Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in fidelioscabinet's LiveJournal:

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Monday, May 12th, 2008
9:03 am	More of The Legendary Warrior (Episode 3) The game pieces are still being moved into position, but that doesn't mean Things Are Dull in Chang'an. There's plenty going on, ( and you can count on there being dirty work at the crossroads soon enough. ) (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
11:57 am	The Dangers of a Quiet Sunday at Home All of the cats are asleep--three in the living room with me (one in the rocking chair, one in the window with the deep sill and the view of the tree with the birds and squirrels, and one one the couch). Another (Dread Pirate Roberts, still Not Convinced monkeys are worth the effort) is kipping on top of the ironing in the dining room, and Belle is stacking zs in the bathroom, where she can ignore all the other cats. There's so much Cat Somnolence By-product in the air here that it's all I can do to stay upright. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
12:03 pm	Life with the young spotted cat continues. he gets along pretty well with all the other cats by now (even Belle--go figure), is eating ike any other adolescent, and still refusing to settle down for a name. stringwoman has taken to calling him Bob, which he shows no response to, which either means he refuses to admit that the Church of the Subgenius exists, or he doesn't realize "Bob" is a name, or he is ignoring this for reasons known only to him. I'm beginning to wonder if the sheer number of cats on hand (and I realize that in terms of People With Too Many Cats, we're pikers and amateurs) isn't making it less likely that he'll get to be friendly with the humans--he can ignore us because he has other cats to hang with, and the food shows up on time without him having to make a fuss. Yes, we're not Totally Scary Monkeys any more--but we're not past the Chopped Liver stage either. He does hang out extensively with Jemmy, and frequently we find him doing whatever it is Jemmy is doing--a couple of days ago, Jemmy was parked on top of a hamper full of ironing, and Young Spotted Cat had parked himself on top of a basket right beside it, in bout the same position. They wrestle with each other (Jemmy holds back, more than you'd expect), and last night, in an effort to get out of range of the dog's nose, Young Spotted Cat made a flat-footed leap over Jemmy (once again kipped out in the ironing, and yes, I do need to get that done) and landed on the other side, without rousing Jemmy in the slightest. Then he jumped back in the other direction, because the dog looked to be coming his way, and then back in the original direction, because the dog was still in the hall after all. He still doesn't match his feet. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
8:21 am	Mildred Loving is dead; the 1967 Supreme Court decision made in favor of her and her husband Richard's right to marry is as important as Brown v. Board of Education in changing this country for the better. Mildred Loving, June 12, 2007, on the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision: "Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard [NB: Richard Loving died in car accident in 1975] and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights. I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about." I do think my LOLPhilosopher is especially apt for this post, don't you? (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 5th, 2008
11:59 am	be afraid There are things man was not meant to tamper with. Just sayin'. *eyes drawer full of silver serving pieces anxiously* *remembers the olive fork--the one with the plunger that pushed the olive off the tines* *shudders* (Comment on this)
8:15 am	My eyes, my eyes! Saturday night I caught Curse of the Golden Flower, which is the idiotic Sax Rohmerish name someone stuck on the American-release version of Mancheng jindai huangjinjia, which is literally something like "When Golden Armor Covers the Entire City*". It's gorgeous. (See the pictures!) It's pseudo-historical! (Here's why.) It's about a very dysfunctional family, who have a lot of people ready and willing to enable their dysfunctionalities. It has Chow Yun-fat, being worldly-wise and jaded. I haven't decided yet if he's evil, or just really, really Over it All. Or both. He clearly has issues. It has Gong Li, wearing clothes** that stand up by themselves and enough gold ornaments to pay for at least one of the new Olympic venues, and working the femme fatale<>/i> thing for all it's worth. She may be evil, or just really Over It All. She really has issues. It's got Liu Ye and Jay Chou being in over their heads (all right, their characters are over their heads--Liu Ye at least seems to be coping just fine). They have a plenitude of issues--the Crown Prince even has issues he doesn't know he has. It's got assassins in black, and rival groups of