a southern gal in the north

Report: Film Director Bergman Dies
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, an iconoclastic filmmaker widely regarded as one of the great masters of modern cinema, has died, local media reported Monday. He was 89 years old.

Bergman died at his home in Faro, Sweden, Swedish news agency TT said, citing his daughter Eva Bergman.

Through more than 50 films, Bergman’s vision encompassed all the extremes of his beloved Sweden: the claustrophobic gloom of unending winter nights, the gentle merriment of glowing summer evenings and the bleak magnificence of the island where he spent his last years.

Bergman, who approached difficult subjects such as plague and madness with inventive technique and carefully honed writing, became one of the towering figures of serious filmmaking.

He was “probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera,” Woody Allen said in a 70th birthday tribute in 1988.

more  News from The Associated Press.

 

Film director Bergman dies at 89
Ingmar Bergman

Bergman was one of the foremost film-makers of the 20th Century
Legendary film-maker Ingmar Bergman has died aged 89, according to a Swedish news agency.

One of the key figures in modern cinema, the art-house favourite was best known for films like The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries.

He won three Oscars for best foreign language film between 1961 and 1984 – for The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly and Fanny and Alexander

The director was married five times, most recently to Ingrid von Rosen.

He fathered eight children, including one who only found out she was his daughter at the age of 22.

Unsurprisingly, his work often explored the tensions between married couples.

The Swedish auteur directed more than 40 films during his career, beginning with Crisis in 1946.

But it was not until the appearance of two tales of all-consuming love affairs – Summer Interlude in 1951 and Summer with Monika in 1953 – that his cinematic work was celebrated.

His reputation was sealed by the international art-house hit The Seventh Seal in 1957.

The movie, currently back in cinemas to celebrate its 50th anniversary, is famous for the often-parodied scene in which one of the characters plays chess with death.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film director Bergman dies at 89.

waiting thing..

Janet’s newest Cable Book

Here they are in her office – so it should be on its way soon!

sigh, i am so tired of reading about it on everyone’s blogs and not being a part of the party – i guess me and the other 20,000 people.  oh well.  it seems like it will be another THREE weeks as the current update is 1200 a week… so waiting goes on (but i am ohsonot a patient person).

2. For this kit   —->

yes in THAT color – yes its yummy and also in the package another skein of beautiful yarn.

3. a goodie package from Elann
– a couple of skeins of the new Lace Merino and a bunch of Addi Lace Turbo Needles ( CANT WAIT FOR THESE) and some color cards of some of my favourite Elann yarns.

 

 

So what to do while waiting?

well, knit of course – nearing the end of Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl – only TWO pattern rows left … fingers crossed that there is enough yarn to finish this.

Also picked CeCe up tonight – started it sometime ago this summer and suddenly have a yearn for a red sweater – this is being knit in a gorgeous red Classic Elite Provence yarn.  Have about 5–6 inches so far.

Also last night started work on the thistle lace shawl design – first design for thistle pattern is a NO GO.  Swatched it and its WAY to big for a lace pattern – but learned a lot – so back to the drawing board (or rather, Knitvisualizer), after a long sleep last night have a couple of ideas to try out. 

 

But first a date with this DVD –  “Ruth Madoc, Jean Marsh, Colin Buchanan and Michael Byrne star in this thriller based on novelist Agatha Christie's work. Writer Mark Easterbrook has a vested interest in solving the murder of a priest. That's because Mark himself is under suspicion. But to save his reputation and put the real killer behind bars, he'll have to go through a mysterious list of names that's suddenly turned up and may hold the key to the murderer's identity.”

 

Writer’s Rooms

An ongoing series in The Guardian – Ian Rankin, Antonia Fraser, John Mortimer, Margaret Drabble for some.

Ok so where’s PD James and Colin Dexter and Peter Robinson?

 

Update Thursday – And the reviews roll in, although German newspapers’ reviews will be out on Friday.

Jeers, Cheers as Bayreuth `Meistersinger’ Mixes Hitler, Nudity  By Shirley Apthorp – July 26 (Bloomberg) — One boo for the first act, several for the second. Then the curtain fell on the third act and the storm broke. Katharina Wagner’s new staging of her great- grandfather’s “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg” unfolded amid passion at the Bayreuth opera festival in Germany.

