Gah...now that would be a very hard decision to make... =/

Probably I'd choose the 1990 recording of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with Thomas Allen, Franciso Araiza, Jose van Dam, et al, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner - that is, if I really had to be forced to pick one out of my favourites. Either that or the 1984 recording of Don Giovanni also with Allen and conducted by Bernard Haitink.

But I guess I'm kind of cheating in a way since both recordings take up 3 CDs...

OMG...I must seriously have opera on the brain in order to instantly recognise a melody being played by a very quiet violin trio on Cantonese television as being none other than the lovely trio 'Soave sia il vento' from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

*face palm*

Now though I'm really wondering if the people who decided to use it in the program actually knew it's from an opera and not a random instrumental piece. XDDDDD

It really depends...sometimes after a really long holiday and basically I've done everything that I planned to do beforehand, I can't wait to get back to school. But nowadays when you're in the full swing of essay deadlines, work deadlines, etc...I've got to admit that I'm definitely living for the weekends when they're the only time you have some semblance of a reasonable excuse to relax without anyone pestering you.

 
There's simply too many to choose from -- but my top three are probably:

1. The infamous 'book scene' from The Remains of the Day which I know probably isn't classically categorised as a romantic film but that scene was positively mesmerising.

2. The gazebo scene from The Sound of Music, yes...I'm a real romantic softie at heart. That scene always makes a certain part of me melt no matter how many times I've watched it. And a very dashing Christopher Plummer doesn't help much either in this case!

3. The scene where Hugh Grant's Edward Ferrars finally confesses all to Emma Thompson's Elinor near the end of the film, Sense and Sensibility...his quote always sticks in my head: 'that my heart is, and always will be, yours.'

Finally got a hold of a copy of Kazuo Ishiguro's new collection of five short stories entitled Nocturnes...and the second one quite surprisingly had me laughing out loud since some of the dialogue was utterly amusing. The style is perhaps more modern than in comparison to say, Stevens' POV in The Remains of the Day but definitely signature Ishiguro even with the slightly uncharacteristic use of swearing in the dialogue.

It's been a while since Ishiguro has published a novel so hopefully this is only a little taster of what might come in the future...he's still young yet being only in his mid-fifties, after all.

Call me a romantic softie sometimes who usually scoffs at cliched/overdone/melodramatic stuff but I'm rather glad I'm able to read French otherwise I would have never understood the meaning of this wonderful and tragic line from the romantic/historical/tragic novel Arc de Triomphe:

'Sans toi...je serais morte depuis longtemps.'

(Meaning in my mangled English translation which probably doesn't do any justice to the line...'without you, I would have died a long time ago') Of course the line itself sounds cliche by itself but seeing it in context with the story, it's a tragic line even when the character who's saying this should actually be blaming the man (who is the 'hero' of the book) for her soon to be impending demise.

Funny thing is that the original book was written in German (by Erich Maria Remarque who also wrote the famous All Quiet on the Western Front [which was a great novel]) then translated into French and now I'm trying to make sense of it all by reading it in French since the only way to get it in English is to buy it off Amazon or something since the libraries here don't have it (but HKU has about FOUR copies of it in Chinese?!...you'd think they would think about getting an ENGLISH version, right?).

Hmm...passed by the HKU Anime Society stall this afternoon and I swear that I had half a mind to buy the Hetalia book/comic they had displayed on the table despite it being in CANTONESE...which everyone knows I can't write, read or speak!

Damn it, Reg. You're to blame for this XDDDD

And thank goodness that my group presentation for Belgium and the Netherlands is finally over and done with (just my luck to have to talk about the most complicated bit of their identities...their overly chaotic past and political systems!)...I just wish that my professor (yes, the one I'm doing my internship with just happened to do the same topic we did) didn't keep on referring back to me when he did his presentation afterwards, e.g. 'Oh, as Christy mentioned earlier', 'Hmm...Christy had a better map than mine' or 'Anyway, she's already mentioned this before' since people kept on looking at me and believe me, I wanted to disappear into my chair out of embarrassment.

