5 December 2011
Berlin is windy.
That's about it for now. Berlin is windy. I was walking along Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse today, and the wind was strong enough to make me feel like it was pushing me backwards.
I'm gettin' too old for this shit
Now, please don't misconstrue the title of today's blog as being negative. It's more a reflection on how I feel physically today after yesterday's adventures.
One of the things that I promised myself before I came out here (to Berlin, if you're just joining us), was that I wouldn't disappear into my PhD hidey-hole, and I would force myself to be more social. When given the choice to do something or not do something, the choice would have to be to do something.
The other thing that I decided to do was to join the "Couch Surfing" community. This is a web-based community of people who, as part of the web site's mandate, ask for and offer couches for people to crash on while traveling (thus enabling travelers to "surf" from couch to couch). While having a couch to offer up is preferable, the community is also an excellent way that people (particularly those who are new to a particular city) can get to know each other.
Lo and behold, after registering, I see "events in my area" . . . and a long roster of things to do. For yesterday (Sunday) there were as many as 4 different events organized by people on their own time, and mostly for their own amusement (as well as that of others). I chose the one that looked to most interesting... the Berlin Walk, which was in the process of tracing the path of the Berlin Wall around the city.
This "Mauerweg" is now a public park, walkway, cycling path, jogging trail and just a place for people to get out, mostly on the edges of the city. I decided to join this event which started at the S-bahn station of Heiligensee, close to the Berlin border.* I boldly ventured out to the Heiligensee S-bahn station, using my trusty transit map, as well as the BVG.de website (much like TTC's and the New York Subway's), and in about 45 minutes, arrived at the rendez-vous. Eventually, 4 others gathered (with another catching up along the way), and we walked. And walked... and yes, we even walked.
One of the things that fascinated me the most seems to be the result of both the European urban amalgamations, and West Berlin's status as a walled in city. On one side where the wall was, the "city" was a collection of villages that had been incorporated into Berlin at one point** and was then walled off in 1961. On the other side was the former DDR (at the beginning of our walk, this was to the west.... yes, a bit weird). where there was pretty much nothing. Sometimes there cornfields, but other times it was forest, or just open fields. This stark difference, was due to the fact that I think the Communists wanted to keep the space surrounding Berlin empty, and thus, the "urban" (although these villages barely count as urban in the current sense) development went on elsewhere in East Germany.
There are info markers along the route, with some memorializing people who were killed trying to cross the border, and others marked checkpoints between the west and east. All in all, it was a lovely afternoon, where the weather generally held up (with only a little bit of rain), and we managed to cover about 12 km over the 3 1/2 hours. We then adjourned back to the city to Oranienstrasse (right down the street from the synagogue, which I'll have to check out at a later date) for coffee/beer and something to eat. Three of the other walkers were living in Berlin, but a couple (a Swiss guy, and Belgian girl) were in town for the weekend and had decided to do something off the touristy map. These two had actually met while they were living in Vancouver, and seemed to be very pleased to meet a Canadian over here! After the rest of the gang went their separate ways, Lukas, Alice and I went for dinner, followed by another bar for a drink, followed by another bar for another drink.***
I arrived back to the hostel (my last night in a hostel!) to discover that I had a roommate again (The first night, I had one, second night I didn't). However, this dude was not nearly as respectful as the first guy. In fact, i would probably classify New Roommate^ as possibly the worst you can have. He a) snored, b) woke up at 5:30 am, and proceeded to pack and dress and prepare for a full hour, all the while keeping the light on. Thus, I had slept fitfully between about 12 and 2 or so (using my ipod to drown out the snoring), and then was awakened for another hour before being able to get back to sleep after he had left. He said something about a training program.
And so, dear readers (who I encourage to follow the blog, or comment on it so I don't feel like I'm just writing for the sake of my parents), you are now caught up. I'm sitting in a cafe after having my "Schwartze Kaffee" (black coffee), and a sandwich (for breakfast), waiting to get into my new flat. Since there was someone staying in it on the weekend, it needs to be cleaned, and the cleaner should be coming within the half-hour, after that, I'll know when I can go over and pick up the keys (and the rest of my stuff).
And so, what is the "shit" that I'm too old for? I'm too old to share rooms with snorers who don't know enough to pack a fucking flashlight so that they don't have to turn on the lights when they want to get dressed or packed. I'm too old to get far too little sleep the day after walking 12 km (although the actual distance I walked yesterday is probably closer to 15 km, due to walking to and from subway stations and bars, etc). I'm too old to wake up in the morning the day after the aforementioned walking, and not have a sore back. Hopefully the next few months of German living will get me back into good enough shape to be able to take a beating like that and wake up feeling better. But we all have to start somewhere!
Until next time, Tschuss!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* this "border" is important when buying subway cards, because you can pay one price for everything within it, but if you want to travel with the BVG (like the TTC in Toronto, or MBTA in Boston) beyond this boundary into zone C (inner zones are A and B, the furthest is zone C), the fare is slightly higher.
