I know there are people who don’t care for Sondheim (I married one of them). Those people, I’m afraid, are wrong. This particular rondelay has been going through my head all day:
__
Somebody hand the new guy his bass-viol. What’s on the agenda this weekend?
Louise
Sondheim = Genius
I suppose one could acknowledge this despite being unmoved by his music. Fortunately, I love it, so I can celebrate him without reservation. The end of Sunday in the Park with George gets me every time.
TrishB
I’ve had “Send In the Clowns” running through my mind for a week. It needs to go.
Yutsano
@TrishB: I’d honestly shoot myself. Fortunately I’m pretty good at controlling the music shuffle function in my brain. Earworms can be nasty buggers however.
Phoebe
I’m not clicking on whatever that is if it’s going to scrape at my brain.
Open threadwise, I know we’re supposed to hate Conrad Black for whatever bad thing he did, but I love love http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/30/archive-conrad-black-on-teaching-fellow-inmates/love him for this, which cracked me up.
Terminated
Hi, posting under another assumed name-
I’m certain to be fired from my part time job for absenteeism. I’m receiving unemployment benefits from a previous job loss, and my state (Iowa) unemployment guide says that I have to inform them if I am fired from or quit any part time job while receiving benefits. Can anyone tell me if I could lose my benefits for being fired? The guide does state that absenteeism is misconduct- just wondering if anyone can help me from personal experience, or knowledge of relevant law.
Phoebe
Edit fail. No no no. I love him for THIS.
LesGS
@Phoebe: Edit moar…
asiangrrlMN
Do not particularly care for Sondheim, but I do not loathe him. I am in a low mood so any emo music would be appreciated. kthxbai.
@LesGS: Click on THIS. For some reason, when you use all caps, the blue link think doesn’t show up, but it’s there.
Batocchio
Anne Laurie, you’re awesome! If we can’t drive Erik away with fact-checking, maybe show tunes will work!
Just kidding. The variety’s a good thing.
Origuy
Speaking of tangled webs, my former top boss got himself in one.
He still got a severance package worth 12.2 million plus stock and options worth 20 extra-large.
Meanwhile, the severance packages for laid-off employees kept shrinking.
asiangrrlMN
@Origuy: Your link is broken. You fix! (h/t Steeplejack).
Origuy
@asiangrrlMN:
Worked for me, but the Mercury News has a login page that I automatically bypass.
The San Francisco Chronicle has a similar article.
Emo show tune? On My Own from Les Miserables
Yutsano
Speaking of random earworms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v9CXiFUKVk&feature=related
Yes it’s only worth listening to in French, get over it.
(Edited to change video version)
eco2geek
@Terminated: Were you formally or informally warned about attendance issues prior to being fired? If so, did you do what the warning told you to do to keep from being fired?
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: The word worth does not mean what you think it means.
@Origuy: Wait–that guy’s your boss? I just read about that tonight on Yahoo! Huh. Hoocoodan–oh, screw it. It’s all too common. Thanks for the song. The lyrics fit perfectly with my mood. The tune is a bit too cheerful, though.
In a similar vein, there’s this emo show tune–which also suits my mood.
Anne Laurie
@asiangrrlMN: Hah! Here’s the geek version of that tune for you…
eco2geek
@asiangrrlMN: OK, choose your emo music: the upbeat and sweet voice of Vanessa Williams or the raw and downer Kurt Cobain.
(Or if you prefer your emo in French, here’s Francis Cabrel. Mmmm.)
Bon soir.
Facebones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7XRg8scL7o
One of my favorite Broadway shows.
stuckinred
Muslims in the Pentagon, oh my!
Sly
@eco2geek:
I’ll take the raw and downer Kurt Cobain… Rastafied!
wilfred
Too funny:
Imagine if it was someone with a Jewish sounding surname at an Arab country’s airport.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3931210,00.html
Svensker
@wilfred:
I also like how the remedy for this is to make sure VIPs get better treatment in the future. No comment on what a non-VIP Arab would go through and what relief they’d have.
Karen S.
@Phoebe:
Yeah, I worked at one of Lord Black of Crossharbour’s papers, one of the Sun-Times “properties.” He’s a grade-A jerk who can occasionally be amusing, but then the jerkiness rears its ugly head and all is right with the world.
Karen S.
Open thread! Yea!!!!!
My wife and I are thrilled that our California marriage has not, so far, been invalidated by some boneheaded legislation and/or court ruling. We’re going on vacation, driving across the country together for the first time from Chicago to New Mexico, specifically to the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico where we will camp for a week. We’ve been planning this trip since the beginning of the year, so I’m glad my boss at my new job hired me despite my telling him that I’d be gone for most of August. While we’re in New Mexico we’ll be visiting Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Any recommendation from anyone familiar with that area for dining, art, entertainment?
Thanks in advance.
Perfect Tommy
The latest Ground Zero conspiracy outrage is that the first buildings built at the former WTC site have green roofs and one of the roofs is dome shaped. This is a cause for patriotic outrage because the green dome is an Islamic symbol. Only problem is that the buildings they are upset about are the World Financial Center that were built in the 1980’s and stood across the street from the WTC complex. These folks have lost their minds.
Bhall35
Absolutely. Sondheim is one of the greats.
PurpleGirl
@Perfect Tommy: Link please. Factoid: The WFC is built on land-fill from the construction of the Towers. They had to put the dirt somewhere, so they added onto the island.
