I’m racing against the clock I have 35 minutes until the Met game starts. I have to watch that on a TV in another room where using my computer is more difficult and I don’t want to be distracted. Yesterday was a busy day, not good when racing the blogging clock. I might have to leave out food and commuting. Don’t worry, I haven’t been kidnapped, this is really me.
I didn’t blog yesterday as I had to race the clock to see AKA Sasha Papernik and Alexander Wu at the Riverside Church. A few little things detained me and at the very end when I got to the Riverside Church I discovered that wasn’t where the show was, it was a block away at the Interchurch Center in Barnard College. The series is run by Riverside. I raced there and walked in just as Sasha and Alex were coming on stage. I did beat them to out seats. Even though I was late I got the best seat in the house, the closest to the edge of the keyboard. Most people saw their backs. Piano concerts are difficult from a visual perspective.
Sasha and Alex play duos for one piano. That’s a distinct art form. I should talk to them about the weird demands on the musicians. One pianist used both hands to play the treble clef and the other uses both to play the bass. I don’t even know how it is scored. Are the two hands demarked? Do they use two other clefs? There are more than two.
The concert was dedicated to women composers. I loved that one was by Florence Price. Sasha discovered her while listening to WQXR. I heard them talk about her too. She was an African American woman born in Little Rock in 1887. It could not have been easy for her to get the training and then acceptance as a classical composer. She certainly had the chops. After the show one elderly African American woman told Sasha and Alex that she came because she heard that they were going to play Florence’s music. She was very excited. I think that she, like Florence, was from Little Rock.
I love Sasha and Alex shows. They have a broad definition of classical and play thinks like a medley of tunes from West Side Story. They also educate the audience on the music and composers. There was less of that than usual as they only had 35 minutes for this show. This was a short lunchtime performance. It’s a regular thing and I should go to more of them even though it takes me longer than that to get there. It’s still easy.
The Church is at 120th by Riverside Drive. I have never been in that neighborhood before. Is that still Morningside Heights? There is a famous New York Landmark that I’ve never been to before a couple of blocks away, Grant’s Tomb. I have only seen it from ships in the Hudson. It’s quite an impressive structure. It’s open only limited hours so I could not go inside. I’ll have to save that for another time. I took pictures and videos but that will have to wait for when I have more time. It was a beautiful day and just walking the day was a delight. Just talking to Alex and Sasha was a delight. Sasha is going to have a baby in two weeks so it’s pretty impressive that she was still performing.
My second goal for the day was to go to the movies. Who can guess what I saw? If you are a regular Gentle Reader you know that this cultured intellectual is obsessed with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I went to see Captain Marvel with my brand-new eyes. I wanted to go big, I went for the IMAX at Lincoln Square. That was a poor choice. I thought it would be in 3-D. I didn’t see it after the first eye was done because you need two eyes for depth perception. I could have opted for the Real 3D version. Still, as I haven’t seen a move on a big screen in years this was exciting. Watching on TV is not the same.
Time to move to the other room. I’m not even sure if I can plug my computer in there. I didn’t even bring my cord. I’ll get it latter if I have to. I would normally be writing my annual paeon to baseball today but that will have to wait for tomorrow as I have to watch baseball. Oh no, the first pitch to Brando Nimmo was a strike. Does that bode ill for the season? Damn, he was struck out on three pitches. OK enough baseball, back to Captain Marvel.
I saw it at the AMC Lincoln Square, you can choose your seat when you buy the ticket. I chose as close to dead center as I could. For regular films I sit in the fourth row, Here was I chose the 6th. I would have chosen the 7th but the center seats were taken.
Even in 2D the film was great. I love IMAX as you are immersed in the experience. The sound might be even more effective. At one point I heard someone banging on the exit door of the theater. Except that wasn’t what it was, it was the movie. It fooled me.
I didn’t even know there was a marvel version of Captain Marvel until they started talking about making the film. I knew the Billy Batson/Captain Marvel character now known as Shazam. It’s a legal thing. Marvel Comics just made enough Captain Marvel comics to maintain the trademark. There have been several Captains the film using one of the later ones. There have been both male and female versions. There is also Ms. Marvel. Carol Danvers was originally Ms. Marvel before taking over the Captaincy.
I’m not going to give much away about the film, don’t worry about spoilers. The film starts with a bang and maintains I high tension level for some time before the exposition starts. The film has character development, plot twists, excitement, and spectacular visuals, just what you want in a superhero film.
Much has been made of the feminist elements of the first female lead of the MCU. Some of it is of the expected execution but there is one that was done with art. I’m guessing that many people didn’t even think of it as feminist. Carol is given a challenge to her ego and doesn’t take the bait. She eschews the pissing contest. Male heroes never do that and it drives me nuts every time. The one problem with the film is that fully powered Captain Marvel is too powerful. She wins too easy. That won’t be true against Thanos. I can’t wait to see that matchup.
My next stop was Trader Joe’s. When I got there I went to look at the shopping list on my phone. I couldn’t find it; not the shopping list, the phone. I had left it and charger in the cup holder of my seat. Know why? I’m an idiot. I went back to the theater and right up to the IMAX. I told the guy taking tickets what happened. He said they didn’t find anything but I could look. It wasn’t there. I started to leave and then decided to look one more time. Maybe it fell out of the cup holder. I found myself locked out and had to go down a level then back up to enter again. This time I asked somebody else and was told it was in the box office. He knew it was mine as it had my big-ass charger attached. I went to the box office and they had it. They didn’t even make me prove it’s mine with the fingerprint. It was enough that I knew about the charger. Whew.
The Mets are winning 1-0 after two. Robinson Cano hit a home run. Here’s to the Mets outperforming my expectations. DeGrom is magnificent.
Wise Madness 