A Glass of Chianti

Update your Sarah-reading routine

2008-02-01T12:12:00.000-05:00

We live here now.

Just sayin'

2006-12-31T14:52:00.000-05:00

This does not get the A Glass of Chianti seal of approval (in case there was any doubt).

Thanks for keeping us abreast of these things, Publius. ;-)

So, Sarah, what have you been up to?

2006-10-19T12:16:00.000-04:00

I hear you asking. The clamor is deafening, so I figure I better do my best to appease the adoring hoards.

Well, besides the obvious things that couples do a month to six weeks into the married state, we've been doing a lot of cooking. Like, seriously. Although this seems boring or very silly, it hasn't been either. You see, we're at the stage in the game where we actually like each other. Like, all the time.

I know! Hard to believe!

Not only that but at this point Angus actually claims to enjoy cooking and will *gasp* actually cook for *me*. Witness:
That's right. It's a Black Forest Cake. That Angus made pretty much all by him self. Don't believe me? Well, since this blog is in the proof offering business:

Yeah, I know.
More cooking adventures here. (Warning: fried foods alert!)

Seriously, though, it's mostly just been a settling in period. I'm still waiting on the last of my things from Texas to arrive and the big looming project is the Thank You cards that need to be sent out but besides that, everything has been remarkably (and blessedly) smooth sailing. Between the Netflix and the Project Runway and the Blogspot, we're having fun up here in Yankeeland. (Who would've thunk?). Angus's fancy-pants job has been pretty great in that it doesn't keep him away from the stove for too long each day and my lessons are pretty near perfect. We even like the neighborhood, though the lack of a truly close grocery store and a movie theatre is a little annoying.

I can't speak with authority on behalf of The Yankee, but I think we're doing pretty darn well. I, at least, am very happy and liking this Yankeeland thing much more than a good Texan should.

The biggest incentive

2006-10-02T12:22:00.000-04:00

For sticking with the blogging "thing" is checking your referrer log and seeing that someone is actually checking for updates. It just takes me back to last year around this time is all I'm saying...

Anyway, even though it's of interest to few souls out there, here is a treatment of music from the second NES Zelda game in the style of the Beach Boys.

Yeah, you read that correctly. Yeah, it is just about the coolest thing since penguins.

Never a Texan*, not yet** a New Yorker

2006-09-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

The earlier post... she was eaten! Multiple times!

I'm running out the door and increasingly frustrated at Blogger. Perhaps when I return there will be a post about how the best comparison for Peter Jackson's Bad Taste is to the great (and, tragically not available on Region 1 DVD) 1954 Johnny Guitar. Just because it's compared to a great movie, though, don't assume it is a great (or even good) movie.
In the mean time, amuse yourself with the penguins. (Pictures courtesy of The Great Yankee husband, just so you know.)

* at least technically
** and quite likely never

Updates...

2006-09-27T10:44:00.000-04:00

... of a pictorial sort.
(A few) Wedding pictures here.
Some honeymoon pictures. (Please note that I spent the whole afternoon squinting into the sun before commenting on the lack of loveliness of my countenance.)
The new neighborhood (A game: find the really famous Fort Worthian in that set).
We went to the zoo! (Penguin pictures to come, people!)

Now that I have a regular schedule and we're finally settled into the apartment, I can finally say with complete confidence that regular blogging will resume tomorrow. Hooray!

Almost Sunday in New York

2006-09-09T22:06:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow will be my first, so it still remains to be seen if this song is an accurate depiction of life in the Yankeeland Central after Mass. The blow-by-blow (blog-by-blog?) account of our first Weekiversary is here should you be interested in how two newlyweds in the big city capped their first week of married life (hint: more Chianti than you can shake a stick at).

I had my first "New York moment" on Wednesday. Angus and I were walking down the sidewalk on the way home and all I could do was think about how annoying it was that the girl walking in front of us was going soooooo slowly. Would it have killed her to speed up?!? *sigh*

Blogging will still be light for the next week or so while Angus and I are settling in. After that, though, I'll have lots of hours in the day to fill while Angus is off working and before my lessons start in the afternoons. Let the return to blogging begin (in a week or so)! ;-)

Someone's getting married

2006-09-02T11:15:00.000-04:00

Today!

I'm sure there will be pictures and updates on this crazy day in not too many days (but certainly not until we're all settled in in the Big Yankee City on Sunday). In the mean time, though, there will be much barbeque to be had. Prayers are always appreciated as are tips as to where a Texan can get a good meal in Yankeeland...

Have fun, y'all!

No penguins here...

2006-08-24T14:42:00.000-04:00

But we do have a Pinky and the Brain alert. And a King of the Hill mention and a couple of Futurama things AND several references to Alex Trebek in what might be the most important interview on all the internets.

If you're wondering why the posting has been light, don't blame The Yankee or The Wedding... blame The Brain.

Explanations for the radio silence

2006-08-17T14:30:00.000-04:00

With The Yankee in town and a few (but not too many) wedding-related chances to make lemonade, I must admit that blogging has been, well, not exactly on the radar. The sidebar has a few changes, so busy yourself with those should the need for more Sarah-esque things be trending toward insatiable.

Hooray!

2006-08-05T13:29:00.000-04:00

(In re: this)

That is all.

Even the penguins have summer vacations that are almost as good as mine

2006-08-03T09:48:00.000-04:00

Stuck on a Brazilian beach

A plane carrying equipment for an Antarctic naval base will take the penguins to Brazil's southernmost region next month, an air force spokesman said Monday. They will continue their journey on a naval ship, which will release them into the ocean in their Antarctic habitat.

Never did no wandering

2006-08-03T09:21:00.000-04:00

I'm teaching a band camp this week at one of the places that used to employ me on a regular basis. Band camp is always fun (especially when you're not needed for the outdoor portions) but I have two complaints:

The air conditioning in the choir room is non-existent. When combined with a room full of 14- to 18-year olds, this leads to minor heat-induced delirium for all parties pretty quickly.
The kids all have much better summers than I used to. The "what I did with my summer vacation" portion of yesterday uncovered trips to Chicago, Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, two Caribbean cruises, several church "mission" trips Colorado and/or New York, France, and Croatia among some other places that I'm forgetting. It's nuts! None of them got to hear Latin being spoken as I did (not that I bragged*) but the competition for second-best summer vacation to that was pretty stiff. I'm going with Chicago, though the student didn't make time to go visit any of the Frank Lloyd Wright in the city. *sigh*

Other than that, though, camp is going well. It helps the time pass until The Yankee arrives on Saturday, anyway.

*Seriously. I didn't.

And I'm not a man who likes to swear/But I've never cared for the sound of being alone

2006-08-02T21:52:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have inquired: wedding planning is going well, but for a variety of reasons (mostly not wedding-related) I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. As I am swimming in a sea of only good things, this is not a complaint but I do have to admit that keeping my head above water is a pretty tiresome activity - regardless of the condition of the water. Getting ready for the big move out East (and.... North!) is a little scary. I'm looking forward to establishing the first glimmers of a household with an incredible Yankee but the rest of the operation is pretty daunting. Texas and New York City just seem big in two completely different ways.
As much as I've grumbled in the past decade or so about high school football culture and the dearth of Catholics and of various other peculiarities which have left me (of all people!) tagged with the descriptor of "intellectual" from about junior high onward, I really can't say that I'm leaving town with anything other than wonderful feelings about my home. I'm going to miss the community that comes from everyone knowing who the star running back was at the local high school a decade ago. I'm going to be upset that the whole town doesn't shut down on Wednesday night because of Baptist Youth Group night. Even though I never quite felt like I belonged because I wasn't the sorority girl type (and I certainly wasn't a Southern Baptist) I think that the real community that goes along with the church and sports types is a good, if a little stifling, model. For many years I wanted to be an insider in those groups - I wanted to change something so that I could belong to the "right" church or be interested in the "right" books. I never could, because those things aren't me but it is still nice to know that there are places that exist where everybody does go to the Friday night game and everybody really does care that you're doing well... even if you're not part of the "group." I can't tell you the number of times in the past couple of months of engagement when it comes up in conversation that I'm moving to New York that the other party will say something to the effect of "Oh, you'll fit in so well up there!". I know why they think this and I do hope they're right but... I'm just a little unsure right now.
At this point, there is only thing that is certain: The Yankee and I will fit in pretty well together in the new apartment and as long as I have him and room for a few shelves of books and a Fort Worth snow globe, we're going to be a pretty happy pair.

