Ghost Quartet (Green-Wood Cemetery, 7/28/25)
Jul. 6th, 2025 08:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coffeeandinkGhost Quartet is a band: Dave Malloy on keyboard, Brent Arnold on cello, Gelsey Bell and Brittain Ashford on various instruments, and everyone providing vocals. Ghost Quartet is a song cycle, a concert album performed semi-staged, a mash-up of "Snow White, Rose Red," The One Thousand and One Nights, the Noh play Matsukaze, "Cruel Sister", "The Fall of the House of Usher", the front page photo of a fatal train accident, and a grab bag of Twilight Zone episodes. The ghost of Thelonious Monk is sometimes invoked, but does not appear; whisky is often invoked, and, if you see the show live, will most certainly appear. "I'm confused/And more than a little frightened," says (one incarnation of) the (more-or-less) protagonist. "It's okay, my dear," her sister/lover/mother/daughter/deuteragonist reassures her, "this is a circular story."
Once upon a time two sisters fell in love with an astronomer who lived in a tree. He seduced Rose, the younger, then stole her work ("for a prestigious astronomy journal"), and then abandoned her for her sister, Pearl. Rose asked a bear to maul the astronomer in revenge, but the bear first demanded a pot of honey, a piece of stardust, a secret baptism, and a photograph of a ghost. (The music is a direct quote of the list of spell ingredients from Into the Woods.) Rose searches for all these ingredients through multiple lifetimes; and that's the plot.
Except it is much less comprehensible than that. The songs are nested in each other like Scheherazade's stories; you can follow from one song to the next, but retracing the connections in memory is impossible; this is less a narrative than a maze. Surreal timelines crash together in atonal cacophany; one moment Dave Malloy, or a nameless astronomer played by Dave Malloy, or Dave Malloy playing Dave Malloy is trying to solve epistemology and another moment the entire house of Usher, or all the actors, are telling you about their favorite whiskies. The climax is a subway accident we have glimpsed before, in aftermath, in full, circling around it, a trauma and a terror that cannot be faced directly; the crash is the fall of a house is the failure to act is the failure to look is the failure to look away.
There are two recordings available. Ghost Quartet, recorded in a studio, has cleaner audio, but Live at the McKitterick includes more of the interstitial scenes and feels more like the performance.
In Greenwood Cemetery, there were three slightly raised stages separated by batches of folding chairs, one for Dave Malloy, one for Brent Arnold, and one for Gelsey Bell and Brittain Ashford, with a flat patch of grass in the center across which they sang to each other, and into which they sometimes moved; you could sit in the chairs, or on cushions in front of the first row, or with cheaper tickets you could sit in the grass on the very low hills above the staging area, among the monuments and gravestones, and, presumably, among more ghosts. The show started a little before sunset; I saw a hawk fly over, and I could hear birds singing along when the humans sang a capella. It was in the middle of Brooklyn, so even after dark I couldn't see stars; but fireflies sparked everywhere.
vital functions
Jul. 6th, 2025 10:20 pmkaberettReading. ( Burch + Penman, McMillan-Webster, Wells, Davies + Jones, Hwang Carrant, Keynes + Aidley )
... all of which adds up to more pain-related reading than I felt like I'd managed this week, huh, I thought I had tripped and fallen entirely into Murderbot and EatYourBooks indexing but apparently not!
Writing. A response to the EHRC consultation, which was... several thousand words. A very, very brief response to the Pathways to Work green paper consultation ("I am too disabled to manage doing this properly. These charities are speaking for me. Please fucking listen to them.")
Watching. The first half of Fantasia, with the toddler, with my hand held through all the scary bits to reassure me, apart from the bit that was SO scary that we had to get up and distract ourselves until it was over. Which had absolutely not been flagged as one of the scary bits, and which was the deep-sea-origins-of-life section.
(I had not watched the film since primary school, I don't think? And between then and now I have played a bunch of orchestral music, for most of that time on the violin but latterly as a French horn. It turns out that when I'm not distracted by playing a completely different part, I have incredibly intense sense-memories of several of the pizzicato sections early on...)
Another Murderbot episode. (I continue Indignant.)
Another Farscape episode, this one Taking the Stone (S02E03), which I think was firmly back to early season one levels of incoherence.
Tragically we have not managed The Old Guard 2, because I have had too much migraine and there have been SO many things Happening, but... maybe this week???
