Opera Theater of Saint Louis is hosting the world premiere of The Golden Ticket, a new opera based on Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One of my favorite mezzos, Jennifer Rivera, is playing Veruca Salt. (Of course the mezzo would play the bratty kid...)

As exciting as this is, this brings up a topic that I've been thinking about/talking with other people about recently. What is with this new trend of making musicals out of movies? Granted, Charlie is a book, but there are two big movies and a musical based on it already. Now there needs to be an opera of it? I think the question needs to be: is this good operatic material?

So here's my problem: medium. Every medium -- be it opera, broadway musical, movie, play, novel, whatever -- has its inherent strong points. Some stories just work in a certain medium. When you start juggling it around, the story loses its original impact. Shrek the musical? Spiderman the musical? An opera based on An Inconvenient Truth? I mean, come on -- who thought this was a good idea? You see the same thing happen when they make your favorite book into a movie. Some movie renditions are wonderful and they even enhance the original story, but some books just lose all their power when they're put into movie form.

I've noticed a trend, especially in broadway musicals, and I think that these media are being compromised because everything new that is being written isn't taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the form in mind. I could blame it all on commercialism, but this trend began before the recession came in full-force. I think the cause is more laziness than anything. There isn't a commitment to the craft. There needs to be a commitment to the craft! Nothing good ever came from half-hearted writing.

Joyce Didonato, a very successful mezzo-soprano with a refreshing, ever-present awe of life, said it perfectly in her last post when she explained Dr. George Gibson's philosophy. He believes in the three Ds: Dedication, Disclipline, and Determination. I think that is such a great motivator and thing to live by. If only the entertainment industry would do the same...

Just finished signing up for classes for spring semester. FUN! I was SOOOOO tempted to take French 1 and Russian 1, but I promised my best friend that I'd wait for next year to start French. I'm taking German 4 and Italian 4 next semester. I think I can hold off on French. Russian's optional at this point. I might want Play Analysis or Creative Writing instead. We'll see. I'm not sure that my brain can handle FOUR foreign languages. I know the Russian alphabet. I'd love to learn the basics. :)

So, the final verdict on my schedule is:
German 4
Italian 4
Private Voice Lessons
Private Cello Lessons
the usual ensembles (chorale, chamber singers, opera, symphony orchestra, string orchestra)
History of 20th Century Music (w00t - Philip Glass)
Orchestration (!)

There was this honors class that studied Ring Cycles in film, lit, and OPERA (aka Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Wagner's Ring Cycle, James Joyces' something, etc) but I can't take it because it's during my opera scenes class. EPIC FAIL. I'm so upset! They have an opera class when none of the serious opera people can take it. Genuis. I went to the honors office to make them aware of this fact, but they won't change the time of the class. I'm probably the only person in the school who might be SINGING in the Ring Cycle one day but whatever. Do you know how rare Wagnerian singers are? Sheesh.

Ok, my rant is over. There are so many good classes that I'd love to take (like Speech for Actors), but alas -- I only have so many hours in the day.

Did you ever get the feeling that something is just so beautiful that you could burst from it?

It doesn't happen too often (and when it does it usually involves me taking 888 pictures), but this summer was chock-full of those moments. It happened every day when I was over in Europe and it happened again last night. It's amazing how these things can sneak up on you and bring such a profound surprise that it tantalizes your brain for days.

Enter Sven-Eric Brechtold's production of Der Rosenkavalier (also known as "the best $20 that I've ever spent"). This has to be one of the most beautiful opera productions that I've seen since the Met's new Butterfly. But this isn't about opera; it's more than that -- it's aesthetics and talent and loveliness.

It doesn't happen too often, but when a bunch of creative and talented people get together and work for something, beauty is created. It's amazing to think that we can generate beauty -- that's it's something tangible enough to be formed with human hands and brains. And yet beauty is intangible enough to be elusive, even when it's on full display. My mind cannot comprehend the immense power of what it has witnessed. It's like putting down an incredible, incredible book and spending the next week thinking "How does something like this even exist? Who had the ability to create it?" And to be the one to actually create that is one of my life goals.

