Chopin's 205 Anniversary

Chopin was born 205 years ago. He was my favourite piano composer. Below is an excerpt of the Raindrop Prelude.

• Composer look-a-likes from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Old Technology

Sony Walkman

Image by rockheim

Inspired by geeks are sexy - Old technology is adorable.

Sydney City Recital Hall

Exterior

Interior

View from 2012

Sydney City Recital Hall

Sydney Opera House

I went on the Sydney Opera House Tour on the evening of 10th November 2014. Photography wasn't allowed inside so below are the ones taken by green screening.

Exterior

Concert chamber

Exterior evening

Sydney Opera House

My Weekend

View December 2009 in a larger map

1. Friday: dinner at I Japanese Cafe - I had seafood hot pot - oyster, prawn, tofu, vermicelli, bok choy etc
2. Saturday:
   
   
   
   
   
   • Dinner at the Bank Bar and Restaurant - I had vegetables (egg plant, asparagus, pepper, salad etc). The meal was gluten free as well!
   • Movie: The Time Traveller's Wife - so sad! I cried. The adaptation was pretty good.
   • Singstar - we took tuns to belt out pop songs. 'Nuff said.
   • CBD and The Outback - shots then dance the night away
   
   
   
   
   
3. Sunday 12 Days of Christmas Concert at Clarence Street Theatre
   
   
   
   
   
   1. A partridge in a pear tree - Soloist singing
   2. Two turtle doves, - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle doves
   3. Three French hens, - three flute, accordion and harp pieces
   4. Four calling birds, - Four ladies performing in acapella
   5. Five golden rings, - fire dancer with hula hoop!
   6. Six geese a-laying, - pantomime by six geese
   7. Seven swans a-swimming, - what happend to swan lake by man in tutus? I think it was replaced by a whopping seven recorders.
   8. Eight maids a-milking, - Drury Lane dancers performing 'Survivor'
   9. Nine ladies dancing, - Russian traditional dance
   10. Ten lords a-leaping, - Gumboot stomp
   11. Eleven pipers piping, - Ringing Scottish and Caledonian bagpipe band
   12. Twelve drummers drumming, - Wai Taiko drummers
   
   

Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 - 31 July 1886)

Franz Liszt was born 198 years ago to the day in Raiding, East Austria.

You can shop for music by Liszt in my Amazon Affiliate Store.

Sources

The Franz Liszt Site by Rich DiSilvio

Finetune your Mindset

Finetune is a free music player that include major record label artists. The widget below is an example.

Ichi Go Ichie: Once in a Lifetime

By Mike Tigas, some rights reserved.

I went to a Japanese taiko drum performance last night at the rhododendron lawn in the Hamilton Gardens. The instruments featured were a variety of drums, bamboo flutes and koto harps.

More information: Wai Taiko group traditional Japanese drumming in Hamilton

"I found you!" - Gollum

By Roberto Rizzato, some rights reserved.

I like things that are free and useful.

1. justhearit - "allows user to search for any song in the world." Sounds too good to be true. I did not wait for the flash site to load. So if you tried it tell me what you think.
2. searchme - Visual and intuitive search engine. Main page loaded fast. I have to branch out from Google.
3. An argument stemming from music searches - I Can't Stop Thinking! #6: delves into the micro-payment concept by discussing the record and radio industry hold on musicians.
4. The satirical (non)deities Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Invisible Pink Unicorn.
   
5. List of a dozen castles - It says those are the most beautiful in Europe. A good list to tick off! Number three, Miramare Castle in Trieste, Italy would be higher up on my list. Maybe it was not as showy as the others.
6. Tools for writing - Someone rattles off fifty tips here. To prevent mistakes I should not write at all.
7. The best things in life are free. On the other hand, saffron costs US$1,100 to 11,000 per kg. Other delicacies can be found in this Wacky Archives article.

By quarksteilchen, some rights reserved.

Fishpond 2009

Fishpond is a New Zealand online store for books, music and movies.