of silver. Since his marriage to their daughter is not exactly a settled thing, they’re at a bit of a loss, but he leaves, telling them he’ll be their son-in-law. Mrs. Liu is not too certain about this, as she wants her daughter to marry someone the girl likes. Meanwhile, Xue Rengui is dropping off the bean curd, and the Liu butler, Mr. Di, is giving him the new order, when a workman tells Mr. Di they need someone to carry timbers for Mr. Liu’s building project. Xue Rengui announces that he’ll work for food, and Mr. Di hires him. They both think they have a good deal. Xue Rengui tells the Wangs about this. Next day, he’s on the job, carrying timbers! And water for the masons. Come lunchtime, he eats as much as any three men, but since he can do the work of four men, Mr. Di still thinks he has a good deal. In a few days, the Lius' daughters are sneaking out to get a good look at the strong man who eats so much, and Xue Rengui rescues the younger one, Yiny**, when a stack of timbers falls over and is about to crush her. Since, in the process of rescuing her, he sweeps her off her feet, we all know where this will end, don't we?

The king of Boliao has decided to try a conciliatory tack with Tie Shiwen, and is entertaining him at dinner. He pours out the flattery, and suggests that Tie Shiwen retire from the exhausting burdens of military command, and become the king’s chief adviser. What sort of palace would Tie Shiwen like to have? Tie Shiwen declares that he is a simple soldier who knows nothing of civil affairs. An Daer arrives, and asks the king for leave to go and see his sick mother. The king hesitates, but An Daer tells him he’s certain Tie Shiwen can take care of things. The king and crown prince realize that if they used forks in Boliao, it would be possible to stick one in them, because they’re done. The prince suggests his father abdicate. The king thinks this might be a good idea, and asks Tie Shiwen what he thinks. Tie Shiwen indicates that whoever’s on the throne, he, Tie Shiwen will see to it that the court is united and that the war with Tang is carried out. Or else. When dinner is over he leaves, only to be attacked by an assassin, who is of course Princess Zhaoyang, all in black and without her fluffy feathers. He fights her off, she runs away, and her brother finds her and reads he the riot act.

The next scene opens with shots of spiders, snakes, and toads. Next, a woman’s hand opens a box of gigantic centipedes, and, with a long needle, harvests a drop of poison from a centipede. The needle is stuck into a rabbit, which dies almost at once. “Splendid!” says Tie Shiwen, who has just arrived. “It’s still not fast enough,” says the woman with the needle, his devoted wife Meili. Tie Shiwen is accompanied by young commander Tie Shimo, who is his brother. Commander Tie is all hot about the assassination attempt; he knows it was the princess, and he wants to force the king to turn her over for appropriate handling. Madame Meili intervenes with sage (and cold-blooded advice), and Tie Shiwen agrees it’s best to watch the royal family closely for now.

Finally, we see Xue Rengui reading by the stove; it’s his old master’s works on strategy and tactics. He’s reading the part about the Dragon Gate Array and setting his robe on fire when Miss Liu (the dimpled Yiny) comes in, and asks what he’s reading. She’s very impressed by his scholarship, even though he points out if he was really all that great, he wouldn’t be carrying lumber for her father. She tells him to keep studying and not give up. Clearly, it’s love, but he doesn’t know it yet.

*Table of abbreviations
ACP--Amusingly Corrupt Prince: Li Daozong, generally referred to in the subtitles as Prince Cheng, which is the name of his proncipality, as opposed to the Real Prince Cheng, whose family name is Cheng.

DtF--Death to Flowerpots: He Zongxian, the (much younger) brother-in-law of Li Daozong and son-in-law of Zhang Shimin.

RPC--Real Prince Cheng: One of the Wagang Sect, a sworn brother of Emperor Taizong (and maternal uncle of Luo Tong, a widower uninterested in remarriage)

**Actually Yinhuan, but everyone calls her Yiny. One good sight of her dimples and you can see why the Lius are having trouble marrying her off--they're spoiled for choice. Mr. Zhang and his large amounts of silver isn't the noly one who's got it bad for the gorl, as we shall see.

fidelioscabinet @ 2008-04-29T07:28:00

2008-04-29T12:31:34Z

Last night I saw part of Born to Dance, with the amazing Eleanor Powell, Jimmy Stewart in his incarnation as juvenile lead, and--

(Wait for it)

(Yes, I am tormenting you on purpose)

Buddy Ebsen, as a pretty funny dancer, all knees and elbows and improbably long limbs.

