http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/ Rants and raves from the mind of Ned Gallagher . . . en Copyright 2010 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:50:43 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss My last night of entertainment before heading home brought me to the Haymarket Theatre to see the limited run of Ian McKellen and Roger Rees in Waiting For Godot, Irishman Samuel Beckett's best-known work in the "theater of the absurd." Part of the play's appeal is its frustration, of course, and it was fun to see it handled by two master actors.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003074.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003074.html Arts & Culture London Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:50:43 -0500 Judi Dench was the star attraction in the Rose Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Kingston-upon-Thames, not far outside of London. Her Titania was clearly the center of this Peter Hall-directed production. I took the bus straight here here from my afternoon flight to Heathrow, settled into my hotel, and walked to the riverbank to this shiny new two-year-old playhouse based on the original Shakespearean theater in the city.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003050.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003050.html Arts & Culture Kingston-upon-Thames Shakespeare Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:51:56 -0500 My trip to the opera here in Copenhagen might have been a disaster had I not set out early from my hotel. I took a bus to the modern opera house and arrived to find the place absolutely deserted. Clearly this place was not hosting anything tonight. I was lucky that a water bus pulled up just then and was ferried back across the harbor to Nyhavn such that s short stroll took me to the old Royal Theatre--a beautiful old fashioned building ornately decorated within. The opera tonight was The Magic Flute, sung in German with Danish titles projected above the stage (didn't look much different to me than what was being sung!). Because I had seen this work before, I could mostly follow what was going on. I was struck that the opera seems to be a less formal affair than it does back home. And the crowd was, on average, much younger than what one would find in an American opera house. I guess opera here is more successfully woven into the national culture.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003073.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003073.html Arts & Culture Copenhagen Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:34:21 -0500 Near my hotel there are a couple of cinemas, playing mostly English language movies with Danish subtitles. So this was a perfect chance to see The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus, which I missed when it was released stateside. As expected in a Terry Gilliam film, this work is long on visual imagination and pretty weird. An enjoyable diversion.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003072.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003072.html Arts & Culture Copenhagen Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:51:44 -0500 Made it to Copenhagen and everything has gone smoothly thus far. The airport experience was pleasant (the immigrations inspector hardly looked at my U.S. passport before waving me in). The train station just beneath the terminal has frequent trips to the heart of the city, just minutes away. As is the case in other Scandanavian countries, most people here speak flawless English. I have checked into my hotel, conveniently located near the Central Station and the Tivoli Gardens (closed until April, unfortunately) and am now fighting a bit of jet lag.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003071.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003071.html Copenhagen Travel Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:51:04 -0500 Julie And Julia, which was pretty good, though not quite engaging enough to keep me awake. We landed in London a bit early, I didn't have to walk forever (which one usually does at Heathrow) and the lines at the U.K. Border and the "in transit" security checkpoint were virtually non-existent. Picked up today's copy of The Guardian and a couple of English magazines for the SAS flight to Copenhagen later this morning.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003070.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003070.html London Travel Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:44:43 -0500 Back at Kennedy Airport once more. Had a flawless drive down and left the Explorer in Long-Term Parking and then took the AirTrain to arrive at Terminal 4 with plenty of time to spare (still reliving my nightmare at the end of summer school last year, when I missed my flight to London!). Next stop: Heathrow Airport. http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003069.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003069.html New York City Travel Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:32:04 -0500 I am spending the rest of this week in Denmark and England, and I have packed VERY light. Taking only a backpack with me, and that's far from fully stuffed. Just one pair of pants will do for the week, and one pair of sneakers as well. A total of three shirts. One book to read, and one to write in. My MacBook Air. An iPod. A comb, a razor, and a toothbrush. Some vitamins. That's pretty much it. ]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003068.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003068.html Travel Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:29:09 -0500 One of my students in my first year at Choate, Geoffrey Fletcher, just won an Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay. What a thrill. This was largely unexpected, as he was passed over in the other major awards shindigs this season. And judging from Geoff's reaction, he was pretty surprised too! Bravo, Geoff.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003067.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003067.html Arts & Culture Teaching Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:15:20 -0500 So I knocked off the Henry VI plays--the ones I thought would take me longest to cross off on my quest to complete the Shakespeare canon. I was in the theater from 10 this morning until about 5:30 this afternoon, and decided to pass on the last installment of the War-A-Thon, which was Richard III--I have already seen this play and likely will see it again soon, and I clearly needed a break. I am very glad I got to see this production and liked the Henry VI trilogy a lot more than I thought I would. I can see exactly what parts of these works I will want to excerpt for my spring term class on Shakespeare's history plays.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003066.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003066.html Arts & Culture Shakespeare Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:52:37 -0500 I am driving to New Jersey this morning to spend most of the day in the theater, seeing the "War-A-Thon," which is all three parts of Henry VI along with Richard III performed by the Collingswood Shakespeare Company.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003049.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003049.html Arts & Culture Shakespeare Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:21:04 -0500 While procrastinating the last batch of end-of-term reports for my students, I created some Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages for the teams I coach. Amazing how productive one can be when there is something else pressing to finish! So you can become a Facebook fan of Choate Cross Country, Choate Squash, and Choate Tennis!]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003065.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003065.html Athletic Administration Design Sport Technology Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:56:12 -0500 I saw a second production of Equivocation in New York tonight; I liked the play a great deal when I saw its premiere outing in Oregon last summer and wanted to see if this version was any better. It wasn't, I think, but this still was an enjoyable show. I know a bit more about the background--the Gunpowder Plot, the King's Men (Shakespeare's theatrical company), and the Catholic vs. Protestant angle in late 1500s and early 1600s England--now than I did the first time I saw this play, and so was more attuned to some of the details in the work. Pretty provocative stuff.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003064.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003064.html Arts & Culture New York City Shakespeare Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:19:59 -0500 I caught a late afternoon showing of The Ghost Writer down here in the city. Pretty good political thriller, even if I saw the key plot twist coming a mile away. I like Ewen McGregor in just about anything he's in, and this movie made the best use of Pierce Brosnan since The Thomas Crown Affair remake.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003063.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003063.html Arts & Culture New York City Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:06:46 -0500 I took a handful of the kids still on campus to the midnight premiere of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. Safe to say that they liked it more than I did. I thought it was visually stylish--to be expected in a Burton flick--but not very substantial beyond that.]]> http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003062.html http://www.nedgallagher.com/journal/archives/003062.html Arts & Culture Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:24:03 -0500