lxxxvi. i was told there'd be cake, sloane crosley
i was told by the blurb that sloane crosley is the new david sedaris. not entirely accurate. over-advertising. still, she's on the right path with the funny anecdotes and witty turns of phrase. a little more dramatisation and recurring characters and she'd be there

lxxxvii. best australian essays 2010, ed. robert drewe
lxxxviii. best australian stories 2007, ed. robert drewe
surely we have enough writers and novelists and journalists that we can have different genres of writers pick short works for different genres of anthology? both of these were just ok, nothing fantastic jumped out at me.




lx. babies
quite interesting documentary, more to see differences between cultures and how parents raise their kids around the world

la laa laaa

just watched my sister play in the sydney uni symphony orchestra playing saint-saens' 3rd symphony, i.e where the theme from 'babe' comes from. good thing that particular variation on the main theme is only played once because i was on the verge of laughing/crying for those 30 seconds. man, that movie came out two-thirds of my life ago.

now looking at it that pig is kinda ugly.

xi. haunting handel - brandenburg orchestra with fiona campbell

well. overall it was ok. i paid like a third of the price for being one of very few 'under-30s' in the room, i'm not sure i would pay more. the program was half vivaldi and half handel, with a baroque oboe concerto and several arias. 1st mezzo performance with the brandenburg orch since their debut in 1990, apparently.

firstly the sound - i don't know whether it was the acoustics or my seat near the back of the stalls level (in a small hall) but the projection of both orchestra and voice was not loud enough. perhaps the sound rises into the cavernous ceiling of the city recital hall. perhaps i like my music louder.

baroque bows are not kind on one's posture or profile. the violinists appeared unattractively hulking and like they couldn't stretch their bowing arms out, which they couldn't. it totally explains the short last notes of the period's pieces though.

i was definitely not a fan of the orchestra's on-stage applause of the soloist after every single piece. they would finish playing, and then they would all start clapping! if there were two soloists they would applaud each other! so unprofessional. clearly this is a policy fully condoned from the top down. i disapprove. i want namesake bach-style strait-laced grandeur not living room recital.

now to fiona campbell. firstly, the costume changes! more outfits than a chinese mother-of-the-bride at a 10-course banquet reception. i don't know what the done thing is for trouser role arias normally because i don't know anything, but if you're going to change into a white tux (with the kind of pant leg that completely covers stilettoed foot) for Serse and Ruggiero (Alcina) then why sing Ariodante later in the program in a champagne frothy frock? whatever. it would have been better without the tux at all. also i don't like the inherent dress-up insinuation, if you're singing a trouser role you better damn well mean it regardless of what you are wearing.

secondly, as aforementioned, the projection was not great enough, and in the lower notes she could barely be heard above the orchestra, say below G₄ (G above middle C, i think that's how the notation works). maybe it was the tone or lack of edge in that range but it wasn't punchy enough. the high A (A5) was also forced on a few occasions. i will say her trills were good though and she didn't omit them as some do according to my education from youtube.

as a final note the audience demographics were very interesting to me because i would never be in their midst usually, but maybe this will change if i make a habit of attending these types of concerts.

for some reason i can't actually type in the text box, so here is my review of: lxxxv. the god of small things, arundhati roy. as you may have guessed from the preview it does not make my 'good indian literature' list. i think it tried to be epic by building and building up to a definitive event by imbuing each character with legend, but in the wider scheme of indian literature this would merely be a blip.

the probability that i am delirious is quite high

lxxxiv. the best australian stories 2010, ed. cate kennedy

really really great. there was not one story that i did not like.

i am reading arundhati roy's 'the god of small things' and so far am not impressed by the rushdie-like compound words and magic realism. i will give props for select imagery and back-history scene switching.

opera update: i now know enough to judge that anne sofie von otter generally does good handel and has better musicality and precision than most other mezzos, but that paula rasmussen is a better 'serse'. would i be correct however in assuming that most people would not enjoy listening to opera as general background music? i.e. can i listen to it at work without alienating everybody? serious question. i can't really tell anymore.