Originally posted by greenmanenvy_fd at In Deep / When the Ocean was a Forest

That's right, I'm using the Green Man icon again!

I'm back, and better than ever and...

Anywho.

Green Man Enviroscaping LLC is still shut down, but the web domain that bore it's (abbreviated) name, greenmanenvy.com, and the associated blog on Blogger and page on Facebook have now been repurposed as "Green Man Envy: Natural News and Mythical Meanderings".

I've got a few posts on the blog (which really drives the site and the page at this time, if not in perpetuity) that reflect the new direction. The old company related content is going to remain there ~ some of it, like the articles and PSAs, are going to continue being featured. The site will mix that sort of home landscape and nature articles with some fiction, poetry, and art.

Although it might take me awhile to get it up and running, I'd like to offer content from others on the site... maybe someday to even make it a viable market (i.e. where writers get paid). But right now, it's just a blog...

Anywho, an RSS feed is available for those so inclined (that's how the content gets from the blog to the site), and I'd like to encourage everyone (on Facebook) to like the page, and those who use Blogger to follow it there, and so on and so forth.

Deb likes to watch television with captions.

aequitaslevitas just reported - on account of me saying my ability to spell was ded - that whoever did the captions for the show they watched on the Travel channel about Atlantis was either very tired (my personal excuse) or very incompetent.

For example:

"the volcano erupted violently and covered the island in ash and pumas"

"ash and pumas" - used multiple times throughout the program

"the island of Conosos" - used a couple times, then corrected to Knossos

"they were worshippers of the sea god, Pasidon"

The Cunning Little Vixen composed by Leos Janacek, performed by Lucia Popp, Eva Randova, Dalibor Jedlicka, and the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras

I first discovered Janacek's music in the best way possible - I used to keep WCRB on at night, and I half-awoke one night to some eerie, beautiful, ethereal choral vocals: quiet, just fading out. Mmmmm... I started to close my eyes... and suddenly a wild organ toccata charged in! Very dark tonalities - first chorus, now pipe organ, it was like the piece was written for me. Of course, I already thought this before the strings and horns came in for the finale of the Glagolitic - or Slavonic, depending on who you believe - Mass.

Of course, when they announced the piece by "Yanacheck" I dutifully wrote that down and proceeded to not find it until I realized it was actually "Yana-" with a J. Since then, I've collected a number of pieces, including his two most popular pieces, the Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba. I chanced to catch some of Janacek on the Met or some other program one evening, and toddler-Justin and I listened intently and liked it.

This, my second Janacek opera, actually has even more of the darker sonorities that I associate with Eastern European music in general and Janacek in particular. The recording includes the opera and the orchestral suite across two discs, although the suite isn't isolated on that second disc so listenings to the opera tend to go right into the suite, which isn't such a bad thing.

Although the Mackerras is one of the few recordings you can find of this work on CD, it also has an exceptional reputation, but my experience with the conductor has been a bit touch and go, and for a long time I avoided picking this up for that reason alone.

I finally came across it for the right price and could resist no longer - glad I broke down, as it is a great performance. I haven't done more than give cursory glances to the libretto, but it follows a folktale-like setting, a humorous story of a fox and a hunter. This performance was done in the original language - Czech, if I recall correctly. I absolutely can't abide by recordings of works written in language A performed in language B, especially when language B is English and you realize *exactly* how weak the libretto really is... I can get the gist of the story by reading about it; I can learn bits and pieces of however many languages the booklet is translated into; and it sounds much more beautiful in the language the composer intended.

A worthy addition to any opera collection.