guards in gold and silver armor. It's got a royal palace teeming with servants carrying out perfectly-choreographed daily routines. And chrysanthemums. Pots and pots and pots and pots of chrysanthemums, and later on, even more chrysanthemums, because they needed more. But not a lot of kungfu, in case you were under the impression it was illegal to make a costume movie in either Hong Kong or mainland China that didn't depend on this for at least one quarter of the screentime. It's supposed to be on again May 14***. Maybe my eyes will have recovered enough by then to watch it a second time. *It's from a poem by Huang Chao, Failed civil service examinee, illicit salt-trade kingpin, and rebel, called 不第後賦菊/不第后赋菊, or "On the Chrysanthemum, after failing the Imperial Examination" 待到秋来九月八，我花开后百花杀。 冲天香阵透长安，满城尽带黄金甲。 "When autumn comes on Double Ninth Festival, / my flower [the chrysanthemum] will bloom and all others perish. / When the sky-reaching fragrance [of the chrysanthemum] permeates Chang'an, / the whole city will be clothed in golden armour." (Translation taken, as those who have clicked on all the links already know, from the Wikipedia article.) Compare and contrast with such outstanding specimens of American political poetry as "Tippecanoe/and Tyler, too!" Clearly, we have much progress yet to make as a culture. Our political malcontents are not yet as adept poetically as they could be. **With entirely ahistorical cleavage. ***Encore Action Channel, or you could try Netflix. Readers outside the US should consult their own resources. (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
11:45 am	The latest opera DVD I've exposed my eyes and ears to was Mitradate, Ré de Ponto. This was Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production of a 14-year-old Mozart's first opera, and while I realize Ponnelle is not lightly criticized, I'll start by saying I'm not in love with having the role of Arbate, one of Mitradate's ministers, sung by a boy soprano? Why the allergy to countertenors, if he wasn't happy giving it to a woman? Or transpose it down for a baritone, even if it's not what Mozart would have done in an opera seria. I wasn't in love with the camera angles a good bit of the time, either. Once I got over the fact that Gosta Winbergh reminded me of a tenor Brian Dennehy (not just physically; the same near-manic, ferocious intensity is there as well), I was happy except for the men's costumes, which attempted to follow the hooped shirts of the female characters, and ended up looking as if they were carrying donut-shaped pool floats under their coats. The plot is as slim and frail as any in opera seria, and aside from modern child labor laws keeping any 14-year-old from being hired as an opera composer on the deadlines Mozart was expected to meet, I'm pretty sure any child protective services officer worth their salt would have issues with the content of the plot. Mitradate's two sons, Siface and Farnace, are both enamoured of Aspasia, their father's fiancée. Mitradate loses a major battle and returns to the capital, where his suspicions are aroused. The elder son, Farnace, sells his father out to the Romans, and is arrested and imprisoned. Mitradate tries to poison Aspasia. Romans arrive and free Farnace, who decides to side with his father after all. The Romans disappear like the well-trained plot device they are, only to appear again right near the end, where Mitradate kills himself rather than surrender, posing with his sons, Aspasia (still not dead) and Farnace's rejected fiancée Ismene. This being opera seria, the high voices outnumber the low ones. The whole thing is shot onstage at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, which is an eyeful, and which Ponnelle uses for all it's worth. This is not a live production, although it's filmed onstage, and I found some of the cuts, as well as the camera angles annoying. The ships of Mitradate's navy are well-done, though, and there's lot to love here, although I'm not sold on the pool floats. Even allowing for that. though, there's plenty of gorgeous to go around. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
10:55 am	unwaxwed cat Shorter Minerva the Cat, on being brushed yesterday: yesyeysyesyeysyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then she purred herself to sleep and purred all the way though the nap. I think she may be shedding. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
10:05 am	I tot I saw a puddy tat I caved and bought the Parker Vector pen with the picture of Sylvester. I am able to report that the Levenger long ink cartridges will fit it. I wasn't sure I could manage this, as Parkers have skinnier cartridge receptacles than some other makes of pens--I haven't been able to store a spare short internation-size cartridge in the receptacle, which is possible with other makes when you're using short cartridges. The magical-thinking part of my brain* says the fact that I order this pen last Friday is the reason I found the missing Waterman half over the weekend. *Oh. come on. We all have one, so don't act like it's a big deal. The problem is when you start taking that part of the brain seriously for purposes other than creative inspirations. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