*is quite sleepy now for some weird reason*

It's the 18th of October 2009 and yes, it's a date to celebrate something (in my own little way, of course)...it's 40 years exactly to the day that TA announced his presence to the wider opera world for the first time as Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. And since 40 years is a definite milestone in a career that has been as rich and versatile as his, I think a hearty congratulations are in order!

*gives three cheers but doesn't resort to raising a toast with a goblet of wine like he did on the 40th anniversary of the Queen's coronation during a performance of Don Giovanni at the ROH since she doesn't have a goblet*

Wow...if you happened to be in that theatre and had them suddenly appear before you, what an experience that would be indeed!

news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091015/lf_nm_life/us_britain_royal_theatre

And gah, this headache of mine is agonising...better be off to sleep...

Hurrah...I'm feeling better today. So hopefully this 'cold' will have worn off by the end of this week after copious amounts of rest. For the past two days, I've slept at least for 8 hours (which is quite something since I usually don't sleep that long on weekdays) and it seems to have benefited me in some way.

Ooh...and at the opera tutorial I had to go to today, it was probably the coolest tutorial we've had so far. We were allowed to go and see the historical, antique instruments the music department has. And the most interesting thing there? A HARPSICHORD. And we allowed to actually PLAY it...how darn cool is that? It's so different from a piano though. Piano keys are sort of 'softer' where you sort of forget you're tapping on wooden keys and they hit the strings rather than pluck them to make sound. Harpsichord keys are more wooden and harder and you can really feel the 'plucking' motion of the strings when you press a key. Plus the colours were inverted...instead of having black keys for sharps and flats, they were white while the other keys were a sort of dark brown. You can imagine the masters of music, e.g. Bach and Mozart playing on harpsichords like these while they were composing. I can't really play anything fancy on a piano (due to my total lack of piano skills) but had a go and played the opening melody of the overture to Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro which seemed appropriate to the instrument. Other people tried to play modern church music or pop songs on it...which to me is utterly ludicrous. -___-

Also was able to see early piano fortes from the 19th Century, a viola de gamba (an early version of the cello) and lutes where were also interesting. But I don't think I'll be able to get over the feeling of actually having been allowed to play on that marvellous instrument which is the harpsichord...

I think I'm getting a cold...which seems exceedingly common amongst everyone nowadays. Fresher's Flu, as they call it, though I am most certainly not a fresher. I've been sneezing from time to time and then have this annoying stuffy and runny nose (not at the same time, thank goodness) and then feel quite feverish and uncomfortable all over though I don't have a cough or anything. Also feeling a bit more tired than usual. But next week is Reading Week, so hopefully I'll be able to rest myself then.

I'm basically waiting for Friday which is the day when hopefully I'll be able to find good history books from the HKU libraries' used book sale...not sure if I'll be able to go to Tai Wai this Friday or even this week...if my cold/condition gets better then I'll be able to go. If not, well...let's not think about that since I hate being ill.

Well, in my case it's not a matter of seeing a band...it's more like trying to see a particular singer, an opera singer to be precise.

And goodness, do I have to travel more than just moving from one city to another or one state to another...it's more like one country to another since I have to make a trip all the way from Hong Kong to the UK in order to get any chance of seeing him perform.

The things I do for my interests...*head palm*

Hahahaha, just opened my monthly e-newsletter from the arts, drama and opera photography website Arenapal and was grinning at the second entry:



At least, they're paying attention to one of the great milestones of his career!

But I am a bit surprised that they copied almost word for word of the text from Wikipedia (I can recognise it instantly since I was the one who actually added the whole 'widely admired...one of the best lyric baritones of the late 20th Century' bit on the entry!)

GAH!!!!

Why on earth is everything I want to go to or do, etc on a FRIDAY?! When I am totally not free on that day?

