I know bachelor frog is old but still got a lot of lols out of me today.

To get a real view of opera's popularity youd have to get per capita numbers. I assume theres gonna be a lot of variance year to year and maybe even decade to decade but if you looked at a long term graph youd prob see its popularity declining since the advent of movie theaters, television, etc.

Hmm, I bet that's not right though. TV and movies have been around a long time and I bet the general higher standard of living means more people per capita see Opera now than in say 1905 or 1850 or 1800. Movies have been around for about 1/2 of the history of the US now. And if you think movies didn't used to be as popular, Gone With the Wind's adjusted gross income is more than double Avatar's.

idk im just to young to appreciate it i guess. bore's the living hell out of me.

[slight offtopic rant]Saw Avatar today, it was ****. I switched it off after 40 minutes or so. Couldn't stand the ridiculously annoying over-the-top characters. It was like they stole most of the dialogue and characters from a 90s Chuck Norris movie...[/slight offtopic rant]

Yeah, Avatar was not good imo.

FFS it's relentless this weekend. Just got a call to say one of my wife's school friends has been in a car accident on the way home from the beach. She's in hospital with various injuries as is her younger son. Her husband and oldest son have both been killed.

It's hard to explain opera: some thoughts;

A Hyundai Accent is a car and so is an Aston Martin. Pop music is Hyundai voices and once you've driven an Aston you know why it's better than the Hyundai.

Most of the arias you hear are what has survived for over 200 years. Only the absolute best has survived, the junk never made it. If you take the last 50 years of US pop music, listen to all of it and choose the 100 greatest songs that you think will still be played in the year 2200 you'd find some truly awesome music that you'd really want to share. The arias like the one I posted from Rossini are the best of the best of the best. It will still be around in 200 years.

It takes a phenomenal amount of training to turn a singing voice into an instrument. There's a reason why being able to sing the notes correctly matters, it makes it possible to transmit the full emotion that the composer intended. Music has this wonderful power to touch our emotions directly somehow bypassing the brain, but doing it badly is something we pick up on instantly, and it just doesn't work anymore.

Listen to two 10 second sections and you'll instantly understand the difference even if your a tone deaf heavy metal fan:

Kate Jenkins from c3:57 trying to hit and sustain something her voice simply doesn't have the capacity for.

Elina absolutely nailing it from 4:00

Kate has to kind of yelp like a strangled cat and use the force of her lungs to scream to hide the fact that she's just miles off.

What's not apparent is that Kate needs a microphone and amplifier to do this before and audience. Elina needs neither, the only reason a microphone is there is to record what she does.

me and my friend are walking back from the bars after a night of drinking not talking to chicks. we pass these 2 cute girls on the sidewalk, once our backs are too them i hear a "hey you" in a really cute accent (negative points for not initiating first). we start chatting it up. turns out they're from france, one goes to school here the other is visiting. they're looking to find a party or something fun. my friend mentions weed and both their faces light up. action to me: i realize i am out of bananas. their faces go back to being unimpressed and we part ways shortly after.

tldr: the one time 2 cute french girls want to go bananas with me i don't have any

Opera is badass imo

Peru Elina was indeed way way better in many ways, but you made it sound like Kate is some total n00b which she isn't =p


epic fail cake, who the hell runs outta nanners

I didn't say it was easy, I said I don't like it. Hurts my head, where as the orchestra doesn't at all. I have no desire for an aston martin either though. I fully except I could be weird.

Thanks for all the congrats! It's an exciting time.

I went to school for classical music theory with a concentration in voice. I switched majors because I realized it was just something I was naturally good at and received a lot of praise for, but did not enjoy personally on a deep level, especially opera. It bored the **** out of me.

Just booked a trip to St. John in USVI for December with gf. Looks super awesome there and I get to leave Canada for a month in December!

Lol..fail of the month! No alcohol?

Idk about opera. Never gave it a fair shake, but some classical music is great from time to time. Anyone have any classical suggestions?

Heading to the hospital tonight to induce and deliver tommorrow. Lets us run good!

awww snap gl jace

Gone With the Wind probably hit the sweetspot of when movies theaters were widespread enough and tickets priced reasonably. Adjusted gross sales is gonna be dependent on the dollar and Im sure Peru can tell us how much it's weakened over time

I bet more people (per capita) have been exposed to Opera in modern times because of internet and TV, but if you were gonna see where Opera ranks in popularity compared to other forms of entertainment I bet itd be at an all time low. Opera is high brow stuff now but back in the day it was pop music and movies all wrapped into one.

In Canada Operas have to beg for government subsidies to survive. Kinda tells you the demand there is for it.

actually the dollar being inflated now should inflate sales so idk. im drunk leave me alone

Devin rich families had to support opera back in the day in Italy and theres tons of government subsidies in the US for opera now.

I'm sure Opera ranks low compared to other entertainment, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's on the decline. I think people are "entertained" a hell of a lot more nowadays.

I'm not a big Opera buff though. I just like to argue on the inet.

Opera requires attention. All the kids have ADD.

talking dog on youtube > Opera

Anything else > Opera >>> discussions about opera

Best of luck MJ.

Anything else > Opera>>> discussions about opera?

OK let's look at how the US currency (in which I make my living!!!!) has fared against the Peruvian Sol (in which I buy the things I need like food) over the last few years:



Thanks yanks!

Move up to where they respect your QE2 and lack of a gold standard IMO.

Congratulations mjc and wifey on a healthy baby boy!

+1 to mike, baby looks beautiful

Congrats mjc!