We’re ringing in the new year with two pairs of lovers, a musician, and a philosopher, who in turn are the main characters of this über-popular Puccini opera. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well.
Articles by Antoni Matteo Garcia
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Hillary Wolf, who was very famous for her portrayal as one of Kevin MacAllister’s older sisters Megan from Home Alone 1 and 2, stars in this comedy about a smart and sarcastic thirteen-year-old girl and her massively dysfunctional family. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well.
Ah, La Grande Madame Anna-Kristiina Kaappola. Once upon a time, she was one of the most famous Queens of the Night not only throughout Europe but the world. Nowadays that she bade farewell to the coloratura soprano repertoire, the question remains, how well does she fare in the lyric soprano role of the First Lady to the Queen of the Night? Enjoy, find out in this review, and let me know your opinions as well.
I’ve grown insurmountably fed up with people not being thankful for even the smallest of things, some of my “former high school batchmates” thinking I’m the bad guy just because I fought back through a rant and blocked a bully, more appropriately she-devil, who harassed me emotionally and was never sorry even though it was years ago, me being a pushover because I am not going to allow it that anyone walks over me, having shallow relationships with others when I should be having deep and meaningful ones, that bully’s older sister who is a complete and utter dumbass for calling me nothing more than some petty kid, as if she herself is a good role model, she is truly pathetic, anyone who is a spoiled and self-entitled brat, and of course, bigotry, homophobia, fearmongering, close-mindedness and hatemongering, which are taken up to obnoxious extremes. Oh, and to that bully’s older sister I have this to say. Yeah, I know your younger sister has an amazing job she’s doing well at but that does not excuse the fact that her attitude towards me was absolute crap. I should know because I was one of her former batchmates. If she were truly smart, she would apologize for all the mean things she said. But no, it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I still cannot believe how utterly ignorant and rude you are. You live in your own little world where you two can be so rude to each other that it becomes your form of sisterly love and you think you could pass it on to others like that. I’m not mad at her because of it. I’m mad at her because, despite every kind deed I did as her former batchmate, she still treated me like crap. On top of that, I cannot believe you would let her get away with stuff like calling me a fail for the most arbitrary of reasons. And even if I screwed up, she showed no compassion. So, to my former bully and her older sister, put that in your pipes and smoke it, screw yourselves over to the moon, and don’t come back! I’m okay with you calling me a petty kid but you! You two are always gonna be a couple of jerks and douchenozzles! Oh yeah, and to the jerkwad back in high school who said I asked one of my former male high school batchmates to prom and spread it around and it convinced me and everyone else it was true, I have this to say. Go screw yourself to the moon and back. Yeah, I am gay. I love men. As an actor, voice actor, singer, and reviewer, there are so many people in the performing arts industry, who are LGBTQ. So, to anyone who found my sexuality gross whether back then and now, then you go to Hell! That’s where you belong. If you want me to be a bit nicer, then get your sorry ass re-educated! Even more, to this who called me SPED behind my back, I highly recommend you re-evaluate your choice of words and think before you act. At least through this, I can have the confidence to say that I have let go of people, who come off as obnoxious, ignorant, uncultured, disgusting, and vexatious! Thank the Lord they are gone from my life. If ever one person would have the gall to be straight up rude to me, I will say this, bugger off! I will wrap my little rant before New Year’s up with this. I am a classy, well-rounded, shabby chic gay man, with a rebellious punk-goth heart, a strangely surreal artistic mind that it’s into anime like Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball Z, and Yu Yu Hakusho, cartoons like Regular Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Space Ghost Coast to Coast, video games like Soul Calibur, Tekken, Street Fighter, and Crash Bandicoot, operas from Bel Canto to Verismo to Modern, ballet, musicals, theater, and film, and with enough articulacy to stand on his own two feet, not take any crap from anyone, and just be myself.
This recorded version of Mozart’s Zauberflöte is one of Anna-Kristiina Kaappola’s final performances and hurrahs as one of her all-time signature roles, the fiery, fierce, awesome, and grand Queen of the Night, before transitioning to the more lyrical repertoire. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well.
This was an evening of fabulous singing accomplished by a gorgeous lyric soprano, a fine young lyric tenor with a bright future ahead of him, and a veteran lyric-dramatic baritone whose tall and exciting presence left me with chills down my spine in the most positive way ever. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well.
Ah, Boxing Day. I may be an American born from Filipino-Spanish parents but that does not stop me from celebrating the holiday, which has become a tradition to a lot of my English, Welsh, Irish, Canadian, Hong Kong, New Zealander, Nigerian, Trinidadian, and Australian friends, family members, and viewers. So, lads, lassies, and mates of all ages, I hope you enjoy these animated flick reviews hailing from merry, olde England. I still have enough holiday cheer to take a gander at this charming animated flick starring Dr. House as a rabbit, Arthur Weasley as a guinea pig, and a veteran stage and screen queen of the British media as a hamster. Then, we have this charming Raymond Briggs classic about a little girl and her big polar bear friend.
