i am determined to go to

Just how extravagant is the extravaganza? Here are some statistics, according to the staff and crew of Radio City Music Hall.

220 Performances this season

150 Cast members, including 80 Rockettes; 36 perform per show

40 Orchestra members

61 Stagehands

5 Elevator operators

1,200 Costumes

1,400 Pairs of Capezio Hold & Stretch dance tights in Suntan and Light Suntan used per season

78 seconds Length of shortest costume change

25 per show Dressers to help with costume changes

4 of each Washers and dryers

Upward of 350 Weekly loads of laundry

10 minutes Time it takes Claudia Diaz, the quickest seamstress, to replace a zipper

3,000 Swarovski crystals on each Rockette costume in the grand finale

18,000 Crystals on the 35-foot-high Christmas tree hung from the lobby ceiling

22 Hours it took to install the tree

$1 million Cost of the tree

800 Hours to install new stage flooring

110 Gallons of soap and water used per show to make snow

3 million LED lights on the 90-foot-by-40-foot backdrop, billed as the world’s largest flying screen

41,000 pounds Weight of screen

65,000 pounds Weight of other scenery

please mommy?

a deadpan sociopath with a funny haircut

just as the haircut suggests a lost Beatle from hell



a movie i don't particularly want to see, but gotta love the nytimes reviewers

Leeway Cottage

This was the one of the two books i took for the plane ride to chicago, not knowing what my mood would be. the other was The Devil Wears Prada which ended up winning out for the plane ride itself. but the book that i read upon arrival, lying on the floor because i didn't have a bed, was this beautiful, elegiac narrative of family and a place that occupies their hearts.


Beth Gutcheon has apparently composed multiple narratives around the characters who form the social world of this novel, but this is the only one i've found so far. eastern establishment meets new york/cosmopolitan bohemian and falls in love. annabee become sydney, abandons her cosseted life and uptight society mother to marry the danish pianist who accompanies her singing lessons in her new life in new york. world war two dawns and laurus (the pianist) cannot leave his family in denmark to their fate, so joins the danish resistance based in london, while sydney has their first child and builds a home for them in new york. threaded throughout is the maine summer home that has always stayed in annabee's heart, the musical community that resides nearby, and the growing circle of friends brought to the cottage by each. it is a beautifully haunting tale of family lost and found, love that changes in inexplicable ways, and the growth that can only take place across generations.

the story of the danish resistance is one that i had not known before reading this book and which provides fascinating insight into how a people could come together to protect their own. though laurus must stay in london, we are given his family's story as they struggle to save themselves and their friends across the sea. theirs is the story i wanted more than sydney/annabee's and laurus and his sister are the characters i found myself most attached to, but in her imperfections, sydney provides a remarkable representative of a certain american lifestyle during the same period that is unexpected and poignant. it's a story awkwardly couched in the memories of sydney and laurus's children, but i found it both deeply touching and very informative despite my dislike of its structure at times.

as they say in france: what's this?

"Perhaps the most astute critic present was a small boy sitting atop his father’s shoulders. As a model walked by in lacy underwear, he dug his fists into the man’s hair and began giggling wildly."

thank you for making me laugh, nytimes

oh goodness me i'm so excited

the new season of prunway starts a week from tonight! and bravo has videos from their cool preview fashion show up!

i know that other people have said this already, but so many of those models can't walk! watch tim and nina's faces - i'm sure some of it is about the clothes, but how could they not make those faces with the clomping models? ... heidi nodding throughout to the beat of the music is also really hysterical.
the clothes are not all that exciting. i mean, there are a couple things i liked, but very little that i'd buy... well, maybe one or two of those coats... i'm just hoping that challenges etc make them into more exciting people! i do like jack's classy, jackie-o dresses, but nothing terribly innovative... that black dress that amanda was wearing by rami was gorgeous (as is he!), but i'm not sure about the other two pieces. and simone's lime green and pink things were upsetting. very upsetting. steven's grey/white/black stripe dress is something i'd wear, actually, watching again. and it's carmen's coat that marilinda is wearing that i'd like. big hood, blue lining....

anyways, so very exciting. next week!

Persuasion

alright, a bit of a cop out in that Jane Austen is a bit obvious, and i'm going to talk about the movie, too, but here it goes....


i love pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility of course, but somehow persuasion is the one i care for the most. not always the one i turn to when i need comforting, but it's the one i believe the most. and the movie version is incredible - quiet and nuanced and careful, just like anne. and the scene when captain wentworth and anne finally admit their love is perfection... tiny hand in enormous hand walking away from the circus .... the book is the same way, less of the overt humor, fewer cutting remarks, more staid and mature. romantic in a more mature way, for anne has almost given up, and more historically situated in the napoleonic era. anyways, sorry if that makes no sense, but i could do with a good dose of persuasion right now.

various developments

some days i feel like shit. today is one of them. i'm so exhausted, i just burned my grilled cheese sandwich - on both sides! - and am resorting to pasta with butter and cheese instead. the response paper i wrote is utter crap, despite taking an hour long nap before even attempting it. i said nothing interesting in class this morning and i still have two-three hours of class tonight in which i have to say something smart or i'll get called out by the prof. and i have to read another article and write another response by tomorrow, in addition to at least vaguely looking over some secondary material so i can approach a prof about being the second reader for my seminar paper and not look like a complete idiot.

i'm blaming it on waking up before 7:30 two mornings in a row. today for class. yesterday for my doctors appointment. and yesterday i was so positive! my spanish exam monday night went fine, and i was so proud of myself for finally going to the doctor and being open and honest and not terrified during my appointment - i finally felt like an adult. background: before yesterday, i hadnt had any sort of physical in probably six years. i don't really like doctors. no particular reason that i know of, i just like my privacy, hate scales, and think i can take care of myself. but this of course means that, despite being 22, i had never had a pap smear or any sort of discussion about birth control etc (not that it was necessary, of course).

but yesterday i went, met my new nurse practitioner - who was incredibly nice and incredibly pregnant - and got through the whole thing no problem. with a prescription for birth control and the number of the counseling services if my anxiety acts up again. all of this made me feel very grown up and responsible. i'm taking charge of my problems! i'm taking care of my body! she didn't judge me for not having had an appointment in six years!

and then today i woke up with absolutely no motivation, no desire to go to class, no drive to get my work done, nothing except a desire to go back to sleep. which is where i still am. and off i go again.... with a headache and a belly full of pasta.