An 'arts have it' weekend

Houston Aeros show their mettle. After  2:2 and 2:1 losses they come back with two wins 5:3 and 5:2. Which is, all considered, not bad at all. Most goals were slapped in by the new Boyz with some help from a seasoned veteran or two (IF one can call a 23 -24 year old a veteran :-) ). 
And another game was on tonight!  Which, I just heard, was lost on a PP in overtime 4-5 to the Milwaukee Admirals. 
Well, two out of 3 is not bad, isn't it?

A game, we have missed again since we were in a garret in Paris :-), 
with starving Bohemians and a sick milliner in LA BOHEME at HGO!

Ambling through the MFAH's extensive 'Henry Ossawa Tanner' exhibit and then the 'American Made' exhibit (of Museum own oeuvres) of photos, sculptures, paintings, vases, lamps, furniture and much more, we were overwhelmed by the abundance of beautiful and exciting, but also mysterious art.


Cairo

Notrte Dame

Especially some of Tanners' religious paintings seemed shrouded in the mists of mystery! 
Here Mary's Annunciation of the birth by the Angel represented by the luminous column of light to the left!




La Boheme needs little introduction:  

Katie Van Kooten=Mimi

The main characters are sung by a steely voiced Katie Van Kooten-Mimi, 
Dimitri Pittas, a powerhouse tenor, is her Rodolfo, with warm baritone Joshua Hopkins as Marcello, rich Bass-Baritone Michael Sumuel as Chaunard and South African deep bass Vulani Mlindi as Colline. Others in the cast: veteran Baritone Hector Vazques as Benoit and Alcindoro, as today's Einspringer for an ailing Robert Pomakov (Benoit). 
Evan Rogister conducted, John Caird directed. 
Houston Grand Opera Chorus and children chorus did  their usual great job. There was a chemistry on stage which translated well into the audience who seemed spell bound.. and at the end tears were observed rolling down some cheeks. Such is the power of  Puccini's music sung deeply felt.
The set was - shall we say - more or less traditional, the costumes were very turn of century; bustles and ruffles for the ladies, Stovepipe hats for gentlemen. And not too raggedy clothes for the bohemians ;-)!
What more can I say, 
Puccini's music interpreted as beautifully as was done by these young singers seemed utterly realistic.

Vulani Mlindi=Colline

Michael Sumuel

Dmitri Pittas=Rodolfo

Joshua Hopkins=Marcello

Heidi Stober=Musetta





Enjoy a bit of  Act 4 below.

Ads Ads who wants another Ad?

Hear this and sorrow. It will only be a little while before all sports go this route.
Like in Europe.

Jerseys will be so patched up with company logos players names, team name and players numbers will undecipherable... and referees will have great excuses to not to call penalties because they won't be able to decipher number or name.
Too droll wouldn't it be?

But on the other hand, let me posit this:
if owners and players share in advertising revenues why not fans who buy such jerseys?

Just think:
you buy a jersey which carries ads for, say. XX companies.

Companies which pay royalties to teams, owners and players for the privilege to spout their name as walking, skating, running, biking etc. ads.
Well, isn't it all about revenue sharing the NHL players are striking right now... to get a bigger slice of the $$$$$ pie? Isn't it?

Then, you buy one with the number of your favorite player,
you fill out proper ownership papers, then you hope that the team forwards this information to the companies; and the companies - in honoring their commitment to pay for these ads will send you a royalty check for every time you wear that jersey and thus advertise that company.
Sounds a winner, eh? Dream on!

But really you, the new wearer and walking advertiser for company X, ought to be entitled to get your $$ slice of that $$$$$ pie?

Small is beautiful..

According to this  Opera is alive and well again in San Antonio...in a small way.

And another items will fill space in our purses.
Well, I guess a microscope may be necessary to read the small prints, but since that is too unwieldy a jeweller's loupe will do and it Will fit into my purse. I do thank designers who are making bigger purses the new fashion trend.
To hold all those electronics which one simply MUST have!
I can't imagine going about with those tiny little bags of several years ago! Pre-electronics? ;-)

More Hockey News

For all hockey fans who wish more news on a season without NHL reports
here is great way to keep up with Houston's team and others.

