Muzition's Diary

The professor and the vet

2011-09-09T13:29:00.002-04:00

A College Prof. stood on his chair and said "If GOD really exists then knock me off this chair" Nothing happened, the class was quiet he said "See!" A Marine Vet stood up, punched him in the face knocking him out and off of the chair. The Vet, then sat back down. As the Professor came to, he looked at his student and said "WHY DID YOU DO THAT" The Vet said "GOD was busy protecting my buddies still fighting for your right to say and do stupid stuff like this so, HE SENT ME"

I found the above post in the Facebook status of one of my Facebook friends this morning. I assume that it’s one of those copy-and-paste-if-you-agree types of status. I doubt it’s something that actually happened; rather I think it’s more of a message that is supposed to be inspirational, prove the existence of God, or perhaps glorify the navy.

I see several things wrong, and even disturbing, about this little story.

One of the things I don’t like about that status is the fact that the “bad guy” is supposed to be the college professor. This says to me that whoever thought up this story sees higher education as bad. This may be part of an alarming trend among some people to vilify education and knowledge. I did read recently that university-educated people are less likely to believe in God, (source?) so it’s probably not entirely a coincidence that the professor is cast as the bad guy in this story. (By the way, I don’t mean to insult or offend anyone reading this who does not have a university education.)

The second thing that bothers me is that this story paints atheists as bad people. I don’t think they’re bad people, but there are many people out there who, unfortunately, think that. I read recently that atheists are often discriminated against in certain professions – even when people no longer discriminate against others based on their sex, age, race, and so on, they look down on atheists.

What annoys me most, and what I find perhaps the most distressing about this story, is the action taken by the navy vet. This implies that it is okay to harm people in the name of God. I find this completely unacceptable. Also, I find it strange that people in the military fight wars against people who harm others in the name of religion, and yet it’s okay for the vet in this story to punch someone who doesn’t believe in God. Yes, I do understand that the people of the military fight against enemies who actually kill people in the name of religion, and that killing someone in the name of religion is much worse than punching someone out. But still, punching someone is a violent act, and shouldn’t be accepted.

Maybe I’m getting a bit too worked up about this – after all, it’s just a Facebook status, and probably not something that actually happened in real life. But still, I find it disturbing that there are people who actually like this story enough to put it as their Facebook status.

I’m a bit spiritually confused myself. I’m not sure if there is a God. And, just for the record, I don’t think religion is always (or even often) harmful. I’m fine with people believing what they want, as long as they don’t force their beliefs on others, or harm people in the name of their religion.

This blog entry doesn’t mean to insult religious people. I don’t hate religion itself, and I don’t hate religious people or those who believe in God.

Classical music in the summer

2011-07-20T17:29:00.005-04:00

There are only a few things I don't like about Montreal. One of them is the dearth of classical music in the summer.

In winter, spring, and fall, there are many classical music concerts on the island of Montreal. In the summer, many Montreal ensembles and musicians play at summer festivals. These festivals take place in various places that are anything up to a two hours' drive from Montreal.

For classical music fans like me, who don't have cars, these festivals are impossible to get to (unless you know someone who is going to one of these festivals who does have a car.) Or maybe these festivals are for well-off people who are lucky enough to have cottages in Lanaudiere or the Eastern Townships.

I have been to concerts in the summer in Montreal which feature types of music other than classical. But you'd think that for such a world-class city, they'd be able to have at least some classical music in the summer.

That crazy modern music...

2011-01-27T17:49:00.003-05:00

A line from Wah Keung Chan's Montreal Gazette music review of a Renee Fleming concert: "...the Mehldau songs were plagued by the sameness of most 20th-and 21st-century compositions -lacking rhyme, rhythm, melody, and ultimately reason." Seriously? Most 20th and 21st century classical music lacks rhythm, melody, and reason?
I guess many 20th/21st century composers wanted to turn away from melody. But many "modern" pieces do have melodies, maybe just not ones that every music reviewer enjoys or recognizes. And certainly, most 20th/21st century music has rhythm! And I'll bet that if music lacked reason, it wouldn't be composed.
And I don't think most recent music sounds the same, not at all.

Of course, this is the same reviewer who thought "crescendo" meant "climax."

Master debaters

2010-07-18T13:03:00.001-04:00

(In spite of the dirty-sounding entry title, this entry is perfectly clean. )

Yesterday I went to a taping of the CBC radio show The Debaters. I’d been to the show last year, and I enjoyed it so much that I came back this year. It was part of the Just for Laughs festival here in Montreal.

In The Debaters, comedians debate various topics. In the first round, each debater presents their argument. Then, in the next round (called the Bare Knuckle Round), they argue with each other. The next round, The Firing Line, is where the host asks both debaters a series of questions on the topic being debated. Finally, each debater gives a summary of their argument. The audience then applauds for the comedian that they think had the better (or funnier) argument, and the winner of the debate is decided by applause.

The topics debated this time were: Vampires or Zombies, which are the greatest cinematic undead? Are the big oil companies really so bad? Is the moustache one of man's greatest inventions? Has Hollywood been good for Europe? Has stand-up comedy become a joke? And is everything (movies, TV) better in 3D?

The host of the show had a little hammer that he’d hit on his desk if the debaters talked on for too long. During one of the debates, one of the debaters went on talking for too long, and so the host hit the hammer on his desk. When the debater still wouldn't shut up, the host went over to him and hit him with the hammer.

Another time when someone talked too long, the host went over to a couch that was in the background and started to lie down on it.

During the debate about moustaches, the debater in favour of them was wearing a fake moustache. At the end of the debate, he took the fake moustache off, revealing…another fake moustache underneath it.

