Meme, elections, opera
Nov. 1st, 2008 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirDurant Avenue on the Feast of All Saints
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jaebi_lit tagged me for this meme:
Where Would Your 8 Homes Be?
List them. You don’t have to list your reasons, but if you do at least for a few of them, it would be more fun. And remember that the only rule is: the homes must be within the borders of the United States of America or else, within the borders of the country you live in, so as to utterly emulate the McCains. When you’re done, tag 8 people, so that they may join in the self-indulgence, forgetting about the crappy property market and the equivalent of The End of Pompeii on Wall-Street. You could spend your time hammering your doors and windows shut in preparation for the apocalypse instead, but it would be much less fun.
Uh, the idea of having eight homes kind of sickens me to my stomach as horrible extravagance. (Insert long rant here.) But eight possible places that I would like to live in:
1. Manhattan, NY: Well, maybe not a house (are there even houses in Manhattan?), but an apartment that I owned would be nice. Ideally, Upper West Side or Greenwich Village.
2. Forest Hills, NY: Basically, just a few blocks over from where my parents currently live. I especially like the neighborhood south of Austin Street--that area with all the gorgeous houses--though it's pretty expensive.
3. San Francisco, CA: I like the neighborhood where Steve lives, with its cheap Chinese restaurants, discount dollar stores, and large Asian-American community.
4. Boston, MA: Yes, Boston is on this list, even though I like to gripe about it. I think it would be nice to live around the Longwood area or maybe near Chinatown. (I don't want to live in Cambridge though.)
5. Seattle, WA: I've never been there, but both my P.I. and labmate have lived there, and it sounds like a great city. Also, the Hutch was ranked number one best workplace for post-docs...
6. Philadelphia, PA: I've only visited this city once, but I remember liking it. Plus, grid-based street system is good.
7. Houston, TX: Er, I went to elementary school here. Okay, to be honest, I don't miss the hot weather, but I did like the city itself. I'd like to go back and visit one day, although I don't know if I'd want to live there.
8. ...Er, can't think of an eighth option. I haven't traveled enough in the U.S. to know about other cities.
I limited my answer to cities with good public transportation systems because I refuse to live in a place where I need a car to get around.
I haven't written about elections much, but I am planning to vote next Tuesday. For those of you who live in California, I think Proposition 8 is receiving a lot of publicity already, especially in fandom circles, butjaebi_lit wrote an eloquent post about why you should vote no here, with some links at the bottom to what you can do to help.
There are other issues on the ballot too, which Cat sums up nicely here, including Proposition 4, which would mandate that parents be notified if their teenage daughters want to get an abortion.
There are several propositions for the city of Berkeley as well, including one about medical marijuana use (why am I not surprised). I feel really ignorant of local politics: the mayoral elections are taking place this year as well, but I have no idea who the candidates even are. (I still have three days to educate myself though, right?)
Steve and I bought a subscription to the opera this season. The first production we saw was Simon Boccanegra. The baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who sang the title role, had a beautiful voice, and the cast all had strong voices. I wasn't dazzled by the performance though, which I think had more to do with the opera itself. I think Fiesco, the villain of the story, had the best role: his greed, arrogance and fear all seemed very human. The rest of the characters fell rather flat, although I did like the storyline since it was very Shakespearean. (Father's reunion with long-lost daughter? Check. Jealousy caused by misunderstanding on lover's part? Check. Scheming to rig elections and depose monarch? Check. Charismatic monarch who has the love of the masses? Check. Old aristocrat with thoughts of vengeance? Check.) One would think that it would add up to a great opera, but it didn't. I think the emotional climaxes of an opera are carried through the arias, and Verdi's music just failed to move me. I think mostly it was too excessive: his orchestration is brilliant but he doesn't know how to restrain himself. As a result, the listener is overwhelmed by flourish after flourish, and the singers are too busy singing technically demanding melodies to really sustain an emotional response. Actually, I think that's my problem with Verdi in general. You can tell he's an amazing composer and he knows it all too well.
We also saw the dress rehearsal for Boris Godunov. Alas, the only high point for me in this opera was the Fool's aria, when he refuses to pray for the Tsar. Oh, and Varlaam's comic drunken song was fun as well. Apparently the SFO put on an earlier, truncated version, which may explain why the opera felt so fragmented and confusing. The whole Grishka subplot seemed to happen off-stage--the pretender escapes to Lithuania and becomes a real threat, but never actually appears to sing again?--and I was rather confused as to where Prince Shuisky came into the story, since he was introduced suddenly as a new antagonist. -_- I did like the subdued, anguished quality of the ending, even if it felt unresolved and didn't seem to match the rest of the opera; something peculiarly modern about the lack of catharsis in the tragedy. Steve said that it sounded like Mussorgsky composed a bunch of songs and then strung a plot together to fit the music, which sums up the feeling accurately. I suspect if we had seen the expanded version of the opera, it would have made more sense.
