April 5, 2011

"I like to see you cry.  Men like to see women cry, it makes them feel superior"--The Spiral Staircase

"Doug, we need a word."

"OK, how about 'Die'?"

--Weeds

    Yesterday I was telling Giuseppe, my singing teacher, about how Velazquez' Rokeby Venus painting got slashed by a suffragette a century ago. [She didn't like how men were leering at it.] And now it turns out that some madwoman attacked a Gauguin in a Washington gallery! [It was "Two Tahitian Women" at the National Gallery, but she was stopped by its plexiglass cover.]

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was shrimp linguini.

    Saw the DVD of Robert Siodmak's thriller The Spiral Staircase.  Pretty scary. (I had to see most of the last third a second time because George Brent's voice made me sleepy!)

    I remembered the doctor in The Spiral Staircase [Kent Smith] from some role where he was older, and it turned out I was thinking of his role (also a doctor) in the TV series of Peyton Place.

April 4, 2011

    Had another singing lesson. (Again I quit a bit early because of dizziness.) It snowed last night so I wore my fall coat, but by afternoon it was mild again!

    Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes.

    Skipped choir practice to attend the St. Paul's riding's NDP nomination meeting. (The nominee looks a bit preppy.)

    Saw the DVD of "Influenza 1918," a PBS American Experience documentary about the epidemic at the end of the Great War.

April 3, 2011

    Dreamed of going to a second-rate Al Pacino movie in Halifax, N.S.; sleeping in a non-existent woodshed near our old house in Sackville, N.B.; thinking "J'aime la Canada."

    Didn't do much today. (I still have a headache.)

    Dinner was fish.

April 2, 2011

Actor playing Hitler (improvising): Heil myself"--To Be or Not to Be

    Dreamed of the cottage near our old home in Sackville, N.B., being about to be moved to a new location.

    Brought out my spring jacket.

    Went on a Queen Street art walk.  I suggested to Betty Anne doing a similar walk along St. Clair Avenue West near my neighbourhood, and now it looks like we're going to organize one together. [It didn't materialize.]

    Dinner was ravioli.

    Saw the DVD of Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (for the third time).  It's really funny, especially Sig Ruman as the Gestapo commander!

April 1, 2011

    Moira had lunch with Puitak and Gordon at the Little India restaurant.  First I visited their new Simcoe Street apartment for the first time.

    Then I went to see Dr. Ang about my dizzy spells.  First I had to wait two and a half hours!

    Dinner was lobster rolls.

    Baked cheese bread.

March 31, 2011

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    I was going to see some Mary Pickford movies at the silent film festival, but I had a headache.

    We saw another episode from that series about days that changed America (this one was about Shay's Rebellion), but I dozed off at times.

March 30, 2011

    Dreamed of Bart Simpson making a friend at a workplace; visiting a location where the Libyan movie Lion of the Desert was filmed.

    Saw the cinemacast of a Royal Opera production of Carmen at the Empress Walk in 3-D, which didn't add much:  it was substantially the same production I attended in person in London three years ago, and you can't improve on that!  Anyway, my glasses frame lost its bolt during the intermission and I watched the rest with naked eye. (This reminded me of my acid test for opera direction:  without the subtitles, would you still know what's going on?) Glad I know the opera well.

    On the way back, I stopped at Hakim Optical and they gave me a new bolt for free, which was pretty nice of them considering that you can find those tiny bolts just anywhere!

    Dinner was tuna casserole.