Yes, he did have a career before TVLand.

Wiktory!

2008-04-28T02:35:15Z

In fact, Wiktory! times 2--

I have managed to find the business end of my Waterman Reflex fountain pen, which had become separated from the cap, which (bereft of its reason for being) remained clipped inside the spiral of the pocket notebook I had been carrying it in. The reunion is complete, the nib is undamaged, and the cartridge hadn't even dried out.

The young spotted cat has deigned to be petted. Not just touched as he passed by at a high rate of speed, but actually rubbed around the ears and scritched on the jaw. Granted, he was mostly trying to get Jemmy's attention while the bold pirate was parked on my lap, but he willingly accepted these attentions from the monkey, and allowed as how they weren't too horrible, although the petting he used to get back home was much nicer.

progress

2008-04-27T15:48:20Z

Shorter Young Spotted Cat: OMG you are a big scary monkey please don't try and touch me there needs to be some food in my dish would you mind helping me play with that feather onna stick no no don't try and touch me big scary monkey OMG Zaza looked at me will she rend me limb from limb no I will run up and down the stairs with Jemmy will Minerva let me walk past her or will she hiss at me like last time no she is sniffing my face and trying to lick the top of my head oh noes the big scary monkey is coming this way and will try and touch me now the big scary monkey has just stepped over me as if I wasn't there but now I will try to play with Jemmy/ repeat da capo al fine

small spotted cat

2008-04-23T18:00:38Z

He's getting braver, but is still terrified of the dog. He's cautious around Minerva, who grandly displays a kindly indifference, inclined to keep a safe space where Jemmy is concerned, as he can see he's outmatched, careful around Belle, who is old and cranky, and inclined to retreat when he's near Zaza--who is inclined to pursue, to what ends I know not.

He is brave wnough to come and complain when he's hungry, though.

A most important anniversary

2008-04-22T13:12:35Z

Explained at The Edge of the American West.

"It will be readily admitted that the pleasures of reading and conversing, the advantage of accuracy in business, the necessity of clearness and precision in communicating ideas, require us to be able to speak and write our own tongue with ease and correctness."--Noah Webster, from "An Essay on the Necessity. Advantages, and Practicality of Reforming the Mode of Spelling . . ."

My, my

2008-04-21T14:44:54Z

Sunday evening, after an exciting weekend spent wrangling an old bookcase out and a new bookcase in*, I watched Zu Warriors/The Legend of Zu, which was Tsui Hark's revisit to the scene of an earlier film, sort of.

This is not a man to give an unlimited budget for CGI effects.

If, like a lot of the people who commented on this film over at Amazon, I had dropped $15-$20 for the DVD, I would have been doubting whether it was worth it. Since it came via Netflix, I am at peace. Trying to figure out whether the extremely brief and enigmatic appearances by Zhang Ziyi were the set-up for another film that has not yet been made, but at peace. Luckily, the DVD offers the option to choose the original Chinese cut (with English subtitles, which aren't any siller than the rest of the movie) or the version resulting from the Miramax efforts to edit the movie, which are not well-thought of.

This is the movie with the character that has metal wings that come and go, as needed, and the CGI ballistic skulls, and the teeny red fairy with butterfly wings**

In addition, it has Cecilia Cheung with way too much styling product in her hair, and Jacky (or Jason) Wu*** with no hair at all.

__________________

*I had no choice. Significant system failure was occurring. Cats were also noodled, the new cat spotted a time or two (he stil hates us), the dog consoled, the hall light re-repaired, trash dumped, and books moved around.

**I accept that I am probably misusing the word ballistic here.

***Because using the name his loving parents gave him, Jing, would not be cool enough for the world of martial-arts films, or at least for marketing in anglophone countries, just like a movie that has both Jackie Chan and Jet Li also has to have an American actor as the protagonist, no matter how unknown, incompetent, or uninteresting to the audience he may be. You'll notice that the ads on Tv only mention Jet Li and Jackie Chan--surely this would serve as a tip to American producers that we really don't care, since the movie has Jackie Chan and Jet Li in it? Also, Journey into the West really doesn't need a modern framing plot to get it to make more sense. Once the Monkey King gets into it, sense is not going to be making frequent appearances anyway. The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven is not so much opposed to sense as sense is irrelevant when he's part of the picture.

