Friday, 21 November 2008

Latest links

Four philosophical questions to make your brain hurt

Four philosophical questions to make your brain hurt

It's National Philosophy Day today, apparently although by the time this link magics onto blog, today will be yesterday

Thursday, 20 November 2008

Latest links

wandering: JOHN ADAMS IS BEHIND THAT HEDGE

wandering: JOHN ADAMS IS BEHIND THAT HEDGE

Composer-spotting, and strange-conversation-overhearing

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Opera Today : Doctor Atomic and Arjuna’s Dilemma

Opera Today : Doctor Atomic and Arjuna’s Dilemma

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Rolando Villazón: QUAND IL NE CHANTE PAS...

Rolando Villazón: QUAND IL NE CHANTE PAS...

El tenor Rolando Villazón vuelve a dejar claro su amor para el mundo de los clows y anuncia oficialmente que él adquirirá la responsabilidad de ser el embajador del humor del International Clowndoctors de las NARICES ROJAS.

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Wednesday, 19 November 2008

Dodgy management speak

I felt rather pleased with myself today at work. It was mentioned that a particular group of people now meet on a regular basis to keep up-to-date and communicate. Not important who, but I was a bit shocked, because I would have assumed that this has been the case for years, almost since time immemorial. Or, as I phrased it (note the tone of voice) "Well, that's really blue sky thinking outside the box!"

Spurred on by my innovative use of established Business Bullshit Buzzwords, I decided to get creative.

I was fretting about forthcoming encounters with people much more important and busier than me, and my fear of floundering out of my depth and damaging my professional pride and my self-esteem. I was reassured that the Important People would not expect me to have a detailed comprehensive knowledge of their various responsibilities.

I pondered, and I ventured. "They don't expect us to be Superman, running on Kryptonite, but they do expect us to be as visibly well-briefed as Superman"

I was rather proud of that, even as my tongue rested easily in my cheek!

Feeling good to be alive

(except for my ongoing Broadband problems)

It is difficult to explain how good I feel. It feels so good it is scary. I am petrified it might go away. I feel that good, I think I might be normal.

Many people think I am incurably unable to get up, out and in of a morning. Not actually true. I am very poor at going to bed. On both Monday and Tuesday nights I went to bed much much later than I ought to have done and, of course, got less sleep than I should. Not very long ago, two consecutive nights with too little sleep would have left me barely able to get through the working day. But not this week. Yesterday and today I did slightly more than a full day without ever feeling tired. Last night I cooked a meal from scratch and did some tidying, as well as write  two - very pleasantly - laborious blogposts.

I took my swimming kit into work today. By six o'clock I was undecided as to whether I actually wanted to go swimming. I opened my desk-pedestal and saw that there was no room to store my swim-stuff. When I left the office I realised I had just missed an 88 from outside, so walked to the next bus-stop. If I caught an 88 that would take me to Clapham Common to pick up another bus to take me home, avoiding Brixton Rec. The first bus that came was a C10 to Pimlico Station, so I decided that as the simplest way home was via Brixton, I might as well go swimming.

There are two things that put me off going swimming. One is the journey. But I would still have to journey home, so that's silly. The second is the getting dressed and undressed. Coldly and analytically that is 'wasted time'. One of my character defects is allowing irrelevancies and peripheries deter me from doing something essentially positive.

Within 45 minutes of leaving the office I was in the water. I am not, by any stretch, a strong swimmer. I am, actually, a natural water babe. I can happily swim under water, eyes open, no goggles. I can happily do quite a medley of strokes:

  •  doggy paddle;
  •  front-crawl-with-a-float (that is to make me use my legs rather than relying on my arms too much);
  • lazy-backstroke (lie on back and kick legs; occasionally use arms);
  • proper backstroke (when I can be bothered);
  • sort-of-front-crawl (head down, three strokes, up-and-breathe, head down, repeat, breathing at each side alternatively) - considering I got my 25metres badge in this in 1978 I think I am doing damn well to be able to do probably 18 metres without breaking rhythm!

You get the picture!

I stayed 20 minutes in the water. Remember, I am early middle-aged, overweight, heavy smoking,  unfit and recovering/ed from several years of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. That's ten lengths, taking it easy, resting when I feel like it, ploughing up and down at my own pace, increasing the heart rate, getting elegantly sweaty.

And I wonder, is it enough?

