Oh right, this is a thing I used to update
Wow, okay, I guess it's been over a full year since I mucked about on Livejournal. Wild.. I can only assume those who are still watching me have either moved onto Tumblr (WHICH I CAN'T- IDGI EVERYTHING IS SO CONFUSING AND I'M OLD) or forgot
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My parents are very much into musicals, too. I remember being seven or eight and wondering what the hell my mom found so good about a woman screaming, aka Phantom of the Opera. Then I was sick with a flu and listened to "Les Miserables" several times over, and I've been a musical lover ever since. I'm excited to see Les Mis again on the stage in May. I might be slightly obsessed with the story and characters.
Haha, now that you put Javert that way, it does strike a few chords of truth about my own interest in the character. Crowe looked damn fine in his various uniforms, but yeah, I just wince when someone defends his singing. It wasn't bad, per se, just not that good. It certainly demands a range that a non-singer can't hope to perform well. Then again, I can appreciate the movie for what it is: the stage musical is about the songs, whereas the movie was about acting through the songs. It was a different take and I liked it... although the super close-ups on the singers during solos was a little boring after the third time. ^^;
Well, congrats again and don't completely forget us when you become super famous! XD
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AAAAAAH Phantom, that was like my #2 musical baby XD I think I still have the worn out cassette tape with Brightman and Crawford lying around here somewhere. But absolutely, Les Mis was where it was at. All those big important sounding songs and big FEELINGS :3 Pretty sure I didn't really understand any of it when my parents took me to a stage show whenever it was in San Francisco in the '90s, but I sure got that some dudes had a lot of feelings about changing things, and some girl had a lot of feelings for some guy who didn't feel the same, and that Javert guy was a badass mofo.
Oh Russ, I just.. Yeah, he had a very different take on the character, while at the same time I feel like his performance underlined a lot of the things I like to see in Javert. Including tons of uniform porn, whoo. His sad sad puppy eyes and diffidence before "Madeleine"!Valjean were... not an unwelcome addition either, let's say >:3 But dude, the first time I watched the film and he opened his mouth: Cringefest 2013. In subsequent viewings I haven't minded as much--I feel like he might even have kind of a pleasant enough voice that I would otherwise like--except that Javert's songs aren't really meant for that crooning thing that Crowe does during "Stars", and Crowe's bellowing during everything else is just kind of weird and awkward.
I do wish they'd had more performers like Hathaway, who really DID manage to bridge "acting" in the song with singing competently. Like she's still listenable on the soundtrack, whereas I kind of need Crowe standing there and being handsome to forgive all the vocal stuff (COUNT out the beats, man!) But overall, I really liked the film. Hooper really knows how to frame some impressive shots--that first one of the prisoners dragging the ship in, all the "time skip" transition shots, and a swooping aerial shot of Russell Crowe riding in on a horse is never not going to look cool. (But dude, duuude, when you've got a guy mourning the emptiness of the room his friends once occupied, don't give us a 2-second establishing shot and then NOTHING BUT HIS NOSEHAIRS O_o)
Pretty sure that's nowhere near likely (either of those things) but I'm definitely hoping to get back into being active on LJ, cuz I miss all you guys! I had thoughts of reestablishing my online presence on tumblr, but... man, I do not like their system for conversing with other users :/
WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON WITH YOU?? Did you ever go to the Yaoicon in LA? (Did I already ask you that?)
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How funny! My parents took me in the 90's to see Les Mis in San Fran, too! I seem to remember being enchanted by the moving stage more than the musical itself, but I still loved it since I knew all of the songs, but didn't know the story, so that was a revelation. Since then, I've read the book, and wow, talk about angst and death. O.o My dad used to call me "Cosette," and after reading the book, I realized that he implied that I'd let some man take me away and forget about him. He's a tactless man, so it took me several years to break him of that habit.
*nods* You're exactly right, "Stars" isn't meant for crooning. But like you say, I've grown to accept that adaptation of sorts for the movie. I'd balk if they did that during a stage performance, but yeah, the movie has a level of grittiness where his singing was acceptable. HAHA, "I kind of need Crowe standing there and being handsome to forgive all the vocal stuff"--I can't even imagine listening to the soundtrack of the movie. Like you say, aside from Hathaway, I just wouldn't be able to enjoy it.
I think that is what made me disappointed with some of the songs. There were some absolutely amazing shots, scenery, and costuming, and then we'd stare at someone's grubby face (or nosehairs!) for several minutes in a row during the solos. It seemed a waste of film.
