This and that

It's been a ridiculously busy week, filled with approximately 15-hour work days, listening to a bunch of Sports Guy podcasts while commuting back and forth, coming home each night to a sleeping family, not quite ready for sleep myself, and thus watching a bit of Curb Your Enthusiasm until I fall asleep and repeat the cycle the next day. I mention the Sports Guy and Curb because they somehow ended up feeling like integral parts of a hamster-wheel like cycle. (By the way, I love weeks like this, excerpt for the part about not seeing my family.)

For the record, the SG podcasts have become really good, so much better than typical sports radio, late-night TV interviews, NPR, etc. I particularly liked this one where he interviews SNL's Bill Hader. Not only was it entertaining, but there's a lot of good stuff about the insanity of putting on a show under pressure, and the importance of having cast members who are team players (both of which happened to dovetail with my experience getting our Opera Scenes show off the ground). As for Curb, which I only started watching in the past few months when we finally broke down and subscribed to cable, I think it's pretty overrated, and definitely not even close to Seinfeld-level. However, the episode where Larry David ends up wildly conducting the overture to Die Meistersinger on a neighbor's front lawn - that was funny, especially David's conducting. I wish I could find that scene on YouTube.

See how rambling this post is. That's just how it's gonna be - maybe it's the influence of Twitter, which I ended up joining last week after getting into that opera plot contest. It turned out I kind of bent the rules there because, for the Twitterers who submitted their plots, they had to include the tag #operaplot within the 140 characters. Thus, my three 140-on-the-nose synopses didn't quite work once I joined Twitter - I could submit them as "tweets," but without the tag that linked them with the other entries. Still, the judges were kind enough to award me an honorable mention for my Albert Herring, although I thought my Figaro one was better. Surprisingly, I was the only contestant who went the poetry route. Maybe only I'm surprised. I also felt my summaries fit more actual plot into them than most of the entries, but to each his own.

Unfortunately, once infected with the rhyming synopsis idea, I couldn't help but produce the following when it came time to write up some last-minute program notes for our Opera Scenes program (which debuted last night and repeats tomorrow). So maybe I didn't blog this week, but I did multiply words, with questionable results, and that's what blogging's all about.

The Old Maid and the Thief, Scene 1

Miss Todd and Miss Pinkerton talk over tea;

Each is sad to be old and still absent a he.

Laetitia comes in to announce there's a vis'tor.

Miss Todd and Laetitia are thrilled it's a Mister.

Dr. Miracle, The Omelette Quartet

A resourceful young man makes an omelette as part

of an opera-like plan to secure his sweetheart.

Later on in the plot, to her parents' surprise,

it's revealed that this chef thing was just a disguise.

Susannah, Act II: Scenes 1-2 Carlisle Floyd

An innocent bath seen by Elders has meant

that Susannah's been shunned, told she has to repent.

Sam consoles her, but leaves. Later, at the revival,

she's preached at by Blitch when he notes her arrival.

INTERMISSION 

Hansel and Gretel, Act II: Scenes 1-2

Gretel sings to a mushroom while Hansel picks berries,

but the coming of night makes them slowly aware

that they're lost in the woods. Enter Sandman, who ferries

them off to their dreams, though they first say a prayer.

Dido and Aeneas, Act II: Scene 2 – Act III

Aeneas and Dido are all set to marry,

attendants are singing when storm clouds are spied;

as all haste away, an imposterous fairy

gives Aeneas false news that he must leave his bride.

While sailors prepare, witches plot their destruction,

which delights them no end, having also foreseen

that the mistreated Dido will end the production

by lamenting and dying, a heartbroken queen.

The Tender Land, 2nd half of Act I

Two drifters, out looking for work, are quite glad

when they come 'cross a girl, a wide-eyed high school grad.

Though Grandpa and Ma both express some misgiving,

soon they all join in singing "The Promise of Living."

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Coming up in future posts. Piano Hero rides again next week.

Oh, and yeah, you can follow me on Twitter. I have no idea what I'll be doing there. It's not really my thing to tell everyone what I'm doing at every second, but I do see the potential for sharing information quickly. I guess I would break the Twitter problem down this way. The basic idea is you're supposed to type in an answer to the question "What are you doing?" Now, it seems to me that the most honest answer to that question would always be, "I am updating on Twitter." Thus, any other answer feels a bit like a pose to me.