I usually eat lunch alone at work, taking the time to read, rest, or recover from whatever-I've-screwed-up-that-morning. Or, occasionally, hear what others eating nearby have to say...
Yesterday, a particularly attractive young man and his friend entered the lounge while I was eating and reading. Aside from giving the attractive man a generous once-over, I kept my nose in Watership Down and paid them no mind. Until...
"I just don't get opera."
Let the opera bashing commence!
Actually, they weren't horribly offensive. Just the typical complaints:
--"It's the whole foreign language thing. I hate reading subtitles!" [Amélie must have been hell for him.]
--"If you're looking for a good plot, don't go to the opera." [Ladies and Gentlemen, before tonight's opera begins, we would like anyone looking for a good, sensible, coherent plot to leave immediately. Those departing must also produce a signed affidavit contesting that they will never watch television again.]
--"Operas are just foreign musicals, right?" [We'll take a quick break while James sharpens his blades.]
Of course, I started to get testy when the opera-singer bashing began. Folks, what are the chances... what are the chances that these two specimens of Homo sapiens would commence some of the most blatantly childish and unsubstantiated criticisms of opera singers as a whole while sitting in the presence of an opera singer's child? Someone go calculate the odds. Granted, my dad's opera career finished some time before I was even an embryo... but I'll also paste my stepmother's credentials up on the board as support.
But, I kept my mouth shut. And, though I was in the midst of some seriosly grisly passages of rabbit kung-fu in Watership Down, was able to crack a sheepish grin as I thought, "These two people here... these people here are so f***ing stupid!!"
I also thought the best part of listening to them was hearing them pronounce Gianni Schicchi "Gee-onnee Shick-kee." But, I must admit, the Best Part instead came when La Boheme suddenly became "Lay Boo-Heemee."
Posted by James at February 1, 2005 09:01 AM