From Helsinki you can easily make a trip to Talinn (or, anachronistically, Revel). Make sure to check out all the Finns importing alcohol on the ferry ride back in order to get around Scandanavian liquor laws.
If I were going to be in Finland, I would totally head on over to the Art Museum of Tampere to see Tove Jansson's drawings. Though I don't know how far that is from Helsinki. I believe I've also heard that Helsinki's public library has a wing devoted to Moomiana.
On the food front, when my parents came back from Helsinki, they raved about a popular dish involving white asparagus soup ladeled over smoked salmon.
And be sure to bring a sleep mask and earplugs. When they went in the summer, they said they had a hard time adjusting to the sun being up all of the time (and the birds starting to chirp at 3 AM).
Come to think of it, with overnight trains you can get to most of central Europe from Berlin. I will not mention Prague but Krakow is awesome. I found the In Your Pocket guides very helpful a few years ago, though it looks like there are a lot more of them now, and maybe they've gone more heavily towards what big advertisers want them to say.
Cranberry liqueur in Helsinki, too. And saunas every day, whether you need them or not. Nice market hall on the waterside around the corner from the two cathedrals. All the fish you can afford. The incredible twilight at 1am, and again 3-ish. Lordi live, maybe.
As for Berlin, I am told that the done thing is to invade Poland. Though results have been, historically speaking, mixed.
Berlin depends enormously on whether you've been before, what you're into and how long you can hang about. I'm up there for work every couple of months. Mail me if you want more details.
I've never been to Finland, but a friend of mine was, and he said he had more fun when he went to Estonia for a few days, because the Finns were unfriendly.
When we went to Berlin we stayed at a hotel a block past Checkpoint Charlie into what was East German Berlin. A block or so the other way on the south-side of the street is an Italian cafe with the best service and friendliest staff we found anywhere outside of Münich.
Additionally, from the Brandenburger Tor you may see the Siegessäule victory column, be aware that this column is nowhere near as close as it looks, however, while tiring, the walk through the Tiergarten was beautiful and worthwhile. In hind-site, we wished we hadn't walked back to Potsdamer Platz. That was a long day with not a whole lot accomplished.
Posted by
I Can't Put Esquire After My Name |
Link to this comment |
06-20-06 1:16 PM
15
Possible lack of internet access notwithstanding, I fully expect Berlin liveblogging telling us, and particularly me, what the cool stuff there is to do, as I may be going there in a few months.
All I really know about Berlin is that West Berlin is pretty boring. The only things I remembering liking on that side of town was the reptile room in the zoo.
"All I know" s/b "The only advice I can offer" and it's not really true. There was a cool little beach area right across the river from that golden-toned Soviet-era government building, and the big national art museum had a kick-ass collection of Dutch and Flemish stuff.
As I mentioned before, Graz in Austria is home to both the residence of the Hapsburgs and the amazing Kunsthaus Graz. Though the last time Austria was considered within Berlin's environs was probably 1938.
I have no travelling advice because, unlike Wolfson, I was denied the incredible research fellowship I was up for this summer. So instead of telling you all about Europe and how fucking great it is, I am here, in a cubicle, listening to fluorescent lights buzz for $13 an hour.
Are you sure you'll have no internetting? I don't believe that's possible, Ben. My guess is you'll sniff all that out within minutes and come cyber-running back to us.
Ben, this might be quite useful. Architecture in Helsinki does blow. As for architecture in Helsinki, there is some nice Empire, Jugend and modern stuff here like the Senate Square with the Tuomiokirkko or maybe the hilarious crumbling marble and bad acoustics of the Finlandia Hall. If you are interested in contemporary art, the ARS 06 exhibit is on right now in Kiasma. You can use this to check out clubs, exhibits etc for any given day. That seems to be only in Finnish but shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
Sauna heated by a wood oven (puusauna) or directly by smoke (savusauna) followed by a swim in a lake is a fundamental Finnish experience and shouldn't be missed. I guess this can be arranged in the Helsinki region but many Finns have summer cottages in the countryside for just this kind of stuff. The traditional Finnish way to die, drowning while drunk and standing to take a leak in a rowing boat, is also readily available in the countryside.
Finns might appear surly and insular. Here the cranberry liqueur mentioned by Doug or a teen favorite from the nineties, salmiakkikossu, could be a big help. Just keep the Finns away from the rowing boats while using this strategy.
