Back to Latin

The Pope has OK’ed the use of the Latin Mass. I have conflicting views regarding this action. I am very much a post-Vatican Council II Catholic. I grew up with all the changes. I don’t see a problem caused by variations regarding liturgy. But I also love the sound, the music of Latin.

When I started music school I was not very familiar with the masses and requiems that had been written by musicians through the ages. There is a beauty to the sound of “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Dona nobis pacem.”

I understand the concerns caused by the Good Friday liturgy in Latin. (See the NY Times article.) I’m not looking forward to having the priest face away from the congregation. I don’t want to hear Latin every Sunday. But I would like to hear such a mass from time to time.

The Light Rail to the MOA (Mall of America)

I had an adventure with Tony yesterday. Tommy and Wendy had plans to go see a show at the Children’s Theatre and then have dinner. I asked Tony what he wanted to do with me. We got on the Light Rail at 50th street. It was nice to get in the train since it was so hot outside.

Neither of us had been all the way southward to the MOA before. We went past Fort Snelling and the cemetery. When we got to the mall Tony wanted to play at the arcade right away. Afterwards we checked out Barnes and Noble, had dinner in the food court, and then stopped at Game Stop.

Tony convinced me that it would be OK if he used his money to buy Super Smash Brothers Melee even though it is a Teen game and he is only 12. You see, in Europe it is a 12 and up game, so it would be OK. They learn fast.

Wendy and Tommy had a great time and stopped at Chris and Rob’s Chicago style restaurant on the way home. They have NASCAR posters all around the place which Tommy thought was very cool.

Today we were just going to try to stay cool. Major thunderstorms just rolled through our area now, so hopefully the temperature will come down.

Today is...

...too darn hot!

93 degrees today. I hate really hot weather. A day to clean out things in the basement.

I may have to renounce my membership in "Minnesotans for Global Warming."

Today is...

...the Fourth of July.

It's hot. We're just going to take it easy today. I've been doing some garden work, but now I'm down in my "scriptorium" at the computer.

Today is

...family day.

Reading the bio of Andrew Carnegie. I borrowed it from the library. Still deciding if I'll go ahead and buy it myself. (Probably will.)

Later we'll play at the playground and have dinner at Baker Square.

Rainy Sunday

It's a rainy Sunday here in Minnesota. We have 2 friends of the boys over today for a play date. They are all upstairs celebrating "Neurodiversity". I really haven't written much about the fact that both boys have autism.

All fours boys in our house today are part of the autism program at their school. Today is one of those days where I'm really thankful that we live in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Public Schools has a well developed autism program. All four of the boys started in the program before they were in Kindergarten. It's really great for the boys and parents to know other people and families for whom autism is a part of their lives.

The Sven & Ole Computer Virus.

You have just received the Sven & Ole Computer Virus. Because we don't know how to program computers, this virus works on the honor system. Please delete all the files on your hard drive manually and forward this message to everyone on your mailing list.

Thank you for your cooperation.

--Sven and Ole

(I'm cleaning out my email folders and came across this one.)

A poem for Geeks

A geek
Is a geek
Is a geek

Whether one speaks

Of computers
or music
or...

whatever

Napoleon the bomb

At the other end of the spectrum from the Guthrie, Wendy and I tried to get through Napoleon Dynamite last night. We lasted about 35 minutes. It was weird and boring and not funny. Tommy is a bit upset that we did not watch the whole movie. One of his teachers really liked it. Actually it is a good opportunity to explain to him that everyone has their own opinions and that is OK.

The Merchant of Venice

Wendy and I saw The Merchant of Venice at the Guthrie the other night. Wonderful production, but the anti-Semitism in the play was very offensive. The play itself is almost like 2 separate plays. The Portia story was beautiful and fun. The Shylock parts were repulsive. The ending where the “state” decrees that Shylock must become a Christian or lose everything was especially repugnant.

This week

It is springtime in Minnesota. The temperatures are hovering between 50 and 70. The plants are starting to turn green. The boys have major spring fever.

We've gone to the playground a couple of times with the boys. Both boys have a lot of extra energy to burn off—but especially Tony. They have been doing a lot of testing at school these past weeks and I wonder if that is part of the greater need to run and swing and slide.

