Pugs. An endless topic. But did you ever notice one tiny detail about them?
Up until now I have not realised it myself. You never ever see a bloke walking around with a pug, do you?! It dawned on me when I met the only exception: one of my neighbours. When I encountered a guy with a pug on my way back home from work today I first looked at the dog and thought only 3 things: "pug" + "male person" = "must be my neighbour". When I looked from the dog to its owner I discovered that it actually was the truth. I faced my neighbour who already waved cheerily at me. Gosh, I am still speechless that my equation worked out. And that was the point when it dawned on me, guys usually don't walk around with pugs, do they? Have you ever met one? Me not - apart from my neighbour of course.
We're currently planning our next trip to London in August 2012. "Planning" and "me" usually doesn't fit together but at this early stage it includes searching for interesting theatre plays and musical shows. Hence I'm completely in my element. So far we already have tickets for "Matilda", "War Horse" and "Richard III" - I'm very excited about it. Excited in a kind of I-can't-stop-to-grin-when-I-think-about-it way.
Since clever us bought tickets for matinees we still have three free evenings dates and want to squeeze in even more plays/shows. Forget leisure time, we are theatre addicts. Unfortunately we are kind of picky and have a whole list of actors which we'd loooove to see on stage ♥
Problem is that we are waiting and waiting and waiting and only waiting is boring. So I thought it'd dedicate a new post to our little... uh... problem. That's when I came up to publish my very own personalised actors-wishlist, maybe someone out there - in the very deep, deep depths of web 2.0 - knows some dates and would help us out of our misery? That would be tremendously kind of you.
"Vero's personalised actors-wishlist"
Tom Mison( ) Tom Riley ( ) Alan Rickman ( ) Samuel Barnett (√) - already have tickets for one of his plays - lucky, lucky us :) Benedict Cumberbatch ( ) Humphrey Ker ( ) Russell Tovey ( ) ...
and many, many others.
PS: and if you know really good plays we shouldn't miss and which will be staged round the mid/end of August, feel also very free to contact me. Email details on the right side (bottom) of this blog → → → → → →
I know that I should probably be studying for upcoming exams. Okay, delete the "probably", I should be most definitely studying for upcoming exams but first I have to share a very exciting piece of news with you.
(Insert trumpet blast) Today I managed to scan a book with 180 pages in only 10 min. Picture that. A book with 180 pages in only 10 min. Guiness Book of Records where are you? And while scanning the whole book in only 10 min. I also managed to talk with a colleague at the same time. What does this tell us? I should probably get a job as a professional "scan person" - not sure though that such a job profile does exist. IF it would exist though... trust me, I would be a star.
There you go, while listening to RTÉ's classic drive, I stumbled over another potential aspirant for the soundtrack of my life. We're slowly getting there. Haendels "Sarabande"... truly beautiful.
Once upon a time there was a group of ten young tenors in training who thought it might be a good idea to form a group to earn some extra money for beer. Surely those ten tenors must have been Australian. The ten tenors were very creative and called themselves: The Ten Tenors. How unique. They became a relatively "huge" success in Europe. Well, in Germany mostly. They started with a repertoire of classical and not so classical music.
Ten years and a day passed. The members of the Ten Tenors might have all changed by now (they do that on a regular basis) - most of their repertoire hasn't (that could be the topic of another blog post of mine).
It seems though that the attitude towards their fans might have also changed a bit during the years. Really? It is a "lovely" interview of The Ten Tenors which contains a few references to their fan base which brought it to my mind. I copied all the genuinely lovely comments of back then musical director Graham Foote for my post. You surely don't want to miss out on them. I was sooooo touched, it really shows their genuine appreciation and how much they seem to value their fans.
"(...) Underwear-throwing by their largely female fan base is a common occurrence on tour. ''It's not usually the kind of underwear we want to be thrown at us,'' says Foote. ''It tends to be a little bit large and a little bit white and a bit cotton for my personal taste.''
Some of the more zealous European fans have taken their dedication to worrying extremes, posing as the tenors' wives and swindling room keys from hotel security. So do they return to their hotel rooms to find the bed covered in rose petals? ''Rose petals and Spanx [body-shaping underwear],'' deadpans Foote. ''Terrifying.'' (...)" the whole interview
The message of Graham Foote is really, really charming and he says such kind words concerning the Ten Tenors fans. I don't know about the hotel room incidents but the article put it like it happens in about every second town? How shocking. Wonder why there aren't any rumours of it yet in the usually very well informed fan gossip factory? Maybe I haven't listened closely enough? As to the "Underwear-throwing by their largely female fan base is a common occurrence on tour" part. IS it? Oh my gosh and why have I never witnessed ANY of it either? Never mind of which size or colour, I would love to see it. I always seem to miss out on the best part. How annoying. And why has the gossip factory failed once again because surely, others would have witnessed and spread the word?!
