Vacation Time

It's vacation time, and what better place to spend it than my aunt and uncle's house filled with random things! Pictures coming soon.

I Am Superstitious

So there has to be a fourteenth entry STAT.

I decided there should be some real content here, so some talk about "pataphors." I just realized that about everything I say in public is a pataphor. (I make more sense in writing because I can press the "delete" key. Those of you that see me in person know that my brain sometimes (always) goes into some weird dimension where owls have beards and cats can wear underwear too. ) Two degrees of separation from reality? You bet! 

Comparison between metaphor and pataphor:

Metaphor- Her eyes glistened like a duck's back.

Pataphor- Her eyes glistened, the back of the brown duck at William Puff's pond. The duck was searching for bread crumbs thrown by the tourist Saline Brunsby. Saline had bought an entire loaf of discount Wonderbread at the ol' seven and seven just across the street for the express purpose of throwing to the ducks and occasional goose. The geese and ducks did not like each other, and engaged in waterfowl play. (ohhhh bad pun alert!) Saline did not enjoy avian violence, so she tried to limit her bread-throwing activities to areas populated by only ducks. Sometimes, a rowboat would appear and the waterfowl would scatter while Saline waved to the occupants. It was a nice day. 

This is a daily occurrence in Alex Land. Please try not to move there. 

T.V. Guide Sitcom Summary of My Life

Alex's Life- Comedy

Alex gets addicted to milk tea and cannot stop drinking it. Meanwhile, Grebenna hides her guinea pigs in a fridge for the winter.

Economics Time-Game

Can you study for economics in time for the big final? With host Gralex Chewin.

Love, Love, Love- Comedy/Drama

All's fair in love and Connect 4. Five friends discuss the turmoil within their hearts. Can Gramie find love overseas without getting tangled in bracelets?

Cat's Hour-Children

We love cats! Pictures of cats for hours upon hours.

Singin' Time

Sing along with the crew! Grarwen, Gronnie, and Gralvin lead the Fun Time Crew during this half-hour of hit tunes and groovy jams.

Hawaiiiiiiiiiiii-Documentary

Everybody loves Hawaii! Say "Aloha" to Grolton, Gralvin, and Greebo as they surf the sights and sounds of the "Watery State of Hell."

3 A.M. Countertenor Hour

Hey guys, it's Countertenor Hour! That is to say, I will be posting a ton of videos about countertenors. What's that you say? You don't like countertenors? Shame on you. 

To start off, here's a video of Russell Oberlin talking about countertenors. I think it's interesting, but if you are a music major, you will not agree with anything, as evidenced by the comments on the page.

Additionally, I think the comments on these classical music videos are the most intelligent Youtube comments ever. Not an impressive label, but I mean, in one video, two guys DO NOT HAVE A FLAME WAR over the issue of Glenn Gough's pianos. That is like watching a bear and a salmon being friends and drinking tea together. It Never Happens.

Next up, here's the video with Russell Oberlin and Glenn Gough. 

Glenn Gough is so funny! Just look at him (glenn) gough! My puns are awesome, and you should agree. Oh wait, my puns are horrible. 

Here is Alfred Deller singing Purcell. I think he got frozen because he doesn't move in this video, just sits there and gazes into the distance with melancholic eyes. What's wrong, Mr. Deller? Your voice is too high? You fell in a vat of liquid nitrogen? You can sing through your nose? Or are you allergic to roses?

Hmmm, I think I like Deller better, but it may just be the recording. Yeah, it's the recording. 

This next dude is no pro, but I put this in because I sang the same aria before. Haha, look, a BOY can sing better than I do. I should get back into singing. Ugh. Word of advice: if you stop singing, at least do vocal excercises every day so when you start singing again you don't sound like a banshee. Yucks. 

Yeah, not the greatest performance in the world (needs work on high notes) but it's not bad! Keep up your singing, unknown person. With practice, you'll have a nice countertenor voice. 

I like this video! It's nice to see a professional singer practicing with a teacher. I have to say, the voice is an evil music "instrument." So easily screwed up, so easily out of tune, so easily accidentally filled with a chunk of tuna that makes you cough. 

