Thursday, July 28, 2005
Friday, July 22, 2005
It's not a crime!
In reference to the post below: for those that don't know me so well; I am an optimist. I always find the bright side of things, and I am always the first to stand up for something in order to give it a second chance.
It helps put into context just how bad Christine and the Phantom were in the movie.
It helps put into context just how bad Christine and the Phantom were in the movie.
The Phantom of the What Now?
Deb and I have finally sat down to watch the 2004 version of the Phantom of the Opera. Before I get into my story, let me give you a little background. To start off with, the Phantom of the Opera has always been my favorite musical, and is pretty much what got me into them in the first place. I first heard it when I was 16 (or there abouts) when I bought the highlights CD from the original cast recording. I thought that such songs as "The Music of the Night" were some of the most amazing songs ever writen (in english anyway). When I went to New York in '97 I was able to see the musical on Broadway, and I loved it. There were a couple of places where I cried because of how beautiful the music was (heck, I'm crying now just thinking about it). There were bit where the Phantom was singing and it was just so pure. I think that was part of the appeal that allowed it to rise above the crappy techno score. The actors and actresses were so talented that they were able to make a musical that was about the purity and perfection of music, and its abilitiy to transfix one's soul, stand out and appear to have true meaning.
Now, fast forward to right now. We are sitting here watching the 2004 version (as I before mentioned) and I crying yet again; at the appalling representation of the original that the scam artists that they like to call writers have tried to pull off on us. The singers are unbeliveably horrible! The only main charecter that can come close to being able to sing on the level that is required is Christine. Unfortunately, even she cannot pull off the role. Her music is flat (as in unemotional, not off key) and does not pull you into the part. In the Angel of Music, her singing is supposed to represent absolute purity, and she is walking around with a bemused look on her face singing from the back of her throat. Meg's part is even worse; in fact I won't go in to it as it is so bad. She tried hard, but something is just not there. Now, let us move on to the part of the Phantom. His voice is supposed to be so entrancing that it would cause Christine to leave all sense of reason behind, but in this movie, he is slaughtering the part by singing from the back of his throat as well. It is completely unbelievable when he leads Christine down to his lair, as she is supposed to be practically hypnotized with his voice. I would have ran away screaming even before she took off the mask. The "Music of the Night" is one of the most beautiful peices of music ever writen in the english language, and it made ME want to run away screaming. Sigh... I can't go on. If you have not seen this travesty, please don't unless you have first heard the original.
Fortunately, the supporting cast was quite excellent. Minnie Driver as Carlotta was brilliant. Raoul was fairly competent as well. Unfortunately when it comes down to it, the heart of this musical is the music. If the main charecters can't sing worth a highschool education, then it just isn't worth watching.
OK, wait for it, we are just getting to the most emotional part of the movie for me (end of the first act). Let us see how it plays out...
Ok, Raoul can still sing, Christine can't, and the Phantom... (wait for it...)
Oh, nope, Raoul messed it up, (haven't got to the Phantom yet) in the part where he sings, "Christine I Love You", he was sadly lacking in emotion.
This just in, the Phantom ruined it. While he was quite emotional he still just cannot sing. He did the whole emotion thing very well. He really is quite the good actor. He just can't sing.
That being said, the cinamatography was for the most part very good. There were a couple of cheezy parts where they tried to emmulate the play, instead of starting from scratch for film, but besides that I enjoyed it; especially the flash forward parts.
Sigh... That is all... I'm off to languish through the second act. I'll let you know if it improves.
Love you all.
Now, fast forward to right now. We are sitting here watching the 2004 version (as I before mentioned) and I crying yet again; at the appalling representation of the original that the scam artists that they like to call writers have tried to pull off on us. The singers are unbeliveably horrible! The only main charecter that can come close to being able to sing on the level that is required is Christine. Unfortunately, even she cannot pull off the role. Her music is flat (as in unemotional, not off key) and does not pull you into the part. In the Angel of Music, her singing is supposed to represent absolute purity, and she is walking around with a bemused look on her face singing from the back of her throat. Meg's part is even worse; in fact I won't go in to it as it is so bad. She tried hard, but something is just not there. Now, let us move on to the part of the Phantom. His voice is supposed to be so entrancing that it would cause Christine to leave all sense of reason behind, but in this movie, he is slaughtering the part by singing from the back of his throat as well. It is completely unbelievable when he leads Christine down to his lair, as she is supposed to be practically hypnotized with his voice. I would have ran away screaming even before she took off the mask. The "Music of the Night" is one of the most beautiful peices of music ever writen in the english language, and it made ME want to run away screaming. Sigh... I can't go on. If you have not seen this travesty, please don't unless you have first heard the original.
