Bloglet, the gentleman's mock turtle soup -- Moss made it sweeter than myrrh ash and dhoup
Nero, in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea, is supposed to be sung by a castrato, and not a tenor. I didn't know this (though I thought it was odd that my recording had a tenor; most heroic roles in baroque opera are for castrati), but it excites me. My old scratchy version was recorded live in the 60's; I bought it because it was cheap and because it has Boris Christoff (though my dad said he sounded sort of "doddering"... I'll have to find recordings of him in his prime to understand why my dad loves him so much), but I didn't think it would be so grossly inauthentic as to change the freaking fach of the main character. I mean, I know they do it in Idomeneo all the time (and it makes me so maaaaad!), but at least that was at a time when the heroic tenor was starting to hold his own (god help us) against the castrati. Man. It's such a delightfully vile opera -- I dunno if any of you guys read Brittanicus in Junior French, but it's that sort of Nero. Charming, lovable, murderous... and the music is trippy, especially this one scene near Seneca's forced suicide, I think (I don't have the libretto, so I have to go off the synopsis). It's got this stifling, rising line repeated many times over by the strings and the chorus... I dunno if it's foreshadowing the burning of Rome or the feeling you get when an evil force is taking over the country you've served all your life, or what. Y'know, since the opera ends with a wedding, it really should be considered a comedy. Har! I think someone called it "the most amoral opera in the repertoire". Cheers.
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06:20:46 AM,Sunday 8 September 2002
The Theory of Geek Convergence:
All geeks, despite (and often because of) vicious and derisive power struggles amid their ranks, will eventually coalesce into a single Geek-Unit composed of antithetically opposed fandoms, becoming catastrophically vulnerable to geek haters by virtue of their staggering dorkitude and, at the same time, fearsome and all-powerful, having combined the straggling forces of a thousand million passionate obsessions.
First evidence: Marching Band Fan Fiction. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should write MARCHING BAND FAN FICTION! The very concept makes simply no sense. But, soft -- what's this? Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Tolkien Marching Band Fan Fiction? Critical mass, my comrades. Our day is fast approaching.
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(6)
05:35:53 AM,Sunday 8 September 2002
My epiglottis feels like a wet moth.
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03:53:42 AM,Sunday 8 September 2002
I imagine that honey-peanut-butter-and-blueberry-jelly sandwiches are the sort of things one will get sick of eventually, but for now...
{munches on the twelfth one in a week}
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(1)
03:23:55 AM,Sunday 8 September 2002
I like Estradasphere.
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(2)
02:12:10 AM,Sunday 8 September 2002
(Yes, I cheated.)
Love me or hate me. I taste like Marmite.
I am salty and sharp. My abrasive edge greatly upsets some people, but others will gleefully endure it. For those willing to put up with me, I am a great source of emotional health and stability. What Flavour Are You?
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(6)
01:18:49 AM,Sunday 8 September 2002
The World is so freaking beautiful. I am now running WinAmp3 in Latin.
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(5)
12:13:13 AM,Sunday 8 September 2002
I was subscribed to the Johnny List (digest; mostly lurked) for just about my whole senior year in High School. I unsubscribed when I matriculated. Now {sigh} I've subscribed again. Sound the Death Knell.
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(12)
07:43:06 PM,Saturday 7 September 2002
Waking up, getting on the internet, and seeing that I only have 7 points in the Rock Star Game is depressing. It means I've been unconscious for less than three hours. Far less, as it turns out. Argh. I've got to stop this, but I don't know how. Now I go to physics (finished my homework, at least), then organic chemistry (pray god I don't doze off this time), then biology lab. Then oblivion? That sounds nice.
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(4)
08:45:09 AM,Friday 6 September 2002
(to the tune of "My Name It Is Sam Hall")
They don't like opera seria -- frig 'em all.
They don't like opera seria -- frig 'em all.
They don't like opera seria; "It's far too stiff and very af-
fected" -- and I parry, "ah, frig 'em all!"
Frig 'em all.
They think Idamante's bland -- frig 'em all.
