Previous month: November 7, 2004 - November 13, 2004
Next month: November 21, 2004 - November 27, 2004

Secret Santa and the first snow

Once again, it's time for Secret Santa. Everyone who participates must have a personal website and an Amazon wishlist. The organizers randomly select a wishlist for everyone participating. You check out your victim's website and then buy something from his or her wishlist. Someone does the same for you. It's all very simple and great fun.

Yesterday we got some snow, but it was already over when I left work. Today it was snowing properly when I walked to work. How nice, and the timing with Secret Santa announcement was simply lovely.

20.11.2004 klo 10:45 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Theater and music

We've enjoyed lots of quality culture recently. First we saw Macbeth, a classic Shakespeare tragedy on power and greed. The acting was strong, the set gorgeous and everything simply well done. We adored it. I wish the Tampere theaters did more Shakespeare - I wouldn't mind seeing more of his work, especially the tragedies.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. (Macbeth, V.v)

Next play we saw was Wait Until Dark, best known for the 1967 movie starring Audrey Hepburn. The play was thrilling, especially towards the end when the theater went completely dark and the only light was a cigarette lighter waved by an actor. Very exciting! The story, about a doll full of drugs, a gang of criminals and a blind woman, was well weaved and intriguing. Another great piece of theater.

Marianne Faithfull is almost sixty, but still kicking strong. Her performance on Monday was strong and captivating. Thanks to the first-row seats, I suppose, but it was a really good show anyway. Johanna, who has already seen her twice before, really loved this one, even saying this was the best gig she's ever seen. I agree it was a great performance, but I think the Nick Cave show we saw in September was even better.

Anyway, Marianne did lots of good songs Johanna hadn't heard before and of course the best tracks from her new album, Before the Poison (which is, by the way, highly recommended). The band featured Barry Reynolds and Fernando Saunders. Saunders did a small opening number, playing few songs. Nice, but unnecessary delay.

17.11.2004 klo 13:47 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Changes under the hood

*Hop*. There we go. I made a move from Nucleus to Movable Type. Despite the new, nice version of Nucleus, Movable Type is simply superior blog platform. Especially as I bought the new 3.121 version, which is just smooth.

There are some technical issues which are a bit unfinished, but most of this blog should work. Syndicated readers should note that while the old RSS url of http://www.melankolia.net/xml-rss2en.php is supported for legacy reasons, I recommend moving to one of the new urls (index.xml, index.rdf or atom.xml).

The old blog will remain, also for legacy reasons. Old links should stay alive, kind of. If you have linked to http://www.melankolia.net/index.en.php, please update your links. Linking to http://www.melankolia.net/ is a better idea anyway.

17.11.2004 klo 12:00 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)