« Moscow Nights |
Main
| holiday greetings, Return of the Dzhedai »
April 26, 2005
the Big Theater; presentation feedback sought!
Saw Swan Lake at the Bolshoi on Sunday. The ballet was great, and theater also impressive. It's big, as its name suggests,* but about the same size as the Mariinsky and Alexandrinsky theaters in Petersburg, from what I remember. But my memory might betray me.
* Well, you see, bolshoi just means large, which is a disappointing thing to find out when learning Russian. Kind of like finding out what je ne sais quoi means. But then you feel better when you learn that the official name of the theater is the State Academic Large Theater of Russia. There's a Small Theater too, in case you were wondering. It's right next door and also on Theater Square, which, I realize, is also not a terribly interesting name.
Anyway, have a look.
Outside, with some restoration work going on. It's closing July 1 for three years of restoration, so I got in just in time.
Vanity shot, complete with goofy smile, redeye, and flashface. (I don't think flashface is a word, but it's a good coinage if I do say so myself.)
And now, a request to my readers. If you have a chance, please take a look at my notes for my two upcoming presentations and let me know by May 4 if you have any suggestions:
Posted by kshawkin at April 26, 2005 12:45 AM
hey Bud -
help me out with the first bullet under "what is race (2)".....
“there is greater variation
between ‘racial’ groups than between
them.”
too many betweens.
Dad
Posted by: John Hawkins at April 29, 2005 06:39 AM
Oops, first "between" should have been within. Has been corrected.
Posted by: Kevin at April 29, 2005 05:04 PM
I hope it’s not too late to give feedback.
1. On the list of “ancestries”, what is “Acadian/Cajun”? That’s probably not important for the argumentation, but the audience might be puzzled.
2. Who (or what) is Barak Obama? Again, probably not very important but since you put it on a slide…
Posted by: olga_kh at May 2, 2005 12:11 AM
As for the English-Language Internet project, I wouldn’t dismiss the old Soviet dictionaries so lightly when speaking of reference resourses. They may be oriented to British English, and their original versions are certainly outdated, but, by and large, that’s all we have in terms of English-Russian lexicography. Keep in mind that all English-Russian electronic dictionaries, such as Lingvo, Multitran and others, are primarily based on the old “Soviet” sources such as Мюллер, Апресян, or Смирницкий. Surely no one would go over all the hundreds of thousands of words and expressions from scratch, without relying on all the valuable material that was collected before. Revised versions of old dictionaries are of course available now, and they are the main reference source for people who prefer print dictionaries to electronic ones.
Posted by: olga_kh at May 3, 2005 10:49 PM
olga_kh, no, it's not too late for feedback!
For your two questions about my presentation, I'll just explain these in person when giving the presentation. Acadians are the earliest French-speaking settlers in eastern Canada; "cajuns" is the name for their descendants who resettled in Louisiana after the British conquered New France. It's an English corruption of "Acadian".
Barak Obama is a "he"—a senator from Illinois who's a rising star in the Democratic Party. He's half black Kenyan and half white American. Within the black community in America, there's some discussion of whether he counts as "black" since he's not descended from slaves.
I've softened up my criticism of the Soviet classics. I think the copies I used a while back were all kind of old, so that helps explain why I found them ineffective.
Thanks for all your helpful comments!
Posted by: Kevin at May 4, 2005 07:28 PM