Split personality. Liking the arts, especially opera, and hockey and Los Toros. I know, I know THAT one is non pc currently. But I can't help it saw some in Spain and got hooked, but good.
But on the other hand right now opera and hockey are in the forefront!
The arts would be dead were it not for private donations.
But those funds are also not as plenty due to the economy... so what to do? Allow each large city ONE art company and one only? I am kidding - or not?
But..
what about sports? I suggest the same in sports such as in ONE team per city! How that would fly :-) what a thought! Deprive the masses of their sports teams to love and hate!
Roman politicians devised a plan in 140 B.C. to win the votes of the poor by giving out cheap food and entertainment - "panem et circenses" = bread and circuses". 'Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt'
is what the Roman poet Juvenal wrote in his 'Satires' lamenting the continuing slide of his former Roman Republic into dictatorship.
Even if food and tickets are no longer cheap!
Let us have "circuses"!
The days of voluminous singers - male or female - are passe! At least Downunder!
Terracini: ''You go to a movie and you see people who look exactly right for that role,'' he says. ''They're consummate actors and they're completely involved in what they are doing, so their performance is totally believable"
Hmm, I guess he never heard about those repeat takes 2, 5 or more - just to get that bit of movie scene right? Just saying!
So he wants it to be more lifelike?
Perhaps like those pesky TV reality shows?
The result :
Voices likeTHESEmay never be heard if the "big cheese"of Opera Australia has his way.
Good Bye, my Dears :-(!
It was nice to have
'heard' you - on YouTube :-)!
Ah, and lest I forget:
Aeros stay in West Division, one of three in the Western Conference, each with 5 competing teams.
Gillies
by artandhockey
signed a two year contract with the Wild for over $ 800.000 which gives him a real spot in Minnesota vs. Houston - depending on camp outcome, of course.
I am getting more and more hyped up for next Aeros hockey season.
New faces, new (it is hoped) ideas, new combinations of players!
that ideas are still borne rapidly. I'd be lying. Certain ideas have turned to ashes. Others are smoldering and would need strong breezes to revive. It must be this unrelenting heat that saps body and mind. Most likely. I won't admit to anything worse :-). I feel only alive when I am in the water vigorously - well not exactly - making waves. And the mind floating restfully upon them :-)!
Lagoon at Bonita Springs, FL, by artandhockey
Everything looks to work in slow mo! My brain is most definitely on hold for the summer, or so it feels.
Diving into summer reading - anything that does NOT require constructive thought ;-D!
So here I was gobbling down (flipping pages, skipping a paragraph or two to speed up the process and arrive at the end):
Two J.A. Jance crime fiction Cruel Intentand
Queen of the Night.
Grisham's The Summons- not up to his usual speed IMO-had to think hard to recall the title;-)!
Kaplan's Balkan Ghosts (written in the early 80s and almost prophetic in hindsight). That one did ask for some deeper thinking :-) - a later-at-night subject when times hangs on one's hands.
Malamut's Idiots First - a collection of essays amusing with its finely honed irony!
Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea - tale of an ocean voyage gone horribly wrong but also a tribute to strong willed men of the past.
A little :-) wisdom for you
(not by me alas, the author is anon),chers readers:
"Everything we need to know about life,
we learned from Noah's Ark:
One: Don't miss the boat.
Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six: Build your future on high ground.
Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine: When you're stressed, float a while.
Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals".
And - I admit the slow going of - The Peloponnesian War.
That one I am afraid will last me till Christmas with luck and extreme persistence!
And since I put that tome away from time to time, it needs a quick read through to remind me of what was read earlier .. which slows it down even more.
Plowing though chapter after chapter persistently -
eyes glaze over, mind drifts and the head nods - apnea?
I don't think so - just stultifying war history.
Educational yes.
Titilating? Perhaps... to war historians!
So why?
Well, it IS a challenge.
Especially in these times of Greek upheaval!
Einstein once said:
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones".
And a little reminder of the past to help with the count down to next Aeros hockey season
JOHN TORCHETTI, (born 9 July 1964 in Boston, Massachusetts) is the new Aeros Headcoach..
and for some fans he is a familiar face even though he coached the opposing team in San Antonio : Iguanas and Rampage.
