Saturday, March 24, 2007

If you could meet one person

I was listening to some music this weekend and trying to peel the hell that was my week from my mind. The music happened to be Beethoven sonatas played by the irrevocable Daniel Barenboim on PBS's Great Performances. As I watched in HD, I thought about what kind of person Beethoven was to have written such incredible music. This brought me to a question that seems should be asked in therapy or maybe in a job interview: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be? Well, Beethoven is on my list but at the top is George Gershwin. Incidentally, my list goes George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, then Ludwig van Beethoven but then I start to sound like Monk listing his phobias.

I have read several biographies of George and his brother, Ira. I can never get enough of his music. His personality was genuine but he was plagued with vanity and an ego which made his personal life very sad. Still he produced some of the most unique sounds and impacted jazz, opera, broadway, and orchestral music. As I was listening and browsing the web, I found that George and Ira have a website. Apparently the Gershwin Estate is still strong living off the royalties of copyrighted music. I find this extremely hopeful that their legend lives on.

http://www.gershwin.com/

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Ides of March

Does anyone think about Shakespeare's Julius Caesar every March 15? For some reason, I can never forget "beware the ides of March". Nice to know that I can still remember things from high school.

On a completely different note. I have been watching a lot of BBC America tv channel lately because of the "Robin Hood" series which just premiered. Excellent show, by the way. But one of my favorite shows is reruns of "Whose Line is it Anyway" back when it was really good instead of the ABC trash that came later. Long live BBCA.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Spring Blooms

One thing I miss from North Carolina are the Bradford Pear trees which line the streets.These incredible white flowering trees would pop in the Spring only for a short week or so before they turned green. In Texas there are similar pear type flowering trees but they are not quite the same. First, they are less white and have more green leaves, diffusing the color so their impact is less. Second, they have distinct odor which is not all that appealing. But they indicate Spring and are a nice addition to the streets and walkways. This image was taken at dusk.
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Quite the pickle for the heroes

Heroes goes on an offensive five week hiatus after two magnificent episodes. Now we are left with all of our heroes in the most intriguing situations. Claire, the cheerleader, has just met her grandmother and is on her way to meet her father after so elegantly picking the Hatian's pocket. I did not count that among her powers. Mr. Bennett (does anyone else feel this is not the correct name for this guy? Of Pride and Prejudice similarity, he is not) finds himself cleaning up after the premonitory painter by using a new girl who can shape shift not only herself but her surroundings as well. Very interesting. I only thank God that Simone is really dead, she was a very boring addition to the cast. Speaking of morphology, shape shifter girl also caught Mr. Bennett hook, line, and sinker by posing as his wife. So does she need to see the person to shape into them? How did she know what Simone looked like or the painter's bed for that matter? Petrelli, the eldest, has flown right into the hands of a power monger who knows and sees all. Hmm, I wonder if he has some power of his own? The mind reader is stuck in a hospital gown with no where to go and who knows what the double personality chick is up to since no one can pin down how or why her power works the way it does. Our favorite time traveler is now in a devastated New York City future after his sidekick saves his butt from the big bad curator. I have to take the chance to compare Hiro and Ando to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza chasing windmills... I mean dragons. Their cause is so noble and yet I fear they are in over their heads. Let us hope Hiro's power truly has returned and he is able to bring them all together again. Though that may be very hard since Petrelli, the younger, is now in the hands of patient zero who wants to see what makes Peter tick. Oh and Mohinder Suresh is hanging around to watch after failing to curare chai the power stealing, murdering bastard that is Syler.