What you miss when you don't read Mixolydian Mode

2006-07-29T12:33:00.000-04:00

Don has a great find: The Overworld theme from The Legend of Zelda played on...

(wait for it)

the theremin!! Yay!

He also links to a fairly in-depth article on Léon Theremin which includes an image of his wife, Lavinia Williams (who, incidentily, is waaaay hotter than you're thinking).

What more could you ask for? (Other than penguins, of course.)

If all goes well tomorrow

2006-07-28T00:11:00.000-04:00

I think that it looks to be smooth sailing from now until the wedding (and, obviously, after the wedding, too). I haven't felt so sure the past few months and it's nice to finally feel on top of things. Now I just have to do the fun stuff like sell the Debaucherymobile, figure out what Angus and I really need from my random accumulation of crap (hint: it's mostly stuffed penguins, books, scarves and clarinets I have to offer) and find out once and for all how many of the boxes in the garage are really mine, realizing that most of the contents is probably going to need to be given to charity.

Tomorrow's plan: a Mass of thanksgiving in the morning and then I'm going to do some long-desired reading. Maybe (if I have time) I'll get back to feeling sane, too.

You know who's awesome?

2006-07-26T07:20:00.000-04:00

The Yankee. (Just thought you needed to be reminded.)

It's no Peasant Quest

2006-07-21T23:50:00.000-04:00

But the bonus Strong Sad mode of Kid Speedy maybe made me smile a little. If nothing else it's the cutest novelty mode I've seen in a while.

Confidential to someone who may need a study break: The T-Word!!!

LAN party on Mars

2006-07-21T17:01:00.000-04:00

This story, which details a team of engineers who want to drop 1,000 ball-shaped probes with hopping capabilities on Mars (ostensibly to "explore"), makes me wonder if they don't just watch a little too much TV. I think they were closing in on a deadline and had to come up with something to show the boss, so they just took the first commercial that popped up in their heads as inspiration.

Link via Dappled Things

The Vatican museums + modern art?

2006-07-19T15:56:00.000-04:00

When I read this teaser of an article quoting the director of the Vatican museums as saying that new purchases ("above all in sectors like contemporary art") were in the works, my heart started beating a little faster. Never having been to the museums, I thought it might be helpful to browse around a little just to see what Mr. Buranelli was already working with in the hopes of doing a little Saturday morning quarterbacking*. Unfortunately, it didn't help and I had (and have) other things to do. Before giving up entirely I thought I'd try a shortcut - find the "mission statement" of the museums, and work off that. Less looking, less thinking.... it's a perfect Sarah plan! From the museum director (quoting our Great former pope, John Paul II):

The museum's "function ... remains that of 'expressing the renewed will of the Church to seek dialogue with humanity in the sign of art and culture, putting at the disposal of everybody the heritage with which history entrusted her'".

I've read that at least a dozen times and I still have no idea what that means, let alone how that will serve as a guide to future acquisitions. I'm not ever mistaken for one with even moderate intelligence, so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad that it quite goes over my head.

The more I think about this the more I realize that it's really a difficult job to have. Much of modern art at its best is that which addresses the subject of what, exactly, art is and the like. The collection is going to be a coda at any of the Vatican museums, and I'm not sure that meditations on that question would make for a satisfying one. I am excited to see where Mr. Buranelli goes but I do feel the project will only be a success if the vision is clear from the outset. The "we'd like to have a Picasso" thing in the article makes me worry a little that there isn't much behind the acquisition strategy. There are a thousand points that one could step off to make a nice collection of modern art that puts the human condition front and center (my personal favorite that doesn't seem a very good fit at first but then it all starts falling into place- a late Boccioni) but I'm having trouble of conceiving of one that begins with or is centered around a Picasso.
I guess the consolation is that we won't see how this shapes up within the next 50 years or so. By the time things really get going, I likely won't even care.

*Which, in Texas, only occurs on Thursday in any meaningful sense.

An exchange that is so, so very familiar

2006-07-19T14:22:00.000-04:00

"Why have I stopped conducting? No, not because it's lunchtime. Nor am I feeling tired. If you are tired you should have gone to bed earlier"...

Read the rest if you want to know what sectionals during the summer are all about (or if you want a sneak peek into my plans for the next few weeks).

Two words

2006-07-16T12:11:00.000-04:00

Pecan Praylines

UPDATE: Fixed link. You know, you people could tell me when I do something stupid like that. I know who has clicked on the link and seen nothing, after all. My referral logs are amazing like that. ;-)

Bastille Day!

2006-07-14T11:36:00.000-04:00

Grousing about Bastille Day on the Internet is sooooo 1999, but why are you not reading this to celebrate? (My excuse: my copy is packed away pending a move to, well, God only knows where.) While I'd like to take up the cause and say that the French Revolution wasn't all bad (that contrarian stripe is a powerful one) I just can't seem to muster the will to even pretend an attempt. Save for inspiring a seriously great trilogy of movies, the whole Liberté, égalité, fraternité thing never did much for me. The Enlightenment inspired many powerfully bad things and the French Revolution was just one more addition to the list.

So, Happy Bastille Day, I guess. Now, go watch a Polish movie or two. That's what I'd be doing if I weren't otherwise disposed with job-hunts and house-sitting and other hyphenated activities.

My birthday is in February

2006-07-12T23:56:00.000-04:00

Just saying... (scroll down to the bottom of the page)

And, you know, I never did get that Christmas gift I not-so-subtly hinted I'd appreciate...

The Yankee doesn't know this yet

2006-07-12T18:44:00.000-04:00

But we just decided on our dining room theme. I will say that the company's presidential placemat offerings are promising, especially as it is a strong desire of mine to have the children be able to recognize a likeness of Coolidge at 20 paces. Unfortunately, the designer of the musical instrument placemat has made two critical errors:

He doesn't seem to understand that "wind instruments" are not the same as "woodwind instruments" but even more importantly...
Theremin not included

Also, unintentional placemat humor here.

Gone YouTubing

2006-07-09T22:59:00.000-04:00

It's no Schlitterbahn but it is a way to distract myself from the misery that is the summer*. Terry has a new list of YouTube links on his sidebar and they show not only his pretty uniformly great taste in all things but also his patience in sifting. Get thee browsing over there**. Now!

Some of the highlights:

This Mel Torme selection is interesting for about a half dozen reasons. The introduction is guaranteed to make you think.
An Artie Shaw clip from Second Chorus. All I needed to hear was Artie Shaw and Burgess Meredith to know that I had to look this movie up at my first opportunity. Honestly, though, I never pictured Mr. Meredith as a trumpet player - he kind of struck me as a low brass type making it feasible that I could date him. (Smart girls learn early not to trust the trumpet players.)
If I had a summer listening list for my students, I'd have this Van Cliburn clip as the first entry. You think you know where this interpretation is going, but then around three minutes in, everything changes and it's even more brilliant than you thought it was going to be. The middle five minutes are must-listens. If you don't, just consider yourself disinvited to reading this blog any longer. ;-)

Two picks of my own:

In the great Artie Shaw/Benny Goodman debate*** I tend not to take sides. My head says Shaw**** but my heart vehemently disagrees. Terry has some Goodman on his list, but since we're wanting an even comparison (movie clip for movie clip) how about looking at this Goodman performance from A Song is Born side-by-side with the previous Shaw entry?
Louis Prima and Sam Butera mynah birding in Italian. Yes, it's a schtick but it's a pretty great one and a fairly good example of why I think that pair is one of the most interesting in jazz history.