The Legendary Hero--Episode One

2008-04-19T00:06:47Z

It's early in the Tang Dynasty, and the subject nations are restless--which is. no doubt, why this show opens with the Emperor Taizong in peril.

Episode One

This begins with the Tang Emperor Taizong on horseback, being pursued by the Commanding General of the subject kingdom of Boliao, Tie Shiwen. He falls into a pit trap, and Tie Shiwen (played by Ji Chun Hua, and I’d like to note that while directors regularly get a lot of mileage out of his baldness, they rarely make much use of his dimples) begins to indulge into the obligatory taunting. At this point, a young warrior dressed in white and wielding a shining halberd* (extra shininess courtesy of CGI) appears and defeats Tie Shiwen in combat. The Emperor asks who is rescuer is, and is answered with a cryptic verse, as the young hero rides his horse into the mouth of a dragon (more CGI) that has suddenly appeared from nowhere. The verse, in translation, goes something like: Living in a red spot far away/Protecting his master he is an ace./Wandering around without a trace/A kid is worth a thousand taels.

In the next scene, we see the Emperor asking his court to explain the meaning of his dream. One official, Zhang Shigui, who is anxious to promote his family’s interests, claims that his son-in-law, He Zongxian, is the hero of the dream. The Emperor appears to be unconvinced.

We then find ourselves in the presence of one of the members of the imperial family, an entertainingly corrupt prince identified in the cast list as Li Dao Zong, but continually referred to in the subtitles as Prince Cheng, who is another character altogether. Given his nature, I shall refer to him, now and henceforth, as the Amusingly Corrupt Prince, or ACP. He is in the act of receiving a bribe as we first see him, and during this process, his father-in-law, Zhang Shigui arrives. Once the supplicant is gone, Zhang explains to ACP that he needs his help advancing the career of his other son-in-law, He Zongxian. The ACP agrees, and at the next court, he is present, despite his chronic illness (henceforth the CCI, or convenient chronic illness), to add his voice to Zhang’s in urging the Emperor to summon He Zongxian and see if he’s the Dream Hero. The Emperor appears to be entirely free of illusions where these two are concerned, but agrees, mostly for the sake of shutting them up.

Next we see He Zongxian, in the company of his loving wife, going through his kungfu practice, a flashy exercise which has, for a climax, a high split kick which destroys a pair of airborne flower pots which he had previously sent up into the air when he split the bench they were resting on. Clearly, He Zongxian is a menace to the garden decorations, although subsequent developments will show he’s not very dangerous to anything else. A eunuch arrives from the Imperial Court, telling He Zongxian he’s been summoned to appear before the Emperor; further inquiries by his wife (who has the wit to tip the messenger) show that his father-in-law advises him to wear a white robe and carry a halberd. He does, and once at court is ordered to demonstrate his martial capacities. He does so; his brother-in-law, the ACP, and his father-in-law, Zhang Shigui, shrink back from his flourishing halberd; the old princes (the Emperor’s sworn brothers, a group known as the Wagang Sect) stand their ground and are unimpressed. One gets the impression they’ve seen more, and better, of this sort of thing, and need actual bloodshed to get excited.) The Emperor is not impressed either, and definitively states that He Zongxian, AKA Death to Flowerpots, is not the Dream Hero.
One of the Wagang Sect, a Daoist practitioner named Xu, proceeds to interpret the Emperor’s dream and tells the Emperor where the Dream Hero can be found. The young warrior is called Xue Rengui, and he’s from Dragon Gate County in Shanxi.

