tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67681109682621064102012-01-26T02:29:11.494-08:00The musing outlet of Smorg the opera enthusiast in Southern California. I also write occasional opera and classical music reviews (among other things) as 'smorg' at Epinions.com, AssociatedContent.com, and amazon.com. I am also sdcmorg at Youtube.Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.comBlogger2441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-90568259744050342362012-01-23T15:21:00.000-08:002012-01-25T08:50:17.508-08:00

So you've been to the many star attraction around San Diego, but have you been to.... Mt. Helix?

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-28205360126071694942012-01-14T10:40:00.000-08:002012-01-14T10:40:12.912-08:00

The computer is malfunctioning, so I'm taking it easy on this blogging thingy. Am running into lot of interesting stuff this month, though. will drop in to tell you about some of them later, but for now here's a cool video for the cool weekend. Dr. Michelle Thaller is the assistant director for Science Communication at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-9503228028435474022011-12-31T14:53:00.000-08:002012-01-01T16:27:06.119-08:00

Hello! Hello! I hope everyone is well and having a good end of the year holidays season! I had a rather unexpected change of residence again a month ago. Was going to move out of state to snowier pasture, but was blown away by a whirling wind of weirdly freaky circumstances and now I'm hanging in limbo for another month. May still move to another state later in January, or may stay put as a

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-35241334010810761232011-12-22T10:23:00.000-08:002011-12-22T13:22:09.919-08:00

Happy Holidays! My holiday music playlist this year is a bit more religion-friendly than usual since I've been spending way too much time with some really religious people of late. The Mormon missionaries I hung out with are required by their mission rules to avoid music that aren't church-based or classical instrumental. That quite foils my attempt at introducing them to many of my favorite

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-26898800596736429232011-12-13T15:00:00.000-08:002011-12-25T12:06:43.982-08:00

Sorry I've neglected the blog a bit. Have moved to another part of town and been settling in and sorting out mails that kept going to the wrong address! We are having our slice of the rainy winter this week. I sort of luck out since I did my traveling last weekend and can now enjoy the cool rain from inside the dry house. Will have to go out tomorrow, though I think the rain clouds will

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-25796650693251192402011-11-29T10:16:00.000-08:002011-12-01T20:29:32.517-08:00

Hello! Hello! Vesselina Kasarova, the White Shirt Republic's favorite operatic muse, was awarded the Bavarian State Medal for Social Services (Bayerischen Staatsmedaille für soziale Dienste) on Monday.  Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Vesselina Kasarova, Ioan Hollander & Ricarda Merbeth at Wiener Staatsoper in 2010. (Photo: www.trud.bg)  The engaging Bulgarian - Swiss mezzo-soprano will also

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-31580663611114216342011-11-25T10:33:00.000-08:002011-11-25T10:40:45.956-08:00

Denis strikes again, much to the Kasarovian Republic's delight, by uploading clips of the broadcast of Vesselina Kasarova's 2011 Moscow concert to his youtube channel for those of us who had no access to the original showing. Now this is a good way of starting the holiday season in my book. Thanks very much, Denis! 

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-23088176549473223062011-11-19T10:59:00.000-08:002011-12-03T10:36:01.331-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted about my favorite operatic muse. Vesselina Kasarova is keeping busy as a bee. She is currently in Vienna, rocking the Staatsoper as Isabella in the Ponnelle staging of Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algeria). The lass is indeed shifting the center of her repertoire toward the more dramatic, but she apparently hasn't lost any of her

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-47968381525892705422011-11-13T16:43:00.000-08:002011-11-13T16:46:43.899-08:00

I never had the pleasure of meeting Richard Phillip Feynman, but that doesn't stop me from missing the man every now and then. Why? "Question: When you are looking at something, do you see only light or do you see the object? Prof Feynman: The question of whether or not when you see something you see only the light or you see the thing you're looking at is one of those dopey philosophical

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-29312420534658072112011-11-11T05:54:00.000-08:002011-11-11T05:54:00.413-08:00

What is it with girls and frogs???

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-73581000433674471822011-11-09T08:05:00.000-08:002011-11-18T19:04:35.077-08:00

Entire Mormon Encounters series:  Part 1: First Meeting       Aside 1, Aside 2  Part 2: Reading the Book of Mormon Part 3: Going to a Mormon Church  Part 4: General Conference & The Mormon Battalion Part 5: The Missionary Sisters I had a bunch of visitors yesterday. My Mormon missionary friends Sisters Begeistert & Sanftmütig came over for a late lunch visit. Since all of us were a bit

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-80254575223343466392011-11-07T13:32:00.000-08:002011-11-07T22:56:59.974-08:00

I just got this email from the Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY). They're promoting $10 student rush ticket for tomorrow's concert performance of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur at Carnegie Hall. Hey New Yorkers, DUDES!!!!, how can there still be tickets laying around available for $10 rush in a show starring Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann??? You've gotta be kidding me! $10.00 STUDENT &

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-51327440966820028752011-11-07T10:37:00.000-08:002011-11-08T09:38:48.581-08:00

I made a quick trip to the grocery store a mile or so away this morning. On the way back as I cut through the park I spotted this cute black phoebe perched on a tree watching my approach. A black phoebe (Moucherolle noir) I saw months ago in the park. Alas I didn't get a picture of the one I met today. Black phoebes are this area's sparrows. There are always a bunch of them around rustling

