Music is Lethal
Firstly, if anybody gets cards from us that are unsigned by Karen, it isn't deliberate! She can't remember if she signed them or not, before closing them up and mailing them. She meant to sign them! So please don't think she's dissing you or anything. :P She's very worried about that. We're still working on cards actually, and can't promise we'll get them all out in the end because other stuff keeps coming up and we keep getting sidetracked. So if it just doesn't happen, Happy New Year to you anywhos! ;P
And because we're the sort of folks that are inclined to watch slasher flicks, horror, etc this weekend, here's some reviews!
We saw Sweeney Todd and basically Tim Burton + Sondheim = Wow.
The visuals... oh my god, wow. I never expected "By The Sea" to be one of my favorite scenes because in the stage version I tend to glaze over a bit. But Tim Burton made it SUCH a fun song to watch, and hilarous to boot! He also made Johanna and Anthony watchable, when I tend to glaze over during their scenes in the play also. Although I can't tell of Anthony was a little creepy on purpose or not. Something with his eyes... he spooked me and I dunno why, lol. Also, when she says the worst pies in London... my god, they make sure you know she means it, rofl. Burton is such an artist, his touch really did Sondheim justice. Yes, it was gory. Very gory and very dark. But so many other things too.
Everyone did a spectacular job, and I'm thrilled that as predicted Burton was a faithful fanboy to the musical. Everyone sang beautifully, Helena Bonham Carter was a fantastic Mrs. Lovitt and Johnny Depp, wow. Beautiful job. Someone on Metaquotes remarked that the movie is Johnny Depp killing the cast of Harry Potter and it kinda is, rofl. The kid who played Toby had an incredible voice, during the song "Not While I'm Around" it was just mind blowing how talented that kid is. We SO must own this movie. We already have the soundtrack. We want to see it again. :P
There were only a couple of things missing, and I totally understand why they skipped it for the sake of the movie. Karen thinks "A Little Priest" could have had more energy, and we both miss the opening and closing "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" but we know why they skipped the Ballad. They used the music but not the lyrics, because the lyrics would have given away the entire plot! But it would have been nice at the end.
There was a bunch of noisy annoying kids (by kid, I mean maybe 17 or 18) who sat in front of us, and we were dreading how they'd behave during the movie since they were acting kind of weird and high or something. They made remarks about the Momma Mia trailer that made us think "Wow, they must not know this is a musical. They're going to hate this." We were right, they left during the very first song, lol.
My Skunk muse loved it, which is funny because Sweeney reminds me of Eryk a bit in this version. I may need to drag Amarin to this movie. :)
Then, via Netflix, we saw Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.
This was a very clever creative take on the supernatural monster slasher flick, which mocks itself the way Scream did but Karen and I actually liked this one better. It's analyzes these kinds of movies via interviewing this killer on the rise who plans to be the next in line after Jason, Freddy, Mike, and their ilk. It's kind of hard to describe really... It's surreal. If you're at all into the slasher movie genre or are in the mood for one, I do recommend this one. It's different, strange, and amusing. Karen and I both dig self referential movies, like Sean of the Dead etc and this is one of those. We also dig independent films, and again, this fits the bill. Very clever stuff!
We also finally got to the end of The Sopranos. And, Mom, I know you... the ending will make you mad. But it's such a brilliant show! What a weird way to end it... It's also surreal to be without it now. We've been following this family daily for weeks and weeks now. We miss those dysfunctional messed up people. Also, as an aside, AJ Soprano: Why watching too much CNN is a very bad thing. When I worked at DC they always had CNN playing on a giant screen in the lunch room. As if the job itself wasn't depressing enough. Seriously, if one is depressed, they need to stop watching the news for a while. It never helps.
There's so many holiday shows on TV just now, as per usual. And we were noticing something about them I'd never really thought about before. All of them in one way or another suggest that anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas is either a villain or miserable or needs to be fixed in some way. It suddenly reminded me of the whole Mormon "You're not REALLY happy, you just think you are. Only Mormons are really happy" thing. That was a bit creepy and sad to realize... more of the "Either you're with us or against us" and "Stop ruining my fun by being different," propaganda. I don't see why something has to be everywhere and include everyone to be enjoyed. But then, I'm an introvert and tend to enjoy things more privately anyway.
I AM still doing a lot better about this holiday than I used to though. I'm genuinely happy for people enjoying themselves, and I do find beauty and joy in certain aspects of it all. I LOVE getting gifts for my family too, shopping for loved ones if my favorite and I love having the excuse. I'm doing better with it than Karen is certainly, but then she's surrounded by people at work bitching and moaning about things being called a "Holiday party" or "Winter Celebration" instead of Christmas in the corporate atmosphere. One co-worker actually said something about minorities ruining it for everyone... in all seriousness. And to Karen's face, no less. And while these people are griping, at the same time people are wandering around singing carols and doing lots of obviously Christmas-y stuff. Karen can't wait for it to be over.
Both she and I agree that it's silly when the workplace says you can't say Christmas at all. If you're talking about what you're doing at home, or what you personally are celebrating, by all means call it what it is. But no, its not appropriate for your workplace to say "We're having a Christmas party that you all must attend!" That people are bitching about that is ridiculous. "But it IS a Christmas party" they argue. You know what, you're having a party. Enjoy it and move on. Yeash. They called it a holiday thing, and as I keep saying Christmas IS A HOLIDAY. It is INCLUDED.
