Replicas (2018) BluRay 480p Dual Audio [Hindi Dub – English] Full Movie

Replicas (2018) BluRay 480p Dual Audio [Hindi Dub – English] x264 Full Movie

“Replicas” stars Keanu Reeves (“John Wick,” “The Matrix,” “Speed”) and Alice Eve (“Marvel’s Iron Fist”, “Before We Go”, “Star Trek Into Darkness”), directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. After a car accident kills his family, a daring synthetic biologist (Reeves) will stop at nothing to bring them back, even if it means pitting himself against a government-controlled laboratory, a police task force, and the physical laws of science. “Replicas” also stars Thomas Middleditch (“Silicon Valley”) and John Ortiz (“Silver Linings Playbook”).

Replicas (2019 Film)

IMDb Rating: 5.5/10
Director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Stars: Alice Eve, Keanu Reeves, Emily Alyn Lind
Genres: Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Quality: 480p | 720p [HD]
Language: English & Hindi Dubbed
PLOT: A scientist becomes obsessed with bringing back his family members who died in a traffic accident.

Replicas 2018 Hindi Dubbed Movie BluRay 720p Dual Audio | Cast: Keanu Reeves | Download & Watch Online
Keys: Replicas (2018) Sci-Fi Thriller Movie English 720p HQ DVDScr x264 1GB Watch Online [G-Drive] 9xmovies, world4ufree, world4free, Khatrimaza 123Movies fmovies Gomovies gostream 300Mb Dual Audio Hindi Dubbed | Replicas 2018 720p BluRay x264 AC3 ESub Dual Audio [Hindi + English] Download .

DESCRIPTION: Replicas is an upcoming American science fiction thriller film directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff and written by Chad St. John from a story by Stephen Hamel. The film tells the story of a biologist who violates all possible laws and principles in order to bring back to life members of his family, who died in a car accident. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Alice Eve, and Thomas Middleditch.

Replicas (2018) Movie – Storyline
A daring synthetic biologist, after a car accident kills his family, will stop at nothing to bring them back, even if it means pitting himself against a government-controlled laboratory, a police task force and the physical laws of science William Foster is a brilliant neuroscientist who loses his wife, son and two daughters in a tragic car accident. Utilising cutting-edge technology, William comes up with a daring and unprecedented plan to download their memories and clone their bodies.

Replicas Full Movie Review:
Yes, the story is lacking, the characters lack depth. There’s like no chemistry between Keanu and Alice.. I’m a lover of Keanu and i am crazy with Alice Eve but seriously! Together there’s nothing… That being said, it’s an entertaining tale that explores a scenario that’s plausible within the near future. It causes you to question our ethics and morals when it involves cloning and that is enough on behalf of me to love the movie. I won’t be watching it twice and it won’t become a classic, but it’s n’t as terrible like people claim it is on here.

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Karen Wilson, Singing Sherlockian

Karen Wilson at BSI Weekend's Gaslight Gala; photo by Kristen Pedersen Prepolec

Karen Wilson will talk about “Remarkable, but Eccentric: Sherlock Holmes, Violinist” at the Holmes, Doyle,& Friends conference in Dayton, OH, on March 28, with an opening reception on March 27.  She is herself remarkable as you will learn from this interview.

How and when did you first meet Sherlock Holmes?

It was the summer after eighth grade – so, July of 1975 – and my 14-year-old self happened upon an intriguing display at the local Waldenbooks (remember them?). It was a whole table full of Nicholas Meyer’s The Seven Percent Solution, newly out in paperback and sporting the Best Tagline Ever: “Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud, together again for the first time!” Now, I’d have described myself as pretty well-read for a teenager, but the fact was that I hadn’t read any Holmes at all, and I was confused. How could Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud …? That is, wasn’t Freud a real person and Holmes a …? Curious, I dug into my babysitting money, acquired a copy, and got only two pages into Watson’s “Introductory” before realizing that I was reading a sequel of some sort. Clearly, I needed to get my hands on some of the books mentioned in Meyer’s footnotes – A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, and so on – before attempting this “lost Watsonian manuscript.”

So I began to read the Canon, more avidly with each installment, and then came a happy coincidence. That same summer, 20^th Century Fox’s 1939 The Hound of the Baskervilles, after decades in legal limbo over the rights, was making the rounds on the big screen. By the time the ad for the Rathbone-Bruce film showed up in the paper in my town (luridly alluding to the movie’s single line regarding Holmes’s drug usage), I was more than primed to see it. Rathbone’s interpretation helped lodge Sherlock Holmes even more firmly in my imagination, and, well, he’s still there.

How and when did you become a Sherlockian?

I really count that summer as the beginning of it. All the hoopla (did I just write “hoopla”?) surrounding the still-best-selling Seven-Per-Cent and that Hound roadshow meant that the Features sections of newspapers and magazines were full of articles not only about the Great Detective, but about the wider Sherlockian phenomenon, as well. Before I’d even finished my first read-through of the Canon, I’d learned about the Game and some of its most famous founding players, and also about the BSI and some of its scions. The impression I got, however, was that there was no point in aspiring to join one of those clubs if you had my combination of chromosomes, so I just resolved to do the thing on my own. There followed years of indiscriminately buying pastiches (remember when you thought you could collect them all?), staying up till all hours whenever a Holmes flick was scheduled on a local TV station, gleefully ordering esoterica from Magico (which I found via an ad in the back of some one-off “Sherlock Holmes” magazine), and always being on the lookout for classics by Baring-Gould, Starrett, and others in secondhand bookshops.

