We were exposed to two sessions of culture over the weekend; three if you count Sofia's cold (rim shot sound effect here, please).
On Saturday night, after said nine year old went to bed, Andy and i watched Ondskan, a Swedish film recommended by my friend Helena in the comments on this post.
The English title is Evil, but i think i prefer saying it in Swedish. Oh, and despite what the DVD cover says, it is not "Fight Club in a boarding school".
The story is about a teenaged boy who gets into trouble fighting a lot at school. His mother sends him to boarding school for his last year, and he finds himself thrust into an archetypical boys prep school situation, i.e., humiliating and quite painful punishments meted out to the new boys by the established student 'Council'. More than once we cringed at the torture, especially that which was done in the dining hall (a solid whack on the head with the blunt end of a knife or the pointy end of a glass carafe stopper).
It was definitely worth watching, although the end was a little abrupt and cheesy (think: faraway look in the hero's eyes). Thanks for the tip, Helena. Do the Finns make any movies?
The other culture we exposed ourselves to was a masters organ recital at St Mark's Episcopal cathedral.
Our friend John, whose partner Danny and stepdaughter Mia came to our wedding, had to give an hour-long recital as part of his masters degree qualification. It was pretty interesting, and needless to say, John is an excellent player.
The church was a little odd, though. I always find Protestant churches a little unsettling, and i think i have finally figured out why: They often lack any picture or sculpture of Jesus. My primary churchy-type experience is looking at pretty Catholic churches, or churches that were Catholic until Henry VIII told them they wouldn't be anymore. I like stained windows, statuary, and vaulted ceilings. St Mark's is one of those churches built to look old, but it has a drop ceiling for spotlights and hollow columns to hold audio equipment.
Anyway, the recital was great, and we had a lot of fun at the after-party (an organ recital after-party -- doesn't sound quite right, does it?).
So, to wrap up, yesterday was a holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day, for those of you not in the US) and today was the Inauguration (i think you all know which inauguration i'm talking about). Tomorrow probably won't be very interesting...
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