Needless to say, the very next scene shows a tall, handsome young man performing an elaborate kungfu routine, which has, as its finish, a calligraphy exercise which is continually interrupted by his master’s attacks. When he’s successfully completed his calligraphy (I assume it’s a poem), his master gives him two books, which he says represent all of the master’s knowledge of the art of war, congratulates him on the excellence of his kungfu, and regrets that he hasn’t been able to do anything about the fact that his student, Xue Rengui, remains mute. Xue Rengui then returns home, only to discover that his father’s house is on fire and his father is trapped inside. He rushes in, miraculously regains the ability to speak, finds his father and drags him outside. Alas, the old man dies anyway, after a pathetic speech in which he regrets that his wife has already died without seeing their son one last time.

Some time later, we see Xue Rengui wandering in the snow; he comes to a house and asks to see his uncle. The gatekeeper doesn’t know him, and is about to send him off when Xue Rengui’s cousin arrives and recognizes him. He takes him in to see his father, who berates Xue Rengui for neglecting his parents, and sends him off with a flea in his ear. As he’s leaving, the cousin tries to give Xue Rengui some steamed buns, but is prevented by this father, who takes the buns out of Xue Rengui’s hands*** before he sends him back into the snowy night. Soon, Xue Rengui collapses in the snow, where a passerby trips over him. Realizing he’s alive, the man drags him back to his home, where he and his wife nurse him back to health.

Next, we find ourselves on the road to Chang’an, from Boliao, where the annual tribute procession, led by one Wang Biao. We can tell these people are Foreign, because their clothes are gaudy and trimmed with fur, and they have funny hats.**** Wang Biao sees an overturned cart at the side of the road and is suspicious; sure enough, it’s an ambush, led by the commanding general of Boliao, Tie Shiwen, who has a Nine-bladed Flying Knife, as well as an Astonishing Pudao of Extreme Deadliness. The tribute is seized, and as the scene ends, we see Tie Shiwen bending over Wang Biao, who lies helpless in the road. Tie Shiwen is grasping a scary curved knife. This isn’t likely to end well, and as the scene ends, we hear Wang Biao screaming his lungs out, while Tie Shiwen tells him “take this letter to the court of Tang.”
Back at the Boliao court, Tie Shiwen announces that he’s retrieved the treasure, and rants about the evils of the Tang. The king equivocates. When appealed to by both the king and his son, and by Tie Shiwen, the other powerful general, An Daer, weasels. Tie Shiwen slaps him around for this later on.

We return to Xikou village, where the poor but benevolent bean curd seller, Wang Maosheng and his wife, who is also benevolent, are nursing Xue Rengui after Wang pulled him out of the snow drift earlier. So we know he’s alive, which is good, because he’s the hero.

Back in the Imperial Court at Chang’an, Wang Biao arrives, with a scarf over his face and a list of Boliao tribute—but no tribute. He explains what Tie Shiwen has done, and when the Emperor promises not to punish him, reveals his face, which has been used as the surface for Tie Shiwen’s letter to the Emperor. Behind the scenes, the Zhang family, with the ACP and Death to Flowerpots, discuss whether or not Xue Rengui in fact exists, what to do if he does, and how to advance DtF’s career, which isn’t going anywhere, because he is unlucky (they’re all too polite to call him incompetent to his face.)

*The subtitles, with only one exception so far, refer to this as the Hugh Halberd. Yes, I do find that amusing.

**given my reaction to the Hugh Halberd, you will not be surprised when I mention that the actor who plays Prince Li Dao Zong is Zhang Tie Lin, while the actress who plays his wife (her interpretation of the role is assisted by the fact that she has a smile like an archaic Greek kore) Zhang Mei Ren is Li Xia Ran.

***The uncle thus establishes two standards for rich, unpleasant men in this show—they wear lavish brocaded robes and spend their time polishing figurines of horses, and they begrudge Xue Rengui steamed buns.

****Different from proper Tang-era Chinese funny hats. They have unusual hair styles and whiskers, too.

Silent as the night

2008-04-18T15:13:03Z

unless of course, he sees another cat, or worse yet, the dog.

Yes, the kid has tired of his digs in the back room and figured out how to open the door so he could mix with the rest of us. Or rather, lurk about the place, hiding under and behind things, eying the humans dubiously and the cats intently, and the dog with thinly-veiled horror.

He's not too impressed with any of the names we've tried on him yet.

