Because I've kinda been all over the place this summer (and also was sick and bed-ridden for a while). Sans books because I handle those on goodreads now. I have a China trip post mostly done but still on hold till I find time to sort through all those pictures I took...
Musicals:
A Little Night Music:
Saw this at the ACT in SF earlier this summer on their last weekend. Even though it's a Sondheim musical, I don't think I appreciated it as much as any of his other works before, but the ACT did a really good job with it here, with some pretty hilariously witty moments, and great singing. According to a female employee (who randomly talked to me on the street because of the playbill I was carrying), this show was the probably the best one they put on this season. Personal highlight that still sticks with me was the moment "Remember?" came on- capturing what it feels like to experience nostalgia from a single glance. But really, it's hard to describe without actually seeing the scene performed in person though; listening to the soundtrack doesn't evoke the same kind of feeling.
Matilda:
Second time! Still a bit hard to follow at times- dunno if it's because of the British accents or how fast everyone sing-speaks, but pretty enjoyable and nostalgic for anyone who's familiar with Matilda from the book or film. "Naughty" and "When I Grow Up" are still my favorite songs, though the rest of the soundtrack isn't as memorable to me and I wasn't as in awe by the children dancing this time... but I guess that's sort of a novelty first-time experience thing.
Films:
Terminator: Genisys.
Just for you, Sammy. But seriously, it's fun if you go in with no expectations. Just don't try to make sense of the plot too much like I usually do; it's not worth the effort here.
Birdman.
An incredible dive into the psyche of a faded Hollywood actor. I generally am a sucker for long takes even when they're illusory (see also Rope) and this movie just flows entirely like one enormously long one. Probably my favorite live-action movie from 2014 at this rate.
Whiplash.
Intense. Relatable for anyone who's had a strict music teacher (reminds me of the days my piano teacher would slap my hands for playing poorly...) and for the same reasons difficult to watch. Found it interesting how people decry it as a tragedy even though the ending doesn't feel that way at first- but I have to agree with the sentiment there. At what cost do we ought to strive for genius?
The Look of Silence.
Followup documentary film to 2012/13's The Act of Killing, on the Indonesian killings of 1965, but this time from the perspective of the victims and following a more conventional documentary style. Difficult to stomach at times but not as sickening as Act of Killing was persay, though perhaps because I'd already been exposed to the subject with the prior film.
What struck me the most was the amount of mental gymnastics people are willing to undergo to not take responsibility for the past- and it happened at every level, including the children of the perpetrators ("Feel free to treat my dad as your father [even though he killed your brother]." Seriously, what). You keep following the blame chain until it gets to the point where eventually no one is responsible, if only because "God willed it to happen." It's disgusting.
Moon.
Pretty cool sci-fi. Reminds me of a part of Interstellar (the part where people usually tear up at) except extended to an entire film concept complete with the claustrophobic atmosphere, and to be honest I like this film a lot more. I'm still a bit confused on what the point of GERTY was in this film though- his role didn't seem as fundamentally important compared to say, HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, aside from being convenient for the sake of the plot.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.
Decent, not great as one friend put it. I was fully engaged the entire time, though that might've been partly because I was on a Sour Patch sugar high as it seems like most of the people I was with either zoned out or almost fell asleep at some points where it started to slow down between action scenes. But whatever, the action sequences are good.
Melancholia.
Finally watched this one after friends have been pushing me to for years. Very arthouse, especially the opening (which reminded me of Tree of Life except slightly less annoying), which means good things for people who are into somewhat abstract but beautiful movie visuals and bad things for the rest of us with short attention spans. I enjoyed the first half (sans the opening) more for the social dynamics of the screwed up wedding, whereas I had to force myself to pay attention during most of the second half because I honestly had lost interest in any of the characters by that point. Not exactly my cup of tea I guess, but I've always been more into the plot/character/writing aspect of films rather than the visual and this one excels more in the latter aspect. I don't think I would enjoy any of the rest of Von Trier's films (Antichrist, Nymphomaniac, etc.) any more than this one unfortunately.
TV Shows:
Orphan Black.
Got sucked into this finally at a friend's behest. Canadian sci-fi comedy-drama-mystery-thriller? (shrug, it kinda hits all those points) about a drifting hustler who witnesses the suicide of someone who looks identical to her and then tries to assume her identity... which lands her within some messed-up international conspiracy because her identical twin was apparently involved in some crazy shit. This show is particularly notable because its lead actress does an amazing job of convincingly playing multiple character roles- like Parent Trap x10. Season 1 was incredibly addictive and well-paced enough that nothing felt like filler, though later on I've been having trouble following where the plot is going and the writing quality isn't always that great. On a side note, Alison is hilarious.
Sense8.
8 people discover that they're linked- sensually, almost psychically, what-have-you- in the midst of a greater mysterious plot. The Wachowski's newest Netflix show that feels reminiscent of Cloud Atlas crossed with Heroes crossed with Lost kinda. Pretty unique in that the main cast spans multiple races, backgrounds, and sexual orientations (a Hindu Indian scientist, a Korean businesswoman, a gay Mexican star, a transgender SF "hacktivist", a Kenyan bus driver, a British-Icelandic DJ, a German crook, and a Chicago cop. oh and Sayid from Lost).
Also reminiscent of the Wachowski's works in that it feels pretty optimistic yet corny yet beautiful at the same time, and that the concept has great potential but the execution doesn't always work out so well. Pacing is rather slow and character focused rather than plot focused; I think it finally just started to pick up around episode 7, but really only for one character. Writing can also be cringe-inducing sometimes, but I managed to get past the first four episodes and I'm still enjoying it. Basically, people are really polarized on how much they love or hate this show, but I still think it's worth checking out- at least it's better than the crappy Jupiter Ascending.
Cartoons:
Adventure Time, season 6.
Finally finished this! Apparently I stopped watching last time around the halfway point, which was right when things starting gearing up in preparation for the somewhat bizarre season finale (but no different from usual really). Some episodes are hit-or-miss as usual, and apparently even some of the comet-related episodes were a stretch for some people even though I still loved those. If you aren't familiar with Adventure Time at all, it's colorful and mostly weird but in a way that oddly still makes sense most of the time (compared to shows that are just plain weird). Most of the ten-minute episodes are just random and episodic, but if you make it to season 2 onwards, there actually is a larger overarching plotline that eventually comes out. The show actually has a well-developed series mythology going on, which is what I love most about it, and I like the way that it handles relationships, although lately Steven Universe might have it beat (see below).
Gravity Falls.
Twin Peaks for kids. Seriously. This show is weird and I love it. It's about a pair of twins stuck for the summer at their uncle's mystery shack in a middle-of-nowhere town filled with supernatural secrets and crazy conspiracies. First season's more episodic, not that that's a bad thing (one of my favorite moments is Mabel's crazy illegal rainbow candy-infused acid trip- no seriously, this is what they can get away with on kid's shows these days) but the main storyline kicks into gear during second season and it makes for a great overarching mystery. The writing is clever and filled with random hilarious callback moments that I'm not sure I'd have gotten as a kid (well, Rocko's Modern Life kinda went over my head back in the day... but then again I always had a suspicion something was up after the nudist episode).
Steven Universe.
From the inventor of some of Adventure Time's most memorable songs ("Bacon Pancakes", "Daddy, Why Did You Eat My Fries", etc.) comes this heartwarming and beautifully colored cartoon about a half-human-half-gem kid named Steven and his alien gem friends who protect the earth from alien creatures and stuff. It sounds just like any other kid cartoon, but as the show progresses it delves into some fairly deep and complicated but just accessible-enough-that-kids-will-get-it adult relationship issues, which is pretty impressive for a ten minute episodic kid's series even though other shows like Adventure Time have done it before. Steven starts out annoyingly corny but really grows on you as the series progresses, exhibiting some surprisingly mature moments over time despite his childish personality. Also, the music's great, but that shouldn't be surprising.
Rick and Morty.
The return of Back to the Future on steroids. Season just started, but I loved the premiere. The way this show explores sci-fi tropes and just takes them to their crazy but logical extreme is hilarious and at the same time amazingly creative. Looking forward to the rest of it.
Anime:
Durarara!!x2 Ten.
Similar vibes with last season: not as good as season 1, but I'm still entertained in the meantime. Episodes have been mostly meandering in providing background from one character to another, but the main plots haven't really started yet (about halfway in) and the only big change that really comes to mind compared with last season is Mikado's character for obvious reasons. I suspect the pacing issues are inherited from the plot structure of the novel series itself (they still haven't addressed Celty's head yet), and I realize that most of the continuing appeal for this series comes from "character fanservice"- and by that I mean in the less conventional personality sense, because of how crazy everyone in this series is.
Space Brothers #0.
I haven't actually seen the regular series yet, but this one-shot prequel movie was touching if not a little predictable at times. Was especially fun and atmospheric to see in a movie theater (for the Japanese Film Festival), and brought back familiar awe-inspiring vibes from another spaced-based slice-of-life series, Planetes. The music in particular made my day.
Memories: Magnetic Rose.
