The Under £200ish Watch and occasional Opera Thread! Vol2
Discussion
That's a very good looking Vostok indeed. I think they're great watches that will take about anything you can throw at them without having to worry about damaging them. Typical Russian ruggedness.
I've had mine for a little over two years now and still wear it often.
As delivered:
With new bezel:
I've had mine for a little over two years now and still wear it often.
As delivered:
With new bezel:
Barchettaman said:
Excellent artistic use of a filter there, too marks.
Pleased with it, I assume?
Does everything line up as it should?
Very pleased with it, feels to be of a much higher standard of finish than my other Chinese ( PD ) watches. Everything lines up perfectly and the lume is just insane. The bracelet could be better, but then that’s just nit picking I think and looking for fault rather than it actually having any obvious ones. The overall finish is that of a much higher priced watch, and although I didn’t buy it if it was priced at say £250+ like some micro brands I could argue that it was still underpriced. Pleased with it, I assume?
Does everything line up as it should?
Inspired by this thread, and your guys knowledge. I received a Capt Willard from Steeldive for father's day 
Love it, I preferred the no logo as I felt the display was a bit busy with the SD logo aswell. Put it on the rubber strap for now but I want to get a more retro strap for it I think.
But thanks all for a great thread and some fab watches
Love it, I preferred the no logo as I felt the display was a bit busy with the SD logo aswell. Put it on the rubber strap for now but I want to get a more retro strap for it I think.
But thanks all for a great thread and some fab watches
Occasional Opera Update
So, as promised a few weeks ago when I posted a fetching photo of me as a Ku Klux Klansman, here’s another opera update.
I’ve just come to the end of a run of Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino. I generally don’t sing much Verdi, although I absolutely love it, there aren’t many roles that fit my blend of meagre talent and reckless enthusiasm. This role, however: Klansman, Vietnam War Padre, food bank volunteer and corrupt American racist cop, I mean, I was born to play that.
Anyway, I digress.
It’s a hell of a piece. You need three absolutely top-line Verdi specialists to do it justice (which we had) and an enormous chorus and orchestra. This stuff is loud. You’d definitely recognize one of the famous tunes which was used in a Stella Artois advert a few years ago, but that’s just one of many.
The plot, if you can call it that, is utterly ludicrous even by the standards of opera libretto. People seem to keep getting accidentally shot then bumping into each other in other countries. A soprano finds refuge in a holy cave, round the corner from a monastery run by Klansmen (not in the original Verdi, that bit). People simultaneously swear eternal loyalty whilst trying to kill each other.
The director seemed to have Something Important to Say about race relations and foreign policy in the USA, hence KKK, a shooting gallery with Abraham Lincoln as the target, the Vietnam War (with a particularly harrowing Russian roulette scene between a go-go girl and a Vietnamese), girl-on-girl pretend action with an enormous strap-on in said scene (it’s art, dontchaknow), a food bank set up by the Obamas, and a hotel room shooting with the Rodney King and BLM race riots as a backdrop.
So yeah, plenty to see. It kind of works; the plot is just so mental that you can hang all kinds of lunacy on it.
It was a home gig for me, at the Frankfurt Opera:
Not the easiest building to photograph!
These big theatres always seem to have technical tricks up their sleeves. In Stuttgart, for example, the stage can go up and down on huge hydraulic rams; in Frankfurt we have two enormous revolving stages, one 37m in diameter, the other inside that and offset, of 17m.
Under the stage the machinery looks like the bloody Hadron Collider:
(Fun fact: the stage hand who got me access under the stage was wearing a fantastic Sinn U2. Nice watch, that)
The view from the office. The mist coming down from the top of the proscenium arch is just that, they spray water to increase on-stage humidity before each show.
Frankfurt is pretty typically sized for a European theatre at 1300-ish seats.
The view from the back of the orchestra pit. That net stops random props etc falling on the violins:
The seating, stands and music are all put out ready for the orchestra before every rehearsal and performance.
The backstage area is just enormous. Here’s the view looking forward to the audience from the back: there is another storage/loading area behind me, behind a huge sliding door:
Some random Vietnam stuff:
Barack and Michelle have protective buckets on their heads before their big moment:
And here they are, all ready to go:
I feel they caught Barack slightly better than Michelle.
