dirac

It is unfortunate that Kelly always felt the need to come on butch -- he was tormented as a kid because of his dancing, even gave it up for awhile because the hassling was so hard to take. As the PBS special "Born to Be Wild" demonstrated, such anxieties and the apparent need to assure the public that male dancers aren't a bunch of big swishes - and I don't see what would be wrong if they were - are still very much with us. It's too bad. Certainly he was an active proselytizer for dance in general and ballet in particular, although his own gifts didn't really lie in that direction.

I remember von Aroldingen telling Robert Tracy she'd developed the wrong kind of musculature. Balanchine had her walk on her hands in Violin Concerto and another ballet, I think. Sylvie Guillem is the daughter of a gymnast and studied gymnastics for a number of years.

Also off topic - watch while you can, Drew. I fear the remaining soaps will not be with us long. Yes, the "when to quit" problem afflicts athletes as well as performers.The categories have some overlap when you think about it.

I'm all for people working as long as they want to work but on those occasions when I saw Diller in her final years I can't say the spectacle was a particularly edifying one. It's also nice to retain a sense of timing that tells you when to get off the stage. Obviously this isn't true of all elderly performers. I think it has less to do with generational issues than the need for attention - some performers have it under control, others not so much. I don't know how Diller was set up financially but money can play a role as well. And of course there's the desire to keep doing something you enjoy.

Thanks, rg. The photo with d'Amboise is a better pose but I must say Martins looks much better suited to the the ballet - a real danseur noble.

Well, yes. I do have some trouble equating a dry hump onstage with barelegged ladies. Danseurs have occasionally gone without tights, as Macaulay notes, without posing a threat to the essence of the art form. I don't much care for the pointes-without-tights look, but it could be because I just don't see it that frequently (not that I'm complaining). As I remember Croce's original the-arabeseque-is-real quote in context, she was not talking so much about the idealization of the ballerina's body but her body presented as an abstraction, which isn't the same thing. What's so horrid about being reminded from time to time of the fleshly humanity of a female dancer by the removal of tights?

Beleaguered housewife jokes and self-deprecating jokes about her looks were also the stock-in-trade of another pioneer, Joan Rivers (who has also persisted with extensive plastic surgery long after the law of diminishing returns set in). Interesting that Diller's mother and sister-in-law brought suit against her to prevent her from using them as material in her act. Woody Allen's first wife did the same thing.

Good point.....

The latest report from the front, or rather the back, as it were, by Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times. No doubt.

You're welcome, all. Nice link, Quiggin. The NASA website does have some fine stuff. A replica of Curiosity is on display at the Exploratorium for a limited time.

Not really in our portfolio, but still, awesome. Image gallery.

Thank you for the link, Jane. I did get kind of tired of all the diving and swimming in prime time, myself, but going by the ratings mine is plainly a minority opinion. If you got up early enough you could catch things like the modern decathlon.

It'll be interesting to see what Baron Cohen's next move is. I saw "Bruno" when it hit cable and it had some good moments but overall was badly misjudged. I didn't see anything written about "Dictator" that made me want to go.

I will probably get around to Hope Springs just to see Jones and Streep together. The movie seems to be something of a departure from the light Ephron and Meyers comedies Streep has been doing. Would be curious to hear from anyone who has seen it.

Very true, BocaBallerina. I hate to think of what it may be costing them, though!

Complaints about coverage are the usual thing, although as I said NBC deserves a beating for last night. I will say that I did get plenty of Olympics on television, as much as this viewer could handle at any rate, and it was more comfy watching from the sofa than peering at events online. On weekdays Olympic events could be seen on three different channels in my area, a fair number of events were shown live, and there were repeats in the wee hours of the morning in case you couldn't sleep and didn't want to watch Poker After Dark or whatever was on Cinemax. I don't think NBC has to worry about nose-snipping just yet. The internet experience still leaves something to be desired and I found it overrated this time around. No doubt that will change.

Ah, but not yet: according to Bob Costas last night, not only are athletes going to be on Fallon (and Leno?) all week, but every morning this week, they're doing some sort of Olympic recap. I think CTV/TSN/SportsNet has cut the umbilical cord, but there's not as much to revisit for the Canadian audience. I forgot to put a period in there. I meant to say that Bussell’s act went over well. The Olympics closing ceremony is usually a kitschfest and last night certainly didn’t disappoint in that regard. I don’t doubt that NBC is going to continue milking this particular cow for as long as possible.

Thanks for posting, leonid. I hadn't heard yet. As the Times obit says:

Well, that's the Olympics I understand it went over well. At least you got to see it properly, JMcN. That was the occasion of one of NBC's worst cuts. I really don't think their coverage was that bad overall but last night was pretty awful and I expect the network to get an earful.

I must respectfully disagree on some things - when I saw this years ago I thought Lubitsch's timing was off and the picture proceeded rather clunkily, for him. I knew the Coward play well and was surprised at how much of his dialogue was discarded - Ben Hecht rewrote quite drastically. Given that the principals were March, Cooper, and Hopkins instead of Lunt, Coward, and Fontanne, this is understandable, but again weird if you're familiar with the play. I remember Hopkins as very appealing and the accent didn't bother me (and stars hailing from the South tended to drop their regional accents at this period). I was not crazy about Cooper or March in this.

Well, who needs Darcey Bussell when you can have Russell Brand lip-synching "I Am the Walrus"? I think the pop music was intentionally slightly less geriatric this time around, not more so. They had The Who and probably deemed that sufficient. Seemed to be trying for a sort of spanning-the-generations effect. I too was disappointed by the Brazilian sneak preview, but at least they have several years to get it together.

Very sad news. Interesting to see by certain of the obits that some matters are apparently still considered in some quarters to be Unmentionable. A nice reminiscence by Toba Singer in the California Literary Review.

I much prefer the traditional ending to the men's marathon, with the race finishing in the Olympic stadium. Closing ceremonies a bit of a snoozefest. Eric Idle, who was actually singing, saved the evening, along with the nuns on rollerblades and the kickline of Roman legioniaries. Did anyone see Darcey Bussell or did I miss her bit?

I just haven't seen many. I did see The Dark Knight Rises and of course Magic Mike but didn't get around to posting. Wild horses would not drag me to To Rome with Love. The Bourne series is a reliable place to go for an action fix. Nice to hear that Renner did well. He's interesting to watch. Minnelli is certainly fabiulous in "Mein Herr," although I wouldn't rank it with Mom's best. Isherwood's Sally has no talent at all, so it really wouldn't be possible to put on any kind of musical that's faithful to Isherwood's conception (his Sally also has sharper edges than would ever be permitted to Ms. Harris or Ms. Minnelli). I find Issyvoo and Sally as lovers much weirder, myself. I've never seen Cabaret on a big screen and would love to. I did see it again on cable recently and it's one of those movies that gets better over time.

No doubt about that. Unfortunately his sport doesn't seem to know what to do with him. Mo Farah's second race was just as amazing as JMcN says. Wow.