That antsy feeling you get
when you are almost done the last day of the 3-day work week which followed a week long vacation? I've got it. As such, my productivity today is kinda on the side of nil. So I'm taking a break to blather on about things here.
Life in the new year is trucking along. The holidays were good, very relaxing. I may just have to plan to take off the week between Christmas and New years more often, it was just that nice. We got to spend plenty of time with both our families, and with a bunch of our friends. Christmas night we had our eldest niece and her two BFFs stay over, and well into evening the next night. Having three teenage girls at the house is a baffling experience for Magus, but it honestly makes me smile with nostalgia. Regardless, it's just an entertaining experience.
The five of us went to see Les Mis, and it was WONDERFUL. Was the singing the absolute best I've ever heard? No. It was not. BUT I DON'T CARE. I've seen the musical on stage several times, and I was OBSESSED with it as a child to the point that I still know every single lyric This was a problem when the movie changed lyrics a little, or moved things around a bit, because I NOTICE*, But still, I DON'T CARE.
So back to what I was saying, no the singing wasn't the best it could have been (In particular, Russell Crowe's rendition of Javert's solos were sub-par. I think he played the CHARACTER well. He showed nuances to Javert that were surprising and intriguing, but he was NOT able to pull off singing "Stars" or the Soliloquy - which was depressing.) and I wasn't thrilled with the direction choices for a couple of the pieces/scenes, but overall? Overall, it is still an AMAZING film that managed to tug on my hearts-strings plenty. I got just as invested in the characters this time as I have every time I've seen it on stage, and I applaud the way that some of the songs were deliberately sung in a more gritty and desperate fashion. It really worked for the tone, and to help pull the viewer in.
I was, admittedly, disappointed that they didn't take this opportunity to include Garvroche's song "Little People." It is such an adorable song, and I love the light-hearted air that it adds to the musical at that point, and it just makes his later death scene so much more poignant in my opinion. But alas, I am destined to only ever get to hear that song sung again on my copy of the original soundtrack. (I will never understand why the song was removed from the US version of the musical. NEVER.)
On the opposite side of things, I was okay with their decision to NOT include "Dog Eats Dog". It's never been one of my favorite songs in the musical, and I think in this case, that excluding it was the right choice. It would have really interrupted the flow of the story at that point.
On the OTHER other side of things, I really did like the addition of "Suddenly" it was quite sweet and fit in with the story well, but if I had the option, I would have seen that one left on the cutting room floor, and "Little People" included instead. *shrugs* What can you do?
Regardless, I will go see this again. With my Mom this time, most likely. And I will buy the movie when it is released so that I can watch it whenever I want at home. Which will probably be more than a few times a year.
I mentioned that I was obsessed as a child, right? You never really get over that ya know.
To that end. I may have LITERALLY bouncing in my seat when Colm Wilkinson's version of the Bishop showed up on screen. Seriously. I was so giddy, it was ridiculous. I KNEW that he was going to be playing the part, but it didn't stop me from going all fangirly when I saw him. Just sayin'.
*Seriously. I noticed every single little change. Like, for instance, during "At the End of the Day" Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean sings "I am the mayor of this town, I run a business of repute, I look to you to sort this out, and be as patient as you can" but in the musical it is "I run a business of repute, I am the mayor of this town, I look to you to sort this out, And be as patient as you can"...I NOTICED EVERY LITTLE THING
In non-movie related news, I got the board game Pandemic for the holidays, and it is LOTS of fun. It is the first co-op board game I've ever played, and I gotta say, I like it. There's something cool about playing WITH your friends/family instead of AGAINST them. I also got a new monitor for my computer. The new monitor is a BEAST, I tell you. A BEAST. I love it. I really really do. And I suspect that I will love it more once I get to park myself in front of it for a good long while and USE it. But that won't be until after my new desk arrives. (In order to make room for the nephew, I had to vacate what was the office, and move into the living room, and my desk wouldn't fit in the much smaller space I now have to use. Instead, we are leaving that desk for the nephew, and I ordered a more space efficient one. In the meantime, my computer is set up on folding TV trays. Well, not the tower. The tower is my baby and has its own little shelf thing that it lives on.)
I've also been playing Dishonored. A LOT. It's quite enjoyable. Though I am baffled about why the character that you play has to be a set-in-stone generic white guy BioWare has spoiled me, apparently, because I just don't see why we couldn't be allowed to design the look/gender of our character. I mean, the thing is told from first person POV, and you wear a MASK for most of it. The only thing they would have had to adjust would have been the wanted poster signs and a few pronouns and whathaveyou throughout the game. Would that have been so hard? (I also would have liked there to have been more diversity among the NPCs, because frankly, they all look alike. And that's both irritating and boring. But all of that aside, I really do enjoy the game. I like that you can actually go through the whole game without killing anyone! (I messed up during the prologue and prison escape, so I won't get the Clean Hands achievement, but whatever.) I don't know that there are many modern games like that (I know that there is a game called Thief that is similar, but I've never played it), and it makes for an interesting challenge. (Though I feel bad for my character, as his knees must ache after spending so much time walking in a crouched position.)
There has also been an almost nightly rewatch of episodes of Star Trek: TNG for the last couple of weeks. It is bliss. *happy sigh*
Moving along, our nephew starts school in our town on Monday, so that means that Sunday night will be his first night at our house as a regular. He seems to have moved into a level of acceptance with this, to the point that he is actually GLAD to be done at his old school now, and looking forward to having the fresh start. I REALLY hope that this somewhat positive attitude that he is displaying about coming to our house is going to hold for a little while, as I want so much for this to work out. And that will be much easier if he is willing to work with us. *fingers crossed*
Crossposted at http://skybound2.dreamwidth.org/1021605.html. Please leave your comments over there. (If you can't access that post, please comment here and I will add you to my reading list over there! Complicated enough yet?)