They had an Irish guy and a German guy debating whether Hollywood has been good for Europe. Before the debate, the two debaters danced for quite a long time. The debate itself was completely chaotic from start to finish, and honestly I never even knew who was on which side of that debate!

It was a very enjoyable afternoon!

Spreading hate on Facebook

2010-06-17T17:32:00.004-04:00

Recently there have been stories in the local CBC news about people who have been arrested for spreading hatred on the Internet. These people put "hateful commentary" on Facebook about "ethnic groups and visible minorities." (link)

Since the news story is "closed to commenting" for some reason, I'll say what I think here in my blog.

I'm all for stopping hate speech. I'm all for getting after people for saying mean things about certain ethnic groups of people or minorities. However, I hope I won't be arrested, for I think that I just might be guilty of something similar. No, I have never said anything against any ethnic group on Facebook, and I never will. However, sometimes in my Facebook status I have said nasty things about certain groups of people -- I've said mean and cruel things about litterers, people who ride bikes on the sidewalk, and people who bring fast food on buses. Does that count as hate speech? Am I going to get in trouble for this? I hope not.

Stupid people on the bus

2010-05-24T10:10:00.003-04:00

Yesterday a kid was throwing garbage out of the bus window. I said to her, "Stop throwing garbage out the window. That's wrong." The mother got REALLY mad (at me) and told me not to yell at her child. I said that her kid was throwing garbage out the window, and the mother told me that it was none of my business.
*sigh* People these days...

Hmm, so May 24 is on May 24 this year. It's the Victoria Day holiday here in Canada. It's sometimes called "May 24" even though it doesn't always fall on May 24 (I think it's on the Monday closest to the 24, or something.)
The STM buses are on holiday schedule today, but unfortunately they don't have the holiday schedules posted on their website. Instead, they have last year's Victoria Day schedules! Come on, what good is that?!

Bixi bikes

2010-04-20T08:54:00.003-04:00

Today is the day when the "Bixi" bike rentals return for the year in Montreal. I think I'm the only person on the island of Montreal who hates Bixi bikes.
I hate them for two reasons: first of all, you can only pay for Bixi rental with a credit card. It's unfair to people like me who don't have credit cards.
Second of all, Bixi rentals mean that there are more cyclists out there, which means more people riding bikes on the sidewalks. This is strictly illegal and is dangerous to pedestrians.
I think that they should make Bixi bikes available to everyone, not just people with credit cards, and they should enforce the no-riding-on-sidewalks rule.

The joys of Savoy

2010-02-26T11:12:00.003-05:00

Last weekend and the weekend before, the McGill Savoy Society performed The Pirates of Penzance. I had such a good time! I played the viola part on clarinet in the orchestra.
The shows went really well. On each performance night, I gave cookies to my fellow Savoyards.
After the last night was the cast party. Cast parties are always fun, and this one was one of the better cast parties that I'd been to.

November

2009-11-22T12:34:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone.

I guess I haven't written in a while because not much has happened. I'm still unemployed, though I've been going to a few workshops about job searching and such things.

My grandmother died last month. Her funeral was in Brantford, Ontario. I played a piece on my clarinet at the funeral. I played "Lament" by Neil Gow. Here's a link to the sheet music that I used.

I'm playing percussion in the West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra. I enjoy playing percussion. I don't have to worry about key signatures anymore.

Last Wednesday I played clarinet in a concert. I played a piece by my friend Tristan. It went really well!

I've been playing in the McGill Savoy Society orchestra. I'm playing a viola part on my clarinet. I play the real viola too, but not well enough to play it in any ensembles.

I'm participating in Nanowrimo again this year. I have a little less than ten thousand words until my novel is finished!

I guess that's all for now.

Europe, part 7 (Rome, then home)

2009-05-03T11:03:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, July 9

On this day, we rode in our bus to Rome. We had lunch at a highway stop thingy, and arrived in Rome in the afternoon.

Rome is perhaps the most amazing city I've ever seen. There are old buildings and ruins everywhere. And the trees are incredible! There are lots of umbrella pines and palm trees along the streets. I was enthralled.

The Pines of Rome, as captured by my disposable camers from the bus window.

More pines. (Photo by a friend.)

When we got to Rome, we had a tour in the bus, then we had a walking tour. In the bus tour, we saw the Colosseum. On the walking tour, we saw the Pantheon and threw coins into a fountain. The walking tour was fun, but the streets were extremely crowded with tourists.

Fountain of Rome (photo by a friend)

Pantheon and tourists

Daniel and I hanging out at the Pantheon

After our tours, we went to our hotel. Then we went to a nearby restaurant for our farewell dinner, where speeches were given about how great the trip was and how much we all enjoyed it!

In the entrance of our hotel.

Farewell dinner. (photo by a friend)

After the dinner, I sat in the lobby. Someone said that there was a party going on in one of the orchestra members' hotel rooms. So I went to that room, and sure enough, there were several bottles of wine in there, and several orchestra members drinking wine.

The Wines of Rome! (Photo by a friend.)

Then a bunch of us went to the Colosseum on the metro. It was beautiful at night.

Me at the Colosseum at night. Photo by a friend.

We ended up singing Happy Birthday to some strangers at the Colosseum. Then we walked around for a little while, and looked at some more old buildings. Then we went back to the hotel on a city bus. The driver let us get on for free!

Thursday, July 10

We packed up all our bags and loaded them onto the bus. For the first time on the trip, everyone was on time. I was kind of sad that I had only spent about half a day in Rome. I was kind of sad that the trip was over. It had been such an awesome trip.

Rome airport...

