Russian Deliciousness

A list of my favorite Russian Composers (plus a key piece), you should look into them if you haven't already! :)

1) Mikhail Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture

2) Alexander Borodin: Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor)

3) Cesar Cui: Orientale Op. 50

4) Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

5) Pieter Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Notably first movement)

6) Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture

7) Alexander Glazunov: Violin concerto in A minor, Op. 82 Allegro

8) Alexander Scriabin: Etude Op. 8, No. 12

9) Igor Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat

10) Sergei Rachmoninov (who has BIG hands): Piano concerto No. 2

11) Sergei Prokofiev: Montagues and Capulets

12) Aram Khachaturian: Sabre Dance

13) Dmitri Shostakovich (honestly, I don't like a LOT of his work, however... what I do like... I REALLY like): Suite Jazz No. 2 Waltz

Books Books Books

That's right, i'm publishing a lame-ass survey.


1) What author do you own the most books by?
Yikes. It's a three-way tie between Dostoevsky, Dickens, and Forster.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Bleak House by Charles Dickens. My mom loves to get me different versions of it because it is my favorite Dickens novel.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Honestly, I did not even think of that until now. But that just shows how much English speakers want to feel special and structure their sentences off of Latin.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Ooooh, secret? You see many people know of my blatant love for Marvin from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, it's hard to think of a "secret" love. Um... probably Dr. Zhivago from "Dr. Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children)
Again... there is a three-way tie. "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens, "The Captive Mind" by Czeslaw Milosz, and
"The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old.
JRR Tolkiens, The Hobbit. Hands down. I read that and all of the Lord of the Rings when I was 10.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
"American Chica" by (I can't remember authors name). I had to read it for my LEAP class, and it was painful.

8) What is one of the best book you've read in the past year?
"The Story of Buddhism" by Donald S. Lopez Jr. or Tao Te Ching- Lao Tzu.
Can't say that I read a whole lot of fiction this previous year... but I definitely recommend Lopez for anyone who is interested in Buddhism. He brings the ideals of Buddhism down to the simplest of terms, so it's easier to understand.

9) What is the last book you read, or are currently reading?
I actually just finished this book called "Der Richter unde sein Henker" by Friedrich Duerrenmatt. Hardest thing of my life so far. haha... as you've probably guessed, it's in German... and I had to read it very very slowly. But i'm currently reading "Zen in the art of archery" and another book on Rembrandt for school.

10) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Er... i wouldn't force people... ha, but I would probably recommend The Federalist Papers. It's interesting to see what the "founding fathers" wanted and what we have today.

Scheiße...

I just found out that I share a birthday with Anita Bryant.


Fuck.

First Impressions

So this morning I had a long sit-and-think about the first impressions i got after watching some of my favorite movies. One of the main ones I thought about was the claaaaassic film "Sunset Boulevard." I first saw this about 5 years ago and didn't really watch it... then i saw it again this last year in my film class. I think it made a bigger impression on me because it was on the big screen.

I just remember sitting in my seat watching this absolutely fantastic film and just enjoying myself. But then at the end where Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) comes walking down the stairs and just gazes hauntingly into the camera... aaaaaaaagh i just about cried. It is so beautifully tragic. Definitely one of the best film-noir's i've ever seen. I walked out of that film simply entranced.

Then I thought of another movie, "Kill Bill vol. 1." In my opinion, one of Quentin Terrantino's BEST films. It had just the right dab of everything. I walked out of that movie wanting to kick ass with a samurai sword. haha

Well, that's all I have to say about that. I'm just going to list off some of my favorite films (in no particular order excluding MANY foreign films):

Marx Brothers Movies
Buster Keaton films
Boy in the Striped Pajama's
Charlie (or Syd) Chaplin Films
Sunset Boulevard
Psycho
Requiem For A Dream
Strangers on a Train
North by Northwest
Annie Hall
Alien
Aliens
Full Metal Jacket
The Graduate
A Clockwork Orange
Gone with the Wind
Memento
The Machinist
Ironweed
Wavelength
Holy Mountain
Fightclub
The Dark Crystal
Sophies Choice
The Muppet Movie
Muppet Christmas Carol
Muppet Treasure Island
2001: A Space Odyssey
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Alice in Wonderland
Pinocchio
any CLASSIC Disney movie
Foreign Films
60's/70's Horror films
Amadeus
La vie en Rose
Carrie
The Bridges of Madison County
Jean du Florette

And many many MANY more...