Fortunately, the supporting cast was quite excellent. Minnie Driver as Carlotta was brilliant. Raoul was fairly competent as well. Unfortunately when it comes down to it, the heart of this musical is the music. If the main charecters can't sing worth a highschool education, then it just isn't worth watching.
OK, wait for it, we are just getting to the most emotional part of the movie for me (end of the first act). Let us see how it plays out...
Ok, Raoul can still sing, Christine can't, and the Phantom... (wait for it...)
Oh, nope, Raoul messed it up, (haven't got to the Phantom yet) in the part where he sings, "Christine I Love You", he was sadly lacking in emotion.
This just in, the Phantom ruined it. While he was quite emotional he still just cannot sing. He did the whole emotion thing very well. He really is quite the good actor. He just can't sing.
That being said, the cinamatography was for the most part very good. There were a couple of cheezy parts where they tried to emmulate the play, instead of starting from scratch for film, but besides that I enjoyed it; especially the flash forward parts.
Sigh... That is all... I'm off to languish through the second act. I'll let you know if it improves.
Love you all.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Wow... It worked!
People commented! How exciting! So what if it was a little bit of an obvious way to get people to post...
To answer peoples' questions (I'm putting it here since nobody actually goes back and reads comments):
I am a Computer Systems Analyst. In other words I make the computers in my company work. I am working on becoming a professional photographer and plan to begin advertising very soon.
Blogs are not on their way out. Their current conception may be a fad, but they will continue to evolve. How can something be a fad if I only just started doing it?
Get DSL.
I hate it when people are put off by fighting words (-=
It wasn't supposed to be a porn museum. I thought it was dumb and a total waste of time.
I guess I shouldn't ask for comments when my mother reads my blog (-=
To answer peoples' questions (I'm putting it here since nobody actually goes back and reads comments):
I am a Computer Systems Analyst. In other words I make the computers in my company work. I am working on becoming a professional photographer and plan to begin advertising very soon.
Blogs are not on their way out. Their current conception may be a fad, but they will continue to evolve. How can something be a fad if I only just started doing it?
Get DSL.
I hate it when people are put off by fighting words (-=
It wasn't supposed to be a porn museum. I thought it was dumb and a total waste of time.
I guess I shouldn't ask for comments when my mother reads my blog (-=
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Does any body love me?
I don't get as many comments as I used to. I bet it is because I was going so long before posts. In order to encourage the free exchange of ideas (or just because I want attention) why doesn't every one answer this question for me...
Do you prefer rambling stories about my every day going ons, or does you prefer rambling rants about how stupid this world is?
Speaking of which... Jen, I totally forgot to buy you ice cream while I was out. Now you really do have to come visit. (I didn't forget Amanda either).
Do you prefer rambling stories about my every day going ons, or does you prefer rambling rants about how stupid this world is?
Speaking of which... Jen, I totally forgot to buy you ice cream while I was out. Now you really do have to come visit. (I didn't forget Amanda either).
I am not a nerd
I was driving with Deb to Dan's house tonight and passed one of those speed limit things on the side of the road that tell you how fast you are going so that you don't hit poor innocent children in a school zone at 7pm on a Saturday night. It was off, so I said, "Oh no! I don't exist". Then Deb said, "No actually..." and then I said, "I just know exactly where I am". So next time we pass one that is working and someone is in the car with me I'm going to freak out and say, "AGHH! I don't know where I am!".
Its funny. Really. If you don't get it, it is OK. Albert Einstien thought it was dumb.
In other news...
Oh who am I kidding, I don't have any other news.
Its funny. Really. If you don't get it, it is OK. Albert Einstien thought it was dumb.
In other news...
