Story link: 'White City' -- Lewis Shiner

White City -- Lewis Shiner

The time is 9:45. At midnight Nikola Tesla will produce his greatest miracle. The number twelve seems auspicious. It is important to him, for reasons he cannot understand, that it is divisible by three.

Nikola Tesla at the Chicago World's Fair, 1893

Cultural Catchup

It has been a busy few weeks. Not only have I started WERK, I have been ingesting CULTURE, including but not limited to:
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
( Read more... )

- Warrior
( Read more... )

- The Elixir of Love (Donizetti)
( Read more... )

- Mahler, Symphony #8 ('Symphony of A Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine')
The finale of Lorin Maazel's Mahler cycle: big in every respect (three choirs, large orchestra, eight solo singers, and the RFH organ (WIP, not yet fully restored); last night's performance was well over the 90-minute mark, and not a single one of those moments was dull. Additional, and unwanted, excitement provided by the collapse during the final movement of one of the double-bass players, who was helped off the stage by colleagues. Apparently shaken but okay. I was impressed by the rapidity of help offered and by Maazel keeping an eye on the basses, and the door behind them, afterwards.
I would have got even more out of this performance if I knew the piece better: as it was, I sat dazed, and hitched a lift with the Muse who was in attendance. (Concerts are brilliant for generating creative inspiration.)

I have also, recently:
- had a chest x-ray (no nasties)
- increased my peak air flow from ~180 to ~350 (still some way to go, but steroid inhaler is fab)
- been to the beach (blissssss)
- been to a barbeque
- had a birthday (thanks to all who sent good wishes or turned up to present in person!)
- had a grand day out with ladymoonray
- cleaned a lot of data
- read some books