Away from Helsinki, there might be things worth seeing at least in Turku (the old capital of Finland), Tampere and Porvoo. If you have enough time, Tallinn might also be a good place to visit.
You can get an architectural map of Helsinki in the Academic Bookstore in Keskuskatu/Pohjoisesplanadi. Rent a bike and get yourself away from the city centre to the green suburbs (Käpylä, Kulosaari, Vanhakaupunginlahti, Arabia, Tapiola). The historic Suomenlinna fortress islands in front of Helsinki are well worth a visit on a sunny day. As for food, I'd recommend fish (any kind) and Finnish berries. The northern climate makes berries very tasty. Sleep mask is strongly recommended if you want to sleep in the dark. The "night" (or rather luminous dusk) lasts for about 3 hours in Helsinki at the present.
OT. The New Yorker reports that Uma Thurman's mother's first husband was Timothy Leary.
Winona Ryder's godfather was Timothy Leary.
We're one anecdote short of a trend.
The poor girls are both a bit defensive about this. Probably if Winona had been more willing to get in touch with her inner Leary, she wouldn't have all those problems. She needs my help, though she hasn't sunk quite to my level yet. Maybe another arrest will do it.
I know what you mean, silvana. Cats aren't particularly wired well, compared to say dogs, to perform tricks on demand. They get no joy from it, so everything is at best perfunctory and often very coerced-looking. I was roped into going to a circus with my nephews about a year or so ago and the lion/tiger trainer act was really sad-inducing.
at best perfunctory and often very coerced-looking
Yeah, that's it, M/tch. It just seems like: damn, can't you leave the fucking cats alone?
Also, the fact that people will likely be laughing hysterically (I imagine it is meant to be funny) at the harrassment of the cats is additionally sad-making. I still might go though.
Once I saw a cat in a cat carrier on the bus, and it was meowing a lot, and no one was really standing by it so I couldn't tell who its owner was, and I (mistakenly) thought that it had no owner and was just left there and I started to fucking cry on the bus.
In light of 65, I renounce 63. Also, I can't find any reviews of the show I saw, which I thought would have been reviewed by now. My review is: very interesting staging, the guy playing Banquo was good, Lady Macbeth wasn't as strong a presence on stage as I remember her being from when I read the play in high school, Liev Schrieber was good.
I've had this question since I read the play, but never pursued it: Would a reasonable contemporaneous Englishman really not think of a c-section as being "born," because the actual act of birthing is the baby coming through the birth canal and out the woman's hoo-hoo doesn't take place?
I'm not sure, w/d, but I don't think so. I always read it as being a sort of hiding-in-plain sight pun or Delphic prophecy trading on an ambiguity. If you're careful about prophecies and read it completely literally, then you should think there's something up with 'born.' If you're Macbeth, you'll read it as confirmation of your own invincibility. (Kind of like the Witch King in LoTR.)
So my guess is that the audience would read it something like Macbeth did, and then when what's-his-face announces he was a C-section baby, they'd all groan appreciatively.
the lion/tiger trainer act was really sad-inducing.
Oh man, the last time I went to the circus, the saddest thing of all was the elephant act. Deep down, I was kinda rooting for one of them to snap and go on a rampage.
Not a strong presence? She murdered the scansion--plucked it from her lips and dashed its brains on the ground--and her flappy socialite reaction to Macbeth's seeing Banquo's ghost made the audience laugh, which I didn't even possible for that scene. Her femminess was a kind of interesting take on Lady M's gender trouble, but her performance was so craptacular that my vague interest in that aspect was overwhelmed by my desire to, well, throw things at her.
But I won't be there until September! Waaah. (My understanding of what the weather will be like in Sept. also makes it extremely unlikely that I'll be biking anywhere.)
Last point: the "Is this a dagger I see before me?" soliloquy was great. I just googled to make sure I wasn't getting this wrong, there's properly a "which" there, but I don't think he said that.
84: Or jokingly misunderstanding which comment you are replying to,
Oh yeah, the elephants just break my heart. Although the saddest ones I've ever seen were the driven-insane-by-being-chained-to-a-wall-all-the-time ones in Shanghai's horrible zoo.
But speaking of circuses, have all the NY Mineshaft dwellers seen Calder's Circus at the Whitney? Man I love that thing.