Cooking. Several new things! Four from East, leaving me at 41/120 recipes still to make (two of which are "probably won't happen" for reasons of "grapefruit" and "matcha"); of those this week's meal plan includes two (aubergine larb with sticky rice; Vietnamese coconut pancakes). I appreciated the reminder that fried new potatoes are tasty, and A is notably into the chargrilled summer vegetable salad, though I was not a fan of the faff and think I prefer smitten kitchen's charred corn succotash.
Approximately zero faff was salt lassi, and A is now aware that this Special Treat is available; low faff was a cherry clafoutis with fruit from the plot, which I overcooked a bit but, hey, I do in fact like caramelised crunchy bits.
Eating. FIRST BATCH OF DESSERT GOOSEBERRIES ARE RIPE. A tiny handful of Sugar Magnolia sugarsnap peas. Misc jostaberries. RASPBERRIES. And also supermarket strawberries, because we have hit the stage of the summer where they're down to £5 per kilo :)
Growing. I have been doing small bits of harvest and failing to get support structures in for the beans and tomatoes. The outdoor tomatoes have tomatoes on. The squash are coming along; I put more squash seeds in, on the grounds that they're super late but might still do anything; I have not managed to kill all of the chillis; the pepper has flowers.
Harvested lots of dried peas for sowing next year. Am attempting to develop Plans that might actually let me have a full bed of broad beans and a full bed of peas in the interests of getting Reasonable Quantities of them. If the council doesn't tell me I'm not allowed the abandoned plot next door--
I could get so much done if I could coax myself out there for even an hour a day but the agoraphobia is saying No, annoyingly. Gonna try to get A to chase me out more this week.
Adventures and boring stuff only vice versa
Jul. 5th, 2025 08:04 pmromanticalAdventures: Today M and I did an art trail on one of the islands, and it was great. Cool art, a glass blower who does Venetian glass making techniques with all these amazing patterns in the glass let us watch her make glasses and explained everything while she did it and it was really cool.
We hit up one of our favorite bookstores (The Book Rack in Oak Harbor) and drove and looked at water and looked at sculptures and walked a few trails and it was a wonderful day. Now I am very tired. Photos here: https://flickr.com/photos/27659024@N08/albums/72177720327356511.
Tonight I'm taking one of the kidlets to a paranormal/horror cirque de soleil type thing, so we'll see how that goes. People bending in ways they're not supposed to and doing things I could never do in a million years. Can't be all bad.
petraHere's what I've made so far:
Strike a pose (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DCU (Comics)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Tim Drake/Dick Grayson, Tim Drake/Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson
Characters: Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, Dick Grayson
Additional Tags: Drabble, Video Cameras, Voyeurism
Summary:
Tim chooses his moment to best advantage.
*External hearts are a disabling condition (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DCU (Comics)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne
Characters: Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent
Additional Tags: Psychic Wolves, Drabble
Summary:
Bruce's wolfsister and his duty to the League.
*The movement of (astronomical) bodies (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Carrot Ironfoundersson/Angua von Uberwald
Characters: Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua von Uberwald
Additional Tags: Drabble, lycanthropy
Summary:
Carrot's favorite time of the month.
*Interstellar Deliveroo (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arthur Dent/Ford Prefect
Characters: Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect
Additional Tags: Drabble, Gig Economy
Summary:
Arthur gets a new job, and does as well at it as he does at everything else.
*It's possible to be too beautiful (187 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Characters: Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Bad Poetry, Sonnets, Adolescent Poetry, Shakespearean Sonnets
Summary:
Prompt: young Anakin's Very Bad But Heartfelt poetry (directed at your choice).
*If wishes were horses (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Strangers in Paradise (Comics)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Casey Bullocks-Femur/Katina Choovanski/Francine Peters/David Qin
Characters: Katina Choovanski
Additional Tags: Drabble, Masturbation
Summary:
Katchoo fantasizes.
*Exploring the collection (200 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan/Alys Vorpatril
Characters: Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, Alys Vorpatril
Additional Tags: Sex Toys, Double Drabble
Summary:
Alys shares her collection of specialized implements with Cordelia.
Fandom's foibles
Jul. 6th, 2025 01:43 pmpetraI still haven't seen the real Khan movie, but its Robot Chicken opera version made more of an impression on me than the AOS version where they cast B--- C---, which I have never watched and never intend to see.
Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood.
Jul. 6th, 2025 06:20 ambeansideHe's been just a ball of stress the last four or five days, between the beeping and now the fireworks. Just Jebus on a pogo stick, it's sucked. I was in tears listening to him cry last night and scratch the door.
Aside from that, it was an okay day. We had a nice lunch. Were not able to get the cat's ashes. Apparently the director's son is in the hospital, and things are backed up. It would have been super helpful to to know that before I wasted the gas to go down there, but it's okay. I 100% understand that life gets in the way.
