Scene4 Magazine | the readers blog

This is a magnifcent overview. I cannot imagine anyone attending this opera without such an understanding as Karren gives us here.

Grace Cavalieri

read Karren Alenier's article

Having worked with Ned for many years, I am thrilled he has put his life in theater on paper. Stay tuned eveybody!

David Casiano

read Ned Bobkoff's article

Tomorrow it will be called "Cacophony".

Diederich

read Nathan Thomas' article

Thank you for your personal and informative portrait of the magnificent Beijing Opera. I have been there and seen it (and experienced it) a few times. It is grand opera at its grandest and great theatrical art and great entertainment. Your sense and perception added to my memories and enjoyment.

Anee S. Waterson

read Karren Alenier's article

What a joy to read movie reviews of this caliber. It's rare to agree with every word of a review, and here it's not the first time for me. Superb description of the film and all the actors. One small difference: I saw the open ending with great satisfaction. It seemed clear to me that our hero would not be able to go on as he had. To me the film was a message by the director to young and less young attachment-phobes among his male pals: be aware of what you are missing and the price you are paying by staying up in the air...

Renate Stendhal

read Miles David Moore's review

They used to call it alienation, now they call it "social networking." And they used to call it journalism, now they call it "blogging." Today it's called conversation, and tomorrow it'll be called ?

Perry Silverstein

read Nathan Thomas' article

I think it might be interesting to clarify some things about that soccer team and your perception of it. I understand their appearance and bearing must be frightening or enstranging. I feel the same about being on a train with a load of soccer fans as well. But despite the brown shirts and skulls on the shirts, these were fans of the most leftist soccer team in Germany. They only play in the second league but they are famous for being rather far on the left bordering anarchy. The skull represents a connection to piracy and not bending to the rules of the former middle-class smugness and rules of the hanseatic city. If they play against teams like "'Hansa Rostock" whose fans are known to be often neo-nazis, fans of the soccer team you saw gather for big street fights to get those people out of Hamburg. I am sorry if my English is not good enough to really explain what I'm trying to say. I guess I just hope to clarify that sometimes those first impressions of hostility might turn out to quite something different. Those people couldn't have been further away from those they reminded you of. And sometimes the staring at somebody who watches the stumbling-stones is not hostility or seeing a "Nestbeschmutzer". But if I would see somebody pausing and contemplating to take pictures of the house, I would ask myself if you might be a relative of those who lived there. Or a tourist condemning those now living there, because they "took away" what did not belong to them. I would feel uncertain how to behave towards you. I would also feel ashamed a bit. But I am quite certain that most people would not think of you as a Nestbeschmutzer. And at least the people of my age (in my twenties) think that the Stolpersteine are a great project that helps us to remember. I too wonder who would have gone to school with me if the Holocaust hadn't happened? Did I miss a friend? What is missing from our culture? How did Christmas/Hanukah look before the Holocaust? Were there chandeliers in the windows? Were there not only Christmas songs heard through the closed windows on Christmas eve, but also different tunes? Just some thoughts and I hope I could convey what I tried to say here.

Sabrina S.

read Renate Stendhal's article

Catherine Conway Honig captures in words what Ms. Farrell captures in the elegance of movement. This is an excellent piece and a joy to read Thank you.

Sylvia Goodman

read Catherine Conway Honig's article

Che was a gangster and so is Castro and so was Mao and so is Cheney and so was Stalin and so is Mugabe and so was Hitler and so on and so on. It's always about one gang grabbing the loot and another gang trying to get their hands on it. It's been that way from the beginning of time to exploring space. In ancient Egypt, the gangsters put their faces on medallions and made money. Today it's t-shirts. If Che were alive today he'd have his own talk show.

Tom Sonczak

read Les Marcott's article

Beautiful article, Renate! I can't help but wonder what "Stumbling Stones" Americans might feel moved to create 60 years from now reminding us of our own reprehensible behaviors in the world today. Thanks for posting.

Judy Cohen

read Renate Stendhal's article

Bright Star is one of the best dramas I've seen all year! The cast was amazing, and the music haunting. Here's a great interview I found with Abbie Cornish talking about her character in the film, and how she turned to Keats' original poetry to answer questions during filming. You can find it here: clipser.com/watch_video/1375835. Jane Campion is truly one of the most influential female voices in film today, and I don't think anyone else could have captured the essence of Keats' story like her!

Lana Larekin

read Miles David Moore's review

I much appreciate the way this well-researched and beautifully written article puts the disquieting spirit of Weininger and his possible influence on Gertrude Stein to rest. Being Jewish, a woman, and gay was a triple whammy of a handicap on someone who wanted to compete in the male-dominated arena of literature. Stein found a number of strategies to hide those unwanted identities and prevail. Being a "genius" was one; being an exile, an American in Paris was another; a third brilliant move was writing without disclosing her identity -- writing as "one" "anyone" "everyone" "someone" or "everybody". It took a genius to write her autobiography and call it "Everybody's Autobiography".