Fast-forward to the end of the millennium:with home Internet access came “The Hounds of the Internet” and my discovery that the Sherlockian world had moved on considerably since I first learned about it in the ‘70s. Maybe when my kids are older, I thought, I’ll find myself a group … and then, eight years ago, I decided it was time.

You are a church musician, a lovely singer, and a composer of extremely moving or extremely funny Sherlockian lyrics, as fits the occasion. How do music and Holmes come together for you?  

And you, sir, are my new best friend! Seriously, thanks for your kind words. I come from a very musical family, and there’s really no context in which my siblings and I weren’t always making music. It has been my natural impulse in every setting I’ve been a part of: I was the person among my set of college friends who wrote the parody songs, and, later, the one at the office who composed the “Night Before Christmas” pastiche for the annual Christmas party. Music and Holmes come together for me because music and everything come together for me, so I count it a lucky thing that there was already a tradition of Sherlockian music-making that I could fit myself into.

What instruments do you play, and when?

I suppose my main instrument is piano, which I’ve played since third grade (at this point, I might as well say “all my life”). I didn’t pursue music as a primary profession, but between church and the various schools where I have taught philosophy over the decades, I have never lacked opportunities to accompany choirs, all types of soloists, and group singing. After a brief attempt at organ lessons in my thirties (when I was starting my family and could never find time to practice), I resumed in middle age and now feel confident enough to call myself an organist, as well. (Thankfully, the church that employs me agrees.)

But my favorite instrument is voice, and my favorite way to use it is in a chorus. Indeed, the majority of my most satisfying musical experiences have been as a tiny cog in a big old classical choir, singing some old warhorse of a composition with an orchestra sawing away in front of us. (Yes, that was three metaphors, but I’m not sure which ones to drop.)

What Sherlockian groups do you belong to?

Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City, MD is my original home scion, and I have served both as Gasogene (XXV) and Tantalus there. I’m also invested in ASH as “A Faithful Scotchwoman” and in the Sherlockians of Baltimore (SOBs) as “Rosa Ponselle.” In addition, I’m a charter member of the Diogenes Club of Washington, D.C., and, most recently, I’ve been named a Master Copper Beechsmith in the Sons of the Copper Beeches and Napoleon No. 270 in the Six Napoleons of Baltimore. That’s a lot of good times!

For the past few years you have been the coordinator of “A Scintillation of Scions” in Maryland, which was foundational to my own re-entrance into the Sherlockian community. What has that been like for you?

A Scintillation of Scions, for those who aren’t aware, is an annual symposium held near Baltimore, MD on the second Saturday of June. Now in its thirteenth year, SoS features a roster of speakers drawn from both the local and wider Sherlockian communities, who address a variety of topics related to Holmes and/or Doyle, Victoriana, media, and fandom. There’s humor, scholarship (both old-school and new), and plenty of camaraderie! We also feature vendors, a bag raffle, a Friday-night cocktail party, and, beginning last year, the Silver Blaze (Southern Division) race at Laurel Park on the Sunday after. If anyone reading this has never attended, I hope you’ll visit http://www.scintillation.org/ to learn more about the event, which will be held June 12-14, 2020.

Now, as to what it’s been like for me to be the co-ordinator, I’ll confess that it was a little intimidating to take over a successful event from its founder, but so far I’ve had a great time soliciting speakers and planning programs. This year will be my third at the helm, and if I’m honest, I still haven’t drifted far from Jacquelynn Morris’ template (if it ain’t broke …). That said, an increasing challenge is presented by the sheer number of other annual and bi-annual (etc.) symposia that exist nowadays, compared to when SoS began. We’re not in competition, of course (I’ll be attending some of those other conferences this year), but the existence of alternatives pushes all of us both to think hard about what our own gathering’s particular character and purpose ought to be, and to work to make it as great a time as possible.

What’s your favorite Sherlockian event other than A Scintillation of Scions?

I look forward to BSI Weekend all year. I’m one of those people who signs up for every “open to all” event on Scott Monty’s list, so it’s a busy, breathless time … but always such a treat!

What has it meant to you to be part of the far-flung Sherlockian community?

It’s meant a lot. I was actually navigating a difficult personal crisis when I first decided to dip a toe into the waters of Sherlockian groups, and I credit the hobby with helping me to get through that hard time. Almost immediately, I was welcomed and encouraged by an eclectic group of clever, talented people – many of whom I now call friends – who seemed genuinely to value my contribution to the fun. It would be churlish to ask much more of a leisure activity than that, and I’m duly grateful.

What question haven’t I asked you that I should?

Let’s see… how about, “Do you have any grandchildren you’d like to brag about?”

Why, yes, Dan; yes, I do! Milo, who’s nine months old as I type this answer, is the light of his old grandmother’s life. More perfect than any child has the right to be, he’ll be receiving his Sherlockian indoctrination as soon as he can say “Baskerville.”