Let’s get fast and loose, and get this year’s Christmas party started with some tributes to some animated Christmas specials. Some are laugh-out-loud hilarious, while others are surprisingly deep in their stories. From Marzipan City and from the awesomely creative mind of Mr. C.H. Greenblatt, we have Chowder and the gang in search of Knish Kringle in this wonderfully hilarious holiday special, Hey, Hey It’s Knishmas! From the weird and wacky mind of David Feiss, it’s another I Am Weasel Christmas special, I.R.’s First Bike. This time it’s not only going to have some laugh-out-loud moments but also a great amount of heart when it comes to Baboon’s and Weasel’s friendship. From the great mind of JG Quintel, this is not your grandparents’ Christmas special. It’s a hardcore one, which will make you feel like you have gone on an intense roller coaster ride. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well. From the DC Universe, we have a heartwarming, tear-jerking, and a brilliant character-driven holiday tale starring some of our favorite superheroes. From Jhonen Vasquez’s oddly fascinating mind, let Zim take you on a cynical, wild ride, as he attempts to take over the world disguised as the jolly old man himself, Santa Claus. From the surreal mind of the wonderful John R. Dilworth comes an unorthodox holiday special that not only features everyone’s favorite cowardly dog, Courage, but also two dancing rats, who steal the show. Here’s an Adult Swim Christmas special to tickle your funny bone starring a Hanna-Barbera superhero turned talk show host. Now we venture into an unorthodox, odd, surreal, yet utterly entertaining Adult Swim animated Christmas special starring a loudmouthed milkshake with attitude, a genius packet of fries, a childlike wad of meat, a raunchy middle-aged neighbor, and introducing a Russian lass, who gets herself into a fair amount of shenanigans. Another classic Adult Swim animated holiday special? Oh, heck yes! And this time, we are going to the depths of the sea to have a rollickingly great Alvistide with Captain Hank Murphy and his crew. Ah, Rick and Morty. An Adult Swim series that has gained popularity because of its brilliance, humor, and energetic characters and this Christmas special demonstrates it with flying colors. From Seth MacFarlane’s irreverently talented mind and skills, we have a Christmas special from the glory days of Family Guy, a show I have an on-and-off relationship with, whose first three seasons are still gems in my eyes. Finally, to conclude this year’s animated special tribute marathon, we have something from Matt Groening’s most iconic work of all time comes a holiday special, which will leave one running for a box of tissue because of how well-woven this touching story really is. Enjoy the tribute and let me know your opinions as well. Wow! This holiday season was certainly a blast. And tune in a bit later for my Boxing Day marathon with some holiday specials hailing from England.
Now that I’ve taken care of the opera singers’ for this year, it’s time for me to take a look at some of my favorite classical crossover singers and their respective holiday albums. Charlotte Church and Placido Domingo have struck again and this time they have brought in a couple of friends, the splendidly elegant Vanessa Williams and the warm-hearted Tony Bennett. Ah, the charismatic, down-to-earth, and simply put fine, Billy Gilman. He was a charming, young country-singing prodigy as a lad and nowadays, he still keeps his trademark charm, lovability, and wonderful appeal. To make your holidays warm and cozy, we have the fine, down-to-earth, gentleman of a crossover singer, the one, the only Josh Groban. He is additionally joined by a fine selection of songsters, who have accompanied him on this holiday journey. Finally, we have the queen of classical crossover, Sarah Brightman, gracing the listeners with her lilting soprano voice, which gave life to the melodies she sang. This concludes my overall holiday album review marathon for this year, yet do stay tuned for some animated holiday special tributes and lookbacks.
My Classical Christmas Album Review Marathon continues with a plush-toned coloratura soprano accompanied by fine pop star singing up some Polish holiday melodies, a lovely British nightingale, a gorgeous Swedish lyric-dramatic mezzo-soprano, an iconic German lyric baritone known for his style, ease, and manner, and a great and famous Welsh bass-baritone with a versatile repertoire. First on this list is the absolutely astounding, amazing, and awesome Aleksandra Kurzak accompanied by the fine and elegant pop star, Sebastian Karpiel-Bulecka, and they have a fine selection of Polish Yuletide melodies to keep you all warm and toasty. Wesołych Świąt! Next, we have the sweet songstress of a nightingale from England, yet currently based in Prague, the lovely Christina Johnston, known to the world for her extensive upper register with her brief yet magical holiday album of famous tunes. Veselé Vánoce! Thirdly, we have the gorgeously flexible and awesomely eclectic lyric-dramatic mezzo-soprano hailing from Sweden, Madame Anne-Sofie von Otter, and her alluring collection of melodies not only from her homeland but also from different lands and centuries. God jul! Fourth, we step back in time for the fabulous Berliner lyric baritone, Herr Hermann Prey, and his selections of Lieder well-suited to this holiday season. Frohet Neuet! Finally, we have the great Welshman! The mighty yet down-to-earth, Mister Bryn Terfel, who is offering us a great selection of not only the popular classics but also some wonderful Welsh melodies. Nadolig Llawen! I hope you continue to enjoy this album review marathon, as there will be more to come. Happy Holidays!