:: Digital Dilettante ::

It’s the holiday season and I say this in its broadest sense because the real holiday is Christmas and New Year. The addition of Hanukkah, because it happens at the same time, is nice but really incidental in the timing because it is nothing but just another example of the infestation of political correctness. The importance of Hanukkah which is about a so-called miracle involving lamp oil, has to do with the Maccabean war which was about 170 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. It pales in comparison in its importance.

Be that as it may, I have 2 questions about Christmas and it has little to do with religion but more with aspects of its celebration.

1) I love all the fun stuff about Xmas trees, decorations and Santa Claus. What I don’t understand is the role of penguins in the various decorations. If Santa Claus is from the North Pole, with his reindeer and all that, what the heck have penguins to do with all this???? Penguins can be found only at the South Pole – in Antarctica! There are no penguins at the North Pole. Does anybody know anything about geography? Apparently not.

2) Every year at this time, we go to see Handel’s Messiah at various concert halls in New York. This is also a bit of a puzzle since Handel wrote this oratorio for Easter – not Christmas

But that’s OK, I LOVE IT ANY TIME of the year. What I don’t understand, and perhaps this is also just a local New York manifestation where hypocrisy is de rigueur, is the behavior of some people in the audience during the Halleluiah chorus – the one part of this oratorio that gives me goose bumps of thrill.

When the oratorio was first performed before King George II in 1743, the king stood up when the Halleluiah chorus started. Why? Nobody really knows – other than he was probably extremely moved by the piece. Since then it is customary to stand up during the Halleluiah chorus.

Last night at Carnegie Hall, I noticed again a number of people who did not stand up. I find this extremely offensive because it is disrespectful in terms of custom and it is insulting to Christians. I am Jewish, but art is art and an almost 300 year old custom in art deserves to be perpetuated.

Handel’s Messiah is a masterpiece of baroque classical music. The spectacular venue at Carnegie Hall and the performance by the Musica Sacra group should transcend any political or religious views. When 95% of a full house stands up, and you’re sitting down, you’re nothing but either an uncultivated lout, or simply a moron. Whatever these people’s message was, it was lost in the exuberance of the rest of the audience.

Voila! These are my 2 comments about Christmas. See this performance of the Hallelujah chorus by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is the best one I could find on YouTube because you can actually see the 4 voices – the tenors, baritones, sopranos and mezzo-sopranos. And of course, the audience stands up

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year!

Having developed about 300 websites in the past 15 years, I can say with total certitude that if  anything goes wrong, it’s the client’s fault.

If the estimated project development time is 4 weeks but it ends up taking 9 months, 99% of the time it’s the client who did not provide the content on time. The other 1% is the chief programmer who died.  Probably of boredom.

I am really getting revolted at this disease and have decided that I will no longer tolerate its manifestations (note “its” NOT “it’s”) in any medium where I have an option to interact with the author.

Therefore, any email containing this offense will be returned promptly to its sender. I have implemented a filter that will assess every such occurrence – including the misuse of “who’s” instead of “whose”  with the offensive  expression crossed out in Red with a big X.

I have had it with illiterates!!!  This offense should be punishable by 3 weeks of intensive classes – in a grammar school!

 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=apostrophitis

We heard rumors about a Walmart opening in the Hamptons area. Didn’t know that the “people” already arrived.

Hmmm - at the theater in Sag Harbor

So here we are having lunch with some friends at a hotel in Mexico and the husband is complaing about his wife’s refusal to cook back home - all their meals are take-outs. He thinks he should just install a vending machine in the kitchen since there is no use for any of the usual appliances. DD2 thought it was a great idea so she came up with this design for the ultimate jap kitchen.

 

Comes with a charge card – insert the card  and out pops your chicken soup! Or spaghetti and meatballs. 

Actually wanted to say the “the ultimate chazer” but it sounded strange phonetically.  Chazer is pig in Yiddish. The meaning  is the same:  greedy pig, sponger, freeloader, etc. Though I find the comparison an insult to pigs. They are lovely creatures. D2 doesn’t eat any by-products.

