Mar 25 2022

Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial

Her statue by Penelope Juncks (1936-) is part of the Riverside Park. It seems a good prelude to the opera at the Met. Here in 2017 before Don Giovanni.

… and the West End Avenue

 


Mar 25 2022

72nd subway station

One of west side subway station in New York, housing red line, 1 (local), 2 and 3 (express). It was opened in 1904; ranks


Mar 25 2022

Eugene Onegin, 1879


This is my seventh of the season, also the last. Written by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and premiered on March 29, 1879 in Moscow’s Maly Theatre.

It has three acts (seven scenes). The music is beautiful but no climax like his violin concerto or piano concerto #1: heart pound & memorable.

The love story is based on a classic of Russian literature. An older sister falls in love with a friend of her sister


Mar 23 2022

Madama Butterfly, 1904


Madama Butterfly 🦋 by Giacomo Puccini @ the Met.

The opera was premiered in 1904 at the Milan‘s La Scala.

???

↑ another post cut off by DreamHost!

A short video made by my phone two years later:


Mar 18 2022

Covid-19 testing in 2022


The two self-test kits were ordered on Jan 18, 2022 from nachw.org and delivered by US Postal service a couple of weeks later. They are free and were made in China.

In a WeChat group, a woman who lives in German, causally mentioned that Germany’s test kits are from China too.


⇐ Shanghai residents are lining up for their test. Would someone get affected this way?

At the moment, WeChat and major media are filled with news about Shanghai’s battle with the disease. The lockdowns are severely disruptive and affecting residents gravely. From lining up to be tested multiple times again and again (guess they aren’t allowed to do the test at home, like we’re here in US/New York), as early as 6:30am on (April 4th), being lockdown at work places/offices (no condoms are provided), to shortage of foods, to deaths (a nurse was refused by the same hospital where she worked … ), corruption by officials with donated foods, to a group of volunteers in white suits are seen beating up a man (Shanghai seems to have a Lianyang 联阳小区), to how people walk there dog/pet, migrant workers aren’t being discriminated,  … Some are posted by my friends while others are forwarded by friends, which I couldn’t vouch for (maybe true or maybe just a prank). 强菜. The lines for required repeated testing 测核酸 are very long: Shanghai, Shanghai, 临时出入证 temp pass. Beijing, Qingdao, Tianjin and Tangshan, etc. are also experiencing area lockdowns. Xi’An, like Wuhan in 2020, had more than four week city-wide long lockdown (Dec 22 to Jan 24). Army descend on April 3 (4th in Shanghai). There are humors too, lessening the dire situation.

This contagious disease starting from WuHan since 2019, and now the Coronavirus Omicron variant (CDC), is still raging on. Most of us have the buster shots, and many others refuse even the first shots – such as the episode played out by Joker (Djokovic) at Australian Open – because he wasn’t vaccinated and therefore was deported.

Initially, China seemed to contain the virus better than U.S. and the West, after lockdown Wuhan (武汉封城) in 2020 for nearly three months (Jan 23 to Apr 8). It would be months before President Xi Jinping was seen in public. The bragging of ‘抄作业…copy homework’ as “they don’t know how to copy our homework” on the Chinese social media was deafening.

Nearly two years later, at the moment, China is experiencing another wave of attack from the virus.

Here is my question: If we can have made in China test at home, why can’t the Chinese in China?

这两个试剂盒是我于2022 年 1 月 18 日从一个 .org网站免费订购,几周后由邮政服务免费递到邮箱. 它们是在中国制造的. 一位住在德国的女士在我们的微信群里, 随意提到德国的试剂盒也是来自中国. 问题: 为什么国内的亲朋戚友们需要去排长队测验呢? 祈望大家都平安无事健康快乐 [拥抱][拥抱]

An elderly couple who are 90 years old, have to come down to do the testing. I’m wondering is this really necessary? My friend’s kindergarten granddaughter, after testing, returned home, lined up her toys to be tested.

我们小区笫4轮核酸了, 1是清晨我到门囗抢着买了点带鱼和夹心肉, 蔬菜亲家送了点过来. 2刚才开始排队测核酸了,  今天是2O人一队也就20人混一管测核酸. 3是我们楼上一对90岁的相依为命的老夫妻, 老先生是个总程程师老太太是个小学校长. 5儿子也要为他们俩与小孙女准备午饭了, 媳妇因工作关系已在单位吃住睡好多天了. 6是小孙女把她心爱玩具排成一圈给她们做核酸.

New York streets ⇓

I don’t understand, why Chinese in China have to line up get tested, repeatedly? Can’t they use the same testing kits that are available to us? Also, there are so many testing tents on the street in the City and hardly anyone is using them.

这两个试剂盒是我于2022 年 1 月 18 日从 nachw.org 免费订购,几周后由美国邮政服务免费递到邮箱. 它们是在中国制造的. 一位住在德国的女士在我们的微信群里,随意提到德国的试剂盒也是来自中国. 为什么国内的朋友们需要去排长队测验呢? 无意拉仇 只是想不通.


Mar 18 2022

Three recitals @ Juilliard


The first performer @ Juilliard  is pianist Wynona Yinuo Wang, who is from Beijing. She played at Paul Hall: Mozart sonata No 13 in B-flat major, K 333, Chen Yi (1953-)’s Ba Ban (difficult to listen), and Rachmaninoff’s  piano sonata No 1 in D minor, Op 28.
Her hair and dress look old and stiff.

After a quick dinner @ Manny’s Bistro, we went to the second recital is violinist Eric Tsai who is from Taiwan, performed at Paul Hall: Mozart violin sonata in A Major K526 (in his word: hopeful laughter);
Jean Sibelius Five Pieces for violin and piano Op81 (austere humor);
Brahms violin sonata No 3 in D minor, Op 108 (the anguished soul-wrenching)
and Hsiao Tyzen (蕭泰然 1938-2015): The Sojourner (the nostalgic wishfulness) and Meditation.
He’s easy on the eye with a good humor and diction.

The third recital, also a pianist, Jin Dongxu who’s from Beijing as well. Played @ Morse Hall: Schubert piano sonata B flat minor D960, pretty perfect and Chopin 24 preludes Op28 with some sour notes.

   


Mar 18 2022

Manny’s Bistro


225 Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10023

Will return.

Between the recitals at Juilliard we stopped here for a quick dinner.

Despite of their computer or network is down, and couple of items are not available, I find this French restaurant charming, with good service and food.
Hot bread, soft butter; French fries are crispy
~ Clams
~ Escargot
Handwritten bill
Bathroom is downstairs

La Chevaliere’s Chardonnay (2020) is yummy, better than its Pinot Noir (2019). Yelp.

    


Mar 10 2022

Don Carlos 唐 卡洛斯


Don, the hottest boy in town: no matter what is being played that evening, different Don’s posters adorn the building’s right side. 

Don Carlo is Giuseppe Verdi’s five-act opera, premiered in 1867 at Salle Le Peletier (1821-73, destroyed by a fire) in Paris.

Tonight at the Met, however, the subject is Anna Netrebko (1971-), born in USSR is kicked off the Met stage due to her staunch support of Putin,


Mar 6 2022

Middle Rhine Valley

.

Rhine River, especially Middle Rhine Valley / Mittelrhein between Bingen to Bonn to the north, is one of my favorite spots in Germany.

This wiki article lists castles on either side of the banks in Middle Rhine

I’ve been to this region before many time, by car or train. Recently, I make it point to return there on ferry. Below are my trips in 2022 and 2023.

A short video made by my phone 

 

 

2022


Mar 5 2022

Weston, CT


This town in Fairfield County in Connecticut has a population of 10,354 (2020 census) and the highest median household income in Connecticut.

A nice set of tiles. Goodman

A wine bar Arezzo, and home decor Astele, on Riverside Avenue in Westport, a neighboring town a few miles south of Weston.