You can still register here to take part in Holmes, Doyle, & Friends on March 28, with an opening reception on March 27. 

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Danial Bawany

Danial Bawany

Selfies Winter 2019-20

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Joe Golem Sıçan Avcısı 1

Bir dedektif hikayesi gibi dursa da bu bir gizem hikayesi. Ben çizgilerini ve atmosferini beğendiğim için çevirmiştim. Çevireli de epey bir zaman oldu. Kapak çizimleri de bir dönemim Mike Hamer gibi dedektif romanlarındaki kapak çizimlerine benziyor ve bence çok hoş renklendirmeleri var.

Kısaca Joe Golem'den bahsedersek: Joe Golem  New York şehrinden gizemli olaylarla ilgilenen bir dedektif gibi görünse de aslında dedektif değildir. Sürprizbozan olmasın diye daha fazla ayrıntıya girmiyorum. Bu seriden başka çevirilerim de oldu ama diğer ciltleri ne zaman yayınlarım bilmiyorum. Bu ciltte de zaten ufak ufak geri plan bilgileri veriliyor. Seversiniz diye bekliyorum.



Sayı 1







Sayı 1

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An Analysis of the 2020-2021 Metropolitan Opera Season

The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center Plaza
(Photo by Jonathan Tichler / Metropolitan Opera)

By Fred Plotkin

WQXR — February 13, 2020

The current 2019-2020 season at the Metropolitan Opera has been, in my opinion, the strongest in many years, with four excellent new productions (Porgy and Bess, Akhnaten, Wozzeck, and Agrippina) and superb revivals (among them La Bohème, The Queen of Spades, Der Rosenkavalier, and La Damnation de Faust). There have been many fine, exciting singers not only in unusual repertory, but also in bread-and-butter perennials that in the recent past were often indifferently cast and under-rehearsed.

Based on the announcement of the 2020-2021 season, I have reason to hope that the current high standard will be maintained. The programming of this new season is innovative and, I believe, immensely appealing. It combines the tried and true box office ABCs (Aïda, Bohème, Carmen) and two of the three Ts (Traviata and Trovatore, though not Tosca) with many singular works that should delight newcomers as well as die-hard fans. There are 23 different operas by 19 composers. Only two of them – Verdi, with four operas and Mozart with two – have more than one title. The other works are by Beethoven, Bellini, Berg, Bizet, Britten, Donizetti, Dvorak, Gounod, Handel, Heggie, Humperdinck, Offenbach, Prokofiev, Puccini, Rossini, Strauss, and Wagner. By contrast, the current season has 25 operas by 16 composers.

Not too long ago, the Met tended to program each season with blocks of works by the most famous composers – Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Strauss – and offer fewer options in other repertory. Just a bit of standard-issue bel canto, a couple of French works, and one in Russian or Czech. Handel only arrived at the Met in 1984, and modern works were few and far between.

Some of this practice persisted as recently as last season. In my analysis of the 2019-2020 season, I lamented that 55 performances, approximately a quarter of the total season, were operas by Puccini. Some readers took me to task for this, claiming that his works are accessible in ways that others are not. I don't quite agree, though I certainly admire Puccini's masterpieces. Each person has their own way into opera, and I find that younger audiences are inspired by pieces with contemporary themes, be they Agrippina (1709) or next season's new production of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's 2000 masterpiece Dead Man Walking, getting a belated Met premiere on April 8, 2021.

There is also commendable linguistic variety next season. There are 10 works in Italian (Aïda, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Giulio Cesare, Nabucco, Il Pirata, Roberto Devereux, La Traviata, Il Trovatore). Five works (Fidelio, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Lulu, Tristan und Isolde, Die Zauberflöte) are in German. Three each are in French (Carmen, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Roméo et Juliette) and English (Billy Budd, Dead Man Walking, Hansel and Gretel), with one (The Fiery Angel) in Russian and one in Czech (Rusalka).

Ultimately, the quality of any company's offerings rises and falls on who is singing. In this regard, the upcoming season is very promising. Most operas are well-cast even in small roles, and I will detail some of the most interesting below. Of course, there are singers one would want to see at the Met who have major careers or have something special to offer artistically. Among those missing next season are Roberto Alagna, Daniela Barcellona, Leah Crocetto, Juan Diego Flórez, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Elīna Garanča, Jonas Kaufmann, Gregory Kunde, Ambrogio Maestri, Karita Mattila, Michael Mayes, René Pape, Marianna Pizzolato, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marina Rebeka, and Michael Spyres.

I really wish the Met would find a way to cast the versatile and brilliant Anna Caterina Antonacci, who will make her debut at the Washington National Opera next season as Despina in Così fan tutte. Bryn Terfel, who has not sung at the Met since 2012, was supposed to star in the upcoming new production of Der fliegende Hölländer until he was recently sidelined by a fractured ankle. He will not be able to move about on a stage for quite a while and we all wish him well.

Which leads to a thought: the Met recently had a marvelous artistic success with a concert performance of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust. How about a concert version of Massenet's Don Quichotte with Furlanetto in the title role, Terfel as Sancho Panza, and Antonacci as Dulcinea, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin or Emmanuel Villaume? Concert performances cost less to stage and represent the possibility of hearing great artists in rare works at lower ticket prices. That is an incentive to get hesitant ticket buyers to try something less familiar.

