DAY FOUR: Friday, 30
March 2012
It was a pretty nice today, as
opposed to the overcast and rainy days we just had. There’s a certain logic in decided to do
indoor museums on nice days. One, it
gets you out of heat (if there is any), and most people will be planning on
doing something else. We had two museums
to tackle today, and both were next to the previously-visited Bob Bullock. The first was the Harry
Ransom Center ,
located on the campus of the University
of Texas at Austin .
The Harry Ransom
Center
What we were here to see today was
a focus on the King James Bible, and depictions of it through history. Seeing the older books of this wasn’t as
interesting to me as it was to Mum, but I liked the info about the classical
period of movies which used biblical references (Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, and the like). Due to the sensitive nature of most of the items
in here, they didn’t allow photos to be taken.
We then walked a short distance
across the UT campus to the Blanton
Art Museum
At the upper level of the entry way
(where the actual museum began) there was a large model glider plane, which
measured about twenty feet from nose to tail, and from wing tip to wing
tip. There was what appeared to be a
string of “black vines” which twirled around the structure, but upon closer
inspection the “vines” were made up of individual butterflies.
Like other museums, the Blanton has
a mix of permanent exhibits and temporary ones.
The glider was a permanent fixture.
Some of the items on “long term loan” were ancient Greek pottery, from
circa 700-400 BCE. Known as the “Bonham
Amphora,” these were given by the Greek government in 1949 to Sam Rayburn (who
was Speak of the House of US Representatives then) as a gift of gratitude for America ’s
assistance during World War II.
Rayburn’s library (in Bonham ,
Texas
Another section of the Blanton were
life-sized statues of David, Venus, and other classical pieces,
although they noted these weren’t the originals. Apparently museums will have some replicas of
these works handy to display when their originals are loaned out. Pictures were allowed in this area, provided
there was no flash. I turned my flash
off (or thought I did) and snapped a shot.
A security guard was quick to make a snide comment. I showed her my camera, and hit the same
sequences again to get the item which said “flash off.” I then took a shot of the hallway outside of
this section to show the flash decided to come on anyway. The guard was satisfied that I wasn’t simply
ignoring the rules, but had made an honest mistake (although still made snide
comments about it).
The next section was a travelling
modern art exhibit, as with a “no flash rule.”
As the guard had made a comment to me, I warned Mum. We put our camera away for the remainder of
our visit, even though this had some of the most interesting pieces. One was a ten foot square on the floor filled
with pennies that had a design worked into it like a Japanese Zen garden. Another was a thirty-foot diameter,
eight-inch high miniature labyrinth made out of hundred free-standing blocks
not connected to each other. And a third
was a floor-to-ceiling three-dimensional mural of the constellations which
looked like it was made from black velvet and various sized crystals. That’s just a sample of really kewl items I
would’ve taken pictures of, because my descriptions of them weren’t enough to
make them sound as impressive as I found them.
Done with the Blanton, we chilled
back home for a bit until it was time for our dinner treat. The Round Rock Public Library was hosting a
Mystery Night for three showings over the weekend, and Friday night was the one
which had a light dinner accompanying it (sandwiches, and snack items). (Saturday night would have a full pasta
dinner, and Sunday afternoon showing would just have snacks.) The Mystery Night was a three act stage play,
where the audience was challenged to guess “who-dunnit” and why. The various actors wandering around for a
short period before the show in order to allow you to question them, and there
was an “incident report” and “coroner’s results” on each of the tables which
provided additional clues (as well as a number of red herrings). At the end of the first and second acts,
there was a fifteen minute segment to allow the audience to interact and
question the actors, and the audience had to turn their guesses in before the
start of the third act. Those that
successfully figured it out would receive small door prizes.
I talked to as many of the actors
as I could, and furiously scribbled notes during the show, as I listened to
little tidbits here and there. With the
title of the play being Old Habits, one
of the characters was a nun who knew more than I thought she should. I was sure she was a fraud and the mastermind
behind the whole thing. I fell for every
freakin’ red herring the play had, and didn’t even see the ending coming. The nun turned out to be completely genuine
(not the culprit in any manner), and even made a Scooby-Doo reference at the
conclusion. When the audience could
speak to the cast after the show, they were all sure I was going to be the one
to figure it out. I mentioned it was a
good story, as it got me hook, line and sinker (plus rod and reel). It was a great way to spend a Friday evening.
I do have to note that after
putting my parents on the plane Sunday morning, I went back for that day’s
afternoon showing. A dozen members of my
writer’s group had come as a “planned outing,” and no one else had the play
yet. The cast saw me hanging out and
recognized me. I did mention I was here
with a different group of people, and I wanted to see how well they did, as I
promised to give them no hints, confirmations, or any type of information. The second viewing would give me an
opportunity to see what I missed the first time around, and to see if my
friends were as twisted as me to get tripped up in the story snares. I did make some notes on the second viewing in
note how the puzzle was coming together, and I made sure no one else saw my
stuff. The organizer of my writer’s
group (Mike Lynch) had mostly figured out the mystery, but he’d been going to
these presentations for over a decade (and wore a shirt which the name and
dates of the previous plays). No one
else in my group came as close as Mike did, and only a couple were as off-base
as I was.
There was one part that happened
Friday night where it looked like the girl who was in charge of the sound
effects had missed her cue because she was playing on her smart phone, and the
actor who was on stage at the time reprimanded her for it. There was a little heated exchange which went
on for a minute or two before the play continued, followed by a couple snide
comments a few moments later. The “in
play” tension the audience had been paused by this careless flub, and
over-reaction to it. When I went back on
Sunday afternoon, the same “mistake” happened again, at which point I realized
it was a “side show” built into the play.
While amusing as that was, I did find it detracting from the main
presentation.
More information can be found on the places we visited at:
Mystery Night 2012: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/mystery-night-raising-funds-for-round-rock-library/nRmXY/
Mystery Night 2012 (Full
Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwLfuRHPmOw
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