We arrived at the airport. While we were waiting for our flight, I was talking to our conductor. I asked if I should learn to play bassoon, and he suggested that I learn to play viola. This idea had never occurred to me before, but it sounded pretty neat.

From Italy, we had a short flight to the Paris airport. I was a bit scared, but I was sitting next to my conductor and he was holding my hand, so it wasn't too bad. From Paris, we had a longer flight to Montreal. During that flight, I read a book. I was happy. I was coming home from the best trip ever.

And now you know the story of the best trip ever. (And now you know why I play the viola.)

The End

Europe, part 6 (Tuscany)

2009-05-03T10:58:00.002-04:00

Before my travel diaries about Italy.....you can see a video of my orchestra (and other groups at the Salzburg festival) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVl4js5lj6I . The infamous Song of Peace comes in at 6:40 or so in the video. Enjoy!

Sunday July 6

It was the day of the long bus ride. The all-day bus ride from Austria to Italy.

We rode through the Alps. I played a funny paper game with friends. It was hilarious! We stopped off at a small road stop and I saw a lizard.

We eventually reached Italy. We stopped off at a restaurant place for lunch. I had some really good chicken. I think I may have bought some Kinder chocolate there too. It was so hot outside! Luckily, our bus was air-conditioned.

On the way to our hotel in Italy, we played a game in the bus. Our travel guide (the one we had for the whole trip) organized it. It was a trivia game about Italy. I didn't know a lot about Italy though.

We arrived in Montecatini in the late afternoon. My goodness, what a beautiful city! It was quite unlike Austria.

A friend took this photo of Montecatini from the bus window.

Our hotel (named "Tuscany Inn") was nice, and had some balconies. The view from the balcony was spectacular. As I was out on my balcony, I heard an orchestra member playing his trumpet from his balcony.

View from my balcony

A friend photographed this view from his balcony

I photographed my friends on their balcony, from my balcony.

After we got settled into our rooms, we had dinner in the dining room at the hotel. After dinner, our travel guide took us out for gelato. I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. I also saw several palm trees in the town.

Sunset in Montecatini. (Photo by a friend)

Then some of us went with the travel guide to the funicular station to take the funicular (cable car) into the higher part of the town (Montecatini Alto) that was on a hill. We had a spectacular view of the nighttime city lights in Montecatini and surrounding areas. We wandered around the village there. We saw some people sculptures made from plants, and we saw a cat. I think the coolest thing in Montecatini Alto was the castle courtyard. Some of us came across a building that looked like a castle. An opening in the wall led to some stairs, which led to a big unlit courtyard. The view of the stard from there was amazing. I ran out of the courtyard, found some of my friends, and told them to go into the courtyard. I ran back into the courtyard before them, and when they arrived there, I jumped out and shouted "Boo!" and scared them!

Back in the hotel that night, I was telling my roommates that I'd had a silly idea. I said that it was so warm outside, I wanted to sleep on the balcony. So, my roommates and another orchestra member helped me move my mattress outside to the balcony! They were worried about me getting cold, but I didn't get cold once all night.

Monday, July 7

We spent most of the day in Florence. It took about an hour to drive there in the bus.

In the morning, we had a tour of Florence. We got to see the Duomo, which I'd learned about in art class! We also went inside the church where Rossini and other famous Italians were buried. We saw lots of sculptures, including a copy of Michelangelo's David and some lions that an orchestra member thought were scary.

The Tevere river in Florence. Photo by a friend.

We could go wherever we wanted for lunch. A bunch of us went to a pizza restaurant that our travel guide recommended. The pizza was great! Some people had pizza with pine nuts on it, but I stuck to the salami pizza. After lunch, we went shopping and wandered around. Most of the museums were closed on Mondays, unfortunately. A lot of people bought leather things. We saw some screevers (pavement artists.) I bought some postcards and bookmarks. A friend made up a song about pay toilets in Italy. All the tourist shops and stands had numerous things with Michelangelo's David's penis on them -- bookmarks, boxer shorts, magnets, etc.

A screever (pavement artist). Photo by a friend.

Later on that afternoon we had a rehearsal in a church. I was so tired that I kept falling asleep during rehearsal. After rehearsal we had dinner in a restaurant, and after dinner we played a concert (which was part of a youth orchestra festival) in the same church. It was an extrememly successful concert and the audience loved us and we played two encores, but I was extremely tired and had an incredibly difficult time staying awake for the whole thing. I fell asleep in the bus on the way back to Montecatini. So did a lot of people.

Tuesday, July 8

We visited two cities on this day, Lucca and Pisa.

Lucca (where Puccini was born) is a charming town with a wall that goes all the way around the city. The wall has a road on it that you can walk or ride a bike on.

Lucca seen from the wall. Photo by a friend.

The wall around Lucca. (my own photo)

When we arrived there, many of us decided to rent bicycles. I was a bit nervous riding a bike, since it had been so long since the last time I'd ridden one. But Davide, the guy from the youth orchestra festival who was staying with my orchestra for our time in Tuscany, encouraged me. I lost the rest of the group of orchestra members that I'd started out with, because I was so slow, but I stayed with Davide. I had a great time. We stopped off at a pizza restaurant for lunch, and talked for a while. It turned out that he used to go to a university in Montreal.

Davide at the pizza place. My mom says he's good-looking :)

After that, we all went in the bus to Pisa. It was rather nice, but a very touristy place. I bought some souvenirs and took some pictures.

Building in Pisa.

Orchestra members doing touristy things.

After our short stay in Pisa, we rode the bus back to the Tuscany Inn. After supper, we walked to the place where we'd play in that night's concert, a hotel/spa thing I think, called Terme Tettuccio. I have never played in a more fascinating and beautiful concert place! I'll post some photos of it here. (We played in a sort-of outdoor place/courtyard , so it was a sort-of outdoor concert, I guess.)