What I Learned this Winter of 2009

Some of this'll be crude. But hey, it's a blog... meant to be semi-personal.


- imaginary numbers exist by not existing.

- Rembrandt can be appreciated.

- Buddhism is a lot more "hell fire and damnation" then you'd think.

- 3 month art slumps are not good for mental health.

- Second confirmation that weed and alcohol do not mix.

- It is possible for a father to disregard his "old" family altogether like a faulty science experiment.

- Underground Utah Meth Lab world is insane.

- Re-confirmation on how much i love love love LOVE Opera.

- When your shoes have such big holes in them that they are no longer shoes, it's time to get new shoes.

- Some people can see MORE colors then others. (This has a specific name but it escapes me).

- Stumbleupon is addicting.

- Lucia de Lammermore has one of the BEST "going insane" scenes in operatic history.

- Reading "The Hobbit" in one night is a mindfuck.

- German is even more of a badass language then i thought.

- I still don't know when to use "then" and when to use "than."

- There is some point in a persons life when innocence is thrust from you. As you get older and look in the mirror you see your face all tattered and beaten with age, sun damage, and the world. You wonder how you lost everything.

-To see nothing is to see everything

Me no likey game shows...

This is why I don't watch game shows:


Trivial Pursuit: America Plays was on T.V. today. The story unfolds...

Host: For $5,000... what was the name of the spaceship on the movie, "Alien."

Maddie: Nostromo.

Lady: Um...um... i'm not sure.

Maddie: NOSTROMO... NOOOOOOOOSTROOOOOOOMOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Lady: Um.... Ridley?!

Maddie: MOTHER-@$%^**(*(%*#($*%(@#$*@#$@#$@#%$#^%&%^&$%^#

*shoe flies into the television*


End story.

Opera makes incest FUN!

So I have student season tickets to the Utah Opera and this evening I had the pleasure of going to see Le Nozze di Figaro (by W. A. Mozart).
It is one of Mozart's most acclaimed Operas and one of the funniest out there. Basic story plot: Figaro and Sussana are the servants of a rather frisky Count and a heart broken Countess. The two young lovers are looking to get married, but the Count wants to get in Sussana's skirt. So Figaro, Sussana, and the Countess come up with a plot of revenge to teach the Count a lesson. In the meantime this older lady named Marcellina has the hots for Figaro and she wants to marry him. So she and this guy named Antonio attempt to use an old loan to trick Figaro into marrying this expired broad.

Time comes for the marriage of Figaro and Sussana. Marcellina comes in and breaks the whole thing up claiming that Figaro owes her one hell of a loan, and if he cannot pay... then they must wed. Figaro, being a poor servant, cannot pay. In a short paraphrased dialogue, the following conversation occurs:

Figaro: Hellz no. I'm not marrying this hag!

Count: well you can't marry Sussana because I want to do her, I mean... you don't even know your parents!

Figaro: Oh common, that's a low blow. I've been looking for them for years! I know i'm from some rich cats, i've still got some stuff that proves my noble heritage!

Marcellina: What's this?

Figaro: Yeah, I was kidnapped.

Marcellina & Antonio: Kidnapped?! *exchange glances*

Figaro: Yes, from outside a castle. And i'm just going to randomly insert a fact about a birthmark i have on my arm!

Marcellina: Your RIGHT arm?!

Figaro: Why yes, how'd you know that?!

Marcellina: Oh my god it's Raphaellio!!!

Antonio & Figaro: Raphaellio?!

Marcellina: Figaro... I am your mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *gasps spread through the company while roars of laughter come from the audience*

Figaro: Mother! *they embrace as Antonio tries to slip away*

Marcellina: And this is your father, Antonio! Look Antonio, the fruits of our one night stand!

Antonio: Shit.

Figaro: Daddy!!!!!!! *awkward handshake/embrace*


And everyone forgets that Marcellina was in love with her own son for who knows how long. And everyone is happy-go-lucky while the Count gets screwed over by the end of Act IV. It is beautiful. *butterflies fluffy cloads rainbows*