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-10252573081008468812011-11-05T18:02:00.000-07:002011-11-05T18:02:29.332-07:00

Even when I was a skinny little kid who refused to eat anything fishy, smelly, liquidy, flaky, or spicy, my mouth was easily plied with anything that was composed mostly of glucose... Assorted sweet at a shop in Old Town San Diego Hard candies, soft candies, chewy candies, and even airy ones (love those cotton candies!). Spongy cake with hard icing, chocolaty German cakes with cherry on

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-23457571706217074232011-11-02T15:35:00.000-07:002011-12-02T10:04:46.427-08:00

Entire Mormon Encounters series:  Part 1: First Meeting       Aside 1, Aside 2  Part 2: Reading the Book of Mormon Part 3: Going to a Mormon Church  Part 4: General Conference & The Mormon Battalion Part 5: The Missionary Sisters Part 6: A Talk Among Friends Last week was especially hectic for me since I had an extra work that needed to be done by a fast-approaching deadline. I stayed up

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-77171539814277372072011-10-28T15:02:00.000-07:002011-10-28T15:02:21.029-07:00

The San Diego Opera has just announced a cast change for next season's Moby Dick (by Jake Heggie). Canadian Heldentenor Ben Heppner will come and sing Ahab in place of Jay Hunter Morris, who will instead be singing the Götterdämmerung Siegfried with the Metropolitan Opera instead. That, my friends, is no downgrade by any stretch of imagination!  Moby Dick stage photo by Karen Almond for the

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-87143602053431965662011-10-27T07:43:00.000-07:002011-10-27T07:43:45.803-07:00

“If I might begin a slight rant about one of the problems I find -- even on websites like Violinist.com. It's a good thing that people talk about [the violin]. But if you go on YouTube – especially among young people, they have this sort of competition-type attitude when they listen to violinists play. They make comments like, "This person sucks." If one says someone plays

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-74653896964767899512011-10-20T18:23:00.000-07:002011-10-20T18:23:13.549-07:00

If you are a dog-lover, you ought to know about Emily Larlham AKA Kikopup on Youtube. She is a major advocate for positive-reinforcement only style of dog-training. How effective is this training method over the old fashioned punishment-based training? Have a look at this... Oy vey, I'm almost glad my roommate's dog isn't nearly as well-trained...

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-15461861307132326182011-10-14T22:33:00.000-07:002011-12-25T12:04:49.079-08:00

Entire Mormon Encounters series:  Part 1: First Meeting       Aside 1, Aside 2  Part 2: Reading the Book of Mormon Part 3: Going to a Mormon Church Part 5: The Missionary Sisters Part 6: A Talk Among Friends The first weekend of October saw this year's 2nd General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Apparently this biannual event is a big deal to the Mormons.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-70609249215250214912011-10-11T11:19:00.000-07:002011-10-11T11:19:54.921-07:00

Some walls have ears and some fences have... a snout?  “To an eagle or to an owl or to a rabbit, man must seem a masterful and yet a forlorn animal; he has but two friends. In his almost universal unpopularity he points out, with pride, that these two are the dog and the horse. He believes, with an innocence peculiar to himself, that they are equally proud of this alleged

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-78056084070624335312011-10-10T12:49:00.000-07:002011-11-19T00:05:31.834-08:00

Entire Mormon Encounters series:  Part 1: First meeting       Aside 1, Aside 2  Part 2: Reading the Book of Mormon  Part 4: Mormon Battalion & General Conference Part 5: The Missionary Sisters Part 6: A Talk Among Friends Well, having missed the first invitation to the Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints AKA LDS) church I made good on my second chance, invading one of

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-6927552623507917992011-10-08T14:24:00.000-07:002011-10-08T14:26:18.172-07:00

I know I've been hanging out with the canine species a lot lately, but at heart I still meow in my sleep (and occasionally even when I'm awake). It is almost depressing how few cats live near my current pad in the very dog-oriented area of San Diego County. I do get to see quite a few of my feline muses whenever I drop by at George the dog (who turned 14 yrs old precisely a week ago), however.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-59847846849543581562011-10-01T01:20:00.000-07:002011-11-21T17:05:58.403-08:00

My Mormon Encounters saga continues... Part 1: First Meeting, Part 3: Going to Mormon Church Part 4: Mormon Battalion & General Conference Part 5: The Missionary Sisters Part 6: A Talk Among Friends At the end of their first visit the sisters asked that I read the introduction part to the Book of Mormon (BoM) before their 2nd visit a week later. As the thing is only a page long, I managed

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-17581819831129942752011-09-29T17:15:00.000-07:002011-09-30T13:32:15.577-07:00

I was walking around in the Gaslamp Quarter area in Downtown San Diego a couple of weekends ago when I spotted a street busker playing something street buskers just don't play in this part of the world -- classical music! Naturally I stopped to have a listen... along with a few other fascinated folks who weren't in a hurry to get anywhere just then. To be honest, his playing is nothing

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-54960700460499082742011-09-28T12:25:00.000-07:002011-11-09T08:07:42.950-08:00

