Okay, this is the sort of thing that gets me torqued. The logo for The History Channel's mini-series that premieres this weekend, "Russia: Land of the Tsars," has been hacked by a graphic artist lacking in alphabetic sensitivity.

That is to say, "Russia" has been spelt in a gibberish of characters, some Roman, some Cyrillic, one neither. The symbol forming the "U" is a smearing of the /sh/ and /ts/ characters. Using the /ya/ character (the backwards "R") is a designer's cliche best disposed of once and for all.

Makes you wonder whether THC bothered to get the history right.

posted: 9:56:41 PM  

So I'm listening to "Marketplace" driving home and there's a story about financial pressures at universities like the University of California system. And there's a mention of the nine, soon to be ten campuses. So naturally (?) I tried to name all nine, sort of the academic version of Sleepy-Happy-Dopey-Grumpy-Doc-Bashful-Sneezy. I forgot about UC San Francisco, tried to give a UC campus to Santa Clara, and I wasn't sure about Riverside. I thought maybe there was a campus in Chino; it must have more than just a prison. Merced will have the new tenth campus.

posted: 6:29:01 PM  

Dance Theatre of Harlem, Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, Washington

The local premiere on this program is Stabat Mater, choreographed by Michael Smuin to the first section of Dvorak's score. It's the company's 9/11 piece, and it goes for the earthbound and sorrowful rather than the celestial and heroic. The women are on half-toe and in long skirts. Crucifixion poses are featured: the man places himself in one on the deck right before the tenor solo kicks in. Perhaps Eric Underwood's partnering was under-rehearsed?

Amy Johnson and Kip Sturm lighten things up a bit with Loyce Houtlon's Wingborne from 1971. It's an engaging, muscular piece with a couple of innovative lifts.

Duncan Cooper catches some good air in The Prodigal Son, easily my least favorite dance in the Balanchine repertory. Game ball to Derrick Inouye and the orchestra, who took in stride the loss of lights in half the pit midway through the piece.

And I suppose the highlight of the evening is the company's signature oft-performed Firebird (Taras/Stravinsky). I have to smile at the logic of dance sometimes: the Prince of Evil, lying in a heap center stage because he has just been vanquished by the Firebird, has to roll off unobtrusively stage right so that the Firebird can start her second solo. At least she waves at the rest of the Creatures of Evil so that they roll off and leave her alone onstage.

posted: 12:43:41 AM  

I finally picked up volume 4 of In Search of Lost Time.

posted: 12:18:36 AM