Although they did not know, the world had changed forever

2008-04-16T16:31:00Z

The latest opera chez Fidelio was Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.*

It was pretty, and if I hadn't seen some of the old-style opera seria things, I wouldn't have noticed much beyond the small cast (three singers and a chorus) and the very simple plot. Both of these things would stand out if what you were used to was the grand productions of the 19th century, or those modern operas where there is no chorus, or very little. The thing that makes Orfeo so radically different from the earlier works of Handel and others is the way Gluck arranged the singing, and tried to balance text and music so as to serve the form of the drama. I've read that Gluck foreshadows Wagner; certainly, they agree that the point of the whole thing is the story, and that the music, like the libretto, is there for the purpose of the story. The recitatives flow more naturally into the arias, and in some cases, appear more like duets that the old-style dry recitative.

I think the music may have used some of the things from the revised version done for the Paris production in the 1770s; certainly, there was a lot of dancing, not all of which I cared for (and some of which Gluck would, I think, have found a little startling, like the boat load of souls wearing loincloths and nothing else, who, as Orfeo enters Hades, roll out of the boat and writhe about on the floor face-down; after a while, I found myself wondering if they were dry-humping the stage, or whether there was some subtle point I was not clever enough to grasp). As a lot of the dancing involved point work, it was Not Contemporary for the opera, but for the most part it was actually relevant to the action, which was one of Gluck's other hobby-horses. The music itself hovers on the cusp between old-school Baroque and late 18th century Classical.

I'm not altogether sold on the use of glow-in-the-dark turbans for the Chorus; upon Orfeo's entry into Hades, they appeared, arranged on risers in the backdrop; with their bodies covered by dark fabric, and their heads crowned by these turbans (which appeared white under normal lighting later) like a lot of little blue light bulbs; perhaps the intent was for a flock of will o'the wisps, or blue flames, or something. It was a bit distracting, as was the video director's decision to use double exposures, so that at one point we had Orfeo-on-Orfeo, from two different angles (why?), and during Orfeo's serenade of Hades, we had Orfeo-and-harpist-in-orchestra, which ruined the illusion of Orfeo playing his lyre. This illusion would have been helped by Bernadette Manca di Nassa doing something other than just waving the lyre around for emphasis, and pointing it at people as if it was able to exercise its superpowers even when not being played.

This was a live production, staged in Naples' Teatro di San Carlo, which is an interior worth seeing, judging from the glimpses I got. The Royal Box is not shy about its reason for existing, to say the least.

Generally, the staging was not outré--there were none of those WTF?! moments I've had seeing other productions, except for the guys-in-loincloths bit I mentioned earlier, and I can see how the 18th-century insistence on lots of dancing in an opera can cause problems for modern productions, since modern audiences are not as accustomed to expect lots of dancing in our operas, and certainly don't expect the sort of courtly set dances that were The Thing back then. For the most part, Gluck would have been able to watch this without having to throw his wig at anyone.

It's worth seeing this one, if only to get a good idea of an intermediate stage in opera development; certainly, this would be a nice example to do that with, and it might even be helpful to those of us (like me) who are trying to retrofit opera seria into our idea of what opera is.

A tense situation

2008-04-16T15:24:41Z

Last night's conversation with a young cat, who spent most of his time hiding behind a shelving unit:

Cat: I demand the American ambassador be notified of my whereabouts immediately.

Fidelio: Um, don't think so.

Cat: Are you telling me that, having kidnapped me, you are going to hold me in captivity without notifying the State Department? Haven't you heathens heard about the Geneva Conventions, or do you refuse to follow them?

Fidelio: We fully support the Geneva Conventions here, I assure you, but there is no American ambassador available.

Cat: The consul, then. Contact the consulate. Or the Red Cross, or the Red Crescent, or whatever you call it in these parts.

Fidelio: Cat, this is just not happening, for the simple reason that you are still in the United States. In fact, you're still in the state of Tennessee.

Cat: That's just not possible. We traveled for hours, with that great drooling dog hanging over me the entire time.

Fidelio: No, you're still in Tennessee. It is an awfully long state, going east to west, though, so I can see why you're confused.

Cat: Amnesty International, surely they'll come through for me...

Fidelio: Here, let me refill this food dish.

Cat: *hides even farther behind shelving unit*

fidelioscabinet @ 2008-04-14T11:01:00

2008-04-14T16:15:11Z

Somewhere, there is a cat hiding in our house.