While you're here, wolfson, was some change recently made with the site to make comments windows jump to the front when they finish loading? 'Cause that's what they do now, and I hates it something fierce.
Yeah, w/d, that was very cool. In general, the director's decision to use the weird sisters for stage business through the play resulted in interesting juxtapositions and effects. My puritanical side objected to the fatalism that decision invokes, but that's a question of preference and interpretation and my being a moralizing twerp.
And Wolfson, you should be bicycling in NY in September.
Lingonberry tart and reindeer. Here was good.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:39 PM
Man, I can't wait till us mice can start playing.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:42 PM
I mean, we'll sure miss you, b-wo!
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:43 PM
From Helsinki you can easily make a trip to Talinn (or, anachronistically, Revel). Make sure to check out all the Finns importing alcohol on the ferry ride back in order to get around Scandanavian liquor laws.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:48 PM
If I were going to be in Finland, I would totally head on over to the Art Museum of Tampere to see Tove Jansson's drawings. Though I don't know how far that is from Helsinki. I believe I've also heard that Helsinki's public library has a wing devoted to Moomiana.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:48 PM
Oh and: Have a good time! Learn some languages! Eat good food and fornicate with exotic European women!
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:49 PM
On the food front, when my parents came back from Helsinki, they raved about a popular dish involving white asparagus soup ladeled over smoked salmon.
And be sure to bring a sleep mask and earplugs. When they went in the summer, they said they had a hard time adjusting to the sun being up all of the time (and the birds starting to chirp at 3 AM).
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:58 PM
Come to think of it, with overnight trains you can get to most of central Europe from Berlin.
I will not mention Prague butKrakow is awesome. I found the In Your Pocket guides very helpful a few years ago, though it looks like there are a lot more of them now, and maybe they've gone more heavily towards what big advertisers want them to say.Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 12:58 PM
Cranberry liqueur in Helsinki, too. And saunas every day, whether you need them or not. Nice market hall on the waterside around the corner from the two cathedrals. All the fish you can afford. The incredible twilight at 1am, and again 3-ish. Lordi live, maybe.
As for Berlin, I am told that the done thing is to invade Poland. Though results have been, historically speaking, mixed.
Berlin depends enormously on whether you've been before, what you're into and how long you can hang about. I'm up there for work every couple of months. Mail me if you want more details.
Posted by Doug | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:03 PM
I have no suggestions, having not yet been to either of those places, but have a wonderful trip and etc.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:07 PM
In Helsinki I got the best haircut I've ever had.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:07 PM
I've never been to Finland, but a friend of mine was, and he said he had more fun when he went to Estonia for a few days, because the Finns were unfriendly.
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:09 PM
Don't go! Wherever shall we go? Whatever shall we do? However shall we guard ourselves against egregious syntactical errors?
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:15 PM
When we went to Berlin we stayed at a hotel a block past Checkpoint Charlie into what was East German Berlin. A block or so the other way on the south-side of the street is an Italian cafe with the best service and friendliest staff we found anywhere outside of Münich.
Additionally, from the Brandenburger Tor you may see the Siegessäule victory column, be aware that this column is nowhere near as close as it looks, however, while tiring, the walk through the Tiergarten was beautiful and worthwhile. In hind-site, we wished we hadn't walked back to Potsdamer Platz. That was a long day with not a whole lot accomplished.
Posted by I Can't Put Esquire After My Name | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:16 PM
Possible lack of internet access notwithstanding, I fully expect Berlin liveblogging telling us, and particularly me, what the cool stuff there is to do, as I may be going there in a few months.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:19 PM
frankly, my dear, i doesn't give a damn.
Posted by cala scarlettbot | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:20 PM
Doug, I tried emailing you but it bounced. Got a current address?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:21 PM
That should be, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." I hope you'll do better tomorrow.
Posted by e (rhett) b(utler) | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:22 PM
Silvana: some stuff.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:27 PM
Never been to either of those places, but I'll give some cheesey advice: do things you wouldn't do at home, even if they were there.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:36 PM
It's not nice to refer to men as "things", w/d.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 1:46 PM
Have a good time, Ben.
