In the All Time Top Ten Best Songs…

The All Time Top Ten Best Songs of the last 300 years? Has to include the aria “Ombra mai fu” from Handel’s Serse (Xerxes). No kidding. Sure, the single best song of the 20th Century is “Nessun Dorma” (video link)–Puccini’s 1920s hit from Turandot, indisputably (no matter what some with tin ears and dulled mental capacities might think) THE “last great song written”… to date.

And ANY of Schubert’s lieder (preferably sung–at least most of them–by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau–simply and inarguably THE greatest baritone voice of the 20th Century. Just sayin’ :-))can hold down ALL the places for “best songs of the 19th Century.” Go ahead: pick any one of them. Apparently, Schubert just could NOT write a clinker of a song, never blew a clam onto manuscript paper, wrote only solid gold songs. Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart even? Yeh, some great solos. But they just didn’t seem to have Schubert’s ear for song. YMMV, but whatever you think, I’m right. *heh*

But while the 18th Century had tons of singable, memorable and even great songs, this one’s my own fav, and as hundreds of recordings of it from the 20th Century on can attest, it has an enduring appeal. I collect recordings of this song–have tons of them. I’m in awe of David Daniel’s counter-tenor performances of this song; I absolutely love Bryn Terfel’s deft treatment of the song; my fav living tenor, Placido Domingo, also sings it beautifully, as do a number of good sopranos. But Jussi Björling’s 1959 Atlanta performance before a live audience just blows me away:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex8Ja68Hc_U&feature=watch_response

The man’s talent was a one-of creative act by a God who loves music. And yeh, the video link above to “Nessun Dorma” is a Björling performance, too. Lesser performances aren’t on the same planet. Heck, the recitativo preceding the aria’s good, and usually a pleasant enough experience, but Björling singing the recitativo makes the hairs on my arms stand up and brings tears to my eyes. Really.

And “Ombra mai fu” is just a song about a (plane?) tree! Yeh, a flippin’ tree! (But hey, Nessun Dorma’s just a sort of “lullaby”–more or less. *heh*)

For All Time Top Ten Songs, nothing from pop music does it like the folks with real chops–writing and performing–can.



Frondi tenere e belle
del mio platano amato
per voi risplenda il fato.
Tuoni, lampi, e procelle
non v’oltraggino mai la cara pace,
nè giunga a profanarvi austro rapace.

(Tender and beautiful fronds
of my beloved plane tree,
let Fate smile upon you.
May thunder, lightning, and storms
never bother your dear peace,
nor may you by blowing winds be profaned.)

Ombra mai fu
di vegetabile,
cara ed amabile,
soave più.

(A shade there never was,
of any plant,
dearer and more lovely,
or more sweet.)

The only thing that might have improved on this concert performance would have been to have the strings accompaniment Handel scored. Some really subtle stuff going on in that. Listen to (Oh, go ahead and buy it! It’s just a buck) Bryn Terfel’s rendition (a third lower in pitch) for an appreciation of the stringed accompaniment. Very nice.

Is Too Exercise!

Well, sorta.

Short story made long(er), I’ve been thinking (in a very desultory, lackadaisical, downright unserious manner) of getting a wee tad more exercise–you know, beyond my typical couch-and-desk-potato exercises with occasional bursts of yardwork. I’ve thought of building a treadmill desk for either my desktop or laptop, but… I’m reluctant to spend the $$ on just adding more unused clutter to the house.

Still… primary hard drive on most-used computer is making funky noises, so it’s powered down until I get a new hard drive in, and, yeh, looks like I’ll have to double its capacity *drat!* since 500GB hard drives are becoming less, common and I can install a 1TB drive for little over a $10-$15 upcharge. *shrugs* Why not?

But… I need another “change of pace” computer. (No, I don’t really, but I’m used to moving around to different workstations and doing different things on ’em, so… ) So…

Enter lil netbook with a real mouse and keyboard attached, sitting on the “bar” on the dining room side of the kitchen counter, right about here:

Those stools are gone–replaced them with some neat ones that have padded seats, backs and built-in pullout step stools. I’m not using seating there, anyway. By using it as a standing desk, I at least get some “exercise” benefits, and by having it there, the coffee’s handy! Sweet!