(photo by a friend)

We played a concert there with a youth orchestra from Spain. We each played some music on our own, and then we teamed up and played some pieces together. After the concert, the Spanish orchestra musicians had a crazy jam session where they played Spanish music, and people danced. Everyone was excited, and everyone really enjoyed it!

People dancing to the Spanish orchestra's music session. Photo by a friend.

We went back to the hotel, and then a bunch of us walked to a disco. I danced there for a while, but I was very tired. Fun times!

In the next entry, we enter a land of ancient ruins, modern-day tourists, pines, wines, and fascination.

Europe, part 5 (Salzburg)

2009-05-03T10:48:00.001-04:00

Friday, July 4

Our hotel in Salzburg. Photo by a friend.

We had breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast, we got into our bus for the Sound of Music Tour. We drove around in the mountains near Salzburg and saw many places where the Sound of Music was filmed. Some orchestra members sang songs from the movie and re-enacted movie scenes. We saw lots of beautiful mountains and lakes. We also passed by the Red Bull mansion.

The guy who invented Red Bull lives here. (Photo by a friend)

The Alps near Salzburg, on the tour.

Me and Jordan

The Sound of Music was filmed near here.

All of us, in front of the thingy that appeared in the Sound of Music film. (Photo by a friend)

We had lunch in the little town of Mondsee. I think the wedding in the film took place in the church there. We went inside the church, and then went wherever we wnated for lunch. I found a supermarket and bought some more Kaiser rolls. Maybe some Kinder chocolate too.

Mondsee

Heading toward the church at Mondsee

After lunch we had a rehearsal with everyone in the Cantus Festival. All the choirs gathered together to sing a song called "Song of Peace", and our orchestra played the orchestral accompaniment part. The orchestra part didn't require many musicians, so some orchestra members sang with the choirs instead. I was one of the singing people.

No orchestra member I talked to actually liked the "Song of Peace". The music was kind of dull and commonplace and cliched. An orchestra member described it as "Pachelbel's Canon meets the Beatles" (and when I told this to my conductor, he said, "But the Beatles are good!" He does have a point there.) And the lyrics were stupid and didn't always fit the music well. As well, it had the word "floading" in it (a typo for "flooding", I guess. But whenever I came across it when I was singing the song, I had to try hard not to laugh.) Everyone in the orchestra enjoyed making fun of the song. After rehearsal, we were standing outside and singing the song and making fun of it. Even though we were just joking around, I was grateful for this impromptu chance to rehearse the song. :P

We went back to the hotel. In the hotel room I was in, our mirror broke. But it wasn't anyone's fault, so we decided that the mirror had committed suicide and that nobody was going to get bad luck. We had dinner at the hotel. Some musicians tried to play tunes by hitting the dinner glasses.

Then we went out to perform in the big concert that night. Each group performed some pieces on their own (I think we played some Smetana and other things), and then we all got together to play and sing the Song of Peace. They were selling chocolate, so I bought some Alps chocolate. Afterwards, we went to a cafe for dessert. Most people got ice cream. I got beer. Then we went back to the hotel. I fooled around with some friends in my hotel room for a while before going to bed.

Saturday, July 5

After breakfast, we went to Salzburg Cathedral. Mozart used to play the organ there. We played Handel's Hallelujah Chorus in a Mass service, and some choirs sang songs. The acoustics were unbelievable. The echo in that church is the longest echo I ever heard. I swear, it lasted a full five seconds!

In Salzburg cathedral. (Photos by friends)

We had an amazing lunch (kaiser roll sandwiches!) that had been packed for us by our hotel, and then we performed in a concert at Mirabell Gardens, where some more of the Sound of Music was filmed. We weren't originally planning to play "Jumba Jambala", the piece written by our conductor, but the orchestra insisted, so we did. :) I play maracas in that piece.

Mirabell Gardens

Then we had a bit of free time, then we had a walking tour. My feet hurt because I was still wearing my concert shoes. On the upside, I saw a cute cat. A friend got a photo of me petting the cat. After the tour, a bunch of us saw a busker playing Vivaldi on musical wine glasses!

Glass playing. (Photo by a friend)

That night, we had a Cantus Festival dinner party. They had a little Austrian band playing various instruments, one of which was a cimbasso! I was amazed, and so happy! The dinner was great. During the dinner, Harry, our trumpet player, was making up songs about mushrooms, involving the word "floading", and I laughed so much I almost choked! After the dinner, there was dancing. I didn't want to dance at first, but one of the trip leaders got me into it. Once or twice, a conga line formed. We all had great fun.

The band. (photo by a friend)

At the dinner party.

What a great way to spend our last night in Salzburg!

The next entry contains palm trees, gelato, leather, and a certain part of Michelangelo's David's anatomy.

Europe, Part 4 (Alps, Salzburg)

2009-05-03T10:38:00.002-04:00

Thursday, July 3

On this day, we went from Vienna to Salzburg. I was amazed at the Alps. I don't think I'd ever seen anything more beautiful!

We drove to the Alps from Vienna. For lunch, we crossed the border into Germany and went into a small mountain town of Berchtesgaden. I remember, when we were in the bus going to the town, someone shouted, "Hey, look! A man wearing lederhosen!"

Some people went to restaurants for lunch, and some went to the grocery store. The grocery store was an A&P!! I wish they had those at home. They have A&P's in Ontario, and in little Bavarian mountain towns, but not in Montreal! I bought some kaiser rolls. I wish we could get good kaiser rolls at home too! I think I might've gotten my Kinder chocolate there too, but maybe I got it at Mondsee in Austria.