Allan
I see what you did there… and I love it!
Perfect Tommy
@PurpleGirl: It’s a Facebook Link not sure if it works outside of that context. It looks like the picture was originally added in May but it was shared with me last evening.
The comments are frightening.
Cat Lady
@Karen S.:
Santa Fe is awesome, and if it’s your first time there, you’ll just love it. I was just there at the end of July, although I’ve spent a lot of time there in the past.
Not sure if you’ll be there for Indian Market but it’s hopping. The Plaza is the commercial center and you can poke around in the shops for hours. There are many places to eat – some are even cheap. I had a great pizza at this place on the Plaza. Loved the sausage with green chile and the local microbrew made in the same building. Get everything with green chile, BTW.
There are great galleries, and the museums near the Plaza are worth the admission for some wonderful western art. If you can get tickets to the opera it’s worth going (although pricey). For relaxation, Ten Thousand Waves is a great place for hot tubs – on the side of a mountain. If you go further afield, the spa at Ojo Caliente is quite an experience. Drive up to the Santa Fe ski basin and hike the trail to the top – but drink plenty of water. It’s pretty high up there, so take it easy. If you’re going to be there through Fiesta time, even better. Santa Fe has the original Burning Man. It’s crazy. Have a blast, and enjoy the weather!
Cat Lady
I must have said something that included the dick pill word and now I’m being moderated. I haz a sad.
FYWP!
Svensker
@Perfect Tommy:
Disgusting. And pig ignorant. I need to go do some nice clean work to get this filth out of my head.
PurpleGirl
@Perfect Tommy: Thanks. Since I have a Facebook account it let me on the page. I usually do not read comments on these types of things because I know I will want to throw something at my computer screen…
I had done a quick search and couldn’t find something through Google about such an idea. However I did find something claiming that the cultural center/mosque was to open on the 10th anniversary (9/11/11). I read a few of the comments there…. I must say people have no idea of how long it takes to build a 13-story building. Even if they started tomorrow, I doubt it would be finished in a year, between the structure stuff and interior finishing work.
debit
@asiangrrlMN: Don’t know if this will work for you, but I love it. Warning: it’s country. Qualifier: I hate country and I repeat; I love this.
Karen S.
@Cat Lady:
Thanks, Cat Lady! This will be our first time in NM, so I’m so excited about it. I have heard about the green chiles and I probably will get them on everything. I’m looking forward to having a green chile cheeseburger and anything else with green chiles.
The spa and hot tub place sounds great, just up our alley!
Thanks again!
Cat Lady
@Karen S.:
If you want a GREAT local cheeseburger with green chile in Santa Fe, DEFINITELY go here. So, so so good. It’s usually my first stop. It’s right at the St. Francis end of Guadelupe Street.
Phoebe
@LesGS: I tried. I really did. I even tried deleting and starting over.
Glen Tomkins
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Sondheim
It’s just that, musically, he’s not trying for anything different than what Verdi and Donizzetti, or even Arthur Sullivan for that matter, did much better. The only new element in a Sondheim piece, compared to real opera or even a traditional musical, is the sardonic attitude towards the story being presented. This is not an advance or improvement — quite the contrary.
If the stories that Verdi or Donizzetti tell don’t appeal to you, if you can’t find in them anything but the hopelessly naive and transparent, fine, that’s not a difference or distinction in taste and comprehension that anyone could ever argue you out of. But Sondheim and his admirers ought to be able to see that the musical toolset you use to tell a Verdi story is wholly unsuited to the sort of anti-Verdi stories they find resonant.
Emma
Anne Laurie, I don’t know if I love you more for the Sondheim or for the Torchwood!
tommytimp
Anne Laurie-It’s actually a cello. That instrument which is closest to the classical depiction of a woman’s body, and which the sexually frustrated divinity student plays so incessantly. No subtext there…
asiangrrlMN
@Anne Laurie: That was an excellent version, Anne Laurie. Sadly, I didn’t recognize either show, though.
@eco2geek: I choose…ALL three! I dug each for entirely different reasons.
@debit: Girl, that hit the spot. Really tasty, and like you, I am not a country and/or western fan.
asiangrrlMN
@Karen S.: Congratulations! That’s wonderful. I cannot help you with your trip at all, but have a good time.
@Cat Lady: You had too many links. You can have three per post. If you are replying to someone, though, you can only have two.
@Phoebe: Your second attempt works–it’s just that when you put the link in all caps, it doesn’t show up blue.
Ken J.
@Anne Laurie:
I’ve been wallowing in the BBC Proms classical concert series, on the intertubes radio. Last week they did a Sondheim evening; I’ll see if I can bounce you a tape of it.
Earlier they did a Doctor Who Prom concert, mostly aimed at the younger market, with a mix of music composed for the show and some big classical showpieces.
Does the husband follow the Proms? Much of it would be his taste, I think.
About five weeks of the BBC Proms concert festival left. 1-4 concerts every day, all available for on-demand streaming for 7 days after original air date.
Oh, yeah, and: Smoke Fairies!!
low-tech cyclist
Already heard enough Sondheim for one lifetime, thanks. People who go on about his genius confuse me as much as those folks who compare Oasis favorably with the Beatles, because there’s never been a ‘there’ there in any of his stuff I’ve seen on stage or heard on recordings.