Alex Greetham's blog

Metropolitan Museum visit #3 (excluding visits in IDC)

Alex Greetham — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:23:07 +0000

On Friday, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the New American Wing. I remember going there before and liking it, but when I went to see the redone exhibit, I was amazed at how it turned out. It looked like a courtyard, with a fountain and sculptures, leading to two old-fashioned electric lights, leading down to some steps, leading down to a facade of what appears to be a mansion. Inside the "mansion", there were various rooms like those of the wealthy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

My thoughts on the House of the Dead Opera

Alex Greetham — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:55:38 +0000

I thought the opera was okay. I was a bit dull, but then again, the story is supposed to be depressing, and the sets really showed that. The dominant color was drab gray, the most depressing color in my opinion. And the music was certainly more modern than what I'm used to in opera, when I see works such as die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute by Mozart) or der Fleidermaus (The Bat by Johann Strauss II) which have more old-fashioned music, that is, 18th and 19th century music.

Tim Burton Exhbit

Alex Greetham — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:51:18 +0000

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA yet, but I hope I get to. (I had to do a lot of work this weekend.) I just think that Tim Burton is a great artist/director/producer with his macabre yet comical imagry and his eccentricity. Although the only movie of his I know I saw was The Nightmare Before Christmas, I do hope one day to see Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, and Beetlejuice, among other movies.

Alexander String Quartet

Alex Greetham — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:33:23 +0000

I thought the Alexander String Quartet concert was pretty good, even if the acoustics were poor. (Concrete isn't a good material for the walls of a concert hall.) I haven't heard many live Mendelson or Schumann quartets, or much Mendelson or Schumann at all in a concert hall, so seeing this was certainly different from the more odd avant-garde plays and concerts that we've been going to. However, I was surprised and somewhat disappointed that the concert was only an hour and fifteen minutes long, but I guess it has to be short since tonight is a school night.

BAM! (What Quartett does and where it was shown)

Alex Greetham — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:34:25 +0000

I still remember Quartett. I still remember how, even though I tried researching the story it was based on (Le Liaisons Dangereuses) I still was confused by the story. I remember how it was like a freakshow; wild, avant-garde, and quite edgy, and still (and probably because of this) I loved it. I loved its play between Valmont and the Marquise, not knowing who was playing who. (Valmont said he was a woman, which confused me.) I loved its lighting, its use of rock and rap (seeing Valmont rap was hilarious and fascinating) and its minimalistic yet striking sets.

My thoughts on The Nutcracker

Alex Greetham — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:48:08 +0000

I was able to watch The Nutcracker today in the library, and I remember from the various other times in my life when I saw the ballet, I loved it, and it was sort of a Christmas tradition for a few years. However, at least for the version I saw, I really didn't like it. It was sappy and insipid, overly sweet and gaudy like watching It's a Wonderful Life while listening to Pat Boone singing Christmas songs, and reading a bunch of Hallmark cards.

Kandinsky in the Guggenheim and Pompidou

Alex Greetham — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:47:23 +0000

I remember last summer, I was in Paris, and I went to the Pompidou Center, a very odd building with infrastructure on the outside, painted in bright colors. There, I saw an exhibit on Kandinsky, which I liked a lot (and mentioned in my photography paper for this class). A couple of months later, back in New York City, I started to see advertisements for the same exhibit at the Guggenheim museum. I have been debating with myself on whether I should see the same exhibit again.

Carnegie Hall Chinese Music Concert

Alex Greetham — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:09:24 +0000

I hardly ever go to Carnegie Hall (though I'm not sure why) so seeing anything there is a real treat, especially when it's free for us. The only other time I remember going to Carnegie Hall was a couple years ago to see a recital of some young music students.

My Time at the Metropolitan Opera

Alex Greetham — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:04:49 +0000

I went to see an opera at the Metropolitan Opera House yesterday, and while at the time at the opera, I looked over the architecture. The architecture is the perfect example of late 60s modernism, when the movement, in my opinion, was declining. The exterior of the opera house is a stone gray cube with some arches but not much else, which was the element that modernism strived for. Inside are concrete curving stairways covered in red carpeting, but not only were the floors carpeted but the walls were carpeted.

Joseph O'Connor Reading

Alex Greetham — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:54:49 +0000

I am going to go right out and say this, I did not like the Joseph O'Connor reading. Part of this is because I have a hard time sitting still for long periods of time, though there were other reasons too. His voice, though I heard some people praising it, was melancholy and dull, and it didn't really catch my attention much. Also, the excerpts he read were a bit too long as well. Though he was kind enough to tell us how long each excerpt was, the excerpts were still quite long, according to him, each about eight minutes long.