Renate Stendhal

read Karren Alenier's article

Most Jews in Germany are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union plus a small number of Jewish families from Muslim countries. According to the Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrats der Juden in Deutschland) ca. 120,000 individual members are officially registered with a total of 107 Jewish communities, but of course not everyone is registered and I have read statistics surpassing the 200.000 number That means, that Germany has the third-largest Jewish population in Western Europe after France (600,000) and Great Britain (300,000) and the fastest-growing Jewish population in Europe in recent years. One could indeed argue if Germany is indeed the safest country for Jewish people. Is there a safe country? Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany and is punishable by three months to five years in prison, but does that make Jewish life any better or safer?

Andrea Kapsaski

Thanks, Andrea! It's hard to believe the numbers you are quoting. Who, do you think, is doing the numbers and keeping book? Of course, one could argue that right now, there is no safer country on earth for Jewish people than Germany... Disturbing thoughts. Before Hitler, there were ca 523,000 Jews living in Germany (according to the US Holocaust Museum). "Prophets Without Honor" by Frederic v.Grunfeld, which I read again and again, shows that this tiny percentage of the population produced some 85 % of Germany's culture and science during the peak of the assimilation period and the Weimar Republic. Any conclusions for the future of German culture?

Renate Stendhal

Extremely insightful, Renate. And isn't it amazing, that at this point apparently 200000 Jews live in Germany?

Andrea Kapsaski

read Renate Stendhal's article

I too feel, just like Peter, that this event is a burn of many talents of local musicians and BOOTs gets the $$$.

Pete Slauson

read Andrea Kapsaski's article

You sure live in a strange and wonderful world. I still have an image of Gertrude Stein in front of my eyes from a long long time ago. I was a silent feminist before the word officially entered the lexicon. Your essay is excellent! Your conclusion is kind of scary.

Ilo-Mai Harding

read Karren Alenier's column

Very interesting reading, well-thought out.

Janice Olson

read Karren Alenier's column

Pixar!

AM

Thanks for this well-written and unvarnished view of how American capitalism markets and pollutes everything, right on with Michael Moore's running "love story." I was there back then, but I won't be there now.

Marianne Andreasson

read Andrea Kapsaski's article

Perhaps some day Cimino will release his director's cut with the full 5:25 version and then we might see a real film with his vision. I'm glad you are not a major film critic or the industry's "movie czar". I tremble at the thought of you ever reviewing a film of mine. So tell me, what is the great celluloid hope for films in the future?

Louis Laird

read Arthur Meiselman's column

Reading Arthur Meiselman's column on the Terror of the Fading Book, with its tactile apprehensions fixed the issues squarely home. Having recently finished a book "1491" that brilliantly and thoroughly laid out the contributions of the indigenous people's of the Americas, particularly South America, in agriculture, landscaping and the infinite wisdom of protect the land, Meiselman's comments rang true. The experience of reading over time, flipping the pages back and forth, is not only tactile comprehension, but a private lasting pleasure. Highly personal and absorbing. Arthur put his finger on the page.

Ned Bobkoff

read Arthur Meiselman's column

Absolutely agree with Mr. Moore's insightful review and comparison of the two films. The original definitely has a superior script. And for me the first "Pelham" also had the actors, especially the great Robert Shaw who was one of the most underrated actors of his time and a brilliant writer too.

Terry Braitough

read Miles David Moore's review

For awhile there I was feeling really good that there was a champion of the "fading, dog-eared, much-read book" you could carry around, but the imaginary ending is really scary - all those giant pages flying around!

Ellen Miles

read Arthur Meiselman's article

I can't find the answer to what I think is a pretty basic question. After I've completed my play, how can I estimate how much time it will require to stage it? Thank You!

Tomas DeMoss

As a mystery fan and a classic movie fan, I love Nick and Nora Charles. And, as Kathi Wolfe has noted, they have a wonderful marriage. For me though, it's not the sexy happy nature of their marriage that appeals. It's the fact that they're so much fun. You just know, it would be a blast to spend time with them.

Martha Gotwals

read Kathi Wolfe's article

If speaking well and moving well and having a literate mind are considered "artsy" and "elite requirements" for being an actor, then so be it. Ring the bell, close the book and quench the candle. Acting as an artform has officially lost its soul.

On another note... does it not strike a chord with anyone else that when the word "artsy" is used, it has the same implied dirty derogative connotation that "socialism" or "feminism" or "liberal" has taken on by "those who shall remain nameless"?

Lia Beachy

read Arthur Meiselman's article

No, "she" would not tolerate that. After all, "she" is "she"! What "she" might grant me is to be the Commissioner of LCD (lowest common denominator) and in that exalted position I would gladly grant you a license to be wonderful, open and entertaining (along with everyone else and their mothers).

Arthur Meiselman

read his article

If it were up to you, I would be barred from acting at all because I don't even meet half of your requirements. But my success as an actor is not based on your damn elite requirements-it is based on what my audience wants, sees and appreciates. I suppose you will become "she, who's name may not be spoken" and create an "artsy" theatre art-form instead of the wonderful open entertainment that it is. I'm glad that will never happen.

Pier Harrington

read Arthur Meiselman's article

Michael, I'm following those daemons too. Thank you for a thought-provoking piece.

Lia Beachy

read Michael Bettencourt's article