What else can I say? This guy's got enough hot to set a whole crowd of women on fire. He is now forty-one.
I first heard of him in 2007. Then I saw him live in HD in 2008. He was Tonio in La Fille du Regiment by Donizetti.
Happy 41st Birthday, Juan Diego Florez!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
I Know This Is A Few Days Late, But...
Juan Diego Florez and his wife had another child, a little girl, on New Year's Day (how's that for starting off the new year?). Her name is Lucia Stella (if I ever have a daughter, I'll give her that name).
I love it when I read about this. The first time I heard about Florez becoming a father, I was at the simulcast of Le Comte Ory on April 9th, 2011. It was two days before my twentieth birthday when they said over the broadcast that Mrs. Florez had given birth to their son, Leandro (how come no one uses that name in this country?).
Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Florez!
I love it when I read about this. The first time I heard about Florez becoming a father, I was at the simulcast of Le Comte Ory on April 9th, 2011. It was two days before my twentieth birthday when they said over the broadcast that Mrs. Florez had given birth to their son, Leandro (how come no one uses that name in this country?).
Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Florez!
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Happy Birthday, Piotr Beczala!
Wow! Forty-seven years and that Polish tenor doesn't look a day over 30. What's really weird is that he shares the same birthday as my old friend Paolo. With his guy-next-door looks and splendid lyrical voice, Piotr Beczala is absolutely perfect for passionate teenager roles and young seducer roles. I'm serious; he looks like someone I might run into at the supermarket or church.
I don't recall precisely when I first heard of him, but I officially recognized the name in the winter of '09 when he sang the role of Lensky in the Met's previous production of Eugene Onegin. I was seventeen then. He made my list of favorites three years ago with his interpretation of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. He will be returning to the Met in role of the Prince in Rusalka.
Happy Birthday, Piotr Beczala!
I don't recall precisely when I first heard of him, but I officially recognized the name in the winter of '09 when he sang the role of Lensky in the Met's previous production of Eugene Onegin. I was seventeen then. He made my list of favorites three years ago with his interpretation of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. He will be returning to the Met in role of the Prince in Rusalka.
Happy Birthday, Piotr Beczala!
Friday, November 29, 2013
Jonas Kaufmann
I don't remember when precisely I first heard this German tenor, but I do recall I was looking up videos on Juan Diego Florez and came across this video of who were thought to be the sexiest opera singers in the world. This guy was on there. I must say when I first heard him I couldn't tell if he was a tenor or a baritone ( I swear, his voice is right on the line between tenor and baritone).
I really can't say how long it's been since I first heard Jonas Kaufmann sing, although I'd reckon somewhere between three to four years approximately. I have heard him in such roles as the title role of Parsifal (which my younger brother went to see last season), and saw him live in roles of Siegmund in Die Walküre, and the title role in Faust. I don't know what possessed him to do so, but he is singing the title role in Massenet's Werther this season (why would anyone even so much as want to do that role? Werther is a wangsty little dope).
I have seen his website. This guy is a very sexy tenor and has a very unique voice. If you haven't heard or seen him before, you need to fix that. Pronto. Just don't watch him in Werther. Kaufmann is so sexy and talented that he can beat anyone at a singing contest.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Wreck of the DANIEL J MORRELL
On this day in 1966, the ore carrier the Daniel J Morrell was making her final run of the season on Lake Huron. She was traveling with a sister ship, the Edward Townsend. Both were very old ships; they were built in 1906, six years before the Titanic, and had the same problem with the steel. The Great Lakes are very cold and the steel made during the early part of the 20th Century got very brittle in cold water. In fact, many sailors who had been on her said the Morrell was a rust bucket. She had been mothballed and only called back into service earlier that year.
During the trip on November 26th 1966, a late-autumn storm struck Lake Huron and battered the Morrell and the Townsend. Watchman Dennis Hale recalls that a loud bang woke him up and knocked the books off his shelf. The Morrell had been buffeted so badly by the storm that she broke in two on the surface. Hale grabbed a life jacket and a pea coat and managed to get to a life raft with several other crewmates. The Morrell's bow sank while her stern continued on for five miles before sinking. Hale's crewmates gradually succumbed to hypothermia and he huddled under their bodies in order to keep warm. During his time on the raft, he had an strange experience in which an old man told not to eat the ice chips from his pea coat. Hale was on the life raft for forty hours before being rescued. He later found out that he alone had survived the sinking. He never spoke of the incident for twenty years. He wrote a book a few years ago called Sole Survivor, about his ordeal on Lake Huron that night.
After the Morrell sank, there was a crack found in the hull of the Edward Townsend. This crack was enough to deem her unseaworthy and she was sold for scrap in Europe. While she was being towed across the Atlantic, however, the Townsend broke and sank near the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland.