Kouji Morimoto is known for working on Akira (the film), Macross Plus, Mind Game, the Animatrix, and a couple of Utada Hikaru's music videos (Passion) among other things. This year he showed up as a special guest for the Japanese Film Festival, and they exhibited a few of his shorts for one viewing with a special live Q&A session after that was quite informative (I was also impressed with the ability of the live translator but that's another story).
Just going to comment on the highlight of this set: Magnetic Rose, a long 45-minute short (oxymoron I know) intended as the first part of a 3 episode anthology series, Memories, based off short stories written by the author of Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo. This particular short was the one directed by Morimoto, in collaboration with Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Paranoia Agent, Millennium Actress, etc.) on script and Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell SAC, Wolf's Rain, too many to list) on music.
The basic premise involves a deep space freighter that investigates a SOS signal coming from an apparently deserted space station,. and what results is a crazy mishmash of deep space cyberpunk, French architecture, opera music, hallucinations, and psychological trauma among other things. The animation quality is amazing by 1990's standards and also stands the test of time quite well even today; the actual story itself is rather haunting- but perfect for cyberpunk; and the music meshes incredibly well with the animation.
During the interview after the screening, Morimoto talked about how his conception of cyberpunk in this film was really an attempt to combine his interest in the unfamiliar, in this case European architecture (which he was obsessed with at the time but aware of his cultural distance to), with the familiar, or the cold, dark alleyways of Japan that he'd grown up with. He also revealed that in the vast majority of his works, he conceived of the overall musical structure first and then molded the rest of the film to fit with the music, which explains a lot about the animation he's directed.
Afterwards, he explained how Kanno, the composer, had likened the process of composing to the process of carving out a Buddhist sculpture within a cliff: it's not so much that you create something from nothing, as it is that you feel out a structure that's already there in the materials (in this case, materials being the basic elements of music itself). Speaking of Kanno as well his other past musical collaborator, Utada Hikaru, in light of this, Morimoto exclaimed, "That, to me, is what makes genius."
The rest of the shorts tended towards being more abstract until Genius Party Beyond: Dimension Bomb, which literally was "visual poetry" as one audience member put it, but unfortunately required more visual sensory receptiveness than my sleep-deprived-self had energy for at the time (-_-). So I won't say anything else on that.
Showing posts with label Musicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musicals. Show all posts
Monday, August 10, 2015
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
restless
I've had several posts in the works this past month or so, but none of them have really come to fruition. I haven't really been a mood for posting anything I write lately, mainly because perhaps there isn't much more to really write about that I haven't written before. It follows along with what I tend to say nowadays when people ask me about work: "work is work." And most of my time spent outside of work now is spent preoccupying myself with something or the other while skirting over whatever it is I intend to write about now. Which I don't really know yet, other than the fact that I can't sleep right now and don't really have the willpower to do anything else.
I don't remember if I mentioned it here before, but earlier this year I considered the possibility of seeing a therapist. Partly just cause it's nice to be able to talk about your problems for once without having to worry about infringing on someone else's time (since... that's what a therapist's job is, anyway), and partly because maybe I just really needed to be able to fully talk to someone for once. I never acted on that impulse, but I'm considering it again. I think going on for too long without addressing what your problems actually are is unhealthy and life-draining in the long run, or at least that's how it's been from personal experience.
When I'm conscious enough to notice it, I struggle with a number of insecurities about myself and a latent sense of anxiety, I guess. This year in particular, I've noticed it's led me to start internally (I don't think I let it on externally... much) making a big deal out of little things or take a situation out of proportion or sometimes go out of my way to do something I wouldn't normally do. Something as minor as someone not responding right away (screw instant messaging and its "seen at" notifications) is enough to bother me more than need be, or being next to someone continuously engaged in some conversation on their phone, or other circumstances not worth describing here.
And after a while, these kinds of unhealthy responses and the thoughts that motivate them lead to a warped view of the world. I don't know if I've ever felt so negative about people in general (at least in large groups) before, or so averse to being around them. It's almost as if I automatically assume the worst of anyone I don't really know (or used to know). Every little disappointment- because for some stupid reason I sometimes feel disappointed talking to people- just contributes to this damaging cynical mindset. As much as I wish I could be amiable in general, it's difficult when I'm not really feeling it a lot of the time.
The disappointment comes from people not conforming to the idealistic situations I might imagine in my head, or in those recent psychological dreams I've had that I've been too embarrassed to write about; from the responses I might hope to see but don't because a conversation just cuts short; from what I sense as a lack of total honesty from the person in front of me; from the realization of how much I dislike modern-day social conventions; from some missing quality in myself that prevents me from calling out whatever it is I'm not seeing and trying to making something of it.
And that's just... one kind of insecurity, actually. There's also the subtle feeling in the back of my mind that I'm totally inefficient at what I do; that I'm not living up to whatever it is I'd hoped to live up to in the past; and that I feel apathetic now about addressing a lot of the problems I see in myself and in life. A lot of the resolutions I looked forward to or attempted at earlier this year have fallen flat, and I just seem to be unable to commit myself to much of anything I want to. These days I tend to feel mentally lost and aimless... and prone to bouts of tiredness and headaches whenever I try to fix my sleeping schedule apparently. Technology isn't really helping me here.
Of course, at the end of the day I find myself incapable of articulating this to anyone... or perhaps I don't even want to, as it doesn't really come up in my head except for when I'm not talking to anyone. You would have to force me to confess, and then I'd have to think about it first because my mind doesn't work the same way in social conversation as it does when writing here or actively reflecting, and then maybe I'll feel comfortable enough to say something if no one else is around. And I'm just describing another one of those ideal situations in my head again. The reality is probably rather different.
And that was my attempt to somehow diagnose why my mind won't let me sleep without really going into explicit detail. I don't feel like I got very far... which is why I should probably carry through with that therapist thought sometime. Maybe.
consumption of late:
- Book: Anna Karenina, that Tolstoy novel about a woman and a man who commit adultery (and the repercussions of it which go on for another 700+ pages...). Tolstoy has a knack for putting into succinct words the complexity of social mannerisms and all of the mind games that people go through when they find themselves in this kind of a situation. And of course there's a bunch of other stuff that he has to say about Russian society in the 1900's and other topics like horseback racing and farming and the proletariat and so on that are probably tangential at best to the subject of the novel, but I guess that's Tolstoy for you. I'll start A Dance with Dragons as soon as I finish this...
- TV Show: The Venture Brothers. Starts out as a parody of the Johnny Quest cartoon series (what if the boy adventurer grew up and had his own kids... and got overshadowed by his own life) but then slowly becomes something much more than that. I caught up with the most recent season the other day and now I'm in the wait for the long haul now. The first season took some getting used to, but over the course of the ones that followed, the show shot up to becoming my favorite cartoon, even beating The Last Airbender (although granted, they're different genres). I might say that it reminds me of Archer, except with much nerdier humor and a more fully developed mythology behind the scenes. I'm starting to realize how much I love backstory in TV shows; it works surprisingly well here even though it's a comedy series.
- Games: Pokemon X, and then Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. I kinda binge-marathoned through both of these in a span of about two weeks; I mentioned Pokemon in my last post already. The new Ace Attorney game was less about Phoenix than it really was about Apollo and Athena, but the seeing them all work together in their new law agency was a bit refreshing and I have high hopes for the future of the series. Found the game overall stronger than Apollo Justice, although in part because Apollo finally gets some much needed development here.
- Musicals: Evita in LA, Beautiful in SF.
Evita is an Andrew Lloyd Webber classic... and to be honest, I'm not hugely into his stuff compared to other composers. I had trouble paying attention during the first half owing to lack of familiarity with the story of Eva Peron (which a quick wiki during the intermission fixed), but I enjoyed it nonetheless overall. Couldn't help humming Don't Cry For Me Argentina for a while.
Beautiful is the new Carole King musical that debuted in SF and is coming to Broadway later. The style reminded me a bit of Jersey Boys (same-ish era, same-ish concept of singing classic old songs while going through the history of the artist), and I was surprised at how many of the songs I did recognize considering I didn't know much about Carole King before. Great for any oldies fan.
And that's it. Good night.
I don't remember if I mentioned it here before, but earlier this year I considered the possibility of seeing a therapist. Partly just cause it's nice to be able to talk about your problems for once without having to worry about infringing on someone else's time (since... that's what a therapist's job is, anyway), and partly because maybe I just really needed to be able to fully talk to someone for once. I never acted on that impulse, but I'm considering it again. I think going on for too long without addressing what your problems actually are is unhealthy and life-draining in the long run, or at least that's how it's been from personal experience.
When I'm conscious enough to notice it, I struggle with a number of insecurities about myself and a latent sense of anxiety, I guess. This year in particular, I've noticed it's led me to start internally (I don't think I let it on externally... much) making a big deal out of little things or take a situation out of proportion or sometimes go out of my way to do something I wouldn't normally do. Something as minor as someone not responding right away (screw instant messaging and its "seen at" notifications) is enough to bother me more than need be, or being next to someone continuously engaged in some conversation on their phone, or other circumstances not worth describing here.
