Die Walküre @ San Francisco Opera, 13 June 2010

This was the first Wagner opera that I have attended. Opera is all about epic emotion and the scope of Wagner's story is large enough to make all the dramatics seem appropriate. I enjoyed the sets and costumes, the large cast (including some dogs), the special effects (including flames) and the acting (which not all singers like to do). In this production Brünnhilde is portrayed as a jolly hockey sticks pilot and was completely adorable. Now I want to see a complete ring cycle, though it is rather expensive.

USA Today front page 16-July-2010

USA Today has the cool before and after pictures of the capped oil well.

San Francisco Chronicle front page, 9-July-2010

After the Mehserle verdict. At this stage there seem to be more photographers than rioters.

Dum Dum Girls / Crocodiles @ Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco 30 June 2010

The only words that Crocodiles utter to the audience are uttered while the guitarist is tuning up and I can't understand a word. The singer is shaped like Joey Ramone. He twists and turns as he sings and he moves like Lux Interior. The band sound like the Jesus and Mary Chain which requires some good guitar playing. As each song ends in a wail of feedback the fab drummer takes a breath, then thumps out a new beat and we're onto the next song. Rounding out the lineup we have an imperturbable bassist and a keyboardist who fiddles with her effects boxes and dances in her chair. This band may not be supremely innovative but they are perfect in their way and I loved them.

(I would just like to whine about the photographer who stood in front of me. He took 74 pictures in 10 minutes, flashing away like some, er, flasher. Will no one rid me of these selfish amateurs?)

Dum Dum Girls look great. The two guitarists often pay the same chords, then the non-singer will switch to playing an annoyingly tinny solo. The singing guitarist has a distinctive husky tone. The best part is when the guitarists harmonize, sometimes joined by the bassist making a good impression of a 60's Wall of Sound production. Though the Dum Dum Girls are vastly more original than Crocodiles I could not enjoy them as much.

How does altitude affect the World Cup teams?

Some of the stadiums are at a fairly high altitude, while others are not:

Whoever wins the tournament will have switched from altitude to sea level and back again at some point.

The key message for the World Cup, then, is that teams need to take into account transition, acclimatisation and tactics. Players will need to adapt to changes in altitude, especially the effect this has on the flight of the ball. Teams that use high altitude to their advantage - or that are already used to switching from low to high altitude - will profit. That points to a win for a South American team.

Read the full article at New Scientist.

USA wins 1-1 - Greatest tie against the British since Bunker Hill

Photos of San Francisco by locals and tourists in Flickr

Eric Fischer cleverly used the geotagging information in Flickr to distinguish between locals (blue) and tourists (red) and then plotted the data. It is fascinating to look at unexpected red clusters trying to work out what they are.

John Lanchester on the difference between complaining and moaning

From the New Yorker (full text not available):

Visitors to Britain are rarely able to grasp – sometimes after decades of residency – the vital distinction its inhabitants make between complaining and moaning. The two activities seem similar, but there is a profound philosophical and practical difference. To complain about something is to express dissatisfaction to someone whom you hold responsible for an unsatisfactory state of affairs; to moan is to express the same thing to someone other than the person responsible. The British are powerfully embarrassed by complaining, and experience an almost physical recoil from people who do it in public. They do love to moan though.

Kate Nash / Supercute! at Bottom of the Hill, San Francico, 8-May-2010

Oh dear. Kate Nash is a clever songwriter, vaguely in the Lily Allen genre. She doesn't have a strong voice so what she needs is a sympathetic backing. Unfortunately she seems to have fallen in with the complaint rock crowd. She has a stodgy backing band who can play (they keep switching instruments and roles) but don't know how to not play. Kate Nash herself gets to strap on a guitar and play loud but the whole effect is like having George Best on your team and putting him in goal. The best part is when she is joined by support band Supercute! who are surely destined for world domination.