More Reasons to Love the Internet

Confession time!!! I was a teenager, temporarily. Here's how it all happened.

Alex is pretty much obsessed with Star Wars. Eventually I learned the names of the actors in the "new" prequels, googled them, (because I live under a rock ... apparently I was the only female on the face of the planet who hadn't ever heard of Hayden Christensen, the guy who portrayed Anakin Skywalker, you know, Darth Vader before he turned to the dark side) and then looked at their other stuff. And because I'm a teenager at heart, I ended up watching this Canadian tv series about troubled teens at a boarding school in the mountains, called Higher Ground, starring the same Mr Christensen when he was a teenager. That of course led me to watch other angsty high-school tv shows, specifically, Freaks and Geeks (loved it then, still love it!) and My So Called Life (loved it then, still love it!). Then I googled all those people to get the "where are they now" update and found out that the guy everyone wanted to make out with in the boiler room on MSCL, Jared Leto, has been in this sort of progressive rock band for the past several years called 30 Seconds to Mars. It's not opera. No.... way.... but it's compelling. And or course most of their fans are, you know, young enough to be my kids, but... whatever. They have this almost cult following - catch phrases, clothing, war paint, screaming fans, etc. I would have loved these guys had they been around when I was a teenager. I mean, they've got the looks, makeup and fashion of Adam Ant and Duran Duran but they have actual musical talent. I love the drums. So here I am, watching, or trying to watch, a livestream of a chat with the band. It's insane. It was insane... it's already over due to technical difficulties... So the band was on a webcam and there was a live chat window that flew by at the speed of light. Then it all crashed... and thanks to Twitter updates I know that they lost internet access at their hotel in Tel Aviv ... But the cult members, uh, I mean, fans, I'm sure, were shrieking to see their leaders uh I mean, idols, live on the screen for those few minutes. It got me thinking, I can't even imagine what my life would have been like had the internet existed when I was a teenager. It's truly unfathomable. Meanwhile, there I was, listing to Alex play Mario Cart Wii, saying goodbye to Husband as he left to see a baseball game, wondering if maybe I should shut down the computer and feed my child... nah, he knows where the food is.

So as I stated early on in the life of this blog, I love the internet. I love how on Twitter you can follow "famous" people and sort of communicate with them, and know from the time of their updates exactly when they are doing something. So I guess I love the legitimate stalking aspect of it. It's not really stalking - after all, if you use twitter you are giving the world permission to see whatever is it you post there. Also I love how, on the internet you can make friends with people you never would have met before, how you can trade information and how a band can try to hold a live chat with their fans. I mean, how COOL is that? Are opera singers doing that? I don't mean voice lessons on Skype. I think live opera via one of those live video chat feeds is in order.

In a sort of related post, Joyce DiDonato has started a Vlog on YouTube. I hope that doesn't mean she'll slow down her writing, because I love reading her blog. And I can't wait to see her at the Met!!! Next April. It'll be here before I know it. Together with JDF and Diana Damrau. Seems unreal. And my plan is to stay healthy... no backstage acupuncture this time, if only because I can't be guaranteed another view from the wings.

Had a voice lesson yesterday. Will post about that later ... however I do want to mention that the next Opera Project recital is September 26. In fact, I think I'll call the Guy In Charge right now to remind him that I'm interested in performing. And then, perhaps I should feed my child...