The funniest thing of all is that my awe is never inspired by perfection. These immensely beautiful things are always flawed, sometimes deeply so. I could rant and rave about how much I hate a particular choice that the director made or this bad character moment, but I'm still overwhelmed with love for the production. How is this possible? How am I so overwhelmed by one little DVD?

(Strangely enough, as I was writing this post, I read that m_stiefvater wrote an entry on this very subject. I happen to be reading her book at the moment and it has added to my mystifying encounter with beauty.)

I'm actually at a loss for words. Some writer I am!

BALLAD, Oct. 1 -- be there...

These are ALL true about me. See how many you can relate to. :P

You know you're a nerd when...

...you and your friends/family play "guess that conductor" instead of charades.

...you look at a shampoo bottle and say, "Hey! There's a comma missing!"

...you look at the daily Google picture and you know what it's commemorating before you scroll over it.

...you fall asleep with textbooks in your bed and you don't notice until halfway through the next day.

...you quote Captain Kirk in real life and your brother laughs because he knows exactly what you're referring to AND he knows the name of the episode is that the quote is from.

...you think of every purchase in terms of how many songs on ITunes that would be.

...you know a random date that your teacher/professor asked for but didn't expect anyone to actually know and you can't remember how/why you know it.

...you play charades and the choices are: movie, book, tv show, play, and opera.

...you know the Dewey Decimal number of a specific subject.

...you talk about famous people by their first names and everyone knows who you're talking about.

...you can answer the questions on Jeopardy that the contestants don't know.

...you know who Petra is and what their greatest hits were.

...you have drawn out conversations about the meaning of Time and whether it actually exists or not.

...you don't notice that you're randomly adding phrases in foreign languages into your everyday speech.

...you have 43 books checked out and think nothing of it.

...you squee over a New York Philharmonic concert (and think that the first-chair cellist is cute).

...you're 10 years old and your role models are Nancy Drew and an android named Data (Star Trek TNG).

...you can read three different alphabets.

...you know the date of every Mozart opera premiere but you can't successfully drive two miles without getting lost (in your home town where you've lived for over 10 years).

...you correct a teacher's/professor's grammatical mistakes when you copy down their notes.

...you're 12 years old and you want to be an astronomical geologist when you grow up.

...you visit three different libraries in the same day and think that it's normal.

...you use opera singers' names in the place of profanities.

5 Favorite Symphonic Works
1. Beethoven's 7th Symphony
2. Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
3. Mozart's Sinfonia to The Marriage of Figaro
4. Beethoven's 5th Symphony
5. Mahler's Second Symphony ("Resurrection")

5 Favorite Quotes From Real Life
1. "That last sip of apple juice tasted like a snail!" - Tina
2. "That was a potentially tragic moment." - Kirstie
3. "This is the real world and this is Brian's world.  The only thing in common is Brian." - Katy
4. "Haydn was the guy who'd short-sheet your bed at camp." - Prof Krasner
5. "Jane is Wendy's illegitimate child.  You never see the husband." - Heather, age 13

5 Favorite Shakespeare Plays
1. Twelfth Night
2. The Tempest
3. Hamlet
4. Romeo and Juliet
5. A Midsummer Night's Dream

5 Favorite Bands
1. Anberlin
2. Jars of Clay
3. Eisley
4. Daughtry
5. Sixpence None the Richer

5 Movies That I Can Watch 20 Million TImes
1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
2. The Emperor's New Groove
3. Mansfield Park (w/Billie Piper)
4. The Incredibles
5. Ella Enchanted

5 Opera Roles to Play Before I Die
1. Cherubino - The Marriage of Figaro
2. Rosina - The Barber of Seville
3. Sesto - The Mercy of Titus (Mozart)
4. Octavian - The Rose-Bearer
5. Romeo - The Capulets and the Montagues

