“She led the life of a recluse. Ignoring the poignant joys and cares of this world, she arranged for herself a tranquil existence of peace and happiness.”

As appearing in the digital Gutenberg version, translated and edited by Edward Vizetelly.

“She lived a reclusive life, knowing nothing of the agonizing joys and sorrows of this world. She had created an existence of peace and happiness for herself.”

The translation by Robin Buss for the 1995 Penguin Classics version.

“Elle menait une vie de recluse, ignorant les joies et les soucis poignants de ce monde; elle s’était fait une existence de paix et de bonheur tranquille.”

Émile Zola’s original French text.

• Bouffées d’affadissement
• Thirsty
• Dieu
• Reza.

• Religion and the state
• Salut!
• Passivity’s Time Has Expired
• Disorganised rant on a boring night

Anyway, to at least make some good use of those notes, I’ve created The Canonical Notes. With goodies like the following:

“He had heard that women often love unattractive, simple people, but he did not believe it, because he judged by himself, and he could only love beautiful, mysterious and special women.“

All with MLA references provided, and easy-to-use links to the source material at Amazon. Go check it out at canonicalnotes.com.

• List: [blanks] I Hate
• A Purpose, or, Not Settling for the Substandard
• Emma Bovary’s flushed cheeks remembered
• Dieu

Can’t get enough of Arthur Sales. Seriously. Normal service will resume in five, four, three …

• No related posts were found.

84th Academy Awards

It seems that my interest in films has slipped significantly this year. Now, this is not entirely my fault; in my opinion, for critically-acclaimed and perfectly-executed films, this was not the worldwide film industry’s best year. Just look at the nominees, for Christ’s sake. But it doesn’t matter. We are a month away from the 84th Academy Awards, and the nominees have been announced (by the lovely Jennifer Lawrence).

In last year’s tradition, I am just going to post the link, while still giving you a quick overview of the most important and renowned category:

Academy Award for Best Motion Picture

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

• Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards
• Eddie Murphy is hosting 84th Academy Awards
• Academy Award nominations
• 2010 in Film: The Best-of Edition

“O Niki de Saint Phalle! / We knew that Boston could be beautiful, / But it was not until you came along. / Where were you, fairest of them all?”

— Chorus (Sam & Henry).

Just click on the link: The Construction of Boston. Or, links: Facebook, Twitter, and Martian Prince.

• The Discovery of Bliss
• Tomorrow is almost here.
• 27 days left till opening night:
• Tickets.

“Often, the idea that there can be a wide range of translations of one text doesn’t occur to people—or that a translation could be bad, very bad, and unfaithful to the original. Instead, a translation is a translation—you write the book again in English, on the basis of the French, a fairly standard procedure, and there it is, it’s been done and doesn’t have to be done again. [However, ...]“

— Lydia Davis.

Not the biggest Davis fan, but she does make some excellent points in The Paris Review.

• Emma Bovary’s flushed cheeks remembered
• Thirsty
• Dieu
• The Issue and Annoyance of Translation

Take note, Hollywood; this is how you do trailers. I don’t need to see the plot compacted in two minutes, I want to be teased, drawn in. (And it looks like a great stop-motion film, as well.)

• How Can Nothing Be Something? “Zero”
• Will “WALL-E” be Pixar’s first Best Picture nominee?
• “The Prince of Mars” progresses, slowly
• “The Prince of Mars and the Red Planet Gala”

“[I] found [the play] a heartfelt, carefully wrought, tender story of three friends’ trials and tribulations through time. I especially found the overlapping glances from the past to the present affecting. [...]“

On my way there!

• Me and my new Play/Musical
• Reza.
• Tickets.
• Curtain!

• List: [blanks] I Hate
• The new Phase
• Tolstoy’s Princess Oblonsky
• Reading obsession mandatory?

