Category: events

LUMIÈRE, LE CINÉMA!

I am still unsure whether it was a good idea, but that was my typical full-blown FOMO: I read about this new film, which tells the story of the invention of cinema by the Lumière brothers, featuring over 100 original shorts, and I really-really-really wanted to see it! And there was not a single screening I could attend. Finally, I decided to do this silly thing: I got a ticket for 8:15 PM on Tuesday, hoping I’d be able to come to the Siskel Center after the egg coloring in the ODS. I decided that if the residents wanted me to stay longer, I would not go, but we were done coloring by 7:30, so I left around 7:45, and was at the Siskel Center on time.

The film was very long. The program said it was 106 minutes, but it was still not over at 10:10 PM, when I decided I needed to go, otherwise I won’t be able to get up the next day!

My other laments: in the clip, the comments are in English, but at the screening, the comments were in French, and the subtitles were white, which made it difficult to read over the black and white screen, so often, I would choose to pay attention to the screen rather than the story. I found the most interesting to see how they chose what exactly they were filming, and how exactly.

Here is the Siskel Center description of the film, and the trailer:

In one of those wonderful coincidences of history, lumière, the French word for “light,” was also the last name of brothers Auguste and Louis, whose brilliant invention, the cinematograph, helped to inaugurate the most beloved art form of the last 130 years. Institute Lumière director Thierry Frémaux uses LUMIÈRE, LE CINÉMA! to guide the viewer through over a hundred shorts—some famous, some forgotten, some never before seen—directed by Lumière and company. In the process, Frémaux illuminates how the brothers employed the camera as a creative instrument as they (and their operators) mastered framing, staging, and subject selection for quotidian and exotic microdocumentaries as well as the first ever fictional motion pictures. The result is not only a glorious re(telling) of the genesis of cinema but a profound meditation on the beautiful world captured—and the mysterious world imagined—by the Lumières.

Even though I definitely did not get enough sleep on the third day after I came back from Finland, I think it was totally worth it!

Helsinki Music Center

On Friday evening, we went to one more concert. Once again, it was in the Helsinki Music Center, which I first visited last time, and loved it. This time, it was Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was titled “I Want to Be Alive”, and that was the name of the piece which was performed after the intermission, and was composed by Daníel Bjarnason. OK, I know it sounds confusing, so let me say it again. Daníel Bjarnason was conducting, but the first part featured Wagner and Szymanowski, and in the second part, the orchestra performed the piece composed by Bjarnason, which was called “I Want to Be Alive.” And that’s also how the whole concert was called.

Once again, I love this venue!

Once again, sitting on the side when there is a soloist, is a bad idea. Boris said he remembered I said so, but he got the tickets on the side again, and it was a bad idea again/ The orchestra sounds great. The soloist when there is no orchestra, also sounds great. But not together. You have to face both the orchestra and the soloist to get a good sound.

And one more, completely unexpected! We saw Esa-Pekka Salonen in the foye!!! First I thought: no, it’s impossible; it’s just someone looking like him, because otherwise, there would be a big crowd around, and he is just talking with a couple of people. But later, when we passed by one more time, I realized that Finns were just being polite, because other people were turning their heads back after they passed this group :).

Below is some interesting art on display in the foye, and a sculpture in front of the Music Center.

An exhibit in the foye

… and yes, a million years ago, there was such a thing as an ice-cream after going to the movies, right?

Madama Butterfly At Lyric

OMG, what a beautiful performance it was! I read all about it before coming (except for reviews, of course), so I knew that it is set like Pinkerton being a modern life gamer, and he plays the story in virtual reality. And when he gets to the next level, he has to choose whether he is staying with his American wife or with Chio-Chio-san, and he chooses the former, and then the tragedy unfolds.

It’s so beautifully done! Everyone is so real! My neighbor said it’s the best she’s ever seen at Lyrics. She says this often :), but the performance was great, indeed.

A Piano Recital At The Fine Arts Building

I was there on Sunday, because my friend Y started to take piano lessons there, and she really wanted me to come, and I promised her I would.

To say I was impressed with her teacher is not enough. She works with such a diverse student body and has so much patience and love, and offers endless encouragement and support. And all this in that amazing building, where the walls speak of history and great artists of the past!

I deeply regretted that I couldn’t stay after the recital for a small reception, but that weekend, my time didn’t belong to me; I had way too many things to complete. Even today, I feel very bad that I had to leave, because this teacher is doing God’s work, and I should have told her that in person, not through my friend Y.

I will definitely come to the next recital, and I already told Y that she should stay with this teacher and never quit 🙂

DePaul Industry Night

On Wednesday, March 11, our non-profit Pairie Postgres participated in the  Business & Data Analytics Industry Night at DePaul University as a resource for students. I was pleasantly surprised that our communications with DePaul are deepening, and they actually do all they can to include us in any events we might be interested in. It was great to talk with students directly. Yes, it might feel like a very modest outcome: one student registered for our June conference, and one student emailed us to tell us he wants to volunteer, but it’s so much better than nothing (which we had before!).