But onward. The other day,  D2 went to hair salon to get some color and highlights. During the process, D2 got kind of hungry so she asked if someone could bring her a sandwich from next door bagel shop. Since she only had a couple of dollars in cash, salon owner advanced the money.

Bagel and cream cheese was delish.

The bill for color, blow dry etc., came to $265.  D2 paid by credit card and said she will be right back – needs to go to ATM to get cash. 5 minutes later, D2 returns and hands out  tips to 3 people who worked on her hair including the guy who went out to get the bagel.

When she gets home, D2 realizes she forgot to actually pay the owner for the bagel.  So D2 goes back to salon and looks for owner whom she hands a $10 bill saying, “not sure how much the bagel was”. Owner takes the bill and says “ah, don’t worry about it” while she puts it in her pocket.

D2 knows bagel costs $3.50. D2 is too flabbergasted by this display of chutzpah to ask for change considering that: 

•  D2 just spent $265 at salon for color and highlights (not to mention tips)
• D2 goes to salon once a month for color and haircut – each time $285
• D2 also goes in between color and haircuts for just wash and blow dry
• D2 also gets manicure and pedicure every few weeks
• In all, D2 spends approximately $4,000 a year at salon

Owner not only does not comp D2 for a $3 bagel but takes $10 and gives no change.

D2 may be the biggest sucker in the world, but that’s what’s referred to as Extreme Chaserei or Ultimate Schnorrer.

I am absolutely mortified by a lapse in judgement – specifically a musical lapse. 

I was working on a website template that had a MIDI file as the background sound and it was a most familiar classical music piece – the kind you hear all the time, even when you’re on hold on some phone call. It drove me crazy because it was like hearing Jigle Bells and not being able to identify it. I know we have the CD in the car because when my husband drives and this CD is playing, I conduct it – so I could even remember my arm movements. 

So I submitted it to the Talk Classical Forum  http://www.talkclassical.com and several people immediately identified it. The egg on my face comes from the fact that this rondo is my ringtone for my husband – just a different movement. It’s Eine Kleine Nacht Musik – 4th movement.

If you want to hear it, it’s on my jewelry site: http://www.thedilettante.com/albums/jewelry/

Which brings me to the fact that this week I attended a concert in NYC that was a Mozart Piano Concerto and it was on a piano forte. I have never seen this instrument in person – did you know that they keys are inverted – the Black are on the bottom and the White on top!

You can see one here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Piano_1781_France_-_Louis_Bas.jpg

Fascinating,  n’est-ce pas?

DD2 has decided to update this silly website which has been in existence since web 00001.  That means, before some of you were born.  That tells you that DD2 is kind of long in the tooth.

Anyway, it started with an assortment of goofy JavaScript toys that she was using for testing purposes. Oh – in case you didn’t know – DD2 is a web woman.  Some of these scripts are antediluvian which means some of them date back to 1994 when she saw the first animated GIF. These files have been moved to a new location:  thedilettante.com/index3.html.   (opens in new window because there is no way to get back to this page.)

Enjoy.

What possessed us to go out on a holiday weekend to a most beautiful restaurant on the water, but also a big hang-out for the microskirt set with 5-inch heels,  is beyond me.

The food was very good, though the service a bit spotty given the circus in the bar areas. Yes, there are several, overlooking the marina – it really is a stunning view.  For some views of East Hampton, see the postcards here: http://www.easthampton.com/Edesk/index.html

My Montauk fluke was absolute perfection and so were the dishes of our friends.

But what the heck is it with the baby strollers? I am now making a vow not to go to any restaurant that allows baby strollers – I’m not paying $100 for dinner to hear babies crying. Been there – done that – 40 years ago!

The restaurant is East Hampton Point, formerly Wings Point, and I used to live across the street about 30 years so imagine the drunken feasts on the spectacular decks especially since I didn’t have to drive home. Crossing the highway was a bit tricky but obviously I made it.

Nostalgia hits me every time I go to one of my old hangouts. If you want to learn about how East Hampton used to be before it was invaded by the spike heeled and nouveau riche, see the I LOVE EAST HAMPTON blog. It is written by a real local – nobody knows more than her about “how it was ….”.