All I really know about Berlin is that West Berlin is pretty boring. The only things I remembering liking on that side of town was the reptile room in the zoo.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 2:43 PM
"All I know" s/b "The only advice I can offer" and it's not really true. There was a cool little beach area right across the river from that golden-toned Soviet-era government building, and the big national art museum had a kick-ass collection of Dutch and Flemish stuff.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 2:46 PM
As I mentioned before, Graz in Austria is home to both the residence of the Hapsburgs and the amazing Kunsthaus Graz. Though the last time Austria was considered within Berlin's environs was probably 1938.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 3:15 PM
If you are even remotely interested in architecture, get a tour in and around Helsinki about that. They have some brilliant architects there!
Posted by robd | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 3:30 PM
I have no travelling advice because, unlike Wolfson, I was denied the incredible research fellowship I was up for this summer. So instead of telling you all about Europe and how fucking great it is, I am here, in a cubicle, listening to fluorescent lights buzz for $13 an hour.
Are you sure you'll have no internetting? I don't believe that's possible, Ben. My guess is you'll sniff all that out within minutes and come cyber-running back to us.
Posted by A White Bear | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 3:33 PM
I'm sure I'll be able to go online now and again, but I don't anticipate spending a lot of time with my ass planted in front of a monitor.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 3:37 PM
I find it's very difficult to read in that position.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 3:38 PM
27: Flicker photos, though, right?
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 3:53 PM
I endorse 6. Possibly in combination with 29.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 3:59 PM
(Wait, is 6 the most common sex act ATM?)
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 4:00 PM
Wolfson, if you do upload to Flickr, remember to feed the patriarchy. IYKWIM. AITTYD.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 4:05 PM
How has nobody complained about my recommendation for eating Donder, Blitzen, et al? Are there no bleeding hearts left?
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 4:11 PM
They're much less sympathetic once you realize they're just caribou.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 4:12 PM
I thought we were all supposed to be mad for the caribou, on behalf of ANWR, or something.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 4:13 PM
We only care about the White Bears.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 4:16 PM
We only care about the White Bears.
I told you not to think about them.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 4:23 PM
Speaking of exotic ungulates, I had yak jerky last weekend. It tasted like you would expect yak to taste.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 9:16 PM
yakky?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 9:23 PM
Yup. How meat can taste like dung-matted fur smells, I'll never know.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 9:30 PM
I've heard that horse meat tastes like horses smell.
Posted by teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 9:40 PM
Well, if you smoked it over smoldering dung-matted fur, that might do it.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 9:41 PM
41: Really? B/c horses smell kind of good. Though I have a hard time imagining eating horse meat.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 9:58 PM
I've heard that architecture in Helsinki is worth checking out.
/groan
Posted by Stanley | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 10:03 PM
IMO Architecture in Helsinki blows.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 10:04 PM
Expand your horizons, B.
Posted by teofilo | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 10:06 PM
Well, I'd try it if it were offered, I'm just saying, it's hard to imagine.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 10:08 PM
Riga has great architecture (IMO, the old town and the Art Nouveau stuff), but may be too far out of your way.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 10:13 PM
48: ensared!
Posted by Stanley | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 10:36 PM
Or "ensnared." Whatever. Ben's leaving, anyway.
Posted by Stanley | Link to this comment | 06-20-06 10:37 PM
go to the top of the Fernsehturm
(built by DDR; hopefully they took down the stupid football that was put on top of it for the world cup)
go to the art galleries in mitte, esp. oranienburgerstr. and augustinerstr.
go to the tadjikische teestube which is googlable
go to the giant former soviet park memorial entity, treptower park
ignore all the people who tell you you should try Currywurst, but do eat french fries with those little plastic forks sometime
that's the best i can do in a rush
Posted by mmf! | Link to this comment | 06-21-06 2:32 AM
Ben, this might be quite useful. Architecture in Helsinki does blow. As for architecture in Helsinki, there is some nice Empire, Jugend and modern stuff here like the Senate Square with the Tuomiokirkko or maybe the hilarious crumbling marble and bad acoustics of the Finlandia Hall. If you are interested in contemporary art, the ARS 06 exhibit is on right now in Kiasma. You can use this to check out clubs, exhibits etc for any given day. That seems to be only in Finnish but shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
Sauna heated by a wood oven (puusauna) or directly by smoke (savusauna) followed by a swim in a lake is a fundamental Finnish experience and shouldn't be missed. I guess this can be arranged in the Helsinki region but many Finns have summer cottages in the countryside for just this kind of stuff. The traditional Finnish way to die, drowning while drunk and standing to take a leak in a rowing boat, is also readily available in the countryside.
