Thwack! Zap! Pow! Touché!

We had an epic time at A.'s epic Tolkien-inspired opera premiere last night, just sitting back and letting the oceans of epic wash over us. (Did I mention it was epic?) His melodies are gorgeous, especially the choral stuff in the background. I was quite impressed -- and somewhat dumbfounded to discover that there are werewolves and vampires in Tolkien. Who knew? (The werewolves made their appearance last night while the vampires are promised for part two, when Luthien the elf princess apparently makes her grand entrance as a giant bat. Can't wait!) Personally, I could have done with more duets, trios and/or quartets rather than the classic Wagnerian "you sing for a while, then I'll sing for a while" set-up, but maybe that's just me. Also, he needs to turn down the volume on his many synthesizers next time -- poor ML was hollering narration filled with unpronounceable elvish names at the top of her lungs, only to be drowned out half the time. But overall, quite the triumph. D. bravely attended his very first opera ever and managed to follow the plot using both the narration and the one-page synopsis in the program. He was impressed, as was I, with how well A. & T.'s voices blend together. They really bring out the best in each other, vocally -- it's quite romantic.

Afterwards ML and I got on what we thought was the 1 train on the local track at 86th Street, only to discover when it took us to Central Park North that it was the 3 train incognito. Consequently we showed up to the cast party at Henry's 30 minutes after everybody else. Sigh. Sometimes I think this city has it in for me, and what annoys me isn't the malice per se but the pettyness of it, like, can't you come up with anything better than that?

Here's the link to my new favorite site, a collection of all the onomatopoeic title cards displayed during the three seasons of the live-action Adam West Batman. This particular site was apparently put together by fans who saw the show dubbed into Spanish, which accounts for the occasional odd "-eth" suffix (Zap-eth! Crunch-eth! Whap-eth!) and adds that extra layer of internet randomness that we love so much. The two links at the top of the page lead to touchingly exhaustive lists of exactly how many times each onomatopoeia was used, and in which episode number. Pick your favorite and post the graphic on your own blog! As for me, as much as I love the "touché", complete with correct accent, I think I have to pass due to its lack of an exclamation point and go with something snappier...