31 March 2012

The Ring, by Wagner

It is possibly that I accidentally giggled with absolute and joyous delight when I saw that the Metropolitan Opera produced all four parts of Wagner's Ring. For epic opera fans out there, this is better than Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy being so brilliantly produced in movie format. Some may call that blasphemous, but for those who do, I would question their intimate knowledge of the opera's content, especially given the clear influence of Wagner's opera in Tolkien's literary work. This sixteen hour operatic production involves four major parts, Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung. If you are familiar with this particular opera, you are also aware of the immense challenge of producing this, especially in the live operatic format that is the most expensive form of entertainment to produce. With Europe's recent de-prioritisation of the cultural arts, our civilisation stands to lose even more operatic work. Speech aside, The Met is great about getting operas provided in select theatres for those of us who cannot randomly hit the Met for the live performances. All four parts of The Ring are being provided in local theatre! Do I have sixteen hours to spend sitting in a theatre? A better question is, could I ever forgive myself if I didn't?

I would love to watch the movie that is being shown before the four parts that covers the massive logistics of producing this intensely complex opera, but my job, doctorate, and consulting work is making this challenging enough, so I'm forgoing it. However, I would be remiss to not share it with those who have the time to attend it as well as the four productions.

Wagner's Dream - Monday, 7 May (2 hours)
Das Rheingold - Wednesday, 9 May (3 hours)
Die Walkure - Monday, 14 May (4.5 hours)
Siegfried - Wednesday, 16 May (4.5 hours)
Gotterdammerung - Saturday, 19 May (5 hours)

Click on each link to check out the details and description from Fathom Events where you can put in your zip code and figure out the theatre nearest you that will be hosting these. If you are already aware of and in love with The Ring, I know you have stopped reading and are in the links now. If you don't know about it, please please take the time out of your life and remember, work won't recall what you are doing to sacrifice for the organization a year or even months from now. However, you'll never forget this if you take the time to do it.

Fake Dives...

...in other words, suburbia. Eric loves LooAbbey, and I have to say, even with my disinclination for cover bands, they are exceptionally good. My decision to go enjoy their music is purely based on location though (assuming we're in town). I never cared for Carmel, Indiana, and Detour Grillis another notch in my dislike for the town. I'm thinking they went for an industrial / construction dive feel, but are apparently unaware that the authentic influence in a dive is what makes those places special. Newly built fake shady brick work with super clean fake warehouse garage door doesn't work. Servers who seem to have a goal of being hipsters (an oxymoron, I know), was a turnoff too. Also, the major special of adding Pucker to Grey Goose was offensive on every level...who would waste Grey Goose like that????

My biggest issue by far was that they clearly built a stage for bands, plopped the bar right nextto it and provided a tonne of sitting space on the other side of the bar. The only people who could actually see the band were the 20 people around the bar who would also get blown out of the water with sound so that the seating behind the bar could hear it. When the band had to deal with the challenge of sound management, people had the audacity to suggest that the band didn't know what they were doing. Hello! Look at the logistics!

My only resolution to this is to go downtown tonight for the authentic locale experience in Fountain Square. LooAbbey is still the best 80s cover in Indy as far as I can tell, but I'll wait until they go to a little more normal locations. Suburbia takes another major strike ... it just takes occasional reminders.

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (book review)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



V is for Vengeance (book review)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


19 March 2012

Sippy Cups at Clowes Hall


Intermission at the opera or symphony means either a Kir Royale, G&T or rum and coke. Opting for the rum and coke, I let my eyes wander about, only to have them return to this...the sippy cup. Frankly, I've always been grumpy with the crappy plastic cups, but recognise that it's a lot of effort and logistics to get the stemware or at least glassware. BUT THIS? Not only do they completely insult my ability to drink a refreshment between operatic scenes, but they are trying to protect one of the ugliest venues I've experienced. If I'm attending an opera, the experience is more than just the performance, and shockingly, receiving a sippy cup does not improve my sense of culture and enjoyment. A very big misjudgment on Clowes Hall's part, as I will certainly not be attending their functions in the future.

16 March 2012

Six weeks later....

...yes, I am still alive! You would think each of our birthdays (Eric: February 25 and me: March 9) would be fodder for tonnes of blogging, but in reality I am very distracted during that time. It's hard work being spoiled out of one's mind! Work has been crazy too, diminishing my desire to be on the computer, even gaming. However, I have been churning through a lot of effective work (not just busywork - wow!) all around for my career (employment and consulting), which has been great. Even some progress with the doctorate, so I'm going to just continue holding my breath and not think about it too long in case it's jinxed.

My only current sadness is that I'm going nuts being stuck in one location. Very weird, you may think; however, my happiest years were having a home out west (Denver or Phoenix) as well as maintaining the Indianapolis condo. I loved changing my surroundings pretty much on a whim, and although I felt like it was being spoiled or something, I now know there's absolutely nothing wrong with being happy. As such, I am more than ready to go build a new nest for me to flit around as the mood strikes. Waiting until June for Asheville is becoming more difficult by the week, but I should be distracted with my dissertation residency in Arlington VA next week, as well as a nice Spring chin-up trip in Ireland next month.

Another extremely happy emotion for me is sharing Elle's learning experiences. Her technological acuity is growing by leaps and bounds, and is being rewarded with an iPad for her birthday in a couple weeks. She told me she was saving her allowance for an Apple computer, so I'm hoping that the iPad will help her understand that she can use her allowance for other things, albeit she never spends it despite our frequent trips to tempting toy shoppes. So far, Staples and the Education and Art stores are the places that she will let loose of a few bucks, but only if she can't convince us to get it for her.

Personally, I have a goal to help her be well-rounded because I sense major geekery ahead of us, and the crazy glasses aren't helping. I am currently having to pick through quality fantasy and anime DVDs that is all right for kids because I am not entirely comfortable with the vampiric anime she found on Netflix *sigh*. Our current deal is that she will stay in the "kids" section if I provide anime DVDs. Fine. I feel battered since everything is a constant negotiation.

Enough on that subject and back to the slave labour of work (with Trinity Blood running in the background) so I can go and enjoy fantastic sushi and martini's downtown tonight!