** Don't ask me when.
*** The last bar was the Chagall Cafe (or Cafe Chagall), near Senefelder Platz. They serve Russian food, and were showing some weird German movie about Adventures in the Magic Forest on one of the walls when we arrived.
^don't know his name, don't wanna know.
One of the things that I promised myself before I came out here (to Berlin, if you're just joining us), was that I wouldn't disappear into my PhD hidey-hole, and I would force myself to be more social. When given the choice to do something or not do something, the choice would have to be to do something.
The other thing that I decided to do was to join the "Couch Surfing" community. This is a web-based community of people who, as part of the web site's mandate, ask for and offer couches for people to crash on while traveling (thus enabling travelers to "surf" from couch to couch). While having a couch to offer up is preferable, the community is also an excellent way that people (particularly those who are new to a particular city) can get to know each other.
Lo and behold, after registering, I see "events in my area" . . . and a long roster of things to do. For yesterday (Sunday) there were as many as 4 different events organized by people on their own time, and mostly for their own amusement (as well as that of others). I chose the one that looked to most interesting... the Berlin Walk, which was in the process of tracing the path of the Berlin Wall around the city.
This "Mauerweg" is now a public park, walkway, cycling path, jogging trail and just a place for people to get out, mostly on the edges of the city. I decided to join this event which started at the S-bahn station of Heiligensee, close to the Berlin border.* I boldly ventured out to the Heiligensee S-bahn station, using my trusty transit map, as well as the BVG.de website (much like TTC's and the New York Subway's), and in about 45 minutes, arrived at the rendez-vous. Eventually, 4 others gathered (with another catching up along the way), and we walked. And walked... and yes, we even walked.
One of the things that fascinated me the most seems to be the result of both the European urban amalgamations, and West Berlin's status as a walled in city. On one side where the wall was, the "city" was a collection of villages that had been incorporated into Berlin at one point** and was then walled off in 1961. On the other side was the former DDR (at the beginning of our walk, this was to the west.... yes, a bit weird). where there was pretty much nothing. Sometimes there cornfields, but other times it was forest, or just open fields. This stark difference, was due to the fact that I think the Communists wanted to keep the space surrounding Berlin empty, and thus, the "urban" (although these villages barely count as urban in the current sense) development went on elsewhere in East Germany.
There are info markers along the route, with some memorializing people who were killed trying to cross the border, and others marked checkpoints between the west and east. All in all, it was a lovely afternoon, where the weather generally held up (with only a little bit of rain), and we managed to cover about 12 km over the 3 1/2 hours. We then adjourned back to the city to Oranienstrasse (right down the street from the synagogue, which I'll have to check out at a later date) for coffee/beer and something to eat. Three of the other walkers were living in Berlin, but a couple (a Swiss guy, and Belgian girl) were in town for the weekend and had decided to do something off the touristy map. These two had actually met while they were living in Vancouver, and seemed to be very pleased to meet a Canadian over here! After the rest of the gang went their separate ways, Lukas, Alice and I went for dinner, followed by another bar for a drink, followed by another bar for another drink.***
I arrived back to the hostel (my last night in a hostel!) to discover that I had a roommate again (The first night, I had one, second night I didn't). However, this dude was not nearly as respectful as the first guy. In fact, i would probably classify New Roommate^ as possibly the worst you can have. He a) snored, b) woke up at 5:30 am, and proceeded to pack and dress and prepare for a full hour, all the while keeping the light on. Thus, I had slept fitfully between about 12 and 2 or so (using my ipod to drown out the snoring), and then was awakened for another hour before being able to get back to sleep after he had left. He said something about a training program.
And so, dear readers (who I encourage to follow the blog, or comment on it so I don't feel like I'm just writing for the sake of my parents), you are now caught up. I'm sitting in a cafe after having my "Schwartze Kaffee" (black coffee), and a sandwich (for breakfast), waiting to get into my new flat. Since there was someone staying in it on the weekend, it needs to be cleaned, and the cleaner should be coming within the half-hour, after that, I'll know when I can go over and pick up the keys (and the rest of my stuff).
And so, what is the "shit" that I'm too old for? I'm too old to share rooms with snorers who don't know enough to pack a fucking flashlight so that they don't have to turn on the lights when they want to get dressed or packed. I'm too old to get far too little sleep the day after walking 12 km (although the actual distance I walked yesterday is probably closer to 15 km, due to walking to and from subway stations and bars, etc). I'm too old to wake up in the morning the day after the aforementioned walking, and not have a sore back. Hopefully the next few months of German living will get me back into good enough shape to be able to take a beating like that and wake up feeling better. But we all have to start somewhere!
Until next time, Tschuss!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* this "border" is important when buying subway cards, because you can pay one price for everything within it, but if you want to travel with the BVG (like the TTC in Toronto, or MBTA in Boston) beyond this boundary into zone C (inner zones are A and B, the furthest is zone C), the fare is slightly higher.