Interesting news time: a co-worker pointed out to me that Pittsburgh, PA had tied with a number of other cities for 10th place in the list of cleanest cities. He questioned the results of the survey when he read that. I told him of the homestead mill that is now a shopping center (The Waterfront in Homestead). It is hard to shake the James Parton quote that “Pittsburgh is hell with the lid taken off”. It doesn't help that Pittsburghers (myself included) sometimes that a perverse pride in that quote.

But I live in Minnesota now. Land of 10,000 lakes, loons, and chorales.

The Hoax

Wendy and I saw the Hoax this last weekend. Definitely two thumbs up from us. The movie tells the story of Clifford Irving who wrote an 'authorized autobiography' of Howard Hughes--which per the title was a hoax. Richard Gere portrays Mr. Irving while Alfred Molina plays his friend and researcher Dick Suskind. Marcia Gay Harden was so great as Mr. Irving's wife that I didn't even recognized her until half way through the movie. It will probably be forgotten by the time of the Oscars, but it was really a fine grown up movie. (No exploding spider-based spaceships here!)

Month of March

I can't believe the month of March is already gone. We started out with a tiger of a snow storm and end wet. (Not quite a lamb, but I didn't need to use my snow blower on it.)

Wendy finished up with Mikado at the Gilbert of Sullivan Very Light Opera Company. She had a great time singing with them. Last night they had their set strike and final cast party. It was at a Masonic Lodge and that was a first for both Wendy and I. After reading the Da Vinci Code I kept wondering what it would be like inside. In the main hall there were a lot of symbols all around and a beautiful mural on the ceiling. But actually the highlight of the evening was the alternate lyrics contest.

Geek Culture

For my birthday Wendy and the boys gave me the 10 Star Trek movie DVDs and a Star Trek encyclopedia. Since the boys already know the Star Wars saga I think it's time to introduce the "Star Trek canon" of Geek Culture. Tony isn't really into at this point, but Tommy is having fun watching the movies with me in order. So far his favorite is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Why I love Minnesota

We got A LOT of snow last night--I'd say close to 10 inches. I woke up this morning and looked out the window and noticed someone with a giant snow blower was clearing the sidewalk for our neighbor Barb that I always clear. I thought "Great, all I'll have to do is clear Barb's driveway and our walks and drive way." By the time I got ready a second person was clearing our sidewalks with his giant snow blower. I got out there in time to yell a "thanks" to him.

Still had to clear our walks from the sidewalks to the house and Barb's driveway, but this is what I love about Minnesota. I don't know these guys, but they thought it would be nice to just do a bit of clearing for the neighborhood since they owned the big 3 foot across (more or less) snow blower (instead of my having to to use my 18 inch snow blower over and over again).

The weather was perfect for being outside too. It was hovering just around 31 degrees. Wendy and Tony went out for a while to clear some of the walks too. I was originally going to go to a Composers Forum workshop today, but they cancelled it due to the weather. I'm actually glad they did. It's been nice just to stay at home. Tonight we're going to make pizzas at home and watch the Oscars.

Babel: Thumbs Down!

I'd rather watch Nacho Libre again than try to sit through Babel one more time. If you are going to try to watch it, take Dramamine first.

My son, the comedian

Tommy wakes up this morning. He comes into our bedroom and gives Wendy a kiss.

She says "My dear boy."

He says "Do I have antlers?"

ennoy

ennoy: verb, to disturb or irritate electronically.

We, the Gennaula family, came up with a new word this morning. Spam is ennoying. Pop-up windows are ennoying. Constantly IM'ing someone when they are trying to work is ennoying.
Cell phones in movie theaters are ennoying. Car alarms going off at 2 am are ennoying.

Have you ever been ennoyed?

From a fortune cookie

Success is determined by how and what you think about.

My compositional workshop

I've started another blog for the music that I write. It is called the Compositional Workshop. I'm going to start putting the pieces I write out there along with discussions of the work. The first piece I'm working on is a re-write of a piece I wrote back in 1994. It is called Wisdom is Glorious.