At the end, there was a generalized howl, followed by polite applause for the lesser singers. Then a handful of boos (entirely undeserved) for Amanda Mace’s sweet-voiced Eva. At this point, far too early for protocol, Katharina stormed onto the stage with her team to “support” her hapless singer. And the booing began in earnest, drowning out a flurry of cheers.  more 

From Deutsche Welle    … And while the applause after the first two acts of Wagner’s only “comic” opera was friendly, the audience — which included a smorgasbord of German political and social elite — was less amused by the third and final act, which featured a few minutes of full frontal nudity, a bizarre sight of Richard Wagner dancing in his underwear and a bunch of master singers horsing around the stage with oversized penises.

When, at the end of the marathon seven-hour performance, which included 2 one-hour breaks, visibly nervous Katharina Wagner took to the stage, she was greeted with boos, hisses, jeers and whistles as well as bravos and cries of approval. The Bayreuth audience proved itself to be worthy of the music genre: dramatic, passionate and self-involved to the point of absurdity. …

From PlaybillArts.com  Sharply Divided Reactions Over Katharina Wagner’s Revisionist Meistersinger at Bayreuth By Matthew Westphal  July 26, 2007  –  It was either an invigorating burst of fresh air for a stale institution, or an outrageous upending of everything the work has to say. It was received with warm applause and a few noisy dissenters, or with a storm of jeers that applauders tried in vain to cover. The lead singers were unworthy of this great opera house, or they gave very credible performances as singers and actors alike. The conductor and orchestra were uninspired, or they played like angels.

Just about the only consensus to be found among the early reports on the Bayreuth Festival’s opening night last night is that Katharina Wagner’s new production of her great-grandfather’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is very, very unorthodox, and that reaction to it is very sharply divided.  more

From the UK … From the chorus of booing mixed with cheers it is impossible to say that the crown is Katharina’s for the taking. To her credit she did not take the easy option – if any were available.

Given its role as a signature piece in the Third Reich and its undeniable associations with the concept of German supremacy, Die Meistersinger is one of the most problematic of all Wagner’s works to stage. The great merit of Katharina Wagner’s production is that in conjunction with her trusted dramaturge Robert Sollich she has shown a determination to confront that baleful legacy, and here at its very epicentre in Bayreuth.

The German intellectual tradition – Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, Wagner himself – is represented by, first, statuettes and, later, by huge masks that come to life. What is controversial is that that tradition is swept aside. It is then symbolically and terrifyingly incinerated by Hans Sachs as he sings “Wach Auf” (his wakeup call to Germany).  more 

 

Wednesday 8 10 pm EDT First review in  AP: Bold production of Meistersinger by Wagner’s great grand-daughter (excerpt below)

BAYREUTH, Germany: Art imitated art at Bayreuth on Wednesday, with Germany’s greatest opera genius interpreted by his great-grand-daughter in a bold new production of one of his key works.

The venue: The Bayreuth “Festspielhaus,” the operatic shrine dedicated exclusively to works of Richard Wagner. The event: A new production of his “Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg,” by Katharina Wagner_ in a debut that could help decide whether the 29-year-old becomes the next family member to run the Bayreuth Festival.

Expectations were high — and for the hundreds who booed the performance, obviously not met. But at least as many among the audience loved the production, reflecting the annual Bayreuth split of traditional Wagnerites and those hungry for experimentation.

And experimentation ruled Wednesday. No quaint gabled houses or medieval town squares, and no period costumes either. Instead, the audience was given a plot turned topsy turvy, a villain turned hero, a hero turned wimp — and a few minutes of full frontal nudity.

The opera is an ode to art — and Wednesday’s interpretation kept that focus intact. Beyond that, though, Richard and Katharina — in her first production at Bayreuth — parted ways 180 degrees.

more

5:00 pm EDT All from the Bayern Klassik website – go here for more  and here for a complete look at the festival including links to the webstreams

Well, the last chord of Die Meistersinger just played and a chorus of very loud BOOS rang out over the applause.   The curtain calls are going on right now… of course its radio so can’t tell who is coming out – but traditionally the singers first of course – lots of applause.  Now the Bavarian Radio is on and the Hungarian over announcer – but it seems as if we are not getting the rest of the curtain calls.  I am switching to NDR Kultur Radio to see if they have more … and here is the English translation of the final announcement (they do five languages) and still hearing the applause in the background – guess I will have to wait and read about what happened.

anyone there?

below is the current state of the Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl (Sivia Harding) – well actually last night – tonight i made much more progress – am actually at row 160 (of what 180?)  see how the border is growing at the bottom along the needles

and here is a closeup of the center panel – sorry about the darkness, uhm it was night time.

