Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Friday open thread

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Still missing Pavarotti …

(via Alex Ross.)

What’s on your mind? What are we forgetting to talk about in the midst of casino madness?

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  1. when he was much thinner, he couldn’t really act (or didn’t care to).

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    But boy oh boy, could he sing.  And listen to that ovation at the end of the aria.  It’s such a shame that in the U.S. opera is wrongly perceived as the province of the “elites.”  It was never intended to be that way.  This YouTube is from a performance at La Scala in Milan.  Mater and Pater don’t hoot and holler like that after an opera aria.  Those are “the people” cheering — exactly who the opera was written for.

    • go to the opera for the acting.  (I’ve seen a few operas and the plots are trite and the acting even more trite).  They go for the music, including the singing.

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      This gives rise to another of my little observations.  People remember the names of the operas’ composers.  But probably few remember the names of the libretists.  Pavarotti could have been singing gibberish, and people would still have gone just to hear him sing, whether or not what he was singing was gibberish.

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      A number of years ago, when we were in Munich, we went to the Cuvilles Theater in the Residenz in downtown Munich to see The Marriage of Figaro.  Sung in Italian.  We don’t understand a word of Italian (particularly as sung), and I’d be willing to bet that at least half the audience didn’t either.  But it was a wonderful entertainment.

      • had a subtlety that I dont think was so obvious when he got more popular. 
        Raj — I agree.  I don’t understand German or Italian but opera is much better in the native language.  It has been a long time since I went to an opera — I went to Sarah Caldwell conducted opera a couple times and was disappointed they were in English.  Loved Pavarotti in the 80’s–and with his passinng I have a little rekindled interest.  The voice adds so much more to music than the words.

  3. He has not been my favorite political figure.  He punished my rep Harriet Stanley after she spoke the truth about the Big Dig sucking money from local road projects.  As a morning local radio host I think he has gotten untracked and is doing a good job. 

      • As others have noted here in addition to me, every one of Olbermann’s Special comments are outstanding op-ed commentaries. His other comments are worth digging around youtube or Crooks and Liars for as well.

    • As always, another blistering special comment.

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      Just one minor flaw, though… was it just me, or was referring to the “hamstringing” of Max Cleland a very poor choice of words?

      • If one mentions something, the other follws slavishly.  I haven’t watched carefully enough to figure out who is the ‘Rove’ in the relationship, but I’m betting it’s not the sportscaster…

        • …but I notice you chose not to impeach the content of his comment and journalistic quality of his show.  While Keith’s competitor O’Reilly is busy covering George Soros, OJ Simpson, and craigslist zyber hookers, Olbermann actually covers the war in Iraq and has real journalists on from Newsweek and The Washington Post. You know, injecting real news into a cable news program.

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          Let’s look at tonight’s ledes taken from the Fox Noise and MSNBC websites (the sites are linked, but the quotes will change):

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          O’Reilly:

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          Alicia Goes Au Naturel! Silverstone bares it all in a new PETA promo, but is it over the top for TV? Plus, it’s a body language breakdown of Dan’s “Rather” revealing interview!

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          Olbermann:

          The truth behind Blackwater: After talks with Iraq’s government, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is allowing Blackwater contractors to resume work on a limited basis. Author Jeremy Scahill discusses Blackwater, as well as the role of contractors in Iraq.

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          I know which show piques my intellect.

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          Hmmm….I wonder if there is any correlation between the (lack of) rigor with which Fox News and O’Reilly covers the factual aspects of the Iraq occupation and the fact that so many conservative BMG commentors are so il-informed about so many facts so often? Perhaps it’s the quality of news sources.

          • But often, that is a tactical error on BMG.

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            And as far as our alleged misinformation is concerned – why, have you done nothing to enlighten us?  :~)

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            Personally, I like MSNBC and Channel 7.

            • … as often as I can (and most other regular commenters have, too) but it gets tedious. David used the word horse shit recently – I think that sums up many peoples feelings here about the constant flow of bad information from the general group of right wing commenters (not all comments are bad information and not all commenters are habitually ignorant).

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              As for enlightening BMG about erroneous information, here are three reality-based examples that counter certain right wing mythologies. Nothing special, but since you asked…

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              http://www.bluemassg…
              http://www.bluemassg…
              http://www.bluemassg…

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              Also, ow many times did David et al have to debunk the “Bush can replace US Attorneys when ever he wants” argument when explaining the multiple layers of scandals involving Alberto Gonzales? It’s hard to discuss the facts when people are thoroughly misinformed of the facts.

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              As far as calling Keith a sportscaster it’s always hard to infer tone and meaning online. I apologize if I misread your comment. 

  5. In a recent open thread, I mentioned that Ray Hunt struck an oil deal with the Kurdistan Government (not the Iraq Central Government). Hunt is an old friend of George W. Bush, the Board member at SMU who facilitated the deal to land the Bush library, the guy who donated $34M to build the library, a Haliburton Board member and a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

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    http://www.afterdown…

  6. It’s my favorite. I’m riding my bicycle a lot and on Wednesday the Macouns showed up at the Farmers Market.

  7. What are we forgetting to talk about in the midst of casino madness?

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    -Veto!  Facing a $26.8 billion dollar budget, the Gov weilded his mighty pen and after the bloodbath, we were left with a $26.8 billion dollar budget.  Rounding.  Go figure.  Anyway, the mightier legislature took his rounding vetos and overturned them. 

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    -A patient’s sick and in the hospital.  The docs can test for everything. Anything. But they can only test for HIV with specific consent. Hasn’t HIV been sufficiently de-stimatized to treat it like any other virus?

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    -Canadian dollar equals US Dollar; gold is over $735 and oil over $80.  Can inflation be far behind here?

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    -Palmer.  I actually think it’d make a decent casino location.  It’s got a strip joint; add a casino.  With, say, legal pot, you’d have a cool sin trifecta. Conveniently, right off the pike.

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    -All the ARM rate resets making the news.  Wait ’til Feb of next year when the dollar amount of the ARMs double from today’s reset amounts.

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    • The whole of southeastern Massachusetts faces a infrastructure collapse this winter.  Last year the caterpillar infestations killed millions of trees, mostly oaks.  Now these dead trees line the streets from Cape Cod to Rhode Island to Worcester.

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      Above the power lines, telephone lines, cable lines the trees are weakening by the day.  Waiting to collapse on the lines, pedestrians, motor vehicles. 

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      This hasn’t sparked much news interest.  Will the first tree to fall on the kids at the school bus stop spark the same interest as when some sociopath throws a rock at a passing car?  Will the first winter storm that drops a thousand trees on the infrastructure lines get the same coverage as Katrina?

      • Once the tree lands on the kids, the political leadership can go to the funerals, utter some soundbytes and call for a “100 Billion Dollar” program to cut down the trees. 

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        “All this should have been done by the past administration… blah, blah, blah” 

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        Nobody gets credit for foresight.

    • here’s an easy way to find the answer to your question.  tell people you’re poz.  ask for a sip of their coke or if you can hold their adorable newborn baby.  note the reaction.

      • here’s an easy way to find the answer to your question.  tell people you’re poz.  ask for a sip of their coke or if you can hold their adorable newborn baby.  note the reaction.

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        Probably the same reaction if you told ’em you had leprosy, or lime disease or rocky mountain spotted fever or anthrax, but it was being treated, and not contagious.

        • somehow i don’t think people would react to you being infected with lyme disease the same way they would to hiv.  just a guess, mind you.  but give ’em all whirl and do please report back!

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