Oh who am I kidding, I don't have any other news.
Friday, July 15, 2005
They're coming to take me away lalalalalala!
Yesterday I drove up to Visalia for the framing inspection for our house. It went very well. I am pretty happy with the construction and I got good video and pictures of where all the wires and stuff will be. It should not be to hard for me to go in and add all the speaker wiring that I want to do. One nice thing that I found out is that every room that has a phone jack will have two CAT5e cables running to the jack. CAT5e is the same cabling that you use for networking computers. So we will be able to take one of the lines (like we are ever going to use the 8 telephone lines that two CAT5e cablees will support) and use it for networking the whole house (except for the rooms that don't have phone jacks). This makes me quite happy. The one thing I didn't notice and I need to go back and verify is that it didn't look like they are putting a phone jack in for the tech center. That would border on extremely annoying.
Now for the fun part....
After we were done with the inspection and as we were on our way out the door (my parents met me at the house, Deb had to work) I asked if they had a firmer date set for the house getting finished ("sometime in November or December" wasn't quite specific enough for me). The house builder guy said, "oh, we should be done in late August/early September". This was rather astounding to me, so I went by the office to verify. It looks like we will be closing escrow about the middle of September. This means that we will probably plan to move September 30th.
So now we are freaking out. We had pretty well layed out plans for how everything would work assuming that we would move in December, including coming up with money for closing costs, moving costs, and having a buffer for if we had to go without work for a bit while we found jobs in Visalia. Now, I have about two weeks to frantically come up with the bare minimums, plus deal with finding a loan. It isn't anything that can't be done (in fact I am confident that we can), but I soooo do not want to deal with the stress of it right now. So my two week plan is:
Find loan
Find job (can take two months)
Find money for closing costs (not an issue if we go with the builder's lender; which we probably will end up doing)
Pay deductable for car wreck (assuming that it was my fault since they STILL don't know for sure)
Pay State income tax
Pay for nose surgery (stupid insurance)
Find money for moving costs (like I'm going to move a $4000 piano down the stairs)
Fortunately all our credit cards are in order (not completely paid off, but we are in a good place, with only one with a remaining balance) so that isn't so much of a worry. Actually, when it comes down to it the only thing I am REALLY stressed about is the job. Since I realized that I absolutely hate my job I had decided that I was definitely going to just find a new job. That was not such a big deal when I had 5 more months to deal with it.
Ya, so anyway, please pray for us to have patience and confidence in God's blessings. I know things will work out, but like I said, I'm stressed.
Now for the fun part....
After we were done with the inspection and as we were on our way out the door (my parents met me at the house, Deb had to work) I asked if they had a firmer date set for the house getting finished ("sometime in November or December" wasn't quite specific enough for me). The house builder guy said, "oh, we should be done in late August/early September". This was rather astounding to me, so I went by the office to verify. It looks like we will be closing escrow about the middle of September. This means that we will probably plan to move September 30th.
So now we are freaking out. We had pretty well layed out plans for how everything would work assuming that we would move in December, including coming up with money for closing costs, moving costs, and having a buffer for if we had to go without work for a bit while we found jobs in Visalia. Now, I have about two weeks to frantically come up with the bare minimums, plus deal with finding a loan. It isn't anything that can't be done (in fact I am confident that we can), but I soooo do not want to deal with the stress of it right now. So my two week plan is:
Find loan
Find job (can take two months)
Find money for closing costs (not an issue if we go with the builder's lender; which we probably will end up doing)
Pay deductable for car wreck (assuming that it was my fault since they STILL don't know for sure)
Pay State income tax
Pay for nose surgery (stupid insurance)
Find money for moving costs (like I'm going to move a $4000 piano down the stairs)
Fortunately all our credit cards are in order (not completely paid off, but we are in a good place, with only one with a remaining balance) so that isn't so much of a worry. Actually, when it comes down to it the only thing I am REALLY stressed about is the job. Since I realized that I absolutely hate my job I had decided that I was definitely going to just find a new job. That was not such a big deal when I had 5 more months to deal with it.
Ya, so anyway, please pray for us to have patience and confidence in God's blessings. I know things will work out, but like I said, I'm stressed.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
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