![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This evening, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat had a surprise. She brought me to the Oxford Playhouse to see a [semi-]musical theatre adaption of the Tintin book Tintin In Tibet. The play is called Herge's Adventures of Tintin and is in Oxford for only two weeks before moving on to the West End in London[*]. I have never read any of the twenty-three Tintin books, yet that did not stop us from enjoying the play quite a bit. The part of Tintin's dog, Snowy, was played by a human, except for a brief bit at the beginning and the end when an actual dog played the role. Early on, I found myself feeling sorry for the guy who had to play the dog's part. At the interval, though, I bought a programme... and it turns out that he is the most experienced actor in the cast, having worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and done a fair bit of work for television. Shows what I know! In any case, he certainly gave an exceptionally good performance!
Cycling home from the University a little while ago, it occurred to me that I am slowly settling back into my life in Oxford. Tonight was the first time I went to the theatre sincecheshcat and I saw RSC perform MacBeth two days before I left for my summer holiday. Tomorrow evening I will go to Saint Giles church to ring my dear bells again for the first time since July 5th. And at work today, I closed up the Kelvinox-400 cryostat so that I can begin filling with liquid helium tomorrow for the first cooldown since the uber-successful one that I began (and JI finished) right before I went on holiday. So, slowly but surely, I am getting back into the swing of things here. I still with that I had the powers of Jamie Madrox, though, because I enjoy being back but there are certain things -- and certain people -- Stateside that I miss like anything. Ultimately, there are several places where I have a life that is basically complete... and I would love to live in all of them at once! And, really, when it comes down to it, having a life that is too full is hardly a bad thing.
[*] That's London's equivalent of Broadway for all you yanks reading this who aren't theatre geeks.
cheshcat had a surprise. She brought me to the Oxford Playhouse to see a [semi-]musical theatre adaption of the Tintin book Tintin In Tibet. The play is called Herge's Adventures of Tintin and is in Oxford for only two weeks before moving on to the West End in London[*]. I have never read any of the twenty-three Tintin books, yet that did not stop us from enjoying the play quite a bit. The part of Tintin's dog, Snowy, was played by a human, except for a brief bit at the beginning and the end when an actual dog played the role. Early on, I found myself feeling sorry for the guy who had to play the dog's part. At the interval, though, I bought a programme... and it turns out that he is the most experienced actor in the cast, having worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and done a fair bit of work for television. Shows what I know! In any case, he certainly gave an exceptionally good performance!Cycling home from the University a little while ago, it occurred to me that I am slowly settling back into my life in Oxford. Tonight was the first time I went to the theatre since
cheshcat and I saw RSC perform MacBeth two days before I left for my summer holiday. Tomorrow evening I will go to Saint Giles church to ring my dear bells again for the first time since July 5th. And at work today, I closed up the Kelvinox-400 cryostat so that I can begin filling with liquid helium tomorrow for the first cooldown since the uber-successful one that I began (and JI finished) right before I went on holiday. So, slowly but surely, I am getting back into the swing of things here. I still with that I had the powers of Jamie Madrox, though, because I enjoy being back but there are certain things -- and certain people -- Stateside that I miss like anything. Ultimately, there are several places where I have a life that is basically complete... and I would love to live in all of them at once! And, really, when it comes down to it, having a life that is too full is hardly a bad thing.[*] That's London's equivalent of Broadway for all you yanks reading this who aren't theatre geeks.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
But, yeah, the West End -- which is not particularly far west in today's London -- is the theatre district.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I'll have to sit down and summarise them all for you sometime soon... though I have not yet achieved the Nirvana of seventeen.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Hooray for bells!!
There are several plays I know of where a dog is one of the main characters. Usually very funny stuff...I shall have to look those up for you.
RE: Numbers: So, I don't get it either. We should come up with a way to test our theories...perhaps during our next chance to chat? *grin*
From:
no subject
What other plays can you think of where a dog is one of the main characters? You're still the expert!
As for numbers? *shakes head* Yeah, I just don't get it. Let's put heads together and try to work up an experiment. Though I need a hypothesis to test first!
From:
Ringa dem bells!
I will get back to you with that list. I read them in one of my many theatre lit clases..can't remember all the titles/authors.
I think I have an idea for a hypothesis, but I would not want to share it in this public forum...it might taint our results. OOOOoo *jumps up and down* I haven't done an experiment for the fun of it in three years...*giddy* :-D
From:
Tintin
Being written in the thirties, the Tintin series suffers from bad use of racial stereotypes and a strong anti fascist/capitalism pro socialist/communist attitude. Tintin was one of the first true graphic novels and there is a Tintin movie in the works.
From:
Re: Tintin
I do agree with you about the racial stereotypes and whatnot. In fact, it would be hard to disagree. However, I have to appreciate it as a product of its day, rather than try to judge it by modern standards.
From:
Re: Tintin
From:
Re: Tintin, hope the play/ musical comes here!
My dad got my my first Tintin book when we were visiting Montreal. I said, "But dad, I don't read French", and he said, "You'll learn.". While we were in the campground, the TV also picked up the Tintin cartoons in French. That was in the the early 1980s.
By 6th grade, I'd met a few other kids who'd heard of Tintin, but the local Kroch's & Brentano's in Oak Park kept saying, "What Rin-Tin-Tin?". I knew enough to say no, Tintin is a young reporter/ detective, in comic books (I'd be saying graphic novels about 10 years later), from about the 1920's, drawn by Belgian artist Hergé, originally in French. Normally, they couldn't find a darned thing, or I'd get lucky, and they'd show me to maybe two I already had in my collection.