A chance meeting with a couple of very clean cut religious young lasses from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon) a month or so ago has turned into a series of alternately fascinating and alarming experience for me. As of today we have had 5 discussions and 2 church dates so far. I don't think they have made much progress in terms of convincing me of the veracity of

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-76204443044390578732011-09-26T17:40:00.000-07:002011-09-26T17:43:18.343-07:00

I've been running around town(s) a lot lately, so much so that I'm making both me and my camera dizzy. We're having a serious case of the double vision... chirping twins on a hiking trail It started one day on a hiking trail when I heard chirping from an unexpected direction. The sight so surprised my hiking companion that he went to check his vision at a nearby fountain... But of

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-81005853467368331452011-09-15T17:41:00.000-07:002011-09-15T17:41:53.000-07:00

Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt) is considered by many to be George Handel's best of many wonderful opera for its overabundance of enticingly beautiful music... much of which goes to everybody's favorite historical femme fatale, Cleopatra. For lovers of the lower voiced operatic women, however, there are always the mother and son pair of Cornelia and Sesto to busy our ears with.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-65144913016682503362011-09-10T13:45:00.000-07:002011-09-14T09:41:18.501-07:00

Vesselina Kasarova, the White Shirt Republic's favorite muse, has been in the Russian capital of Moscow for the last few days to give a concert during the 3rd Grand Festival of the Russian National Orchestra. Luckily for us, the internet is quite alive with coverage of her time there. I've compiled some here: First off, here is a news video of the concert's press conference from Russian channel

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-90498660374260098772011-09-09T12:25:00.000-07:002011-09-09T17:49:30.482-07:00

Well, Thursday sure was a lot more interesting than I had anticipated. The day started on a rather good note with more blog update from Den!s, the extremely generous Kasarova fan in Moscow who has been fortunate enough to spend the last 3 days with The White Shirt Republic's favorite muse as she prepared for her first ever concert in Russia. Den!s was armed with a camera and made very good use of

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-21019371545406274382011-09-06T15:49:00.000-07:002011-09-06T17:33:57.043-07:00

You might have heard of this already, back in January 2007 the American virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell went undercover for 45 minutes as a street violinist playing some of the most virtuosic music ever written on one of the most expensive musical instruments ever made - the 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius - for changes at L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station in Washington DC. He was participating in

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-77628215763636104412011-09-02T13:03:00.000-07:002011-09-02T15:04:27.529-07:00

The fumbling green-thumb Serse of Georg Handel's 1738 opera may not bear much resemblance to the historic Khashayah Shah (Xerxes) of Persia, but he sure has a timeless aria every tuneful person wants to sing! 'Ombra mai fu' is marked larghetto on the score, though is commonly known as Serse's Largo... perhaps because of our common wish for all good things in life to linger on for a bit longer,

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-87879596598594376582011-08-31T22:07:00.000-07:002011-08-31T22:08:00.852-07:00

Christiane Karg, the young Bavarian lyric operatic soprano, was Opernwelt Magazine's 2009 Young Performer of the Year and 2010 ECHO Klassik's Young Artist of the Year. I first encountered her as Melia on the M22 DVD of Mozart's Apollo et Hyacinthus/Die Schuldigkeit der Ersten Gebotes and was mightily impressed with the then little-known singer's performance. Alas, like most of the singers I

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-5051477365096177232011-08-29T21:06:00.000-07:002011-09-07T05:32:00.279-07:00

Salvatore Licitra, the Italian - Swiss tenor had a bad crash on his scooter in Sicily over the weekend and is still in very serious condition (he didn't have a helmet on) at the hospital. As you can see, aside from being a bloody good opera singer, the man also has a heart of gold. Obviously he won't now be able to sing in the Teatro Communal di Bologna's tour of Japan that was planned for next

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-88284711769448518262011-08-28T13:04:00.000-07:002011-08-30T09:56:07.744-07:00

You know, I'm supposed to be in church right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm still as areligious as ever, but I had actually been looking forward to accompanying a couple of cute Mormon gals to their church this Sunday just to see what a Mormon service is like. It sort of fell through because of an unexpected schedule conflict. And the tally is: 3 Christians, 2 Mormons, 2 Jehovah's Witnesses, 1

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-48992848056272579462011-08-28T11:51:00.000-07:002011-08-28T11:51:25.269-07:00

Man, you can't turn the brain off even for a second these days... Seems like a lot of work to have to pay so much attention when watching or reading (or even listening) to news and other programs, but if the alternative is to be taken in by tricks like these, I say that's quite worth it.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-23924440370399439842011-08-24T23:16:00.000-07:002011-08-24T23:17:41.310-07:00

Having just finished reading her memoir, Bubbles: A Self Portrait, I have lately been binging on the late Beverly Sills on Youtube. What a wonderful artist she was! After repeated listening to her recording of the Egyptian queen's mesmerizing aria (V'adoro pupille), I wish there is a video of her first Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt). No wonder they called

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-7749099594846023922011-08-16T12:09:00.000-07:002011-08-31T17:47:19.148-07:00

The Slovak operatic soprano Luba Orgonasova is one elusive singer! A lot of people wonder out loud about her and her career (such an alluring voice and positively splendid singer, but where the heck did she go???). I only know her from a few recordings. Lately I had been listening to the Verdi Requiem from 1998 Montreux Festival again since I had to fix my previous upload of the soprano solo (

