March 30, 2011

    Dreamed of Bart Simpson making a friend at a workplace; visiting a location where the Libyan movie Lion of the Desert was filmed.

    Saw the cinemacast of a Royal Opera production of Carmen at the Empress Walk in 3-D, which didn't add much:  it was substantially the same production I attended in person in London three years ago, and you can't improve on that!  Anyway, my glasses frame lost its bolt during the intermission and I watched the rest with naked eye. (This reminded me of my acid test for opera direction:  without the subtitles, would you still know what's going on?) Glad I know the opera well.

    On the way back, I stopped at Hakim Optical and they gave me a new bolt for free, which was pretty nice of them considering that you can find those tiny bolts just anywhere!

    Dinner was tuna casserole.

March 29, 2011

On hearing the news that war has broken out:

"There's no reason to be afraid.  The nation is right behind our Fuhrer!"

"Yes, but how far behind?"

--Night Train to Munich

Caldecott: "A crook wouldn't play for the gentleman."

Charters: "Raffles did."

--ibid.

    Headache!

    Dinner was pork steak.

    Saw the DVD of Carol Reed's World War II spy thriller Night Train to Munich.  War movies can be pretty shameless!  Moira's right about Rex Harrison:  he is annoying, especially when he "sings." (Did he actually win an Oscar for My Fair Lady?) The best part was Charters and Caldicott, thrown in from The Lady Vanishes.

March 28, 2011

Colin Powell: "Americans solve problems.  We don't ignore problems"--10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America 

(What about global warming?)

    Dreamed of meeting a non-existent aunt about to get married; hearing that President Obama had been forced to resign.

    Went to Giuseppe's for my first singing lesson in a while.  I felt dizzy at times but was in good voice. (He compared the human mouth to a cornucopia shape.)

    Dinner was lasagna.

    At choir practice we turned to Theodore Dubois' The Seven Last Words of Christ and some other stuff we're doing in the Easter concert.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of another The History Channel series, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America.

March 27, 2011

    In the bathroom in the morning I had a fainting spell and my head hit the floor.  Hope it isn't a sign of something serious!

    The othher day when I told Moira about the Les Miserables song going through my head ("Empty Chairs and Empty Tables"), she said she had "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from Donizetti's The Magic Elixir of Love going through hers. (She's been playing a library CD of Jussi Bjorling arias.) Now that song is going through my head!

    Went to a book and poster show at Wychwood Barns, but didn't buy anything. (I thought they might have comics there, but they didn't.)

    Dinner was salmon.

    Coro Verdi performed Rigoletto again, this time with my family in the audience.  Afterward Moira said "Why didn't you tell us you had such great singers?" Mother liked the chorus too.

March 26, 2011

    Dreamed of waking up in the morning and being unable to open my eyes; a new BBC radio theme that started out with conventional stateliness but turned into banjo music.

    I've started reading How the Scots Invented Canada.  It has a lot of stuff I didn't know.

    Saw the DVD of the first episode of the American history series America:  A History of US.  Too many comments by celebrities like Donald Trump.

    Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).

    Saw the DVD of the NFB documentary White Thunder, about Varick Frissell and the tragedy that accompanied his making of the Newfoundland sealing movie The Viking. (Thirty years ago Moira researched the disaster in Newfoundland.)

    Then I saw the Ken Burns documentary about Louisiana demagogue Huey Long.  At times I had trouble keeping my eyes open (like in the dream).

March 25, 2011

    Dreamed of finding that zip.ca had sent us the DVD of Se7en months ago (I have no interest in serial killer movies); considering how I came to dislike the character of Claire in the last two seasons of Six Feet Under (a charmless combination of ruthlessness and self-pity).

    Baked whole wheat bread.

    That Les Miserables song someone sang in last night's masterclass concert ("Empty Chairs and Empty Tables") is going through my head.  Such kitschy music!

    Dinner was sausage and mashed potatoes.

    Performed Rigoletto with Coro Verdi.  Turns out we're going to perform Verdi's Nabucco in June.

    Finally started a new city in the online game Glory of Rome.  I asked the leaders of my Pandora's Box alliance where I should place it, but got no answer, so I basically took a shot in the dark.  I've called it Basilopolis.

March 24, 2011

    Dreamed of meeting a soothsayer on an airplane who predicted I'd marry a man. [Hasn't happened yet!]

    I've been thinking about how heroic the Fukushima reactor workers are, risking their health and their lives to stop the meltdown, not just for Japan but to protect the whole world.  It reminds me of Churchill's line "Never before have so many owed so much to so few!" [The people who contained the Covid epidemic come to mind too.]

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was fish sticks.

    Performed in the master class concert.  Because I had a red shirt, on a whim I wore a black bowtie instead of my red necktie.  I carelessly came onstage before Beatrice had introduced my songs.  Mother and Moira weren't up to it, but Father came. (So did Tiffany from the Asperger's Meetup.)

    Finished Anne of Windy Poplars in the wings before the concert started.