The Roving Reporter Asks ...
orso steven n
SPACE STATION BABYLON 5, above Planet Euphrates--Universe Today's
Roving Reporter writes today from Babylon 5, the station maintained by
Earth Alliance in neutral space above Planet Euphrates (more formally,
above Planet Epsilon 3 in Grid Epsilon). As ever, the Roving Reporter's
task is to survey the Beings-in-the-Street (this time, the "Beings-in-
the-Corridor") for their answers to the Question of the Day.
Today's Question: "What is your favorite piece of classical music
from Earth?"
JOHN SHERIDAN (Earth Alliance captain and Babylon 5 commander):
"Thanks to the good influence of my second-in-command, I'm developing a
taste for Russian music. Recently I've spent a lot of time listening to
Sergei Prokofiev's opera, *The Love for Three Oranges*. It's luscious,
ripe, juicy music."
LONDO MOLLARI (Centauri ambassador): "Johann Sebastian Bach's six
*Brandenburg Concertos*. Yes, all of them! As we say on Centauri Prime,
all good things come in sixes!"
MARIAH CIRRUS (interstellar explorer, retired): "Ever since I
studied ballet as a little girl, I've adored Tchaikovsky's *Sleeping
Beauty*."
G'KAR (Narn ambassador): "It is one of my dreams to conduct a
performance of Mozart's *The Magic Flute*--especially if I can arrange
to have the flute in question carved from Ambassador Mollari's femur."
NAME WITHHELD (Drazi diplomatic staff): "Felix Mendelssohn,
*Camberwell Green*. Half of time, love it. Half of time, hate it."
DELENN (Minbari ambassador): "Lately I have taken a great interest
in what you call 'long-hair' music. In particular, I am drawn to Giacomo
Puccini's opera, *Madama Butterfly*."
MORDEN (career planning counselor): "Hector Berlioz's *Damnation of
Faust*. It's a story for our time."
SUSAN IVANOVA (Earth Alliance commander and Babylon 5 second-in-
command): Tchaikovsky's *War of 1812 Overture*--I just love it when the
cannon go boom. Boom! Sorry, it's a Russian thing. BOOM!"
LENNIER (Minbari attache): "My people have become fond of Franz
Liszt's *Triangle Concerto*. We also like the Aleksandr Scriabin sonata
*Soul States*."
ZATHRAS (time management consultant): "Zathras like *Eroica*, sixth
symphony of Beethoven. Third symphony? Ninth symphony? Sorry, Zathras
not very good with numbers."
NA'TOTH (Narn attache): "Haydn's *Symphony No. 39 (The Fist)*."
NAME WITHHELD (Pak'ma'ra diplomatic staff): "Only one? But there
are so many pieces to choose from! Rachmaninov's *Isle of the Dead*!
Chopin's *Funeral March*! Schubert's *Death and the Maiden*! All those
Requiems! It's a musical feast!"
KOSH NARANEK (Vorlon ambassador): "Elgar, *Enigma Variations*."
***************************************************************************
***** so...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu ***** "Every silver lining has a cloud." *****
***************************************************************************
terry king
so...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
> The Roving Reporter Asks . . .
>
> SPACE STATION BABYLON 5, above Planet Euphrates--Universe
>Today's Roving Reporter writes today from Babylon 5, the station
>maintained by Earth Alliance in neutral space above Planet Euphrates
>(more formally, above Planet Epsilon 3 in Grid Epsilon). As ever,
>the Roving Reporter's task is to survey the Beings-in-the-Street
>Question of the Day.
As has been mentioned before, you have entirely too much time on your
hands. =) Tell me - is our Roving Reporter perhaps fashioned of felt,
with ping-pong ball eyes? I ask because Security reports there's a
blonde pig stalking Ambassador G'Kar, making eyes at him and calling
him "G'kermie"...
Terry King | I've read so many loon books that all
prea...@mit.edu | their stories just sort of melt into
| a diffuse cloud of Templars. - VanHorne
GSS w+ v++(*) c++@ N+++ M+$ Y+ 5++ b+++ B--- e+ u**(*) x?
DNRC: Sublime Guardian of Paradox, Anachronism, and the Absurd (pend.)
orso steven n
>In article <3ed52u$p...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> orso steven n,
>so...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>> The Roving Reporter Asks . . .