Here I am, ready to crack some heads as a racist cop (I actually shoot him)
Curtain call with a go-go girl, minus the strap-on:
Ready for act 2:
And in my finery:
Cheers all
So, as promised a few weeks ago when I posted a fetching photo of me as a Ku Klux Klansman, here’s another opera update.
I’ve just come to the end of a run of Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino. I generally don’t sing much Verdi, although I absolutely love it, there aren’t many roles that fit my blend of meagre talent and reckless enthusiasm. This role, however: Klansman, Vietnam War Padre, food bank volunteer and corrupt American racist cop, I mean, I was born to play that.
Anyway, I digress.
It’s a hell of a piece. You need three absolutely top-line Verdi specialists to do it justice (which we had) and an enormous chorus and orchestra. This stuff is loud. You’d definitely recognize one of the famous tunes which was used in a Stella Artois advert a few years ago, but that’s just one of many.
The plot, if you can call it that, is utterly ludicrous even by the standards of opera libretto. People seem to keep getting accidentally shot then bumping into each other in other countries. A soprano finds refuge in a holy cave, round the corner from a monastery run by Klansmen (not in the original Verdi, that bit). People simultaneously swear eternal loyalty whilst trying to kill each other.
The director seemed to have Something Important to Say about race relations and foreign policy in the USA, hence KKK, a shooting gallery with Abraham Lincoln as the target, the Vietnam War (with a particularly harrowing Russian roulette scene between a go-go girl and a Vietnamese), girl-on-girl pretend action with an enormous strap-on in said scene (it’s art, dontchaknow), a food bank set up by the Obamas, and a hotel room shooting with the Rodney King and BLM race riots as a backdrop.
So yeah, plenty to see. It kind of works; the plot is just so mental that you can hang all kinds of lunacy on it.
It was a home gig for me, at the Frankfurt Opera:
Not the easiest building to photograph!
These big theatres always seem to have technical tricks up their sleeves. In Stuttgart, for example, the stage can go up and down on huge hydraulic rams; in Frankfurt we have two enormous revolving stages, one 37m in diameter, the other inside that and offset, of 17m.
Under the stage the machinery looks like the bloody Hadron Collider:
(Fun fact: the stage hand who got me access under the stage was wearing a fantastic Sinn U2. Nice watch, that)
The view from the office. The mist coming down from the top of the proscenium arch is just that, they spray water to increase on-stage humidity before each show.
Frankfurt is pretty typically sized for a European theatre at 1300-ish seats.
The view from the back of the orchestra pit. That net stops random props etc falling on the violins:
The seating, stands and music are all put out ready for the orchestra before every rehearsal and performance.
The backstage area is just enormous. Here’s the view looking forward to the audience from the back: there is another storage/loading area behind me, behind a huge sliding door:
Some random Vietnam stuff:
Barack and Michelle have protective buckets on their heads before their big moment:
And here they are, all ready to go:
I feel they caught Barack slightly better than Michelle.
Here I am, ready to crack some heads as a racist cop (I actually shoot him)
Curtain call with a go-go girl, minus the strap-on:
Ready for act 2:
And in my finery:
Cheers all
Another superb insight into the world of opera, that one sounds utterly bonkers but from what you say actually works, not quite poisonous breasts and a UFO, but certainly up there!!!
The costumes look fantastic, and I must say that blonde is quite stunning!!
From the outside the theatre looks like an office block but the seating looks amazing!!
Thanks for sharing your hugely interesting life with us!!!
The costumes look fantastic, and I must say that blonde is quite stunning!!
From the outside the theatre looks like an office block but the seating looks amazing!!
Thanks for sharing your hugely interesting life with us!!!
Bobberoo said:
The costumes look fantastic, and I must say that blonde is quite stunning!!
Haha, yeah, that’s Bianca, a Kiwi mezzo soprano, in a blonde wig. She’s a cracking singer and can carry that costume off pretty effortlessly!I can’t quite remember if she was giving or receiving in the strap-on scene, as I was behind a screen waiting to come on, but she was definitely involved.
Anyway, today is Austria. Spears, eye patches, horned helmets and swords stuck in trees. It’s Wagner time!
Edited by Barchettaman on Monday 20th June 09:05
and
Do it!!!!
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