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we x e g e s i s |
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(noun) An explanation or critical interpretation.
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wSunday, October 28, 2001 |
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What's Going On will be commercially released tomorrow so do a good deed for the day and go out and buy the record, okay? Portions of the proceeds will benefit The September 11th Fund and The Global AIDS Alliance.
I've finished reading Learning to Fly, the autobiography of Victoria Beckham. If you don't hate the money-hungry tabloids and fanatical abusers of the Beckham family after reading this, you must have a heart of stone. On the bright side, the book made me see how down-to-earth she is. It was also inspiring to read about how the underdog didn't let the negative things that others said about her drag her down, but instead worked her tail off and made her dreams come true despite the criticism.
Can it be? I'm actually feeling about 90% in good health right now. I've been battling colds, coughs and more recently, the flu for over a month and I'm beginning to forget what it feels like to sleep through the night and wake up without being bothered by a running nose (or worse, a stuffed nose), hot flashes, a sore throat or the feeling like all of my energy was sucked out of my body during the night. For as long as I can remember, I was always the most sickly person in my social circle so I'm always grateful for those days when I am in good health. Don't wait for your health to be taken away to appreciate all the things that being healthy allows you to do.
posted by
Angie at 11:59 PM
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wWednesday, October 24, 2001 |
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The Phantom of the Opera: 7.5 out of 10
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 14 years, you should have seen or heard things about The Phantom of the Opera. The only 2 shows that I hadn't seen yet but really wanted to were Phantom and The Lion King. I loved the Disney cartoon and heard amazing things about the scenery and costumes for The Lion King on Broadway. But I think that it was the dark, mysterious vibe that first got me interested in Phantom. Then I heard about how Andrew Lloyd Webber had written it for his love interest at that time, Sarah Brightman, who played Christine (the protagonist of the story) when the show first opened. Sir Andrew's reputation precedes him for his work on Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat among many other things so already my hopes shot up.
Maybe I was too used to the presentations of more recents shows like Rent and Aida where they spoke and sang more like pop stars than old school opera singers because one of the first things that turned me off of Phantom was that I had a fairly difficult time deciphering what was being sung. The second turn off was realizing that not only were the performers on stage not projecting enough (we were only 10 rows from the stage right smack in the middle and still didn't feel like the volume was adequate) but I had a hard time believing that an actual orchestra was playing below the stage since their level wasn't nearly high enough nor dynamic enough either.
The funny thing was that on Monday, I was having trouble hearing the effects of compression during one of my classes and even went in the studio this morning to play around with the compressor again. But once I heard the music for a few minutes there was only one word I could think of to describe what I thought was the problem, it was way too compressed. In my head I was picturing the compressor that I was working on and how I would first increase the threshold then lower the ratio of compression. Sick, aren't I? Can't keep my head out of audio tech mode even when I'm being entertained (probably thinking of it in the wrong order too).
The first act seemed to drag on more than it really had to. And the whole deal with Raoul was that he seemed like he was trying way too hard to be Prince Charming so I immediately thought that he would be dumped for the more passionate and tragic Phantom. But in the second act, Christine is still with him and I can't figure out why. I guess I just don't buy the whole hide-me-and-protect-me-and-that-will-make-me-fall-in-love-with-you bit. He was written to be flawless and that's just plain unrealistic and personally, I find it very unappealing. What I care about is that people are able to recognize their flaws and deal with them headfirst, in which case, the Phantom is now out of the running as well. However, aside from these points, I thought the second act was a major improvement compared to the first and overall I did enjoy myself and the show did take my mind off of things for a little while.
posted by
Angie at 11:26 PM
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wMonday, October 22, 2001 |
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Here's a little piece of advice to everyone who needs to travel within NYC today: walk. There were police investigations going on in the subways stations in Columbus Circle, Herald Square and Union Square during rush hour this morning making travel via the subway rather frustrating to say the least. But on the up-side, people weren't as angry about the inconvenience as they usually would have been. The president's and mayor's call to be patient and diligent seems to have taken root in most of us. Praise God for that. There is enough chaos going on without nasty attitudes making the situation harder to bear with.
With the events of Sept. 11th, the anthrax infections and the recent unexpected loss of a co-worker, it seems like I'm getting closer and closer to feeling like I've lost a dear family member or close friend. As obvious as this may sound, the thought of never ever seeing or talking to someone again is excruciatingly devastating, especially when they are taken away without any sort of warning. And what makes it so hard to deal with is that there is no way to prepare for this sort of thing. I mean, what exactly does it mean to treat people like they (or you, for that matter) may very well be gone tomorrow?
posted by
Angie at 2:21 PM
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wThursday, October 11, 2001 |
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Today marks the one month anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. MSNBC gives a brief factual run down on what has happened in a month.
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(Due to a technical complication, I accidentally deleted my 10/10/01 post. Here it is in its original form.)
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Album of the moment: The Id by Macy Gray. First two lines of the opening track goes, "Hot like hot wings with hot chocolate in hell. Cold like in my isolation cell..." Anyone who is familiar with Macy's off-beat personality and sense of humor should be (at least) smiling already.
In a recent issue of Ebony magazine, Janet was asked, "Do you pray? Do you talk to God?" and she faithfully answered, "Yes, I do pray, and always have. And I wil never stop, and He does give me the answers. They might not be given to me that very moment, but He does answer. In His way, or Her way, He does." This is just something that I keep in mind especially during these times when I don't understand a lot of the reasons why such negative things are happening around the world. Whenever we ask "Why?" we should also remember to try to be patient and wait for the answers instead of rushing to invent our own.
 Here's a scene from the police station located in the Union Square subway underpass that I took this past weekend. It warms the heart to see the community coming together to mourn the losses of the NYPD and the FDNY and not just leave them to go through it alone. We will never forget the sacrifices of these heroes. It's a pity that people no longer cheer and shout "thank you" when the fire trucks drive past.
posted by
Angie at 2:41 PM
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Happy Halloween! It's that time of year again when my fellow New Yorkers look a little more colorful and outrageous (yes, it is possible) than they usually do. As much as I would love to take some pictures and post them up for your viewing pleasure, quite frankly, I don't want to risk getting the living crap kicked out of me by a camera-shy passer-by.