]]> http://www.davidbenz.com/news/2008/07/23/amazing-flower/feed http://www.davidbenz.com/news/2008/07/09/concert-at-the-chinese-classical-garden http://www.davidbenz.com/news/2008/07/09/concert-at-the-chinese-classical-garden#comments Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:36:18 +0000 benz http://www.davidbenz.com/news/?p=46 Yesterday we went to see the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble play at the Portland Chinese Classical Garden and it was very entertaining. I’m a big fan of the Chinese Classical Garden. They have everything a person could want in one place. Fascinating architecture, bonsai, a huge pond with fish, a beautiful garden, and a great tea house in the Tower of Cosmic Reflections (pictured below.)

The Ensemble was very good. They play more “traditional” Chinese music, and also seem to be interested in all kinds of music. They introduced every song with a description of what was to come. The selections varied from a Chinese war epic penned in 202 B.C. to “Oh Suzanna”. I would liken the concert to about any traditional world music mix CD. It will most likely contain things you will enjoy and other things you might not, and different people will find that they like different things. In this case the balance was well over to the “good” side.

They were very earnest and enthusiastic and put on an excellent show. For the record, there are more shows and different bands at the Garden coming up. Check them out here.

(I remember at the Montgomery Station in San Francisco there used to be an old Chinese man who would play his erhu for change. An erhu could probably best be described as a kind of Chinese violin. I used to stop and listen to him every once in a while. He didn’t seem to follow any rhythm and actually sounded very much like a howling cat, but sad. To me, at best, it evoked Chinese calligraphy, with lots of purposeful bold strokes, hooks, and finesse. But it sounded awful. I always suspected that I lacked the cultural experience or vocabulary to appreciate what he was up to with that instrument. Either that or he was really bad. It’s funny but I used to be shy about listening to him and would always stand somewhere he couldn’t see me listening.)

Horrifying! I don’t know about anybody else but the only way I like eggplant is at Dim Sum restaurants. MMMMM. My distaste for eggplant runs so deep that I very nearly didn’t buy it until I realized that I could just get it as an ornamental. I ran immediately to the ATM and got cash so I could buy this for $2. Two dollars!

Am I crazy?

I think this one isn’t the healthiest. I’m planning on transplanting to a larger container. Apparently this variety, “bambino,” only grows to a foot. The fruit are described as “thumb sized.”

Pond (a bit out of date):

Fish:

Idyllic Scene:

“Oh dear. I tried to keep a dream journal once, but soon realized that I was a woman of small dreams. I found that I could only keep it up for a week, filling page after page with inane details. Here’s a sample. ‘…spent what seemed like hours outside a door waiting for someone to come out and ask me in. Luckily there was a chair. Also there was a cat nearby sitting on an enormous Persian rug. He knew me but was not feeling friendly.’

“Night after night of circuitous errands and vague misunderstandings with men I’ve never met before. It became too much. Oh of course every once in a while I would have a fascinating dream where I was an assassin or was eaten by a huge animal, but those were few and far in between.

“Most awful.”

April 20, 1929

My goal during this post is to deliver a love bomb about Louis Feuillade’s “Les Vampires.” IMDB link here. Netflix link here. Shot in 1915, this is a series of short silent films chronicling the (mis)adventures of the notorious Parisian criminal gang Les Vampires. Here’s what I love about it:

* I love how when one of the villains is struck by a new opportunity to do evil, that they gloat over it. For a long time. Visually.

* I especially love when Irma Vep does it.

* Speaking of Irma Vep, I love Musidora as the evil Irma Vep. In this screen cap the background supplies her with an Art Nouveau halo while she plays the part of an angelic maid. Look at her. We are almost fooled.

* I love how Mazamette (the sidekick) is such a natural comedian, and how he breaks the fourth wall and hams it up to the audience.