• virtual keyboards;
• being marked as “difficult;”
• anything with Adam Sandler in it;
• the colour green;
• those rosary things;
• people who proclaim that everything has to do with “the hand of God;”
• religion in general;
• theatres with stages without wings;
• Dan Brown;
• Dan Brown fans;
• anything created by or in association with Dan Brown;
• Dan Brown-like books;
• really anything that has to do with Dan Brown in any way;
• LG hardware;
• having to change for people who don’t want to change themselves;
• products with a “Sugar Free!” sticker on them;
• dieting books, and such;
• pro-/con-lists;
• every software product ever created by Sony;
• anti-anti-piracy advocates;
• pro-lifers;
• Volkswagen;
• the Golden Globes;
• people who think the International Emmy Awards are just as important and noteworthy as the Primetime Emmy Awards;
• Versace pants;
• Michael Eisner’s second era;
• Dutch-speaking adaptations of English-language plays;
• people who blindly proclaim that Obama is a great president/human being;
• eleven o’clock in the morning;
• non-metric systems, especially the customary system;
• people who are still hurt by and obsessively concerned with slavery;
• people who still identify themselves as “ex-slaves,” even though they have never been a slave, and the slavery link in their family was many generations ago;
• positive discrimination/affirmative action;
• Pearl Harbor;
• most instances of American English spelling;
• Lelystad;
• the 2009 version of Mariah Carey’s “Hero;”
• gay men who will go back in the closet in certain public situations;
• most perfumes for men;
• the interiors of protestant churches;
• Fanta;
• Kluun, and the people (critically) defending him;
• being on my own in life/being single;
• abstract paintings;
• chestnut horses;
• DJs who think they’re on the same foot as classical composers;
• African art, what ever that may be;
• self-fulfilling prophecies;
• pink cars;
• Wibra;
• people who are against divorce;
• people who are against marriage;
• having to wear glasses;
• places without phone coverage;
• empty-shelled (feelings-wise) people;
• the word “bling;”
• Justin Timberlake;
• show birds;
• preachy children’s literature;
• How I Met Your Mother after season three, or something;
• wearing too many (clashing) colours, clothing-wise;
• teaching children religion;
• people who try too hard;
• orange-coloured walls;
• New Historicism (most of the time);
• how this list got longer than expected.

• Disorganised rant on a boring night
• List: Literary Influences
• Quotes galore
• Tom Ford’s a Naughty Hottie: And, Stuff About “Wuthering Heights”

Right. This is not a post about anything new (I’m still keeping the previously mentioned two somewhat under wraps for certain reasons), more that I would really like to start writing again. Since completing my last play—not the production of Heaven forfend!, but one of the aforementioned—in June, I haven’t really written anything theatrical, to be honest. And yet, I feel like I want to. I have always said that I cannot write a musical book, nor will ever attempt to do so, but why not? Furthermore, why not give writing a sequel play a try? The hell with it, why not.

I’m going to regret this post in the morning, because even I don’t understand it. Chaos. Which is a nice reflection of the parts in my mind reserved for creative thought, so. There. I made a point. Now let’s all move on, and forget this ever happened.

• Tickets.
• Curtain!
• The Meaning of “Heaven forfend!”
• Incredibly-off-Broadway

Academy Awards

And so the complaining can begin: “Eddie Murphy to Host 84th Academy Awards” (AMPAS).

• Nominees for the 84th Academy Awards
• 2010 in Film: The Best-of Edition
• Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards
• 2009 in Film: The Best-of Edition

Just so you know. Normal service will resume in five, four, three …

• 6 done, 4 to go.
• It’s a start.
• Brewing.
• Hullo!

“What! Not whom! What! With what!”

— Stevie in Edward Albee’s The Goat, or, Who is Sylvia?¹

(The fact that I wanted to write, “Still one of my all-time favourites,” makes me feel old. The play’s only nine years old.)

• Bostonia
• La critique sentimentale
• Me and my new Play/Musical
• Reza.

Four to go ...

Six episode drafts done; four to go. Now if only I could stick to the season outline for once …

• It’s a start.
• Brewing.
• Sci-fi Readiness
• “The Prince of Mars” progresses, slowly

Coming soon!

And here I am again, trying to set up a project that is way too big for me.

I like to dream big, do a lot of exhausting pre-production, and then give up because I realise that I don’t have a staff of 300, a million dollar budget, and a building on Melrose Avenue or West 44th Street. Of course, I proved myself wrong when I successfully produced Heaven forfend!, and showed the world that I actually do have some skills (I know, shocker, right?). So, here I am again, with big dreams.

