Musings and Delirium (Adelaide's Scrapbook)

[Adelaide Sitai]

Bonjour and welcome to my Scrapbook!

I've finally bitten the bullet and decided to write one of these. I've even made a special Scrapbook template - Woo! Within you will find rambling about Music, Fashion, Art, Films and Poetry, and just a lot of pretty pictures that I wanted to share. Also, my thoughts. My thoughts might be in here somewhere, possibly accompanied by drawings.

This Scrapbook belongs to Adelaide Sitai and to Coryphee.

Basic Info:

My name is Zoé, spelt and pronounced that way, and I am a student. Because it might explain some of my quirks and my insistence on using "S" rather than "Z" in words, I will explain that I am also English, or rather half English, half French. My interests include all the things detailed above, mainly, but also Architecture, Writing (specifically plays) Literature and lots and lots of Drama. Acting is what Adelaide and I have in common. I do an awful lot and some of the situations which take place in the Acting Threads are based on my own experiences.

Anyway, I leave you with this:

It's a trailer for a new film by the Viennese filmmaker Gustav Deutsch based on the paintings by the American Artist, Edward Hopper - thus combining two mediums that I love.


PS: Here is a link to my Vlog.

Vlog!

[Coryphee]

I thought I might introduce Coryphee at this point... *waves*

This is my new awesome character, Coryphee, who will be based in Ravok. She's both more conventional and less conventional than Adelaide and her primary hobby (as well as skill-base) is in becoming someone else. She's a competent morpher, after all.



This time, I also post pictures of Haute Couture, in my first attempt to show that Fashion can be an Art. These are both from Dior shows, the left inspired by Japan and Origami while the right is more to do with the Dutch Golden Age. I can sort of imagine wearing the one in Lhavit and the other in Ravok. Yellow is an awesome colour - people don't wear it enough.


And I leave you with this:

This song is Coryphee's theme tune but this is also an awesome music video set in a slightly Stalinist (?) concentration camp. Mylene Farmer, who sings it, is the model for one of Coryphee's alter egos - Juliette.

So much purty!

[Coryphee]

Hola!

After two very hectic days, a Party on Monday and Glyndebourne Operatic Festival on Tuesday Night... where I saw Rinaldo, beautifully performed, I'm taking a moment to rest, recover and probably post. If you have time to spare, as in two hours, I lay an offering of this video of the production I saw at Glyndebourne last year - Falstaff, though the video was done in 2009 when the production was first (?) performed. The Opera setting which the camera pans over was where I spent Tuesday evening, after having high tea at the Mildew. It starts off amazingly and just keeps getting better! Making my heart want to sing and cry, all at the same time.

I'm also given to reflect on the death of Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall. I've just re-watched Dead Poet's Society and added a cross and a date to my book full of mini-biographies of great actors. Part of my childhood seems to have disappeared but sadness must also give way to happiness and the need to be grateful, because of all the good times afforded me. Today, more than ever, I say carpe diem!

And I leave you with this, now that you know that all the great actors of the Hollywood Golden Age mentioned in it (from 3:40) have now died. For me, this tune is a lil' bit o' a classic:

Now, I shall go off and write! (Or rather, Adelaide probably will - Coryphee might sit here on her own, watching the Opera)

[Estrellir Konrath]

Pretty scrapbook! I bring to you an offering of music. It reminded me of Coryphee... maybe an alternate theme song?

[Adelaide Sitai]

That is a gorgeous piece of music! *Steals the offering and sneaks it back to her lair*

Coincidentally, I have been thinking a lot recently about the Dance of the seven veils, as a religious example of the fact that women are evil maneaters (Mwahahaha) but also how its portrayal in films and plays is defined and shaped by the era. Now, this may go without saying, but bear with me. The Dance of the seven veils is an age old story, rewritten and reshaped to suit certain agendas and taste. The 1923 silent version is as typical of its era as the melodramatic 1953 version with Rita Hayworth. The 1920s was, in many ways, a much more liberated time and didn't have to go by the restrictions of the Hayes code. Take for instance, the notion that the cast of the 1923 film was entirely made up of gay or bisexual actors as an homage to Oscar Wilde. Take, also, the fact that the story had to be completely changed in the 1953 version to make Salomé the good person (dancing to keep John the Baptist alive, rather than for his head) complete with lovely, silky blonde hair (blonde like every good person ought to be)
In more recent years, note how, in his 1988 film, Ken Russell is not content with merely using the biblical setting for his film. He has to juxtapose the story, Wilde's play, with the prostitutes and the clients of a brothel. Thus, he is trying to emphasise both the capitalism of the 80s and the position of women during the Victorian era, which Salomé allows him to do like no other story.
Finally, I have to speak my love for Carlos Saura's film version of the story which is about a theatre troupe putting on a production of Salomé. Naturally, real life and the fantasy world created by the actors mix considerably, but this works well.