I'm not knackered, tired, achy. All positive. I can feel my muscles strengthening...yes, I know that swimming is a cardio,  not resistance, exercise, but my starting point was low. Also, I think I my natural body-type is muscular (albeit wrapped in a protective layer of fat); I suspect I am more muscular than many women who are exponentially fitter than me. Even my fat tummy now has muscular definition.

I sat on the bus on the way home (so much quieter, what a difference an hour makes) and reflected on this startling development. I feel like I did years ago when a hard day's auditing was followed by a work out, a long evening on Council stuff, and often a session in a pub, and I just went on and on. I have been puzzled for years how I managed to do it, full of wonder at the energy of other people.  I am beginning to believe that I can do it. Energy is plentiful.

And yet, I am so scared because the constant danger with CFS is 'overdoing it'. That massive step forward is destroyed by a violent lurch back. I don't ever want to be like that again.Half of me wants to push myself, to demonstrate to myself and others that it's over, I'm cured, I'm normal again. But I have to conquer that psychological barrier of fear that I try and kid myself is sensible caution.

Latest links

BBC NEWS | Magazine | The myth of record debt

BBC NEWS | Magazine | The myth of record debt

An excellent - if flawed - article showing how rubbish journalists are at understanding basic statistics and economics

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Tuesday, 18 November 2008

You Tube

Some recent additions:

Camcordered in Costa Rica - audience singalong

Plácido conducts (watch him dance...) Juanito in My Song in Vienna in 2006 - I think it was a concert to mark the end of Austria's EU Presidency

and then Granada, which is Pláci's song.

No puede ser in Chichén Itzá. I'd love to play the timpani in that - and then take him home with me ;-)

Amor vida de mi vida (Chichén Itzá)

Mariachi in Chichén Itzá

More Mariachi, Ella - this is so gorgeous

There's more but that will have to do for now. If YouTube didn't exist, someone would have had to invent it.

Some links I didn't post when I was busy and then deinternetted*

*this is a word. Trust me.

Another report from the concert in Chichén Itzá way back in October.

Chichen itza A nice long and detailed report which reads evocatively despite the mangling of Google Translate, a necessity for me: Encuentro de leyendas en el Concierto de las mil columnas

Placido Domingo lights up Mayan pyramid

video


Plácido Domingo afina para cantarle a los ticos

 - an interview he gave in October in anticipation of last week's concert in Costa Rica - 6 minute audio and transcript. He says he won't do projects with pop singers (similar to Pavarotti and Friends); he is more interested in opera singers.

See also Chihuahua and Chichen Itza


I'm glad I'm not an obsessive completist

Amore infinito The next album - as originally posted by White Rabbit is called Amore infinito. I winced at the featured duettists, and wasn't much taken by the track listing. Even before I clicked onto the web-page and saw the description: Canzoni ispirate alle poesie di Giovanni Paolo II - Karol Wojtyla. I knew this had been mooted, but I rather hoped it had been forgotten about. I don't think Karol Wojtyla was a man to be admired. His views on the subjugation of women were odious, and the impact of his attitude to AIDS prevention, especially in Africa, were little short of genocidal. So this is definitely one album I will not be buying.

Then I see an article about the album "Amore infinito" il nuovo cd di Placido Domingo. Then I read there will be ten scheduled around the world. I sincerely hope not in London, which, after all is predominantly  a Pagan city. I really don't think bear such a concert and wouldn't wish to face such a dilemma.

Great baritones

In my previous post, I described Gerald Finley as the world's greatest baritone, and I mean that. It's not a light task to ascribe 'greatest' to anything.

Okay, I can say - sing -  that 'Manchester United are by far the greatest (football) team the world has ever seen' and I can say that Plácido Domingo is the world's greatest tenor (but I am sure he, being a Real Madrid fan, would disagree with the Manchester United claim). Perhaps I can state that Clement Attlee was the greatest British Prime Minister ever, but I am sure many people would disagree. Shakespeare was the greatest playwright - in the English language. The Bible is the greatest book written (but it's not a 'book', it's an anthology). After that I am struggling!

Even when I wrote that Gerry is the world's greatest baritone, I suspected that people would challenge this, especially fans of Bryn Terfel (okay, bass-baritone), Simon Keenlyside and Dimitri Hvorostovsky. Also fans of Thomas Quasthoff, but as he doesn't sing opera I am going to exclude him for the sake of my argument.

