Concert Tickets Sprouting Legs, The Incredibles, Triptychs
Turns out my coat pocket is rather mischievous and fooled me into thinking that the Christmas concert tickets I placed in it were in my pocket. In reality, they were between the pocket and liner, and fell through my jacket somewhere. I frantically searched for them in the minutes before the concert, but forgot to check the bulletin board in the hallway, where someone had kindly placed them so I could find them. What lack of luck. I would imagine, as in years past, that the Christmas concert was incredible, complete with the bell choir that so many people enjoy. There are these big silver bells, with spring-loaded rubber mallets inside each one, and they are played by handlers in white gloves. The more advanced players handle three or four bells at once, deftly muting each one at the appropriate times, sometimes running through all the bells in a couple of measures, switching from tone to tone with amazing precision. Also, they performed “Riu Riu Chiu” last year, and I do not think they repeated that amazing song this year. I’m just trying to convince myself that I did not miss much.
Later this evening, I saw The Incredibles, which was even more fun than National Treasure, but had the bonus of memorable characters and a very strong plot and so many other good things that made the two movies incomparable. (Not entirely sure why I compared them, then.) I hope they don’t ruin it with a sequal - it was excellent the way it was. I love the way the houses looked so typically 50’s in the treeless subdivision of suburbia, and the furniture styles scattered throughout. I had read an article before that pointed out the situation comedy of the small fashion/superhero designer against the monumental architecture of her house - and that worked great as well. I really liked to watch the hair of the characters move - it wasn’t that it was so convincingly real, but it was stylized in such a way that it just looked cool. For a while, I think that is where computer animation should stay at - a stab at complete photo-realism as in The Polar Express simply does not work right now. Also, I loved the way the fire, water, and ice looked - but was especially blown away at wet hair. That is a first in CGI films as far as I know, and a very cool one at that. If you have not seen this movie yet, I recommend you see it as soon as possible - otherwise, you are missing one of the best of the year.
I am working on this art history report, and I really can not seem to find good book information on “triptychs.” You would not think it would be that hard. Thankfully, the work is not that bad partly because the piece is really cool looking.
You can find more information about it at its webpage at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Where is this now? Aha, Triptych with the Madonna and Child, saints, and prophets. If anybody out there does find a book that even has two pages about triptychs, that would be fantastic. I am not above buying things on Amazon.com - in fact I think I will go check that out now.
Countdown to winter break: 5 days of class, 1 study Monday, 1 final, 2 normal tests, 1 project, and 1 take home exam. As they say in The Emperor’s New Groove right before they tumble down a gigantic waterfall while tied to a floating log, “Bring it on.”