We also bought extra tickets to Idomeneo. Oh, the soprano who sang Ilia had the most lovely voice! Not just the pure clarity of a lyric soprano, but also the expressive talent to provide subtle emotional shading to every note. The star of the cast, I felt. The tenor who sang the title role was also brilliant--the perfect voice for a Mozart opera--and moved me to tears. And the alto who sang Elettra had beautiful color and richness, perfect for the role of the passionate-to-the-point-of-insanity princess. Pretty much I liked the entire cast...except for Idamante. The mezzosoprano who was supposed to sing the role suffered a back injury, so she was hastily replaced with an understudy who was obviously unprepared. She tried her best, but her melodic lines were so muddy that at points I thought she was actually quite off-tune, and she pretty much sang at the same volume throughout the opera. I also felt that she didn't do a very good job of acting like a boy (the role was originally for a castrato), but Steve pointed out that I would have overlooked the flaws as long as she sang well, since she wasn't actually acting any worse than the rest of the cast. But her voice really did spoil the performance. It improved towards the end, but it was still clear that she was much less experienced and didn't really fit in with the rest of the cast.
The singers were costumed in a strange fusion of ancient Greek and 18th century Austrian fashion, which I suppose was meant to pay homage to the era in which the composer wrote the opera. I didn't mind it so much but it did look a little ridiculous. I think I would have preferred it if they had just made it Greek. I liked the attention to detail though and the consistency in color coordination. Opera is about symbols after all. Also, you can tell Idomeneo is an earlier Mozart opera--less finesse than his later work, especially in the way he recycles every scene opening--but you can also tell that Mozart was a musical genius. He composed it at the age of 25.
In three weeks, we get to see Elixir of Love (Donizetti) and--be still my beating heart!--La Bohème (Puccini), with Angela Gheorghiu returning to the SFO to sing Mimi. *_*
I'm still not finished with my fellowship applications, so back to essay-writing I go. Also, need to write up post about The Mask of Apollo for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bibliophages.
Yours &c.
jaebi_lit tagged me for this meme:Where Would Your 8 Homes Be?
List them. You don’t have to list your reasons, but if you do at least for a few of them, it would be more fun. And remember that the only rule is: the homes must be within the borders of the United States of America or else, within the borders of the country you live in, so as to utterly emulate the McCains. When you’re done, tag 8 people, so that they may join in the self-indulgence, forgetting about the crappy property market and the equivalent of The End of Pompeii on Wall-Street. You could spend your time hammering your doors and windows shut in preparation for the apocalypse instead, but it would be much less fun.
Uh, the idea of having eight homes kind of sickens me to my stomach as horrible extravagance. (Insert long rant here.) But eight possible places that I would like to live in:
1. Manhattan, NY: Well, maybe not a house (are there even houses in Manhattan?), but an apartment that I owned would be nice. Ideally, Upper West Side or Greenwich Village.
2. Forest Hills, NY: Basically, just a few blocks over from where my parents currently live. I especially like the neighborhood south of Austin Street--that area with all the gorgeous houses--though it's pretty expensive.
3. San Francisco, CA: I like the neighborhood where Steve lives, with its cheap Chinese restaurants, discount dollar stores, and large Asian-American community.
4. Boston, MA: Yes, Boston is on this list, even though I like to gripe about it. I think it would be nice to live around the Longwood area or maybe near Chinatown. (I don't want to live in Cambridge though.)
5. Seattle, WA: I've never been there, but both my P.I. and labmate have lived there, and it sounds like a great city. Also, the Hutch was ranked number one best workplace for post-docs...
6. Philadelphia, PA: I've only visited this city once, but I remember liking it. Plus, grid-based street system is good.
7. Houston, TX: Er, I went to elementary school here. Okay, to be honest, I don't miss the hot weather, but I did like the city itself. I'd like to go back and visit one day, although I don't know if I'd want to live there.
8. ...Er, can't think of an eighth option. I haven't traveled enough in the U.S. to know about other cities.
I limited my answer to cities with good public transportation systems because I refuse to live in a place where I need a car to get around.
I haven't written about elections much, but I am planning to vote next Tuesday. For those of you who live in California, I think Proposition 8 is receiving a lot of publicity already, especially in fandom circles, but
jaebi_lit wrote an eloquent post about why you should vote no here, with some links at the bottom to what you can do to help.There are other issues on the ballot too, which Cat sums up nicely here, including Proposition 4, which would mandate that parents be notified if their teenage daughters want to get an abortion.
There are several propositions for the city of Berkeley as well, including one about medical marijuana use (why am I not surprised). I feel really ignorant of local politics: the mayoral elections are taking place this year as well, but I have no idea who the candidates even are. (I still have three days to educate myself though, right?)
