Sylph

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1549442.php/Joan-Collins-excess-baggage

Of course it's not. And the Dame thing also, it seems very unlikely. As for the "jab", it wasn't a jab. Those are perfectly respectable professions. I'm conflicted, contradictory: yes, I'd like her to become a Baroness, but she doesn't look like a baroness to me. Nor does she look aristocratic. I'm not sure I can explain myself very well. She is perfect at playing rich and successful businesswomen, but not princesses, marchionesses/marquises, duchesses and that sort of thing. I just don't buy it. That's why the aristocratic comment struck me.

Well, yes, precisely. Also Al Corley's name is many things, but aristocratic it is not. Perhaps the comment is directed to his looks? As for Joan Collins, wouldn't you find it absolutely delightful if she were given life peerage? Joan Henrietta Collins, Baroness Collins? That would just be priceless!!

LOL, I was just honestly wondering about this Only Corley wasn't aristocratic enough. On the other hand, Oxenberg is a real princess, but she hasn't sided with the hostess/daughter of a dance teacher and an agent.

So... I was wondering about this aristocratic epithet and Al Corley. He is not looking aristocratic enough/at all or...?

Her being a witch has nothing to do with her religious beliefs.

Zeinab was always a witch.

Check the April ones: http://www.leonardsl...com/notes.shtml No, Slatkin never conducted La Traviata. From the Italian repertoire he conducted La Fanciulla del West (at the Met). He also took Samson et Dalila at the Met and agreed to Ghosts, all operas more complex than La Traviata. He obviously had the chops, but conditions under which he worked were less than ideal (and that's an understatement). He has also excellently recorded Barber's Vanessa and Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

I have to correct myself first: the Met didn't cancel The Ghost at the last minute; Slatkin agreed to that project over a year ago. He has also written on his blog that he "feels" he was "thoroughly prepared", studied the score, listened to various recordings (and was confused by some of them), read books about Verdi, performance practice etc. You have to have in mind that he was given only a week and a half to rehearse the orchestra, two casts and a chorus. Before opening night he got to conduct it only twice from beginning to end with all the singers; there was also one piano, in which he wasn't allowed to stop for corrections, and one dress rehearsal. Gheorghiu skipped the dress rehearsal. He also noticed different players in the orchestra, people he never saw before that in that same rehearsal. All this wasn't helped by articles written by Tommasini.

It's a shame that it turned out that way for Slatkin. He was partly to blame, but the cast and orchestra sabotaged him too. He is, after all, Morel's student and La Traviata he should conduct in his sleep. I actually wanted to see him conduct The Ghost of Versailles by Corigliano, but Met pulled the production at the last minute. I was so looking forward to it. So they cancelled that opera and gave him La Traviata. And the rest is history.

They have a difficult diva now too. So difficult she got rid of Leonard Slatkin (La Traviata fiasco). And her name is Angela Gheorghiu.

Yes. It was all just miserable, There is no hope, barren, the smell of death everywhere in the air... And not some bombastic, megainflated, faux-tragedy blown out of proportion. This just underlined how vile and nasty she has become.

No, no. Making Pauline the villaine was not terrible story. I disagree with that. The descent into hell was very well written. And the death scene wasn't terrible.

Wow, Ben, is this really happening? You and I agree on something! And Wendy Richard really played it all superbly. She really created a unique personality, and the descent to hell was masterful. As for the weather, I haven't seen those snow reports. For example, the last few days, if I'm informed correctly, there was frost in England (in May?!) and not much was said in the major (or minor) news bulletins. Even the weather reports every half our on BBC News went missing (due to the new Cabinet and all that); and these half-hour reports are always live and the weatherperson changes every 3 hours or so — meaning it's not really repetitive. British and the weather, it's stuff you could write books about. A nation notoriously obsessed with it, but in an entertaining kind of way. Probably because it's so changeable. As Corbett always says: That's your weather. For now.

I loved that made Pauline the villain and I love they're making Zeinab a villain. Love it. I am so glad they got rid of Pauline, you have no idea. Awful, vile, nasty woman.

Well, I've seen a ton of British news programs and weather reports and not a single one was the lead story and not a single one made a "big deal of the smallest of exteme weather".

Alvin, have you been listening to any world music recently? Like some Bollywood stuff, for example?

Chimène Badi Laisse les dire.

+1. Weather updates rule.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7124307.ece

David Cameron is en route to Buckingham Palace.

It's actually dead boring and annoying, Carl. I wish they decided already. And the Lib Dems have, obviously, been two-timing everybody...

:)

Yeah, right. Who are you kidding?