Art makes us feel

We got to see The Sound of Music yesterday, and took my mom along since it's one of her favorite things ever. I'm not particularly well-versed in musical theater, though I've always loved it, flirted with it in college, and did lighting design for my community theater back in the day. Then I married a woman who left the biz, but still had her Actor's Equity card from her days working as a stage manager.

I've never been that fond of the movie, but I really enjoyed the show, in part because the cast was top notch. They plucked their Maria right out of college, in fact. It was honestly like hearing some of those songs for the first time. Aside from the end, where the family actually "climbed every mountain" (it's supposed to be a metaphor, dammit, and this reminded Diana of the Price Is Right mountain climber), I really enjoyed it.

Every time I get to see something live on stage, it tends to move me in some way. I love that Diana gets to work in that environment. Even with my limited college and community experience, and Diana's professional experience, we've talked about the intense feelings that come with being a part of live theater. Sure, there are some people, the professionals themselves and the unfortunate hipsters that watch them, that hate what they do and see, but I think it's safe to generalize that people love to be a part of it.

It isn't just theater. Movies, the good ones at least, can be intensely amazing. Being in the audience of a good film really stirs me up (which is probably why I need to make one of my own, some day). Books exercise the mind like nothing else (thanks, Dad, for sending The Martian for Christmas!). Music can do it in the most portable of ways, as you can hear it anywhere. Seeing it performed live is still one of my favorite things. (I resisted making a Sound of Music joke there). I've never been a student of other forms of art, but paintings, sculpture and photography fascinate me to no end.

Art makes us feel.

I'd like to think that art is even the thing that makes us distinctly human. Diana is the artist I know best, and her current art efforts are obviously quilting. I love to see her nerd out on it. I think it suits her well because she's the kind of personality that loves to organize and make lists, and that seems to pair well with the precision and planning required for a good quilt. At the same time, it requires a great deal of creativity. And quilts can literally and figuratively make you feel warm.

I wish I was more of an artist. I've dabbled in it all, it seems... music in middle school, performance in radio and TV, the technical side of theater in college and beyond, video and "film" professionally and for fun, writing in a number of forms... but I've never really developed any of it long-term. I want to play a part in making people feel something. I just haven't figured out how yet.