7:37 am	May Day The ILWU west coast longshore workers have voted to stop work to protest the US war and occupation on Iraq and Afghanistan on May Day 2008. They have also called on the AFL-CIO, Change To Win (CTW) and other labor organizations to join them in action on May Day against the war and to commemorate the International Workers Holiday. This website has been set up to help publicize this action and to get support from workers throughout the US. Please let us know if your union or organization can endorse and take other actions. The Longshore Caucus passed an antiwar resolution to stop work in all U.S. West Coast ports on May 1, 2008 for 8 hours to protest the Democrats' and Republicans' continuing to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The resolution from Local 10 encountered vigorous debate. In the end the overwhelming consensus to take dock action to stop the war prevailed. It was Vietnam veterans who turned the tide in the debate overwhelmingly in favor the resolution, "For Workers' Action to Stop the War". As the President of Local 34 Richard Cavalli stated this resolution follows ILWU Local 10 and 34's successful Labor Conference to Stop the War held in San Francisco Oct. 20, 2007, as reported in the ILWU's newspaper, The Dispatcher. When I told my landlord, the old railroad guy, about this, we ended up talking about unions and work issues in the US currently. He said he felt the unions made a major mistake when they didn't call a general strike when Reagan fired to air traffic controllers back in the 1980s. They showed they were willing to be pushed around. If the question is "What would Walter Reuther or John L. Sullivan do?", the answer is not: Let them take other workers down because, hey, it's not your problem. Me, I'm not in a union (state employees here have a lobbying group, not a union; we can't call a strike). I'll be at my desk, because these claims for Iraq war vets keep showing up, and I'd hate to make one sit an extra day. But May Day is the day for workers' rights, and even if you have a nice white-collar job, remember--capital is not instrinsically evil, but capitalists need watchin'. You may work in air-conditioning and not have to punch a clock, but you're still a worker, and if the workers don't watch out for each other, who will? The ILWU are standing up for some people who right now are getting a lousy deal. Perhaps you've seen the bits in the news about the VA falsifying reports of the suicide rate for Iraq War veterans, or the recent piece about the vile state of the barracks some returning troops found waiting for them at Ft. Bragg, complete with backed-up sewage from malfunctioning bathroom plumbing. You have surely heard about the stop-loss phenomenon, and the equipment and supply problems our troops are facing, and the inadequacies in medical care at places like Walter Reed. The military payroll system is so antiquated that wounded troops are charged for equipment losses for items that should be recorded as "lost in service"--like the things thrown aside when the medics treated their wounds in the field. The Republicans in Congress blocked a pay raise for the troops not that long ago because it was, in their considered opinion, too generous. It's an election year. Find out how your senators and congressional representatives voted on these issues. Demand clear statements from all the candidates about military issues, all the way from "How do we get our people the hell out of there?" through the medical care, housing, pay, and equipment issues. Do not settle for weasel words. Make it plain that you'll be checking up on whoever gets elected, and letting them know if you think they delivered. As citizens, we have a moral responsibility to support our troops, the people in the funny-looking camouflage uniforms, whatever we may think of the people in the Pentagon, or the wars the government sends them out to fight. We have a duty to make sure they get fair and decent treatment, and that they don't get sent out to fight just because it seems more exciting to a neoconservative that other means would. War should always be a last resort, not the multi-tool you try and fix everything with, but the men and women we keep around for that last resort deserve to be treated as well as we would like to be treated ourselves. And three cheers for the ILWU for representin'. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
10:46 pm	More of the Legendary Hero Because it amuses me. ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