Ticket prices are certainly a consideration. In its announcement of the new season, the Met said, "Ticket prices for the 2020-2021 season range from $25 to $480 for the 3,800 seats in the opera house. Approximately 40% of Met tickets cost less than $100, and approximately 60% of Met tickets cost less than $150. The Met will continue offering Flex Subscriptions, which allow subscribers to curate their own season. "Create Your Own' packages, in which three or more performances are discounted when purchased together, will be released for sale on April 15, 2020."

I have always been a believer in supporting arts institutions by purchasing subscriptions. You benefit yourself by having access to performances and seats you prefer. And you help a company front-load its income, making it easier to do advance planning. As it happens, ticket prices for subscribers at the Met are notably cheaper than single sales, and if you exchange a ticket you typically can get a new one at the subscriber's rate rather than that charged to a single-ticket buyer. Given the number of enticing performances next season, you want to make your ticket budget go as far as possible.

There will be 22 Sunday matinee performances next season. This is a popular time slot for audiences, though it has posed a logistical challenge for many Met employees as it has required them to work longer weeks on uneven schedules. Quite a few Monday performances have been eliminated, which is unfortunate as it is a night with fewer cultural offerings around town. Properly marketed, this could become a niche audience and the dark night of the week at the Met could alternate among Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays, when most New York theaters and concert halls are open and pose competition to the Met.

There will be five new productions next season. Opening night (September 21) sees a new vision of Aïda, replacing the familiar monumental staging that served for three decades. It has been entrusted to Michael Mayer, who produced the Rigoletto and La Traviata now in the Met repertoire. Anna Netrebko, in the title role, and Anita Rachvelishvili (Amneris) will surely rekindle the fire that made them so thrilling in these roles a couple of seasons ago. Piotr Beczala moves into heavier repertory with the assumption of the role of Radames. Ludovic Tézier sings Amonasro and Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. Aïda will have 15 performances, with other talented singers joining the production during the season.

Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel comes on November 12 in a production by Barrie Kosky that premiered in Munich in 2015. Kosky is a superb director, and I am gratified that he will finally come to the Met. The opera will be conducted by Michail Jurowski, with Evgeny Nikitin and Svetlana Sozdateleva in the leading roles.

Die Zauberflöte gets a new production on December 31, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. There is a talented cast, but I am most drawn to this because the production will be by the outstanding British director Simon McBurney, with lighting by the excellent Jean Kalman and a team that includes a projection designer and a sound designer. I have never seen an opera done by McBurney, but have been a fan of this theater work for a long time.

Another prominent theater director, Ivo van Hove, makes his debut with Don Giovanni (March 1), one of the hardest of all operas to direct because of its many characters and 17 scenes in two acts. It has a great cast, with Peter Mattei in the title role, Gerald Finley as Leporello, Ailyn Pérez as Donna Anna, Isabel Leonard as Donna Elvira, and Hera Hyesang Park as Zerlina. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. Finley will sing the Don later in the season, with the Italian baritone Alex Esposito as Leporello.

Ivo van Hove also directs Dead Man Walking (April 8), with Joyce DiDonato perfectly cast as Sister Helen Prejean, Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, Etienne Dupuis as Joseph De Rocher, and the luxury casting of Susan Graham as De Rocher's mother (she was Sister Helen at the world premiere at San Francisco Opera 20 years ago). This is one performance I will not miss.

The new productions are all very exciting to think about, but we should not overlook many of the revivals, often with amazing casts. Most of them deliver visually and dramatically, and even those that don't (Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Tristan und Isolde, Il Pirata) have mostly superb singers who more than make up for what does not work dramatically.

Les Contes d'Hoffmann returns on September 22 with the excellent Daniele Rustioni in the pit and Matthew Polenzani in the title role. Four talented women play the objects of his affections, with Luca Pisaroni assuming the roles of the Four Villains.

Donizetti's thrilling Roberto Devereux (September 23) has Stephen Costello in the title role, with Angela Meade as Queen Elizabeth I and Jamie Barton as Sara. Maurizio Benini conducts.

Lorenzo Viotti makes his much-anticipated conducting debut with Carmen (October 2). J'Nai Bridges sings the title role on opening night. An array of talented singers will appear through the 14 performances, and I want to make special mention that the outstanding Russell Thomas will be Don José at some of them.

Tristan und Isolde is always an event – and certainly will be when it returns on October 17 led by Hartmut Haenchen in his Met debut, with a cast including Christine Goerke, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Greer Grimsley, and Günther Groissböck. These are all top-flight Wagnerian singers.

La Traviata (October 24) has three Italian conductors (Carlo Rizzi, Daniele Callegari, and, in an important Met debut, Speranza Scappucci). Their Violettas will be Ailyn Péréz, Anita Hartig, and Lisette Oropesa. Several tenors will appear as well. I want to point out the Met debut of Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat on April 23 – he will likely be in town when the Met does Nabucco, and it would not surprise me if he is understudying this role, with which he scored a huge success in Parma in 2019. Just as Lise Davidsen was the breakout star in the current season and Anita Rachvelishvili was two years ago, I think Enkhbat might be the one in 2020-2021.