** Don't ask me when.
*** The last bar was the Chagall Cafe (or Cafe Chagall), near Senefelder Platz. They serve Russian food, and were showing some weird German movie about Adventures in the Magic Forest on one of the walls when we arrived.
^don't know his name, don't wanna know.
3 December 2011
A short day's journey into a long night
Yesterday was a long day/night. It began at the East Seven Hostel, when i woke up, and packed up again to drop off most of my stuff at my apartment to be, which I'll finally get into on Monday. After the trip to Kreuzberg, I got back on the U-bahn and headed back to the Alexander Platz area to find my new hostel, the Pangea People Hostel. from what i understand, this hostel is fairly new, and they're still working out the kinks. The doors close extremely loudly, and the footsteps down the hall echo prominently. They also wouldn't let me get into the room before 3pm, so I took a walk in the wind and rain and headed to the DDR museum for refuge.
The DDR Museum was interesting, giving the visitor a small taste of life in the former East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, although we all know the "Demokratische"part was hooey). it was a small museum, but there was a lot to see and do and touch. Particularly interesting was being able to look at workbooks or assignment books from East German school children, especially their units on Marx and Engels!
When I returned to the hostel, I met Pat, an American who has been spending the last month in Germany traveling while waiting for his girlfriend, a German professor in the US to arrive in the country on Monday. He recommended the "alternative" pub crawl. Alternative to the large crawls that take tourists to all the touristy bars.
It was after that that I had dinner with Dave, a Torontonian ex-pat musician who one of my musician friends in Toronto put me in touch with. Dave recommended a nice italian restaurant and we talked about the music scene here, in Toronto, and life in Germany as an expat.
Finally, since I was already in the area of the beginning of the pub crawl, I walked up to the starting bar. It was definitely an interesting pub-crawl, hitting bars that I would never thing of going into (or even realize they were bars) had I seen it from the outside. As the night progressed, the bars went from chill (Yesterdays), to a little weird (the ping pong bar), to loud (the bar with a really bad rock band of 15 year olds -- or so it seemed), to the final dance club that just rubbed me the wrong way . . .
My favourite bar was probably the goth bar, where the music wasn't so goth. I'm pretty sure I heard the Dropkick Murphys, Queen, Blink 182, AC DC, and some German pop that wasn't very Goth. The people were mostly goth, but there was just a vibe there that people could be themselves and have a good time!
The adventures didn't stop there. At about 2:30am, I had had enough of the crappy dance club (in a sketchy industrial area near the Warschauer strasse S-bahn station), so i decided to leave, and stood in line for at least 15 minutes to get my coat from the coat check. Once I got my coat, i made my way back to the S-bahn station, and found out that the next train in my direction would be at 3:04 am. So I waited the 10 minutes, only to find that once the train left the station, it went very slowly, and stopped for long periods of time. I was sharing the car with a few Spaniards, some germans and couple of english blokes. One of the english blokes had 3 little bottles of Jagermeister in his hand and was wondering if drinking them would kill him.
Slowly, and not so surely, the train proceeded, and by about 3:30, we pulled into the Ostbahnhof (East train station). For those of you familiar with the Berlin train system, that's one stop. I had actually ridden the same line earlier in the day. It should have taken no longer than 4 minutes or so. When we were just short of the station, we could see police running up to the train and boarding the car in front of us. Finally the train arrived at Ostbahnhof and the police left the car in front of our. Usually when the train arrives in a station, a button can be pushed on the inside of the door which will open them. This time, however, our car was locked. Until the cops came in to the middle of the car (i was towards the forward end). They got one person off (he went pretty docile-ly), and we finally moved on.
I ended up getting back to the hostel around four am, and was very glad that Pat and I didn't have any other roommates! However, due to the loud doors and footsteps, I didn't sleep well, and I'm currently writing this while hanging out at the hostel, taking refuge from the rain!
The DDR Museum was interesting, giving the visitor a small taste of life in the former East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, although we all know the "Demokratische"part was hooey). it was a small museum, but there was a lot to see and do and touch. Particularly interesting was being able to look at workbooks or assignment books from East German school children, especially their units on Marx and Engels!
When I returned to the hostel, I met Pat, an American who has been spending the last month in Germany traveling while waiting for his girlfriend, a German professor in the US to arrive in the country on Monday. He recommended the "alternative" pub crawl. Alternative to the large crawls that take tourists to all the touristy bars.
It was after that that I had dinner with Dave, a Torontonian ex-pat musician who one of my musician friends in Toronto put me in touch with. Dave recommended a nice italian restaurant and we talked about the music scene here, in Toronto, and life in Germany as an expat.