And after a while, these kinds of unhealthy responses and the thoughts that motivate them lead to a warped view of the world. I don't know if I've ever felt so negative about people in general (at least in large groups) before, or so averse to being around them. It's almost as if I automatically assume the worst of anyone I don't really know (or used to know). Every little disappointment- because for some stupid reason I sometimes feel disappointed talking to people- just contributes to this damaging cynical mindset. As much as I wish I could be amiable in general, it's difficult when I'm not really feeling it a lot of the time.
The disappointment comes from people not conforming to the idealistic situations I might imagine in my head, or in those recent psychological dreams I've had that I've been too embarrassed to write about; from the responses I might hope to see but don't because a conversation just cuts short; from what I sense as a lack of total honesty from the person in front of me; from the realization of how much I dislike modern-day social conventions; from some missing quality in myself that prevents me from calling out whatever it is I'm not seeing and trying to making something of it.
And that's just... one kind of insecurity, actually. There's also the subtle feeling in the back of my mind that I'm totally inefficient at what I do; that I'm not living up to whatever it is I'd hoped to live up to in the past; and that I feel apathetic now about addressing a lot of the problems I see in myself and in life. A lot of the resolutions I looked forward to or attempted at earlier this year have fallen flat, and I just seem to be unable to commit myself to much of anything I want to. These days I tend to feel mentally lost and aimless... and prone to bouts of tiredness and headaches whenever I try to fix my sleeping schedule apparently. Technology isn't really helping me here.
Of course, at the end of the day I find myself incapable of articulating this to anyone... or perhaps I don't even want to, as it doesn't really come up in my head except for when I'm not talking to anyone. You would have to force me to confess, and then I'd have to think about it first because my mind doesn't work the same way in social conversation as it does when writing here or actively reflecting, and then maybe I'll feel comfortable enough to say something if no one else is around. And I'm just describing another one of those ideal situations in my head again. The reality is probably rather different.
And that was my attempt to somehow diagnose why my mind won't let me sleep without really going into explicit detail. I don't feel like I got very far... which is why I should probably carry through with that therapist thought sometime. Maybe.
consumption of late:
- Book: Anna Karenina, that Tolstoy novel about a woman and a man who commit adultery (and the repercussions of it which go on for another 700+ pages...). Tolstoy has a knack for putting into succinct words the complexity of social mannerisms and all of the mind games that people go through when they find themselves in this kind of a situation. And of course there's a bunch of other stuff that he has to say about Russian society in the 1900's and other topics like horseback racing and farming and the proletariat and so on that are probably tangential at best to the subject of the novel, but I guess that's Tolstoy for you. I'll start A Dance with Dragons as soon as I finish this...
- TV Show: The Venture Brothers. Starts out as a parody of the Johnny Quest cartoon series (what if the boy adventurer grew up and had his own kids... and got overshadowed by his own life) but then slowly becomes something much more than that. I caught up with the most recent season the other day and now I'm in the wait for the long haul now. The first season took some getting used to, but over the course of the ones that followed, the show shot up to becoming my favorite cartoon, even beating The Last Airbender (although granted, they're different genres). I might say that it reminds me of Archer, except with much nerdier humor and a more fully developed mythology behind the scenes. I'm starting to realize how much I love backstory in TV shows; it works surprisingly well here even though it's a comedy series.
- Games: Pokemon X, and then Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. I kinda binge-marathoned through both of these in a span of about two weeks; I mentioned Pokemon in my last post already. The new Ace Attorney game was less about Phoenix than it really was about Apollo and Athena, but the seeing them all work together in their new law agency was a bit refreshing and I have high hopes for the future of the series. Found the game overall stronger than Apollo Justice, although in part because Apollo finally gets some much needed development here.
- Musicals: Evita in LA, Beautiful in SF.
Evita is an Andrew Lloyd Webber classic... and to be honest, I'm not hugely into his stuff compared to other composers. I had trouble paying attention during the first half owing to lack of familiarity with the story of Eva Peron (which a quick wiki during the intermission fixed), but I enjoyed it nonetheless overall. Couldn't help humming Don't Cry For Me Argentina for a while.
Beautiful is the new Carole King musical that debuted in SF and is coming to Broadway later. The style reminded me a bit of Jersey Boys (same-ish era, same-ish concept of singing classic old songs while going through the history of the artist), and I was surprised at how many of the songs I did recognize considering I didn't know much about Carole King before. Great for any oldies fan.
And that's it. Good night.
Monday, September 23, 2013
A reminder
that the number of experiences I have to be thankful for far exceed the number of personal disappointments in my life. It's easy to forget sometimes.
Thanks for the past few days.
---
I was about to write something about experiencing anxiety with regards to the "appropriate" way to act in certain situations, but when it came down to it, I realized it really was more about not wanting to be embarrassed. Because I've never really been able to deal well with embarrassing situations borne unintentionally from my own actions and mistakes, and my ego won't allow me to expose myself to anything that might pose that kind of a risk in front of people I'm not as close to. Or even my own family. (hence why I refused to let my mom to teach me Indonesian when I was younger, and why I became so reticent growing up. I couldn't stand it when my family would make fun of me, let alone other people.)
The real me is a lot more vulnerable and easily flustered than whatever image I seem to be putting up in front of the people I know nowadays. Oftentimes now, I feel like I'm coming across as distant or "sophisticated" or stoic or whatever term would come to mind there, and it's probably hindered me a lot from the kind of meaningful relationships I wish I were experiencing more often nowadays. Sometimes you just need to be open to embarrassing yourself in public every once in a while.
I might come to regret that statement later. -_-
---
Things to look forward to:
- next installment of Phoenix Wright coming out next month! Download only for 3DS, but still. (and then Layton vs. Phoenix Wright next year! and the ongoing translation of the Miles Edgeworth 2!) and Pokemon too I guess.
- the weekly's: Breaking Bad, Legend of Korra, One Piece. BrBa finale this Sunday!!
- New York this weekend!!!
- West End production of Merrily We Roll Along in theaters next month!
- going home at the end of the month to see Evita in LA with the brother! And maybe pick up a thing or two.
- finally reading A Dance with Dragons at the end of the month because I've been waiting for the paperback version to come out for ages. and lots of books I've been meaning to get to in general.
- living in the moment. still a work in progress, as I'm so prone to getting caught up mentally in other things.
---
Aside: I like how my two line post winds up being the most viewed post ever on this blog. About a TV show, no less. Maybe I should just stick to tumblr-style quick posts.
(Just kidding... that's what tumblr is for.)
Thanks for the past few days.
---
I was about to write something about experiencing anxiety with regards to the "appropriate" way to act in certain situations, but when it came down to it, I realized it really was more about not wanting to be embarrassed. Because I've never really been able to deal well with embarrassing situations borne unintentionally from my own actions and mistakes, and my ego won't allow me to expose myself to anything that might pose that kind of a risk in front of people I'm not as close to. Or even my own family. (hence why I refused to let my mom to teach me Indonesian when I was younger, and why I became so reticent growing up. I couldn't stand it when my family would make fun of me, let alone other people.)
The real me is a lot more vulnerable and easily flustered than whatever image I seem to be putting up in front of the people I know nowadays. Oftentimes now, I feel like I'm coming across as distant or "sophisticated" or stoic or whatever term would come to mind there, and it's probably hindered me a lot from the kind of meaningful relationships I wish I were experiencing more often nowadays. Sometimes you just need to be open to embarrassing yourself in public every once in a while.
I might come to regret that statement later. -_-
---
Things to look forward to:
- next installment of Phoenix Wright coming out next month! Download only for 3DS, but still. (and then Layton vs. Phoenix Wright next year! and the ongoing translation of the Miles Edgeworth 2!) and Pokemon too I guess.
- the weekly's: Breaking Bad, Legend of Korra, One Piece. BrBa finale this Sunday!!
- New York this weekend!!!
- West End production of Merrily We Roll Along in theaters next month!
- going home at the end of the month to see Evita in LA with the brother! And maybe pick up a thing or two.
- finally reading A Dance with Dragons at the end of the month because I've been waiting for the paperback version to come out for ages. and lots of books I've been meaning to get to in general.
- living in the moment. still a work in progress, as I'm so prone to getting caught up mentally in other things.
---
Aside: I like how my two line post winds up being the most viewed post ever on this blog. About a TV show, no less. Maybe I should just stick to tumblr-style quick posts.
(Just kidding... that's what tumblr is for.)
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
ongoing
I haven't really had the motivation to write much... of anything lately, compounded with a random dabbling into a bunch of other things that have mostly preoccupied my time for the past several weeks. More serious post to follow later. But anyway, in no particular order:
- Puzzle and Dragons. Coworkers have been obsessively playing this smartphone game that plays like a cross between Pokemon and Bejeweled for the past couple of months, and of course with it being a combination of my two historically worst past obsessions.... (I still can't get over the fact that being late for EE40 that one summer cause I'd been playing Pokemon at home that day cost me a homework assignment that eventually brought me down a letter grade >_>)
But I got tired of farming marine goblins to try and max skill-up my Siren (she's only one skill rank away... and I think I've fed her ~50 goblins already) so I think I'm done with the game for now... aside from logging in everyday for the free pal points and rerolling the egg machine in hopes of getting a blue or white dragon. But enough esoteric game jargon.