Life in the new year is trucking along. The holidays were good, very relaxing. I may just have to plan to take off the week between Christmas and New years more often, it was just that nice. We got to spend plenty of time with both our families, and with a bunch of our friends. Christmas night we had our eldest niece and her two BFFs stay over, and well into evening the next night. Having three teenage girls at the house is a baffling experience for Magus, but it honestly makes me smile with nostalgia. Regardless, it's just an entertaining experience.
The five of us went to see Les Mis, and it was WONDERFUL. Was the singing the absolute best I've ever heard? No. It was not. BUT I DON'T CARE. I've seen the musical on stage several times, and I was OBSESSED with it as a child to the point that I still know every single lyric This was a problem when the movie changed lyrics a little, or moved things around a bit, because I NOTICE*, But still, I DON'T CARE.
So back to what I was saying, no the singing wasn't the best it could have been (In particular, Russell Crowe's rendition of Javert's solos were sub-par. I think he played the CHARACTER well. He showed nuances to Javert that were surprising and intriguing, but he was NOT able to pull off singing "Stars" or the Soliloquy - which was depressing.) and I wasn't thrilled with the direction choices for a couple of the pieces/scenes, but overall? Overall, it is still an AMAZING film that managed to tug on my hearts-strings plenty. I got just as invested in the characters this time as I have every time I've seen it on stage, and I applaud the way that some of the songs were deliberately sung in a more gritty and desperate fashion. It really worked for the tone, and to help pull the viewer in.
I was, admittedly, disappointed that they didn't take this opportunity to include Garvroche's song "Little People." It is such an adorable song, and I love the light-hearted air that it adds to the musical at that point, and it just makes his later death scene so much more poignant in my opinion. But alas, I am destined to only ever get to hear that song sung again on my copy of the original soundtrack. (I will never understand why the song was removed from the US version of the musical. NEVER.)
On the opposite side of things, I was okay with their decision to NOT include "Dog Eats Dog". It's never been one of my favorite songs in the musical, and I think in this case, that excluding it was the right choice. It would have really interrupted the flow of the story at that point.
On the OTHER other side of things, I really did like the addition of "Suddenly" it was quite sweet and fit in with the story well, but if I had the option, I would have seen that one left on the cutting room floor, and "Little People" included instead. *shrugs* What can you do?
Regardless, I will go see this again. With my Mom this time, most likely. And I will buy the movie when it is released so that I can watch it whenever I want at home. Which will probably be more than a few times a year.
I mentioned that I was obsessed as a child, right? You never really get over that ya know.
To that end. I may have LITERALLY bouncing in my seat when Colm Wilkinson's version of the Bishop showed up on screen. Seriously. I was so giddy, it was ridiculous. I KNEW that he was going to be playing the part, but it didn't stop me from going all fangirly when I saw him. Just sayin'.
*Seriously. I noticed every single little change. Like, for instance, during "At the End of the Day" Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean sings "I am the mayor of this town, I run a business of repute, I look to you to sort this out, and be as patient as you can" but in the musical it is "I run a business of repute, I am the mayor of this town, I look to you to sort this out, And be as patient as you can"...I NOTICED EVERY LITTLE THING
In non-movie related news, I got the board game Pandemic for the holidays, and it is LOTS of fun. It is the first co-op board game I've ever played, and I gotta say, I like it. There's something cool about playing WITH your friends/family instead of AGAINST them. I also got a new monitor for my computer. The new monitor is a BEAST, I tell you. A BEAST. I love it. I really really do. And I suspect that I will love it more once I get to park myself in front of it for a good long while and USE it. But that won't be until after my new desk arrives. (In order to make room for the nephew, I had to vacate what was the office, and move into the living room, and my desk wouldn't fit in the much smaller space I now have to use. Instead, we are leaving that desk for the nephew, and I ordered a more space efficient one. In the meantime, my computer is set up on folding TV trays. Well, not the tower. The tower is my baby and has its own little shelf thing that it lives on.)
I've also been playing Dishonored. A LOT. It's quite enjoyable. Though I am baffled about why the character that you play has to be a set-in-stone generic white guy BioWare has spoiled me, apparently, because I just don't see why we couldn't be allowed to design the look/gender of our character. I mean, the thing is told from first person POV, and you wear a MASK for most of it. The only thing they would have had to adjust would have been the wanted poster signs and a few pronouns and whathaveyou throughout the game. Would that have been so hard? (I also would have liked there to have been more diversity among the NPCs, because frankly, they all look alike. And that's both irritating and boring. But all of that aside, I really do enjoy the game. I like that you can actually go through the whole game without killing anyone! (I messed up during the prologue and prison escape, so I won't get the Clean Hands achievement, but whatever.) I don't know that there are many modern games like that (I know that there is a game called Thief that is similar, but I've never played it), and it makes for an interesting challenge. (Though I feel bad for my character, as his knees must ache after spending so much time walking in a crouched position.)
There has also been an almost nightly rewatch of episodes of Star Trek: TNG for the last couple of weeks. It is bliss. *happy sigh*
Moving along, our nephew starts school in our town on Monday, so that means that Sunday night will be his first night at our house as a regular. He seems to have moved into a level of acceptance with this, to the point that he is actually GLAD to be done at his old school now, and looking forward to having the fresh start. I REALLY hope that this somewhat positive attitude that he is displaying about coming to our house is going to hold for a little while, as I want so much for this to work out. And that will be much easier if he is willing to work with us. *fingers crossed*
Crossposted at http://skybound2.dreamwidth.org/1021605.html. Please leave your comments over there. (If you can't access that post, please comment here and I will add you to my reading list over there! Complicated enough yet?)