(5) Everyone loves "A Star Is Born." I was clearly, emphatically wrong. Mea culpa. Even the reviewers with reservations about the movie seem to go wild for Lady Gaga's performance. So, Lady Gaga: I apologize. Maybe I was upset that I once auditioned to teach at Sacred Heart and didn't get the job. May I one day attain Little Monster status, if I atone well and play my cards right.
(4) A few other things to love about "Insecure" this season. Issa wants to elicit praise from Nathan, who has ghosted her. So she posts an alluring photo on Instagram. "Feeling cute!" she writes. Of course, this does not win for her what she wants. A bitchy writer immediately responds: "Not a good choice. You look needy/thirsty." (We don't have to recognize the name to understand, immediately, that this is Issa's sibling. This is the kind of candor that only a sibling can provide.)
And then a throwaway detail that I love: Frieda, Issa's former colleague, writes in and says: "Omigod! I have that top, too!!!" This tells us so much about Frieda: about her forgiving nature, and about her strong need to recruit Issa as a friend. And Issa's non-response tells us something about Issa, in turn: This person could be nicer to the former associate who covered for her over and over. Meanwhile, no response from Nathan. A very small bit of writing, and yet so incisive, and so true to life. One of my favorite moments.
(3) Also, regarding "Insecure": I can't think of many other shows that have addressed ghosting in this way. (I think of the novel "Unless," by Carol Shields, which is slightly different. I also think Alan Hollinghurst's "Folding Star" touches on the ghosting theme.) When Nathan does resurface, he gives a plausible and semi-compelling half-explanation for his hostile behavior: "I just got really depressed--and sometimes, when I'm in that mood, I just do that. I disappear. It had nothing to do with you." I mostly buy this story--and yet it's not a ringing endorsement for Nathan's character. I'm enchanted. Eager to see how Issa responds. (And you know who did the *ultimate* ghosting story? Alice Munro. It was "Simon's Luck." This was well before "ghosting" was even a word. And then, years later, Munro returned to the theme with "Deep-Holes." Now I'm wondering what Issa Rae makes of Alice Munro.)
(2) Rebecca Naomi Jones storms St. Ann's Warehouse soon in "Oklahoma!" This is my favorite of the R and H shows, because it has a freshness; the story seems not to have hardened into a template. I also like that it starts and ends with the land. The exuberance in the story seems partly linked with a kind of national celebration; the span of the first Broadway run extended from the second half of WWII through the start of peacetime. And how do you compete with "Out of My Dreams," "People Will Say We're in Love," "O, What a Beautiful Morning"--?
RNJ attended Grace Church School--and that place should have banners in her honor. I always link her with "Passing Strange": "I've been listening to you talking in your sleep....It's a strange poetry...You're always running from something, it seems." So happy to see this artist finding continued success.
(1) What if Achilles murdered your husband and took you as his concubine? Was there a rat-borne plague toward the end of the Trojan War? If you had to choose between slavery and suicide, which would you choose? Was there rivalry among the concubines? What differing attitudes did the concubines take to their situation? Exactly what was happening between Patroclus and Achilles--and if the erotic thing "waned," then what took its place?
These are all questions the living legend Pat Barker has been considering--and now, thanks to "The Silence of the Girls," we can do some considering, as well. Not much humor, but the strangeness of the situation, and the toughness/heroism of Briseis, can suck you in. Recommended.
(4) A few other things to love about "Insecure" this season. Issa wants to elicit praise from Nathan, who has ghosted her. So she posts an alluring photo on Instagram. "Feeling cute!" she writes. Of course, this does not win for her what she wants. A bitchy writer immediately responds: "Not a good choice. You look needy/thirsty." (We don't have to recognize the name to understand, immediately, that this is Issa's sibling. This is the kind of candor that only a sibling can provide.)
And then a throwaway detail that I love: Frieda, Issa's former colleague, writes in and says: "Omigod! I have that top, too!!!" This tells us so much about Frieda: about her forgiving nature, and about her strong need to recruit Issa as a friend. And Issa's non-response tells us something about Issa, in turn: This person could be nicer to the former associate who covered for her over and over. Meanwhile, no response from Nathan. A very small bit of writing, and yet so incisive, and so true to life. One of my favorite moments.
(3) Also, regarding "Insecure": I can't think of many other shows that have addressed ghosting in this way. (I think of the novel "Unless," by Carol Shields, which is slightly different. I also think Alan Hollinghurst's "Folding Star" touches on the ghosting theme.) When Nathan does resurface, he gives a plausible and semi-compelling half-explanation for his hostile behavior: "I just got really depressed--and sometimes, when I'm in that mood, I just do that. I disappear. It had nothing to do with you." I mostly buy this story--and yet it's not a ringing endorsement for Nathan's character. I'm enchanted. Eager to see how Issa responds. (And you know who did the *ultimate* ghosting story? Alice Munro. It was "Simon's Luck." This was well before "ghosting" was even a word. And then, years later, Munro returned to the theme with "Deep-Holes." Now I'm wondering what Issa Rae makes of Alice Munro.)
(2) Rebecca Naomi Jones storms St. Ann's Warehouse soon in "Oklahoma!" This is my favorite of the R and H shows, because it has a freshness; the story seems not to have hardened into a template. I also like that it starts and ends with the land. The exuberance in the story seems partly linked with a kind of national celebration; the span of the first Broadway run extended from the second half of WWII through the start of peacetime. And how do you compete with "Out of My Dreams," "People Will Say We're in Love," "O, What a Beautiful Morning"--?
RNJ attended Grace Church School--and that place should have banners in her honor. I always link her with "Passing Strange": "I've been listening to you talking in your sleep....It's a strange poetry...You're always running from something, it seems." So happy to see this artist finding continued success.
(1) What if Achilles murdered your husband and took you as his concubine? Was there a rat-borne plague toward the end of the Trojan War? If you had to choose between slavery and suicide, which would you choose? Was there rivalry among the concubines? What differing attitudes did the concubines take to their situation? Exactly what was happening between Patroclus and Achilles--and if the erotic thing "waned," then what took its place?
These are all questions the living legend Pat Barker has been considering--and now, thanks to "The Silence of the Girls," we can do some considering, as well. Not much humor, but the strangeness of the situation, and the toughness/heroism of Briseis, can suck you in. Recommended.
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