This Monologue Is Really Something Else. His Voice And Acting Are Incredible. This Adaptation Is Also

This monologue is really something else. His voice and acting are incredible. This adaptation is also wayyy more sexual than i thought a 1800s Play could be.

One of the most beautiful passages in theatre history...fight me!

“I love you, I need you, I want you. I go to sleep thinking about you and wake up with your voice winding through my head, I look at you and I can’t focus, the whole world shimmers, I’m ashamed, I’m angry, I’m in love, I’m mad, I’m happy, I’m dead, I’m alive, I’m stupid, I’m tongue-tied."

- Cyrano de Bergerac adapted by Martin Crimp

I looove this analysis

Mansfield Park is a fairy tale, but then all novels are, in a sense, fairy tales. At first sight Jane Austen’s manner and matter may seem to be old-fashioned, stilted, unreal. But this is a delusion to which the bad reader succumbs. The good reader is aware that the quest for real life, real people, and so forth is a meaningless process when speaking of books. In a book, the reality of a person, or object, or a circumstance depends exclusively on the world of that particular book. An original author always invents an original world, and if a character or an action fits into the pattern of that world, then we experience the pleasurable shock of artistic truth, no matter how unlikely the person or thing may seem if transferred into what book reviewers, poor hacks, call “real life.” There is no such thing as real life for an author of genius: he must create it himself and then create the consequences. The charm of Mansfield Park can be fully enjoyed only when we adopt its conventions, its rules, its enchanting make-believe. Mansfield Park never existed, and its people never lived.

— Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Literature

Amadeus is such a great movie for learning the deep meaning of and the appreciation for Mozart's music

how to get into classical music?

this post is inspired by the great twoset violin video which you can watch here. Their tips are good, but I just wanted to add something based on my experience!

Listen to the compilations - I think everything works in this case, seriously - playlists on spotify, "the very best of " albums. You can just search for example "the very best of Vivaldi" and listen to whatever the hell is there.

Ask your classical music enthusiast friend what's their current favorite piece - that's the best question you can ask. Questions like "what are your 5 favorite pieces" or "what pieces would you recommend for a beginner" can be confusing for someone, who has hundreds of favorite pieces and knows thousands of them. If you ask about their current favorite piece, you can discover something completely new and complex.

Watch Amadeus - it is a movie about composers Mozart and Salieri and it's based on a play, so not everything there is true, but the soundtrack is just 100% classical music and like 99% of Mozart's compositions. How the soundtrack is combined with the atmosphere of this film is indescribable. And here's an important information - this movie made me loose my fucking mind and fall blindly in love with classical music. I didn't give a shit about classical music before watching Amadeus.

You already know some pieces but you're still too confused - search for other interpretations - the best thing about classical music is that you can find your beloved performance of your favorite piece and cherish it like it's your own treasure. So, for example, you know The Four Seasons and you like it, but you feel like something's missing? Search for other recording. btw - check out this Spring.

Find your favorite musicians - you find your favorite musician, you want to hear more of their work, you automatically check their other recordings and wow, suddenly you know more pieces! Even if you like this musician only because they're pretty and you want to watch them play! Go for it, there's nothing wrong about it!

WATCH performances - there's something hypnotizing about watching a perfectly synchronized orchestra, the work of a conductor, a violinist making funny faces, a pianist waving a hand in a weird way. Seeing it makes you feel more connected to the musicians and finally - to the music.

Go see a free classical music performance - even if it's something you don't know. Even if it won't be so great, because it's for free or something. Just take your friend and spend a nice evening. Or maybe it's free opera performance online? Then buy some chips or wine or whatever, read the synopsis to prepare yourself and go for it! I mean, if it's for free you can just leave or turn that off, you won't loose anything.

The very last thing - watch Twoset Violin. Even the silly charades videos or Ling Ling workout. You can't escape from exploring new pieces when you watch twoset. Their channel shows that classical music is for everyone and lots of their videos are very educational.

I looove the Patrick Melrose novels with all my heart. St. Aubyn has to be one of the wittiest writers since Oscar Wilde. His style is so sharp and intelligent.

“The claim that every man kills the thing he loves seemed to him a wild guess compared with the near certainty of a man turning into the thing he hates.”

— Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind

The smallest and prettiest book i own

It's a german poetry collection by Goethe

"You I saw, your look replied,

Your sweet felicity, my own,

My heart was with you, at your side,

I breathed for you, for you alone."

~ Welcome and Farewell by Johann Wolfgang Goethe

“I believe if there's any kind of God it wouldn't be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between. If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something. I know, it's almost impossible to succeed but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt.”

Before Sunrise (1995)