The occurrences mentioned seem to aim mostly at European fans (and European seems to be a synonym for German in Australia)... Gossip factory failed AGAIN? Maybe the writer, Annabel Ross, exaggerates? Or maybe wishful thinking? I don't know, I haven't yet considered to throw my own underwear on any stage.
And if I may just add one last thought for Graham Foote? Better not bite the hand that feeds you, it might bite back one day!
It all started quite harmless in the morning. I was almost too late for the bus... again - this has become a really bad habit of mine recently... I blame it on the bus, since the bus stop is right next to my place I'm always late. I had a talk with a professor after the first course concerning my soon-to-be presentation which went very well. She really seemed to like my ideas and gave me a few secondary literature recommendations concerning my subject. Fine with me. But then it all started, with a very impressive "Bang!". Not joking and quite literally. I accidentally bumped into a glass wall mistaking it for a door. There were witnesses involved. My most embarrassing moment of the day. But it got worse. In another course I learnt that I also have to present a paper which I hadn't expected. And as if that wouldn't be quite bad already, the subject is even worse: about Gothic verbs. Horrid. But if you think it can't get worse you are quite mistaken. Prof also suddenly mentioned an exam and I have no idea whatsoever what happens if there will be one because frankly speaking we haven't learnt that much after all... And if you think that is bad, think again. I went into town and went to the postoffice, when I left it again, I suddenly faced a whole and big and scary group of "Krampusse" (if you don't know the meaning, just use google, type it in and go to the picture section *scary stuff*). I have no idea where they came from but they were kind of very scary and the only thing I thought would help me to actually pass the group without them noticing me and my immense panic was to behave as normal as possible and not panic-stricken at all even though I most certainly felt that way. Hence I put the earphones of my mp3 player into my ears and on full volume and tried to walk as if I didn't care a thing. Obviously it worked. They didn't bother me. Phew. I went to the library to pick up this huge pile of books I intended to read during Christmas holidays before I knew about the new presentation. Even though that doesn't matter anyway because I will still have to read my way through the pile. Another load is waiting for me. And one was at home already. So there you go... Merry Christmas to me, at least I won't get bored during the festive season, that's for sure...
... again. This time with Tamino aka Maximilian Kiener in The Little Magic Flute currently staged at a theatre in Salzburg. And how shall I sum it all up? Best with my back then status update:
It was totally worth to wait for Tamino all these years... ♥
How come? I first laid eyes on Maximilian Kiener when he had a guest role in the musical "Cabaret". At least I think it was Cabaret? Anyway, it was a musical and it was a guest role and he was still a student of the Mozarteum University. He was already stunning and also the reason I literally had to buy really expensive tickets for the Summer Festival in Salzburg. He sang Oebalus in the Latin Mozart Opera "Apollo et Hyacinthus". Actually it was the cheapest category, the row before the very last row so I don't even want to think about the costs of another category. But it was totally worth it even though I didn't understand a single thing except of the names of course ... ;-)
Then I lost sight of him. Years later I found him again as part of the Salzburg Comedian Harmonists (yes, I can be quite persistent) - unfortunately I was too late for tickets for their shows. The bad luck continued. Several times Maximilian Kiener was actually involved in Operas of the Landestheater in Salzburg but always as a guest and I was always too late to find out about it. Things changed. Last time I looked for him, I stumbled across someone else I really like and was extremely happy about the coincidence. But I never forgot about Maximilian Kiener and there you go, last time I had a good look around I actually did find him again: in a children's version of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Totally okay with me, I was delighted and after I was able to persuade my best friend to join me, we went, we saw and we were both smitten. Awww. I love his voice. There you go, I'm addicted again. I already bought his album "Der kleine Rosengarten" and can't stop listening to it. Today I went to the library and got myself a copy of The Salzburg Comedian Harmonists "Veronika, der Lenz ist da". I still want more. Can't wait till the person who has currently borrowed "Apollo et Hyacinthus" might actually return the DVD so that I can borrow it. To quote Dickens, Please Sir, I want some more.
Back to The Little Magic Flute. So very cute. Go and watch it if you are in Salzburg.
And just in case you might be intrigued now: http://www.tenor-maxkiener.com/
Up until now I have not realised it myself. You never ever see a bloke walking around with a pug, do you?! It dawned on me when I met the only exception: one of my neighbours.
