Since my last check in I've seen a few movies. I still don't get the zombie thing but I went to see World War Z anyway. Not great but not bad either. Redemption was interesting though I think the title really was in reference to the nun rather than the Jason Statham character. Just like I don't get the zombie thing I don't get the vampire thing either. Ooo look sexy vampires in the goth club getting all hot and steamy. Zzzz... With that said I am not sure why I went to see Byzantium but I did. I thought the movie was slow but not terribly so. It was an interesting take on the vampire movie, though I really wish that there was more time spent on the origin story (told through flashbacks) and more about the Brotherhood that is part of the movie. Maybe these missing bits will be in the director's cut.
About a week ago I was invited to go to the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix. I wasn't expecting much but as the museum was shutting down for the day (they close at 5 pm except on Thursdays) I wished we had gone a little earlier so we could have spent more time walking around. There are areas in the museum devoted to different geographical areas of the world. Most cultures seemed to have developed very similar instruments, but there was some that left me wondering how in the world did anyone think up that???? My one quibble with the museum was the headsets. The plus side of the them is you get to hear song clips featuring many of the instruments displayed. The song clips were well-chosen and featured traditional and folksy songs. So the quibble, you have to stand very close to the screens that mark the different areas. Take one step in the wrong direction and you lose the signal. I understand why they do it that way but this made it difficult to look at the displayed instruments and listen to the song snippets at the same time. Boo hoo. The museum's website suggests allowing two hours for your visit. I was there for about 90 minutes and barely scratched the US+Canada and Europe galleries (about half the floor space) so plan accordingly.
In the interest of time I didn't take too many pictures but below are photos of a few stringed instruments...
and a Spanish clavichord.
K-12 educators! I assume it is on-going but you can get free admission to the Musical Instruments Museum if you bring some form of teacher ID with you. Ask at the counter.
It's summer so I took the opportunity to cook a load of vegetables to make Stufato.