5 Actresses That Are Fun To Watch
1. Amy Adams
2. Sandra Bullock
3. Nana Visitor
4. Emmy Rossum
5. Anne Hathaway

5 Favorite Places
1. home
2. the library (pretty much any library)
3. Great Aunt and Uncle's house in Rheinbeck, NY
4. Metropolitan Opera House
5. Grandma's house

5 Musicals I'd Love To Be In
1. My Fair Lady
2. The Phantom of the Opera
3. Tarzan
4. The Sound of Music
5. Beauty and the Beast

5 Favorite Authors (in no particular order)
1. C.S. Lewis
2. Madeleine L'Engle
3. F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. Ray Bradbury
5. Eoin Colfer

5 Operas I Have Left To Listen To This Summer
1. The Saint of Bleecker Street - Menotti
2. Werther - Massenet
3. Othello - Verdi
4. Tristan und Isolde - Wagner
5. Faust - Gounod

Maggie Stiefvater is coming out with a new book and I'm about to give a shameless shout-out for it.

It's called Shiver and it's a boy-meets-girl, boy-turns-into-wolf, girl-cries story and if I know Maggie, it's going to rock. :)

Here's a trailer that she made for her book. She did all the it: the music, the art, EVERYTHING. Definitely worth checking out.

Amidst too many graduations (and their adjoining parties), I've come to the realization that discovering my obsession for opera came at a good time.  If I'd discovered it in high school, not only would I have been wayyy more stressed out about college and my life, but I would have been considered even weirder than I already was.  At least in the music department at Hofstra, most people can tolerate (or even sometimes appreciate) my insanity because they're half-insane themselves (aka they are musicians or at least half-musicians).

If I had to choose three reasons for being happy about going to Hofstra, these would be them:
1. Tammy
2. No $100,000 debt
3. Roles in the operas

So I discovered a Puccini opera that doesn't drive me crazy.  Clearly, a miracle has occurred.  Madama Butterfly = <3  Beautiful music, beautiful story, beautiful setting, beautiful everything.  Sure, it's a little sad for my taste, but it's a well-done sad.  In other words, I approve.  :)

Finally found some good summer reading.  Hurray for public libraries.

I'm in the mood for lists.  Besides, I need some good suggestions for reading.  I'm running short on ideas.

Things I've Read So Far

The Joys of Love: Madeleine L'Engle
The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Waltz Kings: Hans Fantel
Twelfth Night: Shakespeare
The Effect of Gamma-Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds: Paul Zindel
Anthem: Ayn Rand
Trickster's Choice: Tamora Pierce

Currently Reading

The Castrati in Opera: Angus Heriot
Sonnets to Orpheus: Rainer Maria Rilke
The Humanoids: Jack Williamson

Operas I've Watched/Listened To This Summer

Madame Butterfly: Puccini
Aida: Verdi
La Cenerentola: Rossini
Die Fledermaus: J. Strauss, Jr.
Der Rosenkavalier: R. Strauss
La Traviata: Verdi
Fidelio: Beethoven
La Clemenza di Tito: Mozart
Cosi fan tutte: Mozart
Le Nozze di Figaro: Mozart
Idomeneo: Mozart
Dido and Aeneas: Purcell
Orfeo ed Euridice: Gluck
I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Bellini
Romeo et Juliette: Gounod

SOOO, if anyone has any good book or opera suggestions, I'm open.  I really need a good book these days...

One of the great ironies of the world is Chopin’s trip with George Sand to Majorca. I’m surprised he would go at all. But that is beside the point.

The funniest thing of all is this: while they (Chopin, George Sand, and her two children) were in Cartuja, they stayed in a monastery. The place had been inhabited by monks just a few years before but the government had driven them out and repossessed the land for their own use. Now foreigners took up residence in the monk’s cells. What a strange place for Chopin and George Sand to stay!

