Of Opera, Sketching, And A Movie

For once, I'm talking about actual opera, as in the music form. I'm currently sitting with the door wide open so I can listen to the 109th Last Night of the Proms on the tv in the living room next door. They've just started playing Land Of Hope And Glory, so I'm filled with nostalgia for all the countless years I've sat and listened to this, and that little bit of wonder that classical music sporadically tends to hit me with, leaving me just a little off-balance. This was always a big annual event for me when I was younger, as it was one of the few occasions I was allowed to stay up late for something. I remember begging to be allowed up late the year the tradition was instigated. I sat between my parents on a pale green sofa, and was gleefully glued to the screen. My parents, to my enduring amusement, managed to fall asleep either side of me, and entirely missed the Hornpipe, among other pieces.

Cathy let me use her scanner today. Or, more accurately, she was the one using the scanner, and I just sat there and felt grateful. So I now have some of my sketches online for you to, errr, look at? Sneer at? Nod in vague interest at? Ignore? I don't know, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with them now I have them uploaded. I'll just talk enthusiastically about them and then quieten down again. Not all of them are finished. Others are just vague ideas for something that would eventually be far more developed. Most are copies of pieces from the books The Art Of The Fellowship Of The Ring or The Two Towers. Some are more original sketches of the characters. There's also one of Willow from Buffy thrown in. Just because that's what I had with me to sketch from at the time. And there's a very tentative attempt at a character called Aelyn. She's from an unpublished science-fantasy story, which you should ask Cathy about if you're really interested.

I missed art. I hadn't done any sketching for roughly two years before I sat down and did this bunch. It was a side of my life that I just put away, and whilst I thought of it with fondness, I really had no intentions of dusting it off. Can't actually remember what started me off again, I think it was probably buying those books. It's a wonderful way to calm down, and always gives me a little hope, as they without exception look awful to begin with, seeming like a completely lost cause. Working into that despite this is what makes it all worth it, irrespective of the end result.

The movie I went to see was Whale Rider, a New Zealand based movie that I saw advertised on the list of movies that came out of Cannes. At least I think it was at Cannes. Can't actually find anything to confirm that. I like this movie a lot. I have a lot of respect for it. It was remarkably powerful, and yet really very simple in structure, narrative, shots etc. There were also quite a few impressive cinematographic moments, in particular I'm thinking of the part with the close-ups of the whales whilst the people are on the beach. These moments were not, however, at all obtrusively stunning, because that wasn't what it was all about. They worked because they were simple, and expressed the tone of the movie seamlessly. I also have to mention the actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, who played the lead, Pai, and really held the movie together as a piece. If you like these sorts of movies, it's well worth your time. Also, I made a wallpaper for it.