- I bought a new laptop on a spring break deal a few weeks back (Lappy2's warranty expires this month anyway) and it finally came in the other day, so Lappy3 is now official. And it's so fast and quiet! I'm starting to warm up to Windows 8 - once you get past the annoyingly unintuitive user interface and figure out where all the configuration stuff is, it plays out pretty smoothly, although it still feels like it really wants to be a touchscreen tablet when it's not. I hear that the newest update coming up is meant to bring back the Start button again, so that'll be a plus once that comes around.
- Yo La Tengo round 2 in SF with Elan and the others was great. Not as mind-blowingly euphoric for me personally as Stars was, although I actually like Yo La Tengo more as a band. They played a mellow acoustic set matching the tone of most of their new album, Fade, following by a rock set in the second half, which meant that my ears were shot after the concert cause I happened to be standing right next to the speakers in front of the stage, and I could feel the sound reverberations pass through me. Most of my favorite songs of theirs are whenever Georgia sings... I love her voice so much. Even better when it's flowing smoothly on top of her constant drumming while Ira's pounding on his rock guitar.
On another note, I kind of have to learn to not feel disappointed when a band doesn't happen to play the song you want them to play, especially for a band like Yo La Tengo that's been around longer than I've been alive (Ira touted it as a joke during the concert haha) and whose discography and repertoire of cover songs is so big that I'm still discovering new songs I like from their older works. I was secretly hoping for From a Motel 6, which they apparently played the day before in LA, or Little Eyes... but they performed Beanbag Chair, which pretty much was high school for me, as a surprise (Ira: "The bad part of having a new album out is I don't often get to say stuff like this anymore... This is a song from I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.") so I'm pretty happy anyway. I also got a second poster of them now! Now how to put those posters up...
They apparently did an encore performance with Damages the day after we saw them, which likely was due to a request made by a guy standing next to us at the merchandise counter when Ira was there talking to us. Ken asked him if the origin of the band's name having to do with a classic baseball story was true, and apparently although the story itself is true, the name choice was more because they don't speak Spanish and just like the sound of "Yo La Tengo." Figures haha.
- Ever since I introduced my brother to Gypsy and Into the Woods over winter break, every time I come home now he's singing songs from musicals. I've gotten him hooked, and I even surprisingly caught him singing from musicals that I'd seen but never mentioned to him before, such as Anything Goes and A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum. We have our own little inside joke recognize-the-reference hive mind going on haha. He even bought a book that indexes all of the Broadway musicals of the past century that he thought I'd like. :D
Speaking of Into the Woods, I'm really looking forward to the upcoming movie adaptation of it that Disney is doing. Not sure how it'll turn out persay, but I'm hoping the book + lyrics will at least hold up anyway... even though the Sweeney Todd and Les Mis movies felt a little off in the past. Into the Woods is probably my favorite musical right now [not seen live yet, though] because I'm into those works that combine the different fairy tales into one setting, ever since seeing that one random episode of Rocko's Modern Life when I was little (although in retrospect, that show probably isn't appropriate for kids... I still shudder when I remember the nudist episode. and it aired on Nickelodeon of all places). And yes, I've seen the first season of Once Upon a Time on recommendation... it was okay. I don't really feel like continuing it though... unless I run out of other things to do, which probably won't happen anytime soon.
But anyway, up next on the works that run in this fairy tale style list, I've been meaning to start reading the comic series Fables since Telltale announced that they would be releasing a new episodic adventure game series for it, The Wolf Among Us, after their success with The Walking Dead. Should be fun.
- Speaking of comics, Free Comic Book day was on the 4th (first Saturday of May annually). I checked out a local comic book store and it turns out they just give out free sample issues made specifically for that day, although it's a good way to check out new series that you aren't familiar with and help pay patronage to your local store. I went ahead and bought the first volumes of Fables and Neil Gaiman's Sandman there, and noticed that the store had a decent selection of manga, or least Tezuka's works, and artbooks like Hyrule Historia also, along with a bunch of the Batman trade paperbacks I looked up a year ago when I was trying to figure out the chronological reading order I wanted to go through. I feel a little mixed though cause most of it's cheaper on Amazon... maybe I'll buy a bit from both.
I have a new craving now to add a comic book collection to my in-progress library... that's currently over-saturated with books I haven't gotten around to yet for a bookshelf that hasn't come in yet. But I kinda already started with the complete Calvin and Hobbes and the two volumes mentioned above. I also have a complete set of Tintin books sitting at home in socal from when I was growing up, and I'm looking into more manga also - namely Nausicaa, some Tezuka series like Phoenix and Buddha, Akira, One Piece, and maybe some Urasawa favorites [Pluto, Monster, 20th Century Boys] and Asano [Nijigahara Holograph, Solanin, What a Wonderful World] or Kitoh {Bokurano, Narutaru: Shadow Star] or Yukimura [Planetes, Vinland Saga] or even some Detective Conan for nostalgia's sake. Figured it would be nice to support the industry for once, considering how easy it is to find free scanlations going around online usually. I took a look at the Peanuts collection also but they're really expensive even for comics... but agh, too many to list.
- ongoing series progress:
1. Front Mission. Finally finished the second game, read up on the third and fourth games... which are more standalone and not as interesting to me compared to the first two anyway, and then realized that rather than using the PS2, which had a good life anyway, I could just emulate the fifth game on my desktop with better looking graphics and resolution. And it's so pretty now! compared to all of the previous games anyway; it came out in 2005 so it's still a little old relatively speaking. This will probably preoccupy me for the next couple of weeks.
It's hard to keep track of all of the subtle references that the fifth game makes to all of the other works in the franchise, as it's more of a final big picture kind of game compared to the spatially and temporally focused first four games, but I enjoy piecing all of the puzzle pieces together (and popped open the DS to revisit the first game at the same time). It's like seeing a decades long work in progress finally pay off, big time.
2. Been gradually going through Mobile Suit Gundam from the beginning - specifically the series in the original Universal Century timeline, so no Wing or other recent stuff (viewing order: 0079 movie trilogy, Zeta Gundam, Double Zeta, Char's Counterattack, and then Unicorn; I'm currently finishing up Zeta). It's odd cause when I was younger, I never really took an interest in mecha-related series. I did watch Evangelion and Code Geass in high school, but those were more for the drama than for the robotic suits themselves.
I kinda decided to watch the original MSG compilation movie trilogy on a whim last year and found myself really getting into the combat despite how outdated the art style was (see the original opening - I showed my friend this and he couldn't stop laughing at how campy it was with the music haha). The Amuro-Char rivalry that permeates the series feels very epic and is one of the more classic ones in anime history also, even though Amuro can be kind of annoying at times (but Kamille is even more annoying omg). I have to say seeing him reappear in Zeta for the first time perked me up a bit, if only because I like see continuity between successive works and characters that change over time, here in a literal sense, and seeing both Amuro and Char mature into legendary pilots over successive works separated by years is intriguing to watch.
3. Finished Battlestar Galactica. I enjoyed the ride, although I'm not sure what I was expecting out of the end - it didn't exactly leave a "void" in my heart like some others suggested (although I kinda blame Legend of the Galactic Heroes for setting the bar for that). I mean it ended well, but I guess I was expecting more from the antagonists considering how the series had been building up, for lack of spoilers. But it was fun while it lasted.
4. Rewatching Arrested Development in preparation for the fourth season coming out on Netflix. It's been so long since I last watched it all that it almost feels like re-experiencing the series for the first time, even though I still remember of the more memorable moments. It's even more funny catching jokes and references that you didn't get the first time around: I mentioned earlier that I watched Gypsy, and then in one of the first season episodes Lucille goes on a tirade singing lines from the finale of that musical, Rose's Turn ("Mama's all alone, Mama doesn't care"), and my brother and I both caught it. And even in a later episode she says, "How do you like them eggrolls, Mr. Goldstone?" So great haha.
5. Not really something I'm playing right now, but Ace Attorney 5 is coming to the US this fall!!! It's digital-only though, but I guess it's better than nothing. Aside from Phoenix and Apollo, Edgeworth and Trucy are coming back! So excited! Now if only they'd localize Layton vs. Wright...
- Puzzle and Dragons. Coworkers have been obsessively playing this smartphone game that plays like a cross between Pokemon and Bejeweled for the past couple of months, and of course with it being a combination of my two historically worst past obsessions.... (I still can't get over the fact that being late for EE40 that one summer cause I'd been playing Pokemon at home that day cost me a homework assignment that eventually brought me down a letter grade >_>)
But I got tired of farming marine goblins to try and max skill-up my Siren (she's only one skill rank away... and I think I've fed her ~50 goblins already) so I think I'm done with the game for now... aside from logging in everyday for the free pal points and rerolling the egg machine in hopes of getting a blue or white dragon. But enough esoteric game jargon.
- I bought a new laptop on a spring break deal a few weeks back (Lappy2's warranty expires this month anyway) and it finally came in the other day, so Lappy3 is now official. And it's so fast and quiet! I'm starting to warm up to Windows 8 - once you get past the annoyingly unintuitive user interface and figure out where all the configuration stuff is, it plays out pretty smoothly, although it still feels like it really wants to be a touchscreen tablet when it's not. I hear that the newest update coming up is meant to bring back the Start button again, so that'll be a plus once that comes around.