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-60932634805111970912011-08-13T17:31:00.000-07:002011-11-24T10:48:35.567-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted about Vesselina Kasarova, but that doesn't mean that she hasn't been busy! After rebounding from a nasty bout of pneumonia that wiped out her initial run in the new production of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi in March the White Shirt Republic's favorite muse bounced back in style with her long awaited role debut as Dalila in Saint Saëns' Samson et

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-24077926369962205692011-08-12T00:26:00.000-07:002011-08-12T00:26:28.491-07:00

I read too many books at once and end up not retaining as much of each as I would like to. Though some books manage to capture my attention more than others The Drunkard's Walk

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-24788773674277954702011-08-11T17:56:00.000-07:002011-08-11T17:56:39.503-07:00

A few weeks ago the City of San Diego was abuzz with its biggest annual convention, ComicCon. Downtown was totally swamped with visitors who spent millions of dollars at our local business. Truth be told, the San Diegans had as much fun sight-seeing their visitors as did the other way around. It's the only week of the year where you can walk past Captain Jack Sparrow, the Joker, the Riddler,

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-60235680174043831142011-07-22T17:32:00.000-07:002011-07-22T17:32:17.868-07:00

You encounter many aspects of reality walking along the sidewalks of San Diego, California. Sometimes you don't have to do a double take to have double vision... It's always a hoot looking down on elusive birds passing under your steps, Seriously, how gross is this??? Though not so much walking over the remnant of someone's late night romp... Yup, I can't say it better myself...

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-61470278621064654302011-07-18T13:51:00.000-07:002011-07-21T10:12:33.030-07:00

A few of my favorite people are celebrating their birthday today: Imini emandi kuwe to the perpetually humane against all odds Nelson Mandela, Happy Birthday to Sir Nick Faldo (whose super-fluid golf swing I tried in vain to copy when I was younger), and Viel Glück zum Geburtstag to Prof. Hartmut Michel (the wizard of membrane proteins crystallization) and to the always artistically refreshing

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-91956450329343472562011-07-17T11:47:00.000-07:002011-07-17T11:47:57.282-07:00

Here in the USA talks of classical singing usually center around opera or oratorios, but there is another type of classical vocal music that is more intimate than either without being any less profound and timeless. Art song, the short musical setting of poetic lyric for a voice and a musical instrument (usually the piano) that has a knack for capturing its native flavors in understated elegance,

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-67664014340744746142011-07-16T00:08:00.000-07:002011-07-16T00:22:08.976-07:00

Ranting is tiring work and addictive work. It's so easy to rant about things you aren't content with while forgetting to balance it with noticing the good things in life. With the news being so dominated by coverage of misbehavior it is too easy to start expecting the worst of your normal-looking neighbors. So I've been making it a point to catch the ABC news show 'What Would You Do?' every

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-71521156804535393102011-06-23T14:41:00.000-07:002011-06-23T14:41:42.243-07:00

There was a fake dog occupying the fake doghouse at the mocked up hotel...  The fake dog apparently has a fake cat bodyguard lurking around somewhere looking for blood... Sometimes they go out in search of flavory fake pork chops... being guided on the way by fake pedestrians... This is how you know you live in Southern California in the 2000's... Practically everything is fake!

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-1376016007138813082011-06-16T23:03:00.000-07:002011-06-16T23:03:30.343-07:00

Why is it so easy to sit and gaze over a lake or an ocean or a stream all day long without getting very bored, but sitting still in a car gazing at stuck traffic feels like madness beyond boredom even after just 10 minutes? On second thought, don't answer that...

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-63908546584795467112011-06-08T14:42:00.000-07:002011-06-08T14:42:28.272-07:00

Continuing from my previous post on my 10 most favorite pieces of music, here's the rest of the list: 6. Johann Strauss jr's Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald (AKA Tales from the Vienna Woods): Strauss' waltzes were my first loves when it came to classical music, and the hallucinating clarinet entrance to 'Tales from the Vienna Woods' constituted something of a first crush. I had never heard a

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-37886241104171815082011-06-04T09:56:00.000-07:002011-06-04T11:33:24.041-07:00

I'm one of those eaters who sometimes doesn't want to know what I'm eating. Knowing the chemistry involved in the food-making, though, is a different matter altogether. I'm a glutton for info like this... I'm glad she said 'burp' instead of 'fart'... If the video on this page doesn't work for you, try going to the original source here.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-87927345635486296372011-06-03T12:11:00.000-07:002011-06-03T12:11:17.397-07:00

A recent discussion with a few friends revealed that fact that I had neglected to make a video of the most frequent dish my visitors have to put up with when visiting me at my abode. That resulted in a hasty trip to the kitchen to produce a bowl of Thai style Tom Yum soup that made the whole condo smell like boiled lemongrass and added a few more splatters to my favorite white shirt that will

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-36098722205541911702011-05-29T19:16:00.000-07:002011-05-29T19:19:52.892-07:00

As Orpheus came back from Hades, so did fellow Thracian Vesselina Kasarova from her recent Hadian battle with pneumonia to make her debut in the sumptuous part of Dalila... singing opposite the formidable voice of Jose Cura at Deutsche Oper Berlin. The reviews go from indifferent to hostile when it comes to the staging (quite reasonable judging from the look of it via the official trailer),

