Month: June 2024

This week Mom on a Boat went from this: … to this. When it started as this: Wow. I really don’t like this one at allllll. Well, I like it, except for her face. Maybe I should start over and just zoom in on her smile? I missed the tilt entirely. Damnit. I hate to…

I was not expecting to like this at all, because it’s by the atonal modern Phillip Glass. I won’t say he had any catchy melodies in there, but it was more melodic than The Trial, the other Glass opera we saw. It tells the story of Galileo, only backward. It starts out when he is…

So now we have another wine bar / bistro charcuterie plate under our belts, courtesy of Robust Bistro and Wine Bar. This one had something called Carpaccio-offset-by, and this is important, quotation-marks. This carpaccio was salt-cured beef that appeared to be cooked, because we were not going to put anything raw in our mouths before…

When I think of the Columbia Space Shuttle, I obviously remember when the shuttle broke up on re-entry. This week I learned that the Columbia had three additional deaths. Early in its history, a compartment in the Columbia was filled with nitrogen to make it safer when there were lots of other gasses floating around.…

I recently encountered the tale of Korean Air Flight 85. The story is an example of a letter-of-the-law misunderstanding. I can see myself making the same mistake: I think that’s why I’m so taken with it. On September 11, 2001, ground control used a Telex-type system to alert U.S. bound planes that there were highjackings…

This week Mom on a Boat went from this: … to this: It’s almost done. Needs more contrast. Her dimple was there, briefly, then vanished. I like the band on the life preserver. That was sheer luck: the paint was on the brush in just the right way to make the band, shadow, and highlight.

My brother lived next to the airport in 2001. He said the most disconcerting thing about 9/11 was that the airspace was shut down the next three days. Airplanes didn’t shake his walls every few minutes. He didn’t realize how much he came to expect those regular noises. I feel that way today. Our noisy…

This opera was so good that I fear I cannot gush any harder than all the other reviewers. All the elements were great. Singing, acting, humor, stagecraft were all wonderful. Instead, I am going to go on and on about the details. I could not imagine how, when Figaro shaves Don Bartolo’s bald head, how…