Figaro

Have been exposed to a fair bit of Western Classical Music including Opera lately. It’s funny that when you listen to a certain type of music for a long time you automatically start liking it. One of the oldest operas that I have ever heard was the “Largo al factotum” by Rossini. If you grew up in the 1980s with a fair dose of cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry, you can rest assured that you have heard this piece before (I thought it was titled “Figaro” for a long time!). I always liked it for its comic element and pleasant sound. Only recently did I realize that it is amongst the toughest arias to perform.

I like the rendition in which a man made out of clay performs it at the beginning of the movie “Oscar”. I am sharing the video with you all to see, listen and enjoy.

Figaro - Oscar

If you really wanna see how tough it is to actually perform you should watch this video of Thomas Hampson performing it:

Thomas Hampson - Largo Al Factotum

And here is a quick guide for non-Italians (and non-art savvy people like me) to enjoy operas. Go read the lyrics in English (Google, Wikipedia and Youtube to the rescue!) before you go and listen to it. Then, even though you wont know what the person is singing, you can always understand the emotion behind it.

Korean

So I have been very busy last 2 weeks and couldn’t really put much on my blog. Today I got some time so thought I do a quick update about the things happening in my life lately. Yeah I have been introduced to a lot of Korean stuff whole of last week so this blog post is all “Korean”.

To start with, I ended up working with a lot of Koreans all of a sudden. Then at home, my apartment mate seems to have developed a strong affinity for Korean dramas. Everyday in the night there is one Korean sitcom or another playing in our house. And then of course, there is Korean food everywhere. Lots of Kimchi flowing through my intestines these days. So I thought I introduce to my dear readers, the last thing Korean I know – Korean music. So here are 3 songs (yeah that's all I know!) from Korea that I like.

Sorry Sorry - Super Junior

I don’t know much about the band. I like their dance steps and of course the sound is catchy and cool.

Nobody - Wonder Girls

If you are from Korea and if you do not know Wonder Girls its a cognizable offense. Everybody knows Nobody by Wonder Girls, and now you know it too.

The song is so popular that there was a parody made to educate people to wash their hands during the H1N1 outbreak in Singapore.

Wash your hands too - Mr Brown

Gee - Girls' Generation

Yeah this song’s got something to do with my nick name. But its too complicated to explain out here. So just go and enjoy the song (and the video :) !!).

So that’s all that I had to say about Korea today. I hope I change my cuisine preference from tomorrow (the Korean people I was working with have already left for their country!).

The Lamborghini Mystery

Disclaimer: I am bad with numbers, charts and interpreting them :) !!

My blanket statement about new Lamborghinis every week has got me thinking. The showroom I pass by everyday has approximately 5-6 cars. Assuming that 2 new cars come in to replace 2 sold every week, it makes 2*52 = 104 Lamborghinis sold every year. That's a huge number for a little red dot.

So off I went to do my research on a lazy Sunday evening. The LTA publishes the car population by model for each year. Here is a quick snapshot of the number of Lamborghinis on the island each year, in the last 10 years. As of 2009 there were 201 Lamborghinis and 294 Ferraris. To put it in perspective, I have compared it to the Ferraris. Since, apparently Lamborghini entered the car manufacturing business to build a better car than the Ferrari.

Some interesting things that I discovered in the numbers. Singaporeans are indeed going crazy about the Lamborghinis (its just not me ;) !!). If I am the Ferrari marketing guy, this is something I need to worry about. The numbers also show a dip in the number of Ferraris on the island in 2003. That’s a bit weird. It means either people sold off their Ferraris to the people in adjacent countries or those cars were indeed scrapped! Wow that's lot of money in the scrap yard in one year.

Anyway, coming back to my so called “research”. There are only 201 Lamborghinis on the island. The maximum cars sold in a year till now is only 46 (in 2008). So 104 is indeed an impossible number. However, 1 car a week puts it to 52, which is not that far a number from 46. So I might as well be seeing a new car in the showroom every week and because of the lack of caffeine in my blood assuming that there are many new cars! Have I just discovered a highest ever sales trend of Lamborghinis out here? Hmm, only time and LTA can tell :) !! Anyway, now I am off to bed. I will put myself to sleep by counting Lamborghinis (lame joke!).