Town where we had lunch.

After lunch, we went to the Berchtesgaden Salt Mine. I never knew a tour of a salt mine could be so exciting! We had to put on mining suits. Then, we rode in a train to another part of the salt mine. I don't like fast rides, so I was a bit scared at first, but the train wasn't too fast and wasn't scary at all. Nevertheless, some of us screamed anyway so we'd trick the people behind us into thinking it was scary. :P

We got a tour of the salt mines. At one point, we had to slide down some long slides. I was a bit scared to do that, but our German guide assured me that it was "funny", so I went down the slides. They were fun! We all rode a boat across an underground lake, and saw a light show while we were in the boat. Various coloured lines appeared on the walls, and music played. It was fascinating. (That light show video I linked to wasn't taken by an orchestra member, I just found it on YouTube.) Then we went in a neat elevator, and then we each got a little container of salt to take home.

Outside the salt mine.

Inside the saltmine. (Photo by a friend)

After the saltmine tour, we went back to Austria, and arrived in Salzburg! I loved our hotel there. We dropped off our stuff in the hotel rooms, and then we went in the bus to a building where we attended the opening of the Cantus Music Festival. Nobody much enjoyed the actual food at the supper, and I was very tired, but otherwise we had a good time. We had water in wine glasses, so we tried wetting our fingers and rubbing the rims of the wine glasses. This was the first time I managed to make a sound with a wine glass! The Cantus Festival was mostly a choir festival. Some of the choirs sang songs at the supper. Some orchestra members suggested we sing one of our orchestra pieces, but most of us weren't keen on that idea.

After supper, we went outside. It was raining. We did various things and wandered around town. Karlo, one of our double bass payers, was trying to teach us to perform Steve Reich's Clapping Music.

Clapping Music. Photo by a friend. Karlo's the one in the orange shirt. I'm the one in the white visor.

The bus drove us back to our hotel. I heard news that some orchestra musicians and monitors were going down the street to a pub. I never miss out on a trip to a pub if I can help it! The rules of the trip stated that people of legal drinking age were allowed to have 2 drinks in a day. So, I ordered a beer. I wasn't expecting to get a HUGE glass of beer, but I did! Stiegl, they call the local beer. It was quite good. I ordered a second big glass after the first. After I finished the second glass, I was feeling tired, and it was about time to go to bed anyway. We all went back to the hotel. I was exhausted.

In the next entry, we find the Red Bull mansion, something happens to a mirror, and I encounter the rare Cimbasso.

Europe, Part 3 (Vienna)

2009-04-28T13:16:00.006-04:00

Tuesday, July 1 (continued)

When we arrived in Vienna, we went on a walking tour right away. I was very tired and got lots of blisters, but I enjoyed the tour.

We saw and photographed lots of old buildings on the tour. I don't remember the names of most of them.

A building in Vienna

Closeup of the horses on that building

The Austrian National Library:

As we were walking around on the tour, we saw a bit of a crowd gathering. Some members of our group yelled, "Hey look! Streakers!" Sure enough, there was a group of people taking their clothes off as a part of some protest.

In this photo, you can see the streakers before they took off their clothes. Photobucket wouldn't let me post any of my more close-up photos that showed the streakers completely naked. ;)

As we were walking through Vienna, we saw a famous composer! Some orchestra members posed for a photo with him. We also saw St. Stephens Cathedral, and got to go inside it. It's one of the most impressive churches I've ever seen.

It's Mozart!

A statue in Vienna

The same statue, photographed from a different angle to show an awesome sunlight effect.

St. Stephen's Cathedral. I don't know what the round building on the left is.

The organ inside the cathedral. My friend Jordan took this picture.

In the cathedral

The Mozarthaus in Vienna.

For supper that day, we went to a cafe called Einstein Cafe. It had many pictures of Einstein inside it. One of our orchestra members had a birthday that day, so she got a cake with a sparkler on it.

Some smart people outside the Einstein Cafe.

In the caf

Happy birthday!

After supper, some people went downtown, but I stayed at the hotel because I was exhausted and had sore feet. I bought some potato chips at the hotel. For some weird reason, they were kept in a fridge. I shared the cold potato chips with some friends.

Wednesday, July 2

I woke up later than I was supposed to. We had a good breakfast in our rooms in the hotel. Our breakfast was hung in bags on our doorknobs in the morning! We got several things for breakfast, including croissants and kaiser rolls!

We rode our bus to Schoenbrunn Palace. I was excited to go there! I'd learned about that place in an art history class, and never dreamed I'd get to go there!

Me in front of Schoenbrunn Palace.

A Schoenbrunn Palace eagle.

We had a tour of Schoenbrunn palace, and saw lots of beautiful old rooms, paintings, and furniture. After the tour was over, I bought a hat at the gift shop. Then we played a concert outside in the back of the Palace. We played pieces like Radetzky March, and I think we played Wagner's Meistersinger prelude too, and some other pieces. During (and even after!) our concert, we were filmed and photographed by random tourists!

Outside, in back of Schoenbrunn Palace.

Setting up for our Palace concert.

Orchestra guys in back of the palace.

All of us, on the Schoenbrunn Palace stairs.

We went downtown to buy lunch wherever we wanted. Some of us bought food from a roadside stand. I bought a slice of cheese pizza there. It was amazing pizza! It was some of the best pizza I'd ever had! I'd go back to Vienna just for the pizza.

Unfortunately, my camera broke after lunch. I bought and used disposable cameras for the rest of the trip.