Il Trovatore will have 12 performances, starting on October 30. There will be two strong casts, all led by Michele Mariotti. Leonora will performed by Sonya Yoncheva and Krassimira Stoyanova, Azucena by Ekaterina Semenchuk and Anita Rachvelishvili, Manrico by Roberto Aronica and Russell Thomas, and di Luna by Quinn Kelsey and Ludovic Tézier.

La Bohème has 17 performances starting November 21, with a large group of fine singers rotating in and out. I am told that Angela Gheorghiu will give a single performance as Mimì.

To coincide with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Fidelio returns on November 30. I am not sure why it will not be performed on the actual birthday (December 16), but rather on the next day. This is a not-to-miss night at the Met. The first cast includes Lise Davidsen, Golda Schultz, Brandon Jovanovich, Franz-Josef Selig, and Tomasz Konieczny. Maestro Nézet-Séguin conducts.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia opens on December 11 for ten performances. Giacomo Sagripanti makes a conducting debut, with Pretty Yende, Lawrence Brownlee, Andrey Zhilikhovsky, Maurizio Muraro, and Ildar Abdrazakov. I smile just thinking about this cast.

A holiday presentation of Hansel and Gretel will have luxury casting: Elizabeth DeShong and Sasha Cooke, both great talents, share the role of Hansel. Hera Hyesang Park and Mané Galoyan will be Gretel, John Daszak is the Witch, and Michaela Martens is Gertrude. Thomas Hampson makes a welcome return to the Met as Peter. The excellent maestro Edward Gardner conducts.

Gounod's Roméo et Juliette returns January 12 with the opening night leads Nadine Sierra and Stephen Costello conducted by Nézet-Séguin. Some later performances will be conducted by Emmanuel Villaume with two promising tenors, Ismael Jordi and Benjamin Bernheim, making their debuts as Roméo.

Handel specialist Harry Bicket returns for Giulio Cesare (March 2) with Iestyn Davies in the title role and a great cast including Kristina Mkhitaryan, Kate Lindsey, Karen Cargill, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and Duncan Rock.

Berg's Lulu will star Brenda Rae in the title role on March 5, joined by excellent singers headed by Susan Graham as Geschwitz and James Morris in the small role of Schigolch. Sebastian Weigle conducts.

Dvořák's Rusalka returns with an outstanding cast conducted by Jakub Hrůša and starring Sonya Yoncheva, Ekaterina Gubanova, Okka van der Damerau, Eric Owens, and Piotr Beczala – all in Mary Zimmerman's delightful production. It opens March 16.

Nabucco, opening March 26, should be a hot ticket. The production does not displease me, though some people find it busy and ungainly. George Gagnidze has the title role, while Oksana Dyka and Anna Netrebko share the role of Abigaille. Marco Armiliato will be at the helm for all performances, so they are in good hands. It's time for the Met to offer Armiliato a new opera production all his own.

One of the season's highlights is Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten. Nézet-Ségen leads a thrilling cast: Nina Stemme (Dyer's Wife), Elza van den Heever (Empress), Evelyn Herlitzius (the Nurse), Michael Volle (the Dyer), Klaus Florian Vogt (the Emperor), and Ryan Speedo Green (Messenger). There will be six performances beginning April 16.

Bellini's Il Pirata will delight bel canto lovers, with Diana Damrau and Angela Meade sharing the role of Imogene and Javier Camarena as Gualtiero. Eight performances start May 7.

John Dexter's remarkable production of Britten's Billy Budd has not been seen since 2012 – I consider it among the Met's best stagings. Simone Young conducts an excellent cast, including Joshua Hopkins in the title role, Matthew Polenzani as Captain Vere, and Matthew Rose is Claggart. Transgender baritone Lucia Lucas has a Met debut as Bosun. James Morris, who made his Met debut on January 7, 1971, as the King in Aïda, sings the Dansker – to date, he has sung 1,014 Met performances and remains the gold standard as Wotan and Claggart, among many roles. Few artists have 50-year careers in opera, and even fewer have performed at the level of James Morris. Bravo.

The titles for the The Met: Live in HD are Aida (October 10), Il Trovatore (November 7), Fidelio (December 12), Die Zauberflöte (January 16), Roméo et Juliette (January 30), Don Giovanni (March 27), Dead Man Walking (April 17), Die Frau ohne Schatten (April 24), Nabucco (May 8), and Il Pirata (May 22). Six of the nine will be conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In addition, there will be encore presentations of the 2006 English-language holiday adaptation of The Magic Flute (December 5) and the 2015 The Merry Widow starring Renée Fleming (February 27). I'm not sure why this choice was made – certainly it is not a problem to revive a transmission, but to show Flute five weeks before Die Zauberflöte seems redundant, and if one wants to present Fleming in an HD encore, I would suggest either Rodelinda or Der Rosenkavalier. Frankly, it seems an omission that the new production of The Fiery Angel will not have an HD transmission, and the Met's wonderful production of Billy Budd deserves to be documented.

