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#1
The Diner / Re: The football (soccer) thre...
Last post by DaveF - Today at 12:34:15 AM
Quote from: Irons on April 22, 2024, 11:13:16 PMI like your manager (ex Man U). Arteta he ain't, thankfully.
He's not for sale either ;)  I think (hope) he's sensible enough to realise that if he went to a "big" club, and if he didn't get at least 13 points out of his first 15, he'd be packing his bags again soon enough.
#2
Quote from: DavidW on April 22, 2024, 03:00:55 PMAlmost always put in an international order this will happen to me.  After I confirm it, I'll have to redo the checkout as the card denied first time.  I prefer the system where it just asks for a two factor authentication instead of immediately rejecting it.  But eh it is a small inconvenience to pay to avoid fraud.

Interestingly, I'm directed to use two-factor authentication by Amazon.de and can place orders without any issues. However, Amazon.com, Amazon.fr, and likely other Amazon sites do not prompt me for two-factor authentication.
#3
Quote from: AnotherSpin on Today at 12:03:11 AMI'm familiar with this Hanslick comment, with which I agree.

Well, I find Hanslick's comment particularly inept in view of the fact that the main theme of the finale has more than a vague resemblance to that of Mendelssohn's VC, and Felix certainly was not a vodka-drinking, unkempt, cursing muzhik.. I wonder what Hanslick may have said about Mussorgsky, who in his late years probably literally smelled like vodka.  ;D
#4
Walton: Symphony No.1
Philharmonia Orch. Haitink
I'd forgotten what a fine performance this is. Haitink treats it a bit like Bruckner or Mahler - the slow movement is especially impressive given this treatment, however I was gripped throughout.
#5
The Diner / Re: The unimportant news threa...
Last post by Jo498 - Today at 12:07:32 AM
Quote from: Florestan on April 22, 2024, 08:12:34 AMI've known that for years.  ;D
I think everyone in Europe knew this. Here even the homeless with some pride left prefer to drink beer from bottles.
Even disregarding beer, I was basically brought up to view cans as for "emergencies" only (like on a road trip). This might partly have been because children could easily cut their lips on the old style openings that were replaced only in the late 80s? or even later with the safer ones.
That people would buy dozens of cans for home consumption of soda pops and drink from the can at home (instead of pouring into a glass) was completely unknown to me and I was quite surprised when I saw this in the US among middle class people...
#6
Elizabethan Consort Music 1558-1603.
See back cover for details.
Hesperion XX, Jordi Savall.
Recorded in 1997.


One of the finest recordings by Savall. And almost SOTA sound. I always puts a smile on my face, when I hear the Galliards, Pavans, and Allemandes.
#7
Quote from: Florestan on April 22, 2024, 11:56:47 PMI am reminded of Eduard Hanslick's criticism of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto:

    "The Russian composer Tchaikovsky is an inflated [talent], without discrimination or taste. Such is also his long and pretentious Violin Concerto. For a while it moves musically, and not without spirit. But soon vulgarity gains the upper hand. The violin is no longer played; it is pulled, torn, shredded. The [second movement] Adagio is on its best behavior. But it breaks off to make way for a finale that transfers us to the brutal and wretched jollity of a Russian holiday. We see plainly the savage, vulgar faces; we hear curses, we smell vodka. Friedrich Vischer once observed, speaking of obscene pictures, that they stink to the eye. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto gives us for the first time the hideous notion that there can be music that stinks to the ear."

(emphasis mine)

FWIW, this VC is one of my Top 5 favorites. As for Hanslick's own music, as we Romanians say, not even the devil has heard of it.  ;D



I'm familiar with this Hanslick comment, with which I agree. By the way, I have long loved the Violin Concerto, especially the middle movement. I don't listen to it anymore.
#8
Quote from: AnotherSpin on April 22, 2024, 10:11:37 PMRe-listened to the 4th yesterday, in parts, couldn't do it completely. Particularly repulsive are all these "folk" songs and motifs, as Во поле березка стояла. Mother Russia, the stench of gutalin and manure, ruddy, pimply, sweaty девки, short and crooked drunken мужики with sparse beards, vodka flowing straight from the samovar.

I am reminded of Eduard Hanslick's criticism of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto:

    "The Russian composer Tchaikovsky is an inflated [talent], without discrimination or taste. Such is also his long and pretentious Violin Concerto. For a while it moves musically, and not without spirit. But soon vulgarity gains the upper hand. The violin is no longer played; it is pulled, torn, shredded. The [second movement] Adagio is on its best behavior. But it breaks off to make way for a finale that transfers us to the brutal and wretched jollity of a Russian holiday. We see plainly the savage, vulgar faces; we hear curses, we smell vodka. Friedrich Vischer once observed, speaking of obscene pictures, that they stink to the eye. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto gives us for the first time the hideous notion that there can be music that stinks to the ear."

(emphasis mine)

FWIW, this VC is one of my Top 5 favorites. As for Hanslick's own music, as we Romanians say, not even the devil has heard (of) it.  ;D

#9
The Diner / Re: The unimportant news threa...
Last post by steve ridgway - April 22, 2024, 11:31:38 PM
'Seagull Boy', nine, wins European screeching competition



BBC News
#10
The Diner / Re: The football (soccer) thre...
Last post by Irons - April 22, 2024, 11:13:16 PM
Quote from: DaveF on April 22, 2024, 10:22:40 AMThank you - and I hope your bad weekend was solely down to the thrashing doled out by your neighbours from SE25, rather than anything more serious (not a comment that Bill Shankly would have understood).  Yeah, those 50 minutes from the third United goal up to the end of extra time were quite literally awe-inspiring - much the same as we played the whole game against Wolves in the previous round.  Unfortunately, Cov being Cov, we can also be awe-inspiringly bad, as in last week's 3-0 drubbing by Birmingham.

Favourite non-football episode has to be singing our respective "anthems" before kick-off - ours is We'll live and die in these towns by The Enemy - typical Cov humour; I guess it was a toss-up between that and The Specials' Ghost town - while theirs apparently is Take me home, United road, which neither makes sense nor scans, but which we also sing to the words Take me home, Highfield Road, which does both.  So we did - ffff to their apologetic mf.

I got talking to some Chelsea fans on the tube back to Uxbridge - they wanted Ellis Simms as well (apparently their nickname for Nicolas Jackson is "Bambi on Ice".)  As Mrs Thatcher said - No! No! No!

I like your manager (ex Man U). Arteta he ain't, thankfully.