(no subject)
So. It is time, nay, it is past time, to post an update.
What have I been doing with myself? Working, mostly. Some of the usual choir/dance/voice/performance type stuff. I had my audition at UBC a week or so ago! It went well. Well, I sang creditably enough considering the fact that I haven't been doing voice lessons since I was five or whatever, and they gave me a somewhat-cold reception, but that's okay. I have a feeling that's how it usually goes there. (Actually, I have heard that the head of voice there has favorites, so I concluded that it sucks if you're not one of them. Based on the conversation I had with my auditioners [including Head of Voice] after I sang, I got the impression that they like to put people in boxes there. That may have only been my impression though.) I had to make them give me an interview. :D Well, ask politely if I was going to get one, because they weren't going to give me one if I didn't ask. Haha. I'm very proud of myself that I wasn't intimidated by that. Anyway, I blathered a bit about how I'm interested in choral music and very passionate and wanting to get as broad an education as possible, they replied with things that made me feel put in boxes, we'll see how it turns out in a couple weeks. :D At least I'm happy with how it went.
Another audition (UVic) in a week or two, and OMG I AM GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN TWENTY-ONE PIECES OF MUSIC FOR NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR. IN A MONTH. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT, A MONTH!!! Heh, I'm actually less freaked by that than it looks, because fortunately I really really really like learning new music. Like, it's pretty much my favorite thing, tied with choral music in general, so this is right up my alley. Of course. I haven't received the music yet. It is apparently hard. There may be more freaking out when it comes. Heee!
In other news, my mom and I have completed the original series of Star Trek, and watched the first five movies. Now we're about to go on to The Next Generation!! Exciting!! The fifth movie actually came out after TNG started, so my slightly-OCD watching-things-in-order tendencies are a little hackled, but that's okay.
Mostly, I'm just angry because the fifth movie sucked so much. I actually really loved all four of the first ones! I wasn't expecting to, since I had the general impression that at least half of all ST movies ever sucked, but even when they were crappy there was enough about I-IV that was endearing that I was really gung-ho. (As you can probably tell, I deliberately did not inform myself about them before watching.) William Shatner is actually a great actor (I was surprised), and Leonard Nimoy just kept endearing himself to me more and more with each picture. I dunno, it's not even a crush I have on him now, so much as massive respect for him as an actor/director/personality.
I am restraining myself from keysmashing right now because apparently I REALLY NEEDED SOMEONE TO TALK TO ABOUT THESE MOVIES OMG and since there is not much option in real life I am feeling the need to express myself VEHEMENTLY AND WITH MUCH EMOTION/ANIMATION ON MY LIVEJOURNAL. But there really is not enough voice inflection in text communication.*
Okay, okay, so getting Movie 5 off my chest - UGH UGH UGH UGH UGH I HATE YOU WILLIAM SHATNER ARGH ARGH WHYYYY DID YOU DO THIS TO MY BEAUTIFUL STAR TREK UNIVERSE??? Seriously, was it a perfect storm of budget constraints, rushing, Paramount choosing the crappiest special effects company known to man, and a lame idea for a script that got greenlighted anyway, or is William Shatner just the world's most terrible director? Okay, sorry, more capslock ahead: IT TURNED INTO A BACKWARDS-ASSED MOVIE ABOUT HOW STUPID IT IS FOR PEOPLE TO LOOK FOR GOD AND LEONARD NIMOY WAS KIND OF PAUNCHY WHICH TOTALLY DESTROYED MY ILLUSIONS AND HE WAS A SUCK WHO HAD A RANDOM FRIGHTENINGLY CHARISMATIC BROTHER THAT SHATNER SAID HE MODELED AFTER TELEVANGELISTS AND WAY TO INSULT CHRISTIANITY SHATNER ESPECIALLY WITH YOUR CARICATURE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN RINGLETED-BEARD "GOD" AND WTF HAPPENED ON THAT FUCKING PLANET ANYWAY YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING MAYBE JUST THE MAJOR PLOT POINTS LIKE WHY THAT FUCKING EVIL BEING-THING WAS THERE AND HOW THE "BARRIER AT THE CENTRE OF THE GALAXY" WAS REALLY JUST FUCKING IMAGINARY, AND NOW YOU'RE MAKING ME SWEAR IN CAPSLOCK. LOOK AT THE PUTRID MESS OF A MOVIE THAT YOU'VE DONE. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOOD OUT FROM UNDER THE CHARACTERS AND REPLACED IT WITH YOUR SHATNERIAN IDEA OF POMPOSITY AND WACKADOODLE SENSE OF HUMOUR AND CLIMBING FUCKING MOUNTAINS AND I BLAME YOU FOR ALL OF THIS EVEN IF MAYBE NOT ALL OF IT WAS YOUR FAULT. THPPPPPPT!