They think Idamante's bland -- frig 'em all.
They think Idamante's bland 'cause he won't eat from their hand
They don't bloody understand, so, frig 'em all!
Frig 'em all.
They call Handel an old prune -- frig 'em all.
They call Handel an old prune -- frig 'em all.
They call Handel an old prune 'cause he never got no poon,
well, at least he sang in tune, ha! Frig 'em all!
Frig 'em all.
'Cause Sesto's got my heart -- frig 'em all.
Yes, Sesto's got my heart -- frig 'em all.
Oh, Sesto's got my heart; when I hear "Parto, Part-
o" I call that Great Art, damn! Frig 'em all.
Frig 'em all.
Inspired by this article, which PISSED ME THE HELL OFF. Frig 'em all.
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(6)
04:58:21 AM,Friday 6 September 2002
The bagpipers won't shut up! They've been playing for hours and hours without stopping! I dreamed that I attached a bag to my cornetto and it sounded quite nice. But that was in my dreams. Now they're out there, and I don't know why, and they're squealing and squawking and arrrggh!
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(3)
08:01:34 PM,Thursday 5 September 2002
I know it's bad form to be I.L.W. people I don't know from Jehosophat, but I keep hearing about Sleater-Kinney; it seems like most of my friends like 'em, and I'm sure I've heard a song or two of theirs some time or other... anyway, the point is, one of the chicks in it gave that cute-smartass-geeky interview with Plantetout up there, and, I mean, just look at her! She's a rockin' fiend. Apparently she's Carrie Brownstein and not the other one who has some silly dreamboaty boy's name or something. Anyway. I'll be I.L.W. her today 'cause even I know there's more to muliebrity than dark-eyed violets in tweed and bustles. And she said "obsequious" and "quotidian" and (had to look it up, damniny) "vernissage". Lemme at 'er! (p.s. People Who Know: would I like their music? Should I try and find some?)
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(11)
11:32:06 PM,Wednesday 4 September 2002
Damnit, I want a Giant African Land Snail, now! (I'd like a Great Pink Sea Snail even more, but lets not be greedy) But they're illegal in this damn country. Invasive species, schminvasive species, hmph. Guess I'd better move to Limeyland.
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(5)
10:49:18 PM,Wednesday 4 September 2002
Lionel Hampton died a couple days ago. I saw him play twice; he was an old, old man, and he got such a kick out of standing in front of the vibes plunking down maybe one note every couple bars. He could barely stand, but he could still swing. I also remember him singing "It's a Wonderful World" -- the words slipped his mind for a second, and he sang "I see skies of gray... clouds of... grey, too..." and then grinned at us. That's what I call going out gracefully. I haven't heard too many recordings of him in his prime, and I don't have much of an ear when it comes to vibraphones, especially, but when I saw him he had a look in his eyes that said, "I understand it all, and I love it, even when I'm letting it go." That's how to live long and die blessed.
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(2)
08:30:16 PM,Wednesday 4 September 2002
Werther was terrible -- one of the worst things I've read in quite a while. It was definitely written by a genius. More after it's digested a bit.
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(2)
08:13:10 PM,Wednesday 4 September 2002
I am seriously evilly addicted to these roasted seaweed strips. I've just eaten about ten packages. (Baya gave 'em to me; she got 'em in Japan. She's damn sweet.) I need more. MORE! GAAAH!
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(4)
02:01:51 AM,Wednesday 4 September 2002
You can *unh*, you can *unh*, you can *unh-unh-unh* -- that's how burlesque was born... well, I *unh*, and I *unh*, and I *unh-unh-unh*, but I do it with a webpage! Man, I wanna go up there. It's only, like, a few hours on the train, right? For real life burlesque? Rawr!
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(6)
01:38:42 AM,Wednesday 4 September 2002
Death! Doom! Destruction! Despair!
The internet now works in my apartment. It's out in the hall and not in my room, thank the Saints, but still... must... resist... aaaargh!
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(11)
09:38:11 PM,Tuesday 3 September 2002
