MUSIC: Juan Diego Florez sings first encore at Met Opera in 14 years

"Monday, 21 April 08, was an unusual night at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It wasn't so unusual that tenor Juan Diego Florez dazzled the audience with nine high C's in a row in the aria "Ah, Mes Amis," from Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment. And it wasn't unusual that the crowd went crazy.

But then Florez did something that hasn't been done at the Met in 14 years—he sang the aria again. " (Courtesy of NPR Music)

if you listen to the encore, he's kinda running out of steam toward the final part of the aria but he still hits that beautiful high C at the end! it's weird but if you listen to the interview, you'll hear about all these weird rules the Met has discouraging encores of this kind. silly americans. now if only orange county audiences would stop applauding between movements at the symphony...

if you still like that winehouse thing...

there's a girl, ADELE who has a super quirky voice, kinda that old-timey production (song Cold Shoulder was produced by Mark Ronson) and sounds like the real deal... her album is called '19' and i think i'm going to give it another listen.

if you know me, you know how much i dislike most female vocalists. this one, i don't.

i hate police and other tails

ack, i meant tales. or did i?
ok so some things happened this weekend i'd rather not talk about, but i also booked a couple to marry, on the spot at our meeting, so that is a GOOD thing.

we didn't go to the Long Beach Grand Prix this year.

ALSO the coachella scheduler thing is up: http://coachella.com/scheduler/scheduler.php
oh yeah, and we're going to see LOVE AND ROCKETS at the glass house tomorrow night!!!! i think PORTISHEAD is playing in l.a. as a warm up to coachella, but i still have no confirmation to the rumour. now, if only APHEX TWIN would play an off-show, our weekend would be complete. and i wouldn't be completely bummed for not getting in to Coachella.

echochrome and ufc 83

the good news is, GSP won UFC 83!!!

the bad news is, ECHOCHROME is not available for wide release for the PSP in the US... i don't know what this means, exactly, for its release for the PS3, either...

if you know me, you know how much i hate traditional video games but i really, really dig party games, alternative interfaces and those brainiac types of games... echochrome was the one game i was so looking forward to!

i don't know what art is

first, i was moved by the art of DAMIEN HIRST. then i found out he had killed a bunch of butterflies to make these crazy but beautiful stained-glass window-like pieces.

then, i heard about GUILLERMO VARGAS HABACUC. he supposedly starved a dog to death in an art gallery. digusted and shocked, i looked him up online to learn more about this guy. no, i didn't view any of the supposed live video on YouTube. but i did read a statement about how he was trying to raise awareness of the cruelty of leaving dogs to starve to death on their own in the streets of Honduras...or something like that. and i kind of agreed with him, that it's hypocritical of people to be outraged by his supposed treatment of this dog, when there are hundreds constantly dying on the streets themselves. and then, i read about how the artist actually cared for the dog and allowed it to run free for all but the three hours it was in the gallery.

god i hate how i jump to conclusions.

finally, i heard about ALIZA SHVARTS and her senior project for Yale Art school. seems like she supposedly artifically inseminated herself and gave herself abortive drugs. to make an art project.

nice.

oh yeah, that debate last night sucked.

MUSIC: Dizzee Rascal

DIZZEE RASCAL's 'Maths & English' album came out last year on import, but i heard it this week for the first time. it's due out at the end of the month through DEFINITIVE JUX. Dizzee's second album 'Showtime' in 2004 was a disappointment, mostly due to its unsuccessful bling-bling gestures and lowest-common-denominator rap album tendencies. on 'Maths & English', Dizzee's unique delivery flows through some of the most original rap melodies in a decade. on top of that, the production is everything i love about UK grime, and it's a dirty electro freakout. plus, he rhymes "foie gras" with "murderer"!

flo rida, t-pain, jeezies young and old: you all can't touch this!

MUSIC: Does It Offend You, Yeah?

ok just one more record before i forget...
if you know me, you know how much i hate long band names that sound like racehorse or boat names. (and if you know me, you know how much i love racehorse and boat names for being so un-namelike.) however, i heard a record this week that i really kind of dig, at least upon my initial two listens. they're called DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH? and they've kinda got this 'Justice-like Parisian hard dance music - meets - bands i like like Bloc Party/Maximö Park' type of sound. meaning, they've got the electronics going on, but underneath it all is this music that reminds you of something you loved back in high school but hadn't heard for a while until recently.

MUSIC: the Sun Paulo

so now that myspace won't allow me to post the albums i am 'currently listening' to, i am experimenting with various ways of posting them on here. too bad blogger makes it a total freaking hassle.

anyway, the SUN PAULO is an electronic psychedelic parliament/funkadelic rock dance freakout from Japan. their album's released next month on the Malicious Damage record label.

How to Use Furoshiki

at my house, we have a ton of furoshiki. i knew of their versatility but usually used them only as tablecloths and doilies.

NOW i know how to use one, and so do you. many thanks to my bro KeKi aka Kaze for this wonderful online discovery!

Denied by VIRGLE

the web is full of great april fool's day pranks. GOOGLE and VIRGIN GALACTIC have one they've elabourately conspired on. so i thought, what the heck, i'll give their questionnaire a try. here's what i got once i pressed the submit button:

"Well, you're distressingly normal and could conceivably adjust to life as a deep space pioneer, though we recommend instead that you leave the Mars missions to the serious whack jobs who scored over 130 and instead finish year 3 of law school, tuck your toddler into bed, design Web 2.0 applications, run for Congress or do whatever other normal, healthy, middle-of-the-road thing you're currently doing with your normal, healthy, middle-of-the-road life. If you're determined to give Virgle a try, though, you can submit your video here. "

darn.