      

so what is the big adventure with this shawl?  well see above – that is the yarn I have left.   Yes two skeins. 

Its Rowan True 4 ply Botany (why was it called TRUE?). The color is Nettle or 551H lot 16J6. And of course its discontinued.  The irony about this shawl is that I have had this yarn for – oh about 10 years probably – and have started about three different, or maybe more, projects with it – none of which suited it – so NOW when I have a project that is swimming along – really I started this shawl sometime during the first or second week of July – and now to face the tension filled hours as the rows get longer and longer and the skein winds down – will she make it… will there be enough… if you have ever been here you know the feeling.  

Google reports NONE, [that’s a pretty amazing search to see – not 12934864098097 hits but 0].  I even went to Rowan and found out that the 4 Ply Soft is the  replacement yarn – but the only greens don’t even look close – its hard to tell in those photos but its not as dark as those and not as light as the one on the left there.

oh well, exciting knitting – that’s what we all need right?

Actually I had to rip an entire pattern row tonight due to the shenanigans and twists and turns in DAMAGES – the new Glenn Close tv show that premiered on FX.  Really interesting plot and characters – that Rose Byrne is an actress to watch and boy does Ted Danson look good – that silver hair makes him look younger!

Its garnered lots of rave reviews  i agree with this one: “a legal thriller with heft.” Tim Goodman, SF Chronicle. You can catch it again a few times this week – including tonight.  I highly recommend it.

To close our shawl adventures, here is the Mystery Stole 3 last night – but today sadly its all gone after I realized I didn’t have enough yarn – so now to shop the stash and see what I can find.

From the newly updated VOGUEKnitting.com website:

 

Knit & Crochet Today, a new show totally devoted to both needlearts, is coming to PBS this fall. The half-hour series is hosted by One Life to Live star Kassie DePaiva, who is a passionate crocheter and enthusiastic newbie knitter. Look out for guest appearances from the biggest names in the crafting industry such as Kaffe Fassett, Kristin Nicholas, K&CT producer Candi Jensen as well as VK’s own Adina Klein and Carla Scott. The show is expected to air on almost half of the nation’s PBS stations, including twelve of the top twenty markets.

Visit knitandcrochettoday.com for more information and to check your local PBS listings. If it’s not playing on your dial, you can link over to pbs.org to petition your local station to add the show to its schedule.

 

 

 

Also download 10 free patterns from the 25^th Anniversary Issue (Fall 2007) here

  

    

Many years ago, the offerings on the nascent web were few and far between.  Yes, the BBC’s Radio 3 was a pioneer in the frontier of web streaming (THANK GOODNESS).  However, I still remember the thrill of hearing a LIVE performance from BAYREUTH – to which I will probably never get to attend in person.  Since then each late July and early August has found me mesmerized once again to the glorious music (yes, I love the RING).    Still shuddering at the wonders of last year’s performances with Thielemann et al. who is thankfully back again this year.

Wednesday is the first performance in this year’s Bayreuther Festspiele – a new production of DIE MEISTERSINGER with Franz Hawlata as Hans Sachs, Klaus Florian Vogt as Walther and Amanda Mace as Eva (all three in debut roles at the Festival) . Along with the new “Meistersinger,” the festival offers Christoph Schlingensief’s controversial “Parsifal,” complete with voodoo and rotting bunny carcass, alongside Philippe Arlaud’s Teletubby “Tannhauser” and Tankred Dorst’s soporific “Ring” production.

There is something special about the new DIE MEISTERSINGER as Katharina Wagner is making her Bayreuth Festival directing debut with this Festival opening night. 

As Manuela Hoelterhoff of Bloomberg reports

“Katharina is the great-granddaughter of the composer himself, who died in 1883, and the daughter of Wolfgang Wagner, 87, who has been running the festival since his more avant-garde brother Wieland died young in 1966.

Wolfgang has been saving this job for her, fending off other relatives, including his own daughter by a first marriage, Eva, so that Katharina, the daughter by his second wife, could receive proper tutelage. Actually, the job isn’t even hereditary: Some 30 years ago, the Wagner family ceded the festival to a foundation in order to receive government funds.

Still, a Wagner festival without a Wagner seems inconceivable, and Wolfgang will probably get his way. He survived a heated battle to dislodge him by simply refusing to vacate the premises. The man probably quaffs dragon’s blood, and may be immortal.

Certainly, Wolfgang seems immune to critical abuse and smiles cheerfully at the pests who eat his canapes at the festival’s ritual press conference.

