Matinee

Went to a locally written Opera Sunday afternoon.

www.longleafopera.org/

To be upfront – I’m not a big fan of Opera. That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate good performances. I’ve been to enough to understand how it works and to appreciate it even if Opera isn’t necessarily my favorite art form.

First, the good stuff. The story was compelling (race relations in the South), costume and staging was excellent, choreography was just right, and the voices were strong.

They needed to be strong. Something needed to go well in order to overcome the locally written music and libretto.

The music was convoluted, piecemeal. It didn’t seem to have any real relationship with the story. It’s hard to sing the story when you have to rely on such a disjointed score. The performers did their best. Top this off with the orchestra frequently overpowering the singers – you just couldn’t follow what was going on – even in English.

Actually, even if the orchestra volume had been perfectly balanced with the performer's volume - it wouldn't have made any difference. Even perfect execution wouldn't have been able to overcome so poorly conceived music.

It’s good to see local companies stretch and try to create original works. You have to applaud the effort. Sometimes though, it just doesn’t work out. Unfortunately, this was one of the weakest (score and libretto) Operas I’ve ever attended.

One thing that always amazes me is the effort that goes into staging Opera. All these folks work really hard for a month or more to put on, in this case, 3 performances. That takes a lot of dedication and heart.

Saturday Show

Went to a free concert in Raleigh yesterday. This is the second year that that these series of shows have been put on. Usually 5 or 6 bands that play short sets. I surmise that it’s done partly by Deep South Entertainment to promote what they hope are up and coming bands along with some other better known artists. I really liked American Aquarium.

Got home late – around midnight. We went too early as well. Shows run from 2 PM till 10 PM and that’s a long time for an old geezer like me.

Stopped by Target on the way and picked up a couple of folding chairs. The kind that fold up into a carrying tube type bag. They were on the clearance aisle but weren’t tagged with the price. Talk about a surprise - $2.40 each. Unbelievable. I should have bought a bunch of them instead of just 2.

Nifong

Continuing my recent theme about lying, incompetent elected officials . . .

The State Bar hearing on Mike Nifong is being held 3 blocks from my office. News media and press parking are taking up this block on Fayetteville Street. The tents are where the various networks have their 'news desks' that you see on the broadcasts. CourtTV has the biggest set up at the far end of the block.

I was headed to the Credit Union to make a deposit and snapped this shot Friday morning.

Iraq

I took this photo last week while working at UNC Charlotte.

I’ve tried to keep up to date over the past few years about the Administration’s handling of Iraq in the aftermath of our invasion.

I avoid superficial instant pundit sources. I don’t need some fat ass drug addict radio talk show host nor some fat ass lying fakeumentary film maker to tell me what to think.

I try to find in-depth analytical articles and reports.

I’ve come to the realization that our, so called, leadership is incredibly inept.

In the very short time between running Saddam Hussein to ground and trying to set up a provisional government, the Administration and lackeys made a series of inane decisions that led to the dismal state that is Iraq today.

First and foremost, there was no plan for governing Iraq after the invasion. None. Zip. Nada.

Second, the Administration put imbeciles in important positions in the Iraqi provisional government. Not to mention the imbeciles put into place in our own government.

If you watch the link below – don’t miss the part about the young guy, fresh out of college, who felt the lack of his qualifications and his staff were offset by the fact they were ‘tight fraternity brothers in college’. If this stuff were made up as a novel or short story fiction, it would have been too incredibly stupid to be considered even light weight prose.

Finally, political maneuvering and infighting led to an Iraqi government by default that appears then and now, doomed to failure.

While the topic and history is complex and convoluted, PBS Frontline did a very good job of summing up our involvement in Iraq in that fateful first year. First aired last October, this Frontline report was repeated last night.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/yeariniraq/view/

The rebroadcast was to allow viewers, such as myself, to refresh our background knowledge of Iraq in preparation for next weeks’ Frontline broadcast: Endgame.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/endgame/

Kudos to Michael Kirk for undertaking his series of documentaries about our involvement in Iraq. One of the most important underpinnings of democracy is a free and vibrant press.

Machu Picchu

This link goes to a 1.5 gigapixil image of the Machu Picchu archaeological site.

Once you open the link - expand your window to full screen and click on the image or any of the zoom / pan controls at the bottom.

For a geek like me - this has a well above average wow factor.

Bonus Question - Where's Waldo's missing leg?

Also - check out Chicago and Sydney.

Quick Entry

Too tired to post a real update. This is just a quick entry to let everyone know I'm still blogging.

Just got home from UNC-Charlotte. This was the 2nd week we've been working there. I still need to go back and finish up. Possibly next week or the following week.

We hoped to get all our work done within 2 weeks. We've been busting our arses but it couldn't be done. In retrospect - I should have scheduled at least 3 full weeks.

I'm very tired.