(no subject)
I have an essay due tomorrow, so, as you may imagine, I'm doing anything but.
Sister living at home continues horrific, but as she's often not here, we'll get by. However, I was woken at 2am last night by a screaming match between her and mum, which was mightily irritating.
Went to see Opera Australia's production of Rusalka on Thursday. Rusalka is one of the more easy to explain operas, because it's basically The Little Mermaid, in the original tragic version, in Czech. I wasn't expecting much, because Opera Australia production's are frequently quite mediocre. With awful, awful tenors. By Gods, their tenors are awful. There really seem to be no truly good tenors in Australia. Anyway, Rusalka. It was awesome. I was so impressed. The awesomeness, however, mostly came about because the two leads, the soprano singing Rusalka, Sally Matthews, and the tenor singing the Prince were both imported for the occasion. For once, a tenor on an Australian stage who doesn't make you constantly worried that he's going to crack! He was lovely. But she was the real star, a soprano truly worthy of singing the lead in the opera that has become Renee Fleming's signature piece. She was just astonishing. Gorgeous. I really can't say enough good things about her. Such a beautiful rich voice, with a perfectly dark bottom, and she sang with such amazing musicality. And dramatically she was incredible as well. She actually acted the same character that she sang, which is rather unusual. And she was so graceful on stage too, which is important in a role in which you spend a whole act on stage silent. I think she must have done some ballet at some point, she moved so gracefully and artfully. Anywho, point is, if anyone has any interest in going to see an opera, which you all mostly don't, but oh well, go see Rusalka. Dvorak's music is so completely perfect for the fairy tale, really transcendent, and this is one of the only chances you'll get to see an opera in Australia with a really magnificent cast.
Oh, also, at the end of Rusalka, we were all cheering for the cast, and we were very enthusiastic because we were so blown away by their wonderfulness, and I stood for Sally Matthews even though I've never stood at an Opera Australia production before because she really was perfect, and some rude old guy a few rows in front of us turned around and said "Shut up, we want to go home." I was so disgusted. I couldn't believe that someone could be so ungrateful to performers when they've done something so magnificent for us. So I ignored him. And when we kept cheering, he and his lemon-sucking faced wife turned around again and said "Shut up!" So I said to them "Excuse me, I'm congratulating performers. Get over it." It saddens me to think that we work so hard to have the skills and the knowledge to be worthy of performing this amazing music so that other people can experience it and be moved by it, only to have our performances attended by people like that, people with no appreciation for the experience, who in all likelihood are only there because it's the done thing, if you have money to spare, to do 'cultured' things like going to the opera. Argh.
Well, that was largely incoherent. Sorry about that.
In other news, my friend Toby told me the other day that someone had said to him, he couldn't remember who, that I had hexed a certain person. Apparently the person who said this wasn't someone who knows me terribly well, and I was deeply disturbed by it on a number of levels. I mean, I wasn't even aware that my religious beliefs were widely known enough for randoms to be joking about such things. Further, it shows a ignorance of Wiccan beliefs that surprises me, given the prevalence of fluffy publicity along the lines of "harm none", or if not ignorance of, then certainly a great deal of disrespect for. My religion is important to me, and private, and to know that someone said that felt intrusive and malicious, though the person who said it in all probability didn't mean it that way. Also, I'm shocked and quite hurt that someone who knows me well enough to know that I am Wiccan, thinks that I would do such a thing. What kind of emo nut-job do they think I am? It's just something I'm a bit sensitive about.
On a lighter note-
This is funny.
And I'm done.
Sister living at home continues horrific, but as she's often not here, we'll get by. However, I was woken at 2am last night by a screaming match between her and mum, which was mightily irritating.
Went to see Opera Australia's production of Rusalka on Thursday. Rusalka is one of the more easy to explain operas, because it's basically The Little Mermaid, in the original tragic version, in Czech. I wasn't expecting much, because Opera Australia production's are frequently quite mediocre. With awful, awful tenors. By Gods, their tenors are awful. There really seem to be no truly good tenors in Australia. Anyway, Rusalka. It was awesome. I was so impressed. The awesomeness, however, mostly came about because the two leads, the soprano singing Rusalka, Sally Matthews, and the tenor singing the Prince were both imported for the occasion. For once, a tenor on an Australian stage who doesn't make you constantly worried that he's going to crack! He was lovely. But she was the real star, a soprano truly worthy of singing the lead in the opera that has become Renee Fleming's signature piece. She was just astonishing. Gorgeous. I really can't say enough good things about her. Such a beautiful rich voice, with a perfectly dark bottom, and she sang with such amazing musicality. And dramatically she was incredible as well. She actually acted the same character that she sang, which is rather unusual. And she was so graceful on stage too, which is important in a role in which you spend a whole act on stage silent. I think she must have done some ballet at some point, she moved so gracefully and artfully. Anywho, point is, if anyone has any interest in going to see an opera, which you all mostly don't, but oh well, go see Rusalka. Dvorak's music is so completely perfect for the fairy tale, really transcendent, and this is one of the only chances you'll get to see an opera in Australia with a really magnificent cast.
Oh, also, at the end of Rusalka, we were all cheering for the cast, and we were very enthusiastic because we were so blown away by their wonderfulness, and I stood for Sally Matthews even though I've never stood at an Opera Australia production before because she really was perfect, and some rude old guy a few rows in front of us turned around and said "Shut up, we want to go home." I was so disgusted. I couldn't believe that someone could be so ungrateful to performers when they've done something so magnificent for us. So I ignored him. And when we kept cheering, he and his lemon-sucking faced wife turned around again and said "Shut up!" So I said to them "Excuse me, I'm congratulating performers. Get over it." It saddens me to think that we work so hard to have the skills and the knowledge to be worthy of performing this amazing music so that other people can experience it and be moved by it, only to have our performances attended by people like that, people with no appreciation for the experience, who in all likelihood are only there because it's the done thing, if you have money to spare, to do 'cultured' things like going to the opera. Argh.
Well, that was largely incoherent. Sorry about that.
In other news, my friend Toby told me the other day that someone had said to him, he couldn't remember who, that I had hexed a certain person. Apparently the person who said this wasn't someone who knows me terribly well, and I was deeply disturbed by it on a number of levels. I mean, I wasn't even aware that my religious beliefs were widely known enough for randoms to be joking about such things. Further, it shows a ignorance of Wiccan beliefs that surprises me, given the prevalence of fluffy publicity along the lines of "harm none", or if not ignorance of, then certainly a great deal of disrespect for. My religion is important to me, and private, and to know that someone said that felt intrusive and malicious, though the person who said it in all probability didn't mean it that way. Also, I'm shocked and quite hurt that someone who knows me well enough to know that I am Wiccan, thinks that I would do such a thing. What kind of emo nut-job do they think I am? It's just something I'm a bit sensitive about.
On a lighter note-
This is funny.
And I'm done.