Saturday, January 27, 2018

Weekend Reading: The Delayed by Hamilton Edition

Last night, we went and saw Hamilton. It was "just" the touring group, and we had pretty crappy seats... but it was still really, really good. I'm glad I went. I realized at intermission that I would not be re-experiencing that initial jolt of "oh, I GET it, I see why this is such a huge phenomenon" that I got when I first listened to the soundtrack, but that was OK. It was still great to get to see the show.

I found that my appreciation of the characters of Jefferson and King George in particular was increased by seeing the show. Hamilton is a show that is very much about words, and you can get a lot of it from the soundtrack. But not all of it. So I'm glad I went. I'd say: go see it if you can. If you can't get the soundtrack and listen to it straight through, and you'll still get a feel for the energy of the show. I think the listening straight through part is important. I listened on a drive up to LA, and the drive was almost perfectly timed to the length of the show. I remember being just blown away by it as it ended, and being glad I hadn't set up my iPod to just play something else after it finished. I made the last little bit of my drive in silence, absorbing what I'd just heard.

Anyhow: Hamilton was good, but I was out past my bedtime and I am tired today! I am hoping for a short nap after lunch.

And here are the links I have for you this week:

First, a little promo: Annorlunda Books' next release, Tattoo, by Michelle Rene, is now available for pre-order. It got a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, and also a really nice review in Foreword (which is not out yet). Check it out!

Trump's administration (and I say "administration" here because let's be honest: it is pretty clear he isn't deeply involved in these policy details, this is coming from his advisors, not him) has finally released its immigration proposal, and if anyone wanted to argue this administration isn't just hostile to immigration- legal or not, I don't see how you still can. Josh Marshall had a good short discussion of why I say that.

(Aside: the "immigrants: we get the job done!" line got quite a cheer last night at Hamilton. Yes, it is a famous line. But San Diego is also a city with a lot of immigrants.)

I have mostly stayed out of the arguments about whether the Senate Democrats' decision to vote for a continuing resolution that allowed the government to re-open and funded CHIP but didn't resolve the status of DAC recipients was a good strategy or a bad one. But I strongly agree with this Matt Yglesias piece about the real reason the DREAMers are at risk. There is only so much the minority party can do in our current situation, and the Republican party has made it clear time and again they don't want to fix this problem. (Related: the Hastert Rule is BS, and if you have a Republican rep and agree with that statement, you might do some good by letting them know you think it is BS. We're at a juncture where I think moderate (or even pretty conservative but willing to compromise) Republicans can make a big difference if they speak up.)

If you're interested in a story visiting Clinton voters and asking them how they feel about their votes now... this one is pretty good.

If you haven't read Lili Loufbourow's essay about female pain as the price of male pleasure, read it now. It is the one link I'd say to read if you're only going to read one this week.

This is a really interesting story about a Black American novelist I'd never heard of.

Using fish skin to treat bears burned in the Thomas Fire.

Click through and read the story!





Bunny!




Happy weekend, everyone. I'm off to take a nap to try to recover from staying out past my bedtime....

2 comments:

  1. I had the same reaction to Jefferson--I knew he was a great character, and I knew he was going to be funny, but I didn't expect to *enjoy* him so much. And there were a couple of moments that weren't in the soundtrack. I knew about one of them from the Hamiltome, but one at the very end took my by surprise and really touched me.

    I would love to see that show again, and I know I'll have to wait for another tour--but I also know it'll be worth the wait.

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  2. I'm so happy for you!

    We had bad seats and 3 of 4 understudies and I still loved it. I had trouble not "hearing" the original cast like an echo in the back of my head but it was just a delightful confirmation that the show plays as well on the stage as it did in the soundtrack.

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