7:28 am	Last night I saw part of Born to Dance, with the amazing Eleanor Powell, Jimmy Stewart in his incarnation as juvenile lead, and-- (Wait for it) (Yes, I am tormenting you on purpose) Buddy Ebsen, as a pretty funny dancer, all knees and elbows and improbably long limbs. Yes, he did have a career before TVLand. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
9:23 pm	Wiktory! In fact, Wiktory! times 2-- I have managed to find the business end of my Waterman Reflex fountain pen, which had become separated from the cap, which (bereft of its reason for being) remained clipped inside the spiral of the pocket notebook I had been carrying it in. The reunion is complete, the nib is undamaged, and the cartridge hadn't even dried out. The young spotted cat has deigned to be petted. Not just touched as he passed by at a high rate of speed, but actually rubbed around the ears and scritched on the jaw. Granted, he was mostly trying to get Jemmy's attention while the bold pirate was parked on my lap, but he willingly accepted these attentions from the monkey, and allowed as how they weren't too horrible, although the petting he used to get back home was much nicer. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
10:40 am	progress Shorter Young Spotted Cat: OMG you are a big scary monkey please don't try and touch me there needs to be some food in my dish would you mind helping me play with that feather onna stick no no don't try and touch me big scary monkey OMG Zaza looked at me will she rend me limb from limb no I will run up and down the stairs with Jemmy will Minerva let me walk past her or will she hiss at me like last time no she is sniffing my face and trying to lick the top of my head oh noes the big scary monkey is coming this way and will try and touch me now the big scary monkey has just stepped over me as if I wasn't there but now I will try to play with Jemmy/ repeat da capo al fine (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
12:57 pm	small spotted cat He's getting braver, but is still terrified of the dog. He's cautious around Minerva, who grandly displays a kindly indifference, inclined to keep a safe space where Jemmy is concerned, as he can see he's outmatched, careful around Belle, who is old and cranky, and inclined to retreat when he's near Zaza--who is inclined to pursue, to what ends I know not. He is brave wnough to come and complain when he's hungry, though. (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
8:01 am	A most important anniversary Explained at The Edge of the American West. "It will be readily admitted that the pleasures of reading and conversing, the advantage of accuracy in business, the necessity of clearness and precision in communicating ideas, require us to be able to speak and write our own tongue with ease and correctness."--Noah Webster, from "An Essay on the Necessity. Advantages, and Practicality of Reforming the Mode of Spelling . . ." (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 21st, 2008
9:07 am	My, my Sunday evening, after an exciting weekend spent wrangling an old bookcase out and a new bookcase in*, I watched Zu Warriors/The Legend of Zu, which was Tsui Hark's revisit to the scene of an earlier film, sort of. This is not a man to give an unlimited budget for CGI effects. If, like a lot of the people who commented on this film over at Amazon, I had dropped $15-$20 for the DVD, I would have been doubting whether it was worth it. Since it came via Netflix, I am at peace. Trying to figure out whether the extremely brief and enigmatic appearances by Zhang Ziyi were the set-up for another film that has not yet been made, but at peace. Luckily, the DVD offers the option to choose the original Chinese cut (with English subtitles, which aren't any siller than the rest of the movie) or the version resulting from the Miramax efforts to edit the movie, which are not well-thought of. This is the movie with the character that has metal wings that come and go, as needed, and the CGI ballistic skulls, and the teeny red fairy with butterfly wings** In addition, it has Cecilia Cheung with way too much styling product in her hair, and Jacky (or Jason) Wu*** with no hair at all. __________________ *I had no choice. Significant system failure was occurring. Cats were also noodled, the new cat spotted a time or two (he stil hates us), the dog consoled, the hall light re-repaired, trash dumped, and books moved around. **I accept that I am probably misusing the word ballistic here. ***Because using the name his loving parents gave him, Jing, would not be cool enough for the world of martial-arts films, or at least for marketing in anglophone countries, just like a movie that has both Jackie Chan and Jet Li also has to have an American actor as the protagonist, no matter how unknown, incompetent, or uninteresting to the audience he may be. You'll notice that the ads on Tv only mention Jet Li and Jackie Chan--surely this would serve as a tip to American producers that we really don't care, since the movie has Jackie Chan and Jet Li in it? Also, Journey into the West really doesn't need a modern framing plot to get it to make more sense. Once the Monkey King gets into it, sense is not going to be making frequent appearances anyway. The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven is not so much opposed to sense as sense is irrelevant when he's part of the picture. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 18th, 2008