His enemies berate the man for letting Bayreuth ossify, though he’s avant-garde enough for me. One season he allowed the extremely peculiar Christoph Schlingensief, a guy who works with slaughtered piglets and excrement, to inject images of rotting bunnies into his staging of the holy of holies, “Parsifal.”

And more on the family drama from the BBC: 

“Wolfgang’s son Gottfried explained the crux of the problem to the BBC in 2006.

“When you’re talking about Richard Wagner you cannot split up his ideas either – his anti-semitic, racist attitudes and anti-feministic tendencies too – so the mentality that you’re just going to enjoy the music and it has no relevance to the political is absolutely absurd.”

Nike Wagner, Wolfgang’s niece, could be described as having undertaken a lifelong audition for the post of running Bayreuth. Others are no less ambitious. Eva, Wolfgang’s first daughter – somebody else who was excommunicated – and 29-year-old Katharina, whose staging of Die Meistersinger opens this years festival.

It’s all turning into a high culture soap opera. But the stakes couldn’t be higher. What will happen to Bayreuth and its theatre, the holy grail of the Wagner cult? When will Wolfgang finally step down? Will it be this year? No-one knows for sure, but he’s not been seen around the Green Hill this week, and is rumoured to be very ill. “

“What’s amazing is how much he looks like Richard; as if his grandfather’s own spirit was somehow standing in front of me.   “He has snowy white hair and he wears this hair so long that no other man of his age would wear it like that. And you can see something of the old Richard twinkling in his eyes,” explains Marcus Veullner, Bayreuth resident and writer. “

Some exceprts from an Interview with Katharina Wagner by DW,

When I give an interview or take a position on my work, I don’t do that as Katharina Wagner, great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, but as the director of “Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” I’m not any more interesting because I am related to a famous composer; that was his achievement and not mine — and I’d rather talk about mine.

I stay out of all the family disputes.

[Where did you set your “Meistersinger”? ] Not in the Middle Ages. It’s also not important that it takes place in Nuremberg. For me, Nuremberg is a synonym for a spiritual location. My production takes place in a room with very many doors, that’s also extremely closed and seems very heavy. Ultimately, new impulses from the outside come in — the Nuremberg system can’t exist any more as it did and Nuremberg changes at the end of the second act.

Innovation collides with tradition, which for me is the most exiting issues in the opera, that these master singers are really a big art class. And that’s one of the biggest questions: What’s the relationship between innovation and tradition, and art — or the artist — and society?

From The DAILY TELEGRAPH comes this report:

“In rehearsals for Katharina’s staging, to which The Daily Telegraph was given exclusive access, the nationalist themes are deliberately perverted. “Katharina’s idea is that the stage is filled with statues of Germany’s great thinkers Goethe and Schiller carved in a monumental Third Reich style,” said Mr Busche.

“But during the finale they deform and collapse, symbols of what happens when thinkers are trapped in such an extreme ideological system.” For the performers however, neither the opera’s tarnished history nor the Wagner family feud has dimmed the magic of the festival.

“Katharina has gained all our respect,” said Edward Randall, an American tenor who plays one of the Meistersingers. “She has a much older soul than a 29-year-old. We’ve worked on every detail, every glance and every movement, for weeks.

“This is the Olympics of opera,” he added. “It’s amazing.”

Katharina Wagner is well aware of that. “I’ve been born with this name,” she said. “I’m not like Britney Spears who went out to be a star. In Germany, if you’re born with this name you can’t escape it. You just have to get on with life.”

You can hear the Festival Operas broadcast live on various European radio stations – go to Operacast’s Bayreuth Festival page for schedule.

Now on to other less politically charged (?) festivals that are around this week:

Also starting Wednesday – the 2007 Cleveland International Piano Competition which will be webstreamed (and broadcast) live as it takes place from July 25th through August 5th at the Cleveland Play House and at Severance Hall.  Hosts for the wall-to-wall broadcasts will be WCLV’s Mark Satola, Nancy Sinning, Jacqueline Gerber and John Simna.   Rounds One, Two and Three take place at the Bolton Theatre of the Cleveland Playhouse. Then on August 3 and 4, the action moves to Severance Hall for the Final Concerto Rounds with The Cleveland Orchestra and Jahja Ling.   More here Cleveland Piano Competition.

Add those to the ongoing BBC PROMS:  this week features a semi-staged MACBETH (today, but listen again at BBC Radio3)

and the as ever wonderful MET SIRIUS offerings… and well, who needs to sleep?