February 22, 2009

"If I bore you, it will be with a knife"--Louise Brooks

Dreamed of the comic strip Buz Sawyer (which I've been reading in reprints and online); a geometric problem involving a brick shape and finding the common points between planes parallel to the brick's sides, forming the corners of a larger brick.

Performed Cenerentola.  The family saw it, and Moira said William's loud tenor voice sounds better on the opera stage than in my choir.  She also liked the color of my breeches.

Dinner was McDonald's.

Saw the documentary Louise Brooks:  Looking for Lulu (for the second time) on DVD.

Changed my book club's first book from The Grapes of Wrath to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (I also postponed it a fortnight.) The library has lots of copies.

February 21, 2009

About to see the Men in Black sequel: "I hope this movie doesn't suck ass!" "It will"--South Park

Dreamed of the movie Chinatown.

John and Kathrine came over for dinner (which was pizza).

Performed Carmen. (The audiences are so big that they've been buying up all our baked goods, and Barbara emailed us asking for more!) I got new batteries for my camera, but only managed to take a few pictures because they weren't strong enough.  The family saw the show, and Moira says the dancing girls at the start of the second act should watch Carlos Saura's flamenco movies to get the right "attitude."

February 20, 2009

Mother of a girl called a slut by other girls: "Part of growing up is liking someone one day, and calling her a slut the next"--South Park

Dreamed of Huck Finn helping someone drive a steamboat up the Tennessee River; taking the streetcar back home around 06:00, and feeling very sleepy.

Dinner was pork chops.

Performed Cenerentola. (I also brought my gingerbread to sell.) I brought my camera but it turned out that it needed new batteries.  Someone brought us apples.  In the basement area we got to talking so loudly that they had to quiet us down a couple of times!  Sometimes when I sing I can tell my voice is audible within the group.

February 19, 2009

"Cartman, that's the dumbest thing you've said this week!"--South Park

Dreamed of reading a microfilm in a department store near Bloor & Bay; a Newfoundland comic strip featuring Sir Gerald Tarrant, an actual character in the British comic strip Modesty Blaise.

Went shopping.

Dinner was frozen Indian food (which we'd brought today).

Baked gingerbread to sell at the opera.

February 18, 2009

Dreamed of seeing a tree with big oranges growing from it.

Dinner was roast chicken.

I've been reading some old mrcranky.com threads archived at Wayback.  I liked the threads about movie cliches and about historical movies. (The latter ended up turning into the subject of drinking!)

Performed Carmen.  The stage area was so hot that we opened the nearby emergency door.  Giuseppe finally decided that only the women should sing the first part of the chorus in "Le Douanier, C'est Leur Affaire." The audience was really enthusiastic and even applauded our marching. (Once I'm finished handling that sword, everything else seems easier.  I'm glad I do it in the first part of the show.)

 

February 17, 2009

Caravaggio "transforms a bowl of fruit into a life-and-death struggle"--The Power of Art

Dreamed of being invited to attend a graduation by my old high school in Sackville, N.B.; deciding not to at the last moment; trying to figure out how to get back to Toronto; arriving in Alberta on a musical tour; seeing that someone had bought a lot of honey and being told she was using it to preserve pies.

Dinner was fish.

Saw the DVD of the first episode of the BBC series The Power of Art, with Simon Schama looking at the life of Caravaggio and his culminating work "David & Goliath." Could have used less music.

Baked whole wheat bread overnight.

February 16, 2009

Dreamed of Marilyn Monroe in All About Eve; Gerald Hannon (a soloist in our opera) inviting me fly-fishing; being about to start late at a journalism school.

Dinner was shepherd's pie.

Sergio from the opera turned up at choir practice. (We can always use another tenor.) Elizabeth said that our director Giuseppe should skip a rehearsal, and I certainly wouldn't blame him what with his preparing the excerpts concert in addition to the operas.  But he's not that type...

Wrote another blog entry on the opera.

February 15, 2009

Dreamed of writing a "letter to the editor" that started with "Get ready for more of the same bull..."

Went to the Brunch Club Meetup at the Hot House Cafe again. (Next time we'll be going to Mandarin Restaurant.) I had to leave early because of my opera.

Carmen sold 291 tickets! (That's an opera that brings in the troopers.) Afterward I met Lijiliana, the psychologist who's been studying my autism for her doctorate.  She returned my latest diary and lent me Born on a Blue Day, a memoir by Daniel Tammet who has Asperger's Syndrome too.

I was going to a new Socialism Meetup, but I was late because of the opera and the group had moved to another place. (The organizer had sent out an email saying where they were going, but I hadn't had time to read it.)

Dinner was McDonald's. (They gave me Diet Coke instead of regular.)

February 14, 2009

"The women watched the men, watched to see whether the break had come at last.  The women stood silently and watched.  And where a number of men gathered together, the fear went from their faces, and anger took its place.  And the women sighed with relief, for they knew it was all right--the break had not come, and the break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath"--The Grapes of Wrath

Dreamed of living in Ireland.

Dinner was lobster rolls.

Performed Cenerentola.  The place smelled of glue.  Someone brought apples and oranges.

Finished The Grapes of Wrath.  A great novel, though the ending was overdone.

February 13, 2009

Dreamed of travelling to New Brunswick by car; getting lost somewhere in the northern part of the province; Clint Eastwood.

We got a new record player/radio/CD player in a fancy, old-fashioned console.

Dinner was steak.

Carmen opened.  This time I got the sword motion right!  There was a big house, and when Yevgeny did the Toreador song someone in the audience shouted "That was awesome!"