By the end of my junior high (1985), I'd gotten a pretty good collection together, almost all of them. For some of it, we had relatives overseas pick up rare ones in foreign languages. I had a German copy of "Tintin in the Congo", and a few years later, I'd get a French one. I had "The Blue Lotus" in French and German, and we finally got an English copy from somewhere in the UK. I had the movie book, "Tintin and the Lake of Sharks", though I'd never seen the movie. I was told that I'd somehow managed to aquire the three rarest in the collection. The only one my dad had not seen since he was a child was "Tintin in the USSR". His sister had taken his whole collection when he left Switzerland, and he never saw it again.
At some point between 2000 and 2003, I was visiting Toronto, and saw it-- a French, and an English copy of "Tintin in the USSR". Apparently, a publisher was redoing the classics, and sitting next to it were new copies of "The Blue Lotus", "Tintin in the Congo" and "Tintin and the Broken Ear". But the older, black & white, never before seen? And "Tintin in the Congo", finally in English? Oh, PLEEEASE, CAN I BORROW SOME MONEY?!
I gave it to my dad for Xmas. He was absolutely stunned. He'd never seen the English version of "Tintin in the Congo", and had always been confused by the older British/ Afrikaans/ Belgium/ French slang, from the 1920's, and was shocked at the extreme racism. THEN, he saw "Tintin in the USSR", and was shocked that I'd even found a copy. He was intrigued by the primitive black & white designs. Then he read it. More racism, and an explanation that he'd been hired by the Belgian government to draw political cartoons, and write books like this, and he would've gone to prison, had he refused. Yes, that put everything under an entirely different light, but still shocking.
Later, we got the French only "Tintin et Alph Art", Hergé's final book. It was half finished when he passed away, and it's two books-- one half the unfinished version, with his notes, and the other half being a finished version, based on how his family thinks he would have done it.
When Lojen was maybe 4 or 5, I went to Europa bookstore in Chicago, and found some Tintin videos in French. When she was about 8, she could tell my dad what "dubbing" and "subtitling" were. "On one they talk normal, and on the other, they talk different, but there's words in English on the bottom. Tintin talks in French, and Pikachu talks in Japanese." She went on about it for the whole trip from Naperville to Chicago to see Miyazaki's "Spirited Away".
Now, of course, she's got all my Tintin books, and I haven't even come close to rebuilding my collection. It won't surprise me, if years later, she gives some to me as a gift. I still see new books in stores now, a compilation of 3 books or something, and stuff published after Hergé's death, and I may eventually get those.
I've also seen new Tintin books by other authors, and they're all horrible. If somebody could actually do it right, it wouldn't surprise me to see "Tintin in Iraq" at some point, or even "Tintin in Cuba", or maybe visiting his Chinese "brothers" during a trip to the 2008 Olympics. Also, I wonder how Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus would feel about global warming, or how Thomson and Thompson would look for terrorists.
From:
Re: Tintin
I'm pretty sure this is an earlier adventure, as it has none of the other familiar faces in it-- Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus (Professor Tournesol), Thomson and Thompson (Dupond & Dupont).
"Tintin & the Congo"? I once went to college with a black man from Africa, in my French class, and when he learned I had that book, he wanted to see it. I warned him of the extreme racism, and he said he wanted it both to study his French, to study history, and because he loved Tintin books. He was fully aware of the racism and the slang, and even learned a few new words! Meanwhile, my dad, born in 1939 in Switzerland, had a terrible time trying to figure out the slang, even though he was fluent in French. I couldn't make heads or tails of any of the slang, or most of the French, and my dad couldn't help. When it was finally published in English, my version had a disclaimer that it was true to the feeling of the times, and they are sorry if anyone takes offense.
At one time, we also had some Quick & Flupke (I think Lojen still might) books, but never saw the Jo, Zette, and Jocko books.
A better source for info might be Tintin.com (http://www.tintin.com/), which has more stuff about Georges Rémi/ Hergé.
From:
Re: Tintin
From:
Reminds me of Snoopy
Oh, and I know how you feel about being torn by wanting to be in several places at once. It started for me when I was a child and visited my dad in California. I cried on the plane home to Michigan one year because I had convinced myself it was the last time I'd be able to see my grandparents alive, which wasn't true and they're still alive and kicking, but the emotions were real.
Yeah, I've long since decided that I wanted to create a commune full of everyone I love so I can keep them all together. And you'll be there, and you can move in all the people you love and then we'll all live happily ever after....
From:
Re: Reminds me of Snoopy
I also loved the Snoopy cartoons growing up, and had my Peanuts bedsheets, comforter, and pillow case! *grin* I don't think I ever actually saw the play You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, though! See how deprived I was?
I'm glad that you can understand how I feel about wanting to be multi-locational. I've felt that way, to varying degrees, for many years. After all, I am called Nomad. I like to be in different places, but I always miss several places that I am not. I am feeling very strong longings to be multi-locational right now, after such an excellent month in the States. It would be quite fair to say that you are a large part of the reason I want one of me in the UK and at least one of me in the US right now!
By the way, I am really glad to hear that your grandparents are all still alive! That's awesome! I think we talked about this a bit in your tent, actually... though a lot of that time has become merged together in the haze of bliss. I started life with three grandparents and currently only have one left.
As far as your wish to create a commune? As me about that on the phone sometime. I have a story that I want to share with you... and, yes, it does involve yet another thing that we have in common!
From:
Re: Reminds me of Snoopy
?????? Seriously? I have been so lax in my duties of TRULY initiating you into the geekdom. The king will be very disappointed in me.
Charlie Brown is a classic. It's very cute and kitchy, but very funny.
*runs off to cause mischeif* ;-)
From:
Re: Reminds me of Snoopy
Have fun causing mischief! And come back to tell me about it later...