Word: opera
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...This opera will go on for a couple decades, may I live so long (knock, knock). My old pals will be sending me postcards from the Aegean, Christmas letters about their grandkids and their prostates, snapshots of them at their condo overlooking the golf course at Plaid Pants Village, and I'll be standing in the back at Miss Lori's dance-class recital and watching my little girl, a swan in a herd of ducks, interpret the Waltz of the Flowers. My pals will become cranky geezers who can't tolerate loud voices, can't bear to be contradicted...
...Secret Passion is a grotesque example of what can happen when a famous amateur suffering from delusions of adequacy falls into the hands of cynical record executives looking to boost the bottom line by any means necessary. The results sound just like--well, like Michael Bolton singing Italian opera arias in the shower. Too bad Norman Bates wasn't there to cut things short...
...doubt starry-eared optimists will claim that My Secret Passion is reaching people who might otherwise never hear opera, but trying to save the ailing classical-record business by pushing this kind of trifle is like trying to revive a failing economy by printing counterfeit money...
Secondly, Opera is not free. It costs $35, and can be purchased from the company over the Web. A 30-day evaluation copy is available, however, at www.operasoftware.com. Only PC versions are currently available, although the company plans a Macintosh port in the near future...
Even with these small drawbacks, Opera 3.1 is an astonishing product and an amazing achievement. Keep Netscape or IE around when you just have to check out that Java-based millennium count-down timer, but for the daily Web surfing needs of real power users, there is no better browser than Opera, period...