Jim profile picture

Jim

Charm school is what you make of it

About Me


My interests include opera, music, theater, literature, entertaining friends, exploring the city, and traveling the rest of the world. Especially opera in the park and trips to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I think of myself as an easy-going person who enjoys simple things. And oh yes, and I like walks in the park, sunsets, and shooting stars. Did I leave anything out?
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
My Jukebox
A favorite
Here is the great Bea Arthur reprising two songs from Mame. I loved her then. I love her now.
Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions and the actions which speak louder than words.
It is making time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year.
Commitment is the stuff that character is made of, the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.
Some Favorite Quotes
The people are still discussing poor Basil's disappearance.... Scotland Yard still insists that the man in the grey ulster who left for Paris by the midnight train on the ninth of November was poor Basil, and the French police declare that Basil never arrived in Paris at all. I suppose in about a fortnight we shall be told that he has been seen in San Francisco. It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world.
Oscar Wilde:&nbsp&nbspThe Picture of Dorian Gray
I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.
Rita Rudner
The time to make up your mind about people is never.
Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story
I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I've finally won out over it.
Jimmy Stewart in Harvey
I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilised music in the world.
Peter Ustinov
"There's no use trying. One can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice. ... Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Alice & the Queen of Hearts (Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.
James Barrie:&nbsp&nbspPeter and Wendy
Glücklich ist, wer vergisst, was doch nicht zu ändern ist.
[Happy is he who can forget what he cannot change.]
Die Fledermaus
If a bass in the Saskatchewan can, then baby you can Can Can too.
Cole Porter:&nbsp&nbspCan Can

My Interests

Opera, theater, music, books. I enjoy getting around the bay area.

I'd like to meet:

Too many people to list here. But enough about them, here's more about me.
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name: Jim
Birthday: December 14, year of the tiger
Birthplace: Santa Monica, CA
Graduated from: Santa Barbara, CA
Current Location: San Francisco, CA (sticking with the saints)
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Brown
Height: 6' 1"
Right or Left Handed: Right
The Shoes You Wore Today: Were stunning
Your Fears: From Lily Tomlin:

If olive oil comes from olives, and peanut oil comes from peanuts, just where does baby oil come from?

I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else.

Your Perfect Pizza: Low fat, low cholesterol. In other words... NONE!
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: To age gracefully or not at all
Thoughts First Waking Up: Is it morning yet?
Your Best Physical Feature: Eyes
Your Most Missed Memory: Just a minute.... it's on the tip of my tongue
Pepsi or Coke: Diet
MacDonalds or Burger King: The one with the nearest exit
Single or Group Dates: Single
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Oh, please. I may be into instant relationships, but tea should be brewed
Chocolate or Vanilla: Vanilla (and not the imitation flavoring either!!)
Cappuccino or Coffee: Lattes
Do you Smoke: No way!
Do you Swear: When I drive
Do you Sing: That's a matter of opinion
Do you Shower Daily: Every time I sing
Have you Been in Love: Let me count the gays
Do you want to go to College: Only for dates
Do you want to get Married: Forever hopeful
Do you belive in yourself: Usually, but sometimes I think I'm an illusion
Do you get Motion Sickness: Depends on the motion
Do you think you are Attractive: I think I'm sweet
Are you a Health Freak?
Do you like Thunderstorms: Yes, from a warm, safe place
Do you play an Instrument: Let's not go into that here
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: Yes (and I think the word is drunk )
In the past month have you Smoked: No, but I've burned
In the past month have you been on Drugs: No
In the past month have you gone on a Date: Yes
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: Of course. Oh wait, that's with an M.
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: No
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: Yes, yes, yes!
In the past month have you been on Stage: The closest I've been to the stage is sixth row center
In the past month have you been Dumped: No
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: No
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: Do kisses count?
Ever been Drunk: Of course
Ever been Beaten up: Only emotionally
Ever Shoplifted: Never
How do you want to Die: Rich, quickly and clueless
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: Retired
What country would you most like to Visit: Too too many
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color: Anything but black or red
Favourite Hair Color: Black or red
Short or Long Hair: Yes
Number of CDs I own: In the thousands
Number of Piercings: One
Number of Tattoos: None
Number of things in my Past I Regret: I don't go there

CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

Music:

Love opera. Also Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen and of course Stephen Sondheim, to name just a few.
12 Days of Christmas (Marilyn Michaels)
White Christmas (Barbara Cook)

SINGERS:
Juan Diego Flórez
Rolando Villazon
Natalie Dessay
Ramon Vargas
Dorothy Kirsten
Montserrat Caballe
Leontyne Price
Barbara Cook
Ella
Sarah

OPERAS:
Eugene Onegin
I Puritani
Ariadne auf Naxos
Don Carlo
Don Giovanni

MUSICALS:
Follies
Into the Woods
Carousel
Kiss Me Kate
Chicago

SONGS:
Someone to Watch Over Me
I Got Lost in His Arms
It Never Was You
I Can Cook Too
Glitter and Be Gay (of course)

Movies:

A FEW FAVORITES:
Auntie Mame
The (first) Manchurian Candidate
Witness for the Prosecution
The Wizard of Oz
Rear Window
Charade
Midnight Lace
An Affair to Remember
Tom Jones
The World of Henry Orient
Lawrence of Arabia
The Pirate
Harvey
Breakfast at Tiffanys

A SPECIAL FAVORITE:
Dreamchild

Television:

Though I seem to have Law and Order streaming out my ears, most of my favorites are not on any more, so I content myself with reruns of Frasier.

Books:

Anything by David Mitchell, Orhan Pamuk, Haruki Murakami. And I still read the Oz books af if they were current fiction.
MOST RECENT READS:
Kinshu (Teru Miyamoto)
My Antonia (Willa Cather)
The Arabian Nights (Richard Burton translation)
The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
Kokoro (Natsume Soseki)
The Clerkenwell Tales (Peter Ackroyd)
My Life as an Emperor (Su Tong)
Passarola Rising (Azhar Abidi)
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (James Shapiro)
The Turquoise Ring (Grace Tiffany)
The March (E.L. Doctorow)
Shipwrecks (Akira Yoshimura)
River Town (Peter Hessler)
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)
Crawling at Night (Nani Power)
Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
The Unwanted (Kien Nguyen)
From the Land of Green Ghosts (Pascal Khoo Thwe)
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Ghostwritten (David Mitchell)
Waiting (Ha Jin)
My Name is Red (Orhan Pamuk)
OTHER FAVORITES:
Kafka on the Shore
By Haruki Murakami
&nbsp
My Name is Red
By Orhan Pamuk
What a book! A murder mystery that is much more than that. In 16th century Istanbul, a sultan commissions the greatest illuminators to create a book. One of the illuminators disappears, and the illuminations hold the mystery's answers. Each chapter is told first-person by a different person or thing: people, animals, things in the illuminations, even the dead person.

Heroes:


Juan Diego Florez

My Blog

Learning to Crouch Like a Tiger, Hide Like a Dragon, Climb Like a Goat

Learning to Crouch Like a Tiger, Hide Like a Dragon, Climb Like a Goat   A few months ago, a friend of mine who lives in Beijing suggested that we take a trip to the Yellow Mountains (Mt. Huangsh...
Posted by Jim on Sat, 16 Jun 2007 06:36:00 PST

A night out

I was just writing to one of my friends and thought I might as well post it for everyone to see.  So here it is. I saw The Light in the Piazza last night and really enjoyed it.  This play is...
Posted by Jim on Sat, 12 Aug 2006 06:26:00 PST