What a Wonderful World

Epiphany is an iron woman so hot her heart lights her on fire when it beats at the sky.

I missed Art Murmur on Friday because my friend Gillian Hamel was in a dance revue on campus at UCB.  She was great, and we all were very proud of little Gillian.  About midway through the show, an act came on called "At Least I spelled Your Name Right (Ballet 2), which was a ballet choreographed to The Postal Service's "Natural Anthem."  When the lights went out I leaned over to my friend Casey and said "that was fucking genius."  I could not believe how good it was.  I thought, we must have an amazingly talented instructor in the department.  Who knew UCB could be so good at dance?  I mean, I am not the biggest fan of ballet, and I don't know the terms or anything about it really, but this act was touching and exciting and elegant and beautiful.  It was also the biggest number with the greatest number of people.  When the show was all over, I grabbed a program to see what was what.  And the choreographer for the Postal Service number was none other than Pam Krayenbuhl.  Pam is a poet, too, and I count her as one of my friends.  She was one of the founding members of the Trainwreck Union, and I always knew she was talented, but I didn't know that her talent was so far-reaching and multi-faceted.  I was and am thoroughly and utterly impressed.

Then we saw Iron Man, which is a fantastic movie.  I am hyper-critical when it comes to film adaptations of comic books, but this one was perfect. Yesterday I tried to think of something to hate about Iron Man, and I just don't like a teeny tiny continuity problem and one place where they used CGI when it wasn't necessary.  But all in all, I give it an A.  And the cast was incredible and the dialog was well-written.  Another lovely surprise.

On Saturday, I got Tao Lin's new book in the mail, and then we all went to the Maker Faire.  I just stared at the screen trying to think of how to describe the Maker Faire.  I will just say that I think that it might be one of the coolest things I have been to all year.  There is so much to see and do there, and there are so many things to learn about and touch and play with and scream at and listen to and eat.  At night the fires keep you warm, and the steam punk band keeps you moving.  R2 D2 says hello during the day and robots perform tricks for you.  Boats have battles and bicycles power everything from buses to carnival rides.  Unbelievable.  I will be there next year, no doubt! I can't wait to read Tao's book.