Movies watched, and other things.

[mojosmom]

I finally got around to renting Infamous, the other film about Truman Capote and the writing of In Cold Blood. It's an excellent film, though not, I think, quite as good as Capote, which I reviewed here. The emphasis was slightly different, as Infamous spends more time on Capote's thirst for Manhattan society as well as on his family history and the impact of that on him. The result is that the film is more diffuse, but also provides more context for the Kansas scenes. Truman's not very likeable - such a user!

While I was rooting around the video store, I came across an intriguing-sounding film that I had never heard of: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, Bizet's opera set in contemporary South Africa, performed by the South African theatre company, Dimpho di Kopane, and sung in Xhosa, with the addition of some traditional Xhosa music. It was marvelous! Though some of the music was cut, the film was quite faithful to the original story line, but with appropriate changes for the new context. (For instance, instead of a matador, Lulamile Nkomo (Escamillo) is an opera singer who has returned to the township because he has had dreams of his father (who was killed during apartheid), and rather than a bullfight, there is a ritual sacrifice of a bull. He will sing a concert with the Cigarette Factory's Girls Chorus, which provides the setting for the final act.) One thing I liked very much was that they gave Jonghi (the Don José character), Nomakhaya (Micaela), and Lulamile back stories that fleshed out their characters. Carmen (Pauline Malefane, who has a gorgeous voice!) and the other women show that "traditionally-built" can be very sexy! It well-deserved it's Golden Bear from the Berlin Film Festival You know, this opera really lends itself to adaptations. Look at Carmen Jones or Carlos Saura's Carmen.


I had a board meeting yesterday downtown, so afterwards I bit the bullet and did some shopping. Two things I hate shopping for are jeans and bras, but being desperately in need of both, I decided to get it over with. In a minor miracle, I quickly found both at my first stop, T.J. Maxx, without having to try on nearly everything on the racks.

I posted about my bookish handbag/lunchbox on Chit-Chat, and someone PM'd me asking if it was unique or if someone was still making them. This inspired me to do a bit of research. It appears that Anton Pieck's work was a popular subject of découpage and shadowboxes, and I found quite several découpaged purses on eBay and antique store/vintage clothing sites, as well as a few shadowbox purses. Several describe the handles as being of Bakelite, but I'm not sure this is accurate. (There is a lot of so-called Bakelite floating around that isn't!) It seems that in the '40s, Hallmark issued kits with which people could make shadowboxes of Pieck's work.

I didn't mention that after I got the purse, I went to an author appearance at 57th Street Books. John K. Wilson was talking about his book, Barack Obama: The Improbable Quest. He had some interesting insights on how Obama's history as a community organizer has informed his campaign strategies (not just the current one!) as well as the way he works as a legislator.

I've been having a lazy day today. It's a bit gray and dreary, so hanging about inside doing household chores (yes, posting a lengthy entry on LJ comes under that rubrick, why do you ask?) seems the best way to spend the day.