Further observations about next season's schedule: The Met has decided to go dark for the month of February 2021, but is extending its season until June 5, almost a month longer than its customary closing night on the second Saturday in May. This winter pause comes at a time when many operagoers are away or prefer to stay indoors. Perhaps February would be a good time to have a mini-revival festival of HD transmissions from the past 15 seasons. That could earn the Met revenue and also keep the company in the minds of devoted opera lovers. For starters, the Met could present its Dialogues des Carmélites, Porgy and Bess, Prince Igor, La Clemenza di Tito, Les Troyens, La Fanciulla del West, and Tannhäuser (with the late Johan Botha in an outstanding performance).

As far as I can tell, there is no opera performance on November 3, 2020. That is Election Day, and you have no excuse not to do your civic duty. For the rest of the season, cast your vote for opera. It is illuminating, gratifying, and soul-affirming just when we need it most.

Source: qxr.org

Elina Garanca and members of the Metropolitan Opera's chorus in a concert performance
of Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" (Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera)

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Boilers and Radiators

You know how when you plan a big home renovation you know it is going to be totally worth it, but know before you get to the amazing finish there will be chaos, many decisions, hard work and furniture moving? And when you emerge, slightly frazzled and very much poorer, after the whole ordeal and say "Yes, it was worth!", but that was a LOT of hard work!! Whew! (It amazes me I always forget this! Lol!)

That is where I am right now. Recovery mode. 

We absolutely love our hot water heat!! It is heavenly! My allergies are great! The upstairs is warmer than we anticipated!(One problem we were hoping to solve.) It really is a dream for an old un-insulated house. We cannot tell what the weather is like outside anymore. (Old house dwellers, you will know what I mean. The it-feels-slightly-more-drafty-then-usual-must-be-windy-outside. Or yep-temps-are-falling-the-corners-are-colder.) We feel insulated! It is so even, no warm or cold air drifting around the house.

To get to this heavenly warm bliss took four months, quite a few late nights and several long Saturdays. And we had a blast! Thank the Lord for family. My younger brother was as intrigued by the idea of retro-fitting hot water heat as I was! 

It is hard to know where to even start! Two years ago I bought a house full of radiator, which had been waiting in the garage. We measured each radiator and figured the btu's, then spent several weeks discussing which radiator would work for which room and where to put it. We finally decided we needed two more small ones for the bedrooms, which we were able to find at a radiator salvage place in Duluth, MN.

This summer I worked on scraping and painting the radiators, which I posted about HERE and then Mandy and I removed all the old duct work, which you can read about 

HERE. So glad we don't have to do that again! Yuck!

The next week we started plumbing in the supply lines and install radiators! This is the one in my room. 

The project ended up falling into three phases: Phase #1- installing main supplies and returns, installing boiler, installing downstairs bedrooms and bathroom radiator, Phase #2- Switching dinning room radiator and moving living room radiator, Phase #3 piping in and installing upstairs radiator.

Lots of big pipes! We used 2" black iron for the supply and return lines. Then 1 1/2" and 1" pipes depending on the size of the radiator. Thankfully the brother had plenty of muscle to screw them all together! I stuck with organizing all the different sized fitting, handing tools and putting Teflon tape and pipe paste on fittings.

We installed the main supply and returns, the piping to both bedrooms and the bathroom. This is the bathroom radiator above. In floor radiant heat 1920's style! This style of radiator was made to fit perfectly between floor joints or you could hang it on the wall. They knew how to make the most of small spaces back then! The kitchen radiator was also pipped and installed. We couldn't install the dining room radiator or the living room as we had to do a little shifting around, which I will explain later. For the radiator upstairs in Mandy's room we added tees and valves and figured out where the pipes would run, but her radiator was phase #3! So that comes later! 

Finally the day before Thanksgiving the boiler arrived! It took a few weeks before it was up and running, but as soon as we could we connected it to the kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom radiator and fired it up! At this point we had part of the house running off the boiler and the living and dining room running off the hot water heater. But not for long!

We made sure to put plenty of gauges in! I love running down and checking the pressure and temperatures. This also helps us know if the system is running correctly and efficiently. Because we used old radiators we have also ready had a couple of issues with clogs in the system. (We think a mouse was eyeing up a radiator for a winter nest! Lots of debris floating around the system. Thankfully we have a strainer before water goes back into the boiler.)

Whew! That was the end of Phase #1! Just in time for a cold snap!

On to Phase #2 which required a couple of strong guys to move the radiator currently under the living room window upstairs! We were all a little apprehensive, but guys were pros and it was up the stairs and in it's new home in seven minutes. Then they moved a slightly larger radiator from the garage into the living, but hold on... Is that a hole in the floor?!?

It just so happened that there was an old cold air return right where the legs of the radiator was going to sit! I was prepared and had some salvaged oak flooring (from the elder brother) handy to patch it up.

Can you believe that is the hole? I can't take credit for this one, the brother did most of the work. But I have two more to do, so hopefully I can post a couple of tips. It really helps to have old wood floor boards that match your floor color! I was really surprised how well they matched. I think it helps that the floors and the patched boards all have shellac on them!

Before those radiator hauling guys left, we also had them move this giant radiator from the corner of the kitchen/dining room/hallway to the other side of the kitchen doorway. We had originally put it next to the hallway because we knew it would help heat the bedrooms and because there was an old heat vent we could run the temporary pex piping down. Moving it heats the dining room more evenly and prevents the bedrooms from getting over heated now that they have their own radiators. 