Both Bryn and Shirtless, living on farms in Wales, are well known for not wanting to be away from home for long periods, and like Gerald Finley, appear frequently in London (or at least in the case of Bryn, in Britain). Dima is a bit more inclined to travel but nevertheless is London-based and frequently appears. And Thomas Quasthoff is making many  appearances in London throughout this season. He doesn't really support my argument, but can't be overlooked if we are talking great baritones.

I got to thinking - I don't think we appreciate the wealth of baritone talent so centred in Britain. If four of the world's top sopranos or four top tenors were so London (Britain) based, it would be remarked upon and seen as extraordinary. Of course, Gerry and Dima are merely British by choice, residence and naturalisation (Gerry is a graduate of a British University -  as of course are Bryn and Shirtless).

I am no expert in baritones but I think that in twenty or thirty years (two or three in the case of Bryn) time, when these four great singers are nearing the end of their careers, we will look back at an unprecedented Golden Age of Baritones.

Latest links

Was Oppenheimer A Defender Or Destroyer Of Worlds?,Menachem Wecker

Was Oppenheimer A Defender Or Destroyer Of Worlds?,Menachem Wecker

was oppenheimer a defender or destroyer of worlds?

A discussion of the morality - in a Jewish context - surrounding the atomic bombs prompted by a trip to the opera

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Dr. Atomic at the Met

Dr. Atomic at the Met

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Audiences Cringe at Flash of Failure — Cultural Encounters

Audiences Cringe at Flash of Failure — Cultural Encounters

If there is anything spectacular in this bomb of an opera, it lies in Gerald Finley’s baritone voice.

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Cam's Commentary: Dr. Atomic

Cam's Commentary: Dr. Atomic

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Non disperar: Boris Godunov - 15 November 2008

Non disperar: Boris Godunov - 15 November 2008

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NewsBiscuit: Government urged to pass law stopping Poles from going home

NewsBiscuit: Government urged to pass law stopping Poles from going home

Brilliant - They go over there and leave all our jobs

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Pitch n Putt with Joyce and Beckett

Pitch n Putt with Joyce and Beckett

Very sweary - a film from 1922 featuring James Joyce and Samuel Beckett

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Wandsworth Common

  • Autumnal reflection
    A largeish open space not too far from home

Tooting Common

  • Jimmy
    My nearest open space - about a kilometre from home

Old photos 1996

  • Macgillycuddy's Reeks
    Taken on a basic 35mm, scanned and edited

Old photos 1990

  • Grimsby Dock
    Taken with a basic 35mm, scanned and edited

Brockwell Park

  • Wild
    My local park

Summer

  • Wild
    Pictures of that allegedly hot season

Yorkshire

  • Butterfly
    Visits in May 2005 and August 2008

Cyrano de Bergerac

  • Gorgeous!
    Photos taken during Cyrano de Bergerac at the Royal Opera House in May 2006

Classical Brits 2006

  • Placido
    Outside and inside the Royal Albert Hall at the ceremony we fondly call the Crossover Brits

Die Walkure

  • Pappano
    Photos taken during and after the July 2005 performances of Die Walkure in London.

Performance

  • Angela takes applause
    Pictures of performers, mainly musical, mainly at Curtain Calls but in some cases actually performing on stage

USA and Canada 99

  • Empire State Looking South
    A 3 week trip to North America produced some ace photos

Old photos 1989

  • Student bedroom
    Taken on a basic point-and-shoot 35mm, scanned and edited

Old photos 1992

  • Coliseum
    Basic point-and-shoot, scanned and edited

Old photos 1999

  • On the piste
    Taken with a basic 35 mm point and shoot, scanned and edited

Old photos 1986

  • Police
    Pictures from the year I turned 18. Taken on a Boots Instamatic 126, scanned & edited

Old photos 1995

  • Stocks
    Shot on 35 mm film, with a basic camera, scanned and edited

Old Photos 1984

  • Form 5P
    In 2005, I said It's very fashionable at the moment for people to take poor quality photographs with cheap mobile phone cameras and publish them on Flickr or other free hosting sites So, I thought, why not join them? I have loads of poor quality photos taken on a cheap Boots Instamatic camera on 126 film

Old photos 2000

  • Eleanor and me
    My final year of taking photos on film

Old photos 1997

  • Election
    Basic 35 mm point-and-shoot, scanned and edited

Old photos 1988

  • Lake Rudyard
    Taken on a basic 35mm point-and-shoot with separate flash gun (where relevant), scanned and edited

Boring

  • Chessington South
    Anyone can shoot a dull picture of something interesting. It takes skill to make dull subject matter eye-catching. And then there are boring photos that nothing could rescue...

