Gone

Everybody loved Chick Lorimer in our town.
                       Far off
                Everybody loved her.
So we all love a wild girl keeping a hold
                 On a dream she wants.
Nobody knows where Chick Lorimer went.
Nobody knows why she packed her trunk...a few
        old things
And is gone,
                     Gone with her little chin
                     Thrust ahead of her
                     And her soft hair blowing careless
                     From under a wide hat,
Dancer, singer, a laughing passionate lover.

Were there ten men or a hundred hunting Chick?
Were there five men or fifty with aching hearts?
        Everybody loved Chick Lorimer.
                 Nobody knows where she's gone.

-Carl Sandburg

Photo credit.

The Beginning of My Directorial Journey

The title of this post isn't completely accurate, because the journey probably technically began when I was approved to be a director for the season, but I didn't really feel like a director 'till this past Sunday.

Plus, "The Beginning of My Directorial Journey" sounds better than "Starting in the Middle of My Directorial Journey." So, for the purposes of making the name both cool and accurate, I'll start with the amusing story of the night I was approved to direct.

I was on the play-selection committee last year. I had inquired about directing sometime then, but the response I got was that while I was technically more qualified than most of the people that directed, because I was only 17, people might not respond well to my direction.
I was perfectly content with that and continued on. During last season, while in It's a Wonderful Life, I not only acted in it, but also gained more experience stage managing and assistant directing it.
When January and with it the beginning of the play selection process rolled around, I had high hopes of being considered old enough to be able to direct.

The night we had the first meeting I could attend, was I cool, collected and on time?
...Nope! I was coming from my Sensei's mother's funeral viewing, so I was disheveled and late. Despite my stress, I waltzed into the meeting, plopped myself down at the table, and was promptly asked by our technical director, "Now, are you available to direct any slot of the year?"
Though taken aback, I answered (somewhat) calmly, "I'm available all year, but I would prefer the fall slot."
"We needed a fall director. What do you want to direct?"

Wait a sec...what?!?!?! Really?!?!?

So it began!! I still find it amusing how I simply waltzed in there and was told I got to direct.
Over the next couple months, I narrowed down my choices (I considered doing Reserve Two for Murder, And Then There Were None, Angel Street, The Importance of Being Earnest, and You Can't Take It With You.) eventually choosing Reserve Two for Murder because A: I thought it was better for its intended audience than most of the other choices I had considered, B: It was a relatively simple production; I didn't want to do anything too complex or incredibly hard for my first directing stint, and C: I've acted in it before, so I'm incredibly familiar with it already.

Once chosen, it was eventually approved by the board, so the pre-production work began. I've enlisted an old acting teacher as my impartial casting advisor, started to tweak changes we need to make to the script, and gotten most of my audition materials ready. I only need to print up my character descriptions and rehearsal schedules on that front.
I've also decided to re-set the play in the 1980s, so I've also done research on script changes pertaining to that issue.

And that brings us to Sunday. Sunday was the end of our last show, so I was explained the process for opening and locking up the theater and then given the key.

That key is what made me finally almost feel like a real director. Thus I count that the beginning.
I hope that as this journey continues, my thoughts and musings on directing will continue to entertain you.

Until then, my (probably few) readers, remember Ford Prefect. I hope that you and I will continue be hoopy froods that know where our towels are.

Current Oddities of My Life (Round 2)

Not being able to stop singing Dentist! from Little Shop of Horrors and Lemming of the BDA from Flying Circus in my head while under the knife (not really) at the dentist today.

The paradox of being utterly and completely exhausted but not being able to sleep.

The ridiculousness of my hair dye job yet my still liking it. I had planned to go ahead with Phase 2 this week, (which would be putting the more natural-looking color over this uber-light one) but I'm eccentric enough that I think I'm going to keep the insane-looking color for awhile.
Maybe I'll streak it with one of my unnatural colors. Hmm...

Seeing the awesome-est thing yesterday: a huge wrecker truck with a smaller wrecker truck on top of it and a crashed car on top of that one. It was wonderful...