* I love it when a heated two minute conversation between Guérande and Mazamette (our two heroes) with tons of gesturing, pantomiming, and making faces ends up being something like, “Mazamette confesses he got lost.” in the intertitle (intertitles are where in silent films a frame is displayed which has some dialog or narrative information in writing.)

* I love making up what they’re actually saying in my head.

* I love how the film is tinted to denote dark or light. Having a character in a scene walk over to a light switch and turn the tint of the film from blue (denoting dark) to sepia (denoting light) is really delicious.

* I love how naive these films are. A person could say that the worst thing about these films is that they were working in an exciting new artform, and the best thing about these films is that they were working in an exciting new artform.

* Mmmmmmmmmmm. Poisoned pens, sleeping gas, secret passageways, hypnotized dopplegangers, and an ill-fated ballerina in a bat costume.

* I love the sense of composition in the cinematography.

* I love that we live in a world where people care enough about this art form to preserve, restore, and distribute something like this that has an admittedly small audience.

I love old films, and I love very odd things. Les Vampires is both. If you like old films you will love “Les Vampires.” You will also love “Ella Cinders” with Colleen Moore. Now STOP BEING SUCH CYNICAL EFFING DOUCHEBAGS, YOU INTERNET!

My friend Lorna has been teaching art classes at Collage on Alberta Street. On Sunday I took one of her “Child’s Play” classes where you sit down with 15 post card sized blank pieces of canvas and spend four hours doing something creative with them.

It was fun. One great thing about the class is that all the materials you need are provided. Of course if you want to show up with your suitcase full of paints you can, but you can also just show up in your studio grungies and paint. Lorna did a great job instructing, and everybody in the class made some nice pieces. Two pieces I made are shown above.

Lorna’s website is here. Class schedule can be found here.

Dearest L_________,

I have enclosed for your consideration the cover from one of those degenerate pieces of dime literature. I recently stumbled upon a large collection of such volumes in a shop and felt moved to share one or two with you for your amusement. The pictured lady is no doubt a poet, as she appears to be a lady of some refinement. My dear friend Mr. L_____ has noted that poets have the most remarkable lips (although I must note here that when he says “remarkable” he means “a little strange” or “perhaps bizarre” or “somehow unsettling.”) This may be a too rough or unkind appraisal of the lady, but I do say that her lips are that of a poet.

What is that she is leaning upon?

Oh dear look at the time. Ta ta!

Kindest Regards,

Mr. D_____ S______

February 7, 1908

——– o ———
The reply to D.S. from L. has been lost.
——– o ———

Dearest L_________,

What a pleasure it is to hear from you. I am doubly gratified to learn that you took a moment of your time to consider my trifling missive.

I must confess that I had forgotten about that miserable fern which belonged to poor Constance. I hope that this statement will not shock you, as my affection for Constance (though please consider it always took the form of friendly affection) can only be said to have been the equal of my consternation over her fern. In short, I blame her untimely end on that dastardly pteridophyte. More properly, we may wish to refer to that plant as a vampire. It simply refused to brighten a room no matter where the poor dear placed it, and equally, no matter how much Constance tried to beautify it. That dire, black fern! To see her worry and fret over it while coughing consumptively. And after it had finally broken her heart, she relegated it to the foyer, a place of honor! I hope this does not worry you, but I really must confess my suspicions to a friend.

Perhaps that’s why I forgot all about the pedestal. I am picturing it in my mind’s eye and indeed agree with your assertion that she kept that dire fern upon it.

As for the lady, I had not considered her from this vantage. How droll! Hmmmm. I can only say that I would find her a bit intimidating.

Sincerely,

Mr. D_____ S______

March 14, 1908

On the topic of what I have been up to lately, I’ve finished (I think) the series of drawings that I started last year to go along with a story I wrote. Above is a piece titled “Hoichi’s Guide” which sold at the Portland Art Center in December. For those unfamiliar with Lafcadio Hearn’s Hoichi the Earless, click on the link to read the story. You’ll be glad you did. Right now I’m working on some more stories but also struggling with a general lack of direction.