Finally, since I was already in the area of the beginning of the pub crawl, I walked up to the starting bar. It was definitely an interesting pub-crawl, hitting bars that I would never thing of going into (or even realize they were bars) had I seen it from the outside. As the night progressed, the bars went from chill (Yesterdays), to a little weird (the ping pong bar), to loud (the bar with a really bad rock band of 15 year olds -- or so it seemed), to the final dance club that just rubbed me the wrong way . . .
My favourite bar was probably the goth bar, where the music wasn't so goth. I'm pretty sure I heard the Dropkick Murphys, Queen, Blink 182, AC DC, and some German pop that wasn't very Goth. The people were mostly goth, but there was just a vibe there that people could be themselves and have a good time!
The adventures didn't stop there. At about 2:30am, I had had enough of the crappy dance club (in a sketchy industrial area near the Warschauer strasse S-bahn station), so i decided to leave, and stood in line for at least 15 minutes to get my coat from the coat check. Once I got my coat, i made my way back to the S-bahn station, and found out that the next train in my direction would be at 3:04 am. So I waited the 10 minutes, only to find that once the train left the station, it went very slowly, and stopped for long periods of time. I was sharing the car with a few Spaniards, some germans and couple of english blokes. One of the english blokes had 3 little bottles of Jagermeister in his hand and was wondering if drinking them would kill him.
Slowly, and not so surely, the train proceeded, and by about 3:30, we pulled into the Ostbahnhof (East train station). For those of you familiar with the Berlin train system, that's one stop. I had actually ridden the same line earlier in the day. It should have taken no longer than 4 minutes or so. When we were just short of the station, we could see police running up to the train and boarding the car in front of us. Finally the train arrived at Ostbahnhof and the police left the car in front of our. Usually when the train arrives in a station, a button can be pushed on the inside of the door which will open them. This time, however, our car was locked. Until the cops came in to the middle of the car (i was towards the forward end). They got one person off (he went pretty docile-ly), and we finally moved on.
I ended up getting back to the hostel around four am, and was very glad that Pat and I didn't have any other roommates! However, due to the loud doors and footsteps, I didn't sleep well, and I'm currently writing this while hanging out at the hostel, taking refuge from the rain!
1 December 2011
Day 2/3: Arrival in Berlin, Taking Care of Business
My arrival in Berlin was quite smooth. The flight (on Brussels Airlines) was quite empty, allowing me to get all my carry on luggage on board the plane again. From there, I hit the ground in Berlin and put my German to good use, finding the proper bus downtown, and from the station in Alexander Platz, taking the U-bahn (Subway) up to where my hostel is. It was actually quite easy to find, a much smoother process than finding my place of lodging in London when I was there in 2009.
After finding a Deutsche Bank machine, I walked around Alexanderplatz, enjoying the Christmas festival (photos to come). After taking a nap, I forced myself to wake up (or be cursed with being unable to sleep any time after 2am), and walked around the hostel's neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg, finding some dinner, then having a (remarkably cheap) beer with some of the hostel guests and staff.
I went to sleep (again) and woke up at a decent hour (8am). Yay for beginning the trip with some semblance of a normal sleep schedule!
Yesterday (Wed., November 30) was "business day." I spent the morning checking out my new apartment (although I don't move in until Monday), and lining up a phone. Eric Frank, the owner of Berlin Cribs, the company which handles rental of vacation (and longer-stay) apartments, was most helpful in getting me started with the phone and the SIM card. This running around was also good in that it helped me get to know my new neighbourhood a little bit, finding grocery shopping, drug stores, restaurants, shops, U-bahn station, etc.
I spent most of the afternoon working on job applications, and then later in the evening, I ended up going to a free-improvisation concert in Kreuzberg. This was a great concert and allowed me meet a couple of new musicians to talk and hopefully play with in the future!
Day 1: Airports and Airplanes
My first day of traveling begins with my trip to the Pearson International Airport in Toronto. The busiest airport in Canada, the Terminal 1 gate that Jet Airways uses was pretty quiet except for people boarding that particular flight. At check-in (after standing in line for at least 15 minutes), I got one piece of good news, and one piece of bad news, which ended up cancelling each other and living up to my expectations.
I had done quite a bit of investigating of Jet Airways before booking my ticket. Jet Airways is an Indian airline, and I was somewhat wary of India's reputation for chaos (more on how the airline actually measured up later). However, their information about baggage on their website said that only one piece of carry-on baggage was allowed. Because of this stipulation (and the assurance on a long phone call, that I would, indeed, only be allowed to carry on one piece of baggage), I was working on the assumption that I would have to check my saxophone at a $50 cost for checking a second bag. Mentally preparing for this, I double checked the insurance on my horn, bought what is universally regarded as the best travel case, and hoped for the best. Lo and behold, when I arrived at the check in, after asking if I could carry my saxophone on, a supervisor came over and said, "no problem!" (I'm paraphrasing). However, my main piece of checked luggage came in about 4 kilos over the limit, so I had to pay the extra $50 for that (a process that Jet Airways seems very ill equipped to deal with). In the end, I was pretty much where I started, paying an extra $50, but with the piece of mind that comes with having my instruments with me, inside the pressurized cabin. I think, in the end, I came out on top in the deal.