During the trip on November 26th 1966, a late-autumn storm struck Lake Huron and battered the Morrell and the Townsend. Watchman Dennis Hale recalls that a loud bang woke him up and knocked the books off his shelf. The Morrell had been buffeted so badly by the storm that she broke in two on the surface. Hale grabbed a life jacket and a pea coat and managed to get to a life raft with several other crewmates. The Morrell's bow sank while her stern continued on for five miles before sinking. Hale's crewmates gradually succumbed to hypothermia and he huddled under their bodies in order to keep warm. During his time on the raft, he had an strange experience in which an old man told not to eat the ice chips from his pea coat. Hale was on the life raft for forty hours before being rescued. He later found out that he alone had survived the sinking. He never spoke of the incident for twenty years. He wrote a book a few years ago called Sole Survivor, about his ordeal on Lake Huron that night.
After the Morrell sank, there was a crack found in the hull of the Edward Townsend. This crack was enough to deem her unseaworthy and she was sold for scrap in Europe. While she was being towed across the Atlantic, however, the Townsend broke and sank near the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland.
Monday, November 25, 2013
LEGO LORD OF THE RINGS
Yes, Lord of the Rings finally got its LEGO debut last year. I used to be a serious die-hard fan of the film trilogy before I was introduced to the vocal abilities of folks like Juan Diego Florez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. All right, I was an Orlando Bloom fangirl, now I'm a Juan Diego Florez fangirl. Anyways, I'm getting off track here.
This game is awesome on so many levels (please forgive the pun; I did not intend it). For one thing, it goes beyond just having the usual launch-pad hub level. As with LEGO Batman: DC Superheros, LEGO LOTR has a much larger explorable hub-level. And that's an understatement. You don't launch from home base and explore the city; you go from one end of Middle-Earth to another in this game. What's really awesome is that the game manages to keep the story epic while at the same time throwing in the goofiness that LEGO is famous for.
In order to keep the game co-op friendly, some scenes actually have you fighting alongside other characters when it didn't happen in either the book or the movie. Example: In the scene where Samwise fights the evil spider Shelob, the Orc captain Shagrat is fighting as well, and can actually wield Sting and the Phial of Galadriel!
Instead of gold bricks, you have Mithril bricks, which can be used to make various items, ranging from the logical (Mithril sword) to the interesting (Mithril hairbrush) to the downright funny (Mithril disco phial that plays a dance mix and has colored lights!). The mini-kits are statues of various places, creature, or objects in Middle-Earth. Oh, and did I mention that there is actually a treasure list of things you can get during gameplay? Many of them are items in these various side-quests. Someone in Middle-Earth needs or wants something, and you either forge it or find it during the game.
The characters are unlocked in the usual manner, but some require a fair bit of tussling before you can unlock them. I think one of the hardest to unlock is the Witch King because you have to go to Minas Morgul and fight him in a tight corner.
The only problem I have with the game is the fact that you can't access the interior of Moria in the hub level, but that might be due the Watcher pulling down the door in it's rage. There are also issues with trying to reach items in some of the levels.
If you want epic and funny at the same time, this game is for you.
This game is awesome on so many levels (please forgive the pun; I did not intend it). For one thing, it goes beyond just having the usual launch-pad hub level. As with LEGO Batman: DC Superheros, LEGO LOTR has a much larger explorable hub-level. And that's an understatement. You don't launch from home base and explore the city; you go from one end of Middle-Earth to another in this game. What's really awesome is that the game manages to keep the story epic while at the same time throwing in the goofiness that LEGO is famous for.
In order to keep the game co-op friendly, some scenes actually have you fighting alongside other characters when it didn't happen in either the book or the movie. Example: In the scene where Samwise fights the evil spider Shelob, the Orc captain Shagrat is fighting as well, and can actually wield Sting and the Phial of Galadriel!
Instead of gold bricks, you have Mithril bricks, which can be used to make various items, ranging from the logical (Mithril sword) to the interesting (Mithril hairbrush) to the downright funny (Mithril disco phial that plays a dance mix and has colored lights!). The mini-kits are statues of various places, creature, or objects in Middle-Earth. Oh, and did I mention that there is actually a treasure list of things you can get during gameplay? Many of them are items in these various side-quests. Someone in Middle-Earth needs or wants something, and you either forge it or find it during the game.
The characters are unlocked in the usual manner, but some require a fair bit of tussling before you can unlock them. I think one of the hardest to unlock is the Witch King because you have to go to Minas Morgul and fight him in a tight corner.
The only problem I have with the game is the fact that you can't access the interior of Moria in the hub level, but that might be due the Watcher pulling down the door in it's rage. There are also issues with trying to reach items in some of the levels.
If you want epic and funny at the same time, this game is for you.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
ANFSTD
A Martian goes a to a car dealership. "I want the exterior green, the interior green, and the windows tinted green," he says. "All right," says the salesman. The Martian buys the car and takes it home with him. When he shows it to his wife she says, "I like it, but why that particular color?". "Flesh tones," he replies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)