A list of my favorite brindisis (Opera drinking songs)

So let's raise our goblets and sing....

• "Libiamo ne' lieti calici"  - from Verdi's La traviata.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWECvv4wcIQ

• "Viva, il vino spumeggiante"  - from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OlbwdEnrdc

• "Si colmi il calice" from Verdi's Macbeth.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WRyz3P6_Xw

• "Inaffia l'ugola" from Verdi's Otello.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6qKmAQ8klQ

• "Vin ou Bière" from Gounod's Faust.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXw8UQnRRo0

• "Il segreto per esser felici" from Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNssdwEAQl4

The Hunter. A poem by Christopher Mavrikis

THE HUNTER

Dawn breaks over a frost covered fen
An Osprey glides above its prey
Emulating passions once defined by men
On a crisp lovely November day.

A lone hunter watches near
An idle dream or a quenchless desire
Cedar swamps harboring white-tailed deer
Blood forged iron tempered by fire.

Memories of a father's love
Sublime guidance a nutured past
Watching the hunter from above
Ka Boom goes the mightly muzzle blast

As the hunter cares for his provision loneliness makes him sad
He whispers to heaven a little prayer and says I love you dad.

- Christopher Mavrikis

Must Read Books Detailing Vital Epochs in American History

Lincoln; by Gore Vidal - This amazing historical narrative gives readers a look into the inner workings of the Lincoln administration during the Civil War. Not only does it give the portrait of Lincoln a human touch but also shows us how fragile the Union was during the whole of that conflict.



1776; by David McCullough - Mr. McCullough takes his readers to the through the first two years of the American Revolution from the siege of Boston and the American response that usurped the British from that city to the battle for New York where Washington is forced to surrender the island of Manhattan. This book shows us how perilous our cause was during those first two years.



1942: The Year That Tried Men's Souls; by Winston Groom - The Japanese empire was conquering China, Hong Kong, Singapore; capture McArthur's 140,000 man army in the Philippines. Pearl Harbor, the German war machine had complete dominion over continental Europe. This was the terrifying year that the world was on the precipice of global totalitarianism and how the American forces tiled the scales of destiny.

In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens / 1949 - 2011

Dostoevsky asked if there was no God couldn't everything be permitted? Not according to Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative.

Books that Will Change your View on Life and the World

The Selfish Gene - by Richard Dawkins;

Guns, Germs, and Steel - by Jared Diamond;

The Grand Design - by Stephen Hawkins;

god is not Great - by Christopher Hitchens;

The Stranger - by Albert Camus; and

A Theory of Justice - by John Rawls.

A short poem about totalitarian dictatorships

The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach,
The Ogre cannot master Speech:
About a subjugated plain,
Among its desperate and slain,
The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
While drivel gushes from his lips

W.H, Auden1968