Garden and Cosmos at SAAM

Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur
Seattle Asian Art Museum
January 29 – April 26, 2009

The art deco galleries of the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park are a perfect setting for this groundbreaking exhibit of 58 gorgeous pieces of Indian painting that flourished in the royal courts of Rajasthan from the 17th to the 19th century. It was an exhilarating experience to [in the words of Gayle Clemans, of the Seattle Times] "dive right into the paintings; absorb the lavish detail, intricate compositions and delicious colors." The picture above is a link to SAAM's preview of some of the paintings featured in the exhibit.

Coraline is fantastic!

Sunny January Saturday in Seattle (say that three times fast!)

Today is a wonderful sunny day (in January no less!) which inspires seemingly endless optimism and reminds me of what a hermit I've been so here's fondly thinking back on all the things we've done since the New Year.

For the long holiday weekend we (finally!) made a trip to Vancouver, BC. Our initial plans, set for the week between Christmas and New Year, were derailed by inclement weather (Seattle doesn't do snow well). It was a gamble to plan a visit during the winter months but the city is amazing and the heavy fog parted on a few occasions affording spectacular views (photos on FB). We will just have to come back again in August!

Seattle Opera's production of Georges Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, was not only a pleasure for our ears but our eyes as well: an enchanting fairy-tale, impeccably delivered by three principal performers along with a number of dancers effortlessly carrying through brilliant choreography against a picture-perfect stage design evoking the exotic scenery of the orient. My favorites were the scenes employing "areal technology", showing the fishermen diving and swimming across the sea (the scrim that extended from the proscenium arch to the stage floor), further enhanced by evocative lighting giving it an otherworldly atmosphere.

We enjoyed Seattle Shakespeare Company's hilarious, highly energetic, vaudeville-flavored adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's 18th century comedy The Servant of Two Masters. From the moment we read in the program notes that "water and silly string will be used on stage" we knew this would be no ordinary performance of Goldoni's deliberately convoluted tale of a double-dealing servant, his pair of preening masters, several sets of lovers, etc. It was particularly amusing to hear the actors spice up the script with topical and local references (funny jabs at Gov. Christine Gregoire, the Sonics and the Seahawks, a sexy recitation of driving directions to the Seattle Center, only to name a few). Jolly good fun indeed!

Another exciting experience was visiting Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures Of Ethiopia exhibit at the Pacific Science Center and coming face to face with Lucy, the oldest, most complete, and best preserved adult fossil of any erect-walking human ancestor. When was the last time you stood in the presence of a 3.2 million-year-old ancestor that continues to have a major impact on the scientific understanding of our human origins?

One good thing about gloomy weather is the time it affords for reading (when work is under control). I've immersed myself in W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage and have been enjoying it immensely! Cheers!

HAPPY XMAS!!!

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear...

John Updike and Amitav Ghosh in Seattle

Seattle is consistently ranked at the top of the most literate cities and has more bookstores per capita than any other city in the country, so last week was just "business as usual" as we hosted two well known writers, John Updike and Amitav Ghosh.

On Wednesday, Seattle's Arts and Lectures series presented an evening with John Updike, a revered figure of the American literary landscape and a prolific novelist, poet, short story writer, literary and art critic. His appearance marked the 20th anniversary of his last talk at Seattle Arts & Lectures during its inaugural season.

On Friday, Amitav Ghosh gave a reading at the Elliott Bay Book Company. Sea of Poppies, his acclaimed new novel, the first in an Ibis Trilogy and shortlisted for this year's Man Booker Prize, is - as Anna Mundow so appropriately described it - a writer's triumph and a reader's delight. Hearing Ghosh discuss the historical background and India of the 1830's, at the eve of the Opium Wars, and in his own voice bring to life a myriad of characters, through vivid use of language and imagination, was a treat. We have, in other words, been hooked again. With his grand vision and the seductive intimacy of his tone, Ghosh has not only drawn us into this exotic world. He has allowed us to inhabit these lives.

Inspiring Impressionism at SAM

We greatly enjoyed Seattle Art Museum's exhibit Inspiring Impressionism which included almost 100 paintings and other works assembled from more than 70 museums and private collections, some of which have never traveled to the United States. We were given a fresh viewpoint on one of art history’s most important movements and a chance to explore the influence of Old Masters on Impressionist painters through the pairing of masterpieces by the Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas with those by artists Frans Hals, Francisco Goya and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, among others.

Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past
June 19–September 21, 2008

Summer excursions in the Pacific Northwest

A few weeks ago we had a visit from a friend of ours from New York (pardon me, I meant to say originally from Weymouth, MA but now in "forced exile" in Jersey City/Hoboken/NYC), which was a great excuse for outdoor activities. A few of us from the office decided on going for a hike at the Snow Lake trail, part of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, near Alpental at the Snoqualmie Pass. We had a wonderful sunny day and the payoff was amazing! See pictures here.

During the Labor day weekend we decided to take a day trip to Long Beach, WA and Astoria, OR. Part of the drive along US-101, the scenic coastal highway, was a real treat! In Long Beach we walked on the boardwalk, found a whale skeleton and strolled on the beach watching a multitude of kites flying in the sky. I couldn't resist taking off my shoes and walking barefoot on the warm sand. Then we drove further south to the bottom of the Long Beach peninsula and hiked up to the Cape Disappotment lighthouse. We stopped over at Fort Columbia before heading to the other shore of the Columbia River and Astoria, OR. The highlight by far was the visit to Astoria Column and an amazing view of the surrounding rivers, bay, mountains and the Pacific Ocean from its base. We had a great dinner at Drina Daisy, a Bosnian restaurant in the heart of downtown. Hoon had "burek" (meat-filled rolled pie) and "gulaš" (goulash) and I had "pita zeljanica" (spinach and cheese rolled pie) and "sarma" (meat and rice filled cabbage rolls). It was excellent! This is comfort food for me, the kind grandma used to make, and a perfect ending to a perfect day. See pictures here.

During the holiday weekend we also visited Microsoft. Hoon started working there full time a few weeks ago and Kiki and I wanted to check out his new (shared) office and take a stroll on the campus.

A Streetcar Named Desire at INTIMAN Theatre

Over the weekend we attended a performance at the Intiman Theatre - production of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning, New Orleans-set masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Angela Pierce and Jonno Roberts.

In the words of Gianni Truzzi of the Seattle P-I, Jonno Roberts certainly provides the rough charisma needed for Stanley Kowalski, and Angela Pierce stuns as her Blanche DuBois descends to her doom. Yet in this rendering at Intiman Theatre, it's Chelsey Rives' Stella that surprisingly sets their rules.