I am posting it in case my modest efforts are just not enough for my chers readers ;-)!

Plus, of course, the professional photographer's shots ARE stunning. 
And in case you all missed it, even television was there!

How much they actually showed on the nightly news ???

I do not know since we were still getting back home from the game! :-)

 

Versus my poor efforts with just a "point'n shoot"!


Here Coyle going for the net against Sanguinetti

Aeros moving forward

You could say so, this afternoon in San Antonio, the team only lost by 1.
And both Aeros goals were scored by the new boyz on the ice.

Per Voice of the Aeros (to whom we listen faithfully when the team plays away) the first goal was by Coyle with assists by Granlund and Zucker.
Now then the second goal was by Zucker with assists by Connelly and Coyle!
Now how sweet is that! A double dose of Zucker surely qualifies for sweet!

Which just shows the new boys have the talent, despite grumblings from fans that the OLD guard should play and the NEW boyz should sit and take notes ;-).

Matt Hackett was in goal versus Markstrom for the Rampage.

BTW... former Aeros Casey Wellman, in case you are interested, got a assist.

Is the 'system' working?
Are the new boyz stepping up?
Are the old guard on guard to guide the newbies?
Only time will tell.

Meanwhile my suggestion is:
sit back, enjoy a game of hockey, watch the new boyz fly across the ice, and  keep wishing.
At least, WE have AHL to watch and entertain us.

Aeros Off to a New Season

with hopefully better results than the loss 3-1 to the Charlotte Checkers tonight in front of a respectable crowd of say 8,000 plus.. and a loudly supportive one it was, too!

Given that the Checkers are almost the same, I believe there are only 4 new guys on their roster, they played exceedingly well, aggressively, and seemingly with no-holds-barred, as the 11 penalties showed quiet well.
Although the Aeros checked in with 8 themselves. One of which
Only the visitor team managed a power play goal their first in the Third, during the Palmieri penalty.

As a matter of fact, two periods passed entertainingly enough without a single goal.
All three goals for the Visitors came in the 3. as did the sole goal (by pure luck) by new boy Brodin with Scandella and MacMillan. Which earned Brodin his first 2. Star. Hackett managed 3. Star and goalie Peters of the Visitors was named the Nr. Star.

Granlund (Nr. 64) seemed almost everywhere, but did not get a goal.
And Larsson (Nr 22) too seemed omnipresent and got bumped into rather heavily-he skated off a bit lopsidedly, but was soon back in the fray.

A sign of what maybe coming down with this new, young and talented new Aeros Team.
Hackett did well, facing 38 SOGs. Peters (Nr.1 Star) only faced 28 but often there was huge crowds around his net!

All in all I felt it was a good game. And interspersed were video clips from the Anniversary DVD-40 Years Hockey in Houston... and to commemorate the boys-on-ice wore retro Blue and White Jerseys...VERY nice!

Mr Hockey way back when he became an Aeros

Flags of pride

Wallace (31) gets the 1. Goal during a  PP on Hackett

If Palmieri had been a puck... it would've been goal Nr. 2 .. sadly he was Palmieri!

The logo beneath its fresh icy sheath

Blue and White Retro Jerseys

A lonely glove rests

Nothing like a melee to end the night-AFTER the buzzer!

World News

Among other things, here are a few that seem soooo newsworthy, or not?

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/new-cancer-treatment-old-diabetes-drug
-Yes - good news.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/mom-arrested-giving-her-11-old-tattoo-194700542.html  - Really?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/neanderthal-sex-modern-humans-interbreeding-africa_n_1942142.html?utm_hp_ref=science - yes, just what I wanted to know!

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/o05/woman-found-with-marijuana-in-genitals-denies/?partner=popular - Oh, come on, really?

http://news.yahoo.com/human-greenhouse-gas-emissions-traced-roman-times-192551162.html -  see it isn't just us!