I've never played around on Tumblr. I think I've been way too lazy for that sort of thing. Lately I've been on Facebook more and enjoying the pictures of my friends' babies and George Takei's postings. ;) I really, really need to get back into writing. I'm such a slacker!
Things have been going very well in a general sense. I've been at my current job for just over a year now and I'm still loving the place. It's insanity--they actually appreciate me for my hard work and they vocalize it on a regular basis! Otherwise, I've gotten to the stage in my life where 90% of my friends are married and/or with kids, so I've said fuck it and have started doing things on my own. I went and saw "War Horse" on the stage this month (oh my god, the puppetry is absolutely amazing, even if the story itself was a little cliche and dull), I'm going to see Les Mis in May, and "Peter and the Starcatcher" (a retelling of Peter Pan by Dave Barry, aka hilarious) in August. Hockey has started up again for me and I'm going monthly to the art museum... so yeah, I'm doing a lot of random shit and absolutely no quality writing time. *laugh*
Nah, I never made it out to Yaoi Con. I was thinking about it, but only a couple of my online friends were going out of the dozen who normally go. Instead, we're thinking about a trip to Japan in 2014, which means saving up cash and time off from work. I also have bleh memories of LA from when I lived in Irvine for a year getting my masters. I'm just not excited to go compared to it being located in San Fran. ^^;
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Ohhh yeaaaah, the moving stage! I suspect that was the first time I'd ever seen that before or a stage production big enough to have that many moving parts; pretty sure watching the bridge lift away from Javert as he "fell" and was swept offstage by the turntable/"current" blew my balls off XD But yeah, it wasn't until reading*coughskimmingcough* the book in junior high that I realized it was pretty much Crying And Fighting: The Musical/Novel. Erk, nice, dad :/ (Wait, did he read the book too? For sure Cosette kinda does her "oh that makes me sad, I'm gonna not think about it again" thing in the novel, but in the musical it seems unclear how much time has passed and one could easily assume she was still thinking about her papa.)
I actually started listening to more of Crowe's music to see if he's any better in his own genre in the music world. He does have kind of a nice, old school gravelly country/rock voice, it just lends itself to the Big '80s Epic Musical genre about as well as I suspect Robert Downey Jr's would (nice enough in small scale, twangy voiced alternative/jazz stuff, proooobably not so much in literally anything else).
Ditto on the facebook (and the George Takei; it's super cool to me that a guy his age is so INTO the Internet scene and seems to get the culture and everything) and the slacking. I know that feel.. *brofist* We should make a joint resolution to like, at least make baby steps to get back into creative activity. You try some drabbles now and again, I'll get back into the practice of sketching.. (Actually once my deadlines for some projects are over at the beginning of next month, I'd been thinking of trying to jam through some drawbles as mini-fills for the Les Mis kinkmeme. Maybe if you have a fandom you're still into right now, you could do something similar and writerly as an exercise?)
Awww sweet! I sorta remember you seemed meh on where you were before last I saw you, I'm glad it's working out well for you now! High five man. Sounds rough (re: friends being busy with familystuffs), but I'm glad you're getting out and having fun anyway! Only one of my friends is married now (or two really, but then it's to each other) but especially when it was really hard to see them because we all had conflicting schedules, I started seeing a lot of movies by myself. Super bummed I missed out on Les Mis when it was back here in California last year (but then: busy time..), you'll have to let me know how it/the current cast is! I've been really curious about War Horse too, because (1) horsies eeeee!! (2) really really want to see at least one stage production with heavy puppety work. And I already missed out on Lion King when I was trying to get into any of the Broadway shows while in NY. Did you see the movie as well? I've heard..not good things, but it does look maybe pretty and also HORSIES EEEEE...
OH DUDE dude yes Japan is 10000x better as a trip destination than a con in LA or SF! (Not really sure what made Ycon's location in San Francisco much more enticing to you..actually I think it used to be in Millbrae, which doesn't even sound like a place one wants to be, but I'm sure you have your reasons!) Besides, that sounds like yaoi straight from the source, if you're so inclined while you're there :D. I've only been once, but god bless their Mandarake stores--a whole floor of nothing but m/m porns for the ladies (I think they had another section with m/m for dudes, if not quite a whole floor?) and I ended up coming back with like 15 lbs of One Piece and some FMA doujins. Good times. Hope that trip goes through man!
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