*I know it's a "mild one" but we didn't get a fall or a winter this year so shove it. Seriously.
**Because no single click will take you to a more than 10 minute selection (and most will be around the 3-4 minute mark) it's a pretty great mechanism for controlled management of free time.
***Gene Krupa vs. Buddy Rich: Buddy.
****One of my favorite stories from the past couple of years in helping students pick out band instruments: Grandfather comes in with his grandson to test all the different things he could play. The grandson asks me what I play and when I tell him that my main instrument is clarinet, the grandfather sighs and says that he wished he played the clarinet "because of Ava Gardner".

Because I want to feel better

2006-07-09T22:31:00.000-04:00

And bragging makes everyone feel great. Look at how the second-most awesome blogger in the world stopped by here and commented!

My goals when I started writing the blog included getting two pie-in-the-sky entries:
1) Coax Mansfield Fox (before he got the cool nickname, of course) into linking to a post of mine
2) By some bloggy miracle attract the attention of the great Eve.

I can't tell you how much better I feel when I stop and think: "Eve Tushnet wuz here this week!"

It's, like, almost like being in love.

Check your driver's license now

2006-07-09T22:00:00.000-04:00

If it says something like "The Yankee" you need to read no further than this sentence (even though I still love you) because it has nothing to do with you.

OK. Now that we're alone can I tell you non- The Yankees something?

I'm kind of not doing well.

I'm frustrated and a little overwhelmed and, well, so very, very isolated right now. And, yes, I know it could be much worse. And, yes, I know that I shouldn't be complaining. And honestly, I do keep the vast majority of it to myself because I know that it isn't fair to add to the general Yankeeland stress level. But (since it's just between you and me) I'm pretty worried about some things. I won't detail them here as it's not the appropriate forum but the fact that I really don't have another forum is one of the things that I think is making this whole experience even more upsetting than it should be. Plus, I'm sick.

Just in case you were wondering, it does really suck to be forever away from The Yankee. The physical distance makes me feel impotent when I'm trying to help because I can't gauge the effectiveness of anything I say or sense if there are any subjects I need to stay away from or if there is something under the surface that's bothering him because there's nothing to base anything evaluation off of. I must say, though, that the physical distance isn't half as bad as the general feeling of being out of touch. I never know what is going on until after it happens. More troublesome is that I'm very much in the dark because I know that I don't know the right questions to ask or the questions that I should avoid or any way to make anything better. Because I don't know an alternative, I just sit here with kisses at the ready feeling pretty helpless and unprepared overall. It's a lame and ineffective approach, but it's the only one I've been able to come up with so far.

I just hate feeling so incompetent and so helpless.

I think that besides the whole continuing need to walk on eggshells for fear of the stress level not doing so would cause, the most frustrating thing is the fact that I'm unable to watch "Futurama" in the evenings. Honestly, I think if I had a good dose of holophoner, everything would be fine. Well, some holophoner opera and some penguins to give me a backrub and a haircut. So, if anyone has a penguin hanging around that they aren't using or some opera recording that they need to get rid of, I think I have an idea as to someone who would be able to benefit.

Prayer request

2006-07-06T11:39:00.000-04:00

Nothing health-related or even super serious, but I know The Yankee and I would appreciate some prayers for a couple of special intentions of ours if you had any to spare over the next couple of days.

The FX programming gods are working against me

2006-07-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

A "King of the Hill" marathon when I have important-to-my-sanity things that I really need to be doing? Are they trying to sabotage me?! *sigh*

Angela Lansbury alert

2006-07-02T13:54:00.000-04:00

The very odd electronic accompaniment notwithstanding, the version of The Pirates of Penzance that I'm watching now on television now has made me very happy. Just saying.

Why, given my minor obsession with the leading lady and G&S adaptations, have I not heard of this before today?

Good post

2006-07-02T12:28:00.000-04:00

By Dan (over at The Shrine) about how to bring about change to the music of the Mass. The summary is something like this:
- You're right to be annoyed by the crappy music every Sunday
- You're not going to get Palestrina next week
- The way to get Palestrina in the next twenty years is to not act like a snob
- Don't adopt the attitude "if it's not Latin, it's crap" - you'll never be happy

This is something very close to my heart as I am (and have been for longer than you'd like to know) been working on some liturgical music of my own. I'm about two thirds of the way done with a Requiem Mass setting (in Latin, of course, with tweaks for the English translations) and have sketches of a plain, old, crazy Mass kicking around my head and my composition notebook in various stages of development. I have no illusions that they will be used by anybody (reading between the lines here, for example will refresh your memory as to why, even if they were good enough, you'd probably not hear them) so they are merely intellectual exercises. Plus, with the new approved English translations coming down at some point in our lifetime, they'd probably need a little (or more) reworking. (That's the excuse I use anyway - I can't work on the Mass now! What if the approved translation comes next week? All that work would be for nothing!)

Anyway, Dan says some fascinating things. I gather his ideal Mass setting is much heavier on the choral arrangements and organ than I'd prefer as I'm not a huuuuuge fan of choirs*. I also think that it's not quite as easy to incorporate as he'd like to in places outside of population centers like Chicago (the parish he mentions has one Spanish-language Mass on Sunday and it's in an alternate location from the main church) and, say, New York (where there are lots of "ethnic" parishes that people go to even though they may be outside the territorial bounds leaving non-"ethnic" parishes probably much more like the one Dan attends back home**) and places where the Catholic culture is more widespread (Ohio, perhaps?) than it is down here in Texas. He brings up a book that I had meant to comment on (Thomas Day's Why Catholics Can't Sing) but have not yet. It's still on my mind and as much of my criticism of the book has to do with the same kind of narrow view of Catholicism (Yankee/mid-West) and lack of attention to the issue of music education that Day kept promising and hinting that he'd address before he ultimately dropped the whole thing.

My contribution to the discussion anon, not now.

*I'd say more, but I really shouldn't.
**I have absolutely no personal experience to base this on. It's just a hunch.

Attn: Polish searcher

2006-06-28T18:10:00.000-04:00

You have good taste
That's all.

Also, any ideas why this search is sending a couple people here every day? At first I was flattered (before I realized that my friends don't have brothers... and that I don't have friends). Now I'm wondering what big pop culture movement I'm missing out on now that job hunting consumes my free time.

There's no I in third person

2006-06-27T15:05:00.000-04:00

A Special Way of Being Afraid is right - there is a real dearth of third-person songs out there. Looking at my own iTunes list, besides "Mack the Knife" (does it make it better or worse that I have more versions in German than in English? Probably worse) and "Seven Spanish Angels" (don't hate on my Willie) I have to go further back chronologically to find anything third-person-y. Even promising titles like "She's About a Mover" have the illusion broken by the second verse. I was also surprised, given my fairly obsessive collecting of TV show themes that there weren't more examples in that genre. I think some of this has to do with the fact that the refrain "write what you know" has been interpreted by almost everyone as "write about you" and we're stuck with the navel gazing for a few decades more. Or at least until the educational fashions change.
Any thoughts as to the best song written from that point of view?

Brush Up Your Latin

2006-06-24T10:31:00.000-04:00

Brush up your Latin
Understand the Mass.
Brush up your Latin
Come September* you'll surpass.
Oh, remember the wedding's approaching
And you might be quite lost without coaching.**
If you start now you may well be able
To declare Vigil at th' breakfast table.
Though in English the homily will be
The vows and Confiteor - yipee!
So, brush up your Latin -
We'll rejoice en masse.

*The second
**Not really. Seriously.

Two things

2006-06-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

both related to this story of a man whose daughters decided to have his ashes put into a clarinet and then buried in the case.

1. Patty should really be moonlighting as a headline writer now that her symphony gig is on summer hiatus.

2. I'm with her that there will be no burying my clarinets with me. That's just... stupid. Let me be on the record that when I die, I want whoever is overseeing the funeral to give my clarinets an overhaul and send them to a band program so they can do what clarinets are made to do: play!*.

