Monday, September 29, 2008

Smoking is not supposed to be attractive

Have you seen the movie, Good Night and Good Luck?
You ought to.
It'll make you want to smoke, but only if you could see the world entirely in black and white, and with perfect lighting.

*Image from celluloid-dreams.de

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Oh, so Posh

A favorite random, but rippin' sweet, wedding gift we received was a trifle dish. Who has ever actually eaten a trifle, let alone made one? Suffice it to say, Adam and I had not. A Friday night dinner party with some friends afforded the perfect opportunity.
Turned out good, eh?

P.S. Admit it, you're jealous. And, if you're wondering, it was delicious.
P.P.S. Technically, Adam did the work, but I've tooted his horn enough lately.
Stay tuned for more culinary explorations, including fondant roses. Ooooh.

Friday, September 26, 2008

I'm beginning to doubt that we need a president










The latest fun in Presidential news:

John McCain, noble statesmen that he is, has "suspended his campaign" in light of the financial crisis. He claims that he will not appear in this week's debate unless a compromise is reached regarding the 700-BILLION dollar bailout plan (don't even get me started on absurdness of this stunning piece of legislation). Excuse me - WHAT?

Here are the two possible motives for this ludicrous move:

a) John McCain wants the nation to see him as a truly selfless individual: presidential material. He will put aside his fondest dream to ensure the survival of the nation.

b) John McCain has been looking for an excuse to avoid debating face-to-face with Obama (Let's face it, Obama will clearly come out looking better). This provided him with the perfect opportunity.

The way I see it, he's playing politics either way. This is not a noble gesture. It is a ploy to get votes. Dang it, McCain, have some kind of shame. Can you sink any lower?

Read the full story here.

*images from Obama's website and timesonline.com

**UPDATE: And then McCain backs down and does the debate anyway. Way to stand up for your convictions, dude.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

I got the best one

Might as well keep up the trend of posting about my husband with this bulletin: Adam's wonderful. The other night, after trekking (I'm a wimp - it was only 5 blocks) around the city, my sweet husband drew me a nice warm bubble bath for my feet. It soothed their achiness and helped the blisters immensely. I like him. I'll probably keep him around.

I'm an Opera Singer's Wife

I am oh so proud of Adam tonight. The wonderful guy has gone and distinguished himself again, garnering praise, adoration, and causing many girls to be jealous of me. We like this. So, here's the scoop. Sherrill Milnes: baritone, immensely famous, incredibly good, top-tier, etc. Have you heard of him? Just do the wiki thing. Let's face it, that will tell you all the info you need to know. He came to our dear school and did a master class, as well as working one-on-two with a lot of the students in the voice program. Apparently my love didn't get a whole bunch out of his one-on-two session, but he was asked to be one of the 6 students selected to sing at the master class. I would be scared-out-of-my-skin nervous about this, but Adam showed no fear at the prospect of singing in front of a) a world-class opera singer b) a concert hall full of people, including his professors, private teachers, and bosses c) not to mention the fact that after the glorious event, afore-mentioned world-class opera singer would critique his every move. Not my idea of fun, but hey, Adam's a performer; he probably loved every second. To make a long story short, he was the highlight of the night (No joke - the girl sitting next to me was squealing, yelling, cat-calling and jumping out of her seat when Adam was on stage. I quote: "Best performance of the night, hands-down - I love him!" Clearly, cute-little-blondie had no idea she was sitting next to the illustrious performer's wife. But, since she obviously knew more about singing than I do, I trust her opinion - and her taste in guys). Fawning and adoration ensued. The man is amazing. No wonder I'm in love.

*top image from www.wiu.edu

Monday, September 22, 2008

Observations on an O.C. Tanner Gift of Music Concert

1. Tabernacle Choir ladies have big hair. Really big (except Nkoyo, who looked fabulous).2. Erich Kunzel parts his hair on the side of his head. No big deal, you're thinking - so do a lot of guys. Here's the difference: You're thinking of the side of the top of the head. When I said side, I meant side. But, he seems like a really cool guy.
3. Opera singers change outfits at intermission. WHAT?
4. There was a girl sitting in front of us with one small streak of purple in her blonde curls. I wish I could pull that off.
5. When wearing heels, even a short distance is a long way (more on this later).6. The Motab has these sparkly turquoise outfits which I have never seen before. Stuck in the 80's anyone?
7. Women of all ages hold their tickets in really interesting ways when using the restroom.
8. The sound delay in the Conference center is HUGE! Clapping along must drive the musicians bonkers.
9. I witnessed the most amazing moment of "choralography" (Adam's non-flattering terminology) ever. During an entire song, the whole Motab was facing backwards and I, for one, was confused. Then they did a slow turnaround and joined in singing for the exciting finale. I nearly fell off my chair.
10. When performing a solo that will be filmed and displayed on the big screen for thousands of people, maybe it's time to replace that tux shirt your neck has grown too large for. Just a thought. Because when you just hook your bowtie over the gap where you can't button that top button, thinking it won't show...let's just say that it showed. And I nearly died laughing. No really, I enjoyed the evening, and the concert immensely. It was incredibly well-done. These are simply observations.