I’ll be honest: I really don’t understand their relationship (yet). It is so utterly complex and the facts are muddled and cloudy; I can’t seem to get a clear fix on what actually went on. This relationship has obviously intrigued others; there are a great many books written on the subject and during the course of every thing written on Chopin, George Sand is brought up. And vice versa. They are both “famous” in their own respects. I suppose it is a curiosity that two celebrities (of two different worlds) would have had an affair, but the interest in this relationship seems to extend past that. I can’t put my finger on it. Not yet. This is one of my summer projects: figure out the Chopin/George Sand relationship.

Meanwhile, I’m excited to listen to the music that Chopin wrote while residing here. Majorca is so exotic— so singular a place. I cannot wait to hear what sort of music it inspired. More to come.

Just to get an idea, here is one of George Sand's description of the place: (she is such a good writer!)

"How lovely were those tricks of light we used to see when oblique rays would find a way through the crannies of the rocks, or slide between the different peaks, to pick out alternating crests of gold and purple in the middle distance! Sometimes our cypresses, those jet-black obelisks which served to set-off the background of the picture, would bathe their tips in this flaming sea, and the clusters of dates on our palm-trees would seem like bunches of great rubies, while one great line of shadow sweeping down athwart the valley cut it into two quite separate zones-- the one, flooded with the brilliance of a summer's light, the other blue and cold, and to the sight uncompromisingly a winter's landscape.

"It is one of those views which overpower the spectator because they leave nothing more to be desired, nothing to the imagination. Nature has already created everything which poet and painter could envisage in their dreams. An immense whole, an infinity of details, an inexhaustible variety; a welter of mingling shapes; clearcut outlines, dim depths-- oh, everything is there already and there is nothing left at all for art to add! As for me, I have never been more conscious of the inadequacy of words than during the hours which I spent gazing out from the Cartuja."

from Chopin and George Sand in Majorca by Bartolome Ferra; trans. James Webb, Haskell House 1974

I had the strangest dream last night.  I dreamed that I was Dante in his Inferno.  However, instead of being led by Virgil, I was led by Cecilia Bartoli, and then Kiri Te Kanawa.  When I got to one of the circles, it was Lindsey Lohan singing. 

So apparently one of the circles of hell is Lindsay Lohan singing.  hahaha

I love my subconscious.

I haven't posted on here in a while.  Life is crazy with rehearsals.  I pretty much get to school at 9am and leave at 10pm.  I'm so tired right now.  It's a good thing I love music as much as I do.

It's fun running around like a lunatic.  Onstage, I mean.  In real life, I keep it to a brisk walk.  I finally (FINALLY!) nailed my scenes yesterday.  I didn't get any notes!  It's a Christmas miracle!

In other news, I'm writing to you from my very new, very cute Netbook.  It's a 10" screen and 2lbs and I LOVE IT!  I named it Orfeo.  I wanted to name it Little Muse but it didn't work (you have to have no spaces or a hyphen; bleh).  I'm having a bit of trouble setting up my external optical disk drive, but I'll get it eventually (darned software!).  I love taking Orfeo to rehearsal with me.  He's a good pal. :)

My other laptop is practically dead.  I miss him, but what can you do?  I nursed that thing for a year and a half.  Now it's Mommy's; she's going to pay bills on it (how exciting...).

I was over at a Book Roast yesterday and I had much fun hassling a great author (Maggie Stiefvater) with my questions.  I even won a copy of her book!  I'm so excited.  I wanted to buy a copy, but I'm broke so I didn't.  Now I can read it!  Yay!  Maggie was so nice in answering my questions.  She gives me hope. :)

Oh, I have to scadaddle to rehearsal.  See you punks LATA!