Carlos, the only local Board member except for me, was able to join me, and another organization member, Robert, also joined us. We had a great time at the event and appreciate the opportunity to connect with students and share that learning about databases can benefit their future careers.

I saved the last copy of our book from being silently taken 🙂

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Just watched it at the Siskel Center – the theater was packed, and a significant part of the audience was not Russian-speaking. The English subtitles were OK – some nuances were definitely missing, but still quite accurate. They should have run the subtitles in the end, when they play a recording of “Broad and vast is our mighty country” – it’s not like every English speaker knows this song, and I think it’s important that during the time of a tightening oppressive regime they play “where man is gloriously free.”

The documentary is unimaginably depressing. Not only because of what exactly it shows, not only because the audience physically feels the pressure of the Russian propaganda machine, but also because of how Pasha chooses to be blind even after he left Russia: everything was fine before February 2022, and then all of a sudden…

As always, I didn’t read any reviews before watching, and now I see some interviews with Pasha, and I am oging to try to watch at least some of them (I have no idea when I find time, but…)

Daylight Time Change After a Sleepless Night

I had an overnight flight from LA, and it was also a day of switching to DST, which resulted in a 3-hour time change. With the flight lasting less than four hours, I slept so little that my Apple watch didn’t even scream at me, but made a sad face: bad nights happen!

Also, I didn’t realize that the CTA was doing something on the Red Line Lake station, so when I exited the Blue Line at Washington, and walked to the Red Line, I found everything closed and a CTA worker explaining to me that I needed to return to the Blue Line exit, get out to the street and walk to Wabash where the Red Line was rerouted for a day. And if I knew, I could just get off at the previous stop and transfer! Another 30 min without breakfast 😂

Finally, I got home, ate breakfast at 9:30 AM, started laundry, talked to Boris, visited my Mom, and went for a short bike ride. Yea, I know!!! But that was not it!

I had a ticket to the Drowsy Chaperone at Theo that night, and I was going to go there with my friend MaryAnn, so there was no question of not going.

Don’t take me wrong, I liked the show, it was something very unexpected, and very well done, but MaryAnn was crazy about the show, and kept telling me how much she liked it. And I was happy that she was happy 🙂

Unfortunately (and as always!), they do not have any pictures and videos from the show yet, because it was just a preview weekend, but I will update this post later!

The Day Iceland Stood Still

There was a free screening for the Gene Siskel Center members of this incredible movie, The Day Iceland Stood Still. I was in yet another work emergency, and would opt to skip if I didn’t have prior plans to go with a friend.

This documentary is so timely in many ways! It is yet another proof that everyone has to fight for their right, and that a good fight pays off :). Looking at Iceland nowadays, youwould never imagine that it was lagging in women’s rights until fairly recently! And what beautiful people all these women are! It was such a delight to listen to them share the memories of this day fifty years ago!

A documentary about women, made by women, and a message to all of us!

Vlad In Chicago

Vlad made a surprise visit to Chicago, and immediately, Illinois and all neighboring states knew! My weekend ended up being completely upside down, but it also presented an opportunity to take a picture with all my children, which hadn’t happened for more than two years.

Vlad was doing a pop up in the Lilac Tiger bar:

I asked Vlad to make minis for me, so that I could try more than one 🙂

Also, I asked him to visit my mom, which he did on Saturday. I went there with him because, at this point, my mom needed an interpreter. We had not more than twenty minutes one-on-one, but overall, visiting my mom with Vlad, and coming to his event today, significantly altered my plans, and I have no idea how and when I will catch up with the rest of my life. And no, I am not complaining 🙂

Joffrey: American Icons

Yesterday, my neighobor and I attended yet another amazing Joffrey ballet performance. The “American Icons” showcases the works by several choreographers who contributed to Joffrey ballet through the seventy years of it’s existance.

Here is what Sun-Times wrote about this program:

The Joffrey Ballet’s early years have been enshrined in American legend, as the small troupe toured the country in a station wagon full of entrepreneurial postwar spirit and youthful enthusiasm.

Founded in 1956 by Robert Joffrey, son of a Pashtun father and an Italian mother, and second-generation Italian immigrant Gerald Arpino, the 70-year-old company continues to draw exceptional dancers from around the world to Chicago.

The Joffrey is, quintessentially, a company of immigrants in an American city powered by immigration.

The Joffrey’s “American Icons” program, running through March 1 at the Lyric, is, appropriately, a melting pot, too. Showcasing work by Joffrey and Arpino, plus dances by founding company dancer Glen Tetley and iconic modern choreographer Martha Graham, the evening’s collection evokes Old Vienna, Ancient Greece, Belle Époque Paris and the Catholic Church.

Collectively, the works communicate a modern American perspective on the Old World, and they represent an essential Americanness even while expressing the statelessness of dance.

I throughtly enjoyed avery moment of this performance, and at some point in the middle of it I realized that I have been smiling all the time. Each movement was impecable. The pictures can convey only that much of the beauty…

And the only photo taken by me: