Phantom Special: Of Psychos, Pipe Organs, and Cruising Chandeliers
This entry is a compendium of The J-thing's Observations of the Day over the past week
Psychos
Please watch this news report and tell me I'm not the only one who either feels really sorry for her miserable existence, or feels like bitchslapping her to face reality. For me it's probably both.
Especially the part where the crazy, prudish woman says she flinches because the images are so "provocative" (and the way she pronounces that word), and where she extols how her son is so "innocent" (with a little disclaimer that she's "not trying to fence him in", which is totally unconvincing). I especially love how her eyebrows twitch when she mentions how her 13-year-old son is going to be "excited about things" and lets slip that she doesn't need him to be.
Eh woman, don't blame society's ills for your laziness or reluctance or discomfort in giving your kid proper sex education! If he gets excited and curious, it's hormonal and completely natural, so as a parent, talk to your son about it!
But what really got me riled up was her comment about how we could be stricter on advertisements for public viewing. I mean, what the hell is the bloody point? Are you going to clamour for Maxim/FHM to be wrapped up in plastic envelopes with plain paper covering the covers just like they do for Playboy in the West? Then what about Shape? They have models in skimpy bikinis on their cover too. Or the occasional Her World with a cover girl wearing a sexy top? Or 8 Days with their annual swimsuit edition. Or Miss Singapore trailers with the contestants in bikinis? Then how? Oh, and then those slimming ads and Triumph/Wacoal posters in the department stores how? A ban on ads by underwear manufacturers?
Hello, Mrs Tan, our country's run by PAP (thankfully), not by PAS, ok?
The ultimate eye-roller was where she declared that she was certain that there was a connection between displaying sexy images in public and the incidence of sex crimes, especially when experts later said that there was no correlation and that such crimes have happened even before the internet came about. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if instead, there was a correlation between a repressed sexual curiosity at childhood and the propensity to satisfy this curiosity in later adulthood. Ho ho ho, that would ironically make her son a prime candidate for being a sexual deviant, wouldn't it?
Even her dressing screams 'PURITAN'. Doesn't she remind you of some VP we know...?
Pipe Organs
I just came back from an organ recital at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd where the organist performed on the console of the grand old 1912 Bevington & Son organ. It has really been a long time since I last heard-and felt-the sound of the pipe organ. The organ is unique that listening to it live is really different from a recording since you get to experience the reverberations from the big diaspason and bombarde pipes.
But sadly, the organist seemed to be a fan of those modern, new-fangled atonal pieces, and trust me: atonal pieces on the organ can really be torturous on your eardrums. The Bach piece [Toccata, Adagio & Fugue] was heavenly, but it was a pity he only played 2 Bachs and 1 Franck. Even the encore turned out to be this long-drawn 20-minute atonal piece of rubbish. When will these people realise that on the organ, they should just stick to composers like Bach and Mozart (who were really the consummate composers of the genre) and that all this atonal rubbish masquerading as music is just... rubbish!
I wish there was some kind of survey form after concerts to feedback which pieces we liked and which we hated, so that they would at least know what we would rather hear.
Cruising Chandeliers
The most significant event this week must surely be The Phantom of the Opera, which C and I caught at the Esplanade this past Sunday evening. Phantom remains, again, my most favourite musical of all time. I love the music and I love the storyline. When Phantom last came in 1995, I remember catching it at the old Kallang Theatre, where I was perched right on top, in the extreme right-most corner of the last row of the highest circle. Still, it was breathtaking and left an indelible impression on me.
This performance didn't disappoint. Once the introduction was done and the greyed cloths pulled away to reveal the grand façade of the set, it took my breath away as the powerful organ blasts of the Phantom Overture rose to fill the hall. There were more attempts at humour in this production, the Christine and Phantom sounded better, Raoul still sounds wimpy, and the pyrotechnics-cum-special effects were amazing.
The one thing that spoilt the performance was the chandelier. At Kallang, the chandelier really crashed onto the stage at breakneck speed, culminating in fireworks when it reached the stage. It was really impressive. This chandelier, however, didn't crash. It cruised straight down at a comfortable pace-almost slow-mo-before swinging in onto the stage, where it promptly just stopped. No fireworks, no special effects, nothing. It almost seemed as it it was a routine lowering for maintenance. What an anti-climax!
Oh, and the other boo-boo was at the end, when they pulled off Phantom's cloak to reveal just his mask on the seat, the cast member pulled too hard and the mask actually tumbled onto the floor, and she had to reach down to pick it up instead of holding it up from his chair. Tsk tsk!
But Phantom is still Phantom after all, and it is still my favourite. Even now I can still hear Think of Me, Angel Of Music, Music Of The Night, All I Ask Of You, and especially the Phantom Overture, ringing in my head!