I really cannot forgive him/the writers for what he/they did to Spock. With the brother. And the wishy-washy-ness for no good reason. Well, other than the brother. But I really can't forgive them for that. They just made Spock, like, irrelevant, and Bones frivolous (even though he had lots of serious scenes that was the impression that I got) and the whole digression into Bones' father dying was totally unnecessary and I coudn't understand the dialogue anyway so it just made me angry. Blargh. I have so much disgust for what this movie did to my characters.** And Scotty/Uhura, instead of being cute, was just kind of gross and ludicrous. And while the other movies actually gave Kirk a vehicle to act in, which he is good at (some of the moments of reaction in Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock and Voyage Home were amazing), this movie didn't give him the opportunity. It was just awful. Kirk did lots of uncharacteristic things for no good reason, and wound up coming off like an ass. An ass who doesn't care if there's a God. Which I felt, considering the depth of thought that has gone into previous conceptions of philosophical ideas in the series, was really cheaply dealt with.
It was like, "Is there a God? Well, I dunno, this crazy guy thinks there's a God. Well maybe he's not crazy? YES HE IS CRAZY HE IS CRAZY FOR NO GOOD REASON BECAUSE I SAY SO! Maybe the crazy guy was right? There is a God? (In this totally improbable situation that only the stupid people are treating in a serious manner?) BUT HE'S CRAZY! IT CANNOT BE! Is there a God? Is there a God?? IS THERE A GOD????? NO, THERE ISN'T, IT'S TOTALLY THIS EVIL ALIEN(?) KIRK IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING RUN FOR YOUR LIVES WE'RE NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO YOU everybody is friends THE END."
Just exactly like that. And exactly as nonsensical and unsatisfying.
I am still not sure if that got Movie 5 off my chest, but I think that is all I can ask for a good-natured reader's tolerance of emotional ranting.
(By the way, loved the humpback whales movie. Seriously. Thinnest plot known to man [or whale], but so much well-placed humour and everybody got an opportunity to be kickass and it was just all-around awesome and good fun. Hippie-Bathrobe!Spock for an entire movie! All learning to interact again. It makes me grin just thinking about it. Did you notice I have a slight fondness for Spock?)
*This is the kind of conversation that my friends would usually laugh at me good-naturedly for, because I get extremely expressive and gesticulate a lot and am very very earnest and they usually think it is funny.
**Yes, I do not own them. Too bad. It is a common fannish emotion to feel that the characters of a series somehow belong to the fan. I am not ashamed.
What have I been doing with myself? Working, mostly. Some of the usual choir/dance/voice/performance type stuff. I had my audition at UBC a week or so ago! It went well. Well, I sang creditably enough considering the fact that I haven't been doing voice lessons since I was five or whatever, and they gave me a somewhat-cold reception, but that's okay. I have a feeling that's how it usually goes there. (Actually, I have heard that the head of voice there has favorites, so I concluded that it sucks if you're not one of them. Based on the conversation I had with my auditioners [including Head of Voice] after I sang, I got the impression that they like to put people in boxes there. That may have only been my impression though.) I had to make them give me an interview. :D Well, ask politely if I was going to get one, because they weren't going to give me one if I didn't ask. Haha. I'm very proud of myself that I wasn't intimidated by that. Anyway, I blathered a bit about how I'm interested in choral music and very passionate and wanting to get as broad an education as possible, they replied with things that made me feel put in boxes, we'll see how it turns out in a couple weeks. :D At least I'm happy with how it went.
Another audition (UVic) in a week or two, and OMG I AM GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN TWENTY-ONE PIECES OF MUSIC FOR NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR. IN A MONTH. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT, A MONTH!!! Heh, I'm actually less freaked by that than it looks, because fortunately I really really really like learning new music. Like, it's pretty much my favorite thing, tied with choral music in general, so this is right up my alley. Of course. I haven't received the music yet. It is apparently hard. There may be more freaking out when it comes. Heee!
In other news, my mom and I have completed the original series of Star Trek, and watched the first five movies. Now we're about to go on to The Next Generation!! Exciting!! The fifth movie actually came out after TNG started, so my slightly-OCD watching-things-in-order tendencies are a little hackled, but that's okay.
Mostly, I'm just angry because the fifth movie sucked so much. I actually really loved all four of the first ones! I wasn't expecting to, since I had the general impression that at least half of all ST movies ever sucked, but even when they were crappy there was enough about I-IV that was endearing that I was really gung-ho. (As you can probably tell, I deliberately did not inform myself about them before watching.) William Shatner is actually a great actor (I was surprised), and Leonard Nimoy just kept endearing himself to me more and more with each picture. I dunno, it's not even a crush I have on him now, so much as massive respect for him as an actor/director/personality.