Steve and I bought a subscription to the opera this season. The first production we saw was Simon Boccanegra. The baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who sang the title role, had a beautiful voice, and the cast all had strong voices. I wasn't dazzled by the performance though, which I think had more to do with the opera itself. I think Fiesco, the villain of the story, had the best role: his greed, arrogance and fear all seemed very human. The rest of the characters fell rather flat, although I did like the storyline since it was very Shakespearean. (Father's reunion with long-lost daughter? Check. Jealousy caused by misunderstanding on lover's part? Check. Scheming to rig elections and depose monarch? Check. Charismatic monarch who has the love of the masses? Check. Old aristocrat with thoughts of vengeance? Check.) One would think that it would add up to a great opera, but it didn't. I think the emotional climaxes of an opera are carried through the arias, and Verdi's music just failed to move me. I think mostly it was too excessive: his orchestration is brilliant but he doesn't know how to restrain himself. As a result, the listener is overwhelmed by flourish after flourish, and the singers are too busy singing technically demanding melodies to really sustain an emotional response. Actually, I think that's my problem with Verdi in general. You can tell he's an amazing composer and he knows it all too well.
We also saw the dress rehearsal for Boris Godunov. Alas, the only high point for me in this opera was the Fool's aria, when he refuses to pray for the Tsar. Oh, and Varlaam's comic drunken song was fun as well. Apparently the SFO put on an earlier, truncated version, which may explain why the opera felt so fragmented and confusing. The whole Grishka subplot seemed to happen off-stage--the pretender escapes to Lithuania and becomes a real threat, but never actually appears to sing again?--and I was rather confused as to where Prince Shuisky came into the story, since he was introduced suddenly as a new antagonist. -_- I did like the subdued, anguished quality of the ending, even if it felt unresolved and didn't seem to match the rest of the opera; something peculiarly modern about the lack of catharsis in the tragedy. Steve said that it sounded like Mussorgsky composed a bunch of songs and then strung a plot together to fit the music, which sums up the feeling accurately. I suspect if we had seen the expanded version of the opera, it would have made more sense.
We also bought extra tickets to Idomeneo. Oh, the soprano who sang Ilia had the most lovely voice! Not just the pure clarity of a lyric soprano, but also the expressive talent to provide subtle emotional shading to every note. The star of the cast, I felt. The tenor who sang the title role was also brilliant--the perfect voice for a Mozart opera--and moved me to tears. And the alto who sang Elettra had beautiful color and richness, perfect for the role of the passionate-to-the-point-of-insanity princess. Pretty much I liked the entire cast...except for Idamante. The mezzosoprano who was supposed to sing the role suffered a back injury, so she was hastily replaced with an understudy who was obviously unprepared. She tried her best, but her melodic lines were so muddy that at points I thought she was actually quite off-tune, and she pretty much sang at the same volume throughout the opera. I also felt that she didn't do a very good job of acting like a boy (the role was originally for a castrato), but Steve pointed out that I would have overlooked the flaws as long as she sang well, since she wasn't actually acting any worse than the rest of the cast. But her voice really did spoil the performance. It improved towards the end, but it was still clear that she was much less experienced and didn't really fit in with the rest of the cast.
The singers were costumed in a strange fusion of ancient Greek and 18th century Austrian fashion, which I suppose was meant to pay homage to the era in which the composer wrote the opera. I didn't mind it so much but it did look a little ridiculous. I think I would have preferred it if they had just made it Greek. I liked the attention to detail though and the consistency in color coordination. Opera is about symbols after all. Also, you can tell Idomeneo is an earlier Mozart opera--less finesse than his later work, especially in the way he recycles every scene opening--but you can also tell that Mozart was a musical genius. He composed it at the age of 25.
In three weeks, we get to see Elixir of Love (Donizetti) and--be still my beating heart!--La Bohème (Puccini), with Angela Gheorghiu returning to the SFO to sing Mimi. *_*
I'm still not finished with my fellowship applications, so back to essay-writing I go. Also, need to write up post about The Mask of Apollo for
bibliophages.Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 09:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 10:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-02 02:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-02 04:22 am (UTC)Felt much the same way about Boris Godunov as you. The Fool was the best (Andrew Bidlack) and he just had this beautifully sweet, plaintive song. Xenia's (Ji Young Yang) voice is like listening to, oh, I don't know. Something beautiful and fragile, like wind chimes or birdsong or the first day of spring coming in.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-02 06:43 pm (UTC)But Portland, on the other hand, has an EXCELLENT transportation system. There's a light rail, running from various small towns/cities just outside of Portland (e.g., Gresham, Hillsboro, Beaverton) and an extensive bus system. It's also really bike-friendly. (I'm sure you can see my ruse -- pimping my adopted city in hopes you'd come here. Though I have no idea whether there's a really good research facility in Portland. But there's another bonus: Portland's known as the better of the two cities in terms of restaurants/cuisine. ^__^)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:43 am (UTC)I didn't know about Portland! (I've never been there before.) It sounds like a great place, but yes, will have to see if there are any good biology departments to seriously consider it. ^_^;; But maybe I can at least visit you someday!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:26 pm (UTC)Oh, you know, I just remembered -- I'm going to SF for work on Nov. 20th. I'm going to stay over the weekend with some friends. Do you have time to meet on Saturday?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-05 06:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-06 06:10 pm (UTC)Anyway, I think I can do lunch on Friday or dinner or Thursday. I'll let you know soon. (And perhaps
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-06 06:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-07 04:35 am (UTC)