*But, ummmmm... don't tell that to my clarinet that I made into a lamp.

Great day in Texas history

2006-06-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

Today is Audie Murphy's birthday. An enduring legacy? Lots of Shriners of a certain age around here...

A kid after my own heart

2006-06-17T11:06:00.000-04:00

Wanting a NewsHour-themed third birthday party? (UPDATE: Video here) I didn't hit my Firing Line phase until I was four so we know that little Henry is pretty special. Plus, he has good taste - of all the Texas newsmen who've had a national broadcast, Jim Lehrer the least un-awesome.

Not that I have anything against Bob Schiefer, but every time I see him on my screen I'm a little nervous that he's going to start spitting blood at any moment.

Courage.

My kingdom for a book spine label

2006-06-16T19:07:00.000-04:00

I love the Pauline Sisters. Really. I also love the small format paperbacks they put out of the papal encyclical letters. Whenever I go into Stella Maris, I walk by the big wall display of them and have a really hard time with not picking one up. So far, I've been pretty successful in this money-saving endeavor for two reasons:

I remind myself that I have this bookmarked at home and it is free. (Making an appeal to my cheap nature)
I remind myself that they don't label the spines of these encyclicals so there's no way to store them practically on the bookshelf for reference. (Making an appeal to my somewhat obsessive organizational nature in all things household.)

I also console myself by saying that these are English translations, and it would be more awesome just to hold out for the inevitable Latin revival where all will be well with the world and I'll have a bookshelf full of encyclicals right under my shelf of Ovidian glory. Plus, when the kids ask (as all eventually do) what Pope Leo XIII really said in Rerum Novarum on the subject of ownership, I will not have to rely on my decade (or, shudder, more) old reading but simply pull it off the shelf and begin to teach the awesomeness that is contained right from the hard copy itself... and in Latin.

A mixed bag

2006-06-16T01:09:00.000-04:00

On the recommendation of a friend, The Yankee and I had a long-distance Thursday date for the musical theatre. We sat down at 8:00 (Eastern) sharp to watch PBS broadcast of The Light in the Piazza. I was looking forward to it, I think poor Angus was humoring me but watch we did and here are some dashed off thoughts in a typical Sarah (that is, not very insightful) fashion:

It was incredibly awesome to see the familiar beginning shots of the show because now I could say "I've sat down right by that fountain!"
Baptist cracks are amusing.
The sound balance was absolutely horrid. I struggled to hear the orchestra and couldn't even get enough of a glimpse to give my ears a good picture of what was going on beyond the singing when it was just piano accompanying. I don't remember this being a particularly obvious problem in the Lincoln Center broadcasts that I've watched in the past (not that I can even remember the last time they did a proper opera presentation, and I know I've not seen a musical before this) so it was very frustrating and hard to get a read on what was going on musically.
I was charmed to bits by the hats and the costumes right from the beginning.
No musical ode to chianti? No chianti drinking?! Just sayin'.

All in all, though, I must say I was a little disappointed. Unable to make a real evaluation of the musical content, my attention was by necessity focused elsewhere. The story was charming, though slight, and I didn't feel as if many of the musical numbers actually advanced the plot or gave me insights into character that weren't already pretty well established in the dialogue scenes. Had the Clara/Fabrizio love been a MacGuffin, I think I would have loved The Light in the Piazza but... it wasn't and indeed actually mattered in the end. I had very little interest in either of the characters and when a romantic says that, you know the story is in trouble. Margaret is a different story entirely. She was a compelling and interesting character. I was extremely wrapped up in her conflicts between duty to her daughter and desire for Clara to be happy and something like "if I do nothing and let fate handle things, am I really responsible?" It was exciting and really the stuff that I think could have carried the musical had, well, the music and the numbers been drafted that way and not in a "Sguardo! Love is buono!!" fashion.

On the whole, though, I am right in between Terry's and Amy's evaluations on the positive side and The Yankee's on the negative: It was fine, but I'm left unfulfilled and I don't think I'm interested enough to arrange to really hear the music so I can get a sense of how that was. That probably tells you something.

I never thought I'd say this

2006-06-14T10:34:00.000-04:00

but here is a Slate dialogue I will be following very closely.

All I'm saying

2006-06-11T14:27:00.000-04:00

Is that if you're going to make a movie with a main character partially based on him, the soundtrack can't be a barren Hammond organ-less wasteland. It's not honest.

I don't mean to alarm The Yankee

2006-06-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

but there's a countdown going...

Dave Barry making good points

2006-06-09T09:41:00.001-04:00

The best among them - pointing out that Dallas really is just the "Gateway to Fort Worth." It's true and we've been saying it for years.

What I am not doing with my summer vacation

2006-06-08T15:52:00.000-04:00

Reading Latin
Going to museums
Practicing my instrument (though I do play a couple hours a day)
Doing laundry (apparently - just ask my clothes hamper)
Studying French
Compiling corny jokes for future use in assaulting students
Watching movies
Reading National Review
Planning my opera attendance for next season (second year in a row for that one!)
Watching Jeopardy
Making gimlets
Being happy with Blogger and the publishing system

I did all of those things last year (except for the opera planning, obviously*). I'm not doing a one this summer. Last year was the summer of Catullus and Ovid and Yankees. This summer seems to be the summer of post office trips and phone calls and more phone calls.

I guess this is my first grown-up summer. I can't say I like all of it. There are a few wonderful saving graces, of course, but overall, I'm just kind of unable to do anything except plan and plan and plan. I'm cranky and probably kind of whiny and just so.... Latin-less. Is this what being an adult is all about? No more operas or politics or awesome texts or gimlets?

Let me go on the record and say that I am not impressed with this phase of life so far.

*Blame Houston for the incredibly lame program they had set for this past season.

How could I have missed this?

2006-06-05T20:30:00.000-04:00

A post that starts off with a taste of Virgil and then has an extended meditation on youth orchestras. Was there ever anything that should have been posted here sooner? Surely not.

Adolescence, in general, lends itself well to tackling the Shostis and the Mahlers. I'm a firm believer that when you start spelling Tchaikovsky correctly, you are then too old to play him well. They all benefit from the earnestness that comes with being 16. I think that Sudeep has it almost right when he says

Yes, Beethoven and Brahms are epic too, but there's something psychologically penetrating about Mahler considering his own death, or Tchaikovsky strong statements of fate that require teenagers who are going through the trivialities of their latest existential crisis to put all that aside. Their performances should give us pause:

I don't know that youth performances of these pieces are powerful because the teenagers are able "to put all that aside." On the contrary, the narcissism and inability to put anything aside that marks that age is what makes it compelling. It's the performer who thinks that everything he says, everything he plays, has to be profound that makes these influential experiences. It's the same reason why kids (even very remarkable ones) can't play St. Saens; they try to make it profound. French music falls flatter than a Kansas highway when it is saddled with that.

Youth orchestra programs are loaded with the Russians and with Copland and Italian overtures (when conductors get back to that practice... hopefully soon) because they all benefit from performers who think they are the center of the world, that their part needs to be heard and that they have vital things to say. There are no unimportant doublings in a Mahler symphony - just ask the trombones.
What I'm actually worried about though, Sudeep, is kids + Wagner. I'm not even a Wagnerite and I see problems with large doses of that!

Liveblogging the Scripps National Spelling Bee

2006-05-31T17:36:00.000-04:00

Come on, you know you want to read...

Oh! I remember what I was going to say

2006-05-30T16:59:00.000-04:00

...like, a month ago, when this aired. Tipped off by a post over at Claw of the Conciliator, we* bring you: Evangelical Church Shopping: King of the Hill-style. The treatment of a certain type of suburban Protestantism is quite well done and the selection of clips from the episode gives you a good flavor of that whole church scene if you are sheltered enough to be unfamiliar.