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bizarre/content/stress-catches-bank-robber-so-he-calls-911-help-police-say - hmmm - crime is not stressless?

http://news.yahoo.com/penis-size-matters-bed-study-finds-153643820.html?_esi=0&ugccmtnav=v1%2Fcomments%2Fcontext%2F56356411-7b03-3139-a125-4679c7397a6a%2Fcomments%3Fcount%3D20%26sortBy%3Doldest  - well what'ya know! Good use of taxpayers $, isn't it?

http://news.yahoo.com/report-imprisoned-dutch-killer-impregnates-girl-090553579.html - immaculate conception - modern style?

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/lady-gaga-gets-sick-onstage-barcelona-135811648.html
- well, a bug is getting 'round!
http://www.inquisitr.com/359439/lady-gaga-given-peace-prize-by-yoko-ono/
- but then she is redeemed.
http://news.yahoo.com/skydiver-eyes-record-breaking-jump-over-nm-072529458.html
- hope he makes it the next time.

Had enough of this, I hope. 
But wait.
The next debate IS on tonight.

On the other hand there is this :
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/world/asia/teen-school-activist-malala-yousafzai-survives-hit-by-pakistani-taliban.html?_r=0

We are glad she survived.
She just wanted to learn, to study. Wanted to be more than chattel and a birth machine.
So those fanatics shot her.

When will her co-religionists wake up and take a stand.
A  peacefull (???)religion?

And in that vein: some relevant quotes/comments I came across some time ago.

'Pardon them and overlook [their misdeeds].
Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good}Verse(5:13)
Keep to forgiveness (O Muhammad), and enjoin kindness, and turn away from the ignorant}Verse (7:199)
And the retribution for an evil act is an evil one like it, but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation – his reward is [due] from Allah.
Indeed, He does not like wrongdoers.Verse (42:40)
No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another Verse (39:7)'

Which means I can’t punish someone for a mistake that he didn’t commit because one of the people that he belong to have committed this mistake & punishment is with the same kind of the mistake they didn’t burn or destroy any thing for the Muslims in order to justify those actions
Please don’t blame Islam b/c of what those ignorants are doing

And here is a rebutal by another commenter:
'Qur’an:9:5 “Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.”
 Qur’an:9:29 “Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender, paying the protective tax in submission.”
 Qur’an:8:39 “Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.”
 Qur’an:8:39 “So fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief [non-Muslims]) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone (in the whole world).”
 Ishaq:324 “He said, ‘Fight them so that there is no more rebellion, and religion, all of it, is for Allah only. Allah must have no rivals.’”
 Qur’an:8:65 “O Prophet, urge the faithful to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination they will vanquish two hundred; if there are a hundred then they will slaughter a thousand unbelievers, for the infidels are a people devoid of understanding.”
And that is what bugs me lately!

Anything you like to talk about?

Blogger's Nightmare?

Having had weird dreams.
Most remembered only in fragments.
This morning woke drenched in sweat!
And the whole came clear!
And it was not a pretty thing!
Someone, an amorphous, misty someone, keeps threatening horrible punishments IF the blogger (me? others? that was not clear) would express honest opinions. Especially those that seem to run counter to the amorphous blob's thinking.
And so the uglies are coming our of the woodwork to haunt, threaten, scream, to bully!
Big Eyes are ever watching,

Big Ears are ever listening.

Thanks to science ;-) - it will not help to retreat within castles!

Then, volunteer watchers built  pyres on hilltops, and set them alight to warn others, within sight, of incoming perils. And give people time to retreat behind fortified walls of their lieges' castles to wait out alien hordes.
Lower the portcullis! Up barricades! Fill the moat with monsters! Ready tar and pitch!
Circle the wagons! Load the ammo!

Today,  must one stay silent within the walls of one's mind?

Otello

So you thought you knew your Shakespeare?
Knew your Verdi?

Possibly so, but here comes Opera in the Heights' Rossinian Otello.
And it is different. Violently different.
Physically violent. Vocally violent.

Powerful music played superbly under Maestro Carreon-Robledo who enthusiastically sang along most of the time (inaudibly sure - over the power of the orchestra - but you could see his lips move, and his arms, too, of course ;-)!.

And then there were the principal singers.
Each and every one managing the incredible and rather demanding sounds that Rossini composed.