As for Jet Airways itself, I would give them the highest marks for comfortable (relatively) seating, plenty of legroom, and yummy Indian food for dinner. Their service was actually quite good, and the boarding was quite organized and efficient. Lower marks go to the (seemingly) abnormally high number of very young children who cried, screamed, and made various other loud noises throughout the entire flight. But I guess I can't blame the airline for not coming up with a program to anaesthetize young children for the duration of the flight. The in-flight entertainment was actually quite good, with a wide range of movies (both Hollywood and Bollywood) to choose from. I watched most of Harry Potter 8, and then watched "Everything is Illuminated" in its entirety, which is rather appropriate, considering the book I bought in the Toronto airport was another one by Jonathan Safran Foer. I'd seen the movie before, and really enjoyed the music (excellent work by the music supervisor for this one), and really appreciated Liev Schreiber's direction. He really understood the Foer's humour, as well as the real emotional heart of the movie without making it over-the-top sentimental (which Foer's writing is most certainly not). Considering the subject of the film, and the recent passing of my grandfather, I have to say that it really hit me hard, this time around.
Finally, Jet Airways gets a big, giant FAIL for their use of Kenny G-like Muzak to pacify their passengers on embarkation and disembarkation. I mean, I confess to grooving a little to the instrumental version of "Just the Way You Are," but when you get cheesy saxophone (wait, I'm in Belgium as I write this -- saxophone du fromage) playing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," that's when the contents of my stomach become unsettled.
I'm writing this right now to kill part of the 4 hour layover I have here in Brussels. They sure know how to bilk their customers. As you can see from the picture that I'll probably attach eventually, my breakfast of 1 500 ml bottle of water, 1 brown bun, 1 hard-boiled egg, and 1 30 g circle of Brie cost 7.80 EU.
In addition, the reason I'm not posting this at the time of writing, is that the internet in the Brussels airport costs 10 Euros for 1 HOUR! That said, the bread is as good as I remember (maybe better), and the little round 30g serving of Brie cheese was delicious. God, it's good to be back in Europe, where the standard of food quality is so much higher than back home in North America (no, I didn't indulge in a Philly Cheese Steak when I was down in Philadelphia). To be able to get REAL Brie cheese, and a perfectly baked roll (crispy on the outside, soft on the inside) at 8AM, in an airport where they've probably been sitting out all night is outstanding. I will also avail myself of some REAL Belgian chocolate before I board my plane to Berlin (where things will be cheaper, thank god).
In addition, the reason I'm not posting this at the time of writing, is that the internet in the Brussels airport costs 10 Euros for 1 HOUR! That said, the bread is as good as I remember (maybe better), and the little round 30g serving of Brie cheese was delicious. God, it's good to be back in Europe, where the standard of food quality is so much higher than back home in North America (no, I didn't indulge in a Philly Cheese Steak when I was down in Philadelphia). To be able to get REAL Brie cheese, and a perfectly baked roll (crispy on the outside, soft on the inside) at 8AM, in an airport where they've probably been sitting out all night is outstanding. I will also avail myself of some REAL Belgian chocolate before I board my plane to Berlin (where things will be cheaper, thank god).
Unfortunately, I can't indulge too much, as I seem to have left my stomach somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. This isn't the first time the lack of sleep on a redeye flight has left my normally rock-steady digestive system uneasy. Or maybe it's just Brussels.
And so, i bid you all adieu, as i sit here, watching the sun rise over some chunky airport building. It's actually kind of blinding me, so I'm going to move and practice my German, or something.
24 November 2011
Saxophone! Muppets! (or, Will the Real Miss Piggy Please Stand Up)
Ok, Wednesday happened to be a day where I didn't accomplish many of my assigned "Git 'er done before you leave" tasks, but it was worth it.
I always knew that I'd go to see The Muppets on its opening day (since I was out of town when my dad had an invite to a free screening on Saturday). I have always been a Muppets fan. The Muppet Show, the Muppet movies, Muppets Tonight (highly underrated), and more recently their cheeky youtube videos* (I'm repressing the Muppet Wizard of Oz, as my brother has blogged recently here) are all some of my all time favourites.
In fact, as my parents tell me, The Muppet Movie was the first movie I ever saw. According to their version of the story, they arrived at the movie theatre (with little 2-year-old me) only to discover that we had missed the intended showing (before the days of online movie listings ... it was 1979, people). The parental units asked me if I wanted to go home, or wait for the next show. Apparently, I chose to wait, and thus made my first movie going experience a Muppet one. I still get teased about being afraid of Animal when he takes the giganto-pills invented by Dr. Bunson Honeydew, but i mean seriously. A 60 foot Animal would freak out any 2 year old. And I had never seen a screen that large.
