Journey to the Center

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a fantastic adventure into sin. The premise is simple: what would happen if you could get away with anything? The answer, of course, is never that easy.

Dorian is interesting because of the transition he makes. He started out as a youth, as beautiful as he was pure. Of course, he has foils: an artistic moral friend and one that’s out to corrupt him as an experiment. Dorian is free to choose his own path, but the temptation of hedonism is too much.

The most interesting part of the story is his exploration into spirituality. Dorian is given incontrovertible proof that there is a soul, and yet he continues to try to deny that there is life after death, his spiritual tenets all revolve around the material world. Why? Would anyone else behave differently? Does the certainty of the existence of a soul make any difference?

January 17, 2004 my hisband and I went to see Carmen. I hadn’t had the opportunity to read any of the preliminary material we were sent, so I went in to this one completely blind. I do’nt think I’ll do that again, I don’t like having to read the subtitles while trying to absorb everything else. It’d rather just focus on the stange and get the general gist of what they’re saying.

As with any opera, there were really two elements to this one - the stageplay and the music. However, this was the first time I’d seen the stage element be such a pronounced portion of the production. As such they’ll get treated as separate elements.

First the stageplay. The acting and set were fantastic. Carmen was hugely expressive and such a tragic figure. Don Jose and Micaela were absolutely convincing in their performance. In fact, I’ve seen many plays where the actors could not compare with the authenticity shown on this stage. Don Jose’s obsessive behavior reminded me of that of Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory.

The first act of the music was fun, fabulous at setting the mood for a jovial trip into town. No cares, no worries other than whether or not the children would come begging. I was surprised at how many songs I recognized, how such a complicated opera could make such inroads into popular culture. I really think that the opera community owes Warner Brothers and Bugs Bunny a lot of credit for making beautiful music accessible.

Unfortunately, the change of mood between acts could not be carried off the performers. The tragedy in the music was completely overwhelmed. I desperately wanted to feel the tragedy. They music told me that what was going on was worse than the words could convey. But I didn’t feel it in the voices. The inflection just wasn’t there.

Overall, a very uneven opera, but fun to attend.

Dad, Bro and I went riding last June, the last sunny day that all three of us had to go before the big wedding would take up all of Bro’s time. It always takes an hour or so to get out the door, mostly because we have no idea where we want to go. So Dad whips out his book of maps and we try to pick a route.

We decided to go up the coast of the Puget Sound, taking back roads past Kayak Point. Of course, we had to stop at the golf course for a beer.

In fact, we followe the dangerous and windy Chuckanut Drive up to Bellingham where we stopped to fix one of the passenger footpegs so I could actually use it and not worry about it falling off. Good thing the Intruder has a built in toolkit because Dad doesn’t carry one in his gear yet.

From Bellingham, we headed east to Bear Lake. We managed to get a bit lost on the back roads, but ended up on mostly the right track. Of course, by then we were pretty silly. Waking up the entire neighborhood is a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Eventually, we had to take the quick way home, since it was getting dark and cold. We jumped on the freeway just north of Smokey Point and beelined back in to meet Mom and Hubby at Girardi’s in Everett. Hot food and coffee were the perfect end to this ride.

Who’s riding which motorcycle:
Bro: Suzuki Marauder
Dad: Harley Dyna Wide Glide
Me: back of both

The whole family seems to have decided that motorcycles are the thing. This is pretty funny, particularly since there are so many of us in varying stages of comfort on the things. Dad and Alex have been riding the longest, and I’m a very comfortable passenger now. I’ve even got my license. My husband and sister-in-law are looking at taking courses to get driving. Here’s the breakdown:

Dad’s ride: Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
Bro’s ride: Suzuki Intruder
My ride: Suzuki Marauder

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is an alarmingly entertaining look at what people are capable of. It is the future if capitalism were to run amok and extend into the government in such a way that it becomes the equivalent of a franchise.

The premise is that laws are just a group of rules that are enforced by some body of individuals; they are highly variable and nonstandard. In specific, they don’t apply to certain groups and corporations. Throw into the mix a power-mad monopolist and a computer virus that can also affect humans and you have one heck of a volatile mix.

One of the most interesting bits of this story is the idea of a binary virus that is transmissable to humans. If this were actually possible, the implications… Well, I’d rather not think about it. The possibilities for mind control, disease creation you name it are endless. If this were to happen, the Apocalypse wouldn’t be a story anymore, but reality.

Fluff reading has been my mainstay lately, trying to escape from the stress of the holidays and job flux. Most of the novels have been easily forgettable, at this moment I can’t even remember the name of most of them. I know they’re sitting on the bookshelf somewhere, but I wouldn’t know them until I picked them back up.

Lion’s Game by Nelson DeMille stood out from this mix of fluff, enough to encourage a family member to read the novel. The novel is relatively unique, at least in my experience, for the self-depracating and irreverent main character. While I enjoyed the ride, it was the subject matter that really struck me.

In this novel, DeMille describes an aerial terrorist attack on the US. The novel was published in 2000, predating the actual attack by 18 months. While the method differs slightly, I have to wonder about the security holes described in the novel and how accurate that data was. Could the scenario described have happened? Are those vulnerabilities still exploitable?

It’s been a while since an author challenged my assumption of safety in my little corner of the world. I look forward to his next book.