After lunch we went to the House of Music, which is a music museum. They had all sorts of interactive displays, games, and activities. Many of us tried out the game where you held a baton and conducted an orchestra! I also found a display where you could make music pieces out of everyday sounds. I made a music piece entirely out of farting noises. I bought postcards of Mahler, Schoenberg, Webern, and Shostakovich in the gift shop.

We had supper at a sort of buffet/cafeteria place. I didn't get a chance to try the wiener schnitzel, but those who tried it said it was good.

That night after supper, we went to a concert by the Vienna Mozart orchestra. It was in a famous concert hall that I forget the name of (Musikverein maybe?) It was a well-played concert, but it was mostly Mozart's best-known pieces, which I'm a little tired of.

When we got back to the hotel, I was really excited. The night before, an orchestra member had said he'd gone swimming in the Danube river! So this night, he was going to take a bunch of us down to the place he'd gone the previous night, so we could go swimming. It was so much fun!! It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and something I'll always remember.

One of my orchestra friends said I looked like a mermaid. :)

In the next entry, we go for rides on slides, I find an A&P store in a little German mountain village, we experience a bit of Steve Reich, and we pretend to be in a musical.

Europe, Part 2 (More of Prague, Arrival in Vienna)

2009-04-28T13:09:00.005-04:00

Monday, June 30

The "Dancing House" in Prague, seen on the way to the Mozart museum.

On June 30 we went to the Bertramka villa, which is a Mozart museum in Prague.

In the Mozart museum, we saw some old instruments from Mozart's time, including an old violin, viola, clarinet, basset horn, harp, harpsichord, and clavichord. We saw scores written by Mozart, and even a piece of his hair.

Bertramka gates

a basset horn in the museum

After the museum tour, we walked around outside in the museum grounds. There was a fountain and a statue of Mozart.

Mozart statue People at the fountain

After the museum, we had a walking tour of the Old Jewish Quarter. We saw synagogues and a rabbi souvenir stand!

Then we had lunch in various restarurants in downtown Prague, and met at the clock tower after lunch.

Sampling a local beverage at lunch.

The clock tower, closeup.

After lunch we rode our bus to a church where we played a concert. The audience really liked our concert! Our Czech guide especially liked it.

Our orchestra in the Prague church (photo by a friend)

We went back to the hotel for supper. After supper, a bunch of us tooik the subway to downtown Prague. The downtown area is beautiful at night.

Prague at night

We went to a little bar/cafe thing. Our Czech guide was always saying we should try some of the local beer, so I did.

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep at all that night. I was really tired the next day.

Tuesday, July 1

I saw some great tits before breakfast! (That's a kind of bird, by the way!)

This was the day that we went from Prague to Vienna. We went there in our bus. We started out later than we should have, because before we went, our conductor walked into a glass door and cut his nose.

Since it was Canada Day, I wore my Canada socks with maple leaves on them. Some people wore Canada-themed shirts.

Czech countryside

We drove through the Czech republic for several hours. I had some fun in the bus. My friends introduced me to a funny game. But then I got tired and hot.

For lunch, we stopped off at a really weird place near the Czech/Austrian border. It was a bunch of restaurants. One looked like an airplane. This place looks weird by itself, but even weirder when you're near delirious from exhaustion and heat.

Where we went for lunch.

A bunch of us ended up going to the Kentucky Fried Chicken in a nearby mall. Unlike the KFCs at home, this one sold beer and Red Bull too. I had a Red Bull. It didn't work. :P

We soon arrived in Vienna.

In Vienna. That's our bus.

In the next entry, we encounter some naked people, conduct an orchestra, and discover the Danube in a memorable way.

Europe, Part 1 (Arrival, Prague)

2009-04-28T13:03:00.003-04:00

(This is copied from another diary that I have.)

Photos in these entries are my own unless I state otherwise.

Saturday, June 28 - Sunday, June 29

June 28 and 29 seemed like one long day for me. One long and tiring day.

We left Montreal on Saturday evening. Then we had an overseas flight overnight. This was a bad idea because many of us didn't sleep at all. I know I didn't.

Paris airport

We arrived at the Paris airport on Sunday the 29th. We hung around in the airport for a few hours. Then we got on a plane to Prague. There was really scary turbulence.

When we landed in Prague, I was still feeling a bit nauseous. Luckily, I soon forgot about this, because my friend Jessica had brought her tin whistles. The two of us played tin whistles while we waited around in the airport.

Playing whistles in Prague airport. Photo by a friend.

Eventually, we went outside the airport. We got on a coach bus. This bus was the one we'd ride on for our entire tour of Europe. All sorts of good times were to be had in this bus.

The bus

We then had a tour of the beautiful Prague Castle. Then we went on a bridge over the Moldau river. There were swans on the Moldau. And some guy washing his clothes in the river.

Prague castle

View from the Prague Castle grounds. Many buildings in Prague have red roofs.

The oldest medieveal tavern in Prague. That guy kind of freaked us out.

The Moldau, or Vltava as it's called in Czech. There's some sort of balloon thing.

I enjoyed the tour, but I was extremely tired and I had no access to water.

After the tour, we went to our hotel, which was called Hotel Duo. I saw some jays and jackdaws. We had supper there. Then I went off to bed.

Our hotel.

Some photos of inside the hotel:

This painting was in my hotel room. Apparently I was lucky -- I asked around, and nobody else had a painting of a naked lady in their room.

This concludes Part 1 of my trip diary.

In Part 2, the Orchestra sees Mozart's hair and plays in a concert.

Europe trip report -- coming soon

2009-04-26T11:09:00.001-04:00

I think I'll post about my Europe trip soon. I went on a trip to Europe with my youth orchestra last summer. The following entries will be about the trip.