Well, somewhere in the back room, where he can get used to things without freaking out totally over The Large Dog, to say nothing of his 37th cousin Zaza, Belle the Hlat, Minerva and Black-thumbed Jemmy Casey, Pirate Cat of the Cumberland. Unlike Zaza, who is marbled, this kid is a real look-alike for the wild kind, with the leopard rosettes and all, in brown, so that he's a real 金钱猫 (jīn qián māo), or gold coin cat, or money cat, as they say in a very large Asian country.

No pictures, as he hasn't stayed out long enough in the open for that to happen.

He is eating, though. (Yet another reason to keep him away from Minerva, who will eat all of her food and then his as well.)

Who would have thought?

2008-04-13T00:08:39Z

Yesterday, while stringwoman was giving Simon a good scratching, he began wagging his tail with the sort of enthusiasm you'd expect from a dog getting a good scratching.

Jemmy, who was seen tail-wagging and knows it is a basic dogly function, felt compelled first to bat at the tail, and then to grab it and hold on.

Simon growled at him.

Let me repeat that:

Simon growled at him.

This was such a shocking response that Jemmy went and hid under the bathtub.

Simon was raised by Hannah the Implacable, and he is never, ever anything but deeply respectful of cats as a result.

I feel as if I should check with the USGS and see if this had any seismic fallout.

Another angle on a hero

2008-04-11T01:19:20Z

As anyone who caught any of the episodes of Dae Joyoung (or who was unfortunate enough to read one of my posts about that show--and yes, I do have a wrap-up post or two on the back burner) knows, one of the pivotal characters in that story was a veteran Chinese general named Xue Rengui; this character was played with great zest by the veteran actor Lee Dukwha, who was a sure bet to steal any scene he was in if the other actors weren't prepared to stand up and meet the challenge. His Xue Rengui was such a hit with viewers that the show kept him alive for several years past his historical death, and was, all at the same time, brave, kindly, honorable, patriotic, cunning, bad-tempered, easily agitated, and a dangerous political operator*. He was instrumental in the fall of the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo.

Not surprisingly, Dae Joyoung, which was about the wars between the Chinese Tang Dynasty and the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo and its successor state Balhae, was not viewable in China. While it's probably not intended as a response** to the Korean show, there's a recent Chinese television series, based on the early life of General Xue Rengui called (in English) The Legendary Warrior. Since someone out there has pushed Asian historical dramas on Netflix, it's available there, and I've started watching it.

Yes, you should be afraid.

Very, very afraid.

Xue Rengui is played by Bao Jianfeng, who is probably twenty years younger than Lee Dukwha, and is handsome to the point of prettiness***. The Head Villain, the general of the rebellious tributary kingdom of Boliao (possibly intended to be a Korean state?) called Tie Shiwen, is played by Ji Chunhua with ophidian intensity****. There's an Emperor, a feisty foreign princess, an amusing and corrupt prince, his beautiful and conniving much-younger wife (who comes equipped with a full set of conniving relatives), an ambitious young officer (played by Wu Yue, who played Han Xin, the general who put the first Han Emperor on the throne when he defeated Xiang Yu in the Battle of Gaixia, in The Stories of Han Dynasty), another ambitious young officer or two, the prince's son, who is anxious to improve his kungfu, the lovely Mrs. Xue Rengui (née Liu), a batch of quarrelsome old princes, Tie Shiwen's kin (who are as zestfully wicked as he is), the weak king of Boliao, and plenty of others.

Watch this space!

*I'm curious as to whether anyone else who watched this show thought they were implying a homosexual relationship between him and his occasionally-idiotic sidekick, Hongpei. There's nothing plainly stated, but it looked to me as if the framework was there to be interpreted that way by those who wanted to.

**And maybe, in an oblique way, it is. I don't understand most of the choices made by television programmers in the US, let alone other countries.

***China is not proof against the requirement for lead actors and actresses to be good-looking to the point of unreality. This may be why Wu Yue (who looks to me as if he has some resemblance to Zhou Enlai in his younger days) keeps ending up in supporting roles, despite the fact that he, unlike some wushu stars, able to act.