Finns might appear surly and insular. Here the cranberry liqueur mentioned by Doug or a teen favorite from the nineties, salmiakkikossu, could be a big help. Just keep the Finns away from the rowing boats while using this strategy.
Away from Helsinki, there might be things worth seeing at least in Turku (the old capital of Finland), Tampere and Porvoo. If you have enough time, Tallinn might also be a good place to visit.
Posted by ksii | Link to this comment | 06-21-06 2:36 AM
You can get an architectural map of Helsinki in the Academic Bookstore in Keskuskatu/Pohjoisesplanadi. Rent a bike and get yourself away from the city centre to the green suburbs (Käpylä, Kulosaari, Vanhakaupunginlahti, Arabia, Tapiola). The historic Suomenlinna fortress islands in front of Helsinki are well worth a visit on a sunny day. As for food, I'd recommend fish (any kind) and Finnish berries. The northern climate makes berries very tasty. Sleep mask is strongly recommended if you want to sleep in the dark. The "night" (or rather luminous dusk) lasts for about 3 hours in Helsinki at the present.
Posted by katariina | Link to this comment | 06-21-06 3:17 AM
OT. The New Yorker reports that Uma Thurman's mother's first husband was Timothy Leary.
Winona Ryder's godfather was Timothy Leary.
We're one anecdote short of a trend.
The poor girls are both a bit defensive about this. Probably if Winona had been more willing to get in touch with her inner Leary, she wouldn't have all those problems. She needs my help, though she hasn't sunk quite to my level yet. Maybe another arrest will do it.
Posted by John Emerson | Link to this comment | 06-21-06 7:23 AM
IMO Architecture in Helsinki blows.
"blows" is deprecated.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:29 AM
Aaron, harmonica player, at practice last night: "That chorus called for me to suck, but I blew, so it sucked."
Posted by Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:32 AM
When's the actual performance of your live sex show then, Clownæsthesiologist?
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:37 AM
Also, I think you and Dr. Oops! would make quite a surgical team, IYKWIM.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:38 AM
"A little song, a little dance, exploding nutsack in your pants."
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:39 AM
58 -- sorry, I've pledged my troth to Patch.
Posted by Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:40 AM
"A little song, a little dance, exploding nutsack in your pants."
I hope that's not in your show, CA.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:42 AM
I have been invited to a cat circus this evening.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:47 AM
62: I saw Macbeth at Shakespeare in the Park last night, but I might trade that for a good cat circus.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:48 AM
I can't decide if I'm going to go. 1) I haven't even contemplated packing, and I'm supposed to be moving tomorrow, and 2) it might make me sad.
I'm weird about animals. Overempathetic, I'd say.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 8:51 AM
I know what you mean, silvana. Cats aren't particularly wired well, compared to say dogs, to perform tricks on demand. They get no joy from it, so everything is at best perfunctory and often very coerced-looking. I was roped into going to a circus with my nephews about a year or so ago and the lion/tiger trainer act was really sad-inducing.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:05 AM
at best perfunctory and often very coerced-looking
Yeah, that's it, M/tch. It just seems like: damn, can't you leave the fucking cats alone?
Also, the fact that people will likely be laughing hysterically (I imagine it is meant to be funny) at the harrassment of the cats is additionally sad-making. I still might go though.
Once I saw a cat in a cat carrier on the bus, and it was meowing a lot, and no one was really standing by it so I couldn't tell who its owner was, and I (mistakenly) thought that it had no owner and was just left there and I started to fucking cry on the bus.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:09 AM
damn, can't you leave the fucking cats alone?
But they make so much noise.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:12 AM
With big cats, or little cats? I'm trying to imagine a circus with my cat, and the only events it would have would be:
1) Sleep
2) Purr
3) Destroy all humans.
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:16 AM
How did you like it, w/d? I saw it on Wednesday and was underwhelmed. Some good bits--but I wanted to throw things at the woman who played Lady M.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:16 AM
In light of 65, I renounce 63. Also, I can't find any reviews of the show I saw, which I thought would have been reviewed by now. My review is: very interesting staging, the guy playing Banquo was good, Lady Macbeth wasn't as strong a presence on stage as I remember her being from when I read the play in high school, Liev Schrieber was good.