Soprano Jessica E. Jones (familiar to us from Moores School of Music's Il Postino, and earlier, Elmer Gantry) a very persuasive Desdemona singing with feeling and beauty.

Below Caballe with the Willow song

Mezzo Ann Sauder was her servant Emilia, with a burnished rich and yet clear sound.

BUT the tenors surely had "Vorrang" in this Bel Canto Opera.

Eric Barry as Otello was very credible and seemed at ease with the 2 1/2 octaves the role requires.

While Luke Grooms as Rodrigo (a much enlarged role here), also a Tenor, managed the fiendishly high tessitura without too much trouble. And sounded stunning, once one adjusted to this high sound.

The third Tenor (no not Carreras) was Brent Reilly Turner as Iago.
Which one, too, had to get used to, since Verdi's Iago is a baritone!

And the fourth tenor, the small role of the Doge, was adequately presented by Felipe Gonzalez.

The deepest role, written for a bass, was Desdemona's father Elmiro, sung with stentorian authority by Joseph Rawley, a bass-baritone.

Sure there were other deep voices in the chorus: to count 4 basses, 1 baritone, 3 Mezzo sopranos, but also 4 tenors, 5 sopranos, including the versatile Traci Davis, a long time chorus member.

Anyway, IMO, the update to more modern times felt right as Erica Miller, who previously sang the soprano role of Marie (La Fille Du Regiment), and thus quite at home with high C's by tenors, at OH! spread her wings as Director here. After all we daily read about the abuse of women by husbands and fathers, men stabbing men, men killing women, and so on! We do live in a ever more violent world! So an Otello by Rossini directed in this way by Erica Miller felt almost - almost - normal!

There was a moment which tickled my funny bone:
THE (verbal ;-) fight on stage between Rodrigo and Otello - both enamored of Desdemona!
The image created in my mind resembled nothing less than a crowing and clawing cockfight, or harts matching rack against rack like proverbial stags in heat -
ahem-  just kidding of course, but...

Anyway, here is Juan Diego Florez as Rodrigo..

and if you don't agree that this is treacherous high note singing.... you may need to have a hearing test!

Giorgione The Tempest.

And before all that we heard David Brauer, one of our favorite lecturer at MFAH who spoke on what I call  'painted storytelling ;-)' with his usual wit and humorous interpretations of old masters' paintings, and made us laugh out loud often! 
And he will have a second lecture in that vein Oct 26/27!

Let the real life begin...

Now that one debate is securely (or maybe not?) behind us, teleprompters or not, I can concentrate all efforts on what really counts:
Hockey and Opera!
So, the home team of AEROS did not quite made as good an impression as widely touted, but hey, they played away from the majority of adoring home ice fans. Can we point to all those super talents now vegetating in the AHL? Which is thanks to the infighting at the NHL level, which 'forced' many NHL'ers to sign abroad, because "I just want to play my game".
Of course we must be a bit forgiving. After all, all these supertalents expected to skate at much more exalted heights, and need some downwards adjustment to AHL.

Perhaps.


But then some of the new crop will be reassigned to even lower levels!

Or to Florida, to the resurrected Orlando Solar Bears.

Game one on home ice Saturday October 13.
Report to follow ;-)!

And our first Opera will be on Saturday October 5th at Opera in the Heights.
Now I know this opera has had almost its full run and been critiqued. 
BUT I have not read anything - on purpose. Because, you see, I do like to make up my own mind. And will write it up, too....
Read both at your own peril ;-)!

Satire est mort?!Vive Satire?

I have been reading comments after several articles,
not having much else to do...;-)!
Those of the political, and those of the non-political sort.
And guess what? :-)!
Anyone who writes a satirical response is being hounded...
because, so it appears, readers have lost the ability to see and accept satire.
Dear readers do not, repeat, do not take it for gospel! 

Expecting wholesome satire on what's happening out there in the world?
You've got to look!
Keep looking!
And looking!
Because, it seems, satire is unwanted -
it's just so NON PC.

Oh, for the days of yore:

For people like
Qualtinger
(Historians would rise up in arms)

Bronner
(his version of PC?)

Kreisler-
that song would surely rile up caring PETAs :-)!