The noticeable absence of good King of the Hill fansites (and, well, vocal fan base) has bothered me, to be honest. When I need a Futurama reference explanation there are, literally, dozens of places to go: pretty comprehensive episode summaries, memorable quote lists, goofy sound depositories, etc. But for KotH? A smattering of plot summaries with hardly a memorable quote in sight. It's always struck me as odd, frankly, because KotH is a show where there is something for everyone. It strikes a really good balance between humor that relies on characterization to bring the laughs (ex. Peggy describing herself as a "substitute teacher of Español" isn't funny except, ummmmm, it is!) and humor that is more situational in nature. Even when the show gets wacky (DDR in Japan, people), it's heartfelt and hilarious. Plus, any show that manages to get the atmosphere of a postmodern art gallery as pitch perfect as "Ceci n'est pas une King of the Hill" (throwaway sight gag: a canvas with "Close your eyes and think of Freud" hanging on the wall) is quality stuff.

I guess people who tend to gloss over the show do it because it seems to be perceived as a kind of a "regional" thing. Personally, I don't see the humor as more regional than Family Guy, and you never hear people complaining about the fact that much of the humor seems to hinge on whether you think a place/person/pop culture reference with a Q in the name is funny inherently or not. I'm sure Rhode Island is hilarious and someday if I get there I'll breathe the magic air and start laughing at all those regional things that are going over my head. And I'll name my first born Quamie or something quazy like that. To contrast, Tom Landry Middle School is funny no matter what.** Even if you don't find the idea of a middle school being named after a football coach to be amusing, the fact of the matter is that the show isn't based on mere references to the region. The heart of the show is that there are real characters who aren't contorted and abused to get the laughs behind the broad humor. That investment in the characters pays off in the end. Plus, there's Chuck Mangione! Often! The only way KotH could be better is if Chuck Mangione were Randy Travis.

Anyway, Megachurches (and the rest of the Evangelical ambrosia) and Hank Hill - TV was made for things like that.

*We, meaning I, of course... I'm just practicing speaking on behalf of other people without permission. I have a few months still before I need to be fluent in that.
**I'll grant that it probably way funnier if you've spent time in Footballland.

sniff

2006-05-27T22:16:00.000-04:00

Saying goodbye to my homemade oscilloscope is proving tougher than I thought. Sad that it is easier to dispose of old Helmholtz than it is to find a good home for him (there just aren't enough kids around wanting to do home acoustics experiments these days, I guess).

This new generation.... *sniff*

Back from Yankeeland

2006-05-26T11:43:00.000-04:00

Isn't he just the handsomest?

After spending almost as much time on a plane stuck on the runway as I did in New York itself, I'm back in blogging form. The Yankee (now a not-really-but-sort-of graduate of some Yankee law school) is now studying for some test that I can't really figure out why they're making him take since he's clearly brilliant. Witness: Things went well, though. When we weren't hiking up little Yankee hills or going to neverending cocktail parties, Angus and I were seeing some interesting Yankee sights. (As an aside, I now find the fact that Fort Worth has no Van Cliburn Lane fairly sickening.) Now, though, I sleep, as I didn't get back home until 3 a.m. *sigh*

Off to Yankeeland

2006-05-18T22:51:00.000-04:00

I'm off until Thursday to see a pretty great guy graduate from school (Yay!) and to enjoy the part of the world that (I hear, anyway) has more seasons than just Hot and Still Hot.

The best news in all of this? School's out! That means daily blogging will resume here in Chiantiland while every other blogger takes the summer off.

Your jobs:
Congratulate The Yankee.
Enjoy the weather that (I'm sure) is nicer where you are than it is down in Texas.
and no having babies while I'm away! ;)

The two things that keep you coming to A Glass of Chianti

2006-05-17T17:06:00.000-04:00

Updates on The Yankee. (Hooray!)

Penguin poop in the news.

Crushing on our Secretary of State

2006-05-16T21:25:00.000-04:00

This just further confirms that if modeling my life after Alan Greenspan doesn't work out (a conclusion that is becoming increasingly clear) and my second choice of shadowing Terry Teachout fails to launch that Miss Rice is a pretty solid third choice.

Ten of her favorite musical pieces.

Mozart: Piano Concerto in d
Cream: "Sunshine of Your Love"
Aretha Franklin: "Respect"
Kool and the Gang: "Celebration"
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2
Brahms: Piano Quintet in f minor
U2: Anything
Elton John: "Rocket Man"
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

The Mussorgsky was the surprise for me. "The greatest opera of all time" makes me tilt my head a bit, but I can understand, what with the Russian interests and all.

Miss Rice,
Knowing that you're fond of chamber music, any time you feel the insatiable need for a performance of Shepherd on the Rock, we just need to book a soprano. You know what would make a good program companion? I hear Brahms wrote a couple of somethings for clarinet and piano. I'm sure it was just an oversight that they weren't included on the list.

I can promise that I can keep up musically but I'm afraid that I'd never be able to keep up on the fashion portion of the evening. That being said, I'm hard pressed to think of any clarinetist who could...

Patty,

2006-05-14T09:52:00.000-04:00

Don't let it bother you. The author sounds like an insufferable bore. He certainly wouldn't be invited to my dinner parties not on account of his opinions, which are his own and are likely to be well-informed, but on account of his personality which comes across as gross and priggish.

When something falls short, a review is easy because you just have to describe what a performance is not to get a partial picture to the reader. It is vastly more difficult to describe the parts that don't fall short than the parts that do, especially when you have a ten dollar vocabulary and some musical training, because it's just so easy to fall back on those words and completely avoid thinking. What happens to a reviewer in this situation when nothing is lacking in a performance? Realizing that you write better pans than praises, you wrack your brain in order to find something that could possibly be construed as going wrong (favorite second-rate music critic target: programming; second favorite target: atmosphere) because you know that if you don't, your review will fall flat.

This is why most of the words of praise that has are really left-handed compliments that I'm sure he finds quite clever. He is incapable of describing the essence of what a given performance is, so he shoehorns the evening into something he can write about without thinking.

My review of his livejournal oeuvre? Fine writer. Can't review worth s*it.

The worst Mother's Day gift idea ever

2006-05-11T23:56:00.000-04:00

This is wrong for so many reasons (the least irritating of which is the condescending tone). First, a mom who wants a brain game (i.e. not my mom) wants a book of Sudoku or crossword puzzles or awesome logic puzzles, not a GameBoy. Second, a mom who does want a GameBoy (i.e. not my mom) wants a GameBoy who plays something like Dogz.

While trying to figure out who thought this ad campaign was a good idea, I (clearly not a mom) will be spending Mother's Day playing GameBoy Castlevania in all the incarnations that my library of games can supply.

via my e-mail box (ad here)

He's no Phil Gramm

2006-05-10T00:04:00.000-04:00

But he's not a bad substitute. John Cornyn has had this as a pet project of his ever since he was the lowly Attorney General of Texas and it's a smart idea. Being cheap and an autodidact of the most mundane sort, this proposal appeals to my two most basic character traits.

Why I am considering changing my preferences to "allow only users on my Buddy List" to contact me

2006-05-07T16:28:00.000-04:00

Conversation starters in the past 48 hours (and how I love each and every weekend rush):

Shuler1231: Hey whats up..name is Chris...6'3 tall, brown hair and eyes..good build..what do you look like?

Irunoften: i napped
Irunoften: now im grogy
Me: Oh my. I'm sorry.
Irunoften: i needed it
Me: Well, good then.
Me: I'm glad you're rested.
Irunoften: pic?

