News & Events: October 2008 Archives
Caledon Library Book of the Month Discussion and Listening Party
Book: Scenes from the Life of Bohemia by Henri Murger (English translation of Scènes de la Vie de Bohème)
Opera: La Bohème by Puccini
Sun, November 9, 1-3 pm slt
HG Wells Memorial Library, Caledon Wellsian
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Wellsian/235/239/31
Take the Caledon Train, or use the handy teleport from the Wellsian Hub
Or tune in at http://music.radioriel.org
"Who am I? I am a poet.
What do I do here? I Write.
And how do I live? I live
in my contented poverty,
as if a grand lord, I squander
odes and hymns of love.
In my dreams and reveries,
I build castles in the air,
where in spirit I am a millionaire."
(Act I of the opera, Rudolfo to Mimi on the occasion of their first meeting.)
A generation of young people who defied all social, political, and cultural boundaries - they embraced poverty; wore outrageous, colorful clothes; seemingly lived by the motto ‘love the one you’re with’; and generally left their parents scratching their heads and wondering where they went wrong. But this wasn’t the hippie generation of the 1960’s - it was the generation memorialized in Henry Murger's Scènes de la Vie de Bohème, originally published as a series of newspaper articles and based on the life he and his friends chose to live: the Bohemians of the 1840’s and 1850’s. More than any other, Murger influenced the youth of his generation to adopt the Bohemian lifestyle -- freedom, art, and pleasure, unrestricted by the societal conventions of the bourgeoisie.
While Murger’s book, a compilation of those articles, achieved some success and in fact developed something of a cult following, it was Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème -- an opera loosely based on that book -- that cemented Murger’s place in history. The opera, castigated by the critics of the day as too light-hearted and sentimental, has come to be regarded as a masterpiece and is surely Puccini’s best-known work.
Come join us at the HG Wells Memorial Library in Caledon Wellsian, to listen to the opera (streamed for us by our friends at Radio Riel) while we discuss both works, and their remarkable conjunction.
Copies of the book (in the original and in two English translations) may be had at the library, or found online at:
Scènes de la Vie de Bohème par Henry Murger
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18446
Bohemians of the Latin Quarter by Henri Murger
http://home.swbell.net/worchel/contents.htm
Scenes from the Life of Bohemia by Henri Murger
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=OeIOAAAAIAAJ
This event is sponsored by the Caledon Library, and produced by Radio Riel
Be sure to join us afterward for a Palm Court Tea at The Bashful Peacock, just across the way
Book: Scenes from the Life of Bohemia by Henri Murger (English translation of Scènes de la Vie de Bohème)
Opera: La Bohème by Puccini
Sun, November 9, 1-3 pm slt
HG Wells Memorial Library, Caledon Wellsian
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Wellsian/235/239/31
Take the Caledon Train, or use the handy teleport from the Wellsian Hub
Or tune in at http://music.radioriel.org
"Who am I? I am a poet.
What do I do here? I Write.
And how do I live? I live
in my contented poverty,
as if a grand lord, I squander
odes and hymns of love.
In my dreams and reveries,
I build castles in the air,
where in spirit I am a millionaire."
(Act I of the opera, Rudolfo to Mimi on the occasion of their first meeting.)
A generation of young people who defied all social, political, and cultural boundaries - they embraced poverty; wore outrageous, colorful clothes; seemingly lived by the motto ‘love the one you’re with’; and generally left their parents scratching their heads and wondering where they went wrong. But this wasn’t the hippie generation of the 1960’s - it was the generation memorialized in Henry Murger's Scènes de la Vie de Bohème, originally published as a series of newspaper articles and based on the life he and his friends chose to live: the Bohemians of the 1840’s and 1850’s. More than any other, Murger influenced the youth of his generation to adopt the Bohemian lifestyle -- freedom, art, and pleasure, unrestricted by the societal conventions of the bourgeoisie.
While Murger’s book, a compilation of those articles, achieved some success and in fact developed something of a cult following, it was Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème -- an opera loosely based on that book -- that cemented Murger’s place in history. The opera, castigated by the critics of the day as too light-hearted and sentimental, has come to be regarded as a masterpiece and is surely Puccini’s best-known work.
Come join us at the HG Wells Memorial Library in Caledon Wellsian, to listen to the opera (streamed for us by our friends at Radio Riel) while we discuss both works, and their remarkable conjunction.
Copies of the book (in the original and in two English translations) may be had at the library, or found online at:
Scènes de la Vie de Bohème par Henry Murger
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18446
Bohemians of the Latin Quarter by Henri Murger
http://home.swbell.net/worchel/contents.htm
Scenes from the Life of Bohemia by Henri Murger
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=OeIOAAAAIAAJ
This event is sponsored by the Caledon Library, and produced by Radio Riel
Be sure to join us afterward for a Palm Court Tea at The Bashful Peacock, just across the way
"I Loaf and Invite my Soul"
Identity & Selfhood in Virtual Worlds
A Conversation with Tom Bukowski
Wednesday, October 15th
6-7 pm SLT
Caledon Primverness
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Primverness/184/243/25
We're our secret selves, we're more than ourselves, we meet ourselves (or at least our alts) coming and going...in virtual worlds like Second Life, that's just the beginning. As the saying goes, It's Complicated. But then, so are we.
