Manners' Journal

This week's:

Obsession: Glenn Gould (amazing pianist, reclusive, proof of the fine line between genius and insanity because I think he was quite a bit of both)

Books: Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga (so goooood, love all the Jolyons, who is good and who is bad? everyone is a bot of both, apparently this is a bit of both kind of week), Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (also so good, just like a drug, why am I on the internet when I could be finishing this, AHHHHH), and Trollope's The Warden and Barchester Towers (Mr. Harding is just an awesome character).

Classical CD: Britten's War Reqiuem and Glenn Gould playing Bach's French Suites.

Musicology Topic: The heavy influence of Berg and his opera Wozzeck (along with the situation in Spain) on Britten's Temporal Variations. I think this influence is much more prominent in this particular piece than the movements of Hitler and his posse in Germany which would have come to Britten more directly through Berg anyway.

Non-classical CDs: Golden Voices from the Silver Screen, vols 1-3. Ahh, India, ahh Bollywood.

Movies: Mad Love. Metropolis. Blade Runner.

British Mini-Series: North and South.

Vegan Recipes: Cinnamon Crumb Cake. Homemade barbeque sauce.

Awesome Oboist: Mr. Killmer. He's the nicest guy ever and he sounds remarkably like Bob!

Place visited: Canada. It was so beautiful up there. And it made me feel so impatient and aggressive in comparison, two defining American characteristics I think. Recycling everywhere, clean air, canoeing, elk, mountain trails, not having a car, avoiding tv. Next summer?

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