****I was amused to note that he has dimples. They are not obvious most of the time.

La Clemenza de Tito

2008-04-08T15:30:04Z

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Zaza didn't care much for the staging, and I have to say that while I don't entirely agree with the cat, she does have a point.

As Mozart's truefen could tell you, La Clemenza is different from most of his later operas in that it represents a return to the opera seria that Gluck had dosed with slow poison back in the 1760s. However, even though La Clemenza was composed simultaneously with The Magic Flute, that and Mozart's name are about all they share. La Clemenza is Mozart doing opera seria as he had done it before, while The Magic Flute is Mozart looking out at the brave new world and seeing what he could get away with. This thing is even based on a play by Metastasio, so you know he was sticking with tradition. There's a good reason for that--it was written for Leopold II's coronation as King of Bohemia (Salieri was too busy) and Leopold liked opera seria.

Since one of the purposes of opera seria, at least as it developed into a mature form, was to allow the singers to proclaim "My vocal ornamentation, let me show you it," there's a lot of repetition of phrases as the singers pump all the ornaments they can into the phrases of the libretto, and despite the observations of a reviewer at Netflix (commenting on another production of the same opera): "Almost every operatic phrase throughout the opera was repeated 10 or so times. It seemed like a 25 minute opera padded out to over two hours by excessive repetition of the same words. What was the librettist or Mozart doing?", we must remember to regard this as a feature and not a bug.

The production the cat and I watched was one from 1980, with Tatiana Troyanos as Sesto (the role was originally written for a castrato), Carol Neblett as Vitellia (she plays the daughter of the deposed emperor as an obligate carnivore), Anne Howells as Annio, and Catherine Malfitano as Sesto's sister Servilia, who is in love with Annio and he with her. This will matter later on. Eric Tappy was Tito (and more about that later), and Kurt Rydl was Publio. That makes one tenor and one bass up against four sopranos (OK, two are mezzos, so the shrill factor is not as bad as it could be), which is opera seria all over. I'd like to see a production some day that cast counter-tenors in the roles of Sesto and Annio, but that's just me.

The production used some very convenient ruins--whether the actual Roman Forum, or parts of Pompeii, I cannot say. Go and watch it yourself, and let me know. Watching Carol Neblett drag her huge late 18th century panniers through the rubble and undergrowth added extra, probably unintended amusement to the proceedings. Yes, they're all in wigs and corsets and stuff--Tito alternated between a simple tie-wig for his more informal moments, and switched to a fine, old-fashioned full-bottomed job for State Occasions. Catherine Malfitano managed to be far more demure as Servilia than she would be later on as Salomé, and stayed inside her corset for the entire opera. Neblett appeared part of the time in that passed for negligée attire in the late 10th century, and part of the time in a truly terrifying dress with gigantic side panniers and a towering Wig of Doom (maybe Tito only thinks of marrying her when he's run out of other prospects because he's scared of her wardrobe). Sesto and Annio appears in costumes that seem to represent an 18th-century hybridized style of classical armor and contemporary court costume. (I have Issues with the tunic Sesto wears as a condemned prisoner; it had a lot of Fortuny-style pleats, and did a little too much for Troyanos's figure in what is supposed to be the part of a young man.) The costumes were all quite gorgeous, and wouldn't have startled Mozart and his singers too much.

However, we now get to the part where the cat and I see eye-to-eye. (She hated the setting in general, while I at least got some entertainment from watching Neblett drag her dress around as she ran hither and thither in distracted rage). In order to while away the time during the overture, and give us some background on the story of the opera, they play the overture over scenes of Tito reaching out longingly to his beloved Queen Berenice, as the last of the Hasmoneans heads back to the Middle East, while rolling his eyes around, and shooting frantic glances at Berenice (not appearing in the original production) and a statue of his late father Vespasian, which stands in for His Stern Duty as Roman Emperor. This has the unfortunate effect of making Tito (who is supposed to be the epitome of a noble benevolent despot--this was 18th-century Europe we're talking about here) look like he's about one wig change away from a severe emotional breakdown. This unfortunate impression is augmented bu the director's choice to intercut Tito's entrance (backed by grand chorus) later on with further scenes (apparently in Tito's mind's eye) of Berenice and dear old marble Dad, along with more eye-rolling and darting glances and agitated head-turning. One is left with the impression that Tito has worse problems than vengeful women driving his friends to try and kill him; in fact, a spot of attempted assassination and rebellion might be just what he needs to pull himself together.