Two more players have been added Charles "Chay" Genoway Defense, Canadian born Dec 20, 1986
And
Kyle Medved born June 16, 1988 in Colorado, raised in Minnesota, who will probably skate in Houston .
(BTW Medved - from the Russian - means bear or honey eater). Just a bit of levity....
Y'all now have a
Happy Independence Day
And for those loyal Khudobin fans here is some good news.
Aeros vs Rampage Win of 12/10/10
photo artandhockey
Boston Bruins have signed AK to a two year contract. Possibly as the Number One in Providence! Bravo Anton. So the rumors of him signing with KHL were unfounded.
file photo Wild
They also signed former Aeros/Wild Benoit Pouliot for one year despite his disappointing records with the Wild and Canadiens...but I do know there are still BP fans in Houston! So you can go see him with the Bruins in Boston or Providence!
Andf those Greg Rallo (remember the Texas Stars?) fans will be happy to hear that he signed with the Florida Panthers who are now affiliated with the Rampage ....and so it goes, the Merry-go round by hockey players.. here today, gone there tomorrow. It's really time consuming - but so much fun - trying to keep tabs on them! I am trying my best to keep chers readers informed - just to pass the time during the summer doldrums - Lol.
Hot enough here, but it' s Phoenix, the metropolis of eggs frying on car hoods, or so they tell me. By now you chers readers know that I do like to joke. Even when areas are burning, others are drowning.
A bit of levity seems to help come to grips with man made or Mother Nature's disasters.
Life does seem to presage the long count Mayan Calendar prediction of an end to this world in 2012, precisely on December 12th at the winter solstice!
Or so the New Agers have us believe! Of course the end of the world was also predicted for 1999/2000.
And going back in history starting in 45 we find that at least 240 times the End of our World has been predicted ..240 times and counting.
Here is more on it.
And our world is still turning...despite.
On July 2, exactly 445 years ago, the French, astrologer, physician, seer and pharmacist, at times court astrologer and physician to Catherine de Medici at Blois - 16th century Rasputin perhaps - died.
And his prophesies - mis-read, mis-interpreted due to human error or on purpose have survived to dazzle and puzzle mankind to this day. , died.
He grew up and lived in Provence, where he was influenced by his doctor grandfather, a converted Jew. Having studied medicine in Montpellier, he practised in Agen until forced to leave in the face of the Inquisition. He dabbled in the occult, and from 1547 gave astrological consultations (annual Prognostications from 1555). He had a Paracelsian view of nature, but is best remembered for his prophetic quatrains, the Centuries, published in 1555 and augmented later (1558, 1566).
Michel de Nostredame, born 21 December 1503,prophesied many events -
or so his interpreters and followers claim.
He still has his adherents who slavishly believe in all of them.
But one must credit him with either deep thoughts, vivid imagination or - if so desired - ESP!
Of course, with some flexible imagination many of his prophesies and predictions can be stretched to fit any situation usually spurred on by sensationalist media or hoaxers out for a quick buck from the credulous public!
Ernest Hemingway also died on this day - by his own hand.
It is amazing to me, how many of his novels, stories and reports are still read widely.
Is it that he so "embraced" life (hard drinking, adventurous living plus a sense of sarcasm)
that makes readers feel they, too, can experience such adventures - albeit at arm-chair's length? :-)
Perhaps knowing that he based much on personal experiences gives his work added value?
Whatever it is people continue to enjoy reading Ernest Hemingway! And re reading as well! Go ahead do it!
Wanna know who else was born
or diedon this 2. DAY of July in history go here.
Sandschloesser bauen am Meer,
Den Wolken nachsehen 
spielen, 
Musik lauschen unter den Sternen
Anspritzen unbedingt noetig!
- spielt uns auf ein Liederl zum Tanz.
pension plan was established in 1948..
and 
.
- not up to his usual speed IMO-had to think hard to recall the title;-)!
(written in the early 80s and almost prophetic in hindsight). That one did ask for some deeper thinking :-) - a later-at-night subject when times hangs on one's hands.
- a collection of essays amusing with its finely honed irony!
- tale of an ocean voyage gone horribly wrong but also a tribute to strong willed men of the past.
,
for Martin Havlat from the Sharks. Setoguchi now has an old friend on the ice with him, eh!
Defense, Canadian born Dec 20, 1986 
.jpg)
- Lol.
on this 2. DAY of July in history go