On saturday in the blistering cold, I decided to visit the American Musuem of Natural History. Though I basically froze on my way over there, it was definitely worth the trip, especially with the virtually free admission (donation). I first visited the area dedicated to astronomy and apart from reading just about the stars like the temperature of the Sun (6,000 F), I got to weight myself. Apparently my weight in some specific planets was less than a single pound, in fact it was .1 of a pound. So this was a litte fun deed to go about doing.

I had very high expectations for House of the Dead at the Metropolitan Opera this Wednesday. However, the opera didn't exactly meet my expectations. Although I fully understood that the style of the book is dreary and uneventful in itself, I thought the opera would be somewhat more lively. I expected the acting and singing to bring excitement to the story of the House of the Dead. Apparently, these were not the intentions of the opera itself. All throughout, mostly everything about the opera was very bleak and monotonous.

 Recently, me and a few of my idc colleagues went on a visit to see the Tim Burton exhibit at the MoMA during our extensive Tuesday break. After journeying to the MoMA, we arrive to see a nice sign outside the museum saying that it was closed. We were very disappointed, but we were there to go to a museum and we were going to get it. We ended up at the American Folk Art museum, not very far away and luckily got inside for free although they were giving us a hard time with our cultural passports. 

On Friday, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the New American Wing. I remember going there before and liking it, but when I went to see the redone exhibit, I was amazed at how it turned out. It looked like a courtyard, with a fountain and sculptures, leading to two old-fashioned electric lights, leading down to some steps, leading down to a facade of what appears to be a mansion. Inside the "mansion", there were various rooms like those of the wealthy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

I thought the opera was okay. I was a bit dull, but then again, the story is supposed to be depressing, and the sets really showed that. The dominant color was drab gray, the most depressing color in my opinion. And the music was certainly more modern than what I'm used to in opera, when I see works such as die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute by Mozart) or der Fleidermaus (The Bat by Johann Strauss II) which have more old-fashioned music, that is, 18th and 19th century music.