I am restraining myself from keysmashing right now because apparently I REALLY NEEDED SOMEONE TO TALK TO ABOUT THESE MOVIES OMG and since there is not much option in real life I am feeling the need to express myself VEHEMENTLY AND WITH MUCH EMOTION/ANIMATION ON MY LIVEJOURNAL. But there really is not enough voice inflection in text communication.*
Okay, okay, so getting Movie 5 off my chest - UGH UGH UGH UGH UGH I HATE YOU WILLIAM SHATNER ARGH ARGH WHYYYY DID YOU DO THIS TO MY BEAUTIFUL STAR TREK UNIVERSE??? Seriously, was it a perfect storm of budget constraints, rushing, Paramount choosing the crappiest special effects company known to man, and a lame idea for a script that got greenlighted anyway, or is William Shatner just the world's most terrible director? Okay, sorry, more capslock ahead: IT TURNED INTO A BACKWARDS-ASSED MOVIE ABOUT HOW STUPID IT IS FOR PEOPLE TO LOOK FOR GOD AND LEONARD NIMOY WAS KIND OF PAUNCHY WHICH TOTALLY DESTROYED MY ILLUSIONS AND HE WAS A SUCK WHO HAD A RANDOM FRIGHTENINGLY CHARISMATIC BROTHER THAT SHATNER SAID HE MODELED AFTER TELEVANGELISTS AND WAY TO INSULT CHRISTIANITY SHATNER ESPECIALLY WITH YOUR CARICATURE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN RINGLETED-BEARD "GOD" AND WTF HAPPENED ON THAT FUCKING PLANET ANYWAY YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING MAYBE JUST THE MAJOR PLOT POINTS LIKE WHY THAT FUCKING EVIL BEING-THING WAS THERE AND HOW THE "BARRIER AT THE CENTRE OF THE GALAXY" WAS REALLY JUST FUCKING IMAGINARY, AND NOW YOU'RE MAKING ME SWEAR IN CAPSLOCK. LOOK AT THE PUTRID MESS OF A MOVIE THAT YOU'VE DONE. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOOD OUT FROM UNDER THE CHARACTERS AND REPLACED IT WITH YOUR SHATNERIAN IDEA OF POMPOSITY AND WACKADOODLE SENSE OF HUMOUR AND CLIMBING FUCKING MOUNTAINS AND I BLAME YOU FOR ALL OF THIS EVEN IF MAYBE NOT ALL OF IT WAS YOUR FAULT. THPPPPPPT!
I really cannot forgive him/the writers for what he/they did to Spock. With the brother. And the wishy-washy-ness for no good reason. Well, other than the brother. But I really can't forgive them for that. They just made Spock, like, irrelevant, and Bones frivolous (even though he had lots of serious scenes that was the impression that I got) and the whole digression into Bones' father dying was totally unnecessary and I coudn't understand the dialogue anyway so it just made me angry. Blargh. I have so much disgust for what this movie did to my characters.** And Scotty/Uhura, instead of being cute, was just kind of gross and ludicrous. And while the other movies actually gave Kirk a vehicle to act in, which he is good at (some of the moments of reaction in Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock and Voyage Home were amazing), this movie didn't give him the opportunity. It was just awful. Kirk did lots of uncharacteristic things for no good reason, and wound up coming off like an ass. An ass who doesn't care if there's a God. Which I felt, considering the depth of thought that has gone into previous conceptions of philosophical ideas in the series, was really cheaply dealt with.
It was like, "Is there a God? Well, I dunno, this crazy guy thinks there's a God. Well maybe he's not crazy? YES HE IS CRAZY HE IS CRAZY FOR NO GOOD REASON BECAUSE I SAY SO! Maybe the crazy guy was right? There is a God? (In this totally improbable situation that only the stupid people are treating in a serious manner?) BUT HE'S CRAZY! IT CANNOT BE! Is there a God? Is there a God?? IS THERE A GOD????? NO, THERE ISN'T, IT'S TOTALLY THIS EVIL ALIEN(?) KIRK IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING RUN FOR YOUR LIVES WE'RE NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO YOU everybody is friends THE END."
Just exactly like that. And exactly as nonsensical and unsatisfying.
I am still not sure if that got Movie 5 off my chest, but I think that is all I can ask for a good-natured reader's tolerance of emotional ranting.
(By the way, loved the humpback whales movie. Seriously. Thinnest plot known to man [or whale], but so much well-placed humour and everybody got an opportunity to be kickass and it was just all-around awesome and good fun. Hippie-Bathrobe!Spock for an entire movie! All learning to interact again. It makes me grin just thinking about it. Did you notice I have a slight fondness for Spock?)
*This is the kind of conversation that my friends would usually laugh at me good-naturedly for, because I get extremely expressive and gesticulate a lot and am very very earnest and they usually think it is funny.
**Yes, I do not own them. Too bad. It is a common fannish emotion to feel that the characters of a series somehow belong to the fan. I am not ashamed.