At any given moment, life is completely senseless. But viewed over a period, it seems to reveal itself as an organism existing in time, having a purpose, trending in a certain direction.
I make photos
see me on flickr
While at work today my computer started ringing with an incoming Skype call. Skype rings like an old fashion (well not that old, a rotary phone like-ring) phone. I ran over to my laptop and noticed a call from Peter Serko. I looked for a few seconds at the name and was momentarily confused, thinking to myself .. there must be some problem with Skype, I’m calling myself. Then it dawned on me, it was Peter A Serko from the Ukraine calling! As I have explained elsewhere, Peter and I share the same name and have corresponded for a number of years but we have never talked with each other.
It was a thrill to finally speak with him. He was still at work about 7:30 pm his time, 9:30 am mine. We ackwardly greeted each other. Thankfully he speaks some English because I don’t speak Ukrainian or Russian. We managed to talk for about a half hour, I had to select my words carefully and make sure to speak slowly. A few times we were not able to complete a line of thought because he couldn’t follow along but surprisingly we were able to talk about a number of things including his business, Ukrainian politics, our families and a few other minor things. It was great.
Peter’s daughter Lena apparently speaks English fairly well, so we agreed to speak again soon when Lena can be involved in the conversation. Lena is the same age as my daughter, Alice and is also a sophomore in college.
Isn’t technology wonderful!
I recently got turned on to Skype a free Internet telephony product that is amazing. Skype uses P2P technology which decentralizes network resources that scale in proportion the number of users. Such notorious services as Napster and Kazaa popularized P2P technology.
I’ve not used Skype other than with one friend of mine but a co-worker uses it to talk with his brother in Sweden. My experience has been very favorable, sound quality is as good if not better than standard phones.
You can even call standard landline phones for a small fee. Also international calls are possible and are as good as calling computer to computer I’m told. There are even real phones that work with Skype
If you are new to opera or even if you are an opera veteran the NY Metropolitan Opera’s weekly radio broadcast offers the opportunity to hear some of the best singers in the world perform and also the chance to learn a few things about opera. The Met has been broadcasting opera since 1931 and now reaches an international audience in some 40 countries. This past weekend’s broadcast was Puccini’s “La Boheme” . La Boheme was the my first opera experience seen at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY. I wasn’t bowled over by the opera, not because the performances were bad but for reasons I’ll address shortly. I was pleased to hear this popular opera again now that I have a few years of opera under my belt. Although listening to opera on the radio on a Saturday morning while working around the house is not the best circumstance to evaluate a performance, it was quite enjoyable and left me wanting to see the opera live again. José Luis Duval as Rodolfo was terrific in his performance of “Che Gelida Manina” in Act 1. Hear this well known aria performed by tenor Jussi Bjorling 1936 {Mp3}.
One of the best features of the Met Broadcast are the intermissions. Every intermission has some educational component that may or may not relate to the current production. Usually there is panel of experts that discuss the topic and share their broad range of opera knowledge. Recently (Feb 12) there was an discussion of opera with director Martin Scorsese and Howard Shore, composer of “Lord of the Rings” soundtrack. This week there was a behind the scenes series with fascinating interviews of the production staff of electricians, carpenters and others telling about their respective rolls and the logistics of staging operas at the Met. Since the Met is a reporatory company several operas are in production at the same time. On Saturday, for instance, La Boheme was the matinee performance and Verdi’s Nabucco the evening.
The longstanding “Opera Quiz” is the main intermission feature. Here the panel (which varies every week) attempts to answer questions sent in by listeners. On Feb 12 there was a great answer by British conductor Mark Elder in response to a question from a teenager about how to get friends interested in opera. The jist of what he said was that it is critical that new opera goers sit as close as possible to the “source of the sound”, as he put it, in order to fully connect the music with the emotional component of opera. Sitting far away from the stage for a novice makes it difficult to make a connection with the interplay of music and theatrical elements. He also went on to say how important it was for the singers to be able to bring the opera alive with performances that help the audience make this connection. to draw them into the “emotional world” of the opera.
His comments made perfect sense to me and jibbed with my own experience. Our seats at Seattle Opera are fourth row gallery on the left side (they are very reasonably priced). Although we are on the side, we’re very close to the stage. We can see facial expressions and of course can hear well. I’ve sat farther back in the house a number of times and find closer to be much better. The only downside is one has to work harder to see the supertitles since they are high about the stage ( the very expensive seats just to the right of us in the center section have the same problem). During my recent trip to Greece a friend went with Sue and sat in our seats and she said it made a world of difference for her. In the past she had only sat in the far back and had a hard time engaging with the operas she has seen. My experience at Glimmerglass suddenly made sense. Glimmerglass is a unique house in that is partially open air although it is a covered structure. The day I saw La Boheme it was cool and wet and I was actually cold during the performance which was very distracting. We also sat on the far side near the back leaving me very much out of touch with the singers. My advice to the beginner: sit as close as you can afford. Try getting tickets on the front sides they are more affordable than the center sections.
BBC archive of Met Quiz and intermission features mentioned above
Drive threw any American city or town and you are sure to find churches of every size and denomination. America is not only an ethnic melting pot but a religious one as well. In Greece it is an entirely different story. Orthodoxy is the official "state religion" of Greece. The Orthodox Church enjoys governmental status on par with defense, agriculture and the like. Orthodox clergy are employed by the "State Church’ and paid by the government. You would be hard pressed to find churches from any other denomination in all but the largest cities. While most Greeks are baptized in the Orthodox faith, not all are church goers or could be considered pious Orthodox. Yet, Orthodoxy still has a big impact on modern Greek culture and day to day life.
A common sight everywhere are chapels. Ranging from the size of a large phone booth to ones that can fit several people, chapels seem almost as pervasive in Greece as latte stands are in Seattle; there seems to be one on just about on every corner. Each chapel is outfitted with one or more icons, small candle tapers and a sand box tray in which to place a burning taper. It is even common to see chapels in the parking lots of factories and other commercial establishments. There is no risk of offending the atheist in the next cubicle or provoking a freedom of religion lawsuit by the ACLU in Greece. Having a bad day at work? Girlfriend run out on you again? Just head down to the corner chapel, it is that easy!
There actually seems to be a significant chapel construction industry sprung up to meet the demand for "modular chapels", the ones you often see in parking lots. Much like the business we see here in the US that sell pre-made sheds and small storage buildings, there is a similar industry in Greece that also carries a line of chapels in addition to the usual structures. I can just imagine TV commercials like the tacky huckster ones we see here: “our chapels are so tough you can drive a truck over them!“... “we will not be undersold”.
There is also big demand for tiny chapels of the garden ornament type used as roadside shrines. The shrines mark places where people have died in accidents. Many of the shrines have burning votive candles and are obviously tended by the families. The Greeks are such terrible drivers that shrines unfortunately dot the roadsides. It was a bit unnerving in our travels to see so many along the road.
I’m publicly announcing it here: if , God forbid, I’m in a fatal car accident, no puny garden ornament shrine please, give one of the “modular chapels”.. you know the kind you can drive over with a truck!