Though honestly, it’s a project that’s not even that big. Back in 2008, when I was still more into motion pictures than theatre, I was trying to set up a web sitcom named The Necessity of Locker Rooms. I had two eight-episode seasons worked out, and an earlier script I’d written (“Heavy-Hearted”) to use as foundation. However, I didn’t have the resources, nor the extended knowledge to set up a production like that. So, I entered the third phase; I gave up.

But, like with everything, I kept everything in neat folders, organised, and ready to be used again. And so I have. The original concept had the main characters move about a lot, which wasn’t the best creative decision to make concerning shooting, and all; so I had to change a lot, while still sticking to the same characters and storylines. The Benefactors, with its art gallery setting and international location, has only improved from these changes, and I think I finally have something that can be put into production.

The coming week, I will start inviting people to the production, and look around for locations, and such. Yesterday, I finished writing the pilot episode; and though it’s not comedy gold just yet, it’s a good start.

• 6 done, 4 to go.
• Brewing.
• Sci-fi Readiness
• “The Prince of Mars” progresses, slowly

Coming soon!

• 6 done, 4 to go.
• It’s a start.
• “The Prince of Mars” progresses, slowly
• “The Prince of Mars and the Red Planet Gala”

STOP STARING AT ME!

For nine months now, the Autobiography of Mark Twain has been staring at me from that place on my desk, day in, day out, continuously. The thing is creeping me out, to be honest; especially the Volume 1 part. It’s the longest, and most troubled, relationship I’ve ever had.

Ah, well. I’ll start reading it soon.

• Quotes galore
• List: Literary Influences
• List: [blanks] I Hate
• A Purpose, or, Not Settling for the Substandard

I don’t even know how to continue that paragraph. Honestly, I need a purpose. After two years of business school, one incredibly wasted year of cultural studies, and three years of English literature, I am finally finishing one long chapter of moving from things to things, and starting another chapter of God-knows-what. After I have finished writing my last essay (on the representation of city life in Madame Bovary, L’Éducation sentimentale, and Bouvard et Pécuchet), I will be officially done.

What’s next? (Didn’t I just answer that question already?) I don’t know. One thing I could always count on was my own determination not to prolong my education after the sixth year. A year ago, I would’ve been fine moving on; there would have been nothing keeping me from running as far away from university as I could. And then my thesis supervisor came along, and told me that it would be a damn shame if I did. Truthfully, I don’t mind essaying; I had fun writing my thesis, and not a single word was put onto paper with hesitation, frustration, or from a state of mind that hated writing about Flaubert’s Parrot. I am not saying it was the easiest academic thing I have ever written, but it is definitely in the top five. So why would I run away from an academic career, if I don’t mind?

Taking into account that the Dutch government is beating culture to death right now, the fact that my desired destination Ireland is still in an economic crisis, and that English-speaking theatre is not exactly big in the Netherlands, following the academic path, at least for now, is actually the most sane thing to do.

And there’s your problem. I don’t necessarily do sane things, or opt for them. I do often tend to fall back on them, though; which is probably what is going to happen here. I have until mid August to decide whether or not I’m going back to university, so before that, I need to find something else to distract me.

My plans to set-up an English-speaking theatre festival in Amsterdam are seriously being undermined by the government right now, so I guess that’s not an option anymore. I have been looking at theatre companies, but none really interest me, to be honest. A mixture of what-the-hell-kind-of-plays-are-you-putting-on, odd company names (I’m a picky person), the Dutch language, and my resistance to settling for anything substandard. I won’t settle for anything substandard in my personal life, so why would I in my professional life? I haven’t heard back yet from the American talent agency reading my latest play, so that’s not on my list of potential distractions just yet. There’s an internship I was interested in at Penguin Books, which I could still go for, but it’s not really a long-term solution, now is it?

None of the projects at Martian Prince are really working out, right now. After three years, I’m still working on the magazine; the theatrical rights publishing business needs more work, business-wise; I may have hit something with my literary videos project, but still “may;” and the festival, well, I just talked about the festival, keep up.

And that’s where I am at right now. Foolishly not settling for the mediocre, but absolutely failing at finding something concrete to keep me away from De Boelelaan 1105. God, I wish it were opening night again.

• The Discovery of Bliss
• Tomorrow is almost here.
• 27 days left till opening night:
• Tickets.