- Yo La Tengo round 2 in SF with Elan and the others was great. Not as mind-blowingly euphoric for me personally as Stars was, although I actually like Yo La Tengo more as a band. They played a mellow acoustic set matching the tone of most of their new album, Fade, following by a rock set in the second half, which meant that my ears were shot after the concert cause I happened to be standing right next to the speakers in front of the stage, and I could feel the sound reverberations pass through me. Most of my favorite songs of theirs are whenever Georgia sings... I love her voice so much. Even better when it's flowing smoothly on top of her constant drumming while Ira's pounding on his rock guitar.
On another note, I kind of have to learn to not feel disappointed when a band doesn't happen to play the song you want them to play, especially for a band like Yo La Tengo that's been around longer than I've been alive (Ira touted it as a joke during the concert haha) and whose discography and repertoire of cover songs is so big that I'm still discovering new songs I like from their older works. I was secretly hoping for From a Motel 6, which they apparently played the day before in LA, or Little Eyes... but they performed Beanbag Chair, which pretty much was high school for me, as a surprise (Ira: "The bad part of having a new album out is I don't often get to say stuff like this anymore... This is a song from I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.") so I'm pretty happy anyway. I also got a second poster of them now! Now how to put those posters up...
They apparently did an encore performance with Damages the day after we saw them, which likely was due to a request made by a guy standing next to us at the merchandise counter when Ira was there talking to us. Ken asked him if the origin of the band's name having to do with a classic baseball story was true, and apparently although the story itself is true, the name choice was more because they don't speak Spanish and just like the sound of "Yo La Tengo." Figures haha.
- Ever since I introduced my brother to Gypsy and Into the Woods over winter break, every time I come home now he's singing songs from musicals. I've gotten him hooked, and I even surprisingly caught him singing from musicals that I'd seen but never mentioned to him before, such as Anything Goes and A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum. We have our own little inside joke recognize-the-reference hive mind going on haha. He even bought a book that indexes all of the Broadway musicals of the past century that he thought I'd like. :D
Speaking of Into the Woods, I'm really looking forward to the upcoming movie adaptation of it that Disney is doing. Not sure how it'll turn out persay, but I'm hoping the book + lyrics will at least hold up anyway... even though the Sweeney Todd and Les Mis movies felt a little off in the past. Into the Woods is probably my favorite musical right now [not seen live yet, though] because I'm into those works that combine the different fairy tales into one setting, ever since seeing that one random episode of Rocko's Modern Life when I was little (although in retrospect, that show probably isn't appropriate for kids... I still shudder when I remember the nudist episode. and it aired on Nickelodeon of all places). And yes, I've seen the first season of Once Upon a Time on recommendation... it was okay. I don't really feel like continuing it though... unless I run out of other things to do, which probably won't happen anytime soon.
But anyway, up next on the works that run in this fairy tale style list, I've been meaning to start reading the comic series Fables since Telltale announced that they would be releasing a new episodic adventure game series for it, The Wolf Among Us, after their success with The Walking Dead. Should be fun.
- Speaking of comics, Free Comic Book day was on the 4th (first Saturday of May annually). I checked out a local comic book store and it turns out they just give out free sample issues made specifically for that day, although it's a good way to check out new series that you aren't familiar with and help pay patronage to your local store. I went ahead and bought the first volumes of Fables and Neil Gaiman's Sandman there, and noticed that the store had a decent selection of manga, or least Tezuka's works, and artbooks like Hyrule Historia also, along with a bunch of the Batman trade paperbacks I looked up a year ago when I was trying to figure out the chronological reading order I wanted to go through. I feel a little mixed though cause most of it's cheaper on Amazon... maybe I'll buy a bit from both.
I have a new craving now to add a comic book collection to my in-progress library... that's currently over-saturated with books I haven't gotten around to yet for a bookshelf that hasn't come in yet. But I kinda already started with the complete Calvin and Hobbes and the two volumes mentioned above. I also have a complete set of Tintin books sitting at home in socal from when I was growing up, and I'm looking into more manga also - namely Nausicaa, some Tezuka series like Phoenix and Buddha, Akira, One Piece, and maybe some Urasawa favorites [Pluto, Monster, 20th Century Boys] and Asano [Nijigahara Holograph, Solanin, What a Wonderful World] or Kitoh {Bokurano, Narutaru: Shadow Star] or Yukimura [Planetes, Vinland Saga] or even some Detective Conan for nostalgia's sake. Figured it would be nice to support the industry for once, considering how easy it is to find free scanlations going around online usually. I took a look at the Peanuts collection also but they're really expensive even for comics... but agh, too many to list.
- ongoing series progress:
1. Front Mission. Finally finished the second game, read up on the third and fourth games... which are more standalone and not as interesting to me compared to the first two anyway, and then realized that rather than using the PS2, which had a good life anyway, I could just emulate the fifth game on my desktop with better looking graphics and resolution. And it's so pretty now! compared to all of the previous games anyway; it came out in 2005 so it's still a little old relatively speaking. This will probably preoccupy me for the next couple of weeks.
It's hard to keep track of all of the subtle references that the fifth game makes to all of the other works in the franchise, as it's more of a final big picture kind of game compared to the spatially and temporally focused first four games, but I enjoy piecing all of the puzzle pieces together (and popped open the DS to revisit the first game at the same time). It's like seeing a decades long work in progress finally pay off, big time.
2. Been gradually going through Mobile Suit Gundam from the beginning - specifically the series in the original Universal Century timeline, so no Wing or other recent stuff (viewing order: 0079 movie trilogy, Zeta Gundam, Double Zeta, Char's Counterattack, and then Unicorn; I'm currently finishing up Zeta). It's odd cause when I was younger, I never really took an interest in mecha-related series. I did watch Evangelion and Code Geass in high school, but those were more for the drama than for the robotic suits themselves.
I kinda decided to watch the original MSG compilation movie trilogy on a whim last year and found myself really getting into the combat despite how outdated the art style was (see the original opening - I showed my friend this and he couldn't stop laughing at how campy it was with the music haha). The Amuro-Char rivalry that permeates the series feels very epic and is one of the more classic ones in anime history also, even though Amuro can be kind of annoying at times (but Kamille is even more annoying omg). I have to say seeing him reappear in Zeta for the first time perked me up a bit, if only because I like see continuity between successive works and characters that change over time, here in a literal sense, and seeing both Amuro and Char mature into legendary pilots over successive works separated by years is intriguing to watch.
3. Finished Battlestar Galactica. I enjoyed the ride, although I'm not sure what I was expecting out of the end - it didn't exactly leave a "void" in my heart like some others suggested (although I kinda blame Legend of the Galactic Heroes for setting the bar for that). I mean it ended well, but I guess I was expecting more from the antagonists considering how the series had been building up, for lack of spoilers. But it was fun while it lasted.
4. Rewatching Arrested Development in preparation for the fourth season coming out on Netflix. It's been so long since I last watched it all that it almost feels like re-experiencing the series for the first time, even though I still remember of the more memorable moments. It's even more funny catching jokes and references that you didn't get the first time around: I mentioned earlier that I watched Gypsy, and then in one of the first season episodes Lucille goes on a tirade singing lines from the finale of that musical, Rose's Turn ("Mama's all alone, Mama doesn't care"), and my brother and I both caught it. And even in a later episode she says, "How do you like them eggrolls, Mr. Goldstone?" So great haha.
5. Not really something I'm playing right now, but Ace Attorney 5 is coming to the US this fall!!! It's digital-only though, but I guess it's better than nothing. Aside from Phoenix and Apollo, Edgeworth and Trucy are coming back! So excited! Now if only they'd localize Layton vs. Wright...
Thursday, January 10, 2013
musical list update
(What started out as a single post on random subjects suddenly grew too long for one post, so I'm making several unrelated posts instead.)
I went on a musical watching/listening binge over the break, after seeing Book of Mormon live in SF (which was really good! if a bit raunchy, but I actually like raunchy humor - like Louie and Archer). It started with the TV movie version of Gypsy, the new Les Mis movie, and a live showing of The Addams Family in Irvine with the brother, but then it progressed into a bunch of Sondheim musicals: a rewatch of PBS's filmed version of Company, followed by Follies, Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, and A Little Night Music.
Sondheim musicals have this thing for not tending to be inherently popular or conventional like the more prevalent musicals out there- I think most of them never really turned up a profit on Broadway- but they end up being more musically and lyrically... complicated, I guess. I keep having to look up the lyrics whenever a new song comes up because I don't readily catch the meaning or some of the more clever rhymes and alliteration present in the lyrics on a first listen. Some songs or moments don't even strike me as memorable until a few listens later. But overall I end up liking each musical as a whole a lot more after revisiting it again or listening to the soundtrack right after watching it.
