Rehearsing Shakespeare

Paula and Janek as Hermia and Demetrius, rehearsing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The play’s workshop is on Saturday, 6 June, at Uroczysko Festival in Supraśl. The school show, on Monday, 15 June, 8pm, in the yard of Arsenal Gallery.

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The thing about music videos

Music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. (from wikipedia)

Sadly enough, I don’t remember getting into a band because of music video.  I rather do it the other way round – first get into a band, then into their videos. Some were great, some were nice, some were little disasters; the rule was that very often ‘epic win’ songs had ‘epic fail’ videos, and the coolest videos were made to average songs. But I considered them ‘art’, not ‘adverts’

However, this week I’ve seen the very first video that made me listen, or even like a band – I had heard the band before, but mine reaction was ‘nothing special, not worth listening’.  After watching the video, it changed to ‘total adoration’.  How could I dismiss this band? They’re kinda great. WITH THE AWESOMEST MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR (in fact, the video’s from 2008, shh!). That’s how advertisments work, isn’t it?

Anyway. Empire of the Sun – We Are the People.  Pretty cool.

(still, the video is better than the song. the rule works)

Wrong face up, or Czech absurdity

We were sitting in one of many parks in Prague, sipping delicious Pilsners, chatting and waging a crazy war against an inexplicable army of flying insects (which I believe anticipated further events) when we realized that the evening is like an empty glass and we are very thirsty. Flicking through a dozen of free leaflets recommending plenty of venues to fill up the glass with, Cornelia noticed, to our delight, the ad informing about Petr Zelenka Quartet at Balbinova Poeticka Hospudka. There was no hesitation, and no time – we buried the hatchet with insects and left the park.
We reached our destination after a twenty-minute walk and realized that the farther from the centre of the city, the less people you could communicate with in English. The owner of the place was only able to sell the tickets and confirm that Petr Zelenka was playing that day. Excited and elated, the three of us sat by the table, as close to the scene as possible just to find out in a matter of seconds that the only Petr Zelenka we knew was a famous film director. Now, the Petr Zelenka in front of us was a talented jazz musician. Despite being a bit thrown off the balance, we realized that we were there for the music no matter which Petr Zelenka was to perform and our benevolence was rewarded with a great deal of tasty tunes that evening.

What kind of woman The Queen was

She was born in The Middle Ages. Those times were hard to live for her because of the power of men. They had authority and control. Women were either wives of famous soldiers, or just housewives, staying at home rather than being partners in life. Young girls grew up with a sense of their weakness, helpless. They were taught how to cook, sew, embroider by hand and clean. Mothers prepared their daughters to be wives. Their life concentrated by the kitchen table and in the laundry. They knew that their position was not taken seriously. Their life wasn’t as exciting as man’s life.

The Queen saw this all when she was younger. She wanted to do something different with her life. She didn’t want her existence to be of a typical woman of the Middle Ages .

This task was the motto of her growing up. She started behaving like a boy. But her mother, the old Queen, didn’t want her child, a beautiful princess, to do things that annoy others. So the princess had to wear skirts, not trousers which she preferred. She knew that to be a great man in the world she had to act different. She raised the wall of mistrust and indifference around herself. Her father was taking her to many places where she saw battles, people dying, anger and hatred. She was growing stronger and stronger until one day she become cruel and emotionless. She knew that she couldn’t show any emotional reaction. That’s why when she became The Queen she wished her kingdom to see how powerful she was and that no one could stop her.

The Late Lover

I opened The History of Philosophy by Władysław Tatarkiewicz and paged the book to read about Abelard. I learned that Pierre Abelard’s career as a thinker flourished and he was distinguished figure at his own time, but he was not a typical philosopher-theologian of the Middle Ages. His short but intensive life was filled with enthusiastically received lectures, persecution, ecstatic love and drama. Never had Abelard assumed that he would make the history as a lover – not thinker.
Who was she?
Heloise was much younger than him. Was it her face, her voice, or the beauty of her mind that turned Abelard into a passionate lover? As a professor of logic, Abelard could explain lots of things; he could even blend faith and reason together. Alas, he was helpless in the face of emotions. It is surprising how a man of reason could have developed such an intense feeling.
When I read the letters the lovers wrote to each other I am perplexed. I become an intruding witness of their romance. Why am I doing this? Why were the letters published? It is not literature only (I recall Werter’s letters – how boring). Their history is a real drama. They had a child and then secretly married. They both were severely punished for the sins of the flesh. Abelard was mutilated. He couldn’t bear the dishonour and that’s why he became a monk. Heloise became a nun. Abelard died at the age of 37. Heloise died about twenty years later and was buried beside him.
In one of his letters Abelard wrote:
I live in a barbarous country, the language of which I don’t understand; I have no conversation but with the rudest people. My walks are on the inaccessible shore of a sea which is always stormy.
The first word that comes to my mind is alienation. Why do some love stories have to end with a misfortune? Why are some lovers to remain lonely and unfulfilled?
Is it their illustrious romance, the history of two beautiful minds that once became one flesh to be humiliated and parted for ages that makes the story captivating? Or is it us, who are just unfulfilled as they were?