6:45 pm	The Legendary Hero--Episode One It's early in the Tang Dynasty, and the subject nations are restless--which is. no doubt, why this show opens with the Emperor Taizong in peril. ( Read more... ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
10:05 am	Silent as the night unless of course, he sees another cat, or worse yet, the dog. Yes, the kid has tired of his digs in the back room and figured out how to open the door so he could mix with the rest of us. Or rather, lurk about the place, hiding under and behind things, eying the humans dubiously and the cats intently, and the dog with thinly-veiled horror. He's not too impressed with any of the names we've tried on him yet. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
10:44 am	Although they did not know, the world had changed forever The latest opera chez Fidelio was Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.* It was pretty, and if I hadn't seen some of the old-style opera seria things, I wouldn't have noticed much beyond the small cast (three singers and a chorus) and the very simple plot. Both of these things would stand out if what you were used to was the grand productions of the 19th century, or those modern operas where there is no chorus, or very little. The thing that makes Orfeo so radically different from the earlier works of Handel and others is the way Gluck arranged the singing, and tried to balance text and music so as to serve the form of the drama. I've read that Gluck foreshadows Wagner; certainly, they agree that the point of the whole thing is the story, and that the music, like the libretto, is there for the purpose of the story. The recitatives flow more naturally into the arias, and in some cases, appear more like duets that the old-style dry recitative. I think the music may have used some of the things from the revised version done for the Paris production in the 1770s; certainly, there was a lot of dancing, not all of which I cared for (and some of which Gluck would, I think, have found a little startling, like the boat load of souls wearing loincloths and nothing else, who, as Orfeo enters Hades, roll out of the boat and writhe about on the floor face-down; after a while, I found myself wondering if they were dry-humping the stage, or whether there was some subtle point I was not clever enough to grasp). As a lot of the dancing involved point work, it was Not Contemporary for the opera, but for the most part it was actually relevant to the action, which was one of Gluck's other hobby-horses. The music itself hovers on the cusp between old-school Baroque and late 18th century Classical. I'm not altogether sold on the use of glow-in-the-dark turbans for the Chorus; upon Orfeo's entry into Hades, they appeared, arranged on risers in the backdrop; with their bodies covered by dark fabric, and their heads crowned by these turbans (which appeared white under normal lighting later) like a lot of little blue light bulbs; perhaps the intent was for a flock of will o'the wisps, or blue flames, or something. It was a bit distracting, as was the video director's decision to use double exposures, so that at one point we had Orfeo-on-Orfeo, from two different angles (why?), and during Orfeo's serenade of Hades, we had Orfeo-and-harpist-in-orchestra, which ruined the illusion of Orfeo playing his lyre. This illusion would have been helped by Bernadette Manca di Nassa doing something other than just waving the lyre around for emphasis, and pointing it at people as if it was able to exercise its superpowers even when not being played. This was a live production, staged in Naples' Teatro di San Carlo, which is an interior worth seeing, judging from the glimpses I got. The Royal Box is not shy about its reason for existing, to say the least. Generally, the staging was not outré--there were none of those WTF?! moments I've had seeing other productions, except for the guys-in-loincloths bit I mentioned earlier, and I can see how the 18th-century insistence on lots of dancing in an opera can cause problems for modern productions, since modern audiences are not as accustomed to expect lots of dancing in our operas, and certainly don't expect the sort of courtly set dances that were The Thing back then. For the most part, Gluck would have been able to watch this without having to throw his wig at anyone. It's worth seeing this one, if only to get a good idea of an intermediate stage in opera development; certainly, this would be a nice example to do that with, and it might even be helpful to those of us (like me) who are trying to retrofit opera seria into our idea of what opera is. (6 Comments |Comment on this)