Jess had a game last night, here Strixhaven game which sounded fun. Though, there was some mumbling about "here comes the consequences of my own actions," which always sounds delightful.
Today, we have a game in the morning, run by
coyotegestalt and then we're restarting a former game, with me dming. This is another one of my homebrew worlds, which I'm nervous about, but also excited. I'm almost done with the game, simply need to make one more character and I will be ready to go. I'm nervous, because this is all homebrew, so I'm very much hoping that they like it. The other server really enjoyed it, so the pressure is on to make this as engaging.
On that note, I'm going to go put on some clothes and consider breakfast. Everyone have an amazing Sunday!
TV report
Jul. 5th, 2025 11:20 pmsasha_featherTV seems to be the way to go but I feel like I've run out of shows.
Enjoying: Murderbot. Also loved The Pitt, and the Old Guard 2. Task Master and DropOut (Game changer, etc), continue to delight.
Other things I've watched:
Mr Robot. Gave up after one season. It's grim and humorless. I liked some of the actors a lot but the aesthetic was so gray on gray, and a high preference for very thin bodies and baggy eyes, like heroin-addict chic. For a thriller it's weirdly slow.
The storied life of AJ Fikry: A cromulent romance / drama on Netflix. Cute if not particularly memorable. It's about people who love reading and live on an island only accessible by ferry. Has multiple characters of color.
I watched 2 episodes of "Nobody Wants This", a rom-com with Kristen Bell. Her character falls in love with a rabbi. The characters felt really thinly drawn and so I did not care about them. There was just no there there, as they say.
The Last Breath: a drama about a survival story involving deep-sea construction workers (based on a true story). I liked this pretty well but think it would have worked better with some documentary-style explanations of what was happening.
Clean Slate: on Amazon Prime, a sitcom about a trans woman reconnecting with her father. I dropped this because I could not see what was happening! There seemed to be a gray film over everything! I might try it again later as it had some good humor and characters.
I tried season three of the Bear but it was unpleasant.
I played Dragon Age: Inquisition through twice, which was very restful for my brain actually. I think it would be a good idea to invest further in video games, which help me pass the time when I'm ill. I don't know much about gaming systems. I'd love to play Dragon Age Veilguard and some other newer games but how to decide on what kind of system to get? They are expensive. I got the Xbox 360 used and have absolutely loved having it.
What are you enjoying watching or playing?
Ask me to write you something!
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:55 pmpetraComment with: Drabble or Poetry, Fandom(s) from the list of things I know, Character[/Character/etc.], Prompt (if any).
Feel free to publicize this.
[pain, food] victory!
Jul. 5th, 2025 11:30 pmkaberettI have finally successfully got my head around when the local supermarket reduces the prices on its pastries, which means that we are now well-supplied for doing a batch of pistachio croissant strata to get us most of the way through the coming week. It is not going to be a tomorrow (Sunday) morning breakfast, though, because we have half a cherry clafoutis from this morning, made using allotment cherries.
( Read more... )
You were the sunshine of my lifetime, what would you trade the pain for?
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:49 ambeansideYesterday was a mostly relaxed day, aside from a trip to Sam's Club. I want to make French Onion soup tonight, so I needed thyme and gruyere cheese.
I am very irritable this morning. I need my morning pills to kick in so that I can stand people. I should have gotten up earlier so I had some quiet time. Now I've got my sister, and I'm really not ready for that.
I've got to follow her over to take her car for an oil change, and I need to be less ready to scream by then. After that, we're going to be picking up our old cat's ashes. (He died like a decade ago, but we didn't have the funds to get him cremated, we did have an empty freezer.)
Then, we have all day to ourselves. We're going to grab lunch, and probably not do much else, though I'd like to get some dry sherry for the soup. Also for sugar cookies. We haven't decided on where we're going for lunch, so I should start thinking about that.
The noise continues, so we had to drive Yoda up to the school to do his business. I'm calling the office today, so hopefully it's something that they can fix.
We had a good game last night, and I had a lot of fun with it.
Short one today, since we need to take Yoda to the school and then go get the cat. Everyone have an excellent Saturday!
I am now the proud owner of a secondhand Steam deck! Rec me games!
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:02 amrydra_wongPlease rec me your favourite games, bearing in mind that I have very limited reflexes/co-ordination.
(I'm not completely ruling out games involving them, but the threshold for entry has to be very very low. I am currently enjoying Refunct because it allows me to try some simple platforming in a very chill and pleasant environment with no time pressure and no penalties for taking several hundred tries to get a jump.)