Me myself I

  • Me singing
    Various pictures of me

Egypt

  • ...Airport
    Holidays to Sharm el-Sheikh and Taba in New Year 2003, New Year 2005 and March 2007.

London

  • Whitehall
    Shots taken over the years in the centralish area of London town

Boats and ships

  • Yacht
    Various craft that enable travel by water

Other People's Homes

  • Ocean Cottage
    Various photos of houses etc where 'ordinary people' live

Whitstable

  • Yacht
    A day out on a glorious summer's day in 2003

Food and Drink

  • Prawns
    Various pictures of food, taken over the years

People

  • Lakeside life
    Miscellaneous shots of people and so on

Borde Hill

  • Daisies
    On a very hot day In July 2003 we took a day trip to Borde Hill in Sussex

Scotland

  • Loch Venachar
    Our holiday touring the Highlands and Western Isles in August 2003

Eastbourne

  • Lines
    We visited in September 2003. I got very sunburned

Naked statues

  • Orpheus
    They tend to get censored, covered-over or broken. But not here.

Steam

  • Traction
    Pictures of steam locos and their trains

Winter

  • Frozen Pond
    When it's cold

Stratford

  • Swan
    A business trip in 2003 afforded me an hour or two off to snap the Touristy Bits

Bush visits London

  • The Mall
    George Bush made a State Visit to London in November 2003. And I stalked him

Sweet Chariot

  • Vantage Point
    England's 2003 World Cup Victory Parade

Cheshire

  • Old Mill
    The area I grew up in was in Cheshire until Local Government reorganisation in 1974. Occasionally, when it suits, I call myself a Cheshire Girl. I was born in Lancashire.

Autumn

  • Autumnal reflection
    Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Dungeness

  • Lighthouse
    A day out in July 2004

Barcelona

  • Yacht Marina
    We visited at Easter 2005

Berlin

  • Churches
    A weekend in Germany's capital. Our main purpose was a concert at the Waldbuhne, but we also took an Open Top bus tour. August 2005

Brighton

  • Pier
    It's a city on England's South Coast

Brixton Hill

  • Flats & tree
    Photos from the 'hood

Cityscape

  • Walk in the park
    Various pictures of urbania

Crete

  • Elounda
    Our holiday in September - October 2006

Cuba Christmas 2001

  • Paradise
    Our holiday in Cuba Christmas 2001/New Year 2002

Essex

  • Wicken Bonhunt
    Walks along the Estuary and photos from when I lived there.

Goa

  • Christmas Gala
    A holiday in Calangute, Goa Christmas/New Year 2005/06

Gravesend

  • Tilbury
    Just a few photos but if I didn't give them a dedicated album I would be criticised by a rellie who lives in Gravesend!

Hampton Court

  • Flowered arch
    We visited in June 2002

Harwich

  • Big Ship
    Our visit to Harwich in Spring of 2002

Helicopter Ride

  • Helicopter
    Our trip on a helicopter over Surrey and London in April 2008

Hever Castle

  • Outhouses
    A visit to Hever Castle in Kent in May 2008

Himself

  • Us and Saudi Arabia
    Various pictures of my gorgeous fiancé, Jimmy

Home

  • Snow
    Various photos in and around my home

Israel

  • Dead read
    We went on a day trip (from Taba, Egypt) in January 2005.

Madrid

  • Tv Van
    Our visit to Madrid, March-April 2008

Mojacar

  • Sultan's Courtyard
    We went on holiday in June 2002

New York

  • Skaters
    We visited in December 2007. I wasn't much in the mood for photo taking. Besides, it was my third visit

Spring

  • Trees
    Pictures that seem to capture the new life of Spring

Streatham

  • Gleneldon Road
    Pictures of Streatham. No, really...!

Trooping the Colour

  • Beating Retreat
    We attended Trooping the Colour in June 2007

Water Fowl

  • Conversation
    I don't especially like birds. But I do like photographing ducks, geese and swans

Wetlands

  • Pond
    The London Wetlands Centre in Barnes. I intend to expand this album in due course

Winchester

  • Cathedral
    In 2004 my workmates and I went to a conference in Winchester. I had a bit of spare time to whizz round and take a few photos

Windsor

  • Up river
    A couple of visits to Windsor in August 2004 and April 2007

November 2008

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