I've had this question since I read the play, but never pursued it: Would a reasonable contemporaneous Englishman really not think of a c-section as being "born," because the actual act of birthing is the baby coming through the birth canal and out the woman's hoo-hoo doesn't take place?
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:19 AM
I'm trying to imagine a circus with my cat
It isn't your cat's fault that you haven't taught it crowd-pleasing feats of derring-do. Get cracking, Cala.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:19 AM
I hadn't seen 69, but I think I mostly answered it.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:20 AM
I'm not sure, w/d, but I don't think so. I always read it as being a sort of hiding-in-plain sight pun or Delphic prophecy trading on an ambiguity. If you're careful about prophecies and read it completely literally, then you should think there's something up with 'born.' If you're Macbeth, you'll read it as confirmation of your own invincibility. (Kind of like the Witch King in LoTR.)
So my guess is that the audience would read it something like Macbeth did, and then when what's-his-face announces he was a C-section baby, they'd all groan appreciatively.
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:24 AM
the lion/tiger trainer act was really sad-inducing.
Oh man, the last time I went to the circus, the saddest thing of all was the elephant act. Deep down, I was kinda rooting for one of them to snap and go on a rampage.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:28 AM
Not a strong presence? She murdered the scansion--plucked it from her lips and dashed its brains on the ground--and her flappy socialite reaction to Macbeth's seeing Banquo's ghost made the audience laugh, which I didn't even possible for that scene. Her femminess was a kind of interesting take on Lady M's gender trouble, but her performance was so craptacular that my vague interest in that aspect was overwhelmed by my desire to, well, throw things at her.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:39 AM
I love Liev Schreiber. And I love Shakespeare in the Park. I'm psyched to see this production.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:42 AM
But I won't be there until September! Waaah. (My understanding of what the weather will be like in Sept. also makes it extremely unlikely that I'll be biking anywhere.)
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:42 AM
Actually n/m, this puts it at not nearly as cold as I thought.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:44 AM
There were a couple of times, not just then, where laughs came unexpectedly.
By not a strong presence, I guess I mean both that and the rather different point that I didn't enjoy her scenes nearly as much as I did others.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:45 AM
Er, 77 was supposed to include this: "The tours are available from 23 June to 18 August in 2006." from here.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:45 AM
Relentlessly positive, eh, Drymala?
Okay, I'll cop to loving Shakespeare in the Park. And smiling babies. And soapbubbles and ponies and apple pie. Shreiber is pretty great, too.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:46 AM
Wolfson, September in New York is wonderful, weather-wise. You'll be able to bicycle much more comfortably then than you'd be able to do now.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:49 AM
68: It's a cat circus with regular domestic cats. If it were big cats, I definitely wouldn't go see it. This is it.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:49 AM
Wolfson, September in New York is wonderful, weather-wise.
And you're saying that Helsinki and New York are on the same latitude, or what? I don't even think that's true.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:50 AM
Last point: the "Is this a dagger I see before me?" soliloquy was great. I just googled to make sure I wasn't getting this wrong, there's properly a "which" there, but I don't think he said that.
84: Or jokingly misunderstanding which comment you are replying to,
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:52 AM
Oh yeah, the elephants just break my heart. Although the saddest ones I've ever seen were the driven-insane-by-being-chained-to-a-wall-all-the-time ones in Shanghai's horrible zoo.
But speaking of circuses, have all the NY Mineshaft dwellers seen Calder's Circus at the Whitney? Man I love that thing.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:54 AM
I so heart Calder in a bad way.
Posted by silvana | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:56 AM
Surprisingly, New York City's on about the same latitude as Rome.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:57 AM
While you're here, wolfson, was some change recently made with the site to make comments windows jump to the front when they finish loading? 'Cause that's what they do now, and I hates it something fierce.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 9:59 AM
Yeah, w/d, that was very cool. In general, the director's decision to use the weird sisters for stage business through the play resulted in interesting juxtapositions and effects. My puritanical side objected to the fatalism that decision invokes, but that's a question of preference and interpretation and my being a moralizing twerp.
And Wolfson, you should be bicycling in NY in September.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06-23-06 10:08 AM