Happy news

2009-03-27T09:53:00.000-04:00

In the Key of Charles has been canceled! Hooray!

Paints

2009-02-27T10:17:00.002-05:00

There's a sale on at Omer DeSerres, the art store. Their acrylic paints are on sale. I got a whole bunch of new paints yesterday. I know, I already have a lot of paints, but I couldn't resist getting more! I got some metallic paints, and some with funny names. Come on, who could resist a paint colour called "Orange Pop"?!

A post

2008-12-23T18:21:00.003-05:00

Christmas is coming! I hope everyone likes the gifts I got for them.

Re: my last post

2008-09-29T11:15:00.003-04:00

I spoke too soon. Apparently, the show replacing the one I complained about before is some "water-cooler" thing. Wasn't the phrase "water cooler" used as part of the description for that flaky lousy show, Freestyle, that was on a few years ago, and that a lot of people complained about?

There's nothing good on the radio anymore.

Radio show

2008-09-15T12:49:00.001-04:00

(A re-post of a rant that I posted on a message board)

I heard a commercial on the radio saying that an upcoming radio program would have something about job interviews on it. Since I'm looking for a job, I thought this would be useful. So I decided to listen to that radio program, but the part about job interviews was coming on later, so I had to sit through the rest of the program. I never listen to this program anyway, because it consists of only 2 things: 1) people crying, and 2) boring stuff that I don't care about. (Oh yeah, and 3: people saying "you know" way too much, but that describes every radio show.)

Another reason to hate that radio show is because they use the word "foodie" on their website. But I digress.

So I sat through half an hour of the damn show. First, there was a boring interview, filled with "you know's" at least three times every sentence by both the host and the interviewee. The interview was about growing peaches. The host sometimes talked with his mouth full of peach. In the second part of the show, there was a quest to find the Great Canadian Sandwich. This consisted of someone else coming on the show and reading letters that listeners had written in. The letters were about various sandwiches the listeners had made in their lives.

During the sandwich segment, I got bored and disgusted and turned the radio off without even waiting for the part about job interviews. Though, knowing that show, perhaps the part about job interviews would also be boring and stupid and not very helpful.

Thank GOD that show is going off the air later this month! I hope that whatever they replace it with is less vapid.

The execrable CBC Radio 2 blog

2008-05-27T14:33:00.007-04:00

There were CBC rallies in Toronto and British Columbia on May 24 (last Saturday.) These rallies were to protest the changes being made to CBC Radio 2, and the disbanding of the CBC Radio Orchestra.

Here's an excerpt from Bramwell Tovey's speech from the Vancouver rally:

"In seeking to control the debate about Radio 2 programming the network has ruthlessly controlled its own blogsites. In May 2007 I submitted a critical comment to a CBC blog concerning changes at Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. The comment was never posted. When I asked why, I received numerous telephone messages and then an email from a senior CBC manager:

“Let’s talk further about what we’re trying to achieve. I’d still be more than happy to post most of what you wrote, but do need to edit out one line, and want your approval to do that ….We’re not trying to censor you.” (sic)

Numerous independent web discussion and information sites have emerged, such as www.standonguardforcbc.ca and on Facebook, since it became evident that CBC wished to control the debate which was often highly critical of Radio 2’s direction."

It seems that whenever I try to post a negative comment about any of the CBC Radio 2 radio shows on the CBC 2 blog, it doesn't get accepted. I tried to post what I thought was a fairly innocent-sounding comment, on an entry about In the Key of Charles: "Wow, they never had anything like this on Symphony Hall." Did the CBC Radio 2 blog editor realize, er, I mean, think that this was a back-handed compliment? Or has the CBC blog editor just gotten used to seeing my name on the posts, and automatically not accept them? :P

I've heard from other people about their blog posts getting "censored" (not accepted.) And no less a person than Bramwell Tovey got censored. Boy, do I hate the CBC Radio 2 blog.

Whatever happened to freedom of speech? I know, freedom of speech has been used as an excuse by many people to say horrible things, but really, surely a few negative comments about radio shows aren't so horrible they shouldn't be published?

By the way, I recommend reading Bramwell Tovey's entire speech, as it is excellent.

Playing around

2008-05-10T16:12:00.002-04:00

I've been playing around with this diary. I discovered how to add links to other blogs. So I've done that.

Complaining about the CBC

2008-03-31T19:10:00.002-04:00

A reporter from the Concordia University newspaper is writing an article, and asked me:

What are the main issues with the CBC?
What you hope to accomplish with the protest?
Why is important that the CBC have an orchestra?
Why is it important that the CBC play classical music?

Here's what I replied:

The main issues that people are having with the CBC are that they are canceling several long-running and popular shows, that they'll play less classical music, and that they're disbanding their 70-year-old CBC Radio Orchestra.

I think it is important for the CBC to play classical music. Many people, including me, have been turned on to classical music through CBC Radio 2. Many people throughout Canada enjoy listening to classical music, and have either no local classical station, or a poor one. (I don't like the local classical station here in Montreal.) CBC Radio 2 is/was a way for people who live in small towns or remote areas - places with no local orchestra and not much access to live classical concerts - to hear classical music recordings and recorded concerts.
I myself stopped listening to CBC Radio 2 when they did a big programming change in March of last year. They got rid of several of my favourite programs. They put on more pop/jazz programs (and many people argue that the main jazz program doesn't even have a lot of good jazz on.) From what I heard, they replaced knowledgeable musically-educated radio show hosts with hosts who don't even always know how to pronounce composers' names (I can't personally attest to this as I no longer listen to CBC Radio 2.)

