O my Christian ducats!

I found UNC’s performance of The Merchant of Venice to be very good. Going into it with no previous knowledge about the show, it was still very easy to understand what was going on because of the wonderful cast. I didn’t have any trouble finding the plot among all of those “how nows” and “thous”. My personal favorite was Eric Ritter’s performance as Bassanio. The whole show, especially the second half, was absolutely hilarious. They really made Shakespeare come alive. I love the irony of this play and the loopholes. It has quite the dramatic twist.

While the actors were awesome, I’d have to say the star was the set. There was a beautifully painted background, a floating balcony, a fountain, a ship and the stage was raked. I have never before seen an actual performance on a raked stage, it was a very cool effect and it also makes me wonder if the actors fall on it a lot. I really liked how subtle changes on stage put us in a completely different scene. Definitely two thumbs up.

Zittoun

First of all, I had a very difficult time understanding the guest speaker because of her accent and because she spoke so softly. Also the subject matter was a little bit over my head at times. All of these add up to not very much understanding, but there were some concepts she spoke on that I did grasp.

All the talk about time taken for granted, ruptures and transitions really hit home for me because there are definite times I’ve seen that in my life. Coming to college is the classic example and really was a hard transition for me. And now with college coming to a close and real life looming I worry about this transition again. I still have a semester before that one hits, but I feel like I’ve definitely taken a lot of my life for granted.

I also agree with Zittoun that youth is not merely a transition between childhood and adulthood. It’s an important part of everyone’s life.

Essay: A Peircian Semiotic Theory for Music

This is a chewy reading. So chewy in fact, I almost broke a tooth. Although what parts of this article I could intellectually chew on were quite interesting.

The section I most enjoyed and related to was the one entitled Signs of Experience and Emotion. The section discussed how one musical sign could contain a lot of different meanings in a single sign. They use the example of a romantic couple’s “our song”. When the song first occurs, during their first dance perhaps, it’s a meaningful and emotional sign. Then every other time they hear it while still in the relationship it may have taken on additional objects to go with the new occasion. Then if the couple breaks up and one of them hears the song it will continue to have a powerful emotional effect. The old memories of that first dance, times together and the heartbreak that followed will all be felt simultaneously creating a complex contradictory meaning. I can completely relate to this, not necessarily in a romantic sense, but in general.

I am a very musically minded person. The article states that “Indices often carry personal meanings, and thus our emotional investment in them tends to be higher than for general signs, especially when attached to significant aspects of our lives.” I couldn’t agree more. For me, almost every song I know I have something connected to it. If I hear Bleeding Love I think about the summer I spent at Disney World. If I hear anything by The Fray I think about Red Rocks. If I hear I Won’t Say I’m in Love from Hercules I think of my friend Alyssa. And most of them make sense to only me. I can’t just listen to music: music is an emotional experience for me always tied to memories. So in this instance I am living breathing proof of this theory.