 

Oopsies, he made a screechy noise! 

Dear Andreas Scholl STOP Will you please marry me STOP

So smooth. People, nobody needs flashy coloratura sopranos when you can have bespectacled COUNTERTENORS. He looks like a tall owl penguin that can sing. 

Andreas Scholl, I apologize for being fickle, but I am a fan of this dude's vibrato. The control! David Daniels is a man who has won an award for looking like a lil' owl. 

People, it's time for a Countertenor Showdown.

Here's Scholl singing "Va Tacito."

Here's Daniels singing "Venti Turbini."

Oh what the heck, they both win. Both of these productions are totally crazy anyways. Julius Caesar with paramilitary troops? A man singing to a shoe? Opera, you are weird. 

And now for something different: Baritone and Soprano!

 

The real reason I put this up: I kinda want to own and wear that orange dress to a fancy ball. 

Penultimate Post

So cute! So delightful! Doesn't it make you happy? Me too. 

Last, another countertenor. But what is this?

Russian Pop? What, this is stupid. (No it's not. Vitas needs to grow his hair out again. Looks better with hair. Jamie you suck for making me listen to this.) I feel sorry for the fish.

Thank you for tuning in to Countertenor Hour. If you don't like countertenors, you probably hate me now. If you actually watched every single video to the end, you really like countertenors, opera, or both. Except maybe the last one. Russian pop?

Vegetable Questions

Another Alex survey! This time, the survey is all about vegetable eating habits. What type of cooked vegetable do you prefer: crunchier vegetables or mushier vegetables? This is important because sometimes two people will like opposing vegetable textures, and you should know beforehand so nobody will get hurt. 

So, crunchy or mushy? Please respond in the comments. I like mushy vegetables.

Lamp Recipe

I made a typo, but it's funny so it stays. 

And yes, NYU, there are Asian lamb recipes, but they are hard to find. Examples: lamb stirfry with loads of onion, Cantonese lamb stew, I can't think of any others. 

I was originally going to make Chinese lamb, but I got derailed. But here is the fun lamb recipe. It turned out well!

3 chops of lamb, cut into small pieces

1 onion

3 small roma tomatoes

Some amount of fresh mint

1 tsp of ground cinnamon

2 tsp of basil

1/2 lemon

1 orange

1 clove garlic

cooking oil

sugar!

Marinade:

1. Squeeze the juices out of your lemon and orange like a vampire squeezes brains for blood.

2. Put this in a big ziploc bag. Add your spices garlic and mint to the mix.

3. Put the lamb in the bag. Seal the bag and let everything marinate overnight. Don't forget to wake up at 3 A.M. to flip the bag over!

Cooking:

1. Chop your onion into thin strips. Try not to get onion tears because you may end up accidentally cutting your finger.

2. Chop your tomatoes into cubes. If your finger is bleeding, the blood will blend in with the tomatoes. (Don't let this happen. Get a bandaid and antiseptic gel STAT.)

3. Cook your onions in a frying pan until they too are weeping. Then add your tomatoes and let the mixture stew for a short while. Your heat should be on medium high or something.

4. Add your lamb, marinade and all. When the juices start boiling, turn the heat down so everything stews.

5. Add about 2 packets of sugar. Or just add some sugar until your stew is not super sour anymore. Oh I forgot. Add some nice salt and pepper or else vampires will show up!

6. Let everything stew for a while until you think it's ready, about 10-15 minutes. You can either keep this liquidy or reduce your sauce.

7. Yummy! Tastes good! 

Other things to try: 

Add some red wine. This would taste very good. 

Put in other spices, such as turmeric. I don't know, experiment.

If you are fancy, add saffron. Oh man, so delicious.

Use lamb shanks instead of chops. Or some cut of lamb that has connective tissue.

Make this with beef or chicken.

Make something entirely different.

Don't cut yourself with a knife. Ouch!

Experiments

I bought some lamb, which is currently sitting in a marinade of my own invention. Tomorrow I'm going to cook lamb. If this works out, a new recipe will be up for the taking.

In other news, knives are stupid and my finger hurts.