10 Best Books I Read (For the First Time) This Year

1. The Figaro Plays (The Barber of Seville/The Marriage of Figaro/The Guilt of a Mother) - Beaumarchais
2. A Circle of Quiet - Madeleine L'Engle
3. The Robot Trilogy (The Caves of Steel/The Naked Sun/The Robots of Dawn) - Isaac Asimov
4. Understanding the Women of Mozart's Operas - Kristi Brown-Montesano
5. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. The Inner Voice - Renee Fleming
7. Marrying Mozart - Stephanie Cowell
8. So Yesterday - Scott Westerfeld
9.  What Not To Wear - Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine
10. Penelope - Marilyn Kaye

10 Best Movies/Videos I Saw (For the First Time) This Year

1. Star Trek Voyager
2. Wall-E
3. Mansfield Park
4. La Fille du Regiment - Royal Opera House 2008
5. I Dream of Jeannie
6. Northanger Abbey
7. Finding Neverland
8. Shrek the Third
9. A Wrinkle in Time - miniseries
10. Trollflojten
Bonus: Beethoven Lives Upstairs (55 minutes of educational bliss!)

I've gone through three cups of tea tonight. Ahhh, what finals do to you!

I caught the Richard Tucker Gala on PBS last night. (It was so great!) My brother's in the livingroom and he shouts to me (in the kitchen, studying away),

"There's people singing in dresses. You might want to see this."

I heard about three notes and I immediately knew what it was. Una voce poco fa! Joyce Didonato! Omgosh, LOVE!

All plans of watching TV for the rest of the night were off for my brothers. It's their own fault, really. I did let them watch the weird "making of the Wiz" show during the Wagner arias. I'm so generous.

I don't have much time (I need SLEEP), so I'll make it brief.

I got an A on my vocal jury (YAY!!). It was the only A they gave out that day! I felt so honored. They said what I expected mostly ("don't lose so much air on the consonants!" etc). I was very happy with how it all turned out and so was Beck. :)

Christmas is coming. I cannot wait for it. I love Christmas. This year is going to be especially good. Everyone's coming to our house. And it's not only family. It's family and every other Christmas-orphan (people who have nowhere else to go). I love having a million people over for a holiday and Christmas is one of the best. I just really want school to be OVER for this semester and my life to kick back into high-gear. I'm plotting a novel in my head that I can't wait to start. There's a few developing simultaneously, but you can only physically write one at a time, right? Hmm...

Okay, it's off to bed for me! I'm reading Marrying Mozart right now and it's outstanding and I really don't want to sleep because I want to read but alas...

If you need something to make you laugh, check this out. It never gets old...
(P.S. If you thought you didn't like opera, think again. This comes from Bernstein's "opera," Candide.)


P.S. It snowed today and it was so pretty! The snowflakes were more like snowblobs and they were beautiful! They fell so soft (and wet) on your head and all you could do was smile. :)

This always happens! I have so much to talk about but then the second I get on here, I can't think of anything to write! UGHHH...

I had three finals today and it's the last day of class. Hallelujah. I survived! I only have a thousand more finals and a project and a paper left. Oh, and two juries. I'll be fine. :)

It's so rainy out. I'm so glad I waterproofed my boots. My feet aren't wet! I'm so glad that that stuff actually worked.

It's really funny how when it's rainy, everyone is so tired. Myself included, unfortunately. I forgot to put makeup on this morning. Whoops. OH WELL. The vocal majors can deal.

So this Germany trip is really starting to fall into place. I have a partner in crime now (HURRAY! x 100000) and we're starting our real planning. I have to sit down and calculate costs (ugh). Loans and much groaning ensues... But I'm SO excited. So excited. Hopefully I won't miss anything important while I'm planning. There's so much I want to do! I really hope it all works out.

It looks like it's going to be 2 weeks in Germany and 2 weeks in Austria. SALZBURG, Austria. MOZARTLAND, Austria. I am PUMPED! I was talking about it to Rachel (the fellow opera-geek who's going with me) and my sister's like, "Why is your face all red?" I had gotten so excited just talking about Salzburg and the Mozarteum (the conservatory built in Mozart's memory) that I was getting all worked up. So funny.

