Back reading Arlene Croce pieces in The New Yorker, attempting to properly ascertain just how much of her political agenda penetrated her critical point of view, and how she utilized her position as dance critic to push her political agenda.
Since she concentrated on pre-Russian Revolution classical ballet, it seems she could present many reactionary agendas 'between the lines.' But it's difficult to judge that, when I bring such an opposite perspective to what I'm reading. That's why I got drafted to do this, because I know the ballet vocabulary, I have watched many of the ballets, I know ballet history and I love ballet, whereas Vaquero and the others don't. But Croce is becoming an increasingly unpleasant writer to spend time with, as her nasty world view seeps through an ever-thinner mask.
As well, this week is hard. Our New Orleans friends, both those who were relatively unscathed materially (but that doesn't exclude trauma) and have been able to return and those who lost everything and cannot return, are hurting so badly. Or else they are pretending that they've moved on, when with every e-mail, every word their grief and trauma appears.
So, I get to watch Fred Astaire and Errol Flynn movies this week, every night around dinner time. Last night I saw The Master of Ballantrae. Tonight it shall be Robin Hood. The Story of Irene and Vernon Castle, Virginia City, and Birth of Blues are on the schedule. So is The Outlaw. No, that's neither Flynn nor Astaire, but it is Jane Russell.
Do you think anyone at the demCon will mention New Orleans and the shameful neglect and denial meted out to her citizens?
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I love Errol Flynn movies. Greatly underrated as an actor, IMHO. Check out "Dawn Patrol" and "Gentleman Jim."
One of my favorite cult movies has Jane Russell opposite Robert Mitchum as "His Kind Of Woman."
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