October 29, 2011

Don Giovanni: "Do you like that music?"

Leporello (his servant): "You deserve it!"

--Don Giovanni

"To be faithful to one woman would be cruel to all the others!"--ibid.

    Saw the cinemacast of the Met production of Don Giovanni at the Sheppard Grande.  I liked the long pitchforks some of Massetto's posse were carrying!

    John and Kathrine came over and helped with some chores like cutting down a cedar growing next to the house which allowed a squirrel to climb into the attic.  They stayed for dinner, which was Indian food.

    The Omnivore's Dilemma is an interesting book indeed.  It's showing me a new way to look at food.

    Kathrine had to borrow my computer to send an email to arrange the placement of a dog she'd help buy off an abusive owner for $80 and a pack of cigarettes.

October 28, 2011

    Dreamed of the Shirley Temple musical Captain January; a new movie multiplex in Aulac, near my hometown Sackville, N.B.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

October 27, 2011

    Dreamed of trying to find a French consulate near some bicycle paths; the line from The Fabulous Baker Boys "I thought you were a loser, but you're worse--you're a coward!"; a non-existent episode of Kung Fu; being invited to a convention for the (actual) New York State Liberal Party.

    Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).

    Went to a talk on the opera Don Giovanni at the Italian Cultural Institute as part of a Classica Music Meetup.  I didn't stay for the reception because I felt unwell.

October 26, 2011

"What you think we ain't, we are.  Remember that"--Ride With the Devil

Norm: "I'm not proud of myself, but then again I never am"--Cheers!

    Dreamed of meeting Eva Marie Saint (whom I'd seen in North by Northwest last week); the South Kensington area in London with all the museums.

    Saw the DVD of Ang Lee's Ride With the Devil (for the second time). An eloquent and believable Civil War story.

    Dinner was steak.

October 25, 2011

"Hey Norm, how's life treating you?"

"Like I ran over its dog!"

--Cheers!

    Dreamed of the movie magazine Premiere (which I read in the early 1990s); reflecting on the origins of nostalgia; exploring Antarctica.

    Finally finished the food issue of Lapham's Quarterly.

    Went to the library and took out The Omnivore's Dilemma. (A Lapham's Quarterly excerpt got me interested in it.)

    Dinner was the rest of the stew.

    At opera rehearsal we started the first act of Lucia di Lamermoor. (I lent the Merry Widow disc to Beatrice to pass on to David R., and invited her to look at it too--she's directing it!)

    

October 24, 2011

"Mischa the dog lies dead in the bog. 

The children cry over the carcass. 

The mist chokes my heart, covers the mourners. 

At least this year we eat.

--Cheers!

"This is L.A., Chris.  Everything is about race"--Murder One

    Dreamed of visiting the old Arthur Murray dance studio that I attended almost ten years ago; not visiting a non-existent skating rink, and comparing that to the Age of Innocence ending where Daniel Day-Lewis didn't go up to see Michelle Pfeiffer; a non-existent cartoon in the actual British girl's comic magazine Bunty, encouraging girls to arrange a party where half the kids dressed up like people from the moon; Father leading the federal NDP.

    Dinner was lamb stew.

    At choir practice we were dissecting the Norma aria "Casta Diva." What wonders Bellini does with the chorus part!

    Saw the Cheers! episode "Any Friend of Diane's." (I remember the maudlin Russian poem from when I first saw it!)

October 23, 2011

    Dreamed of Mother and me driving in the U.S.A.; Mother not knowing where she was going and ending up in Louisiana; me saying she should either tell me where she was going or let me drive (in real life neither of us knows how to drive); the song "Everything Old Is New Again"; the TV cartoon Underdog.

    Saw the DVD of a Zurich Opera production of The Merry Widow.  My favorite part is the Vilja Lied.

    Dinner was meatless chili. (I sneaked out to KFC afterward.)