Say what you want about that creepy little guy from the New York Times who a few years ago, instead of traveling to cover assignments just stayed home and invented/plagiarized stuff like cwazy: he did save the New York Times a lot of money in travel expenses.
In a shining example of budget-conscious, mean+lean, cuts-are-good journalism -- all those Benjis to cover Judith Miller's severance package and Bill Kristol's stiff-as-an-Iraqi-corpse bills must come from somewhere, after all -- the NYT, that just reported fourth-quarter earnings of $53 millions, instead of spending the few hundred euros necessary to send poor Tony Tommasini over to Milan for la Scala's premiere of Barenboim's/Chereau's Tristan Und Isolde -- the one Opera Chic (who just reported fourth-quarter earnings well under $53 million) went to and Tommasini didn't (Michael Kimmelman went instead) -- the NYT sent the other night Tony down the street over to the Symphony Space on 42nd, where he enjoyed hisself some high-definition Tristan.
"Take away the live element and you take away a lot", il signor Tommasini concedes. But then, thanks to "elaborately edited high-definition video, with riveting close-ups", you know, "the eager audience at Symphony Space was remarkably attentive: during each of the three long acts, there was scant snacking, and few people left their seats"
Now, Opera Chic is obviously not a journalist, she's a girl with a blog where she Photoshops baritones faces over videogame characters & makes dog pewp jokes, but still she'd have understood if the Times had simply sent a reporter to describe the atmosphere of HD opera in the cinema (yawn). So, sentences like "When the conductor Daniel Barenboim made his first appearance in the pit, the Symphony Space audience applauded warmly. Without any warning or explanation, the orchestra broke into the Italian national anthem, which provoked confused looks among people sitting near me. An older woman, flush with patriotism, stood up during the anthem, blocking the view of a couple seated behind her, who grumbled for her to sit down", however lame, are fair game.
But pretending to be able to actually write as a critic -- "Mr. Barenboim drew a superb performance from the Scala orchestra. The string sound was plush yet clear; the brasses played with mellow richness. Though there was impetuous intensity in Mr. Barenboim’s conception, he took spacious, almost timeless tempos when appropriate, and mostly pulled them off" is, frankly, sad, if you assume that the most prestigious paper in the country could actually send Tommasini, last Dec 7, over to Milan instead of sending him down the street to a cinema (there are plenty of JFK-Malpensa direct flights, and it's even cheaper if you book a flight with stop overs in, say, Amsterdam or London).
As a -- expat, OK -- NYC girl and New York Times reader, OC sez, let's respect the paper's need to cut the unnecessary expenses -- because, of course, opera coverage is expendable -- but we think ther are indeed some 5, 6 performances a year overseas that a paper as once-glorious as the Times should actually cover, then let's raise some money to send Tony, this coming Dec 7, 2008, to la Scala to cover Don Carlos live. From the actual place where the performance is taking place!
A few friends have already offered to sell some old CDs on eBay, and donate the b00ty to the "Send Tony To Milan" fund, and eventually fly him over here at zero cost to the obviously cash-strapped Times.
If he promises to share the household chores, and if he behaves, we have another friend who'll allow il signor Tommasini to crash on his couch, so the Times won't have to pay for those overpriced hotels!
OC could even raffle off an autographed program for the current Scala season.