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-72405965350146443192011-05-28T14:44:00.000-07:002011-05-28T14:44:47.991-07:00

It was a bit misty when I woke up this morning to find the snails feasting on the rose bush. Too bad he isn't so edible... The roadside squirrels were particularly jumpy...  I guess he didn't like being barked at by my boss' 38 lbs lap dog... I don't know what he was dreaming about, but I was glad he wasn't drooling. On another note, I walked past this rather audacious ads posted on a

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-32293909929575654342011-05-18T13:09:00.000-07:002011-05-18T13:09:18.606-07:00

When a couple of early morning cancellation opened last Saturday (May 14th) up like a peeled banana I made a galloping sprint right over to the AMC Mission Valley 20 cinema with 40 minutes to spare to catch the Metropolitan Opera's HD live broadcast of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre (The Valkyrie). Like the other 3 operas in the Wagner cycle, Die Walküre is a long sit at 5 hrs plus intermissions,

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-5792709502833486522011-05-15T09:21:00.000-07:002011-05-15T09:21:14.199-07:00

I promised my good friend Georg at Washing Without Getting Wet Blog quite a long while ago to make a post about my 10 all time favorite pieces of music. My slow-sluggedness alone, I'm afraid, doesn't account for the delay. I have so many favorite tunes that it is hard to settle on just ten, so I found myself making changes to the list every time I look at it. :oP After many months of dragging,

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-27840078260035432212011-05-10T11:35:00.000-07:002011-05-10T11:35:26.811-07:00

Knowing that dogs have a much stronger sense of smell than that of humans... I can't help but wonder why they have to stick their snout right on the poo to sniff at it during a walk... It takes so much of the pleasure out of being kissed by them afterward, you know?

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-3601493918443324462011-05-08T13:35:00.000-07:002011-08-12T00:25:36.153-07:00

I'm running around a week late these days. Apologies for untimeliness! Last weekend was my first 'holiday' since late January, so I thought I would indulge myself a bit and catch the bus downtown late Sunday morning to either the opera or the ballet. The San Diego City Ballet was having its last performance of Enigma/Carmen at Spreckels Theater starting at the same time as the last performance

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-89515963825562969482011-04-30T21:40:00.000-07:002011-07-26T15:01:12.072-07:00

I started golfing many moons ago (back in summer of 1989, to be exact) when my misguided father handed me his 7 iron and a ball while I walked with him during one of his golf rounds. I was making quite a pest of myself and he thought that allowing me my own piece of the action might take some edge off my ... edginess. Well, I whiffed the first swing, and the second, and the third. On the fourth

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-55201772941306307302011-04-17T13:00:00.000-07:002011-04-17T13:01:53.283-07:00

On the road again for another 10 days work trip. I was walking up the road toward the bus stop (the nearest bus stop from my current pad is a good 25-30 minutes walk away) when I spotted this rather curious carcass near the sidewalk. A rabbit with snake-ish tail? A snake with fluffy fur? Or should I guess, a hungry snake was too busy swallowing his pre-Easter dinner to pay attention to traffic

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-39331712993481587382011-03-29T22:20:00.000-07:002011-03-29T22:20:10.347-07:00

I'm out of town and am not online much, though I along with many other lovers of mezzo-soprano opera singers (AKA White Shirts) was quite anticipative about radio broadcast of the Bavarian State Opera's new production of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) that opened last Sunday. Much of the anticipation was caused by the prospect of Vesselina Kasarova resuming

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-69645441787220385822011-03-23T17:40:00.000-07:002011-03-23T17:40:07.717-07:00

I obscured the car's license plate on purpose. The original car has a clean plate.  Whatever you do, don't challenge the owner of this golf-mobile to a long drive contest...

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-812355379636217122011-03-17T10:18:00.000-07:002011-03-17T11:09:40.010-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Panicking isn't a good quality, especially when it has the effect of depleting the supply of needed remedy for the people who actually need it... Quit making a run on those potassium iodide pills!!!

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-73838358699451982462011-03-15T11:00:00.000-07:002011-03-16T16:30:39.039-07:00

Ay, the ides of March have come and they haven't gone... Or something like that. What a turbulent month March is proving to be on the other side of the Pacific Ocean! No other folks are as prepared for the worst as the Japanese were, but there really is only so much you can do when Mother Nature throws a 9.0 earthquake towing a giant tsunami your way.... especially when 'your way' is home to a

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-5093754263658298962011-03-06T12:15:00.000-08:002011-03-06T12:15:05.648-08:00

I was wandering about in Hillcrest area of San Diego yesterday when I looked up at a strangely coherent batch of clouds.... Whoever 'Ken' is, he sure got a lot of love yesterday!

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-33615891534232910922011-03-03T19:55:00.000-08:002011-03-03T19:55:11.428-08:00

"Stars shining bright above youNight breezes seem to whisper "i love you"Birds singin’ in the sycamore treesDream a little dream of me..."          ('Dream A Little Dream of Me' lyric by Gus Kahn) When he isn't parading his cutest butt on planet Earth around, Coconut the English bulldog spends much of his down time dreaming up new moves to showcase on his daily walks.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-7805513211058805942011-03-02T14:48:00.000-08:002011-03-02T14:48:34.843-08:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Score one for pro-small (but effective) government conservatives!

