Month: February 2012

I’ve been working on a section about Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, which began in 2009 when a 17 year old soprano named Britlin Losee sent Whitacre a video of herself singing his piece titled Sleep.

Well, Britlin Losee is now a composer herself, I’ve learned. I just listened to two movements from a piece she wrote called Fate and Faith Songs, sung by the Women’s Ensemble of the Aaron Copland School of Music.

Please listen to it here. She can’t be only 21. There’s a darkness and a joy there that just seems so impossible in one so young, except Rimbaud was only 17, so what’s age got to do with it! Her music has this haunting feel, it reminds me of the music in one of my favorite movies, Powell and Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death. But it also has this transcendent joy at the same time, that makes me think of the composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, whose compositions also always managed to sound happy even when he was writing about something sad.

Anyway, I love that the young girl who inspired such a great thing is growing up and creating inspiring things herself now.

I took this picture of a graffiti bird near where I took the picture of the graffiti rat I posted the other day.

Coincidentally, I woke up and something on the news caused me to lament for the millionth time about right wing politicians who encourage disdain for education. Being educated is “elitist.” Then I read this headline on the Times:

“Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say … The widening achievement gap between affluent and low-income students has received less attention than the divide between white and black students, which has narrowed significantly.”

Instead of encouraging people to strive for knowledge some politicians and conservative commentators do everything they can to convince people to stay where they are, that there’s nothing wrong with being uneducated, ie, Herman Caine joking about not knowing the names of countries while running for the office where one of his responsibilities will be managing diplomatic relations with these countries.

It’s all so disheartening and apparently their efforts are working. Yeah. Good for you, jerks.

Frank Whaley, the actor who played the young Archie Graham in Field of Dreams (among many other roles). I see him all the time, often with his children. I was trying to be discreet here, taking a picture from behind, but both he and his daughter turned around. I blurred her face because I know most people do not want pictures of their children on the internet. But not his, because, well, we know what he looks like.

Remember yesterday when I said how taking Finney to the vet was going to kill me because he weighs a ton? He’s lost over two pounds! He’d gone up to over 20 pounds and I was under strict instructions to get his weight down and I honestly thought I’d failed. But no!

Unfortunately, I was trying equally hard to fatten up Buddy and he’s lost two pounds, which proves the maxim: you can’t win. It’s not our fault though. I mean, he does have lymphoma, and he’s in his third year with it, so not freaking bad. He’s fine otherwise and still eats heartily.

8 Hours Later: I’m back from the vet. Finney totally defeated them. He peed all over the place, scratched a vet, and in the end they were unable to do a urine and blood test. I have to bring him back and they will sedate him.

Here is me with the 18 pound monster. I thought I was able to carry him more easily because I’m so strong and robust as a result of swimming all the time.

I saw it in a tweet first, and then went to the Times website. Yay us!

BREAKING NEWS1:07 PM ET: Federal Appeals Court Rules California’s Ban on Gay Marriage Is Unconstitutional.

Other things I’m happy about today: My apartment is freshly cleaned, and so is my laundry, choir rehearsal is tonight and I LOVE the Verdi Requiem, the orange I just had, there’s lots of good tv stored up on my DVR, the sun is shining in my window, I just noticed that my curtain sparkle in the sunlight, there must be something woven into the thread, something glittery or reflective, AND my cats aren’t dead yet, except I have to lug Finney to the vet tomorrow and that is going to kill me because he weighs a freaking ton.

Graffiti in the East Village.

I already tweeted this picture last night, but here it is again. This was Finney curled up against me while I watched Homeland on my computer. Actually, that’s not such a great shot is it? It’s too dark. Plus my arm looks deformed.

Oh well. I’m heading back to the couch as soon as I get caught up in my email. I went out swimming and did a laundry and now I’m exhausted. Must be the cold, which is such a minor cold.

I want to rant about all the hating on Madonna. I remember when she first came on the scene. There was no one like her at the time. It was such a different world back then. I was in awe of the power-assuming, ball busting, fuck-you, bomb-going-off excitement of her. Loved all the different early looks, the videos, her dancing. I envied so many things about her, as her career just took off and I struggled along on my mousy way. She ruled MTV and the club scene for a while. It was fun.

She does seem to have this mean girl side to her that made it hard for me to love her, but I’ve always admired her. And loved some of her music.

Anyway, good for her that she’s still around. She looks fucking great for 53. I think she needs more of a re-invention, but I’m nit picking.