This is my favorite so far. A conversation with a guy who has some incredibly fast typing skills. Time: 5 minutes, 31 seconds

OMFlint: hi i'm jon.
OMFlint: you are truly...
OMFlint: the first texax clarinet...
OMFlint: teacher...
OMFlint: i have ever met!
OMFlint: being honest.
Me: :-D It's a fun job. Really.
OMFlint: its really a pleasure to meet you.
OMFlint: i'm in banking.
OMFlint: i do have a picture.... do you?
Me: I do have a picture, though I can't imagine why you'd like to know.
OMFlint: i can send my pic.
OMFlint: you can if you'd like.
Me: I'm fine. I don't need a picture for a conversation.
OMFlint: its just nice to learn who you are talking with.
Me: I suppose so, though it's pretty clear to me that a picture won't tell you much about a person.
OMFlint: i agree.
OMFlint: did you like my pic?
Me: I didn't even check.
OMFlint: can you?
Me: Sure.
Me: I don't know what you want me to say. It looks as if you are, indeed, human.
Me: And I have learned exactly nothing by looking at it.
OMFlint: welll i'm very sincere.
OMFlint: your age?
Me: I'm 26, and I'm glad you are sincere.
OMFlint: i'm 34.
OMFlint: i love travel.
OMFlint: love great restaurants...
OMFlint: really into sports.
Me: Those are all nice things.
OMFlint: i like romance.
Me: Do you ahve a favorite place that you've been?
OMFlint: i like being attentive to a woman.
OMFlint: i really admire the greek islands.
Me: I've never been there before. What is so nice about the islands?
OMFlint: well they are very free spirited.
Me: The islands? or the people? ;)
OMFlint: there are no restrictions... when it comes to relaxation.
OMFlint: both.
OMFlint: great food...
OMFlint: great restaurants...
OMFlint: wonderful beaches...
OMFlint: well
OMFlint: the women there...
OMFlint: are very open with their sexuality.
OMFlint: they exude it.
OMFlint: are you as open about your sexuality?
Me: As the islands? Probably not.
OMFlint: i understand.
OMFlint: i was referring to in such an environment.
OMFlint: not in daily life.
Me: You have really confused me.
OMFlint: its far different than teaching clarinet.
OMFlint: was trying to establish...
OMFlint: just how diverse you are.
Me: I see. Well, I have diverse interests if that is what you mean.
OMFlint: i find that very nice.
OMFlint: are you planning on sending your pic?
OMFlint: you seem mature...
OMFlint: i like your name.
OMFlint: its different.
OMFlint: you teach....
OMFlint: an instrument...
OMFlint: of the intellectual.
OMFlint: so yes...
OMFlint: i'm intrigued.
Me: OK. Well, then let's start there.
OMFlint: are you at all intrigue???
OMFlint: i have played for a alot of years.
OMFlint: on and off.
OMFlint: love playing dave matthews.
Me: Ahhhh. That's interesting. What is your favorite song to play?
OMFlint: are you at all intrigued???
OMFlint: how tall are you?
OMFlint: are you a very thin person?
Me: YOu're just striking me as strangely fixated on how I look.
OMFlint: any clarinet teacher i have ever known...
OMFlint: has not been a slender person.
OMFlint: i'm not fixated on it...
OMFlint: its just that i am curious as to who i might be talking to.
OMFlint: you know what i look like!!!
OMFlint: big difference.
Me: But I don't care. And I wouldn't have checked, except you asked me to.
OMFlint: your probably ugly

Such a disappointment

2006-05-03T22:06:00.000-04:00

I don't think there's been a bigger let-down in television since Texas Ranch House (the newest entry in the PBS House series of pseudo-historical reality TV). I was hoping for something like Frontier House with a couple of families and with the addition of a mini-cattle war. What I got was The Clunes II crossed with the feminist bent of the worst parts of Colonial House.

Had they advertised this as what it is - The Cooks' dress-up summer vacation - I wouldn't be so angry. As it is: Worst. PBS. Reality. TV. Show. Ever.

Am I going to have to do it?

2006-05-01T10:01:00.000-04:00

Do I really have to be the person to request the disco version of Byrd's "Ave Verum Corpus" on Sunday morning?

Anything to get this last week's bebop arrangement of "On Eagle's Wings" out of my ear. Anything.

(Via oboeinsight)

Who will be Richard Halley

2006-04-27T23:45:00.000-04:00

to Angelina's Dagney? I'm less concerned with the edits that will have to be made in The Speech than how many of Francisco d'Anconia's middle names they will leave on the cutting room floor...

But, most importantly, will this film usher in a whole new generation of latter-day Whittaker Chamberses? The Yankee, set up an office and then call them. (I can take care of the farm....)

Finally!

2006-04-26T17:03:00.000-04:00

A test where I score higher than The Yankee. (Honestly, I'm the wrong person to ask about tea preferences as I take mine iced but unsweet. If I want a sweet drink, I go for some lemonade or a coke of some variety.)

Dixie Royal
You are 91% true Southern!

You are pure belle or gentleman! You know your Jones Soda, Nehi and RC colas, your Moon Pies and sweet potato pie; you'd absolutely die without air conditioners in the summer, and you've seen Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes (or read the book!). Your grandmother lives in an antebellum home and has a cook who makes the best fried chicken and asparagus casserole and summer squash and everything else in the world. And you know the taste of honeysuckle and the feel of grass between your toes.
You are blessed.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 85% on Southerliness

Link: The Southern-ness Test written by gwennykate on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Alas, no grandmother with a casserole-baking cook is in my family tree, but my great-grandmother had one hell of a red velvet cake recipe...

The entertainment question

2006-04-24T10:11:00.000-04:00

A post over at Patty's (home of the oboe) containing inter alia an opinion of orchestral Pops concerts raises an interesting point about programming. To often, a Pops concert seems to me to be a pretty miserable attempt at a Troy McClure impersonation.
"Hi, I'm Richard Wagner. You may remember me from such films as Apocalypse Now and Beetle Juice. You liked me then? You're going to love this medley of my greatest hits."

I don't have any problem with the Pops models per se. I do, however, think they present problems when an organization thinks that they are going to grow an audience for classical music by programming a pops concert or two. The Greatest Hits method doesn't work for that (as I think the subscription record for orchestras around the country with a regular Pops series has shown) and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of orchestra administrators hoping to boost the attendance rolls of traditional concert series and audiences who (for the most part) don't want to be bothered with the serious music (they're there for fun! And they recognize the pieces!). There are good, entertaining ways to program a Pops concert; the "Greatest Hits" model isn't one of them.

Orchestras around the country concerned about subscription rates should take a page from the "institutes of higher learning" model of advertisement. Try selling membership in a club under the guise of education. That's where the money is and people will line up around the block for that.

What very important thing happened on this day in 1836?

2006-04-21T10:30:00.000-04:00

By legend, it has to do with this.
More on this great day in history after I'm back from lessons!

RPG Cliches

2006-04-20T22:47:00.000-04:00

"Kingdoms are good. Empires are evil." (No. 74)

Also, I'm glad somebody else has noticed the overrepresentation of single-parent households in RPG-land (No. 8)...

Yes, yes it is miserable here

2006-04-17T23:03:00.000-04:00

Over 100° today. It's 10:00 and it's still 90° outside.

There are places I'd rather be... just sayin'.

Well...

2006-04-17T14:08:00.000-04:00

It only took them 21 hours to finally get the correct answer...

(Via a great man with some great taste in music)

Where has all the music gone?

2006-04-17T12:46:00.000-04:00

Spring is a funny time for lessons teaching. On the one hand it's great - it's where we can work on the nitty-gritty things that really improve technique without the distractions that come with all those contest auditions that have all already taken place. On the other, though, it's tough because it isn't easy to get all jazzed about yet another finger exercise. I write my own exercises a great deal of the time (clarinetists don't have a real library of great method books as other instruments do - we're still one of the new kids on the block in many ways) which does tend to help with the variety problem, but it is still sometimes difficult to negotiate with the call that Summer* has on a young person's mind.
Add to this the fact that I might, myself, be a little distracted by my own...stuff.. lately and you have a recipe for really strange lessons.

All of that is a long way to say, well, that I'm just in a weird funk lately. I've long cut out many of the political blogs and news stories that I used to read daily and even the majority of the members of St. Blogs and the various artsbloggers are just not able to hold my attention. I can see there's interesting stuff being written, but my mind is just someplace else so it's more my fault than theirs, anyway.

