While surfing a bunch of web sites I visit regularly I came across an entry by a poster who writes under the soubriquet grace_poppy.  She wrote that she had been trying to encourage some of her online friends to develop an interest in opera and as a part of that endeavour had written some brief plot summaries of her favourite operas. I clicked on the link and spent a few minutes having a very good chuckle.  The irony is that although these were purportedly written for people who don't know opera the better you know these particular works the funnier the summaries are.  One of the things that struck me about her writing is that it is not only clever (which it certainly is) but is witty.  And I use that word advisedly for while in my life I have come across a goodly number of women who are funny, ones who are witty are as rare as hen's teeth.  If you are having trouble in following my distinction think this way: Lucille Ball was funny but Dorothy Parker was witty.  I am rather a fan of wit so was all the more pleased to read grace-poppy.  She has given me permission to link to her page where you too may read her opera summaries.  Enjoy!

Now cognitive psychology is generally not a subject guaranteed to have me leaping with uninhibited glee out of bed in the morning.  But when I stumble upon an article that in the first couple of paragraphs that contains the sentence "Recent research has found that women with attractive faces also tend to have attractive voices" I cannot help but read on.  That sentence jumped at me out of an article in Cognitive Daily one day last week.  As is often the case I found the comments as interesting as the article.  Make of it what you will.  The principal question I have is: how do people get funding to study this stuff?  It sounds like the sort of scam I would enjoy.

Those of us who have visited the Metropolitan opera at any time over the last forty years will probably remember the stunning chandeliers in both the lobby and the auditorium.  Well, they are to have a face lift and by the time you read this they will probably be in a workshop in Vienna where a part of the refurbishment will include the replacement of all 49,000 pieces of Swarovski crystal which have been the sparkling parts of the assemblies since 1966. Apparently once the crystals have been replaced then the originals will be shipped back to New York where they will be offered for sale in the Met Opera gift shop.  I am rather hoping they are of a price reasonable enough to make them good Christmas gifts.  I have a number of friends who love opera in general and the Met in particular who I think would be delighted to have such an article sitting on the mantel.

Last week I wrote of James Levine and his kidney surgery.  I am happy to be able to report that the Boston Symphony Orchestra of which he is the conductor has issued a statement quoting Levine's brother as saying  that the surgery "went exactly as planned and expected and has been described by the doctors involved as completely successful".  So successful apparently that Maestro Levine is expected to be back at his place before the podium in the Met opera pit on September 18th.  Yaay!

It was a pleasure to be able to listen again to Portland Opera's production of Carmen when it was broadcast on KBPS this weekend.  And then, as synchronicity would have it, yesterday La Cieca drew my attention to this Youtube clip of a Lego production of Carmen.  Now I may hate regie but who can resist Lego?

Finally, a word about my reading material.  You may have noticed that the list of my current reading material to be found immediately adjacent to this post has  not changed in some weeks. This is not as a result of my having quite suddenly becoming illiterate but due to technical web site issues the precise nature of which I won't bore you with.  Anyway it has  now been brought up to date.  I can particularly recommend the Bernstein book.  I bought my copy second-hand (and cheap) from Powell's Books.  They still have a couple of copies left.

How is your Summer progressing?  I hope you are having fun.  Just a couple of months to Portland Opera's opening production, La Traviata.  Without wanting to wish the Summer away I am starting to look forward to evenings of opera again, aren't you?