Berman
(this probably is unacceptionable :-) by  bleeding hearts)

 

and others of their witty ilk.

 

And then there is - or was - the vaunted black British Humor

as perhaps this

 



Someone (who was it? -  the name escapes me) once said that satire flourishes best underground in time of tyranny.

 

So I say, let us do satire as it was before  PC tyranny!

 

Go on...laugh a bit or a lot!

It'll make you feel MUCH better!





In the twilight zone of Before Hockey and Opera

I really do not like this time of year, very much at all.
Except, of course, for the build-up of anticipation.

Yes, waiting for hockey (at any level) and operas, too, to start is not unlike the feverish anticipation I get when planning a trip.

A Fahrt ins Blaue (no stated goal) or a detailed trip where everything is just SO.

If one likes brawls, that is...

Yes, that is the time, when one cannot really sleep because one's mind is so full of images (:-) like the ones here:





Or full of sounds like Samuel Ramey's version of a song soon to be heard resonantly (we hope) at HGO.

 

I know, I know some out there would want to have me also throw in the  coming elections, but as I posted before that brouhaha is, alas, less filled with anticipation, but more with annihilation. And so I will not give it much more than these few words.

And then there are those travel plans...
details, savoring possible sights along rivers,
in my case, the joys of reunions with friends and kin
OVER there and so much more:

And that brings me to another subject-yes, indeed!
And that is flying!
I agree, it is the  quickest way to anywhere.
Even with the numerous delays at airports due to the stripping of all metals (lol) to avoid pings. But, alas, THAT has not precluded my being padded down on every trip, on the back-to-Houston leg, we took in the last few years!
Guess I must I look that dangerous? :-)!

It is, however, most uncomfortable as most joints creak in unison after prolonged periods of inactivity. Sure, one can get up to stretch, or one ought to...
But that does impede the constant stream by others to the WC!

And by the crew to serve more liquids to increase said WC traffic :-)!

2 hours in a sardine tin of a plane is just barely bearable.
When one does not count hours spent in airports which, and that IS a beef- have too few seats- or so it seems to me! There are always so many crouched on the floors!

But those long overseas flights...already my wish dreams are turning to nightmares. This time I will try THE new AUA business class on one journey leg,


Greenhouse Spa - hot, bubbly, relaxing

the other will be taken in luxurious  (;-)! style on a ship.

With my luck, I'll have the worst stormy passage. Just kidding! I do hope, NOT!

Talking Heads

Listening to some 'experts' on the plight of the world, I cannot believe what I am hearing...or rather what NOT hearing.
Blah Blah, Blah Blah...soothing words purling from rosy lips and ultrawhite teeth!

How wonderful, that the media can find so many real experts to educate us know nothing populi ;-)! I feel truly enlightened by the wisdom spurting from their mouths.
I hang on their very words hoping for something, anything that clarifies the situation.

To paraphrase Kerouac:
“They had nothing to offer anybody except their own confusion”
And at the end I scratch my head because they talked, and talked, and talked
but really said

NOTHING!

Election Overload

Yes, I am.
Done with.
Reading and hearing slurs.
Exagerration on both sides.
Media's - oh so - obvious bias.
Mud and worse slinging by died-in-the-wool  partisans on both sides.

BASTA, I say.

GENUG, ENOUGH.

Chers Readers

An open letter to chers readers.

Have you commented on any blog lately?
Mine or anyone else's? If not ... why?
Are you that busy?

Too busy following the disastrous news in our world,
http://news.yahoo.com/villages-slowly-vanish-hispaniola-lakes-grow-165736021.html
including all political clap trap!
Maybe you are simply too busy flipping screens on your droids or ipads?

Or has school/college already got you down?
Although, chers Chicago readers, the teachers' strike gave you extra weeks (maybe) off to - ahem - improve your quality of life!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chicago-teachers-strike-could-distort-152500171.html

Perhaps it is the NHL lock out that has hockey fans boiling, because, of course, all those employees in the arena, and around the rinks, and on TV plus Tee shirt printers, jersey embroiderers, stick carvers, and puck molders, and mask painters, now have to go on the dole, just to make ends meet. Naturally owners, players and others (such as lawyers and union reps) need not fear that they, too, will have to visit soup kitchens.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nhl--nhl-lockout-watch--players-united-in-the-face-of-team-owners--clawback-demands.html
And the puck, oops, buck , stops there, we hope. Or Harry S. Truman WILL turn over in his grave.. again!