That it's only fun for some people if others are excluded rather then themselves being included is really disturbing.
Anyway, that being said, I really sincerely am hoping that you're having a great day. :)
And because we're the sort of folks that are inclined to watch slasher flicks, horror, etc this weekend, here's some reviews!
We saw Sweeney Todd and basically Tim Burton + Sondheim = Wow.
The visuals... oh my god, wow. I never expected "By The Sea" to be one of my favorite scenes because in the stage version I tend to glaze over a bit. But Tim Burton made it SUCH a fun song to watch, and hilarous to boot! He also made Johanna and Anthony watchable, when I tend to glaze over during their scenes in the play also. Although I can't tell of Anthony was a little creepy on purpose or not. Something with his eyes... he spooked me and I dunno why, lol. Also, when she says the worst pies in London... my god, they make sure you know she means it, rofl. Burton is such an artist, his touch really did Sondheim justice. Yes, it was gory. Very gory and very dark. But so many other things too.
Everyone did a spectacular job, and I'm thrilled that as predicted Burton was a faithful fanboy to the musical. Everyone sang beautifully, Helena Bonham Carter was a fantastic Mrs. Lovitt and Johnny Depp, wow. Beautiful job. Someone on Metaquotes remarked that the movie is Johnny Depp killing the cast of Harry Potter and it kinda is, rofl. The kid who played Toby had an incredible voice, during the song "Not While I'm Around" it was just mind blowing how talented that kid is. We SO must own this movie. We already have the soundtrack. We want to see it again. :P
There were only a couple of things missing, and I totally understand why they skipped it for the sake of the movie. Karen thinks "A Little Priest" could have had more energy, and we both miss the opening and closing "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" but we know why they skipped the Ballad. They used the music but not the lyrics, because the lyrics would have given away the entire plot! But it would have been nice at the end.
There was a bunch of noisy annoying kids (by kid, I mean maybe 17 or 18) who sat in front of us, and we were dreading how they'd behave during the movie since they were acting kind of weird and high or something. They made remarks about the Momma Mia trailer that made us think "Wow, they must not know this is a musical. They're going to hate this." We were right, they left during the very first song, lol.
My Skunk muse loved it, which is funny because Sweeney reminds me of Eryk a bit in this version. I may need to drag Amarin to this movie. :)
Then, via Netflix, we saw Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.
This was a very clever creative take on the supernatural monster slasher flick, which mocks itself the way Scream did but Karen and I actually liked this one better. It's analyzes these kinds of movies via interviewing this killer on the rise who plans to be the next in line after Jason, Freddy, Mike, and their ilk. It's kind of hard to describe really... It's surreal. If you're at all into the slasher movie genre or are in the mood for one, I do recommend this one. It's different, strange, and amusing. Karen and I both dig self referential movies, like Sean of the Dead etc and this is one of those. We also dig independent films, and again, this fits the bill. Very clever stuff!
We also finally got to the end of The Sopranos. And, Mom, I know you... the ending will make you mad. But it's such a brilliant show! What a weird way to end it... It's also surreal to be without it now. We've been following this family daily for weeks and weeks now. We miss those dysfunctional messed up people. Also, as an aside, AJ Soprano: Why watching too much CNN is a very bad thing. When I worked at DC they always had CNN playing on a giant screen in the lunch room. As if the job itself wasn't depressing enough. Seriously, if one is depressed, they need to stop watching the news for a while. It never helps.
There's so many holiday shows on TV just now, as per usual. And we were noticing something about them I'd never really thought about before. All of them in one way or another suggest that anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas is either a villain or miserable or needs to be fixed in some way. It suddenly reminded me of the whole Mormon "You're not REALLY happy, you just think you are. Only Mormons are really happy" thing. That was a bit creepy and sad to realize... more of the "Either you're with us or against us" and "Stop ruining my fun by being different," propaganda. I don't see why something has to be everywhere and include everyone to be enjoyed. But then, I'm an introvert and tend to enjoy things more privately anyway.
I AM still doing a lot better about this holiday than I used to though. I'm genuinely happy for people enjoying themselves, and I do find beauty and joy in certain aspects of it all. I LOVE getting gifts for my family too, shopping for loved ones if my favorite and I love having the excuse. I'm doing better with it than Karen is certainly, but then she's surrounded by people at work bitching and moaning about things being called a "Holiday party" or "Winter Celebration" instead of Christmas in the corporate atmosphere. One co-worker actually said something about minorities ruining it for everyone... in all seriousness. And to Karen's face, no less. And while these people are griping, at the same time people are wandering around singing carols and doing lots of obviously Christmas-y stuff. Karen can't wait for it to be over.
Both she and I agree that it's silly when the workplace says you can't say Christmas at all. If you're talking about what you're doing at home, or what you personally are celebrating, by all means call it what it is. But no, its not appropriate for your workplace to say "We're having a Christmas party that you all must attend!" That people are bitching about that is ridiculous. "But it IS a Christmas party" they argue. You know what, you're having a party. Enjoy it and move on. Yeash. They called it a holiday thing, and as I keep saying Christmas IS A HOLIDAY. It is INCLUDED.
That it's only fun for some people if others are excluded rather then themselves being included is really disturbing.
Anyway, that being said, I really sincerely am hoping that you're having a great day. :)