• No related posts were found.

I especially liked her example of a literary text coming to life in the reader’s mind (and, if it’s a good work, staying there):

I have vivid memories of some books that last in my consciousness. Novels often take pictorial form in my recollection; I see Emma Bovary running down a grassy hill on her way to the chemist’s shop, her cheeks flushed, her hair loosened by the wind. The grass, the cheeks, the hair, the wind are not in the text. I provided them. (122)

• Bouffées d’affadissement
• A Purpose, or, Not Settling for the Substandard
• Thirsty
• Dieu

“After I write, I have nothing to say,” she said in an interview in the bar of the Lutetia Hotel on the Left Bank. “The commentary afterwards is superfluous. I write. And that’s enough.”

— Yasmina Reza.

Excellent New York Times article and “interview.”

• La critique sentimentale
• Tickets.
• Curtain!
• The Meaning of “Heaven forfend!”

“As it cost [Frédéric] very little to make extravagant resolutions …”¹

I’ve just decided to enter a new phase of being.

“I can never be angry with anyone who tries to kill me. I understand their point of view too well.”²

I need to speak my mind more in public, stop taking shit from people, and be more of a bitch.

“The good traveller constantly journeys towards a certain and reliable end, and there comes to rest. The mistaken traveller never reaches that. But at the expense of great labour to his soul, always gazes with gluttonous eyes ahead of him.”³

I should be who I really want to be, and follow the paths I want to take and do the things I want to do. There should come an end to my life-stalling.

“And in a sudden burst of animal health, he resolved to lead a selfish life.”⁴

I need to stop being a trodden-down pacifist.

“Well, well, let’s get on with it …”⁵

I’m taking control of my life. My life.

The new Phase.

“I came and walked as sixth among such wisdom.”⁶

• List: Literary Influences
• Thirsty
• Minority
• I’m an indecisive sucker

It’s a bit odd, isn’t it? [Backstage stress. Audience reactions. After-parties.] A [theatrical] life that will never end.
— Julie

It has been over a week since Heaven forfend! opened in Amsterdam. That first laugh, after months of stress, anticipation and rehearsing, turned out to be a golden moment, one I—and, I know for certain, the entire cast as well—will remember for the rest of my life.

After day three, the production had come to an end. We started out in February, last year, when Lenette Vlasman (who played the female lead) and I decided that we wanted to put on a play. Not knowing which play to perform, we picked a two-scene draft of a stage play I had started-and-stopped to write the year before, and, after I added a few extra scenes, presented it to the university for consideration. Well, I say we “presented it for consideration,” but in actually it was more a “this is the play we’re going to do, suck it up” kind of deal.

In May, we casted most of the roles, and when the summer arrived, the production had a full list of characters, the script was ready (though many more versions would follow), and the university had officially accepted the piece.

Let’s flash-forward a bit, to the actual day production began. The actors who didn’t yet know each other introduced themselves to each other, I quickly explained what we were going to do for the next couple of months, and we swiftly moved on to doing our first staged reading. I guess the very first laugh was emitted that day and not last week; and to be honest, I think that one may even have felt greater than the one on opening night. Up to that moment, only a select group of people (three at the most) had read the script, and though I found it funny, it is always somewhat nerve-wracking to anticipate someone else liking it. The months following, we found out that even after hearing the dialogues a million times, situations and people’s expressions stayed funny and hilarious, so I at least thought, why shouldn’t they be to a first-time audience?

Each and every one of us, in the week before opening night, must have thought at one point that the production was doomed to fail, that it could never turn out great, and what-did-we-get-ourselves-into. Though, odd enough, I must admit that I didn’t. When we had a lot of problems (people not showing up, having to be replaced, et cetera) in February of this year, that’s when I thought those things; but last week, I was determined to make it work.

Perhaps a little bit too determined. I lost fifteen pounds, was at one point running around looking for God-knows-what, and couldn’t focus on anything. I was more stressed out than nervous, though; I turned into a nervous wreck the moment the doors of the theatre opened, the people started pouring in, and I was sitting up above, all alone, in the technical booth, watching family and friends sitting down, awaiting the big show.