Firstly, here is the dance from the 1950s film: it's kitsch, but it's supremely elegant and Rita Hayworth is a gem. I think this is perhaps one of the truest representations of the dance ever captured on film and the atmosphere is electrifying. Due to the nature of the era, everything is suggested and nuanced rather than explicitly shown. Not to mention that Salomé is stopped short just in time to remove her last veil. Still, watch it and stay to hear the scream at the end - it's so overdramatic that Salomé's distress is unfortunately forgotten as one attempts to supress a laugh.

Oh Rita!

And, because I just can't stop myself, here is the dance in the Carlos Saura film version of the story. Forgive the quality in both cases and note that, if you're a prude, you might not want to watch this very sophisticated dance with moderate notes of nudity.

So, I thank you Estrellir for the music! ...and I agree - it would make a good sort of theme song for Coryphee.


PS: Everyone reading this should watch "Salomé's Last Dance" for it is an excellent film. Glenda Jackson is in it and she's an absolute dream to watch perform.

[Adelaide Sitai]

Greetings and Salutations!

I'm keeping this one short and sweet (just like me... sort of) and sharing something that never fails to make me smile, but is probably also a real life version of the Tortoise and the Hare. Witness as Steve Bradbury wins the gold medal in the short tack speed skating event, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. This is probably one of my favourite moments in Winter Olympic history, not only because it was Australia's first Winter Olympic medal, and just goes to show that avoiding the melee can do you good.

Slow and steady wins the race, right? Well... not usually at the Olympics. I shouldn't think just hoping your opponents fall over will prove to be an effective tactic in the future, but ya never know.

[Adelaide Sitai]

Tiptoes in... sssh...

It's all gone very 'Mecano' right now where I am. I just re-found my tape of 'descanso dominical' (Yes. I still have tapes) and have been listening to it obsessively. It's just so pretty! So, just in case nobody has heard of 'Mecano' (and in case all my posts become weird and ethereal based on my background music) - I offer 'Hijo de la Luna' and leave.

I will now disappear...

[Adelaide Sitai]

Greetings!

One of my idols died yesterday. That is, Richard Attenborough. There are very few actors who could capture what he captured and very few directors who could do something as amazing as Gandhi - there's nobody quite like him. So, his passing saddens me in spite of the fact he lived to the ripe old age of ninety. Good innings.

Consequently, I re-watched Brighton Rock, marvelling once again at his portrayal of Pinkie, and have gone all a bit nostalgic. I love nostalgia... it's my favourite feeling: that mixture of happiness and sadness that it is ultimately purely human. It makes one want to cry, but cry because it feels so good to be alive and it feels like your opting in to understanding the beauty and pain of the world. Anyway, thought I'd offer a couple of songs in line with my mood; two songs I almost always cry at, but bearing in mind I'm the only one, it's probably just me. I have a lot of emotions, probably too many.

I will now go and find a corner to watch "Gandhi" in. Ciao!

[Coryphee]

I spent a day today wandering around my house reciting Edith Sitwell poems while wearing my pretty Ushanka and a Kaftan I bought in Morocco. No, really. My sister thought I had blown a fuse. Again.

So, here you go, a taster of my day and possibly my favourite Edith Sitwell poem.

SAID the Lion to the Lioness – ‘When you are amber dust, -
No more a raging fire like the heat of the Sun
(No liking but all lust) -
Remember still the flowering of the amber blood and bone,
The rippling of bright muscles like a sea,
Remember the rose-prickles of bright paws

Though we shall mate no more
Till the fire of that sun the heart and the moon-cold bone are one.’

Said the Skeleton lying upon the sands of Time -
‘The great gold planet that is the mourning heat of the Sun
Is greater than all gold, more powerful
Than the tawny body of a Lion that fire consumes
Like all that grows or leaps…so is the heart

More powerful than all dust. Once I was Hercules
Or Samson, strong as the pillars of the seas:
But the flames of the heart consumed me, and the mind
Is but a foolish wind.’

Said the Sun to the Moon – ‘When you are but a lonely white crone,
And I, a dead King in my golden armour somewhere in a dark wood,
Remember only this of our hopeless love
That never till Time is done
Will the fire of the heart and the fire of the mind be one.’

Also, enjoy this wonderful example of dancing. If you didn't know, it's called a Lindyhop - it's a swing dance that was popular in the 1930s and 1940s. I love how you can see bits of other dances from the era in it. For example, the Charleston.

Now, I shall go off and write! (Or rather, Adelaide probably will - Coryphee might sit here on her own, waiting for a job)

[Daegron]

This was a beautiful poem. Truly magnificent. Thank you for sharing On top of that... ah the thirties.... incredible music, and this is the craziest dance I've seen. Also, what is this rumor I hear about a fellow Morpher that appeared in Ravok and also on the far end of Mizahar ? This fleshcrafter would love a discussion about....shapes and forms. There are so few that practice the Art.