*heh*

Oh, Great… for Kids Who Can Get Their Parents to Move East for the Summer

TD Bank is offering kids (18 or younger) $10 for reading 10 books this summer.

Great, right? Here’s the deal:

1. Read 10 books this summer. See suggestions.
2. Print out the Summer Reading Form
3. Write down the names of the books they’ve read
4. Take the form to the nearest TD Bank
5. Watch $10 be deposited into a new or existing Young Saver Account

Oh, wait. Notsogreat.

1. Locate the nearest TD Bank location (WTF?!? I thought TD Bank specialized in online banking!):

“There is no listing found based on your criteria. Please change your criteria and try again.” (IOW, “Move to a location where we have a physical presence, sucker!”)

2. Move there.
3. “Here’s your money kid, only… we’ll keep it for you. Howzat for a sweet deal, eh?”
4. 10 books? *feh* Sub-par. Way, way sub-par. (Of course, “par” to me is the last Summer Reading Program I participated in as a kid. My total? 235 books for the summer. Yeh, yeh, Mom did shoo me outa the house, and visits to grandparents involved lotsa outdoorsy stuff, too. IOW, wasn’t 24X7 w/my nose in a book. I used to read a lot more than I do even now.)

Of course, if parents would simply stop playing “event planners” for their kids entertainment schedules and just, well, parent while letting doing whatever they can to compel their mentally lazy kids to create their own entertainment, then encouraging them to read, making sure they can get to a library, etc., could go a long way toward improving our future citizens.

Just sayin’.

One More Sign I Want for My Lawn

I think it’d go well with a “Go Away” doormat and a used silhouette target (laminated), don’t you? And on the front door, “If you don’t have a search warrant, don’t knock. Just go away.”

*heh*

Not a hermit yet, but exploring the idea…

Ya Know…

I thought I might post a video of Madeline Kahn singing “I’m Tired” but I’m just too tired to go to all that effort.

Big Brother’s Sister’s Keywords

Well, Janet Napolitano’s Goon Squad has assembled a list of keywords that will flag your Internet activity for government spying. First Amendment? Notsomuch anymore. It’s 1984, just a wee tad behind time. (Well, we’ve already had Newspeak for quite some time from “feddle gummint bureacraps”, politicians *gag-spew* and the Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind; now we get thugs spying on our exercise of a fundamental right.)


Is anyone surprised by this? If so, I have a question for ya: Been living under a rock in Outer Mongolia?

The Single Best Way to Honor Military Heroes

Both the dead whom we honor today and the living. The best way, far better than a day of flags and barbecues and parades and watching sports, a “holiday” merchandizing opportunity and other such activities: always spend your vote in the cause of liberty. Work to advance candidates who are committed to protecting REAL human rights (not the phony “rights” so loudly shouted by the left nowadays) and REAL, responsible liberty (not the licentiousness and freedom to steal from others promoted by the left nowadays).

Exercise your citizenship for the good of your grandchildren and great grandchildren and generations yet undreamed of, instead of simply for the short term benefit of self-annointed “elites” and the Balkanized special interest groups they milk for power. Then, live your life as a FREE citizen, unshackled from the tyranny of the State while upholding your genuine duties as a citizen.

THAT’S the best way to honor those who have died to purchase your liberties and protect your human rights.


“other such activities”: There’s nothing wrong with flying flags, parades and barbecues and buying and selling stuff and suchlike. In fact, all those things can be outgrowths of free citizens simply living their lives as they see fit, without imposing themselves on others. But those things aren’t in and of themselves worthy expressions of honoring those who have given their lives to defend our liberties, our rights.

Phony “rights”: see this article at LewRockwell.Com for a starting place. It’s a list of the fake “rights” Franklin Roosevelt promoted that have been expanded into the current litany of the left.