And then, all of a sudden, it was Sunday. Easter (ironically). After more than a year, the production had come to a full stop, and the life I had gotten used to was no longer there. But what did remain—what still remains are the friendships I gained by working with my awesome cast; the memories of all those late nights, rehearsing, laughing and stressing out; an unhealthy friendship and July trip to Ireland with Lenette, without whom I never would have convinced myself to do this production; photographs and audiovisual proof of last week’s great experience; and a willingness to continue working in the theatrical business, accompanied by a sick addiction to audience reactions.

• Tomorrow is almost here.
• 27 days left till opening night:
• Tickets.
• Curtain!

Heaven forfend!

Tomorrow will be our last rehearsal; tomorrow will be the last day for changes; tomorrow will harbour the only hours left for preparations; tomorrow will be the day before opening night.

Tomorrow is almost here.

• The Discovery of Bliss
• 27 days left till opening night:
• Tickets.
• Curtain!

Buy your tickets now. I'm not kidding. Now.

It’s March 25, which could have been a pretty normal Friday, had it not been for Heaven forfend!‘s approaching opening night. When we started the production in September, April 21 looked so far away; months, months, months away. We had originally planned on beginning in September and opening in December; due to financial issues that wasn’t possible, and looking back, I’m glad that wasn’t a possibility. It took us all these months to set up an awesome show, something that would have been simply impossible in just four months.

With the cast knowing their lines, almost knowing all their cues, and being one with their characters, technical issues are the main focus right now. Besides stage movements, logistics between scenes and making everything seem as natural as possible, set design, a lighting plan, marketing and sales are the most important factors to work on now.

Let me just start by saying that this is university theatre. Though it’s being run as a small organisation/company (encounters with the IRS included), we have a limited amount of time every week (most of us are graduating this year, which makes for some fun scheduling conflicts), the pot of money is squirrel-sized (which is an odd metaphor, I know), and the material stock (in the form of costumes, or already finished sets, et cetera) is nonexistent.

So, in the next couple of weeks the sets have to be built, the cast has to check what they can provide from their own closets in the form of costumes (and we have to determine what needs to be bought otherwise), the overall performances need to be fine-tuned to ensure perfection, a small cameo role needs to be recast, a lighting plan has to be drafted, a preview, dress rehearsal and technical rehearsal need to be scheduled, the soundtrack needs to be finalised, deals have to be made with the theatre concerning allowed uses of special effects, promotion has to be upgraded to in-your-face-buy-a-ticket-now-or-else levels, and programs need to be printed.

But no pressure.

• The Discovery of Bliss
• Tomorrow is almost here.
• Tickets.
• Curtain!

A legend with talent, beauty, and heart.

• Film ratings [15/16]

Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale¹

No.	Song	Stars
01.	Hold It Against Me
02.	Till the World Ends
03.	Inside Out
04.	I Wanna Go
05.	How I Roll
06.	(Drop Dead) Beautiful [feat. Sabi]
07.	Seal It With a Kiss
08.	Big Fat Bass [feat. will.i.am]
09.	Trouble for Me
10.	Trip to Your Heart
11.	Gasoline
12.	Criminal
13.	Up N’ Down
14.	He About to Lose Me
15.	Selfish
16.	Don’t Keep Me Waiting

• Sony Music Entertainment
• “Mink Shmink”
• Saving Jessica Simpson
• Memoirs of an Imperfect God

“Another thirst had come upon him: the thirst for women, for luxury, for everything that life in Paris implies.”²

— Flaubert, L’Éducation sentimentale.³

• Dieu
• Bouffées d’affadissement
• A Purpose, or, Not Settling for the Substandard
• Emma Bovary’s flushed cheeks remembered

• 2010 in Film: The Best-of Edition
• 2009 in Film: The Best-of Edition
• Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards
• Congratulations, “Slumdog Millionaire”

And I can honestly conclude that this year in film, as has been mentioned by many others, was mediocre at best. The output of films could be described as lazy; Hollywood in recent years seems preoccupied with putting out critically-exhausted, creatively-broke, and aesthetically-dead films, many of them remakes, prequels, sequels, or romantic comedies without the romantic and the comedy part, and a lot of them rely on visual effects only (the current 3D craze is a big part of this).

