How I manage to keep up with what's new and what's good in the music scene is through a number of music blogs, some of which I have mentioned in previous posts. The very first one I can think of which actively got me hooked onto music blogs is Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good (mentioned in the latter link). I think it was just a few weeks ago when Taylor, who writes the blog, wrote about his graduation and did an amazing post about the music which has accompanied his life thus far, whereupon I realised for the first time just how young he was. A few weeks later, I surf on over to find a very sweet wedding mix. He'd just gotten married!
I'm just one of many blogs which link to your site, Taylor, and this might be incredibly trite, but congratulations on an amazing year and thanks for sharing your love of music!
Today was incredibly hot and muggy. Depending on which web site you believe, it was either 29 degrees of 31 degrees. Either way, it was still too hot. I woke up this morning almost completely drenched in perspiration. That's how hot it is. Ugh.
Good thing I had four scoops of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream to get me through Saturday!
Received an e-mail from Ben & Jerry's on what to expect at tomorrow's Sundae on the Common:
All of this, on top of getting to see The Charlatans, Florence and the Machine (who received a great write-up in The Independent) and the Guillemots (for the third time this year but they are awesome live and I really wish they would sing Annie, Let's Not Wait) ... a great weekend beckons.
Looking forward to it - viral infection or no!
I've been ill with a virus over the last few days but have still had to work late because, while half my team's out, the volume of work hasn't decreased commensurately. On top of that, I've been doing my best to ensure that something I've been working on for one of our largest clients goes without a hitch.
And guess what? Last week, I got a call from one of the guys in senior management who just said "good job!" when we ended the conversation. I didn't think too much of it. After all, he's American, and I find Americans are prone to saying such phrases (such as "awesome!" and all that) even when things really aren't.
Then, yesterday, after I had sent an e-mail updating them of where we stood, he replied - thankfully, to all, including my manager - that I'd done well. My manager later told me that that guy's not an easy person to please.
It's not much - just words, after all - and may not translate into too much come bonus time given the competitive environment and just how uncertain I've been feeling about how I compare to my peers (which is what determines the bonus), but I really do love knowing I've done something well.
It's becoming the highest-rating program in Asia: Malaysia's crime scene investigations.
Just like its wildly popular American counterparts, this crime drama -- call it "CSI Malaysia'' -- features sex, murder, DNA samples, cover-ups and a colorful cast of characters wondering who's guilty of this or that.
Had an enjoyable evening out at the Royal Opera House watching Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) . I didn't enjoy it as much as my companion did, but then again, he is an avid opera fan, having grown up on classical music, while I'm at the other end of the spectrum, not really having listened to anything classical other earlier this year, when, for some reason I am not at all able to recall, my companion passed me a whole bunch of classical music things to listen to after I'd mentioned this particular gap in my musical repertoire.
While I was initially incredibly resistant to watching this show - I felt it was way too expensive (my ticket cost close to £140) and that it was too long (clocking in at 3 hours 30 mins inclusive of interval) - I eventually relented after I read that Le nozze di Figaro was considered the perfect introduction to opera. I'm the kind of person who will try anything once, and given how strongly my companion felt about it, I thought, what the hey, it will be fun to watch it with someone who's really passionate about it.
I'm told that the cast we watched tonight was world-class and the production, absolutely superb. I don't doubt that but will admit that my enjoyment of the show was marred slightly by not really knowing how an opera works, managing to get a neckache after 30 minutes into Act 1 as a result of my focus on the surtitles so that I would be able to follow what was going on.
The music was superb. The orchestra played well with Charles MacKerras conducting. I'm honestly not an expert when it comes to these things but I liked the wind instruments the most. I quite enjoyed Figaro's (Ildebrando D'Arcangelo) song about "calling the tune" if his master wanted to dance, as well as Cherubino's (Anna Bonitatibus) Voi che sapete in Act 2. I was left a little breathless by the Countess Almaviva's (Barbara Frittoli) Dove Sono in Act 3. I suspect if I were as into opera as my companion was, my heart would most likely have broken during that song, so beautiful was it. As it was, I thought it was the most beautiful song that I had ever listened to that I didn't understand, if you get what I mean.
When the cast and conductor came onstage for their curtain call, they looked spent. After over 3 hours of singing and playing, it was no wonder. Charles MacKerras, being the octagenarian that he is, looked especially exhausted. I have no idea how these people do it. I mean, ten minutes into the exceptionally fast dance routine my dance teacher decided to teach us yesterday, I was panting like nobody's business!
I guess Le nozze di Figaro will be special for both my companion and me: me, because it's the first opera I have ever seen and also my first time ever in the Royal Opera House, and I got to see it with someone who loves the show, while, for him, it's his favourite opera, and has a magical cast, and, well, he saw it with me. And last, but not least, his asking me to go for this - purely as friends initially - initiated a rather interesting series of events which, hopefully, neither one of us will regret in the long-term.
As I'm not much of an opera critic, I'll end off by linking to a few, far worthier reviews of the show than what I've just written.The next few shows on my schedule are Monkey (Damon Albarn's adaptation of Journey to the West and performed entirely in Mandarin with English surtitles) next week and Don Giovanni (also by Mozart) in September, again with the same fellow, again at the Royal Opera House.
After a incredibly taxing few work weeks (think this is going to be the first weekend I won't be going into the office to finish something up), I was very much looking forward to Wild in the Country only to find out yesterday evening that it had been cancelled.
Apparently, "[t]he cancellation is due to lower than expected ticket sales and a key investor withdrawing at the last minute, leaving the event in an unsustainable position."
When I first saw the line-up for WitC a few weeks ago, I thought it looked amazing: Sasha, Danny Tenaglia, Faithless, 2ManyDJs, Richie Hawtin. Mylo, Booka Shade, Hercules & Love Affair and so on... and it was organised by Renaissance too. How could anyone who loved clubbing not go for it?
Well, I guess I know now! I really hope I can get a refund for my tickets and my transportation. To pull a festival with less than 2 days notice is really unprofessional.
Tickets for my back-up option - the six hour boat party with James Zabiela - have also been sold out, though to be fair, I'm not too keen on going to parties by myself where there isn't a variety of acts, or an easy escape route.
As for me, personally? Well... it's just another in a long list of disappointing weekends, having had my dress sold two weekends ago, a friend cancel on me last week, and now this... all on top of my dissatisfaction with work.
I feel depressed. Right and properly depressed.