Being driven INSANE by the Entr'acte from Singin' in the Rain running through my head as I type. UGH! Why can't it at least be one of the good songs?!
That's it...maybe if I listen to Love Autopsy over and over it'll go away...
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
........
.............


Nope.

....Drat.

Thank You, Mr. Wilde

"One should always be a little improbable."

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!"

"Over the piano was printed a notice: Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best."

"The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death."

"Be happy, be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. All that I ask of you in return is that you will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty."

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

"The only way to atone for being occasionally a little over-dressed is by being always absolutely over-educated."

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

I still love Oscar Wilde.

I Found What I Want to Do With the Rest of My Life

I want to be a part of the Seasteading Movement.

The Seasteading Institute wants to create floating cities away from any waters that are governed and create libertarian societies for those sick and tired of oppressive and out-of-control governments. From their website:

"The vision of seasteading is an urgent one. We can already see that existing political systems are straining to cope with the realities of the 21st century. We need to create the next generation of governance: banking systems to better handle the inevitable financial crises, medical regulations that protect people without retarding innovation, and democracies that ensure our representatives truly represent us.Seasteaders believe that government shouldn't be like the cell phone carrier industry, with few choices and high customer-lock-in. Instead, we envision a vibrant startup sector for government, with many small groups experimenting with innovative ideas as they compete to serve their citizens' needs better.Currently, it is very difficult to experiment with alternative social systems on a small scale; countries are so enormous that it is hard for an individual to make much difference. The world needs a place where those who wish to experiment with building new societies can go to test out their ideas. All land is already claimed -- which makes the oceans humanity's next frontier."

Sounds like a great idea, right?

After I saw this on the Blaze, someone from my church posted the Yahoo version of the article on the church facebook group with the comment, "What would a society look like with no laws or moral code?"

....another case of libertarians being misrepresented. UGH!!!

My response was "I think the Yahoo article misrepresented the Institute. I saw this on the Blaze and then went to their actual website. Nowhere do they say that they are opposed to laws; just overregulation and over-sized government. They even say, "We need to create the next generation of governance: banking systems to better handle the inevitable financial crises, medical regulations that protect people without retarding innovation, and democracies that ensure our representatives truly represent us."
Libertarians aren't opposed to laws; we're opposed to big and out-of-control government. The Seasteading Institute wants to be able to try small government from the ground up. I applaud them for that."

I really want to live on one of these things someday...

The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn...

...is just to love and be loved in return.

This movie makes me so happy.

We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sights?
Nay, let them only see us, while
    We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
     We wear the mask!

-Paul Laurence Dunbar

This is Why I Should Not Be Trusted With a Curling Iron

Music That Currently Makes Me Happy (Part 4)-Miscellaneous

Before we get to the final post in the "Music That Currently Makes Me Happy" series, did anyone see the GOP debate last night? I was unable to, though I was encouraged by an article that said that Ron Paul "was the crowd favorite."
Oh, the joys of being able to vote in the next election!! I can't wait.

We wrap up with miscellaneous music: two alternative songs and a soundtrack song.

First, Under the Milky Way by the Church. This guy's voice....oh...my...gosh. I love it. Just the title of the song makes me happy thinking about it. These Aussies are pretty awesome.




Next, Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge. This song is SO BRILLIANT on so many levels. Baz Luhrmann took what on their own are sappy love pop songs and combined them into the medley, which is PERFECT for Christian and Satine in the movie. I hadn't even liked most of these songs on their own, but combined, they rock.



On a side note, this is a very cool video that someone made of the original songs in the medley against pictures of Satine and Christian.


Finally, Wonderwall by Oasis. You'll remember I've been obsessed with this song for quite a long time.
Still love it.




Honorable Mentions: Where the Streets Have No Name, (Pet Shop Boys version) Nara, (E.S. Posthumous) Test Drive, (How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack) Lucky, (Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat) In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel) and Come What May and Your Song. (from Moulin Rouge)

Music That Currently Makes Me Happy (Part 3)-Celtic Woman

I could include most of the songs from their album Songs from the Heart, particularly Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears; Galway Bay; You'll Be In My Heart; and Amazing Grace; but my current favorite is their version of Fields of Gold, originally by Sting.