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-46257698800789651122011-03-02T07:48:00.000-08:002011-03-02T11:30:05.604-08:00

“THIS IS IRELAND” ~ THE AUTHENTIC IRISH THEATRICAL, MUSICAL EXPERIENCE AT UCLA’S ROYCE HALL IS SET TO REDEFINE  ST. PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATIONS IN LOS ANGELES Celebrity Guest Performers Include Actor Pierce Brosnan, Actress Roma Downey, Lyric Soprano Celine Byrne, “X-Factor” Finalist Storm Lee, Paris Opera Baritone Sam McElroy with Music by Elmer Bernstein, Christopher Young, John Williams, U2 A

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-9250899003548242482011-02-25T21:24:00.000-08:002011-02-25T21:24:49.741-08:00

All the bad news in the news have a way of making the world seems gloomy and doomed. But there are many real life sights that can make even a cloudy day seems much brighter. And so, ladies and gentlemen, today I present you with ... ... the cutest butt on planet Earth...

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-3372689340123691072011-02-19T13:44:00.000-08:002011-11-24T10:49:45.879-08:00

For my fellow Kasarova-fans, here is the updated performance schedule for our favorite opera singer as compiled from internet searches. If you notice any mistake or know of schedule change, please don't hesitate to let me (and others) know!   Vesselina Kasarova as Orphee in Gluck's Orphee et Eurydice. Screenshot from Studio Farao DVD of the show. Last updated 24 Nov 2011. 2011

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-58711034695510300202011-02-03T10:44:00.000-08:002011-02-03T10:44:24.183-08:00

I and my blog are not affiliated with the San Diego Opera, though I am very fond of the company. Occasionally I am more than happy to pass along a spectacular announcement from its press releases. Here is the latest - shortened a bit and with some modification of the way the 2011 season schedule was formatted. Renée Fleming in Concert Pre-Sale Opera superstar Renée Fleming to sing benefit

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-25978067594780188972011-02-02T00:06:00.000-08:002011-02-02T14:52:22.086-08:00

As gorgeously mild and sunny as the weather is being here, I wish I've been in Zurich this week to catch Nina Stemme and Vesselina Kasarova as Elisabeth and Venus in Wagner's Tannhäuser. Youtube clip by ZurichOpera Any opera production with Nina Stemme in it is worth seeing especially if it is a Wagner or a Strauss opera. Add to that attraction the debut as Venus of  Vesselina Kasarova, who is

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-58273418407374224502011-01-24T15:45:00.000-08:002011-01-26T08:18:56.207-08:00

Most of you have heard of the shooting of US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and many other people during her political event in Arizona earlier in the month. Updates of the story is plentiful, and most of it (except for Rep. Giffords' amazing recovery so far) has been rather depressing, so I haven't been keen on mentioning it. One thing's been nagging at me, though. Why is it that almost

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-63995345150617371402011-01-19T13:03:00.000-08:002011-01-19T13:03:55.826-08:00

Hey dog-lovers! If you live in or are visiting Chula Vista area (South San Diego), keep an eye out for these furry cuties, would ya'? 1. Chewy the French bulldog lives in Rancho del Rey area of Chula Vista and has been missing since November. If spotted, please call (619) 251-4283. 2. Jasmine the miniature Schnauzer is missing in downtown Chula Vista area. Please call (619) 309-5518 if you run

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-2031050732939964122011-01-13T23:16:00.000-08:002011-01-13T23:16:07.378-08:00

Uncertainty isn't confined to sub-atomic particles after all... Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Guess I should be glad I was always too fascinated by the telescope and the microscope to pay much attention to the horoscope else I'd be experiencing such an identity crisis right about now!

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-67288900966680925272011-01-03T21:10:00.000-08:002011-09-15T06:00:33.371-07:00

Another year already! I finally got around to updating the list of books I've read since the beginning of 2000. Back then I had this ambitious plan of reading a book a month every month. That should tally up to 12 books a year, and 120 books per decade. I started out strong enough since back in 2000 I lived across the street from a St. Louis public library, and the place was opened every day from

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-68251234909698245942010-12-23T13:34:00.000-08:002011-01-05T16:23:18.075-08:00

A lot of things happened in 2010... even in my little corner of the big world. The ground was shaky here earlier in the year after a slew of earthquakes, though we haven't had a good jolt for many months now (which means that I have to invent up new excuses for my tendency to bump into things). Our summer was milder than usual, and rain arrived way ahead of schedule - rendering us quite a good

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-91246254212779943532010-12-22T12:11:00.000-08:002010-12-23T10:40:52.756-08:00

It's been a long time coming, but that disgrace of a law known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell that has served as a cover for unfair discrimination against gays serving in the US military is finally repealed today. Looking back on it I am intrigued... The USA started out blazing the way toward valuation of fair play for all against the then prevalence of religious dictatorships (along with dictatorships

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-36574449228029503822010-12-20T16:47:00.000-08:002010-12-20T16:47:19.498-08:00

A weekend that was. Did some household chores, walked a few pounds off the dog,  and finding good chuckling instigators on Youtube... Loud in its own way, ay?