One of the shows they cancelled last year in March was Two New Hours, a program featuring new "classical" music (usually Canadian.) I heard that after that show was cancelled, the CBC recorded fewer contemporary-classical music concerts. The CBC also stopped holding the Young Composers Competition a few years ago. This competition was a good way to launch the careers of Canadian composers. Since the CBC no longer broadcasts Two New Hours, or holds the composers' competition, The CBC Radio Orchestra is/was a way for Canadian composers to have their music heard, since it often played and commissioned recent music by Canadian composers. I'm an amateur composer, and I have many friends who are professional composers, so I understand how hard it can be for a composer to have his/her music performed.

People might argue that a whole lot of Canadians don't like contemporary classical music, so why broadcast it on CBC radio? I think that a lot of Canadians do like contemporary music. I came to contemporary music through CBC radio. I think contemporary music should be given a chance. Heck, I once played an atonal piano piece at a church, and the church members loved it.
Now the CBC's contemporary music radio show plays a bunch of pop music, with the occasional contemporary classical piece.

The CBC claims that their decision to get rid of the CBC Radio Orchestra is financial, but the author of the InsidetheCBC blog says "Anyone who has been in business understands that you always have the money if it’s a priority. What the CBC really means is this: 'We have the money, but we have chosen to make this decision.' " (source: http://tinyurl.com/38ettc)

Facebook groups have been started, both to protest the changes being made to the CBC's programming, and to protest the disbanding of the CBC Radio orchestra.

The people in charge of the CBC say that they'll still play a lot of classical music, so people don't need to worry. However, this classical music will be limited to 2 or 3 shows on the weekend, plus "accessible and popular" classical music from 10 AM to 3 PM on weekdays. I think I'd get bored of "accessible and popular" classical music pretty quickly. One thing I used to like about CBC Radio Two (especially recorded-concert programs like In Performance, Symphony Hall, and Two New Hours) was that they often played music that challenged me. I found that by keeping an open mind, I learned a lot about all kinds of classical music.

I don't listen to CBC Radio 2, but I protest the changes because the CBC will be playing even less classical music after the upcoming programming changes, because I used to enjoy listening to some of the shows that they're cancelling, and because I think it is important for CBC audiences to have access to classical music.

On March 18th

2008-03-22T11:07:00.002-04:00

On March 18th, it was a year since the last episode of Two New Hours. Two New Hours was a great radio show that featured new music. I still miss that show.

On March 18th, I got a letter in the mail from the Canadian Music Centre asking for donations. Now that Two New Hours is gone, there isn't much chance to hear new Canadian music anymore. Maybe I'll send the Canadian Music Centre a few dollars.

MusiMarch

2008-03-07T12:11:00.003-05:00

I've been enjoying the MusiMarch festival. It's a new music festival at McGill. I went to the concerts on Tuesday and Thursday, and I listened to the second half of the concert on Wednesday.

This year's festival has an interesting idea: the concerts mix old and new music, showing connections between older pieces and newer pieces.

The concert on Tuesday started with some traditional African music. There was also a really cool piece by Polo Vallejo for 6 congas. I never knew congas could be capable of so many things! At some points in the piece, it sounded like there were several lines of music going on at once. It kind of reminded me of the compound melodies in Bach's unaccompanied cello and violin pieces. This concert also had a very enjoyable arrangement of Vivier's Pulau Dewata, and a premiere of a piece for cello and ensemble and electronics by Sean Ferguson. I don't know if I've ever heard any of his music before, but I liked this piece.

While listening to the music festival on the internet on Wednesday night, I heard the Ligeti horn concerto, played by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble. It's so beautiful. I'd heard the
CME play it a few years ago too.

I liked the concert last night (Thursday). It opened with Bachianas Brasilieras #5. I've heard that piece many times, it's an old 20th-century "classic", I've played it several times in a few different arrangements -- but I still absolutely love it. Incidentally, this was the first time I've ever heard the lesser-known 2nd movement of it. This concert also included a haunting cello piece by Gilles Tremblay, and some early vocal music selections. A piece that I especially liked was "Fumeux fume" by 14th-century composer Solage. The concert ended with a weird piece by Julian Anderson called "Book of Hours".

In other news, today is Ravel's birthday. It's also my half-birthday. I am now 23 and a half.

At the drug store

2008-01-19T22:48:00.000-05:00

Earlier this evening my mother and sister and I went to the Pharmaprix. We found some chocolate letters. We tried to find enough letters to make swear words, but there wasn't enough of the right letters. Though my mother found enough letters to make the word "pee."

One time I was in a dollar store, and I found some wooden letters, with each letter in a separate package. The letters were arranged alphabetically on hooks. I re-arranged the letters so they spelled a very bad word.

Working on it

2008-01-16T01:26:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to finish writing a crappy piece of music. I'm still working on it at 1:28 AM. Oh well.

Looking back and ahead

2008-01-03T17:11:00.000-05:00

2007 was a pretty good year. I graduated from McGill, went to Vancouver and Windsor and Ohio, played an opera in a bar, found some five-leaved clovers, went to Orford and Laval with my youth orchestra, discovered Sims2, helped out at the bird observatory, and played in the McGill Savoy Society.

I think my favourite thing I did last year was go to Vancouver.
Here's a photo of Stanley Park in Vancouver.

Some orchestra things are coming up. There's a trip meeting this Sunday, and the concerto competition later this month. And the spaghetti dinner that I still don't know much about.

This is my, umm, diary.

2007-12-30T12:44:00.000-05:00

Hello. This is my blog. Except that I think the word "blog" sounds like someone burping and throwing up at the same time, so I'm calling it a diary instead. So there!