Another song that I was until recently unaware of that I love is Newgrange. It's about, well, Newgrange, which is actually the oldest surviving man-made structure in the world. It's older than the pyramids and Stonehenge. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Orla's voice in this song.



Finally, I'm so irritated because they don't have a recording of this song. It's such a wonderful song, but there is NO RECORDING OF IT!!!!

At the Ceili



Honorable Mentions of Celtic Woman songs that make me happy other than aforementioned songs: Orinoco Flow; the Sky, the Dawn, and the Sun; Chloe's Starry, Starry Night; Walking in the Air; Siull A Run; Dulaman; and the Soft Goodbye.

I must remember to post about the (somewhat) recent discovery of my love for my (what little I have) Irish heritage...

Current Oddities of My Life

*My little brother teaching me how to tie a hangman's noose today.

*Getting sugar ants...in my BATHROOM???

*Sleeping in our library last night because of the smell of ant poison leaking into my room...it's not a BAD scent per se, (it's a natural swill type spray) but it is very...pungent.

*Washing out crusty hairspray still in my hair from this past weekend of shows. Oh, the joys of doing 20s hair and having to schlack it solid.

*Recovery from tech/hell week last week? 12 consecutive hours spent in my bed. (Including sleeping and reading time.)

*Good recovery, but then being hit with insomnia two nights in a row....urg...

*My favorite: After finally getting to sleep last night, having a dream that I was planning to go to a college that was run by Disney. I was on the computer planning to buy "school pride" swill which was all Disney characters. And I was probably an arts major.

*Bruises on my shins and ankles from having to fight in the line at tae kwon do class yesterday.

*Finishing my online English Comp. 2 course and managing to get through with some sanity despite hating most of the short stories we were forced to read and write papers over.

Music That Currently Makes Me Happy (Part 2)-Rebellious and/or Irish Sounding Songs

Insomnia strikes again, so here we go with Part 2!!

First, the main theme from Firefly. I could listen to this song over and over and over without getting sick of it.

"Take my love, take my land. Take me where I cannot stand.
I don't care; I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.
Take me out to the black. Tell them I ain't coming back.
Burn the land and boil the sea. You can't take the sky from me."




Next, Bonnie Blue Flag. This is the 2nd South Carolina String Band performing in the movie Gods and Generals.



Finally, A Prayer for Me In Silence by Flogging Molly. I wish this song was LONGER because it's so awesome. And I couldn't find a version of them actually performing it, just the audio.

Music That Currently Makes Me Happy (Part 1)-Musical Theatre Songs

Despite my griping and complaining that this musical even existed, I really love this one song. Someone in my vocal studio sang it during our recital, and I fell in love with it.
Which makes it really irritating that I don't have the vocal type or range to sing this song, ha ha.

The Title Song from Love Never Dies




Next, another piece that was performed at my vocal recital, though again not by me. This song is from the musical Side Show, which is about a set of conjoined twins. In my recital, it was performed by non-identical twin sisters, so it was very appropriate for them.

I actually liked our vocal recital staging better, but this video works. Just skip the jabbering at the beginning.

Who Will Love Me As I Am from Side Show

Directorial Thoughts

I am attempting (yet again) to return to the blogger world.
News that probably has not been discussed on Cease Repining: I am directing a show at my theater in fall!!! Despite my being incredibly young compared to all of our directors (I'm a college student!) I get to direct a murder mystery.
Now, this summer I was/am in Singin' in the Rain, (the run isn't over yet) and in my opinion, the direction left a bit to be desired. So, to prepare for my own show, I have come up with a list of things I will NOT do when I direct.

I will NOT...set rehearsal time to be 6:00 then spend half an hour talking and waiting for people to get there to start. I will try to be prompt and not waste anyone's time.
I will NOT...put off rehearsing and setting major technical things until a week before the show starts.
I will NOT...make a long director's speech before every show. Mine will be short and sweet.
I will NOT...be closed minded at auditions. In fact, I will most likely let my casting advisor do all of the casting.
I will NOT...ever, ever, ever block a scene where all the actors do is stand in a line the whole time.
I will NOT...be unprepared in my rehearsal schedule. I will have a plan for every rehearsal and stick to that plan.
I will NOT...put off running the show until three rehearsals before we open. We will have at LEAST three or four run-throughs before tech rehearsal.