I actually wound up buying the Hat Box collection as a result- it contains all of the lyrics Sondheim wrote for every major musical he's worked on, including the ones whose music he didn't compose, like Gypsy and West Side Story, and the songs that didn't make it into the final work of each. I haven't read far into them yet, but one thing that struck me from the preface was his insight into how song lyrics differ from poems. It's kind of ironic to have a book that collects all of the lyrics, he says- considering that unlike poems, lyrics are meant to be sung rather than read (silently or aloud), with music, and musical lyrics in particular are meant to be sung within the context of whatever musical show they're a part of. Consequently, simpler lyrics tend to have more power than lengthy, complicated or "poetic" lyrics, as the accompanying music will generally either amplify the meaning (in the former case) or make the entire work feel clumsy (in the latter case). Reading a lyric for the first time without its context robs it of the power it would otherwise have being heard the way it's meant to be heard... but it helps to have the complete lyrics available for reference anyway.
Random aside, but I tend to think of my liking of anime music in a similar sense. I have the guilty pleasure of having a playlist of anime songs on my phone... that I probably would never play in front of anyone unless someone asked. Even to me, if I had heard the songs outside of their visual context in the show, I probably wouldn't think much of them - I actually wind up hating most full size versions of anime opening and ending songs; they sound better to me the way I originally heard them, in their shorter TV sized format. Most of my enjoyment of them is from being able to recall the visuals associated with them in my head. In the same sense, a lot of my enjoyment of listening to the soundtracks of musicals comes from being able to recall the physical scenes associated with them. It just winds up being harder to share these kinds of songs with someone who hasn't seen them in their original context, but I wind up playing them on repeat more than the normal music I listen to... although normal is up for debate anyway, haha.
If I were to rank favorite musicals now...
Seen live:
1. A Chorus Line
2. Book of Mormon
3. You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
4. Sweeney Todd
5. Spring Awakening
6. Wicked
Seen recorded (but definitely will see live if the opportunity comes up):
1. Into the Woods
2. Follies
3. Sunday in the Park With George
4. Company
5. Les Miserables
6. Merrily We Roll Along
I realize now that I missed the chance to see the Follies revival in LA and Les Mis in SF last year, but oh well. Next time. (and also that Sondheim's dominating these rankings now. >_>)
I went on a musical watching/listening binge over the break, after seeing Book of Mormon live in SF (which was really good! if a bit raunchy, but I actually like raunchy humor - like Louie and Archer). It started with the TV movie version of Gypsy, the new Les Mis movie, and a live showing of The Addams Family in Irvine with the brother, but then it progressed into a bunch of Sondheim musicals: a rewatch of PBS's filmed version of Company, followed by Follies, Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, and A Little Night Music.
Sondheim musicals have this thing for not tending to be inherently popular or conventional like the more prevalent musicals out there- I think most of them never really turned up a profit on Broadway- but they end up being more musically and lyrically... complicated, I guess. I keep having to look up the lyrics whenever a new song comes up because I don't readily catch the meaning or some of the more clever rhymes and alliteration present in the lyrics on a first listen. Some songs or moments don't even strike me as memorable until a few listens later. But overall I end up liking each musical as a whole a lot more after revisiting it again or listening to the soundtrack right after watching it.
I actually wound up buying the Hat Box collection as a result- it contains all of the lyrics Sondheim wrote for every major musical he's worked on, including the ones whose music he didn't compose, like Gypsy and West Side Story, and the songs that didn't make it into the final work of each. I haven't read far into them yet, but one thing that struck me from the preface was his insight into how song lyrics differ from poems. It's kind of ironic to have a book that collects all of the lyrics, he says- considering that unlike poems, lyrics are meant to be sung rather than read (silently or aloud), with music, and musical lyrics in particular are meant to be sung within the context of whatever musical show they're a part of. Consequently, simpler lyrics tend to have more power than lengthy, complicated or "poetic" lyrics, as the accompanying music will generally either amplify the meaning (in the former case) or make the entire work feel clumsy (in the latter case). Reading a lyric for the first time without its context robs it of the power it would otherwise have being heard the way it's meant to be heard... but it helps to have the complete lyrics available for reference anyway.
Random aside, but I tend to think of my liking of anime music in a similar sense. I have the guilty pleasure of having a playlist of anime songs on my phone... that I probably would never play in front of anyone unless someone asked. Even to me, if I had heard the songs outside of their visual context in the show, I probably wouldn't think much of them - I actually wind up hating most full size versions of anime opening and ending songs; they sound better to me the way I originally heard them, in their shorter TV sized format. Most of my enjoyment of them is from being able to recall the visuals associated with them in my head. In the same sense, a lot of my enjoyment of listening to the soundtracks of musicals comes from being able to recall the physical scenes associated with them. It just winds up being harder to share these kinds of songs with someone who hasn't seen them in their original context, but I wind up playing them on repeat more than the normal music I listen to... although normal is up for debate anyway, haha.
If I were to rank favorite musicals now...
Seen live:
1. A Chorus Line
2. Book of Mormon
3. You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
4. Sweeney Todd
5. Spring Awakening
6. Wicked
Seen recorded (but definitely will see live if the opportunity comes up):
1. Into the Woods
2. Follies
3. Sunday in the Park With George
4. Company
5. Les Miserables
6. Merrily We Roll Along
I realize now that I missed the chance to see the Follies revival in LA and Les Mis in SF last year, but oh well. Next time. (and also that Sondheim's dominating these rankings now. >_>)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Th
So today while driving (or was it yesterday?) I was having one of those weird moments where I was driving somewhere, and then I started thinking about how my brain has this tendency to go on autopilot while driving and wondering how I could choose to start or stop the car without paying attention to the cars in front of me. And then the next thing I next, I was four blocks away from where I started thinking, and I realized that I had no recollection of driving down those four blocks within the last 30 seconds, and I got a bit scared inside. I started worrying about how I could drive safely anywhere when I'm not paying attention to where I'm driving half the time, yet am somehow able to subconsciously? avoid collisions while driving. I rarely feel conscious of the fact that I'm actually driving, and it scares me.
I have a lot of these random moments that I wish I could jot down at the time, and then end up forgetting later on because I don't keep track of them afterwards. But lemme see what other things I can recall anyway.
- I don't like it when people diss on musicals. Something about how the songs in musicals disrupt the story/movie in a musical movie, and how the music should be enhancing the atmosphere somehow or etc. Em, I'm no expert, but I'd say that songs in musicals are not meant to disrupt the flow of the musical; the purpose of a musical is that it develops its plot, characters, settings, etc. primarily through its songs. At least in a good musical, some of its most emotionally charged moments and greatest developments will take place during a song, and that is what so often makes the musical genre itself enjoyable.
That's not to say that there aren't musicals whose songs do disrupt the plot, but eh, it varies. I do love a good musical though.
- I seem to make a lot of emphasis on active thoughts counting as productive thoughts and passive thoughts as... not productive. But after reading a friend's blog entry about silence... hm, maybe. I think I tend to overlook the silent moments I have lot, although perhaps because I'm too busy trying to clutter them with thoughts. I am in some ways afraid of perfect silence, because I expect to have some kind of awe-inspiring moment if I take the time to commit to maintaining such a silence and am afraid that I'll just be disappointed, because that's how I've come to expect things of God nowadays. Or maybe it's just that I suspect that I'll have some kind of life shattering moment where I start realizing how empty my life is or something.
- I haven't been doing God justice. Yes, yes, yes, like I would say to my parents every time they remind me about this or that, yes I know this, yes I already know that, yes, yes, YES, I know that God loves me. Yes, I know that whatever I do won't change that, never has, never will, that he cares about what I do but that that fact doesn't mean what he thinks of me will change based off of what I do. but at the same time, when I stumble, when I fall, and I feel so ashamed to look at him in the face- look at all of the personal idols that I've amassed-
and I tried, I really did. I looked at the Psalm that he gave me, read over it. Did I now? I don't know what I thought of it
overdramatic
and I love God, love all tried, but trying isn't doing and I prayed, and I wrote, and I refuse to look at what I wrote, because I am ashamed for reasons I don't know but I do.
(And this is the point where I stop making sense to myself)
I don't know what's real and what's fake anymore
and hate being unsure of myself, which I so often am.
unsure because all this time I've been unwilling to commit to anything
because I have been unable to commit to any venture that I have tried to start since I started
and am afraid that all I am going to get is disappointment, afraid that I will be willing to settle for less
and claim that oh, God did this in my life, when in reality I have no idea what he actually did.
Because I am so used to being concretely told what I should know, rather than discovering these facts for myself, because I am so used to being disappointed and discovering nothing.
absolutely nothing.
It's the end of break, God.
and I am hating every second of it
because of all of the things I "accomplished"
you weren't one of them.
but you still love me anyway.
what a concept.
- for once I think I am going to need a break from watching/reading stuff. a loooong break.
of course, I doubt it'll actually be that long. but a break's a break.
I have a lot of these random moments that I wish I could jot down at the time, and then end up forgetting later on because I don't keep track of them afterwards. But lemme see what other things I can recall anyway.