“genuine duties”: defend your own rights and honor the rights of others (“Your rights end where my nose begins” and vice versa), and require government to do the same and no more. What are some of those legitimate rights we have a duty to defend and to require our government to defend? A good place to start:

Life
Liberty
The pursuit of happiness

But when one considers a “pursuit of happiness” as denoted by the Declaration of Independence one really ought to ask what that phrase meant to those who signed their names affirming that right. That’s an easy task, since the discussions of that document are themselves well-documented. The “happiness” considered a right to pursue included, but was not limited to another word that was considered for inclusion: property. The right to own and control the use of one’s own private property was included in the Founders’ thinking in “happiness”. Don’t take my word for it. Do your own homework.

Then, among other rights “reserved to the people”, we have some denoted by the Bill of Rights such as the right to free exercise of religion, the right to criticize the government, in speech and print, seeking a redress of grievances, the right of self-defense (and self-defense against government tyranny at that), the right to tell government trolls to f* off at one’s door, if they lack a duly executed search or arrest warrant, etc.

Defense of these liberties and basic human rights is ultimately the responsibility of citizens under our formal polity. REQUIRING of our governments (local, state, federal) that they uphold these rights and enforce these liberties against the outlaws (including those “feddle gummint bureaucraps” and “law enfArcement ossifers” and politicians *gag-spew* who manufacture tyrannical laws and regulations that subvert the law of the land purely for their own benefit) is a major part of our duties as citizens, and absent honest attempts to fulfill these duties, any “honor” we pay those who died in defense of these rights and liberties is hypocritical at best.

Just sayin’. Of course, Moina Michaels said it better back not long after WWI:

We Shall Keep the Faith

by Moina Michael, November 1918

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

I’ll not explain the “Flanders Fields” reference. If you’re not already well familiar with the John McCrae poem, then shame on you.

Tightwaddery: Simply Clear Thinking

A few years ago, our central air conditioning unit began showing signs of eventual–more like near term–failure. Of course, we looked into replacement; who wants to live through sweltering summers? And then, after several years of annual “resurrection calls” to AC service folk of varying ability, it failed.

We chose to swelter through that Summer. (OK, we added fans. *meh* Was not all that bad.)

But what did we ultimately do? Well, we had several options:

    Continue to suffer through the humidity of late Spring and the heat and humidity of Summer.

    Try to ameliorate the situation by installing a whole house fan–an option that appealed to me but wasn’t a solid sell.

    Install a new central AC unit.

Or…

    Zone the house and use “point cooling”.

Sure, a new unit would probably have worked and been more efficient than our old one by far, but what we ended up with

    Cost much less than 1/10 of replacing (and upgrading, of course, including the air handler that would’ve had to be replaced inside, etc.) the central AC unit

    Uses much less electricity than the old central AC unit, and not much more than when we went a Summer with just fans!

    Allows us to effect additional savings when we want by simply turning off cooling for areas we aren’t using.

Of course, we went with the least expensive method of zoning the house: window units. Yeh, yeh, I’m sure that impacts the salability of the house, but since that’ll really only affect our heirs, we just DGARA. We own the place (no mortgage) and have no intention of ever moving, so why should we care? (If they want,the kids can install central AC when we’re gone and they need to sell the house. We won’t care.)

Disadvantages: minimal.

Advantages: overwhelming.

Thinking inside the box and looking away from stale, boring, “standard” solutions can make one’s lifestyle more affordably comfortable.


Oh, one cool plus: freed up the 60-AMP 240-Volt circuit the central AC had run on to be split into 2 30-AMP 120-Volt circuits. Sweet!

“First Amendment? What F*n First Amendment?”

Typical of recent libtards, Barbara Streisand and other libtards have apparently provided substantial financial support to convicted serial bomber, legal system abuser and perjurer, Brett Kimberlin.

If you’ve not been living under a rock on the Moon, you probably already have some awareness of how this apparently soulless creep has been harassing people who simply mention his publicly available record. If you have been living under a rock on the Moon and as a result your Internet connection just hasn’t been working too well, a simple search will turn up all you need to know about this turd.