Ramblings on moisturizer

Clinque All about eyes: one of the best investments a girl can make. Lol! And at under $30 bucks, it's not that bad considering all you need is a teeny-tiny bit for each eye!

I'm in love with this thing. Seriously.

Rablings on one of my dad's quotes - Rule #47

Stellan Skarsgård as Gregor 1998's Ronin, one of my favourite films

Dad's Rule #47: "Watch out for the quiet ones."

Meaning: Don't worry too much about the ones that boast about what they know or what they can do. Keep them in your radar but they rarely prove themselves as a threat. The ones that you should concern yourself with are the ones that are quiet. You know, the sort that don't say much, keep to themselves and always observe from the corner. Why? Because you never know what they're thinking. They're unassuming, polite and low-key... until they're not.

The character Gregor in the film Ronin is a great example. Team player, helpful but unimposing, follows the rules... until he caps half a dozen people and double crosses his entire team and three countries. Okay, fine, that's a bit extreme and totally fictional but seriously. People get hit in the back of the head (figuratively and/or literally) by the one person they never thought would even dream to harm them.

Sounds paranoid, does it? You'll thank me later! ;)

Ramblings on Learning an Opera Role - Part III AKA Ramblings on Rossini's charms

My homeboy!

I'm a huge fan of mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. No, really. I'm a HUGE fan. I want to be like this woman so much. I own ever CD she ever recorded and I literally cried when I couldn't make it to her performance as Rosina in the LA Opera's production of The Barber of Seville. I'm still really bummed I couldn't go...

But anyways! She's also brilliant when it comes to photography and has a link to her flickr page on her blog (and yes, her blog is seriously titled Yankeediva. Isn't it awesome??). Midst the beautiful pictures of European architecture and gorgeous red and gold performance halls, I came across a low-key picture in her gratitude album.

The picture is of a quote said by one of the stage directors at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Thor Steingraber. Someone had typed it up and posted on a bulletin board in the rehearsal department. The quote was this:

"I'd like Rossini better if there were more repetition."

I quite literally laughed out loud at this! Rossini is the king of repetition. Hands down. I'm sure the cast members of our Spring opera production La Cambiale di Matrimonio would all agree with me on this. It's not enough that he loads his music with tongue twistery words from the libretto; he makes us sing it over and over again, faster and faster with more spunk that we knew we had in us!

I think this is one of the great beauties of Rossini. He challenges us to be creative. We, as singers, are forced to come up with something new, different and exciting each time a musical theme or the same words are repeated again and again. We're forced to look beyond the external, seemingly mundane repetition and figure out why our characters would say it more than once.

The best Rossini singers know how to make every repetition count-- how to make each one special and meaningful. There's nothing more frustrating when I'm listening to a recording or watching a performance than a singer who just trudges through the repeats like a kid being forced to eat his/her peas and broccoli. It really shouldn't sound like a chore!

Rossini is a joy and a true privilege to sing. "Medicine for the voice" as the late and great Beverley Sills once said about Bel Canto. I'm constantly reminded when I listen to great Bel Canto singers such as Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland, Juan Diego Florez and Joyce DiDonato that we must savour every word and phrase and make each of them a little gem of their own!

P.S. Puccini might have hated mezzos but Rossini actually preferred mezzos over sopranos. :P

Ramblings on one of my dad's quotes

Dad's Rule #29: "Think like a lawyer."

Meaning: Think about all the different aspects you can of a situation in order to be ready for anything. The good attorneys think about both sides to figure out counterarguments before they ever set foot in a courtroom.

Ramblings on the upcoming holiday!

I'd like to leave my heart here this time.

So, it seems my dad has been organizing a family holiday to San Francisco! And, unlike last time, it won't be with a travel service. Oh lawd, that was miserable. I felt like a herd of cattle. And the tour guide was this Korean guy who "used to be" an English teacher before he emigrated... and he had his American history ALL wrong. I'm a history geek so it really, really bugged me.

A few things that I've learned from the last time I was there:

- It's freezing so take warm clothing.
- No, seriously. It's freakin' cold.
- The clam chowder at Boudin's is possibly the best thing on Earth.
- Alcatraz is badass. I should've done a walking tour.
- Don't eat Chinese food from that one place the tour guide took us. It was atrocious.
- Don't buy souvenirs from that one store near Pier 39. It was a bloody rip off.
- Take motion sickness pills with you.

That's it for now. I'll be taking my Macbook with me on the trip along with my camera so expect a few new pictures on my flickr stream. :D

Ciao!