Gotterdammerung - Jay Hunter Morris

Jay Hunter Morris was the big sensation of this year's Met Ring. The original singer pulled out at the last minute,  and he stepped in and delighted everyone! Siegfried doesn't strike me as the most complex of characters -  He is a big man, a warrior, a hunter, a lover, but he certainly does not come across as a schemer, a plotter or a thinker. Still, it's quite a role to step into at short notice! And he pulled it off beautifully. Again, he is the only Siegfried I know, but I feel he brought wonderful youthful energy and power to the role.

And he seems like a quirky person too - he gave very entertaining interviews for the Met HD transmissions. Just look at the Intro page on his website, and you'll see what I mean.

And he's easy on the eye, if you like the big rugged man look!

Deborah Voigt - After

The Return of the Little Black Dress: She has a sense of humour too!

Deborah Voigt - Before!

Gotterdammerung - Deborah Voigt

I did promise I would tell you more about the singers in the Met HD's Gotterdammerung. I didn't forget! I just got sidetracked.

Deborah Voigt - the perfect Brunnhilde. Well, the only Brunnhilde I know, since this was my first Ring! But what an introduction - beautiful singing and acting. Though it has to be said that the acting range in Gotterdammerung isn't too broad for Brunnhilde: she's very much in love at the start of the opera, very very cross in the middle, and very very sad but resolved at the end. But Voigt does it with great subtlety.

And she's also a very credible-looking Brunnhilde, young and beautiful. She wasn't always so, I'm afraid. Not so long ago, she was a very very fat opera singer. So fat apparently that Convent Garden rejected her for one of their productions, as it was deemed that she wouldn't fit into the little black dress that apparently was so central to the story of Ariadne auf Naxos! Amazing what gastric banding can do!!

The Slap

Again, I'm way behind the curve. Most of the world has read The Slap, and have debated the issues raised in this book, but here I am, at least a year later, with my modest opinions!

It's a great read. Even as someone who doesn't have children, I found myself passionate about the question of whether or not it was right for that man to slap someone else's child at a party. And like most readers, I found my views evolving as I got to know the characters, whose voices became heard bit by bit. The child was impossible, yes, but then you get to know his overprotective and righteous mother and his alcoholic father, and you think, well, it's not the child that needed a slap. The man who slapped him is someone's husband, father, cousin, nephew, a rich businessman. But he is far from the perfect man that his family knows and loves. But then, even the perfect wives we meet at first have secrets of their own.

The action is set in Melbourne. The author, Christos Tsiolkas, is an Australian of Greek origin, and some of the core characters in the story are 1st and 2nd generation Greeks. I don't really know much about Australian society, so I found it fascinating to observe the interaction between the many cultures represented by the various characters.

Now, I have to say that for the first few pages, I got really confused as to who was who. Which one was Harry? And what about Gary? Was he Greek or Australian? Father of the child or Slapper of the child? Prosperous businessman with a nice house and a nice wife, or a struggling artist who drinks too much and doesn't paint enough? There are a lot of characters in this story, but thankfully, each chapter after the first one focuses on one person, so you do get to know them pretty quickly.

PS: If you want more intellectual book reviews, check out this blog.

I'm so far behind that I even missed the series it on the BBC! -

THE DESCENDANTS: Filming in Hawaii

The Descendants

We watched The Descendants on Friday night. I really didn't know anything about it, except that George Clooney had an Oscar nomination for his role in it. And I've just found out that it got a nomination for Best Picture too. Whether this is Oscar material or not is debatable, but it's a lovely lovely movie. It doesn't have a complex plot or political intrigue, it's a simple little story of love and loss, and what you leave behind.

George Clooney plays a husband and father whose wife is in a coma after a boating accident. Through the movie, we follow him and his two daughters, and his emotions, as he flips between sadness, puzzlement, anger and acceptance, after discovering a part of his wife's life he wasn't aware of. It's funny and sad, just like real life. And it doesn't matter that you live in Paradise.

Siobhan Ryan, 2 March, black dress, low cleavage

No doubt the boys on the boards will be talking about Siobhan Ryan's appearance last night with this new dress and its revealing cleavage. Very flattering. She's got a great figure, and she's right to show it off!

Pierre Marcolini chocolates

Ingrid brought us chocolates when she came to visit us last weekend - but not ordinary chocolates, Pierre Marcolini chocolates! (Note: the site uses Flash and won't work on an iPad, iPod, or iPhone). I'm a fan of Belgian chocolates, but I'm generally happy with Cote d'Or or Léonidas. Since I left the country 25 years ago, the level of sophistication in chocolate-making has definitely grown exponentially!

Pierre Marcolini chocolates are not big, but they are packed with flavour, with no guilt attached, they are so small. I can honestly say that every single one I've tried (and we're now on the 2nd layer) has been delicious, with unusual flavours (like ginger, saffron, earl grey tea, violet) and textures (crunchy Quimper lace biscuit) and even colours (ruby red heart).

Looking forward to my next trip to Belgium already!

PS: I couldn't give you my own photo as my box is half empty.

Jean Byrne, black dress, 20 February

Long sleeves are good.