>As has been mentioned before, you have entirely too much time on your
>hands. =) Tell me - is our Roving Reporter perhaps fashioned of felt,
>with ping-pong ball eyes? I ask because Security reports there's a
>blonde pig stalking Ambassador G'Kar, making eyes at him and calling
>him "G'kermie"...
OK, Terry, true story: "Roving Reporter" was inspired by a piece that I
haven't posted yet. The joke about Kosh and Elgar's *Enigma Variations*
originally appeared in a piece I wrote over the Christmas vacation but
decided not to post then because too many fellow readers of this group
were away from the Internet for the holidays. While looking that piece
over the other day, I found myself wondering what I could have used if I
had picked someone else. The Delenn *Madama Butterfly* gag came quickly to
mind . . . and that opened the floodgates.
Unfortunately, pairing up B5 characters with musical compositions didn't
lend itself to one of my favorite forms, the top-ten list. Mercifully,
the idea of a roving reporter compiling short quotes from a succession of
interviewees popped into my head. The rest was a piece of cake, though
I didn't come up with a Zima reference. (In retrospect, perhaps I could
have done something with Handel's *Water Music*?)
Now here's the kicker: Terry, in the piece written over Christmas--the
one I haven't posted yet--there's a reference to The Muppets.
ARRGGGGGGH!
Now I know why JMS is so nervous about people who post story ideas!
crawf
so...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (orso steven n) writes:
>terry king <prea...@mit.edu> writes:
>
>>As has been mentioned before, you have entirely too much time on your
>>hands. =) Tell me - is our Roving Reporter perhaps fashioned of felt,
>>with ping-pong ball eyes? I ask because Security reports there's a
>>blonde pig stalking Ambassador G'Kar, making eyes at him and calling
>>him "G'kermie"...
>
>
>Now here's the kicker: Terry, in the piece written over Christmas--the
>one I haven't posted yet--there's a reference to The Muppets.
>
>ARRGGGGGGH!
>
A Muppet version of B5...the hand boggles...
larry crawford "Talk is cheap, but so are you."
psychology dept -- "No Nose Blues"
univ of georgia
athens, ga 30602 "putting the psycho in psychobiology"
craw...@uga.cc.uga.edu
terry king
>
>ARRGGGGGGH!
>
>Now I know why JMS is so nervous about people who post story ideas!
ACK! I thought it was safe - Disney licenses the Muppets, not Warner
Bros! :o
I hear "Roving Reporter" and I automatically conjure up a vision of
Kermit in his trench, that press pass tucked into his hatband. I half
wondered if it might've been an intentional allusion... Sorry. <blush>
<shuffle> <sheepish grin>
BTW, does Miss Piggy get mindwiped? That'd be cool. =)
john russell
> The Roving Reporter Asks . . .
> Today's Question: "What is your favorite piece of classical music
>from Earth?"
> MORDEN (career planning counselor): "Hector Berlioz's *Damnation of
>Faust*. It's a story for our time."
Or perhaps "Joseph Schwantner's *Play of Shadows*"
> ZATHRAS (time management consultant): "Zathras like *Eroica*, sixth
>symphony of Beethoven. Third symphony? Ninth symphony? Sorry, Zathras
>not very good with numbers."
Funny. I would have thunk he'd go for Opus 1, No. 1.
> KOSH NARANEK (Vorlon ambassador): "Elgar, *Enigma Variations*."
And let us not forget:
JMS: "Charles Ives, *The Unanswered Question*"
jr "Der Mann Ohne Schatten"
brent brophy
is the "1812 Overture". The only connection between the two is the
coincidence that the 1812 Overture was written the same year the War of 1812
began (1812 =-]).
--
aar...@teleport.COM Public Access User --- Not affiliated with Teleport
Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 220-1016 (2400-14400, N81)
James HG Redekop
brent brophy <aar...@teleport.com> wrote:
>There is no such thing as the "War of 1812 Overture". Never has been. It
>is the "1812 Overture". The only connection between the two is the
>coincidence that the 1812 Overture was written the same year the War of 1812
>began (1812 =-]).
A very *strange* coincidence, that, given that Peter Tchaikovsky wasn't born
until 1840.
In actual fact, the piece was written in 1880, and is properly called "The
Year 1812" overture. And it *is* about the War of 1812, about the defeat of
Napoleon's army by the Russians in that year. If you actually listen to it,
you can hear the Russian national anthem fighting off the French anthem...
--
James H.G. Redekop
tz...@publix.empath.on.ca
tz...@csd.uwo.ca
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~tzoq/ <-- It's here! Check out The Residents.