We watched the first half of the PBS documentary Half the Sky last night. (Quarter the Sky?) The conclusion is tonight. I highly recommend it, but not for grandchildren. Here's the trailer.
The shows will be available for one week at PBS video (maybe not in Europe, sorry). Here is the link for Part 1. I'll update with Part 2 when it is released, which should be tomorrow. And here's Part 2.
Note on flu shots: This year they're pushing the intradermal shot. Personally, I think it's because they can use a lower dose, and therefore make the supply go farther. But they're hyping it as less painful ("90% smaller needle"). No matter how many times I told him needles don't bother me ("I gave blood yesterday!"), the nurse practitioner who administered the shot kept emphasizing the small needle and consequent reduced pain.
Based on a sample size of two, I'm here to say that that is bunk. Both Porter and I agreed that the intradermal shot hurt more than a regular injection, not less. I hope our grandkids appreciate the sacrifice. :)
Last Saturday was the opening concert for the Orlando Philharmonic's 20th Anniversary season. Pausing only briefly to wonder how the "new kid on the block" can be twenty years old already—I've done that several times already, the latest being only last month, with the first of our nephews to leave the teenage years behind—I'll just say that Maestro Christopher Wilkins once again began the season with a blockbuster program guaranteed to fill the house. One work: Mahler's Third Symphony. No intermission. Nearly 110 minutes long. The first movement alone is longer than the entirety of Beethoven's Fifth. The orchestra did a great job, but I have to say that they were upstaged by the members of the Florida Opera Theatre Youth Program. Some of those kids were as young as seven, they were highly visible on a platform well above the orchestra, the part that they had to sing was brief and late in the symphony, and they did not fidget. They sat still, they kept their hand in their laps most of the time, and they at least appeared attentive. In short, they did better than me.
I was not familiar with Mahler's Third; it's not programmed often, and I can see why: the orchestra is much larger than that required for most performances, and there's a large chorus as well. E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E. I'm glad the OPO took the plunge to offer it. I do have to say, however, that—unlike Mahler's First, which was love at first hearing for me—this one may take a little more exposure for me to appreciate. I found most of the movements reasonably enjoyable, but the sixth and last was interminable. I don't think that had to do with the fact that we'd been sitting for so long as that to my ears it didn't seem to get anywhere. Slowly.
Still, it was a good experience, quite possibly once-in-a-lifetime. We don't even have a copy of Mahler's Third in our extensive music library, though that of course could be remedied.
But once again here's a trailer that doesn't say anything about the actual work, except that they tell stories and invite celebreties to join. You are right that I can't view the video from here. I'll await your summary!
I've added the link for Part 2, though I haven't seen all of it yet myself. This show begs for a post of its own. I find it profoundly disturbing in a number of ways, only one of which is what was intended, I'm sure.