February 12, 2009

Dreamed of meeting a group of people who were fans of the 1960s TV cartoon The Mighty Heroes; hockey star Bobby Hull being my dentist.

Didn't get up till 13:30!

Dinner was pork roast.

We did the last dress rehearsal for Carmen.  My shako helmet was a bit too big.  Since I'm the one leading the guards out in the first scene, I got a sword that I draw out. (Too bad I did it awkwardly.) Us men were told that we'd be changing from soldiers to Gypsy smugglers for the third act but not that we were supposed to change before the second-act finale, and Giuseppe made a scene. (Barbara doesn't usually goof.)

February 11, 2009

"I tol' you.  Cops cause more trouble than they stop"--The Grapes of Wrath

Dreamed of walking downtown in my hometown of Sackville, N.B., with Mother; her carrying a baby with a large head; not finding what we were looking for; being late for a choir performance; being at a cinema in the 1970s and noticing that none of the movies they were showing looked any good.

Went shopping.

Dinner was spaghetti.

Moira sewed new buttons on my breeches for the opera.

Cenerentola opened. (There were some school groups in the audience.) The buttons worked perfectly.  I wrote another opera item on my blog.

February 10, 2009

"Al said irritably, 'I'm goin' out on my own purty soon.  Fella can make his way lot easier if he ain't got a fambly.'... Tom said, 'You'd have yourself a fambly in nine months.  I seen you playin' aroun'"--The Grapes of Wrath 

Dreamed of seeing a TV special with music videos from the 1980s; a Puccini love duet.

We're now in a warm snap!

Dinner was the rest of the lamb stew.

We did the last dress rehearsal before opening Cenerentola, in costume.  My safety pins were imperfect, so I persuaded Barbara to let me take my breeches home to replace the missing buttons, which is normally against the rule.

February 9, 2009

"You'll meet a nice girl and..."

"I've mets lots of girls--nice and otherwise."

--All That Heaven Allows

Yesterday I showed the parents the photos I took in London last year, on the computer.  They agree that I have a talent for photography.

Dreamed of starting to write a series of Tom Swift-like science fiction adventures featuring unlikely heroes; being in the back yard of our old house in Sackville, N.B., during a total solar eclipse; a coach asking me "Are you mature enough to be on this team?" (Hardly--I wanted out!)

Dinner was lamb stew.

Saw the DVD of Douglas Sirk's romantic melodrama All That Heaven Allows.  It's one of those 1950s movies that date in a good way. (Though Agnes Moorhead's red dye job looked like her hair was on fire!)

At choir practice we went through Faure's Requiem. (My favourite parts are "Sanctus" and "In Paradisum.") Afterward John George (the one who reminds me of Grandpa Jones) gave me a lift to the subway.

February 7, 2009

 Dreamed of sneaking into a Tibetan village.

Saw the Met cinemacast of Lucia di Lamermoor.  It was a great production, though the Victorian setting seemed odd. (Huck Finn's America I can see...)

Dinner was scallops.

Read another 50 pages of The Grapes of Wrath.

Baked white bread overnight.

February 6, 2009

Dreamed of riding a bicycle whose handlebars suddenly melted away.

Deposited four cheques at the bank.

Went shopping. (We also bought new laces for my boots.)

Moira and I were going to have dinner with Puitak and Gordon, but Gordon took sick so we'll go later.

Dinner was McDonald's.

February 5, 2009

Tom Joad: "What the hell is these reds anyways?"--The Grapes of Wrath

Dreamed of going back in time 50 years and meeting some people who wanted to legalize drugs; landing in an airplane at Victoria, B.C. (which I've never visited).

For my birthday Moira gave me a biography of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz.  It looks fascinating! [I still haven't read it.]

Dinner was Chinese food.

The opera chorus had an extra rehearsal (badly needed) where we went through both operas offstage.  Most of us showed up!  Barbara remembered it was my birthday and she had everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to me.  We showed some improvement, but we'll see what difference it makes in the performances.

February 4, 2009

"'These goddamned Okies are thieves.  They'll steal anything.  They've got no sense of property rights.'... And the latter was true, for how can a man without property know the ache of ownership?"--The Grapes of Wrath

Dreamed of passing through a community centre in Vaughan with a Polish name where people were brushing their teeth in public.

Dinner was salmon.

We went through the first Cenerentola dress rehearsal.  We still haven't got the "Il pranzo in ordine" chorus right. (Barbara wore a T-shirt saying "Don't make me use my opera voice"!)

February 3, 2009

Dreamed of being one of two possible heirs to the throne of ancient Egypt just after the old Pharaoh died; wanting an immediate fight with my rival to decide who'd succeed to the throne.

Went to the Bickford Centre and helped unload the opera costumes from Malabar.  I also tried on my Cenerentola costume, and the back of my pants doesn't have the buttons to connect to my suspenders, so I'll need two extra safety pins.

Dinner was spaghetti.

We went through the first dress rehearsal for Carmen.  I took the opportunity to try on my Carmen costume too.

February 2, 2009

"Tom said 'That's stinkin'...' The young man laughed harshly. 'You stay out here a little while, an' if you smell any roses, you come let me smell, too"--The Grapes of Wrath

Dreamed of the John Wayne western The Searchers (one of my favourite movies).

I've been watching the documentary series The Nazis:  A Warning From History on DVD.

Borrowed Moira's laptop to play my old game King's Quest VII:  The Princeless Bride.  For some reason the background music won't play, but I actually like it that way!

Dinner was pork chops.

At choir practice we went through all the Cavalleria Rusticana choruses.  It's brilliant music!