Category: Culture

I saw the Salzburg Marionettes’ new production of the Sound of Music this evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was wonderful! The music and story-line are so familiar, but seeing a live marionette production (which I have never seen live before!) with the singing and the music makes me think of entertainment and engagement in a new way.

I see and hear Julie Andrews, but she was not there. Instead, my mind interpreted what I saw and heard and processed it through my experiences. This makes me think of the simulacrum, where there is a copy of the real item that in itself becomes the real item itself.

Whatever the case, I think this is well-worth seeing.

People who know me know that I have a love of pugs, so when I saw this, I could not resist. Nothing like something cute for a cold and dark morning. Click it, and it may give you a chuckle as well.

Hard to believe that the original puppets used in the stop-action Christmas movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were almost lost to age and neglect. Of course, at the time nobody knew how popular the movie would become, even elevated to cult-status, sans people dressing as misfit toys.  Even though they have been on recent tours (nostalgia or new markets?) that have not been in or around NYC, they still hold a certain fascination for me.  

Philosophically and culturally speaking:

• Perhaps they hearken back to a simpler time (if there was such a thing?)?
• Perhaps they hold a gentleness for a violent and scary world (when was it never not that way?)?
• Perhaps they remind us of childhood (who really had a happy one, after all?)?
• Perhaps they are simply iconic or even somewhat archetypical (even in a Kantian perspective?)?

Whatever the case, in its simplest, they look good!