Join ethnologist Tom Bukowski, author of Coming of Age in Second Life for a conversation about the faceted nature of the self, and what virtual worlds have to teach us about what we've always been.
This event is sponsored by the Alexandrian Free Library, and produced by Radio Riel. If you can't join us in world, tune in at http://music2.radioriel.org
This event serves as an introduction to our new discussion series about the sense of self as it evolved in 19th century literature - particularly in poetry and fiction. Dame Kghia Gherardi will lead a discussion of a different work each month, through March 2009.
Discussions are 6-7 pm SLT. Location to be announced
Identity & Selfhood in Virtual Worlds
A Conversation with Tom Bukowski
Wednesday, October 15th
6-7 pm SLT
Caledon Primverness
http://slurl.co
We're our secret selves, we're more than ourselves, we meet ourselves (or at least our alts) coming and going...in virtual worlds like Second Life, that's just the beginning. As the saying goes, It's Complicated. But then, so are we.
Join ethnologist Tom Bukowski, author of Coming of Age in Second Life for a conversation about the faceted nature of the self, and what virtual worlds have to teach us about what we've always been.
This event is sponsored by the Alexandrian Free Library, and produced by Radio Riel. If you can't join us in world, tune in at http://music2.radioriel.org
This event serves as an introduction to our new discussion series about the sense of self as it evolved in 19th century literature - particularly in poetry and fiction. Dame Kghia Gherardi will lead a discussion of a different work each month, through March 2009.
Discussions are 6-7 pm SLT. Location to be announced
- "Self-Reliance" and "Circles" (1841) - Ralph Waldo Emerson - November 11 2008
- Leaves of Grass (1855) - Walt Whitman - December 02 2008
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1886) - Robert Louis Stevenson - January 20 2009
- Portrait of Dorian Grey (1890) - Oscar Wilde - February 10 2009
- The Awakening (1899) - Kate Chopin - March 10 2009
Caledon Library Book of the Month & Listening Party - Selected Short Poems of Lord Byron
Sun, October 12, 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
HG Wells Memorial Library
Caledon Wellsian
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Wellsian/235/239/31
Take the Caledon Train, or use the handy Teleport from the Wellsian Hub
His contemporaries thought him variously "mad, bad and dangerous to know", "the civilest man in Europe" , a paragon of politesse, a rascal and a scoundrel, the source of all his own troubles, or woefully misunderstood. But none doubted Lord Byron's wit, his passion, or his polish.
Whether he was a self-pitying whiner, the Grandfather of Emo Mopers, or a bold and honest heart, as badly treated by society as he claimed himself to be, Byron was an unquestionably brilliant poet, and a keen and mercilessly accurate observer of his of his world. Libertine, idealist and the Romantic's Romantic, Lord Byron was anything but simple, despite his occasional protestations to the contrary.
His poetry strikes a different balance -- it has the simplicity possible only when a poet has perfect control of the poetic medium. His syllables flow effortlessly, and at its best his verse has a nonchalance that makes it all the more powerful when some phrase (be it lyric or ironic) strikes precisely home. This month's listening party will give us chance to consider some of Lord Byron's shorter poems.
So We'll Go no More a Roving
She Walks in Beauty
When We Two Parted
For Music
To Augusta
All for Love
The programme will be streamed to the library on Radio Riel -- if you can't join us in-world, tune in at
http://music.radioriel.org -- and all exquisites and aesthetes are invited to join us afterward at the Bashful Peacock, across the way, for dancing at the monthly Palm Court Tea at 3pm
gentlebeings, your servant
JJD
Sun, October 12, 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
HG Wells Memorial Library
Caledon Wellsian
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Wellsian/235/239/31
Take the Caledon Train, or use the handy Teleport from the Wellsian Hub
His contemporaries thought him variously "mad, bad and dangerous to know", "the civilest man in Europe" , a paragon of politesse, a rascal and a scoundrel, the source of all his own troubles, or woefully misunderstood. But none doubted Lord Byron's wit, his passion, or his polish.
Whether he was a self-pitying whiner, the Grandfather of Emo Mopers, or a bold and honest heart, as badly treated by society as he claimed himself to be, Byron was an unquestionably brilliant poet, and a keen and mercilessly accurate observer of his of his world. Libertine, idealist and the Romantic's Romantic, Lord Byron was anything but simple, despite his occasional protestations to the contrary.
His poetry strikes a different balance -- it has the simplicity possible only when a poet has perfect control of the poetic medium. His syllables flow effortlessly, and at its best his verse has a nonchalance that makes it all the more powerful when some phrase (be it lyric or ironic) strikes precisely home. This month's listening party will give us chance to consider some of Lord Byron's shorter poems.
So We'll Go no More a Roving
She Walks in Beauty
When We Two Parted
For Music
To Augusta
All for Love
The programme will be streamed to the library on Radio Riel -- if you can't join us in-world, tune in at
http://music.radioriel.org -- and all exquisites and aesthetes are invited to join us afterward at the Bashful Peacock, across the way, for dancing at the monthly Palm Court Tea at 3pm
gentlebeings, your servant
JJD