- I don't like it when people diss on musicals. Something about how the songs in musicals disrupt the story/movie in a musical movie, and how the music should be enhancing the atmosphere somehow or etc. Em, I'm no expert, but I'd say that songs in musicals are not meant to disrupt the flow of the musical; the purpose of a musical is that it develops its plot, characters, settings, etc. primarily through its songs. At least in a good musical, some of its most emotionally charged moments and greatest developments will take place during a song, and that is what so often makes the musical genre itself enjoyable.
That's not to say that there aren't musicals whose songs do disrupt the plot, but eh, it varies. I do love a good musical though.
- I seem to make a lot of emphasis on active thoughts counting as productive thoughts and passive thoughts as... not productive. But after reading a friend's blog entry about silence... hm, maybe. I think I tend to overlook the silent moments I have lot, although perhaps because I'm too busy trying to clutter them with thoughts. I am in some ways afraid of perfect silence, because I expect to have some kind of awe-inspiring moment if I take the time to commit to maintaining such a silence and am afraid that I'll just be disappointed, because that's how I've come to expect things of God nowadays. Or maybe it's just that I suspect that I'll have some kind of life shattering moment where I start realizing how empty my life is or something.
- I haven't been doing God justice. Yes, yes, yes, like I would say to my parents every time they remind me about this or that, yes I know this, yes I already know that, yes, yes, YES, I know that God loves me. Yes, I know that whatever I do won't change that, never has, never will, that he cares about what I do but that that fact doesn't mean what he thinks of me will change based off of what I do. but at the same time, when I stumble, when I fall, and I feel so ashamed to look at him in the face- look at all of the personal idols that I've amassed-
and I tried, I really did. I looked at the Psalm that he gave me, read over it. Did I now? I don't know what I thought of it
overdramatic
and I love God, love all tried, but trying isn't doing and I prayed, and I wrote, and I refuse to look at what I wrote, because I am ashamed for reasons I don't know but I do.
(And this is the point where I stop making sense to myself)
I don't know what's real and what's fake anymore
and hate being unsure of myself, which I so often am.
unsure because all this time I've been unwilling to commit to anything
because I have been unable to commit to any venture that I have tried to start since I started
and am afraid that all I am going to get is disappointment, afraid that I will be willing to settle for less
and claim that oh, God did this in my life, when in reality I have no idea what he actually did.
Because I am so used to being concretely told what I should know, rather than discovering these facts for myself, because I am so used to being disappointed and discovering nothing.
absolutely nothing.
It's the end of break, God.
and I am hating every second of it
because of all of the things I "accomplished"
you weren't one of them.
but you still love me anyway.
what a concept.
- for once I think I am going to need a break from watching/reading stuff. a loooong break.
of course, I doubt it'll actually be that long. but a break's a break.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Do I not make myself known enough? To be honest, a lot of the things I like I don't really talk about because most people don't know about them... or in random cases will discover exist through me. Mm, this prompted me to make another redundant list post. Order kinda matters but does tend to change over time.
Musicals - Favorite Song(s):
A Chorus Line - "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love"
Company - title song, followed by Not Getting Married
Sweeney Todd - Not While I'm Around, Green Finch and Linnet Bird, Kiss Me
Spring Awakening - My Junk, Bitch of Living, And Then There Were None, Totally Fucked
Miss Saigon - Sun and Moon, This is the Hour
Wicked - What is this Feeling
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Comedy Tonight
Jesus Christ SuperStar - Superstar
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit - randoms
Avenue Q - It Sucks to be Me
Phantom (and of the Opera) - Masquerade from Opera
Books - author:
The Bible - multiple
The Sound and the Fury - Faulkner
To The Lighthouse - Woolf
The Stranger - Camus
Catch-22 - Heller
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky (maybe less so now that I've had to read it again, but it still has good memories associated with it)
The Seagull - Chekhov
The Bell Jar - Plath
The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
Grendel - Gardner
- to be honest I think I tend to like American literature the most. I mean, I like Slavic and all, but I only really liked Dostoevsky, Chekhov, and the Blok/Bely love triangle. The rest of them are kinda in the realm of weirdness on a not so much like level, and Tolstoy's obsession with the fact that families are awesome and then not so awesome was kinda annoying. I still need to read more Japanese lit though.
Movie (WHAT MAKES ME EXCITED ABOUT THIS MOVIE!):
The Godfather (YOUNG AL PACINO!)
The Philadelphia Story (JIMMY STEWART!)
Sunset Boulevard (WILLIAM HOLDEN!)
Fight Club (EDWARD NORTON!)
Singin' in the Rain (GENE KELLY'S COOL BUT KIND OF A JERK!)
Princess Mononoke (ENVIRONMENTALISM + FEMALE WARRIOR + FLYING WOLF HEAD!)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - (BUGS BUNNY MEETS MICKEY MOUSE MEETS FILM NOIR!)
Vertigo (DEPRESSING JIMMY STEWART!)
Rope (JIMMY STEWART MEETS CRIME AND PUNISHMENT!)
Games/Series:
Planescape: Torment
Earthbound + Mother 3
Grim Fandango
Ace Attorney 1-4
Persona 2: Innocent Sin + 2: Eternal Punishment + Persona 4
Xenogears
The Longest Journey + Dreamfall: TLJ
When They Cry - Higurashi and Umineko
Chrono Trigger + Chrono Cross
Starcraft + SC: Brood War
Day of the Tentacle
Secret of Monkey Island
Video Game Villains - Game they're from - random thing I like about them:
Purple Tentacle - tentacle that decided to take over the world after he grew arms
Sarah Kerrigan - Starcraft - self-titled Queen Bitch of the Universe
Lavos - Chrono Trigger - doesn't have any dialogue in the game beyond loud screeching noises because he's basically a planet sized parasitic insect
The Transcendent One - Planescape: Torment - I'M YOUR MORTALITY SO I TALK IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS.
Miang - Xenogears - Lilith + Ouroboros + purple hair
SHODAN - System Shock 2 - because we all love crazy, maniacal AIs
Nyarlathotep - Persona 2: Innocent Sin/Eternal Punishment - he's just a ****.
Manga - Mangaka:
Ode to Kirihito - Tezuka
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - Miyazaki
The World is Mine - Arai
Sexy Voice and Robo - Kuroda
Planetes - Yukimura
Me and the Devil Blues - Hiramoto
Parasyte - Iwaaki
Ryuguden - Matsunaga
20th Century Boys - Urasawa
One Piece - Oda
Characters - Source:
Frog - Chrono Trigger
Robo - see above
Lucca - see above + Chrono Cross
Crow - The Longest Journey + Dreamfall: TLJ
Gale - Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1+2
Morte - Planescape: Torment
April Ryan - The Longest Journey (I don't really like her in Dreamfall)
Manny Calavera - Grim Fandango
Maya Amano - Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (don't know enough about her from Innocent Sin)
Vivi Ornitier - Final Fantasy IX
Cid Highwind - Final Fantasy VII
Ness - Earthbound
Caboose - Red vs. Blue
Endou Kenji - 20th Century Boys
Nausicaa - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Maria - The World is Mine
Nico Robin - One Piece
Milo Minderbinder - Catch-22
Mrs. Ramsay - To The Lighthouse
Caddy Compson - The Sound and the Fury
Sonya Marmeladov - Crime and Punishment
Nick Carraway - The Great Gatsby
Ivan Karamazov - The Brothers Karamazov
Meursault - The Stranger
Paul Baumer - All Quiet on the Western Front
Music - favorite songs:
Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time, Almost Crimes (radio kills remix), Stars and Sons, Anthems For a Seventeen Year Old Girl, 7/4 Shoreline,Pacific Theme
Yo La Tengo - At a Motel 6, Big Day Coming, I Heard You Looking, Let's Save Tony Orlando's House, Pass The Hatchet[,] I Think I'm Goodkind, Beanbag Chair, I Feel Like Going Home, Moby Octopad, Sugarcube,Stockholm Syndrome, Little Honda
The Beatles - Martha My Dear, Birthday, I'm Only Sleeping, Here There and Everywhere, A Day in the Life, With A Little Help From My Friends
Asobi Seksu - Goodbye, Thursday, Pink Cloud Tracing Paper, Nefi and Girly, Transparence
Los Campesinos! - Death to Los Campesinos!, You! Me! Dancing!, We Are All Accelerated Readers, My Year in Lists, The International Tweexcore Underground, We Throw Parties[,] You Throw Knives, Ways to Make It Through the Wall
My Bloody Valentine - I Only Said, (When You Wake) You're Still in a Dream, What You What
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas, Ivo, Carolyn's Fingers
Radiohead - Pyramid Song, Like Spinning Plates, Planet Telex, Fake Plastic Trees, Everything in its Right Place, The National Anthem, Idioteque, Airbag, Climbing Up The Walls
Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead, Set Yourself on Fire, Ageless Beauty, One More Night, Sleep Tonight, Elevator Love Letter, Look Up, Celebration Guns, Soft Revolution
Camera Obscura - Suspended From Class, Keep It Clean, Number One Son, Lloyd[,] I'm Not Ready to Be Heartbroken, Let's Get Out of This Country
Sonic Youth - Schizophrenia, Teenage Riot, 'Cross the Breeze, Hey Joni
Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Cross ~Scars of Time~, Reminiscing ~Uneraseable Memory~, Termina ~ Another, Fortress of Ancient Dragons, The Dragoons, Voyage ~ Home World, Garden of the Gods, Jellyfish Sea, The Girl Who Stole the Stars, The Dream That Time Dreams, Chrono Trigger, Guardia Millenial Fair, Frog's Theme, Robo's Theme, Time Circuits (Enhasa), World Revolution, To Far Away Times, Guardia Castle - Pride & Glory, The Final Battle, My Village is Number One, The Treasue Which Cannot Be Stolen, Lost...Broken Shards, Thames[,] the Man of the Sea, June Mermaid, Flight, One Who Bares Fangs At God, Battle (Xenosaga)
TV Shows (which I rarely watch):
Arrested Development
LOST
Musicals - Favorite Song(s):
A Chorus Line - "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love"
Company - title song, followed by Not Getting Married
Sweeney Todd - Not While I'm Around, Green Finch and Linnet Bird, Kiss Me
Spring Awakening - My Junk, Bitch of Living, And Then There Were None, Totally Fucked
Miss Saigon - Sun and Moon, This is the Hour
Wicked - What is this Feeling
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Comedy Tonight
Jesus Christ SuperStar - Superstar
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit - randoms
Avenue Q - It Sucks to be Me
Phantom (and of the Opera) - Masquerade from Opera
Books - author:
The Bible - multiple
The Sound and the Fury - Faulkner
To The Lighthouse - Woolf
The Stranger - Camus
Catch-22 - Heller
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky (maybe less so now that I've had to read it again, but it still has good memories associated with it)
The Seagull - Chekhov
The Bell Jar - Plath
The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
Grendel - Gardner
- to be honest I think I tend to like American literature the most. I mean, I like Slavic and all, but I only really liked Dostoevsky, Chekhov, and the Blok/Bely love triangle. The rest of them are kinda in the realm of weirdness on a not so much like level, and Tolstoy's obsession with the fact that families are awesome and then not so awesome was kinda annoying. I still need to read more Japanese lit though.
