[sort of live-blogging a random Friday evening, because it's not like any work or sex is being done on a Friday evening in these parts]

1. The NY Sun refers to Angela Gheorghiu as Roberto Alagna's ex-wife: typo or not? Join the debate at La Cieca's, in the midst of a totally unrelated post on some conductor with a sex life. BREAKING: I got an e-mail from a well-placed, but unverifiable, source that Angie and Bobbie are still in marriage bliss as they "can't keep their hands off each other". But the same can be said if the two are trying to strangle each other, so the debate continues. (Nevermind the nonexistent status of the NY Sun in the city's press totem pole--even below the Post, if you can believe it.)

2. Look, the armonica mama is outlasting Natalie Dessay in publicity! She deserves every press she gets. But should we call her armonica gramma instead, is an issue too. The article says "during Lucia’s first scene, when the character’s melodies are introduced by the glass harmonica, the sound is eerily beautiful and entrancingly strange." Which is indeed eerie and strange, because the armonica mama doesn't join the pit till Act II, long after Lucia's first scene. (Perhaps another one of Zimmerman's ghostly apparitions at work?)

3. Holy shit! Melky "Leche" Cabrera just saved a run. (I'm like screaming by my lonesome here in the Florida exurb.) Leche for prez!

4. Holier shit! Melky just hit a towering home run for the first run of the game! Leche for Met GM!

5. Aprile Millo, Wonkette with a devastating legato, is adamant about the defense of the golden age in her glorious blog. She declares that "being attractive in opera is not a new idea", as if to pooh-pooh our current fascination with hunkenthings and boobie lyrics. The difference with the new generation of opera babes however is that, we have digital video cams and rapidshare, so we're really just waiting for a clip of Costello having it with Kaiser to surface and spread. Or perhaps a tape of the closed-door rehearsal of the Romeo bed scene between Anna and Bobbie--perhaps real reason for Angie's visit and subsequent firing? Speaking of, I love that (a) sopranos are still being sopranos, and (b) sopranos are still getting fired for being sopranos.

6. Still holding 1-0 Yankees, top of the 5th inning. But shit, I gotta go do something else. (Don't know if this live-blog will resume later tonight. It's been fun though, right.)

7. [past 11pm] Just returning from a viewing of "No End in Sight", a documentary film about the appalling mismanagement and execution of the Iraq occupation. Sharp and damning, it is a must-see.

8. I see the Yankees lost a heartbreaker. Because of "flying ants"! I hardly believe I've seen everything in baseball--I'm still waiting for major lockerroom exposés of the "wide stance" persuasion--but this one's truly incredible. A friend says that this is solid proof that God is not a Yankee fan. Yeah, but apparently God isn't a Phillie fan either, so we're about even.