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Psychos
Please watch this news report and tell me I'm not the only one who either feels really sorry for her miserable existence, or feels like bitchslapping her to face reality. For me it's probably both.
Especially the part where the crazy, prudish woman says she flinches because the images are so "provocative" (and the way she pronounces that word), and where she extols how her son is so "innocent" (with a little disclaimer that she's "not trying to fence him in", which is totally unconvincing). I especially love how her eyebrows twitch when she mentions how her 13-year-old son is going to be "excited about things" and lets slip that she doesn't need him to be.
Eh woman, don't blame society's ills for your laziness or reluctance or discomfort in giving your kid proper sex education! If he gets excited and curious, it's hormonal and completely natural, so as a parent, talk to your son about it!
But what really got me riled up was her comment about how we could be stricter on advertisements for public viewing. I mean, what the hell is the bloody point? Are you going to clamour for Maxim/FHM to be wrapped up in plastic envelopes with plain paper covering the covers just like they do for Playboy in the West? Then what about Shape? They have models in skimpy bikinis on their cover too. Or the occasional Her World with a cover girl wearing a sexy top? Or 8 Days with their annual swimsuit edition. Or Miss Singapore trailers with the contestants in bikinis? Then how? Oh, and then those slimming ads and Triumph/Wacoal posters in the department stores how? A ban on ads by underwear manufacturers?
Hello, Mrs Tan, our country's run by PAP (thankfully), not by PAS, ok?
The ultimate eye-roller was where she declared that she was certain that there was a connection between displaying sexy images in public and the incidence of sex crimes, especially when experts later said that there was no correlation and that such crimes have happened even before the internet came about. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if instead, there was a correlation between a repressed sexual curiosity at childhood and the propensity to satisfy this curiosity in later adulthood. Ho ho ho, that would ironically make her son a prime candidate for being a sexual deviant, wouldn't it?
Even her dressing screams 'PURITAN'. Doesn't she remind you of some VP we know...?
Pipe Organs
I just came back from an organ recital at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd where the organist performed on the console of the grand old 1912 Bevington & Son organ. It has really been a long time since I last heard-and felt-the sound of the pipe organ. The organ is unique that listening to it live is really different from a recording since you get to experience the reverberations from the big diaspason and bombarde pipes.
But sadly, the organist seemed to be a fan of those modern, new-fangled atonal pieces, and trust me: atonal pieces on the organ can really be torturous on your eardrums. The Bach piece [Toccata, Adagio & Fugue] was heavenly, but it was a pity he only played 2 Bachs and 1 Franck. Even the encore turned out to be this long-drawn 20-minute atonal piece of rubbish. When will these people realise that on the organ, they should just stick to composers like Bach and Mozart (who were really the consummate composers of the genre) and that all this atonal rubbish masquerading as music is just... rubbish!
I wish there was some kind of survey form after concerts to feedback which pieces we liked and which we hated, so that they would at least know what we would rather hear.
Cruising Chandeliers
The most significant event this week must surely be The Phantom of the Opera, which C and I caught at the Esplanade this past Sunday evening. Phantom remains, again, my most favourite musical of all time. I love the music and I love the storyline. When Phantom last came in 1995, I remember catching it at the old Kallang Theatre, where I was perched right on top, in the extreme right-most corner of the last row of the highest circle. Still, it was breathtaking and left an indelible impression on me.
This performance didn't disappoint. Once the introduction was done and the greyed cloths pulled away to reveal the grand façade of the set, it took my breath away as the powerful organ blasts of the Phantom Overture rose to fill the hall. There were more attempts at humour in this production, the Christine and Phantom sounded better, Raoul still sounds wimpy, and the pyrotechnics-cum-special effects were amazing.
The one thing that spoilt the performance was the chandelier. At Kallang, the chandelier really crashed onto the stage at breakneck speed, culminating in fireworks when it reached the stage. It was really impressive. This chandelier, however, didn't crash. It cruised straight down at a comfortable pace-almost slow-mo-before swinging in onto the stage, where it promptly just stopped. No fireworks, no special effects, nothing. It almost seemed as it it was a routine lowering for maintenance. What an anti-climax!
Oh, and the other boo-boo was at the end, when they pulled off Phantom's cloak to reveal just his mask on the seat, the cast member pulled too hard and the mask actually tumbled onto the floor, and she had to reach down to pick it up instead of holding it up from his chair. Tsk tsk!
But Phantom is still Phantom after all, and it is still my favourite. Even now I can still hear Think of Me, Angel Of Music, Music Of The Night, All I Ask Of You, and especially the Phantom Overture, ringing in my head!
§ Technorati tags:
arts & design;
darwin award;
music;
observations;
online bitching;
reviews