Exams are like the Ring Cycle: it never seems to end. Fortunately, today marks the end of my fourth block examinations. After three grueling weeks of hammering things like names of various testosterone preparations, why old men leak a lot but never spray, and the wonderful things you can grow from vaginal discharge, I am finally free!
On the other hand, it also marks the first day of the study leave. The finals are looming, and I... I never know what to do for these things. I have very short attention span (more reason to love Bellini-esque melodies!) so it's almost impossible to stay attached to the desk and read tomes heavier than my head. At the end of the day I just hope I do well enough to satisfy powers that be.
Speaking of which, I have been watching both seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race back-to-back, watching beautiful people doing beautiful stuff. The tension's worthy of an atonal opera, and if only these people were the costumiers of the recent-est Met mega-flop, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad.
My favorite contestant for first season is Shannel. She has such energy in every performance that it's impossible to look away. She had a dramatic run too: losing her wig during lip-syncing, costumes that burn into your mind, and proposing herself for elimination. I don't know why but I understand that: there comes a time when other people's judgement just sounds like bullshit. And those eyes! The only thing that scares me more is Jessye Norman's mouth!
The second season is like dripping in drrrrama sauce! But my fave is easily Pandora Boxx. She's such a pleasant girl, but she really draws you in, kinda like a Liù with a very well-acted death scene. And funny, too! Her Carol Channing kills! I don't know if she was booted out due to ageism or anything, but she looks like 21 going on to 16!
Oh God. I am really easily depressed right now. But no matter, because recently I have purchased one of Leontyne Price' greatest works, the legendary Blue Album (Leontyne Price). It was aural Eden: the cover was extremely classy & timeless (unlike Gheorghiu's Verdi Heroines, where the green cover just look like bile splashed on her face), and the singing was... Lordy. And she actually changed the whole timbre of her (well, heroic) voice for Sogno di Doretta aria! It was amazing! And well, after Moffo, her Tu che di gel sei cinta was as close to perfection as you can get. As for the Verdi excerpts, they were testament to why she was the Verdi soprano of the 20th century. Clever, also, putting Aïda excerpts as the first three tracks. You can have the 1997 remastered version here, where they took the Il Trovatore scena from another 1959 recording.
And of course, a drop of greatness from an ocean of art:
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