The radiator placement was the most discussed. Should it be centered on the wall? Should we leave it next to the doorway? We finally decided to put it in the corner which would leave enough room for a piece of furniture next too it.

As you can see, we ended up moving almost all the furniture in the dining room and living around! I will post about that later.

That was also the finish of Phase #2.

On to Phase #3! Once the radiator was upstairs we just had to get pipes up. After the a lot of figuring and measuring we decided the best way was to run the pipes up along the corner of the entry next to the coat hooks. We would leave these pipes exposed as we knew that was not 4" thick, it was only 2". (Once I paint the pipes, they will look like they have been there a hundred years!) 

But the only way to get across the room was to run the pipes inside the floor, so we had to cut a hole in the entry ceiling. Nothing I can't fix, but it is always sad (and messy!) cutting into plaster! This was the last phase of the project and we were so ready to get it done! Maybe this project has more than three phases? Phase #4 is cleaning up. Can't wait for spring to give the basement a good clean out! It is disastrous! In the mean time, I can work on plaster and floor patching and trim patching....

In case you are curious, here is a break down in costs. It is such a different project, we didn't really have a good idea what it was all going to cost.

1100 sq. ft house with 8 radiators

9 radiators from Craig's list - $400

2 radiators from Northland Radiator in Duluth, MN - $300

boiler - $3000

pipes, fititngs, valves - $3000

Total - $6700

I love these radiators! And I am so grateful my brother was willing to tackle this project with me! At times it was a family project as occasionally the only way he could find available time was to bring the kids along. It made for a fun family circus! And I hope we have instilled a little renovation love into the next generation!

Let me know if you have any questions friends, I would love to talk more about my hot water heat!

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North Pierhead Light & Steam Fog Whistle

The Presque Isle, North Pierhead Lighthouse, also known as the, Erie Harbor North Pierhead Light, is one of the three lighthouses near Erie. The light, situated at the far eastern end of Presque Isle State Park, helps mariners as they traverse the narrow inlet between Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay.

Originally constructed as a wooden tower in 1818, that light was swept away by a schooner in 1855, it was powered by whale oil, and had to be constantly attended. When mariners were approaching the channel, many times they had difficulty spotting the pier light until they were right on top of it. To help solve this problem, in 1854, the light was equipped with a new sixth-order Fresnel lens, so that the beacon could be more easily seen. This apparatus had an illuminating arc of 270 degrees, which was a great improvement from the former light.

In an inspection report of 1837 it was noted that Erie’s Harbor was served by a lighthouse and a beacon. The lighthouse was the Erie Land Lighthouse, which had been erected on a bluff overlooking the harbor in 1818, and the beacon was a light at the entrance to the bay that had just been established. In fact, Congress had appropriated $674 on March 3, 1837, for “completing the beacon-light at the end of the pier which forms the entrance into the harbor of Erie.” The 1837 report indicated that the beacon was “so situated that it cannot be seen by vessels running down the lake until they are very close to it,” and thus recommended that vessels use the lighthouse to gain the upper entrance to the harbor and then follow the beacon light.

In 1854 the wooden beacon light received a catadioptric apparatus of the sixth order, illuminating an arc of 270°, which replaced the former apparatus that had be described as being very defective. The beacon light and its new sixth-order lens were destroyed the following year, when a vessel entering the harbor during a gale struck the tower. A lens lantern, suspended from a gallows frame, was displayed on the pier until a replacement tower could be built.

The current lighthouse commenced operation in 1857. The iron tower stood twenty-six-and-a-half feet tall, and when originally built, only the watchroom beneath the lantern room was enclosed. The lower portion of the tower was open showing its spiral staircase — by 1909, the lower portion of the tower had been sheathed with wood and covered with metal shingles; steel plates would later be placed on the lower portion. The tower was forged in France, and assembled on site in Erie, and was made from wrought iron with its tower rising to 34 feet in height, equipped with a new 4th Order Fresnel Lens. An itemized cost sheet from 1855 records shows that $1,731 was needed for the labor and materials to build up a new 28 by 33 foot pierhead at Erie from two feet below the water to seven feet above. $939 was the estimated cost for plates, bolts, braces, stairs and railing to construct a two-story, cast-iron tower, while $432 was the expected cost for the lantern. Painting was to run $215, freight $100, superintendence and labor for the tower and lantern, another $900. After adding 10% for contingencies and $502 for a sixth-order Fresnel lens, the total cost for a new pier head and beacon was an estimated $5,250.

In addition to the pierhead light, various range lights have served nearby to help mariners enter the harbor over the years. In 1854 the Lighthouse Board adopted range lights that had previously been privately maintained. An 1857 Light List shows that there were three range beacons in use at Erie: one on the west end of the pier, and two on the peninsula, northwest of the pier.

In 1872 new octagonal frame towers were erected on the east and west ends of the recently extended pier to serve as a range for entering the harbor. At this time the 1857 iron tower was on a crib behind the pier. A fog bell was established at the eastern end of the pier in 1880.