So how was the new film? Well, since I was going to be downtown (keep reading), I decided to go the AMC at Yonge and Dundas. The big advantage to these theatres is that they use digital projection. Mmmmm digital. Crystal-clear picture. But anyways, I did love the movie. I've been a Jason Segal fan ever since I started watching How I Met Your Mother, and while many critics associate him with such raunch-fests as Forgetting Sarah Marshall (only raunchy because he shows the full monty), and Knocked Up, fans of his TV show can see how he's just a gigantic muppet at heart anyways (watch the movie to see just how muppety he is). I also quite enjoy Amy Adams. Nuff Said.
Things I loved about the movie:
- Quirky songs
- Muppets on the Big Screen!
- Chris Cooper's absolutely weird character (maniacal laugh!), and truly bizarre rap number complete with lyrics and bouncing ball
- Cameos (some expected, some unexpected)
- "Say Hello to My Little Friend" (in Swedish)
- Animal gets a character arc
- Stadler and Waldorf get to participate in the story instead of just heckle it
Things I didn't love as much:
- No Frank Oz. Fozzie and Miss Piggy just didn't sound quite like themselves.....
Here's a big thing I think the movie missed. I rewatched the Muppet Movie, and, while the new movie nails the overall tone of the Muppets - the innocence, irreverance and hopefulness that the characters inspire - it didn't have the overall zaniness, wackiness and mayhem that the original has (they're not called Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem for nothing). In a sense, the human characters in Muppet movies have always been just barely keeping up with the craziness that ensues... Segal's character (Gary) is almost more of a leader than someone who's hanging on for the ride. Additionally, the several scenes where Kermit addresses the Muppets and makes a speech were far too docile for my taste. Kermit should have to wrangle the Muppets' attention.
Overall, the film was very well done and very enjoyable.
I then chose to walk to Roy Thompson Hall enjoying the lights of the city, feeling its energy around me before I leave. I did snap a few pictures on my cell phone and when I get to uploading them, I'll post them here. Highlights were old City Hall lit up at night, and the skating rink at Nathan Phillips Square.
I was downtown in the first place because my friend Christy, who works in the arts scene in Toronto, offered me her extra ticket to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra last night. What was the program? Well, none other than jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis performing the Glazunov Concerto, and an arrangement of Schulhoff's Hot Sonate, with the second half being taken up by one of my other favourites, Dvorak's 9th Symphony.
These were interesting selections for Marsalis. His sound control was wonderful, and his conception of classical saxophone vibrato and tone was actually far better than I had expected.
The Glazunov Concerto is what I consider to be a gateway on the classical saxophone. One of the technically easiest concerti, it does require good sound control and an understanding of the musical line to play effectively. Playing from memory, Marsalis only made a few small and forgivable slips. However, the orchestra really made a mess of things. It seemed that the conductor and orchestra wanted to play everything slower than Branford did, and the imprecision made for a muddled mess in the string accompaniment.
The Toronto Star reviewer Peter Goddard liked the performance, writing that "Marsalis’s controlled but swinging lyricism throughout the concerto would have likely been unimaginable to Glazunov, who might have been surprised by some of the liberties . . . the soloist took with the score." Perhaps Mr. Goddard should actually look at the score. The only "liberties" Marsalis took was the dramatically extended cadenza, which I quite enjoyed and found stylistically appropriate. In addition, Marsalis did play in an idiomatic style. There was no "swinging." Goddard should go back to reviewing movies.
As far as the Schullhof went, while I truly enjoyed the orchestration by Richard Rodney Bennett (the piece was originally composed for saxophone and piano), the limited (and, for me, boring) melodic material reminded me of why I've never actually performed this piece, despite a copy sitting somewhere in my (now fully alphabetized and packed away) saxophone music library.
The Dvorak is one of my favourite pieces. And there were some nice moments in the orchestra, particularly the english horn solo (and the duet with clarinet) in the second movement.
All in all, Wednesday was a great day to be in Toronto. Muppets, Saxophone with orchestra.... what more can a muppet loving saxophone player ask for?
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* Beeker, Animal and Swedish Chef singing the "Habanera" from Carmen has joined the Bugs Bunny cartoons in my tutorials on Romantic Opera.
I always knew that I'd go to see The Muppets on its opening day (since I was out of town when my dad had an invite to a free screening on Saturday). I have always been a Muppets fan. The Muppet Show, the Muppet movies, Muppets Tonight (highly underrated), and more recently their cheeky youtube videos* (I'm repressing the Muppet Wizard of Oz, as my brother has blogged recently here) are all some of my all time favourites.
In fact, as my parents tell me, The Muppet Movie was the first movie I ever saw. According to their version of the story, they arrived at the movie theatre (with little 2-year-old me) only to discover that we had missed the intended showing (before the days of online movie listings ... it was 1979, people). The parental units asked me if I wanted to go home, or wait for the next show. Apparently, I chose to wait, and thus made my first movie going experience a Muppet one. I still get teased about being afraid of Animal when he takes the giganto-pills invented by Dr. Bunson Honeydew, but i mean seriously. A 60 foot Animal would freak out any 2 year old. And I had never seen a screen that large.