The HKU libraries are having their annual used book sale (with some of them being duplicate copies of books they have in their catalogue) on 9th October, from 5.00 pm to 9.00 pm. But I probably won't be able to get back to HKU from Taiwai on that day until around 8.00 pm by which time I'll probably be dying from exhaustion. And by that time, maybe the books I'd be interested in buying will have gone (yes, okay...having just 3 hours elapse and having all the books disappear might be just a little bit of an over-exaggeration...but still...it's better to be there first when they open the sale and confirm that you haven't missed anything).

So what on earth do I do? Opt not to go on that particular Friday and go on Saturday instead (which is possible and allowed by my contract)? Or go anyway on Friday and rush as frantically as I can to HKU right after 6?

*sighs*

I can't believe my mum persuaded Mr WRAY to come to the prize giving ceremony...OTZ...

But what's done is done and he's coming all the same...she tried getting Mrs Mathieson and Mr Campion to come as well but they surprisingly don't remember me even though it's only been a year since I left! Too many students to deal with, I guess, even in that short space of time.

I feel immensely sleepy for some reason...gah, can we have Reading Week NOW so I can have a valid reason to laze around?

I've actually made it to Sunday after going to Taiwai two days in a row without collapsing or anything. Interesting.

But that doesn't exclude the fact that I did feel like I was going to have a cold earlier this morning before going to bed...hmm...

So...I've finally got a letter from the Arts Faculty about being presented with the first year history prize in a ceremony on 18th November and the letter (as usual with all HKU pretentiousness) has even asked me to invite my secondary school principal as well as a teacher. God, they're so full up of themselves...but then again, I AM hoping to see Ang Lee at HKU in a talk given on the 1st October. To tell the truth, the only reason I'm going to that event is that he directed 'Sense and Sensibility' and has worked with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant. XDDD

But what to wear? Gah, and if I wear heels, my feet are seriously going to suffer. It's nice being offered a prize but the preparation and dressing up for the ceremony is always unnecessarily stressful. 

Finally was able to meet x_reggg on Sunday before she left for London...at least, I managed to find some time to meet one friend before they set off although yes, I would have liked to have been able to have seen everyone before they left but alas, schedule woes once more cough in my face.

Talked about quite a lot...London, uni life at UCL, her worries/anxieties about getting the same room or not (which she did actually!) and a surprising amount of reminiscing on SIS. How we managed to talk for about 5 mins non-stop figuring out which floor on which block corresponded to each subject/department is beyond me and talking about which form rooms we had before and which teacher had which room was actually welcome since it refreshed my memories which I almost forgot. Forgive me while I digress and put up a memo of floors and blocks for my future reference...in case I forget it again...

C Block = 1st floor, library; 2nd floor, English, ICT (formerly), Textiles and Ecobus...oh and yes, the sports hall; 3rd floor, Geo and History (C37 being formerly Mr McKirdy's geography classroom and my first form room with 7S and Mr Stevenson while later being changed into the Humanities Office; C33 being Mr Campion's room, C32 being Mrs Mathieson's room and of course, C31 being Mr Taylor's room.); 4th floor, Religious Studies and sometimes English, Chinese and once French with Mr Hammond in the beginning of Yr 8 [I think it was C42/3] and General Studies (ugh)...with C46 being Mr Radford's former classroom in Year 7 (did you know I recently learned that Mr Radford also graduated from Durham?!); 5th floor, mainly English with C55 being Ms Rodger's room and C51 near the stairs being Ms Sutherland's room. I also remember C52 being Mrs Ralli's room. Oh, and of course, the 5th floor refect on the stairs opposite, the astroturf, the indoor basketball court which came along with the D block and the two 'sheds' which were formerly the music rooms near the refect. 6th floor, IB centre/common room and careers office.

D Block = 1st floor, maths; 2nd floor, maths, ICT; 3rd floor, Languages office(?) and well, obviously...languages while D33 was M. Hammond's room for French during GCSE; 4th floor, languages (mostly French and German...haha, memories of anxiously pacing back and forth before my French oral exams); 5th floor was nothing since it consisted of two flights of stairs and connected the C block to the D block (I personally hated the extra flight of stairs when my locker was located on the 6th floor in Yr 10 or 11?...oh, and before I forget...G/F on D block was the main refect and where my locker was in Yr 12/13, if I remember correctly), 6th floor, music; 7th floor, art and ICT(?) or was that the 6th floor? and 8th was media studies and textiles, I think. 