In the CD player now: The overture to Der Freischütz... which is just the kind of mood I'm in.

So, count me as a person who doesn't really enjoy the Spring and who kind of wishes that Winter would return. I seem to get a lot more accomplished then and it's easier to stop and smell the roses when there aren't a billion and a half competing for my nose's attention.

*which is what happens when you don't live in a place where you have Spring. (grumble...grumble....)

The things you find when looking for cakes

2006-04-14T23:04:00.000-04:00

Michael, I found your groom's cake! (What? You didn't know there was a picture online?!)

Chocolate + South Carolina = Something magical

What every clarinetist you know wants for Christmas

2006-04-14T17:42:00.000-04:00

or, you know, some special day coming up relatively soon...

The Cambridge Companion to Hayek!

All of us clarinetists are closet (or, in some cases, not-so-closet) Austrians, you know.

(Link. I had a very good Good Friday depression going and then that Jonah Goldberg has to go on and ruin it for me. What a jerk!)

Geegaws galore!

2006-04-12T10:25:00.000-04:00

floaty.com

Why you should be reading the comments at open book.

Hooray!

2006-04-10T20:45:00.000-04:00

The Yankee has some great news!

I would just like to clear the record and say that the "highly compensated indentured servitude" program that he will be starting later this year under my supervision doesn't require a passing grade on the New York bar exam (or, indeed, any bar exam) nor is there a graduation requirement.

I'm a little confused as to where he's getting his admission information, to be honest...

Terry Teachout: On middlebrow culture (and more)

2006-04-06T13:52:00.000-04:00

I'm in the middle of reading Terry's collection of essays. I hope he will let me excerpt a little bit and then riff (if you're displeased, Terry, you know where to find me ;-)). In a 1997 Weekly Standard essay on David Brinkley's retirement (et alia, of course) he writes:

"Still, I know better than to pretend that once upon a time, TV was nothing but Peter Pan, Playhouse 90, and The Bell Telephone Hour. The point of network television in its heyday wasn't that it served up masterpieces around the clock; rather, it was that anybody could partake at will of the wide-ranging fare it did serve up. It was because CBS broadcast both Gilligan's Island and Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts that some people discovered the latter, and profited thereby. Watching Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights, you saw a little bit of everything, and so did your neighbors. Such shows were an important part of the cultural glue that helped hold this country together. Now they are gone, and I miss them, the same way I miss the slow-moving America of my small-town youth, back when the word "everybody" was more than an abstraction."

That phrase "back when 'everybody' was more than an abstraction" has been rolling around in my head for a couple of days. If I were a writer, Terry's one of those who would inspire me to just give up, knowing that I could never get that close to a perfectly distilled observation. Good writing is not what you say or how you say it - it's both. This, of course, is why I'm a Terry Teachout cheerleader in my non-lessoning time. (Pom-pom pictures available upon request)

Later: a post on this quote and how it relates to Family Guy. (I'm on medication and I can't write no mo'.)

This is a first

2006-04-06T11:25:00.000-04:00

I just received a text message from a student telling me she won't be able to make her lesson this evening at 5:00 (reason: nail appointment).

I can't decide if I'm more shocked that a student is canceling via text message, or that she is canceling because of a manicure appointment.

So. Sick.

2006-04-06T10:11:00.000-04:00

This is what I am. Ugh! I woke up around 2:30 with an upset stomach which led to a little vomiting which led to my crawling back in bed with the desire (but not the means) to go back to sleep.

What an uncool way to spend a Thursday morning! Hopefully it clears by lunch - I really don't want to cancel my afterschool lessons...

Curling penguins

2006-04-05T09:58:00.000-04:00

who laugh vaguely like Burgess Meredith's Batman villain? Yay!
(Except for the fact that they look to be stuck in a pretty awful movie.)

-From Disputations, who keeps my curling addiction fed.

What you miss by not living in the Metroplex

2006-04-03T22:13:00.000-04:00

Newscasters who just ignore air horn-bearing naked men and those who inspire lemur mating calls.

Why aren't you people just flocking here?

Thanks* to the MonkeyWatch (he's not just watching monkeys, you know) for the lemur pointer.

Also, I assume you noticed the penguin cuteness.

*I think

Welcome to our newest Texans

2006-04-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Res Publica et Cetera has the story. Governor Kaine will not only be surprised to learn of the new tax rate but also the fact that we have our own King.

It's Nunavut's territorial birthday

2006-04-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

Which, if The Yankee is to be believed, means it's Nunavuday... so,

Happy Nunavuday!

Is there a better way to celebrate than making yourself a new Nunavut virtual license plate? I think not.

Latin in Prime Time?

2006-03-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

I am pleased a capite ad calcem.

Jamie has the story. I'm not a Lost watcher (yes, my parents have told me how lame this makes me) but I'm happy to hear of any guest starring role of the most wonderful of languages.

A couple of finds

2006-03-29T09:42:00.000-05:00

(both thanks to The Shrine)

The first is a PowerPoint presentation from the USCCB's Subcommitte on Music and the Liturgy setting forth their guidelines for liturgical music. It starts off pretty great with things that should guide music and song selection at the parish level:

Individual songs should be consonant with Catholic teaching and free from theological error

The repertoire of liturgical songs in any given setting should not manifest a collective bias against Catholic theological elements.

That's all good. It goes on to say in the next couple of slides something like "Guys, the songs that are in wide use kind of suck theologically" and then lays out reasons. (Paraphrased)
1. Ummmm... there are lots of titles for God that we can use that are great, but isn't it kind of, well, odd that only 10% of the songs here use "Father"?
2. What's up with not referring to the Trinity in any of these songs? Isn't that kind of a big theologically important point?*
3. Directly quoted, because it's just awesome: "Christological? Only 35% of the songs referred to Christ."
4.

It sounds great. Really. The problem comes at the end when they say this:

Within two years, the Committee on the Liturgy shall formulate a Common Repertoire of Liturgical Songs for use in all places where the Roman Liturgy is celebrated in the Dioceses of the United States of America. This Common Repertoire will be included in all worship aides used in the dioceses of the United States of America.

I have concerns about this. While I do think having a book of common songs would foster greater singing participation (we'll talk about that in a later post, perhaps) the politics involved in what gets included in the book are going to be messy. Also, given that some of the Haugen-Haas stuff is certain to be in the book (see, above) it makes it all the harder for anyone (including priests and music ministers) to object. "It's in the approved book, so it must be OK" is just something that I don't want to hear ever. This music seal of approval could be used not only by people unfriendly to traditionalists to avoid singing lovely hymns and songs that just didn't make the cut due to a lack of a lobbying body but also to discourage new songs from being written for the Mass. ("I'm sorry, Sarah, I know that we could send your new setting of "Ave Maria" to the bishop for approval, but our policy is that we just use pieces that are the common book.") This whole thing just strikes me as a nightmare on wheels just waiting to happen.

Maybe this could all be avoided if the Committee just took this as their guide:

*Isn't that, at least, one of the things we tell the Mormons?

I'll get you started

2006-03-28T08:53:00.000-05:00

Number 1 is St. Andrew.

Catholic blogosphere falling down on its job

2006-03-25T16:45:00.000-05:00

It's Flannery O'Connor's birthday and I am reminded of this not in a post at the The Shrine, but via a music blogger?

In the words of The Yankee, "Where, I ask, is Amy Welborn?"

Condi talks Brahms

2006-03-24T18:39:00.000-05:00

Via Terry, a pretty neat Condoleezza Rice interview. They touch on some interesting points about coming back to music after temporarily giving it up, though the format is more of a "here are some pieces that mean a lot to me" kind of thing. I was very glad to hear that she, too, is a big fan of the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh. Every time I mention that as being right among the top tier of my favorite orchestral works, people roll their eyes, so I feel happy knowing that the world isn't completely full of Beethoven snobs.