I never thought in a million years that I'd be studying at the Mozarteum already. OMGOSH! I don't know how to convey to you what this means to me. Mozart is my absolute favorite opera composer. Last summer, I read at least 8 books about him and his works. I can't stop! Right now, I'm reading a book about Nannerl, his sister. It's a bit biased, but I'm enjoying it for what it is.

We had a meeting for Poppea (the full-length opera) yesterday. I'm really excited for where things are going. The director, Isabel, talked a little bit about what she's doing conceptually in this production. I was expecting something weird/different so I wasn't surprised when I heard that our set is going to be a construction site. The opera's supposed to take place in Ancient Rome, but what the heck? She mentioned WWII...I don't know. You can't really have a sky-scraper being built in Ancient Rome. Somehow that just doesn't work. WHATEVER.

This opera is going to interesting, if nothing else. I can tell you THAT.

Ok, I have to go to my jury rehearsal now. Too-ta-loo!

Tonight was my symphony orchestra concert.  The Dvorak New World Symphony brought down the house.  How could it not?

Bravo to everyone; it was such a wonderful experience.  Every good concert is an experience.  Tonight was a highly enjoyable one.

My birthday was so great.  I was at school all day, but I got voicemails throughout the day and they were all so lovely.  Grandma and Opa took me out to dinner and that was so much fun. :)  I finished it by watching Die Fledermaus (highly entertaining and the plethora of foreign languages made me giddy).

I had friends over the night before.  They bought me a guitar pinata.  HOW GREAT IS THAT??!!?  We're going to smash it on the last day of classes (Wed).  It's going to be EPIC.

I also got lots of other nice stuff. :)  Of course my I-Pod and computer are not getting along.  My computer and I aren't getting along in general.  None of the technology in my house likes me at the moment.  Everything decided to break at the same time.  Typical.

Let's just put it this way: I got the blue screen at least 5 times today.  And that's only today!  Ugh...

It's snowing and it's gorgeous.  Snow has this wonderful smell (or is it the smell of the earth reacting to the snow?) and it was so nice to experience again for the first time since last winter.  There are some beautiful and lovely things about winter.  Every season has its charm, and I'm feeling winter's tonight.  It is just so romantic outside right now.  I could cry.

I drove home from the concert in the snow with Mozart playing in the car.   HEAVEN.

I'm exhausted.  I need sleep.  NOW.  But first I must finish Asimov's masterpiece: The Positronic Man.  If you've never read it, you have to.  It was unbelievable the first time I read it 8 (?) years ago and it's still amazing now.  I love when that happens!  You know a book is real when it can impress you at any age.

I just started Atonement.  No, I have NOT seen the movie.  if I do watch it, it will be after I finish the book.  (I really wanted to read The Other Boleyn Girl but the library didn't have it.)   This book is so literary that it's almost suffocating.  I haven't read anything "literary" since I was forced to by Honors College.  I'm enjoying the book sofar, but it's a bit much.  The writing is beautiful, it really is; I'm just not sure if I can handle 200+ pages of it.  We shall see...

I want my new I-Pod to work!  I want my computer to work!  I want this semester to be over!

Ok, I'm done whining.  That was as short and painless as possible.  Now I'm going to stop talking about going to sleep and actually do it.  Guten nacht.

Ta-da!  Do we like the new layout?  I really wanted to go for a new feel.  I'm NOT abandoning Narnia (you shall always be first in my heart!) but I want something different.  I like change.  Change is good. :)

Besides, I've been reading a morbid amount of robot books lately.  I go through these phases.  I like robots.

Has anyone read either: I, Robot or The Caves of Steel or The Naked Sun OR The Robots of Dawn?

I finished the first three and I'm in the middle of the fourth.  They're OUTSTANDING!  They're written by the robot master, Isaac Asimov.  *sigh*  There is such good literature out there.  I love old stuff.