S Block = 1st floor, D&T rooms, 2nd floor, home economics and once S27 or 21(?) was the 'hated' room where we all had detention for a whole week in Year 7 with Ms Wilson since some of us forgot to bring books to read...; 3rd floor, physics (ah, memories with Mr Giddings in S33, lol), 4th floor, chemistry; 5th floor, chemistry and bio(?); 6th floor, science office. I remember also there being an ICT room in Yr 7...was it on S block floor 1 or 2?

Right...I think that has taken up more space than I actually planned...but as I said...for reference but I can imagine almost everyone phasing out by now if they've got to this point.

And now I've forgotten what I wanted to say before all this...*sigh*

EDIT: How on earth could I forget that the HALL was on the 2nd floor on C block?! Such an important room (the venue of exams, mock-exams, assemblies, graduation...) and I completely forget about it...

Gah, it was my mum's birthday yesterday...but didn't really get to enjoy it till the late afternoon since I had like a ton of annoying uni administrative tasks to do beforehand...all that mad rushing about filling forms, double-checking them, getting told that there's something missing or wrong, fixing it up again, etc, etc...

Currently typing this on my prof's laptop at Taiwai...yes, what on earth am I doing on a Saturday morning here?! I have no idea...oh, the things I do for people...and no, I'm not exactly slacking off since I'm waiting for these huge files to transfer from one external hard drive to another...fun...

I thought tenors were high...but compared to countertenors...no bloody competition.

Had to listen to 'Vivi tiranno' from Handel's Rodelinda which was sung by a countertenor...and goodness, it sounds like as if it's being sung by a woman. A mezzo-soprano or a contralto to be precise...and it seriously sounds, well, unnatural.

But the strange thing about it? I rather like the aria...whether it sounds unnatural or not, lol. I'm guessing it's because I'm a complete sucker when it comes to baroque-era music which might explain why I rather like Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria despite the ludicrousness of gods and goddesses singing onstage and people being transported on flying chariots during the opera...

I seriously need to buy a music dictionary.

And I don't even study music...

As I said, blame it on my opera/TA obsession...God knows why I'm still determined to do this opera course even though it's obvious that the ones who are actually music majors or minors are going to do better than the very small group of non-music specialists in the class, which as far as I know, consists of only two people, an exchange student from the States who I've made an acquaintance with and myself. But even she has the upper hand since she did study classical voice at secondary school or so she says...but yeah, we'll persevere through this together, I suppose. When they started talking about dominant and tonic keys, my eyes started to glaze over, methinks. I kind of have a v.v.v.v. vague idea of what a dominant key is (I heard it explained/mentioned in this Wigmore Hall programme about classical music and instruments) but I've forgotten now, damn it.

Getting to Taiwai today was something...had a late start due to the traffic so couldn't take the 'leisurely' way of taking the 103, change to the KCR at Hung Hom and then take a minibus to the flat. Instead, had to take the 40 to Admiralty, get the MTR to TST, walk to the East TST KCR station, take the West Rail KCR to Hung Hom then take the East Rail KCR from there to Taiwai. Jesus. (I know, I know, don't use the lord's name in vain but I can't help it). Surprisingly, it's quicker that way since one doesn't need to get stuck in peak hour traffic but heck, it tires you if you're not up to it. Thank goodness the bus I take going home goes directly to near where I live from Hung Hom although the exhaust fumes, pollution etc is not great to breathe in for up to 20 minutes at the Cross Harbour Tunnel bus stop in order to get home...

I've recently been into re-watching the 'Rocky' films (yes, I don't look the type) which I haven't watched since I was a kid. The song 'Eye of the Tiger' is pretty catchy though...and surprisingly, Stallone is a pretty good actor, I've realised. I was even more impressed when I found out he actually also wrote and directed the films. Guess you can learn something everyday.