alonewiththemoon | (no subject)

I realized last night the reason for my excessive muscle soreness this week. I am sick! It all makes sad sense now. I don't have time for this, but better now I guess than in November. Wondering if I should get a flu shot this year. My work offers them for free and by chance I'm going to be in the building where the shots are being given on the day that my section of the alphabet gets their shots. So it would be easy to do. OTOH, last year I did not have a flu shot and I had one of my healthiest winters ever. I think it will mostly come down to whether there's a line when I'm there or not. Oh, but I'm also scheduled for a tetanus booster that day, two shots in one day is too many I think. So there I go.

In the awesome news department, Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) has been cast to play young Scotty in the new Star Trek movie. I'm not remotely invested in the canon of original series Star Trek, so I'm all for experimenting with it, and playing up the camp won't hurt my feelings. Love the casting of Zachary Quinto (Sylar on Heroes) as Spock. Physically he's perfect for it and on top of that he loves Star Trek. Somehow it is very rewarding to learn that genre actors actually love the genre, like Will Wheaton, Vin Diesel, John Barrowman, et al. It's validating in some way, as though those movies and tv shows are being made not just for money but for love of science fiction/speculative fiction/fantasy/whathaveyou. Also validating in even greater degree is Doris Lessing's recognition by the Nobel Prize Committee this week. Science fiction can say important things, and not be ashamed of the genre label!

Despite being sick I worked more on my Mashaal-Lissa Fakir--baladi progression routine last night. It's tough to work on long routines, you don't feel like you get very much done despite dancing for quite some time. Still, I did make progress. I wish there were an extra week in the middle of October, I could really use it. I've realized though that the key to this routine is not so much technique but dance it like I love it, which in fact I do, and that will carry me through. Though technique-wise, watching Souhair Zaki dance it was inspirational and informative. For dancers interested in classic Egyptian interpretation and technique, her Sweet Star of Cairo DVD is an excellent resource, because she dances to short versions of so many of the classic songs over the course of a very long performance. Her makeup is a bit scary (she was performing in an ampitheatre and people had to see her from far away), but eventually you can see the face underneath it. Her technique is of course impeccable but she's really all about the joy. That's important to remember, especially with a song like Lissa Fakir which is very sad on the surface but is ultimately a song about strength and getting on with life.