Spotted this on a cinema site and thought it deserved a narrower audience:
"The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet come together in a special journey from a snowy Ukrainian picture-book village to the imperial splendour of the court of Catherine the Great. Vakula, the son of the witch Solokha, attempts to woo and win the beautiful but fickle Oxana. It seems hopeless, but when the Devil, a witch, forest sprites and a host of colourful characters are involved, he could be lucky after all! Tchaikovsky's music is packed with showpiece solos, dances and choruses: from grand polonaise to haunting chorus of water sprites to rustic revels – and there's a true Russian flavour with Alexander Polianichko as conductor and several star Russian singers".
Shades of the Monty Python 'Summarize Proust' sketch:
"Croydonian is brilliantly observant, laugh out load sarcastic and punchy to the point - the sort of blog you go back to a few times a day in those spare few minutes between "real work". That is to say, he's in my favourites, not just my bloglines. Poliblogs
"quite simply one of the most informative, erudite and witty blogs i’ve come across. A man of, it would seem, impeccable taste, an eye for the absurd and always the first port of call if you wish to know about what’s really going on in the world. La Vie Est Belge
"€œCroydonian is fast becoming one of my favourite bloggers. A rich mixture of diary posts, book reviews, news, views and political comment, it's highly recommendedâ€� Daily Pundit
"You never quite know where this blog will take you which is one of it's charms".Comment from Rigger Mortice
"The Croydonian is one of those talented bloggers who can treat important subjects with a light touch".Tom Paine
"€œThe Croydonian is a rich source of learning, insight, and subtle observation of the affairs of man".His Grace, the Archbishop Cranmer
"One of these days we're going to discover something that you don't know (and on that day the universe might implode)." Martine Martin
"..puts such a lot of hard work into his site"Ellee Seymour
"Another exemplary blog I haunt on a daily basis. Well written and has political views I tend to sympathise with. Warning: Addictive". Tejus Ramakrishnan
"€œauthors a blog of distinction notable for its diversity of themes and the wit and verve with which they are addressed".€�Istanbul Tory
"I enjoy your writing, find you to be an apparently humane and amusing man, I am just baffled as to why you support [Israel]"Comment from Phone Cam Foolery
And because one has to make a few enemies, "the first time that I saw Croydonian on 18doughtystreet.com...I formed the opinion that he was arrogant, a snob, and effeminate in mannerisms. The type I take an instant dislike to". 'Eugene'.