On a side note, Adam and I decided that we judge how famous a person is by how many times their name appears in an average shift at Classical 89. Erich Kunzel averages about 1.5. Not too shabby. I mean, he's no Sir Neville Marriner or Herbert von Karajan, but he's doing pretty well for himself.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

You will laugh, you will cry, and then you will laugh harder and cry because you're laughing so freaking hard

If you have never seen a Bollywood movie, get on it. Life-changing is one of thousands of adjectives to describe these films. A personal favorite (clarification: one of the two that I've seen) is Kal Ho Naa Ho. You'll go crazy when I tell you the translation of the title: Tomorrow May Not Be. Now you're hooked. Drama, Melodrama, music videos, 4 different languages, death, life, wind-machines, suicide, adultery, slow-motion, reincarnation, etc. Naina, who has shut off her emotions from the world, ends up falling for her new neighbor, Aman, who has changed the way her whole family looks at the world. We, as the audience, know that Aman loves her as well, but has a secret. He can't marry her. So he tries to convince her to fall in love with her friend Rohit. Quite the love-triangle. The plot-twists will astound you, and the music videos (especially one based on "Pretty Woman" will make you want to boogie. Seriously. Even I was tempted to dance, and we all know that dancing is pretty much last on my favorite things to do list. Besides, I was laughing too hard to dance. Even my wonderful husband enjoyed himself, and (get this), didn't fall asleep. Get it. You won't regret it. And now to tantalize you, my favorite line:

Aman: Rohit, Naina is yours in this life. But in every life after this, in every birth, she will be mine. Promise me. Promise me.
Rohit: I promise.

HA HA HA HA HA HA! Amazing. No joke.

*pictures from http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/images/photos/kal_ho_naa_ho.jpg , http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/45/Kal_Ho_Naa_Ho.jpg , http://mimg.sulekha.com/hindi/kal-ho-naa-ho/Stills/kalhonahonew11.jpg , http://www.withfriendship.com/user/images/336/preethy-actress.jpg

Secrets, secrets, are no fun

The other night, Adam and I were both at our computers, a fairly typical attitude for us of an evening. Adam started to adjust, turning the screen of his laptop away from my line of sight. Clearly, I was intrigued. After inquiring as to the reason for this shunning, he simply looked mischievous. "It's a Surprise," was all I could get out of him. And now it's driving me crazy. Pretty soon I'll end up looking like this fine specimen of a person from Jane Eyre.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

This is not a cutesy blog. I hope.

Although I am a dedicated/addicted blog-stalker, the idea of writing my own blog seemed out of the question. I mean, let's face it - how could I join the ranks of Oh Happy Day and The NieNie Dialogues? They're out of this world. My life, clearly, has nothing to offer. However, after several people pointing out the complete hypocrisy of my predatory existence (feed on the words of others - never offering anything in return), and a sharp challenge directed specifically at myself (here), I succumbed, although, being the procrastinator that I am, I put the inevitable off for a while, claiming "I haven't thought of a genius title! A blog is nothing without a witty and smack-dab-on-the-mark title." The ideas for the title were coming, mainly based on bad puns on my name which have developed through the ages, but none seemed right. You can't call a blog "Bad to the Bon" unless you want a connotation of harleys and black leather. Rippin' Sweet sounds juvenile, though appropriate. Bonsai suggests that you have wisdom regarding small, long-lived trees, which is anything but true, and "twelve stops and home" is too obscure, kind of random, and possible copyrighted. Conundrum. Clearly. The list goes on. "My husband thinks he can cook" implies that he cannot and Bon Losee says too much about hair (mine doesn't deserve comment). Finally, bon's bonbons presented itself. Or should it be bonnie's bonbons? Or possibly bonbon's bonbons? And is it too cutesy? I'll eat my textbooks before I accuse myself of being cute or sy. In short (caveat here), if you are looking for recipes on how to make delicious treats such as the ones pictured atop the page, look elsewhere (and then link your findings to me, because dang, those look good). If your expectations run more along the lines of little bits of wisdom all tied up with a bow, like pieces of candy dropping from my mouth, you're still in the wrong place. This is simply a way for me to record the things that I love, am into, think are interested in, or have been mulling over.
A list of my loves, both large and small.