Friday, July 23

This last weekend...

This last weekend I was blessed to be able to spend time with friends. This meant that I saw the third instalment of the Twilight film series. I haven't seen the first two, but I have be honest and say that the third film wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The fact that movies tell stories through pictures and not words made this one of the few times I came away thinking the movie was better than the book. As it turns out, if you take out all of Bella's pathetic inner monologue, the story isn't that bad. Its bad... its just bad in a way that made me giggle instead of roll my eyes and throw the book across the room. (Yes, when I was reading the fourth book, the book I was promised would make the torture of the first three books "worth it" I threw the thing across the room, twice. It was THAT bad. Awful, Awful, Awful! I still resent having been suckered into reading it. ARGGG. )

Sorry... okay, moving on...

On Saturday I had a real treat. I got to see the Houston Symphony perform Holt's master piece the Planets. It was an interesting mix of music and images that were a combination NASA and CGI. It was also an interesting mix of people. People who don't normally go to the symphony. People who were unsure of why we were applauding the concert master. People who clapped between movements. And the fun thing was? I was close enough to the stage that I could see the musicians faces when the audience exploded in a rock concert style yell of applause at the end. Holt's music is one that I played a lot of back in the day when my life was just one long orchestra rehearsal. Movements I and V, Mars and Jupiter, were crowd pleasers that conductors liked to through in at the end of a slow performance, just to get the crowd in the palm of their hands for the big finish. I have always had a soft spot for Neptune. Neptune is an odd planet in that its so far away, we didn't really know it was there until after planets had lost their god power. Neptune was discovered by science, not astrology. It doesn't have rings, a giant red spot or promise of aliens. Its just there. Its just blue with all of its strange weather patterns. And yet, Neptune, the Roman god of the sea the planet was named for and the Holt piece was written to capture, seems to fit the blue ball so very well.

Humans are used to conquering things. We cut down the forest and made open fields. We poured concrete over dirt so we could drive our cars around. We went to the moon and stuck a flag in her rock. We have not conquered the sea. To be out at sea in the middle of a storm is to surrender all control of your life to the force of wind and water. To look at Neptune and all her strange weather patterns is to admit that we have little answers to her inner workings. Mystery is the stuff of great life. When I surrender my want for certainty, my quest to conquer to the truth of mystery I find that life is experienced in a much richer way.


****A Youtube Clip of Holt's Neptune would go here if I wasn't writing this at work, but I am so... you have to got to Youtube on your own, but its worth it.******

5 comments:

Jo said...

Katy, Jupiter is my favorite of "the Planets". The whole piece is lovely, isn't it? That must have been wonderful beyond words to hear it played in person by the Houston Symphony. That's something you will never forget.

And unfortunately, in many ways we have conquered the seas. The oceans are filled with three or four plastic berms (islands), each the size of Texas, from garbage that we have thrown away, and many part of the ocean are over-fished. The thing is, will we ever learn?

I'm going to see the third Twilight movie this weekend. I have seen the first two, and they're very entertaining. I laughed when you said you threw the book across the room. I did that when I read "The Silence of the Lambs".

Katy said...

Jo- Yes, I always loved playing Jupiter. Those opening notes are just awesome. I can hear the trumpts in my head!

And I agree that we have, sadly trashed our oceans... the plastic islands, the disctruction of the coral reaf, the oil. I just think of "trashing" and conquring as two different things.

The Bug said...

I read all the Twilight books kicking & screaming - but I had to finish them because I couldn't stand to not figure out what happened in the end. Bella was THE MOST ANNOYING TEENAGER ever. Really. But I liked the last book because she stopped being a teen rather drastically - & I was morbidly fascinated with the Jacob story line. How bizarrely intriguing!

I haven't heard the music, but I'll go to youtube in a few to check it out. I'm glad you got to hear it - you deserve a treat!

Amy said...

I'm going over to YouTube too! This is all new to me - and happy to have tips to expand my horizons Katy.

"Mystery is the stuff of great life. When I surrender my want for certainty, my quest to conquer to the truth of mystery I find that life is experienced in a much richer way."

Uncertainty is always with us and 'the power is in the question' I've found, hence, the mystery. As an older person who's trying to still be youthful in some aspects, I could not agree more with your statement.

Katy said...

Dana - I think what annoys me about Bella is the way everyone in the book (and some in real life) talk about how mature and insightful she is. It makes me want to scream. Those story have so much potential if they were to expand on some of the other characters.

Amy - I think I find just as many young people who think they have all the answers. They crave certianty. Like one day they will have all the answers and they won't have to think anymore. Questioning is hard and unsettling, but like you said, powerful.

I'm glad I could introduce Holt to some who have not heard him before. If you haven't Youtubed his Planets already, I will say once you hear his music you might notice that the mellodies have been borrowed a time or two. Most notably, of course the melody from Mars which shows up in John William's theme for the Dark Side in Star Wars.