So how was the new film? Well, since I was going to be downtown (keep reading), I decided to go the AMC at Yonge and Dundas. The big advantage to these theatres is that they use digital projection. Mmmmm digital. Crystal-clear picture. But anyways, I did love the movie. I've been a Jason Segal fan ever since I started watching How I Met Your Mother, and while many critics associate him with such raunch-fests as Forgetting Sarah Marshall (only raunchy because he shows the full monty), and Knocked Up, fans of his TV show can see how he's just a gigantic muppet at heart anyways (watch the movie to see just how muppety he is). I also quite enjoy Amy Adams. Nuff Said.
Things I loved about the movie:
- Quirky songs
- Muppets on the Big Screen!
- Chris Cooper's absolutely weird character (maniacal laugh!), and truly bizarre rap number complete with lyrics and bouncing ball
- Cameos (some expected, some unexpected)
- "Say Hello to My Little Friend" (in Swedish)
- Animal gets a character arc
- Stadler and Waldorf get to participate in the story instead of just heckle it
Things I didn't love as much:
- No Frank Oz. Fozzie and Miss Piggy just didn't sound quite like themselves.....
Here's a big thing I think the movie missed. I rewatched the Muppet Movie, and, while the new movie nails the overall tone of the Muppets - the innocence, irreverance and hopefulness that the characters inspire - it didn't have the overall zaniness, wackiness and mayhem that the original has (they're not called Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem for nothing). In a sense, the human characters in Muppet movies have always been just barely keeping up with the craziness that ensues... Segal's character (Gary) is almost more of a leader than someone who's hanging on for the ride. Additionally, the several scenes where Kermit addresses the Muppets and makes a speech were far too docile for my taste. Kermit should have to wrangle the Muppets' attention.
Overall, the film was very well done and very enjoyable.
I then chose to walk to Roy Thompson Hall enjoying the lights of the city, feeling its energy around me before I leave. I did snap a few pictures on my cell phone and when I get to uploading them, I'll post them here. Highlights were old City Hall lit up at night, and the skating rink at Nathan Phillips Square.
I was downtown in the first place because my friend Christy, who works in the arts scene in Toronto, offered me her extra ticket to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra last night. What was the program? Well, none other than jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis performing the Glazunov Concerto, and an arrangement of Schulhoff's Hot Sonate, with the second half being taken up by one of my other favourites, Dvorak's 9th Symphony.
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| Dvorak's tomb. Photo from my visit to Prague in 2009 |
These were interesting selections for Marsalis. His sound control was wonderful, and his conception of classical saxophone vibrato and tone was actually far better than I had expected.
The Glazunov Concerto is what I consider to be a gateway on the classical saxophone. One of the technically easiest concerti, it does require good sound control and an understanding of the musical line to play effectively. Playing from memory, Marsalis only made a few small and forgivable slips. However, the orchestra really made a mess of things. It seemed that the conductor and orchestra wanted to play everything slower than Branford did, and the imprecision made for a muddled mess in the string accompaniment.
The Toronto Star reviewer Peter Goddard liked the performance, writing that "Marsalis’s controlled but swinging lyricism throughout the concerto would have likely been unimaginable to Glazunov, who might have been surprised by some of the liberties . . . the soloist took with the score." Perhaps Mr. Goddard should actually look at the score. The only "liberties" Marsalis took was the dramatically extended cadenza, which I quite enjoyed and found stylistically appropriate. In addition, Marsalis did play in an idiomatic style. There was no "swinging." Goddard should go back to reviewing movies.
As far as the Schullhof went, while I truly enjoyed the orchestration by Richard Rodney Bennett (the piece was originally composed for saxophone and piano), the limited (and, for me, boring) melodic material reminded me of why I've never actually performed this piece, despite a copy sitting somewhere in my (now fully alphabetized and packed away) saxophone music library.
The Dvorak is one of my favourite pieces. And there were some nice moments in the orchestra, particularly the english horn solo (and the duet with clarinet) in the second movement.
All in all, Wednesday was a great day to be in Toronto. Muppets, Saxophone with orchestra.... what more can a muppet loving saxophone player ask for?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Beeker, Animal and Swedish Chef singing the "Habanera" from Carmen has joined the Bugs Bunny cartoons in my tutorials on Romantic Opera.
22 November 2011
Counting Down
No, you're not going to get a blog a day as my departure date approaches. There are WAY too many things to do before I shuffle off to Deutschland and way too many drains on my time to spend the hours crafting beautiful little blog entries each day for your entertainment pleasure.
I'm just going to reconnect with all my loyal blogosphere peoples to give you an update on what's been going on.