Then there are such divertissiments as naked duchesses;
and reports on foibles of other celebrities..
But you know that already, since you've been avidly flipping screens of your i-phones to keep abreast of all, duchess's included!

You did NOT miss reading about the STARBUCKS Diet? Did You?.. well, here is the link http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/starbucks-diet-one-woman-dropped-80-pounds-coffee-211600454.html.
Although if you ask me she looks a bit 'hungry' in the 'after pic ;-)!

Have you, as you ought to, been studying information - pro and con http://www.politico.com/2012-election/
- available everywhere, on the candidates for the elite life in Washington, DC?
No, really, it is of paramount importance that you do so NOW, so you'll not miss to check the right squares, after all we won't want a repeat of  re-counting!

But perhaps, you are applying for a new loan just to buy the latest Apple appliance?
Or maybe you absolutely have to have those iconic sneakers?

By Gucci

Or of course, those lame old steel kitchen appliances must go!
http://www.10news.com/money/dont-waste-your-money/stainless-steel-appliances-may-be-over.

And yes, replacing those dingy old shower curtains with an upscale=expensive product for which you will have to increase your debt load, is a real necessity.

And I could go on and on!

I shall not be surprised by any excuse you can serve up for not reading!

Go on,  sit back, turn off your i-phone, close the kitchen door, stop the bad and sad news,  read blogs and,  have at it - comment how you feel.
Want to be placed on a pedestal ?
Go ahead comment and bloggers will do that in a minute!
As would I...  Just saying!

Raining outside-reading inside

So I finished a long account by adventurer and naturalist Craig Childs, called HOUSE OF RAIN. 
This was a natural after our recent exposure to Mesa Verde and the high deserts of Northern New Mexico and SW Colorado.
After storming through it I wished I had had a chance to read it much earlier in my life, in a time when clambering among boulders and across rubble strewn mountain sides could have been rather easily accomplished by my  much sprier self. :-)

In the hours of reading about his hikes among the ruins, known and unknown, of vanished civilizations commonly referred to as Anasazi (not a 'good' name) or Salado, etc. with references to even earlier tribes stemming, perhaps, from Aztec culture, I was drawn back to my youth when becoming an Ethnologist seemed my real future. Of course, when I realized that there were few peoples and areas left to be discovered I switched to a medical career.

Ethnoarcheology, Ethnoecology, Maritime ethnology, study of middens, etc, just did not seem as fascinating as the discovery of unknown species, not adventurous enough, perhaps.

On the other hand, not having to fight off leeches, spiders, ticks and other creepy crawlies did seem much more comfortable, :-), as I aged!
In my heart I am still that one who would have loved to discover the unusual, and to delve into old mysteries.
Now, of  course, only as an armchair traveller (lol), who gives thanks for the abundance of books written by more intrepid men and women.

During the hours spend immersing myself in the presumed lives of these people, albeit only via the words - and how polished and poetic they were - by Mr. Childs, the question why did they vanish continues to be as fascinating to me as it appears to all those researchers. Numerous conjectures abound, none of which give really satisfying answers. Drought, wars, annihilation of complete tribes, barbarianism and, even cannibalism, in its purest (?) as religious cult offering, or circumstantial due to adverse conditions, all are named, but questions remain.



Acoma, New Mexico



Montezumas Castle, Arizona



Tuzigoot, Arizona



Manitou Springs Colorado

Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde



Excavations of underground house with sipapu -airshaft? Mesa Verde

Montezumas Castle and Tuzigoot in Arizona, Acoma and Mesa Verde in New Mexico, Manitou Springs in Colorado....remain still books with many seals which may be broken little by little, but only with permission of Indian tribes on whose lands they are found.

Gedankenwirbelstuerme

Was so in der letzten Zeit in der Welt passiert, loest bei mir echte Wirbelstuerme aus. Was immer wir, die Amis, tun, wir werden verachtet, gehasst, angegriffen und ermordet. Auf schoen Englisch: Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

Oder so kommt es jedenfalls mir vor. Gedanken sind doch noch frei oder?