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-15366366954663979092010-12-05T22:52:00.000-08:002010-12-15T19:26:13.133-08:00

Indi half-dog-half-kangaroo (either half-kangaroo or half-jumping bean. I think the former isn't as big a genetic leap as the latter is) took me out for a stroll Sunday evening. It was cloudy and chilly. Probably in the mid 60's Fahrenheit (yes, that is "chilly" by a spoiled Southern Californian standard. If it ever gets cold enough here for the car doors to freeze shut, most of us would be

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-89327452245449894212010-12-04T18:45:00.000-08:002010-12-04T18:45:09.626-08:00

I'm a country bumpkin and living in concrete forest cities sometimes depresses me. Oddly enough, the best cure for that is often to go out and walk a skewed hike. How is a hike skewed? By looking where you wouldn't normally look, of course. This is a little creek hiding in plain sight near Discovery Park in Rancho del Rey area of Chula Vista. I've been by there several times without ever giving

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-69954686126700933442010-12-04T14:18:00.000-08:002011-05-15T15:46:51.301-07:00

It's the first week of December. I've had my first flu of the season, though that's not news comparing to many other things going on around town. The San Diego Symphony celebrated its 100th birthday at the US Grant Hotel in Downtown on Friday with a big gala and a YoYo Ma concert. Balboa Park is all decked up for this year's December Night celebration while further to the northwest a group of

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-87890754637462546092010-11-26T11:27:00.000-08:002010-11-29T20:45:20.259-08:00

I was roaming around the internet looking for posting of this old Southern Thai folklore of Ta Khao Mong-lai that I heard about when I was a kid. The problem is that I don't have Thai character keyboard and am probably misspelling the English transliteration of the name (Thai folks do have weird way of spell their name in English)...  Ta Khao Mong-lai legend is a local tale linked to the

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-53586045663590219152010-11-13T16:49:00.000-08:002011-09-15T05:33:43.441-07:00

Writing about opera and classical music all the time gets to be pretty tiring after a while, so occasionally I lapse onto other odd topics. One of the recent projects was to be an article about the pedestrian bridges of San Diego... Was, because I hadn't realized just how numerous pedestrian bridges are in this city! When you google 'pedestrian bridge' and 'San Diego' you usually just keep

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-9796527913431311222010-10-18T22:16:00.000-07:002010-10-18T22:17:01.614-07:00

Even religio-phobic me couldn't resist catching a bus out to College Avenue Baptist Church last gray and misty Saturday night to attend the opening concert of the San Diego Master Chorale's 50th season. This all-volunteer troupe of music lovers always give their best and and aren't afraid of filling their concert calendar with music their audience had never heard of before. Saturday night's two

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-18570677033439877522010-10-16T16:37:00.000-07:002011-09-15T05:42:46.711-07:00

A few miles to the south of where I live is an old river channel called Otay Valley. It used to be a legitimate river; funneling the water down from San Miguel and Jamul Mountains to the San Diego Bay and supporting the bustling grain farming community of Otay Mesa. That was until a dude named Babcott decided to dam(n) the Otay Lakes in 1891. A catastrophe if there was ever one. The dam broke the

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-63390269000365344782010-10-11T11:27:00.000-07:002010-10-11T11:27:59.839-07:00

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, one of the most stupendous operatic coloratura soprano of the last century, passed away at her home near Montreux, Switzerland last night. She was 83 years old. I confess La Stupenda wasn't one of my favorite singers, but that takes nothing away from her legendary artistic skills and merits. Dame Joan made her dastardly difficult job sound easy (sometimes so easy

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-74478455548978514092010-10-06T15:52:00.000-07:002011-05-15T15:47:33.469-07:00

San Diego has one of the best zoos on the planet, though it had been a long while since I last visited the place. It took an animal-loving visitor from out of town to round my roommate and me up to give the zoo a raid last weekend while the hard working rain clouds were taking a break from their watering duty. We walked our legs off and still covered less than half the zoo in a day. We stayed

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-78591902452131767142010-09-17T14:52:00.000-07:002010-09-17T14:52:02.169-07:00

We've got ants. Well, I suspect they have always been with us. Though in the last month or so they've been with us a lot more than we welcome them to. Luckily, though, booming ant population also means plenty of food for formerly starving ant-eating creatures... like spiders.  So, aside from having to make sure that there are no food scrapes left around for ants to find (or to compel them to

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-86910168010247599072010-09-06T17:07:00.000-07:002010-09-08T09:09:56.044-07:00

I am a cat person, mind you, but these days I seem to bounce between two dogs.  Thirteen yrs old George is a lovely mutt of a terrier with the sweetest temperament. I guess having to live with a cat all his life helped. There has got to be something seriously wrong with you to stir Georgie's dislike.  Georgie is really low-maintenance and superbly trained by his mother. He gets on with most dogs

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-73063960233844502372010-09-01T08:24:00.000-07:002010-09-01T08:24:08.963-07:00

Being a smorg, I've had the luck to (sort of) meet many wonderfully interesting people via the Internet. One of them is Steven Ang, the Singaporean opera singer/student and writer whose Mad Scene Blog is an ideal source of information on the Singaporean opera scene. I first encountered Steven and his blog in September 2008 while researching opera companies in unlikely places (like in Southeast