I will NOT...be without a plan.
I will NOT...ever take anyone who assists with my show for granted.


So, yeah. That's the general plan.
In other news, other than Calculus 2, all I'm taking in fall is business courses! Joy...

Unbelievable

Group Arrested for Dancing at the Jefferson Memorial

First, it's incredibly ridiculous that this court decision even exists. Dancing considered the same as picketing, marching and public speaking??!?
Second, people actually being ARRESTED for it?


Then, there's this: Jefferson's Love of Dance Himself.


I am shocked.

2 (or 4) down, 1 to go/Miniature Book Review

Yet again, I have neglected my blog. I've pretty much just skipped out on blogging this whole semester, but I have only 1 final left to go tomorrow (in historical geology) so I thought I'd try to get back to writing on here again.
~
A few months ago, I finally read Battle Royale. I read it because on Goodreads, people kept saying that the Hunger Games ripped it off and that Suzanne Collins was unoriginal. I tend to disagree.
The starting idea may have been similar (kids being forced to fight to the death in a "game") but the execution was completely different.
The author of Battle Royale took a much much darker approach to it and made it...how do I put it...much more gory and violent than Suzanne Collins did. Also in Royale, it was a grade of school, so the competitors knew each other. The author of Royale also made the story much more complex by focusing on every single one of the competitors, whereas Collins took a much more personal approach with Katniss' first person narrative.

Which do I like better? Probably Hunger Games. I liked the characters much better and the writing much better. (though I am convinced that some of the triteness of the writing of Battle Royale came from being translated into English from Japanese.) The ending was also much more positive in the Hunger Games.

So, does anyone have any thoughts on the casting of Hunger Games so far?

Flash Fiction/Dawn Treader Review

Yay! Some people still read my blog!

I had two requests on the comments section of my last post, but I'm welcome to more!

First, Q said succinctly, "Flash fiction."

My opinion on flash fiction...I have to confess that I had to go look it up on Urban Dictionary because I had no idea what it was!

Urbandictionary.com defines flash fiction as "A style of fiction writing characterized by intensity and brevity. Usually under a page in length."

With that being said, I would have to say that my opinion on it would probably vary with the different pieces I would read. It would probably be similar to my love/mostly hate relationship with free verse.
I love the idea of telling a story in six words or less, so I might like some flash fiction, but I would have to read more of it before I could really have an opinioin.
(by the way Q, if you know some good flash fiction on the internet, I'd love to read it.)



Moving on to Countess Madeline's request: "Hello! I think you should write a full review of Dawn Treader. I'd like to see your thoughts on the film."

Countess, are you sure you want to open that floodgate? All right, here we go!

As I said in my last post to start out, I thought it was an all right film, but a terrible adaptation.
Going into the movie, I had a somewhat optimistic view. Though we had received conflicting reports in the news about making the movie, I thought that changes made to the film couldn't ruin it overall for me.
They could.
Watching the movie, I felt like the writers of the script were high the entire time they wrote it and didn't really care about the integrity of the themes of the book. The convoluted mess of an adaptation tried to go for a more "epic" Harry Potter type film, but in doing that, it felt like a cheap fantasy film made for young children with a mindless story and shallow characters. (for the most part)

This review by glumPuddle on NarniaWeb expresses most of my frustrations well, and though I wouldn't go so far to say that I won't look forward to the next film (if it is made) I will be more pessimistic about it.

With all that negativity out of the way, I will say there are some things that I did enjoy about the film.