Tulips

Beautiful tulips that Ted and Lucinda gave me. Brendan took these pictures so I can paint them to my heart's content.

South Wall

Very windy on the South Wall on Saturday - it was a struggle walking against the wind on the way back. We got plenty of fresh air, that's for sure.

We saw the Jonathan Swift high speed boat sailing from Dublin port. I thought it was out of service for the winter. But now that I think of it, it's the Dun Laoghaire high speed sailing, the HSS, that's been cancelled until spring.

Heart Health Month

Something all women should know: Women's Heart Attack Signs.

Avoca Handweavers

Lovely sunny morning today, and not half as windy as yesterday. Perfect day for a walk on Killiney beach, from where we saw the dolphins in the bay.

After our walk, we popped in to Avoca Handweavers in Kilmacanogue, for a quick potter and a cup of coffee/green tea and cake. Lovely shopping experience (we didn't buy anything, but I know where I'll go for kitchen accessories for Brendan's next birthday).

Brendan took this unusual self-portrait photograph - and I'm in it too!

Google Flu Trends

Strange but true: Google Flu Trends. Don't know why UK and Ireland are not in.

Magnetic nail polish

Learning something new every day: http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/action/nailpolish1.cfm

Gotterdammerung

I did it! I survived my first Wagner opera! More than survived.Actually enjoyed it. And it didn't feel like 6 hours! Gotterdammerung is the last opera in the Ring cycle. I had skipped the other 3 in the Met HD productions, but then decided to give this one a try. Now I'm sorry I didn't see the other operas, as this Met production is beautiful.

I think it's a tradition of sorts for Ring Cycle productions to be quite abstract, isn't it? Well, this one certainly meets the criteria, using a huge machinery to create the various settings - a rock surrounded by fire, the Rhine, a castle, the woods, you name it, the moving bars will represent it, with projections to match the mood.

The story was a lot simpler than I had expected. Brunnhilde loves Siegfried and Siegfried loves Brunnhilde. But Siegfried is given a love potion and  falls in love with Gutrune, then brings Brunnhilde to marry Gunther. Brunnhilde is furious and wants revenge. Siegfried is killed by Hagen. Brunnhilde finds out about Hagen's machinations to obtain the Ring and about the love potion. She jumps into Siegfried's funereal pyre with the ring and restores balance to the world. Over 4 hours or so (6 hours with intermissions and interviews).

The music was beautiful, and as I'm now discovering, full of leitmotifs, repeating musical themes that represent the various characters (the well know tututuuduuu tututuuduuu of the Valkyries, for instance), locations (the Rhine), objects (sword) and elements (fire). Apparently, the leitmotifs tell the story through the music, without the need for singing even. I would have to listen to it all again to really get that, though (I have the CD set, so no excuse). But if you're in the humour, take the leitmotif quiz from the Met Ring Cycle website. Apparently, my leitmotif is Valhalla!

The website is fabulous, by the way - making full use of all available media to get you into the opera - behind-the-scenes videos, information about the various characters, their relationships to others, their leitmotifs. I haven't finished exploring it yet! I should have gone through it before going to the opera!

And I haven't even told you about the singers - DeborahVoigt and Jay Hunter Morris. I'll be back soon!

Siobhan Ryan, 13 February, fuschia dress, new hairstyle

Lovely dress and nice new hair style - Siobhan Ryan is looking good! The dress is not fuschia, really, but it's not purple, it's not magenta either.

Indian Brasserie

We discovered the Indian Brasserie through City Deal/Groupon vouchers. We had heard about  it over time, but didn't try it until last year. We've been back a few times since. We now split our time between Indian Summer in Stillorgan and Indian Brasserie in Rathfarnham. Indian Summer is better for atmosphere and decor, but I have to say that I love the flavours of Indian Brasserie - their lamb dishes are particularly delicious. I had the lamb Koh-E-Awadh last week, very mild, but tasty. Brendan had the Aad Chettinadu, another lamb main course, with 12 different spices. We shared a Gulab Jamun for dessert - lots of calories, I'd say, but very satisfying. I'll have to watch what I eat for the next while, as I've been eating too much lately. Once I start, it's hard to restrain myself - I couldn't resist the poppadoms and the naan bread!

Olympic Tulips

Ted and Lucinda gave me a lovely bouquet of tulips on Friday. Really dark red, intense. I couldn't wait to start drawing and painting on Saturday. I spent a good bit of the afternoon playing with the shapes and colours.

I started with the flowers, using madder red dark, brown madder and ultramarine. Once the petals were dry enough, I painted the leaves in cobalt blue and aureolin yellow.  The result was lovely, but on a stark white page, not enough of a painting.

I decided to experiment with Shirley Trevena's texture and colour advice, applying masking tape to create sharp delineation. The textures were done with wax, oil pastels and squidgy. I went for bold colours - dark darks with Indigo and Prussian blue, electric blue with cobalt turquoise and cobalt blue.

The result is a bit mad, I admit. It looks like a vase of tulips at a window looking down over an Olympic pool. Hence the title! I do like it, but I'm not sure we'll find a place for it on our walls!