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-13674479721350168912010-08-30T10:03:00.000-07:002010-08-30T10:05:18.499-07:00

A friend and I have taken to taking photos of 'lost & found' posters we run into on the streets of San Diego, California. The last couple of weeks yielded these. If you live or work or are visiting coastal San Diego area, keep your eyes out for them, would you? MISSING PERSON: Kasandra 'Kassy' Reyes: 16 years old. 5'7" (about 170 cm) tall, 135 lbs (about 61 kg). Black hair, brown eyes. Last seen

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-42151682655237301832010-08-18T16:05:00.000-07:002011-11-07T10:39:36.267-08:00

I am often asked why I enjoy listening to Vesselina Kasarova so much. A fair question considering how much she dominates my classical and opera music essays and reviews... and youtube channel. Don't think that I don't think about the danger of being so emotionally invested on an artist whose work I review both for work and for pleasure, though. I do.... A lot. It is a main reason why I don't

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-21422545318232395902010-08-17T19:45:00.000-07:002010-08-17T19:45:53.265-07:00

You know how you can walk past something special almost everyday for months and never stop to notice it? I just had another episode of that a week or so ago. Indi, the roommate's Rottweiler look-alike (she has recently been DNA tested and turns up the penultimate mutt... an even mix of four different non-Rottweiler breeds. I'm not quite buying it considering that I can see no characteristic of a

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-84066867817514215672010-08-12T20:42:00.000-07:002010-08-12T20:42:22.364-07:00

Southern California and its Mediterranean climate isn't all that hospitable to clouds, especially during the dry summer months. So, I indulged myself a bit while out walking around last week and enjoying its unseasonably cloudy cool sky. Laid on the cushy green grass in a park and trying to sort out what sort of atmospheric conditions were happening up high to facilitate different types of

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-30298129392580931872010-08-10T22:39:00.000-07:002010-08-10T22:39:11.408-07:00

Hiya all: I'm afraid a nasty spy/malware got my laptop (blame it on the left-click-happy Window Vista for clicking links I didn't intend to click!). Am currently offline until the thing is fixed... which would mean a few days at least.  Really, I almost wish there really is a hell just for the benefit of crooks like computer hackers who can't be bothered to do something more constructive with

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-19598657055862908572010-07-30T10:58:00.000-07:002010-07-30T10:58:47.624-07:00

Having to get everywhere on foot most of the time has its upsides. You really get to know the neighborhood and its many resident critters very well. Here are a few I had the pleasure to say hello to in the past week: I'm not familiar with the friendly Labrador pup who was hanging off the top of his owners' fence, so it was a bit startling when he kept waving his paws and barking his greetings

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-48739637595182877182010-07-21T16:20:00.000-07:002010-08-02T23:37:14.351-07:00

Real life is not a zero sum game... no matter how some people like to make it out to be for the sake of getting TV rating (and the ads-selling money that comes with it). The problem of course... is that a whole lot of people here keep buying the scam just because the scammers are labeling themselves as 'conservatives'. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-38746929973180272072010-07-19T11:15:00.000-07:002010-07-19T11:15:51.366-07:00

You know, when I moved to Southern California in spring of 2003 I thought I had escaped the muggy humid hot weather of the American Midwest for good... But apparently weather patterns have bought into Thomas Friedman's flatworld globalization since then and I've spent the better part of this week drinking and fanning like mad to keep from evaporating into the thick steamy air. Then.... it rained

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-61388351456329563482010-07-18T00:00:00.000-07:002010-07-18T00:00:57.611-07:00

  Vill Glück zum Geburri, Vesselina Kasarova! Never mind the calories... You only turn 45 once, so you've better finish that Black Forest cake. :oD Happy Birthday!

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-84265852712373736642010-07-12T23:59:00.000-07:002010-08-30T10:04:16.366-07:00

San Diego is teeming with pets, though a few can use your help getting back to their owners. Here are a few lost or found pet posters I and a pal found while walking around our respective neighborhoods in the past week. LOST:1. Abby (Dog. Near Southwestern College in Chula Vista). Call (619) 755-7771.2. Luna (Black cat. In University Height area of San Diego). Call (619) 602-5187. 3. Raven (Dog.

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-50538090120468899182010-06-27T11:51:00.000-07:002010-06-27T14:39:08.278-07:00

There is a couple of hurricane off the western Mexico coast that is sending thick clouds over San Diego this weekend. It makes for a great outdoor weather for sun-sensitive me (I have SLE that loves to flare up when that big ball of helium gets to shine without any cover in the summer months). All the same, I was expecting a warmer weather while walking around the Marina District yesterday

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768110968262106410.post-81830787866842140772010-06-25T02:38:00.000-07:002010-06-25T02:38:08.053-07:00

This little video clip was shot a few weeks back when I went up to the city again to pet-sit for a friend over a Saturday and went on a little trolley ride to downtown San Diego to catch up with a couple of long lost friends. The first part of the clip was at my old favorite hang out, Filter Coffee House at the corner of 30th & Polk in North Park. It is a laid back place with good coffee and

Smorghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01604438508775705758noreply@blogger.com2