The plot's really simple. Vitellia, daughter of the Emperor Vitellius that Vespasian deposed, is annoyed about that, and further annoyed that Tito is ga-ga over That Foreign Woman, Berenice--she might almost be persuaded to go for him herself, because he's kind of hot in addition to being Emperor and all--but Tito has no time for her, and so he needs to die. To this end, she eggs on Sesto with hints that she could be very nice indeed to him if he'd start a revolt and get rid of Tito. Sesto, being Tito's BFF and all, is all conflicted over this, and they go on about this at great length, and are still going on about it when Sesto's buddy Annio shows up with the gladsome news that Tito has heeded to protests of the Romans and sent Berenice packing. Sensing an opening, Vitellia tells Sesto to keep the revolt on ice, and Sesto and Annio go off to see Tito, with a side discussion about how Annio really wants to marry Sesto's sister Servilia, and they just need to have Tito say it's OK.
Alas, Tito has decided to marry Servilia himself, since her brother is his BFF, and Annio loyally tells him what a great idea this is, and gets sent off to break the news to Servilia as a reward, lucky guy that he is. And his is lucky, because Servilia descends on Tito in a flurry of maiden modesty, thanks him for the offer and explains that she'd be a really bad choice an Empress because she's in love with someone else--so in love that even if she married Tito she'd still be in love with the other guy. Tito is so impressed by her honesty that he graciously steps aside and gives Servilia and Annio his blessing. He's already told Publio to burn the lists of people who've said bad things about past and present emperors, because he's not a bloody-minded tyrant, for heaven's sake, and has enjoyed being magnanimous so much he's decided to make a habit of it.
Vitellia, alas, only knows that Tito plans to marry Servilia and not her, and so demands of Sesto that he get that rebellion moving again ASAP, and Sesto goes off to do this after a considerable amount of singing, just in time for Annio and Publio to arrive with the news that Tito, having run out of other ideas, has decided to marry Vitellia. Vitellia now scurries about (she covers an amazing amount of ground, both here and in her most recent encounter with Sesto, given the dimensions and contours of the dress she's wearing, which has side panniers so large she has to turn sideways at times. Annio and Publio pursue her, singing away about how overset with joy and excitement she surely must be, while she regrets, with considerable ornamentation and repetition, what a shame it is she lost her temper and sent Sesto off like that, and O! if only she'd waited just a bit.
Then there's fire and riot and dirty work at the crossroads; Sesto staggers in, and tells everyone that Tito has been stabbed, and the first act ends, after considerable hair-tearing on everyone's part.

Act Two starts with Annio telling Sesto that Tito lives, because it was the rebels' proposed new emperor, Lentullus, who got stabbed by mistake, and Sesto tells Annio that he done it; Vitellia appears and panics over the thought of possibly being exposed as a conspirator (which would ruin her new gig as Empress) and Publio appears to drag Sesto off to be tried by the Senate. Tito awaits the verdict with some anxiety, because he knows Sesto is his BFF and couldn't have done it. The Senate (their verdict delivered by Publio) disagrees, and Tito, after reading the sentence, goes off to talk to Sesto face to face and sort things out. Sesto nobly claims all the blame, and does not mention Vitellia; Tito is enraged, but after he's alone decides not to execute Sesto, because he's still working on this magnanimous thing. Annio and Servilia go to tell Vitellia she has to try and intercede on Sesto's behalf; she dithers; they leave. She heads off to the Games, dithering as she goes, and just as Tito is about to--she admits she put Sesto up to it. Tito is stunned, but manages a nice recovery and forgives her as well. See, because Sesto is really really repentant and feels bad about trying to kill Tito this makes Tito happy, so it's all cool. And yes, they repeat themselves a lot as thing tell us these things.

The music was lovely, the singers were good, and except for the suggestion of incipient hysteria on the part of the noble Titus, it was pretty good. Although the fact that Neblett, even without the wig, looked to be a good bit taller that Tatiana Troyanos was a little distracting at times.