But, the real reason I'm blogging about this is during my initial scan of the article, I misread the phrase "I love the give and take" as "I love the gin and tonic" which shows you, perhaps, what a long Lent it has been already. Clearly, I can't live on rieslings alone.

This is not how I spent my day

2006-03-23T23:17:00.000-05:00

Those kids are pretty lucky.
(Source)

The Eucharistic Miracle(?) in Dallas

2006-03-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

I was going to blog on this this morning before my lessons, but I didn't have the time. Amy blogs here and links to this TV newscast. There's some sloppy reporting going on in the article that, thankfully, didn't make it to the broadcast (it infers that one of the women they interviewed was a witness to the beginnings of the incident, when it is quite evident that she was not.)

There's a lot in this story that raises questions (they just "forgot" about this in a cabinet for a month? The newscast interview with the priest was conducted in Spanish - and I can't hear under the voiceover to do my own translation?) and I don't know what to think when there is only one source that I can track after a couple of days of being in the press and she starts with "[t]he story goes"...

Anyway, when (if?) I can sort out the reporting questions from the "burning bosom" radar questions I'll weigh in officially.

UPDATE: Matter closed. That was fast.

Beethoven would be a video game composer

2006-03-21T23:57:00.000-05:00

Or so says Tommy Tallarico, himself a composer for video games. I think a good case could be made for Beethoven the film score composer, but I'm not on board with Mr. Tallarico. First of all, Old Ludwig wasn't really into embracing new technology - his opus list* isn't really heavy on the non-traditional instrumentation. Also, when he got it into his head to compose for things epic and grand, they tended to turn out like his Wellington's Victory, and we all know how that was, ummmmmmmm, great (though I must admit that I quite dig the cannons).

I think the most probable video game scorist of the big composers would be Mozart, Mr. Glass Armonica. We certainly know it wouldn't be Brahms (Quote: "Glauben Sie ich will fur die Schreibtischelade schreiben?").

(Via, Patty)

*See also

Save the penguins by shooting them

2006-03-18T15:59:00.000-05:00

The description for this game says it all:

The penguins are panicking! They heard that the hole in the ozone layer will soon melt their home.
Freeze the panicking penguins before they hurt themselves"

(Via someone who loves me enough to look for penguins in all forms...)

Then mourn the death of the antiquities theft racket

2006-03-18T15:57:00.000-05:00

(Also useful if you want to study mummies in their natural habitat): Crypt Raider.

Does the sharp increase in posts mean that Sarah is procrastinating?
Yes, yes it does.

A game I couldn't refuse

2006-03-17T23:39:00.000-05:00

Because everything in my life seems to revolve around either The Godfather or Super Mario Bros.*

Super Mafia Bros. (be patient with the loading time)

*What's the blogger style book entry for video game references? Would "Super Mario Bros." be more correct? It all looks wrong to me unless it's in that title screen font.

No(t much) more green here

2006-03-17T23:27:00.000-05:00

If you missed the Great Template Experiment, you missed quite a show. It was so greeen! But now, just because I can't just take all the green away on today's feast:

You're 55% Irish

You're very Irish, and most likely from Ireland.
(And if you're not, you should be!)

How Irish Are You?

(I feel pretty good being a moderate between Res Publica & C. and The Fox. 55% seems exceptionally high, to be honest, but I'll take a lovely lucky four-leaf clover any day.)

No pinching the blog

2006-03-17T11:50:00.000-05:00

Operation Temporary Template Change is a success.

A conversation with the blog

2006-03-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

Sarah, how have you been spending your Spring Break? You haven't really checked in lately, you know. (Well... ummmm...)

Have you been doing important things like catching up on work? (Yes, a little.)
or cleaning? (Well, things are cleaner around here, in general.)

or deciding on dates for the wedding? (Sort of? I have lots of papers that... ummm... Let's move on.)

OK, OK, you have me cornered, Blog! I've been splitting my time between Tex Williams listening and spending way too much time here getting my Pinky and the Brain fix. It's not a noble way to spend a Spring Break, I'll admit, but it's my own. Are you happy?

To the long-lost relative of his

2006-03-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

Who was asking this very important question:
You're about a half-century behind on the family Christmas newsletter list. You should really start reading them instead of immediately throwing them into the trash.

If you have ever wondered

2006-03-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

About the color of penguin poop, you can find the answer here.

(No, I wasn't wondering about that...)

Texas Republican Primary 2006

2006-03-11T20:06:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I really love about voting in the party primary race is that there are always a few crazy platform planks that are being considered for adoption at the convention. It does, in all honesty, make me a little giddy to read some of these even if this year's (scroll down to the bottom - just like a real ballot) were mostly let-downs: Fuzzy phrases about eminent domain, a murky call for spending limits, the annual homeowner's tax bickering...

There was one that made me sit up and notice, though:

The Texas Legislature should enact legislation requiring that voters provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the State of Texas.

Texas has a long and important history of fraudulent elections. As a conservative, I can't support this initiative. Rampant voter fraud gives a strong incentive to the electorate to keep elected officials' offices as weak as possible. I hope the good people at the Texas GOP convention this summer rethink this call for legislative action. It would be a real victory for the (small) conservative wing of this state's Republican party.

A new feature here at A Glass of Chianti

2006-03-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

Gaile Robinson Watch:

In a December 2005 article on an exhibit at the Modern, unfortunately no longer on line (but poorly blogged about here):

"Kiefer is considered an excellent painter"*

Gaile Robinson in February 2006:

"Scully is considered one of the world's pre-eminent painters."

Good heavens! Amon Carter is rolling around in his grave.

*I wish I could find her year-end list of the top 10 arts events in Fort Worth. One of the reasons that the Kiefer survey was so important: "he is still alive." (Seriously!)

Strongbad gives a double reed shout-out

2006-03-08T22:31:00.000-05:00

Where oboes and technology meet there (should be) Patty. (Thanks to some handsome Yankee fellow)

UPDATE:
And more woodwind fun (via A Special Way of Being Afraid) where the band director, in particular, is frighteningly accurate.

Finally!

2006-03-06T23:59:00.000-05:00

A non-tax Libertarian movement I can get behind.

You know what is conspicuously missing on

2006-03-06T00:34:00.000-05:00

the Pope's iPod?

My Requiem and my opera (among other worthy pieces).

Sure they're not finished, but that doesn't stop Schubert from being performed.

(Via the Master of Catholic humor)

Thankfully, that's over

2006-03-05T23:20:00.000-05:00

I think most of my discomfort in watching the Oscars this year is that I'm (as I am continually reminded) the only person under 30 who doesn't find Jon Stewart* that funny. I am also (as I am also continually reminded - even by Jon Stewart himself) among a very, very select group that found Death to Smoochy quite amusing.

I didn't see a great deal of the nominated movies this year (I know, I know, I squandered my Christmas holiday viewing time!) and the movies I did see and liked weren't nominated, or were nominated for fairly insubstantial awards**. What's worse is that I don't really have a list of movies that I want to see, even after I've seen peeks of them tonight and heard the lauding. I had little desire to see Crash (here and... er... I could have sworn I read something The Yankee had written on the subject) and I have even less after the gushing about how it raises "important" and "relevant" issues. I'm sure things are different out in L.A. but here in my part of Texas at least, racism doesn't sound like what the people touting that movie say it does. Racism don't sound like this. You know what real racism sounds like? It sounds like a certain type of people voting for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp".

In any case, my love for A History of Violence and Junebug will continue, as will the mystery of why I put myself through viewing this each year. I had an excuse when Steve Martin was hosting, but now... Guh. Perhaps it's just the hope that this year, things will be better.

*Maybe it's a Family Guy thing... I'm pretty alone in my agegroup in that distaste too.
** Grizzly Man and *ahem* The New World. The opening sequence with Wagner's French horns and all of that water is the most magical piece of film I have ever, ever seen. At least since (and this is soooooo obvious) Badlands.