Warum geben wir Millionen, die wir uns eh nicht leisten koennen, an Aegypten ab? Wenn ueberall amerikanische Botschaften und Konsulate bestuermt werden.
Und Blut spritzt und die Feuer des Hasses ausbrechen.
Nehmen wir mal an, dass die Waffen der Anstuermer vielleicht sogar aus USA stammen, als sozusagene amerikanische Beitraege zum Erwachen der dortigen Demokratie :-)!
Das ist ja zum Lachen. Nein, zum Heulen.
Satirisches Gelaechter, bitte!

Und dann gibt es ein Tohuwabohu ueber die Photos einer unbekleideten Herzogin!
So, jetzt wissen wir 100% sie hat eine Haut, sie hat Brustwarzen, usw. und wem schaert das? Mir nicht!
Man bedenkt, dass wir Menschen alle von Adam und Eve abstammen :-),  ist es eh egal, ob sie mal nackt herumliegt oder nicht.  Freikoerperkultur gibt es schon Jahrzehnte lang. So warum der Aufruhr? Weil sie eine Herzogin ist? Geboren oder angeheiratet. Ist ja voellig wurscht!

Was mich so echt anfrisst, ist die Reaktion von religioesen Fanatikern. Die scheinen es nicht verkraften koennen, das Leute auch anders denken. Und so hetzten sie andere, wohl leicht beeinflussbare, Menschen auf, und schon gibt's blutige Gemetzel.
Sogar von den eigenen Kameraden.

Und was mich noch weiter aergert ist, dass es sogar noch Menschen gibt, die das Benehmen solcher Fanatiker entschuldigen. Wie bitte??

Und so frage ich mich, wollen sie denn, dass man sich nur DEM einen Glauben beugen soll? Wir sollen noch glauben an eine Versoehnung zwischen den Fanatikern und und anderen? Wie es hier der Papst erhofft?
http://news.yahoo.com/pope-tells-syrians-admires-courage-172440569.html

Dessen Behandlung von Frauen irgendwo im Nebel der Vergangenheit stecken geblieben ist? Welcher andere Religionen verbietet, und Angriffe an Kirchen anderer Glauben erlaubt?  Und das sind NUR ein paar Probleme, die mir gerade so einfallen.

Ich habe eine Freundin, die mit Worten drechselt und wunderbare Satiren schreibt, welche mich riesig amuesieren. Da bin ich stets froh, dass es, Gott sei Dank, NOCH moeglich ist so zu schreiben, zumindesten hier!
Obwohl - mir kommt es oefters vor, dass Big Brother oder, zum mindesten bei uns hier in den USA koennte es auch, Sister :-) sein, uns 24h lang beobachtet!

Und jetzt, die kontinuierende Debate zwischen Hockey Spieler Gewerkschaften und den Besitzern der Teams ist auch ein Beispiel unserer Zeit $$$$$ ueber alles.
Man, meiner Ansicht nach, zahlt den Sportlern und anderen VIPs einfach zu viel! 
Wer kann sich den heutzutage eine Saisonkarte leisten, die etliche 1000$ kostet, pro Person noch dazu?
Nun gut, man gab auch schon in Rom Gladiatorspiele, um die plebs vom Streiken abzuhalten. Laut Geschichte, gab man den Oesterreichern ihre Brathendel, damit sie gluecklich schweigen :-)! 
In Spanien werfen sie Tomaten und das erleichert den Stress, oder soll's wenigstens, LOL.
Wenn so viele keine Arbeit finden koennen? Und der Stadt mit Stempelgeld mehr und mehr Leute unterstuetzen muss?

Aber was soll's..
Gewerkschaften sind eben dazu da und ihre Mitglieder zahlen brav ihr Mitgleidsgeld, ob sie wollen oder nicht!
Und damit BASTA.
Morgen ist ein anderer Tag, hoffentlich ein besserer.

If the future really...

could be seen in a crystal ball, I'd be telling everyone what will happen on September 15.