Since I have nothing better to write, here's my to-do list:

-sell my clarinet
-get posters up for my voice lessons
-arrange a garage sale
-finish The Robots of Dawn
-see Wall-E again
-pay my tuition (always a good thing)
-watch Fidelio
-exercise
-make it through the week :)

Two nights ago, Mom, Heather, and I watched Northanger Abbey (the new Masterpiece Theater version with Felicity Jones). I wasn't so into it, but Heather insisted on taking it out. So we did.

It was really good! I think I'm really growing into these sorts of movies. Sure, I still need my fill of action-packed robot/dinosaur/sci-fi/etc stories, but this was really good. The acting was fantastic and the characters were really interesting. The plot was a bit elementary (I would assume that it's one of Jane Austen's earlier works, although I don't know if that assumption is accurate). It built up to nothing and wrapped up REALLY fast.

It was so good that Mom begged to watch it again. So we watched it last night. Mom barely ever asks to watch the same movie twice (much less one night after the other!). She's such a softie for these period romances. I really enjoy them, too. They have depth to them and I like that. They're safe and innocent and I like that. Besides, the characters are always so intriguing and I'll watch almost anything with good characters in it.

I'm probably going to see Journey to the Center of the Earth tonight. I love old sci-fi. I've adored that book for a long time now. I hope they do it justice. I mean, it has dinosaurs and peril and near drownings...it's gotta be good. :)

We shall see.

I just finished Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel. AMAZING book! Man, I almost forgot how much I love mid-century sci-fi. I just remembered. :) I mean, Asimov is always amazing. Caves was just outstanding. I'm really having a hard time following it up with another book. Everything seems so dull after reading that. I've requested the next book in the series (I love series!) from the library. Hopefully it will come soon. If not, I just might have to drop in on B. Dalton and see if they have it...

Oh, I haven't gotten the new Artemis Fowl book yet. How shocking! I suppose it's my cash deficit. It's hitting me everywhere! I always buy the new Artemis Fowl book immediately. That would be a good follow-up to Caves. Hmmm...Let's see what the Mom Bank says about chipping in for Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox (considering that she reads it right after I do). Ooo, more sci-fi goodness. Ah! I just can't help myself. It's so good!

Alright, I'll shut up now. I have some more shocking news (that no one will care about), but I'll save that for my next entry.

Now I officially have about 10 things requested at the library.  They're going to hate me.  :D

It's summer!  It so hot outside that you can literally smell the suntan lotion in the air.  Wonderful!

Ah, this is one happy camper.  I discovered that you can request things from other libraries OVER THE INTERNET!  They're going to be sorry that they set up that all-too-convienent system.  From the comfort of my own room, I can plague every single library in my county!  Oh, bliss! 

Since that wasn't enough, I went to my library to pick up a book on Strauss that interested me (I happened to see it while surfing for stuff at other libraries).  What did I find at 782.1?  OMGOSH, so many opera books!  This is my new favorite section!  (Sorry, 808.1, you lose.)  I got three books out from there!  I am super thrilled.  :)  When I checked them out, the lady scanned them as usual.  Then, she took a moment to look at the titles and then look at me.  She had the funniest expression on her face.  She was so confused.  Whahah!  I love it!  I'm surprised I haven't gotten that look already.  The words "teenager" and "opera" are just never used in the same sentence.  Oh well...I enjoy breaking the mold.  :)  I should have gotten that look a million times because I constantly take opera DVDs out of the other library that I frequently wreak havoc upon.  Librarians always try to be emotionless as they scan your stuff.  Patron confidentiality or something.  I love to see them actually look at what I'm taking out.  Their job would be a bit more interesting if they did.

I'm reading a Tarzan book, another sign that it's finally summer.  I LOVE THOSE BOOKS!  I bet you didn't know that there are 23 sequels to the original Tarzan book.  Edgar Rice Burroughs was a busy man!  I only have 1-4 (they're too hard to find and the library put all theirs in "storage").  Eventually, I'll collect them all.  I'm determined!

