Monday, September 18, 2006

It ain't over till the fat lady turns into a talking goldfish

According to a survey carried out by the University of Leicester, 12% of opera lovers have taken magic mushrooms.


Opera being one of the few musical forms that's never really sparked my motor (with all due deference to my darling departed grandma, for whom Placido Domingo was second only to David Gower in the geriatric crush stakes), I have to wonder if four hours of Wagner might go a little faster if one is enjoying a Huxley moment. Also, considering the picture above, I reckon the figures for performers may be considerably higher.

Also plucked from the cultural snowdrift in recent days: Rock's Backpages, that inavaluable resource for lazy music journalists everywhere, hits its fifth anniversary and 10,000th article; Charlie Brooker destroys Justin Timberlake ("testes the size of capers" indeed); Conservative Party activists freelance as art critics; a woman with even less talent than breast tissue is voted the greatest ever Hollywood starlet; and finally we get to see what Girl With A One-Track Mind looks like. She seems to be the sort of nice, middle-class Jewish girl my other grandma might have wanted me to settle down with; but, more to the point, is Sharon Osbourne turning into the mum from The Brady Bunch, or what?

And finally, I need your advice. Some of you may recall that I've joined LibraryThing, the online book catalogue site; indeed, a number appear to have followed suit. Well, I have a dilemma. For my birthday, Small Boo gave the Pocket Penguins 70th anniversary box set, which comprises 70 little books. Now, should I enter all 70; or just put in one entry, for the box?

Your thoughts on the matter, or any matter, except bloody opera, are welcome.

10 comments:

Garth said...

I would define opera as a triumph of technique over aesthetic enjoyment. Ditto for the ballet.

Wyndham said...

Depends whether you're upgrading in LibraryThing - to use it for free you can only put in 250 books, n'est pas? Seventy books is a large wedge of that - but you'll look dead clever.

Tim F said...

PI: and the decoration of wedding cakes.

Wyndham: well, I've taken the plunge already. I may look clever - but will I look desperate? And should I give a flipping flip?

FirstNations said...

every single title. no rest for the wicked.
pisces iscariot gets my applause for a beautifully apt description of opera.
except for nixon in china. very danceable.

orange anubis said...

I don't think you should put any of them in until you've read them. But I'm a bit anal like that.

patroclus said...

If my past psychedelic experiences are anything to go by, four hours of Wagner wouldn't go faster, they would go on for all eternity. Shudder.

Molly Bloom said...

I'd just like to say that I really, really fancy House. But I didn't fancy him in Jeeves and Wooster. Is that odd?

Tim F said...

Sorry, FN after due consideration, I'm going with the Anubis suggestion, although it makes no sense, really - I've already entered loads of proper books that I haven't got round to reading yet.

I want to hear more about your dalliances in the world of practical mycology, Patroclus. Is that why you lost your flip-flop?

And Molly, gamely taking a leaf out of the Two Ronnies Mastermind sketch by commenting on the previous sketch, that's because in J&W he was playing an inbred fuckwit. What is it that gets you squirmy about Dr Greg, then? The abject bastardness, or the wonky leg? Or the monster truck fixation?

West said...

You should add them as a series Tim, definitely. For a small fee I could do it for you in fact - although, it seems a bit cheeky to ask, seeing as I get paid to do that here but spend all day leaving comments on people's blogs, but the offer stands....

Moominmama said...

is 12% higher than the general populace's use of magic mushrooms? I don't know much about these things.