(spoilers will probably follow)

1. The look of the actual Dawn Treader ship I really, really loved. The purple sail was all I had hoped it would be, and the whole ship was beautiful. With that being said, I wish they had had more sweeping majestic shots of it.
2. Will Poulter's performance as Eustace. Try as they might, they couldn't ruin him for me.
3. Eustace's relationship with Reepicheep.
4. Caspian with facial hair. (ok, that's not super important to the film, but I felt like it was one of the more redeeming qualities of it)
5. The one part in the movie I can think of with verbatim words from the book where Aslan says that in our world, he has another name, and that the children must learn to know him by that name. That part....made me cry. (in a good way)

There was probably more that I enjoyed, but those are the main good qualities. (in my opinion)
Now to the really bad....
The really bad, I thought, for the most part wasn't was they put in, but what was left out.

The whole "quest" thing....ok, I'm going to skip the whole part about the seven swords to defeat the green smoke thing. I wouldn't have minded it so much had there not been a total lack of the true purpose of the voyage. (in the book) The true purpose of the voyage in the book was about the honor of finding the seven lords and fulfilling an oath and about the longing for Aslan's Country.
In the movie...there was hardly any of that.

When I think about it, I can't understand the thought process for alot of the scenes that they ruined or left out entirely. For most of the instances, they took something incredibly clever and meaningful and dumbed it down to fit the formula of a typical action movie.
For excample, the whole scene at the Lone Islands and slave traders was completely ruined. Instead of the clever plot to reclaim power without any fighting whatsoever, what do the script writers do? Make it an action scene.
Another example: the irony about how Reepicheep figured out how to defeat the sea serpent? Completely lost.
And though the Dark Island was creepy and all with the poor spirits sacrificed to ol' Smokey, (good to know he lived beyond the crappy ending of Lost) it never truly scared me like the Dark Island did in the book. I don't remember exacly what they said in the movie, (something to the effect of thoughts becoming realities) but that doesn't have the psychological impact of this exchange: (this is not the exact exchange, but I don't have the book in front of me at the moment)

Lord Rhoop: We must sail! Turn back! This is the island where dreams come true!
Capt. Drinian: What could possibly be the matter with an island where dreams come true?
Rhoop: No, no, not dreams as in fantasies or daydreams, but dreams. Dreams! Nightmares!

Listening to the dramatized version when I was a kid, I remember there was a blood-curdling pause before everyone sprang into action to get the heck out of Dodge. It scared the living daylight out of me.
Whereas the movie, it was somewhat creepy, but then Edmund says something to the effect of, "Oops! I thought about a sea serpent! We're screwed!" and the scene goes right back to its intended direction of action, action, action.

This probably sounds more like a rant than a review, so if it's not your cup of tea, I apologize.

Closing thoughts: for me, the bad outweighed the good. Prince Caspian managed to be a great adaptation (with its few quirks) as well as a great film, and I felt that Dawn Treader had so much potential to be great (it is, after all, one of my favorites of the books) but as a building is only as good as its foundation, to some extent, a movie is only as good as its script, and this one was bad.

If anyone would care to give his opinion, please comment! Once I wrote a controversial post about Lord of the Rings that had about twenty comments of back and forth debate, and I loved it.

Next time on Cease Repining: to balance out a negative review with a positive, Lady Brainsample will write about Tron: Legacy.

My Poor Blog.......

....has been abandoned for months. I know.

I have excuses, but probably nobody wants to hear them. College, theater, tae kwon do, etcetera.

Assorted thoughts:
Mockinjay was great, but I liked the first two books better.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie was a TERRIBLE adaptation of the book, but an ok movie.

Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead=Awesome movie.

Wonders if putting the status, "I really miss being a hooker..." would result in something bad.
Those of you who don't know, I played Violet in the play It's a Wonderful Life last month. You say, "I didn't think she was a hooker!"
Well, in the play version's alternate world she is. And it was very fun/challenging to play a sexy character and actually get to attempt to seduce George on stage.
Hence the status.

I would really like to start writing on my blog again, so if anyone has any requests for rants, reviews, or other such scribblings, please comment!

Hysterical....

"Getting Married Today" from Company....I need to learn this.



This version with Madeline Kahn is also excellent.

A New EJC Film...

When a witch gets into trouble with the IRS, what lengths will she go to in order to pay off her debt?