Ok, I'm going to put up my poor feet (one of them had a run-in with my sister's shoes last night...not pretty...) and read some opera commentaries.  :D  Or Tarzan.  Or Madeleine L'Engle.  So many choices and they all make me so happy!

Ciao!

I got the initial results of the competition. I didn't place in the top three. :( It's okay, though; I was one of the youngest ones there and I wasn't expecting to win. I'll get the full results (and hopefully my evaluations) in a few days. I wrote extensively about it here, at my singing focused blog, if you're interested.

The days are so strange.  There's no one around until 3pm and I don't have anything definite to do.  Downtime?  Really weird.  I almost don't know what to do with myself.  I'm enjoying it while it lasts.  I should start work either Friday or Monday.

I spent today reading and learning.  I finished the last Figaro play, A Mother's Guilt.  It was most interesting.  The Figaro plays (The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, A Mother's Guilt) were so revolutionary for their time that they were explicitly banned.  Theatre troops prepared the play in secret and gave secret performances.  Once, a production of Marriage was found out a day before opening night and everyone was arrested.  The French government was very strict.  Despite their best efforts, the plays were extremely popular.  Beaumarchais, the playwright, would actually be paid to give a reading of his play in a private household. 

Reading it now, I never would have thought it "revolutionary."  It's really mild for these days.  It's amazing how things change.  I can't think of why it would be revolutionary.  I guess they talk too much about liberty and the other ideals of the French Revolution.  Also, the women win in the end.  They're the ones who save the day most of the time.  The women and Figaro.  :)  Gosh, those plays are wickedly funny.  I love them!  Believe me; if I like them, they're pretty harmless.  It just blows my mind that they were banned.  Beaumarchais spent some time in exile because of them.  Crazy, crazy stuff...

I learned the Italian to two of the arias that I'll be starting this summer and studying next semester.  I have to be honest: my Italian stinks because I've never even attempted it until I came to college.  My German and Latin are much better.  My French is okay.  My Italian is nowhere.  That's not too good considering the majority of opera is written in Italian.  Whoops.  That's why I'm taking an Italian diction class AND Italian 1 next semester.  I'm going to learn fast!

To learn these arias, I bought language tracks.  Someone reads the words in rhythm.  I just wrote them out in my fake IPA.  *hides in corner*  I'll be learning real IPA next semester, I promise!  I feel like such a failure.

Oh, I just found out that Eoin Colfer's next Artemis Fowl book is coming out on July 15th!!!  I am sooo excited!  It's called The Time Paradox.  I couldn't be more thrilled.  Time is one of my absolute favorite topics!  (My two favorite books are The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and A Wrinkle in Time, both dealing with the concept of time.  My first word as a baby was "clock."  Go figure...)  I LOVE the Artemis Fowl books.  The last one was wonderful, as always.  I'm really looking forward!  What a lovely surprise. :)

I watched a 1981 version of Hänsel und Gretel.  It was most amusing/beautiful.  It was one of those weird European films where they have a fake audience (like The Magic Flute from Sweden).  The leads were outstanding.  I absolutely adored Brigitte Fassbaender's  (Hansel) voice.  She has that special mezzo quality that I love.  I don't how to describe it.  Some mezzos have it and some don't.  I've really only heard lyric mezzos with it.  Hmm...I must think about this and how to describe the quality.  Anyhow, she was great.  The costumes and makeup were exceptional.  I loved Hansel's little lederhosen.  They even drew freckles on her face.  Her hair was all cute, too.  The back stuck up like a little boy's usually does.  I'd love to play Hansel.  The music is so beautiful and the part is so much fun.  :)  That's another one to add to my dream-list.  Edita Gruberova was a good Gretel.  Her voice blended really well with Fassbaender's.  I loved their night prayer duet.  Oh my goodness, gorgeous.  The music overall was so beautiful.

Oh, look.  I'm babbling again.