Movie (WHAT MAKES ME EXCITED ABOUT THIS MOVIE!):
The Godfather (YOUNG AL PACINO!)
The Philadelphia Story (JIMMY STEWART!)
Sunset Boulevard (WILLIAM HOLDEN!)
Fight Club (EDWARD NORTON!)
Singin' in the Rain (GENE KELLY'S COOL BUT KIND OF A JERK!)
Princess Mononoke (ENVIRONMENTALISM + FEMALE WARRIOR + FLYING WOLF HEAD!)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - (BUGS BUNNY MEETS MICKEY MOUSE MEETS FILM NOIR!)
Vertigo (DEPRESSING JIMMY STEWART!)
Rope (JIMMY STEWART MEETS CRIME AND PUNISHMENT!)
Games/Series:
Planescape: Torment
Earthbound + Mother 3
Grim Fandango
Ace Attorney 1-4
Persona 2: Innocent Sin + 2: Eternal Punishment + Persona 4
Xenogears
The Longest Journey + Dreamfall: TLJ
When They Cry - Higurashi and Umineko
Chrono Trigger + Chrono Cross
Starcraft + SC: Brood War
Day of the Tentacle
Secret of Monkey Island
Video Game Villains - Game they're from - random thing I like about them:
Purple Tentacle - tentacle that decided to take over the world after he grew arms
Sarah Kerrigan - Starcraft - self-titled Queen Bitch of the Universe
Lavos - Chrono Trigger - doesn't have any dialogue in the game beyond loud screeching noises because he's basically a planet sized parasitic insect
The Transcendent One - Planescape: Torment - I'M YOUR MORTALITY SO I TALK IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS.
Miang - Xenogears - Lilith + Ouroboros + purple hair
SHODAN - System Shock 2 - because we all love crazy, maniacal AIs
Nyarlathotep - Persona 2: Innocent Sin/Eternal Punishment - he's just a ****.
Manga - Mangaka:
Ode to Kirihito - Tezuka
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - Miyazaki
The World is Mine - Arai
Sexy Voice and Robo - Kuroda
Planetes - Yukimura
Me and the Devil Blues - Hiramoto
Parasyte - Iwaaki
Ryuguden - Matsunaga
20th Century Boys - Urasawa
One Piece - Oda
Characters - Source:
Frog - Chrono Trigger
Robo - see above
Lucca - see above + Chrono Cross
Crow - The Longest Journey + Dreamfall: TLJ
Gale - Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1+2
Morte - Planescape: Torment
April Ryan - The Longest Journey (I don't really like her in Dreamfall)
Manny Calavera - Grim Fandango
Maya Amano - Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (don't know enough about her from Innocent Sin)
Vivi Ornitier - Final Fantasy IX
Cid Highwind - Final Fantasy VII
Ness - Earthbound
Caboose - Red vs. Blue
Endou Kenji - 20th Century Boys
Nausicaa - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Maria - The World is Mine
Nico Robin - One Piece
Milo Minderbinder - Catch-22
Mrs. Ramsay - To The Lighthouse
Caddy Compson - The Sound and the Fury
Sonya Marmeladov - Crime and Punishment
Nick Carraway - The Great Gatsby
Ivan Karamazov - The Brothers Karamazov
Meursault - The Stranger
Paul Baumer - All Quiet on the Western Front
Music - favorite songs:
Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time, Almost Crimes (radio kills remix), Stars and Sons, Anthems For a Seventeen Year Old Girl, 7/4 Shoreline,Pacific Theme
Yo La Tengo - At a Motel 6, Big Day Coming, I Heard You Looking, Let's Save Tony Orlando's House, Pass The Hatchet[,] I Think I'm Goodkind, Beanbag Chair, I Feel Like Going Home, Moby Octopad, Sugarcube,Stockholm Syndrome, Little Honda
The Beatles - Martha My Dear, Birthday, I'm Only Sleeping, Here There and Everywhere, A Day in the Life, With A Little Help From My Friends
Asobi Seksu - Goodbye, Thursday, Pink Cloud Tracing Paper, Nefi and Girly, Transparence
Los Campesinos! - Death to Los Campesinos!, You! Me! Dancing!, We Are All Accelerated Readers, My Year in Lists, The International Tweexcore Underground, We Throw Parties[,] You Throw Knives, Ways to Make It Through the Wall
My Bloody Valentine - I Only Said, (When You Wake) You're Still in a Dream, What You What
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas, Ivo, Carolyn's Fingers
Radiohead - Pyramid Song, Like Spinning Plates, Planet Telex, Fake Plastic Trees, Everything in its Right Place, The National Anthem, Idioteque, Airbag, Climbing Up The Walls
Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead, Set Yourself on Fire, Ageless Beauty, One More Night, Sleep Tonight, Elevator Love Letter, Look Up, Celebration Guns, Soft Revolution
Camera Obscura - Suspended From Class, Keep It Clean, Number One Son, Lloyd[,] I'm Not Ready to Be Heartbroken, Let's Get Out of This Country
Sonic Youth - Schizophrenia, Teenage Riot, 'Cross the Breeze, Hey Joni
Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Cross ~Scars of Time~, Reminiscing ~Uneraseable Memory~, Termina ~ Another, Fortress of Ancient Dragons, The Dragoons, Voyage ~ Home World, Garden of the Gods, Jellyfish Sea, The Girl Who Stole the Stars, The Dream That Time Dreams, Chrono Trigger, Guardia Millenial Fair, Frog's Theme, Robo's Theme, Time Circuits (Enhasa), World Revolution, To Far Away Times, Guardia Castle - Pride & Glory, The Final Battle, My Village is Number One, The Treasue Which Cannot Be Stolen, Lost...Broken Shards, Thames[,] the Man of the Sea, June Mermaid, Flight, One Who Bares Fangs At God, Battle (Xenosaga)
TV Shows (which I rarely watch):
Arrested Development
LOST
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Musical List Update
Seen Live:
Phantom
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Miss Saigon
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit
Sweeney Todd
Jesus Christ Superstar
A Chorus Line
Spring Awakening
Wicked
Phantom
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Miss Saigon
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit
Sweeney Todd
Jesus Christ Superstar
A Chorus Line
Spring Awakening
Wicked
Thursday, July 24, 2008
(cons musicals lists)
I almost forgot about this list.
Musicals!
Live:
Phantom
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Miss Saigon
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit
Sweeney Todd
Jesus Christ Superstar
A Chorus Line
Spring Awakening
Video/Online:
The Sound of Music
Grease
Annie
Phantom of the Opera
Avenue Q
Sweeney Todd
My Fair Lady
Want to See:
Company
Spamelot
Wicked
and not a musical but awesome nonetheless:
Lend Me a Tenor
Musicals!
Live:
Phantom
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Miss Saigon
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit
Sweeney Todd
Jesus Christ Superstar
A Chorus Line
Spring Awakening
Video/Online:
The Sound of Music
Grease
Annie
Phantom of the Opera
Avenue Q
Sweeney Todd
My Fair Lady
Want to See:
Company
Spamelot
Wicked
and not a musical but awesome nonetheless:
Lend Me a Tenor
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