Nessun Dorma

I help distribute food to the needy in Centro on Saturdays. Last week when I went to pick up food, I met a gringo in his car outside the pickup point- he was dropping off sandwiches. 'Kurt' and I got to talking. In his former life he had been a singer: musicals, operas, what have you. I said I'd been singing for the public (choirs and cantoring) since I was in first grade, but not professionally, and I really liked songs from opera and musicals. Anyway, we started singing Nessun Dorma from Puccini's opera Turandot, but shortly we stopped, as it was time to head into Centro with the collected food.

So today I'm handing out food, and I hear someone singing the opening line of the aria. I look around, and see Kurt in a car not 10 feet away, stopped at a red light. Can ya believe it? So we launch into it again, and almost got to the end before the light changed. Just a terrific moment.

There's a joke in Cuenca: it's a big city, but a small town: ya always gonna run inna people ya know. Once again it's true. The odds of randomly meeting Kurt on one Saturday, and seeing him again somewhere else the very next Saturday, it's too convenient. And we sounded great together with no preparation.

We both think the best singer to cover Nessun Dorma is Franco Corelli, an Italian tenor from the 1950s-1970s. Given how many people (including the usual suspects) have recorded the song, what are the odds of both of us liking this now-remote tenor's treatment? Life remains a wonder, and here is one of Corelli's performances, chosen for its subtitles. Like many other romantic songs, it reminds me of courting my wife.

https://youtu.be/e8MhdyfQq1A?list=RDe8MhdyfQq1A

Foxbat

 Hasegawa's 1978 1/72 MiG-25 Foxbat. Data for the model included field measurements of the MiG-25 flown to Japan in October, 1976 by Soviet defector Viktor Belenko. The following notes are from the instruction sheet.

“Within hours of its surprise appearance over Hakodate Airport, the MiG-25 was the subject of intense examination by the engineers at HASEGAWA. Videotapes of the aircraft's examination and measurements taken from the big fighter were checked against all previously collected photographs and drawings. Satisfied as to the accuracy and completeness of their data, tooling proceeded simultaneously with individual part and sub-assembly drawings. Working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, engineering, tooling and mold testing required exactly 100 days for completion.

Now the scale modeler can add an authentic replica of one of the most exciting aircraft of the decade to his collection.”

Finished in a post Cold-War scheme with acrylic craftstore paint and dry pastels.