I just returned from the Society for Ethnomusicology annual conference in Philadelphia. The conference is a great way to see what's going on in the wonderful world of ethnomusicology. I have to say that it's an exciting time for us ethnoids. With the expansion of the availability and accessibility of the all of the world's music, there's so much to study and so many ways of examining and analyzing the music of the world!
It's always great to see the faces and meet the people behind the names that you read in articles and books along the educational trail. What astounds me is how NICE all of these people are! Special shout out goes to Judah M. Cohen from Indiana University. Brilliant scholar and super nice dude.
As far as the klezzical content of the conference, my paper ("Interculturalism and Musical Hybridity in Early Klezmer" -- sounds brainier than it really is) was on a fascinating panel with papers on Andy Statman (by Benjamin Krakauer), and Swedish Klezmer as played by non-Jews (by David Kaminsky). It was a fascinating session, and a priveledge to be associated with some great scholarship!
Now on to the rest. Things have been up and down here. My grandfather passed away a few days before I left for Philadelphia. I'm not quite ready to do an "in memoriam" blog yet. I'll save it for another time, but I will say that he was surrounded by his family, especially at the end, which is the way that we should all go.
My time these days is spent cleaning, packing (well mostly packing, which will then lead to cleaning), writing job and post-doc applications, and soon, writing proposals for other conferences coming up in the new year. Writing job application cover letters and "statements of research" and "statements of teaching" and other such miscellanea is quite time consuming, but must be done, particularly if i want to find a job!
So thus is my life. In 6 days (and about 6 hours), I get on a plane for Europe. December appears as if it's going to be full of travel. I have 2 chunks of 3 or 4 days that I'll have to be out of the apartment I'm renting in Berlin (due to previous bookings for the 'vacation rental' apartment), and I've already got a trip scheduled to Paris to see my favourite band, Gogol Bordello. I'll blog more about that in a couple of weeks.
As for the other time that I need to be out of the apartment, I'm investigating some travel possibilities, looking for affordable getaways. A possibility is to stay in Germany and either visit other friends around the country, or see more of Europe. Some possibilities include Brussels, Stockholm,and Oslo. I know.. Why do the cheapest flights have to be to cold places?
And so, dear readers, this is my final week. Packing up my life in the place that I've called home since 2003, working to try to find some work beyond the Berlin adventure, and seeing friends before I leave. I'll try to blog once more before I leave, but the "Adventures in Klezmer" are close to beginning (although any klezmer is an adventure).
I'm just going to reconnect with all my loyal blogosphere peoples to give you an update on what's been going on.
I just returned from the Society for Ethnomusicology annual conference in Philadelphia. The conference is a great way to see what's going on in the wonderful world of ethnomusicology. I have to say that it's an exciting time for us ethnoids. With the expansion of the availability and accessibility of the all of the world's music, there's so much to study and so many ways of examining and analyzing the music of the world!
It's always great to see the faces and meet the people behind the names that you read in articles and books along the educational trail. What astounds me is how NICE all of these people are! Special shout out goes to Judah M. Cohen from Indiana University. Brilliant scholar and super nice dude.
As far as the klezzical content of the conference, my paper ("Interculturalism and Musical Hybridity in Early Klezmer" -- sounds brainier than it really is) was on a fascinating panel with papers on Andy Statman (by Benjamin Krakauer), and Swedish Klezmer as played by non-Jews (by David Kaminsky). It was a fascinating session, and a priveledge to be associated with some great scholarship!
Now on to the rest. Things have been up and down here. My grandfather passed away a few days before I left for Philadelphia. I'm not quite ready to do an "in memoriam" blog yet. I'll save it for another time, but I will say that he was surrounded by his family, especially at the end, which is the way that we should all go.
My time these days is spent cleaning, packing (well mostly packing, which will then lead to cleaning), writing job and post-doc applications, and soon, writing proposals for other conferences coming up in the new year. Writing job application cover letters and "statements of research" and "statements of teaching" and other such miscellanea is quite time consuming, but must be done, particularly if i want to find a job!
So thus is my life. In 6 days (and about 6 hours), I get on a plane for Europe. December appears as if it's going to be full of travel. I have 2 chunks of 3 or 4 days that I'll have to be out of the apartment I'm renting in Berlin (due to previous bookings for the 'vacation rental' apartment), and I've already got a trip scheduled to Paris to see my favourite band, Gogol Bordello. I'll blog more about that in a couple of weeks.
As for the other time that I need to be out of the apartment, I'm investigating some travel possibilities, looking for affordable getaways. A possibility is to stay in Germany and either visit other friends around the country, or see more of Europe. Some possibilities include Brussels, Stockholm,and Oslo. I know.. Why do the cheapest flights have to be to cold places?
And so, dear readers, this is my final week. Packing up my life in the place that I've called home since 2003, working to try to find some work beyond the Berlin adventure, and seeing friends before I leave. I'll try to blog once more before I leave, but the "Adventures in Klezmer" are close to beginning (although any klezmer is an adventure).
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