Archives for February 2, 2010

I’m about to write way too much about something whose chief virtue is its unlabored concision. Forgive me. I am really excited.
The wonderful Kate Beaton has posted a great set of comic strips suggested by some of Edward Gorey’s well-known pocket book cover illustrations. I recommend to you Beaton’s entire body of work (fully archived on her Web site), but none of it more than these inspired little vignettes.
By now some of the drawings Gorey made for Anchor and Vintage in the 1950s have achieved iconic status themselves. Beaton’s spontaneous but thoughtful spinoffs inventively pay homage while illuminating the choices Gorey made, which turn out to be so interesting. She reminds one that–far more so than almost any cover on a work of classic literature one sees today–his drawings were a pretty high form of interpretation.

When Mrs. T and I visited the China Pavilion at Disney World’s Epcot Center, we were transfixed by the music of Ann Yao, who plays an ancient zither-like instrument called the zheng with supreme virtuosity. She is a truly remarkable artist, and the zheng is worthy of her sensitive musicianship.
No sooner did we get home from the park than I booted up my MacBook and embarked on a search for information about Yao and her instrument. Among other things, I found several videos of her playing on YouTube, two of which I want to share with you:


Isn’t she amazing? And isn’t the zheng a gorgeous-sounding instrument?

“As Judeo-Christians we must avow that the critic is the equal of the artist in the sight of God–as, indeed, he is–if God can’t read.”
David Mamet (quoted in Chris Jones, Theater Loop, Jan. 27, 2010)