In 1882 the pier was expanded in both width and length, the tower was moved 190 feet to the end of the new pier, and the fog bell was placed in its base. When this was done the channel to the bay was deepened, and this caused sand to fill in near the end of the new pier which would cause problems throughout the years. The light's characteristic was changed from fixed white to fixed red at this time, the oil to be burned in the light was changed from whale oil to lard oil, which was more readily available, and cost less than half the price of more expensive whale oil. An elevated walk, with a length of 934 feet, was built between the iron tower and the keeper's dwelling in 1883. During the same year, the lenses in use at the North Pierhead Lighthouse, and at Crossover Island Lighthouse in New York, were swapped with the North Pierhead, receiving a fourth-order lens, and Crossover Island a sixth-order lens.

The north pier was extended 450 feet during 1891, forcing the relocation of the iron tower and its fog bell, and the addition of more elevated walk. In 1889 a fog signal building was built on the tip of the Presque Isle Peninsula, about a mile-and-a-half north of the pierhead station. A ten-inch steam whistle commenced operation on August 1, 1899, sounding a five-second blast every thirty seconds, when needed, until replaced in 1924 by a diaphone fog signal.

As the steam whistle was added to the responsibilities of the North Pierhead Station, a second assistant keeper was appointed to attend to the whistle, and in 1900, a new duplex was built for the head keeper and first assistant, while the second assistant was assigned to the old dwelling. Also in 1900, the fog bell was removed from the base of the iron tower and placed in a open framework structure at the end of pier, which had been extended 470 feet. The open framework structure had previously been used to exhibit a light on the pier at Dunkirk, New York.

An allotment of $38,500 was provided in 1923 to electrify the lights on the pierhead, to build a new compressed-air fog signal 500 feet east of the steam whistle, to erect a new steel tower for the western light on the pier, and to construct a new boathouse. Commercial electricity was supplied to the station via a submarine cable, but a generator was also installed in a new powerhouse at the station in case of a power failure.

The lights on the pier were electrified on July 18, 1924, and the new diaphone fog signal, which was housed in a steel tower and could be operated by remote control from the powerhouse, commenced operation a few weeks later on August 6.

A string of at least sixteen head keepers, starting with Samuel Foster and ending with Walter Korwek, are known to have served at the light. Keeper Robert Allen, who had the longest tenure as head keeper, received many accolades during his service. In 1913 he was awarded a lifesaving medal for rescuing two people, who were about to drown while swimming near the pier. Victor Osburg was teaching Ruth McLaughlin to swim, when the current swept the pair into deep water. Keeper Allen was on the pier lighting up the beacon and quickly tied a line to a mop handle, which he was able to toss out to Osburg. After reeling the man in, Keeper Allen removed some of his clothes and plunged into the water after Miss McLaughlin, who had sunk by this time. Keeper Allen swam some sixty yards and then dove down, retrieved the woman, and brought her to the pier. A lifesaving crew had arrived on the scene by this time, and, after expelling water from Mrs. McLaughlin, they performed artificial respiration for four minutes before she finally revived.

Keeper Allen was awarded the lighthouse efficiency pennant for having the best-kept station in the district in 1914 and 1915. In 1918 Allen helped extinguish a fire aboard the fishing tug Gannet, and the following year, he and his assistants were recognized for helping rescue the crew of the steamer Tempest, which foundered in the channel near Erie Harbor. Finally, in 1925, Keeper Allen helped extinguish a fire that raged on the peninsula for several days.

The next and last move of the lighthouse took place in 1940, at which time it was outfitted with its present heavy steel plates and became home to a tyfon air signal, which replaced the fog bell on the pier. A class C radio beacon was established at the station in 1941. Relocated 509 feet to the end of a newly extended pier, the new addition to the pier changed its general direction. The addition went in a more northeasterly direction. This stopped the sand problem, almost immediately, which was a problem in its previous location for many years. Once the lighthouse tower was moved the 509 feet, the lighthouse with its heavy steel plating was painted with distinctive large black-and-white stripes. The design of the lighthouse and its steel cover is unique, and it is the only surviving example of the square and pyramidal style lighthouse tower left in this country. The plating and additional bracing used in this reconstruction were made in France and shipped to Erie for assembly. At this point, in the minds of many, it finally became a true lighthouse. When all the changes were complete, an automated electric light was installed. Beginning in 1995 the light began to be powered by solar panels and the Coast Guard changed the light’s fixed red light to a flashing red light, at which time the 4th order Fresnel lens was sent to the Erie Maritime Museum.

Head Keepers:

Samuel Foster (1835 - 1837)
William Kane (1837 - 1841)
Benjamin Fleming (1841 - 1845)
Leonard Vaughan (1845 - 1850)
Ruben Field (1850)
John Hess (1850 - 1853)
William T. Downs (1853 - 1854)
Leonard Vaughan (1854 - 1861)
George W. Bone (1861 - 1863)
Richard P. Burke (1863 - 1869)
Frank Henry (1869 - 1884)
Charles D. Coyle (1885 - 1889)
Robert Hunter (1890 - 1901)
Thomas L. Wilkins (1901 - 1909)
Robert Allen (1909 - at least 1930)
Walter J. Korwek (at least 1940 - 1953)

The Original (wooden structure) North Pierhead Light.

Early view of the North Pierhead Light.

Old Zip-Line (aerial runway) to the North Pierhead Light.

Steam fog whistle that operated on the peninsula from 1899 to 1924.

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