May 17, 2004

My Blog

I can't think of a good reason for this blog. I used to keep a private journal many years ago and the idea of a public blog seems a little strange to me, although not nearly as strange as the idea that anyone would read it. The title "Dead Cat On A Mountain" refers, of course, to Hemingway's "Snows of Kilimjaro", and this sense I get as I grow older of being lost and out of place and very far from the world where I belong. It promises to be a rambling mess of a thing, but also theraputic, and maybe just a little insightful.

Deadwood

I've been watching this show on HBO for no particular reason I can think of. It's not very good, really, and a pointless waste of time. However, on tonights show there was an interesting little moment between an epileptic preacher and an alchoholic Calamity Jane that keeps rattling around in my head.

On the show, the preacher worries that he is losing his calling and can no longer feel Jesus' words. When he tells Jane what is happening, she scowls at him and tells him something like "Well, welcome to the human race". The scene ends and we the audience are left with this feeling that now, at last, the preacher has lost his pretensions and must finally find acceptance in the common brotherhood of man.

As I watched it I thought "what a remarkable idea". That the saint should find redemption from the sinner! I say remarkable, and yet, very common really. In fact, the more I think about it the more ordinary an idea it seems. If cynicism is just anger at not wanting to be disappointed (or the despair of belief), then this type of redemption is the very heart of cynicism, isn't it? What could be more natural to the cynic than that the preacher should lose his kingdom of heaven and land in a mudhole like Deadwood. And how readily we, the audience, accept it as truth.

Since my secret dream is to write a great libretto one day, I'm thinking maybe I could write one about Deadwood. Let's face it, opera has already explored most of the great themes, but "the saint who finds rememption throught the sinner" is certainly ripe for investigation. I wonder if it's been done. Hmmmm.....


My Libretto

Speaking of opera, I just checked out a biography of Gaetano Donizetti from the library. I know I should be more modern but, God, how I love his operas. Seems like I just can't get enough bel canto. The book is 900+ pages and I'm eager to dig in, so I think I'll get started now. It's been kind of a rough start for my Blog, but hopefully I'll find my rhythm.