Lock out or No Lock out that IS question.

But for AEROS fans, October 13 may just be a WOW occasion,
considering those hot and eager hockey players crowding on the ice at the TC ready for action.
As one can read here:
http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/Russos_Rants.html
  ***********************************************************************************

But hockey aside, the next few evenings will be dedicated to Wagner as perceived, more or less interestingly, by LePage and The Met.

One can love THE MACHINE, one can hate IT, but one must admit it IS a daring concept,

creaky maybe, malfunctioning at times, but surely daring!

 

*********************************************************************************

And now to what has been occupying my mind until the wee hours of the morning.. and I never even heard of this author. So here is MY take.

Jose Saramago's BLINDNESS.

Translated from the Portuguese in true fashion, including dialogues without the usual :"..." etc. Which requires one to read carefully to understand who is speaking to whom, which is especially confusing when 3 or more are talking at the same time.

Otherwise it is a stunningly written novel. 

 

Now maybe it is that I have had decades of reading novels of all sorts and kinds,

 that I often felt a sense of deja vu!

Take for instance:

people who are different because they have turned blind seeing nothing but white! As they are perceived as dangerously infectious, they herded into quarantine quarters, "protected for their own good" by solders with weapons, where they are told to fend for themselves ( as blind people???).

Sounds like the banishment of the lepers to Molokai! Use your stumps to dig soil and plant, eh!

 

Then bring in more, crowding them into spaces unsuitable for so many.

With no hygiene etc, and lice and filth flourish! 

Add to the frightened mix a bunch of criminals with their weapons who although blind themselves become abusers of the weaker ones to the nth degree

(Gulags, Concentration camps come to mind).

 

Add indiscriminate shootings by solders, who eventually succumb to the illness themselves but are transferred to the tender care of the armed forces elsewhere, :-), rather then crowded in with the others.

 

Next, add an "angel" in the guise of the seeing (she never lost her vision-just pretended to in order to stay with her beloved) wife of a doctor. Who kills the tyrant while he and his cohorts are being serviced by women, herself included, forced to do so in order to get their men food which the tyrant and his cohorts are hoarding. (reminder, as above)

 

Huge chaos follows and finally, the 'government' is gone, lost all control.

The doors are no longer guarded. Since everyone is blind now-we, the readers, need assume.

The 'tyrant group' is dispersed in confusion while running out of bullets to coerce the others.

 

The '"angel" and her group exit into a city, occupied by blind people who wander lost from place to place in search of food and toilets.

 

Since nothing works, no water, no lights, no heat,  no cars, no ...

you get the idea,

it is dog eat dog, literally, as feral dogs feed on fallen people and people kill and eat raw meat where found.

 

BUT the "angel" has found a 'dog of tears' who licked her tears off her face when she was distressed,  then attached himself to her;  and the group finds an unoccupied apartment where they settle, take 'rainshowers' and wash clothes, foraging form time time for food.

 

Until, one day they can see again!

 

"Then she lifted her head up to the sky and saw everything white, It is my turn she thought. Fear made her quickly lower her eyes. The city was still there."ibid

 



And thus ends the book.

What are we to see or not?

Why are all blind except her?

Woman is leader?

Group living - is better.

Does she, or doesn't she loose her sight at the end?

My feeling is NOT.

After all angels cannot fall prey to this seeing nothingness!

 

But  read for yourself.

The Conventions are past....

And I am sure most people have not changed theirs minds how they will vote in November.
Now come the seemingly eternal debates....will they be influential?
I don't think so.
That old saying "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts" still holds sway.
And then the moment of truth.
Am not holding my breath.
And neither it seems is the media.

http://news.yahoo.com/convention-conclusions--are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-days-ago-.html?_esi=1

http://news.yahoo.com/us-national-debt-hits-16-trillion-republicans-blast-031301848.html

The usual biased hype is prevalent on both suides, IMO.

HOCKEY doings:
AHL will play, but NHL ist still on the cusp. May or may not! September 15 will be decisive.

Remember the Aeros?

OPERA doings:
Opera in the Heights opens the season with Otello - no not Verdi's, but Rossini's! With a new to OH! singers. Starting September 27!