Thus, it is no miracle that all the films I have personally selected as best-of-2010 are quieter, more simple films. Not every single one has been independently produced, but even the bigger budget ones could be described as independent; independent from the commercially-obsessed Hollywood that feels that it has to dumb down its films to attract audiences.

And to be fair, sometimes I actually feel like Hollywood’s justified in doing this. When audiences would rather see a two-hour commercial for fireworks directed by Michael Bay, or the raping of yet another classic by the Smith family, than they would an intellectually and emotionally challenging film about the loss of a child, or a family struggle and search for independence in the Ozarks, the only conclusion possible is that audiences must be dumb, or at least, that they like dumb films. Entertainment has always had a rather mind-numbing flavour, but films like Some Like It Hot have proven that entertainment doesn’t have to taste like chalk.

Anyway, the best-of-2010 have a completely different taste. Since I do not have as much time as I had previous years to write this best-of edition, this will be an abbreviated edition. So, without further ado, here are the Best Films of 2010.

Best Films of 2010

Just to be clear, for a film to qualify, it should have a five-star rating (a Grade of 9.5, or more). Because I haven’t really kept up with posting my film ratings this year, I will post final Grades only, leaving the separate grades for screenplay, directing, acting, film score, and art setting behind.

The Best of 2010

Film	Studio	Grade	Stars
The King’s Speech	Weinstein Co.	9.7
Black Swan	Fox Searchlight Pictures	9.7
Animal Kingdom	Sony Pictures Classics	9.6
Rabbit Hole	Lionsgate	9.6
True Grit	Paramount Pictures	9.6

The King’s Speech and Rabbit Hole are the quieter films I talked about before. They excel in telling a story, encapsulating their characters, and showing what filmmakers should aim for: excellence. Even slight flaws can be excused in films this good; the rushed, imprecise portrayal of David (Edward VIII) is understandable in a film centred around his brother, but it’s a flaw nonetheless; Aaron Eckhart’s acting in Rabbit Hole is good, but seems to be missing that last 0.1% to excel: however, the film’s leading lady draws attention away from it.

Black Swan does the same as the before-mentioned films, but radically different. No quiet storytelling here; dramatic excellence, imposing and dazzling mastery, and histrionics in its best form. A film that’s literally breathtaking³ (at least in my case), with a descent into madness that is epically portrayed by Portman (and skillfully supported by Mila Kunis and Barbara Hershey). Well, all right, perhaps the melodramatics of it all can turn one off, but honestly, it worked for me.

83rd Academy Awards

Academy Award for Best Picture nominees

As mentioned above, 2010 was a somewhat lousy year. Just look at the following list of Best Picture nominees; it is not that all these films are bad (none are), but some don’t have a full understanding of the word excellence. I know I keep repeating the same word over, and over, but honestly, being nominated for and ultimately winning an Academy Award should be based upon excellence, and excellence alone.

Look at the following list, how much true excellence do you find?

1. The King’s Speech (9.7)
2. Black Swan (9.7)
3. True Grit (9.6)
4. Toy Story 3 (9.3)
5. The Social Network (9.2)
6. Inception (9.1)
7. Winter’s Bone (9.0)
8. The Kids Are All Right (8.7)
9. 127 Hours (8.7)
10. The Fighter (—)

If it were up to me, only three of these would be nominated (The King’s Speech, Black Swan, and True Grit). And yes, all right, I know I’m pretty obsessed with excellence, so I will allow 4.5 star films that are leaning to 5 stars (a very complicated way to say, with a Grade of 9.2 to 9.5) to be nominated: the nominee list will expand to five, with Toy Story 3 and The Social Network joining the group. Still not a very impressive list of nominations, if you ask me; especially when you take into account the grand total of films released this year. However, it would satisfy the former Best Picture protocol of nominating only five films (which still has my preference).⁴

Without actually ending with a conclusion (as I often do), and completely changing the subject from the previous paragraph: whether The King’s Speech or The Social Network will win—and at this point, expectation-wise I’m leaning towards The King’s Speech, but The Social Network has had an impressive run so far—this year’s Best Picture will at least be, as The Hurt Locker was last year, better than the 2008 recipient, Slumdog Millionaire.⁵

• 2009 in Film: The Best-of Edition
• “The King’s Speech,” Best Picture of 2010
• The Best Pictures and the grave case of Danny Boyle
• Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards